With the way things were left off last week, I knew this new set of episodes would be nothing, if not exciting. I mean, with gun-toting drug lord pirates taking over the ship, there was no way we were going to get through these next few episodes without experiencing some seriously dire moments. The crazy thing was that the excitement didn’t stop there! Though really, with the way this drama goes, I suppose that’s to be expected. There’s never really a dull moment on this particular hospital ship!
When an episode starts with two doctors being dragged off a hospital ship to perform an emergency surgery in some remote, filthy, corpse strewn warehouse, you know things are going to be good. Well, maybe not good, but at least exciting. At the same time you also know that the episode is going to be fairly predictable. After all, not even the most skilled surgeon in the world could perform a life-saving surgery in a place as awful as that nasty warehouse. I’m not really sure what the criminals were thinking, dragging Eun Jae and Hyun off like that. Anyone with half a brain would realize that performing a surgery under those conditions would be impossible. Why they didn’t drag their boss’ body over to the hospital ship to begin with is beyond me, but they didn’t. Instead, they brought Hyun and Eun Jae to the place of their shootout, for no other reason that to demonstrate just how bad they really are. Case in point: blowing a man’s head off right in front of Eun Jae. I can’t say that was the best idea in the world, scaring the crap out of the only person in the world capable of saving your boss’ life… Sure, it proved that these men are really, really bad, but it certainly didn’t do their dying boss any favors…
I’m not really convinced these villains actually cared about their boss. Actually, you know what? Strike that. We all know they only cared about their boss’ well-being because he held vital information as to the location of an ungodly amount of money and drugs. Without the boss’ information they’d all be screwed out of a fortune, thus the rather pathetic attempt to save his life. I really don’t understand how this group of thugs thought scaring the crew of the hospital ship and beating them half to death would help their dying boss in any way. Surely one of them would have had to realize that this small crew of people were the only ones capable of keeping their boss alive. With that being the case, why on earth would they make it so dang hard for the ship’s crew to do their job? Along those same lines, why the heck did the gang’s leader seem to go out of his way to mess with Eun Jae? Did he really want his boss to live? ‘Cause he certainly didn’t act like it! Call me crazy, but you don’t go messing with the one person capable of saving a man’s life. Especially not while she’s got a scalpel in her hands!
Not that Eun Jae would have done anything to hurt this dying drug lord on purpose. Eun Jae is way too smart to try to intentionally hurt the man lying open on her operating table. She perfectly understood what would happen if the man on the table died, just as she understood what would happen if she took too long in performing this surgery. When you stop to think about just how much pressure was put on her, it’s no wonder she needed Hyun there to talk her through it all. It’s not that she wasn’t capable of performing this surgery on her own, it’s that she couldn’t calm herself down enough to focus on the task at hand. She felt the full weight of the situation she was in and knew that if she messed up, in one way or another, her newfound family would suffer. That just wasn’t something she could handle. Not that many of us could… I know I certainly wouldn’t be able to keep my cool in a situation like that. Lucky for Eun Jae, Hyun was there to fill the role of the hero and he did it very well.
It’s not often a male drama lead gets to play the part of the actual hero. Most of the time, leading drama men are so caught up in themselves, the never have a chance to reach out and help others. More often than not, they’re the ones who needs saving but not this time. Well… Okay, we all know Hyun did actually end up needing to be saved but not until after he was able to save everyone else on the ship. I really love the way Hyun was able to keep his cool through this entire ordeal. Even at the end of last week’s episodes, he was level-headed enough to volunteer to accompany Eun Jae when she was being dragged off this ship. Once they arrived at the warehouse and were able to assess the situation, it was Hyun who was eventually able to talk some sense into the gang leader and it was Hyun who took charge back on the ship. If it weren’t for Hyun stepping up in this most intense moment of crisis, things would have gone a lot differently. As it was, Hyun was able to save more than one life that night, though it did end up almost costing him his own.
I hate to say things like, “I knew it!” but in this case, I really did. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that something awful was going to come from this run-in with the drug lords and I had a feeling it would be Hyun who would suffer in the end, physically anyway. It’s really Eun Jae who suffered the most from this whole ordeal. The psychological trauma caused by this incident alone would be damaging enough to end a normal person’s career, but to have to suffer one trauma after another is just too much! As predictable as Hyun’s injury was, my heart still broke for Eun Jae as she was forced to move from one surgery to the next, without any time to process everything she’d just been through. I can’t even imagine how awful it must have been for her, standing there, in the OR, knowing the life of the man she loved rested solely in her hands. When you add to that, the fact that she was only standing there because this man on the table willingly came between her and a bullet… Good grief! It’s a wonder Eun Jae hasn’t had a complete breakdown!
While Eun Jae did choose to keep her distance from Hyun as he recovered, I don’t hold that against her. On the contrary, I can totally understand why she choose to stay away. Being a normal human being, Eun Jae needed time to process everything she’s just lived through. She needed time to think, to mentally break it all down, study it and ultimately, to fully accept her own feelings. We all know Eun Jae’s not one to jump head-first into a relationship and being forced to face her emotions in such a terrible way must have been a lot for her to deal with. As an extremely rational person, she needed time to calm herself down, clear her head, and approach all of these undeniable feelings in as objective a manner as possible. In order to do that, she needed to stay as far away from the emotional stimulus as possible. I have a feeling that if Eun Jae had gone to visit Hyun while he was recovering, she would have had a total breakdown and would have been so embarrassed afterwards that she would have tried running from her feelings all over again. By staying away, she was able to allow herself to admit her feelings and approach Hyun in the rational and dignified manner she feels is so very necessary.
