Another great couple of episodes this week. Episode 4 was a lot more exciting than Episode 3, but both were all the same interesting. Episode 3 hints at an internal power struggle between Hanshin Group Chairman Han Do Joon and the Group’s Board of Directors and a situation involving the hospital turning a blind eye to a sexually-motivated assault leads to a threat to blow the hospital up in Episode 4.
The unauthorised surgery which Kim Tae Hyun sought to perform last episode proceeds without discovery, only interrupted briefly when Han Yeo Jin (who had suddenly woken up from her induced coma and slit her wrist) is wheeled to the operating room opposite his. There was never much danger of Kim Tae Hyun being discovered as the main purpose of the scene was to provide an opportunity for Kim Tae Hyun and Han Yeo Jin to cross paths and meet briefly. Whilst Kim Tae Hyun waits for the interruption to pass, he decides to take a peek outside to see what was going on, to come face to face with Han Yeo Jin attempting to take her life again with a shard of porcelain across her throat. Fortunately (or unfortunately in Han Yeo Jin‘s perspective) Kim Tae Hyun notices and manages to pry the shard from her grip behind the door, undetected by the guards outside. Kim Tae Hyun‘s patient is saved and Han Yeo Jin‘s situation returns to as it was before: back in her room on the 12th floor in an induced coma.
It wasn’t too clear in the first couple of episodes, but with developments in Episode 3 and Episode 4, Han Yeo Jin‘s condition is looking more and more to be the doing of her brother, Chairman Han Do Joon, so that he’s able to keep his seat as Chairman of Han Shin Group.
After Han Yeo Jin is wheeled back to her room, within her thoughts, she tells of being trapped in a glass bottle—an imprisonment—for 1,165 days. During the first year of this imprisonment, she had prayed for anyone to help wake her. Anyone who granted this wish, she’d grant any wish they desired unconditionally. The following year, she wished for anyone to help kill her and end her suffering, again promising to grant their wish unconditionally in return. Three years on, the current day, she vows that she would kill everyone who’s ever helped in trapping her in this glass bottle—should she be able to wake up from this.
Han Yeo Jin‘s thoughts, we suppose they can easily be interpreted as someone wanting to end things but the outside world won’t let her. However, take into account the fact that brother Han Do Joon is actually her half-brother (with Han Yeo Jin and Han Do Joon sharing a father, but not the mother) and not the rightful heir to the Group like Han Yeo Jin is, clearly it’s not the case. (The reason Han Yeo Jin is the rightful heir is because Han Shin Group is inherited from the side of Han Yeo Jin‘s mother and not their father.) There is then strong motive for Han Do Joon to keep her in an induced coma so that (presumably) a family connection to the Han Shin Group remains which will allow him to keep his seat at the top.
Han Do Joon appears to really want complete control of Han Shin Group, too. In a conversation between him and his secretary, he complains about the questioning nature of the Board of Directors and their increased visits to the hospital and requesting to see Han Yeo Jin. Looking back at Episode 1, it all makes more sense to why there was such a fuss surrounding the chairman (who should have no problems visiting a family member in hospital) and the Board of Directors visiting Han Yeo Jin. It turns out the Board of Directors aren’t aware that Han Yeo Jin is in an induced a coma, only thinking that she was in the hospital because of her self-harm episodes. Han Shin Medical Center‘s director as well as Chief Surgeon Lee and Nurse Hwang (the only three allowed into Han Yeo Jin‘s room) are working with Han Do Joon on some plan to presumably take Han Yeo Jin out of the way. Exactly what he plans to do is not revealed. We only hear him say to his secretary that “these two families under one roof will soon be over”.