Needless to say, I was very, VERY happy when Eun Jae finally agreed to start dating Hyun. (I may have yelled, “It’s about stinking time!” at the TV while I was watching…) This whole relationship has been a long time coming but I think that’s why it’s so very satisfying to see them together now. We’ve suffered through all of Hyun’s frustration. We’ve watched all of Eun Jae’s sad attempts to run from her own feelings. We’ve watched these two grow as people and professionals. We’ve felt Hyun’s pain every time Eun Jae pushed him away. We’ve yelled at Eun Jae for being so stubborn. We’ve shaken our fists at Jae Gul every time he tried to step in and sway Eun Jae. We’ve cursed at Artist Choi every time she did anything. But through it all, we’ve never stopped loving these characters (Well, most of them anyway. I can’t say I’ve ever loved Artist Choi…) which is why, now that things are finally starting to look up for our OTP, it’s so darn satisfying!
Of course once Eun Jae and Hyun finally decided to get together, there had to be more medical drama nonsense to stand between them and their first date, because that’s just the way life in Drama Land goes. I suppose an emergency c-section for a premature baby is a much nicer sort of drama to have to deal with than drug lords and bus accidents but it didn’t really do anything for me one way or another. Then again, I’ve had an emergency c-section for a premature baby, so my whole view on this particular scenario is a little more critical than it may have been otherwise. Even so, I’m happy mom and baby came out alright and I’m happy the ship’s crew could come together to celebrate this new baby’s birth. It’s always nice seeing the crew celebrating life’s happiest moments together. There’s just something so heart-warming about seeing them all happy like that and having a little spark of something sweet happening between Dr. Cha and Nurse Yoo is pretty nice too. I have to admit, I’d be pretty happy if those two got together. If only we could find a nice girl for Jae Gul…
Being the rejected second male lead, I’m sure Jae Gul will be given some random token woman by the time the final credits roll. Either that or his reconciliation with his family will be enough and we’ll be forced to believe that he’ll happily spend the rest of his life alone. (Which I never buy, no matter how hard writers may try to sell such nonsense.) Whatever Jae Gul’s fate, I’m very proud of him for bowing out of his pursuit of Eun Jae so gracefully. Sure, he called Hyun a name or two in the process but apparently that’s just how men communicate. Regardless of how he did it, Jae Gul has come to accept the fact that Eun Jae has feelings for Hyun and whether he’s happy about it or not doesn’t really matter. He’s man enough to accept his defeat and in all honesty, I like him more now that ever. I think knowing just how much Eun Jae has come to mean to him has made me like Jae Gul far more than I ever would have otherwise. The fact that he developed real, honest feelings for her shows that he’s much more of genuine, caring individual that he initially let on. This makes me think that he’s much more deserving of a woman’s love than I originally thought and I really do hope he finds someone who can love him as much as he deserves, in the future.
Too bad I can’t say the same for Artist Choi. I know the writers did their best to make her a likable enough character but I will never feel anything for her but contempt. Maybe I’m being petty and shallow but I don’t really care. She’s a fictional character and she was absolutely awful 98% of the time, therefore I feel no obligation to like her. She was a manipulative liar and a cheater who only cared about herself. I like that Hyun’s mom was the one to point out the fact that Artist Choi’s failure with Hyun was her own dang fault. I think this was the only way Young Eun was ever going to accept her fate. Hearing the truth from anyone else wouldn’t have worked but hearing it from Hyun’s mother pretty much sealed the deal. At least Young Eun was gracious enough to bow out once she realized she didn’t stand a chance against Eun Jae. It just took her way too long to get to that point. I’d like to say something about how great it is, knowing she’s running away to New York but in all honesty, I don’t really see that as a good thing. I mean it’s good she’s leaving but I feel like this running away just further proves how selfish and cowardly Young Eun really is. She never faces up to Hyun, never reveals the truth, instead she begs everyone around her to keep her secret and then disappears forever. It’s a fitting end to an awful character but it doesn’t improve my opinion of the girl in any way.
With things finally working out between our OTP, I’d like to believe we have some happy times ahead. Sadly, I don’t think that’s really going to be the case. We had our little dose of happy cuteness during Eun Jae and Hyun’s rather sad excuse for a date (how great is it if Eun Jae keeps falling asleep?) but we all know happy doesn’t last long in Drama Land. With the captain and ship’s manager all worried about having to fire Eun Jae, you know things aren’t going to stay happy for long. The question is, will Eun Jae accept this new fate or will she fight? I’m pretty sure she and the rest of the crew will fight to keep her on board but will their fight be successful? If it’s not, will Eun Jae stay at the local on-shore hospital as an ER doctor and surgeon or will she go back to Seoul? Something tells me the hospital staff in Seoul hasn’t given up their desire to have Eun Jae back and if the position on the hospital ship is unstable, this may be a good time for the bigger hospital to step in and try to steal her away. I know we only have 2 weeks worth of episodes left so there can’t be a lot of changes between now and the end but you know something is going to stand between this and our happily ever after and I’m pretty sure this is it. The question is, how will things work out in the end?
We had a lot happen this week which means there’s lots we could discuss. You know I always love hearing from you so be sure to let me know what you thought of this week’s episodes in the comments below!
You can catch up on all my Hospital Ship reviews here:
Episodes 1-4
Episodes 5-8
Episodes 9-12
Episodes 13-16
Episodes 17-20
Episodes 21-24
Episodes 25-28
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