Until then, Han Yeo Jin appears to be purposely kept in her state by Nurse Hwang as she appears to be in charge of administering medication to ensure she maintains the state. (This was not explicitly shown in Episodes 3 or 4, but Chief Surgeon Lee does mention Han Yeo Jin developing a tolerance to medication after she is back in her room, suggesting she was not responding to the medication he was giving her to stay put and stop self-harming herself.) Meanwhile, Chief Surgeon Lee‘s role appears to make sure that when she manages to wake up and try take her life, he quickly operates on her to prevent her from dying. As Han Yeo Jin is the largest shareholder of Han Shin Group and its true chairperson, she can’t die.
(The series hasn’t really clearly spat out why she can’t die, but presumably it’s to do with keeping the family connection to the company alive so that Han Do Joon can do whatever he is planning to do. As well, it can also be thought that since Han Yeo Jin is still regarded as the true chairperson of Han Shin Group and an important and core decision-maker for the company, any news that suggests she’s unwell, or worse, that she has passed away, will cause plummeting stock prices and cause chaos for the company. This is a reason the Board of Directors is reluctant to file for a cancellation of the visitation ban that seems to be in place for anyone wanting to see Han Yeo Jin, as their plans to use the reasoning of her being mentally unwell would affect their company stability and standing.)
But plans may not go as smoothly for Han Do Joon as Han Yeo Jin is once again awake. An incident involving a Hallyu star’s sexually-motivated assault on a women resulting in a stabbing in Episode 3 leads to Kim Tae Hyun being granted access to Han Yeo Jin‘s room and Han Yeo Jin waking up at the end of Episode 4.
This incident should have been treated as a crime scene. Instead, the hospital overlooked the crime as it was not in the hospital’s policy to care about what goes on in the personal lives of their VIP patients (they refer to them as clients). After Kim Tae Hyun saves victim, Jo Hye In, by performing surgery right there at the hotel room of Hallyu star, Chae Se Yoon, the sexually-motivated assault and psychological well-being is completely ignored by the hospital. Kim Tae Hyun had suggested that Jo Hye In be assigned a psychiatrist to look into the possible post traumatic stress she may have suffered from the incident, but his suggestion was rejected on the reasoning that it’ll start rumours and draw reporters to the situation which isn’t in Jo Hye In‘s best interests. (Or rather, it’s not in the best interests of the Hallyu star, Chae Se Yoon, because there was an indication that she may have wanted to discuss it, reaching out to Kim Tae Hyun. But because Kim Tae Hyun was too preoccupied with the sudden visit from the gang leader he treated in Episode 2, he failed to notice).
The sexually-motivated assault is then buried under a fabricated story where both she and Chae Se Yoon were attacked by some man (a story which Chae Se Yoon‘s team of lawyers released to the media and even found a man to take the blame!). The injustice leads to Jo Hye In to seek revenge on everyone in the hospital. After hearing about how a switch in the machine room of the hospital’s Proton Center will emit radiation and destroy the whole hospital if incorrectly set, she locks herself in the room, looking to blow up the hospital and take revenge on Chae Se Yoon, on the hospital—everyone. It initiates an evacuation of only the 12th floor, calling for all VVIP patients and important hospital staff to be out of the hospital before anyone else is allowed to leave. No one on the floor knows why an evacuation is necessary, only that they need to do it.
Kim Tae Hyun (who now has access to Han Yeo Jin‘s room after the hospital director granted his request for access after his good work on the Chae Se Yoon incident) prepares Han Yeo Jin‘s evacuation with Nurse Hwang. He disconnects her from the machines and transfers her onto the gurney to carry her out. As one of the gurney’s arms is raised, the intravenous tubing is caught underneath, blocking the IV fluid from entering Han Yeo Jin‘s system. Han Yeo Jin is wheeled to the parking lot ready to be taken far away from the hospital. But then Kim Tae Hyun suddenly remembers that his sister has dialysis and should be in hospital receiving treatment right at that very moment. He hopes she’s not and she skipped, but she didn’t.
Holding the keys to Han Yeo Jin‘s car, he demands Nurse Hwang to tell him what the reason is for the evacuation. Presumably, he get his answer as the next scene is at the Proton Center to talk Jo In Hye out of destroying the hospital. He tries to get her to come out to talk face to face, promising that he will testify in her favour and make sure Chae Se Yoon receives the punishment he deserves. When that doesn’t work, he tells her the truth of the situation—that her actions will never serve the purpose she intends as the target, Chae Se Yoon who she wants to blow up, and all the powerful people have already been evacuated out of the building. The only people who remain in the hospital are the innocent ones who have committed no sin. Whilst the VVIP patients were evacuated out, no evacuation notice was given to the rest of the hospital.
He gets through to her and sets about coming out of the machine room. During this time, the technicians at the control room also manages to trick the computer into thinking there is a higher level of radiation than there is in the room which will trigger and automatic shutting down of the system. The time between the shut down the system reactivating will give them enough time to go in and manually stop the machine and prevent the explosion. The only problem is the system starts releasing halon to take into account the possiblity of any fires in the room, stopping Jo Hye In from reaching the door that needs to be opened as she suffocates.
Failure to open the door will not destroy the hospital, but it will mean Jo In Hye dies—an injustice that Kim Tae Hyun cannot let happen. He tells the technicians to shut off the program that’s tricking the computer (they don’t and let the program run its course). He runs down to the room at which time the doors automatically unlocked, allowing Kim Tae Hyun to enter and bring out Jo In Hye who’s collapsed from the gas. He returns back into the room and manages to turn the machine off manually and saves everyone just before collapsing himself. Disaster averted and the VVIP patients and the powerful returns, the general hospital patients and staff none-the-wiser.
Han Yeo Jin is also wheeled back to her room. She is connected back to the machines by Kim Tae Hyun whilst Nurse Hwang heads out for a moment to get a new bag of IV fluid. Whilst he waits, Kim Tae Hyun receives a phone call from his loan shark (loan shark agent?), Man Shik, who calls to talk about the debt he owes again. That’s when Han Yeo Jin wakes up, asking him from behind: “Should I give you that money?”
And that’s the end of Episode 4 and another two episodes for Yong Pal. So much happens in Yong Pal. We find so many things interesting in the episodes and so many little details to pick up on which actually are quite important to the story that we’re finding it quite a challenge to write about it all in a succinct way! Alongside the power struggle storyline and the main drama with the Hallyu star and Jo In Hye, there was also a brewing plot with the police: the detective who was after Yong Pal in the first couple of episodes is still after him. The gang leader also knows where he works now after Man Shik revealed the information. The debt, his past underground surgeries, unwittingly walking into an power struggle between some very powerful people who can make his life difficult and this latest threat to blow up the hospital is really intensifying Kim Tae Hyun‘s challenges to stay out of trouble and keep his sister by his side. In Kim Tae Hyun‘s words, it’s like climbing mountain after mountain.
With Han Yeo Jin awake, it can only mean more drama for him. In Episode 3, Han Yeo Jin vowed that she’d kill anyone who trapped her in her glass bottle. When Kim Tae Hyun stopped her from taking her life, would Kim Tae Hyun be considered as being someone who helped trap her after he stopped her from taking her life? Or would she recruit him straight off the bat and have him carry out a secret mission and stop her half-brother’s plans from succeeding?
Can’t wait to see the next episodes!! So far this series has really built it up so well with great conflicts and obstacles for Kim Tae Hyun. They’ve also used some good scenes/stories to support their preferential treatment of VIPs theme, too; and then working that into the main story like the incident with the Hallyu star and Jo In Hye. Great drama, great action so far! Love Kim Tae Hyun! We like how is presents himself as one kind of person, but is in fact the opposite. Against what all the characters say about him, he is a real doctor, one that cares for and saves all lives, even if it means risking his own life. Looking forward to seeing what will come from Han Yeo Jin‘s return to the outside world and how it’ll affect Kim Tae Hyun!
(Did anyone notice the post-production of Episode 4. It had some really strange cuts. As well, in one of the scenes, it looked like it missed some compositing work, leaving a large border of green screen visible in one of the shots. Oops!)
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