I understand that for many people Hospital Playlist is their happy pill. The weekly 90 minutes of comfort food hitting the spot in a world that seems to be in a constant state of flux. Many of our regular readers have said as much and I would concur. But I always thought that the show also had a streak of ruthless realism running right through it. The humour certainly helps the medicine go down but this is a show has always been a show where life and death hangs in a balance and people don’t always act in a way that works in their interest.
There's just never enough to say about HP 😝 I've not seen any of the Reply series but having just come off Prison Playbook which was brilliant in its own right, I must say ShinLee upped their game with Hospital Playlist.
Your points about Jeong-won's and Jun-wan's twinning life paths are so beautifully made, and I think, you are not wrong about the author's intention here - after all, they are called soulmates in the show and they have similar names.
I also love your take on how this unfortunate suffering makes Jun-wan a better physician and a better person, like a gold purified in fire.
Just a quick thought about Gyeo-ul - when people are actively avoiding difficult situations and emotions they can't deal with, they tend to work long crazy hours to have an excuse not to think about that... But now that she's forced to leave the safe space of Yulje, she will have to deal with that. And grow-up. Her face expression in the taxi was one of a grown-up woman.
Re: Ik-jun. I guess I understand him better after his conversation in the GS office with Yun-bok. When your family is in danger, you don't care how you come across to other people and what they may think of your decisions. He made a decision a year ago. He won't interfere in this relationship. And that's something I can't help but respect in the end.
Lol, the first criticism of ep7 saw on Twitter today - "nothing's going on, no progress". And here we are, dissecting it right, left, across, and again...nothing, indeed. 🤣
I also have a lot to say and new perspectives are popping out of the blue. I guess that happens when all I think about is HP and WG. ;p
Going back to Gyeoul, I remember that scene when Ikjun was trying to encourage her after her first solo surgery went awry, positive words did not do much and instead wanted to know about her Professors mistakes. Together with the S2 curtain scene with JW, her words seemed as if she was putting herself down. All of these scenes were still somewhat done in a lighthearted manner, but now contextualises her tendency for the negative in dealing with things and situations. I was reminded of Kelly Clarkson's Piece by Piece song, in its lyrics she was able to put into a phrase the direct correlation between an uncertain childhood (abandonment in her case) and its ripple effect into adulthood, as we'd see these adults still grappling and wondering about their worth as a persons and professionals.
Hi, I just came here after reading two of your last posts. I've always been waiting for your posts and all your points were really well-written, I must say. People who were complaining about season 2, mostly found this season quite boring. I have to say admit that the stories and emotions were 'deeper' shown in this season but it doesn't mean that the show has become boring. It's still my favorite show and I still enjoy it as I enjoyed the first season. I felt the show becomes deeper because they always threw us on an emotional roller-coaster for each episode since the beginning of season 2 which didn't really happen in season 1 until the later part of the season. So, this season has precisely shown more than what was shown in season 1. In this season we were shown the characters' flaws, which made us realize that they're also human, like us. But some people would just claim that by doing so, they become out of their character. (Pfft, what else could I say about it?)
And the second reason is, some claimed that there's no progress regarding their ships. Like you've written in your post, I also see a lot of development here. But probably, since people are too frustrated to enjoy the slow pace developments, they can't help but complain. Overall, I agree with all your opinions and justifications. I can't wait for next week so we can untangled all the angst that happened in the last 5 minutes.
And my final thought, since there's a lot of subplots shown in season 7, I kinda feel positive that they will continue it to season 3. Previously, I've had my hopes low because, during the presscon for season 2, shinpd said that he hasn't really planned anything for season 3 although he was planning to do it when the series started, so there hasn't been any certainty yet. But after watching episode 7, I don't think that they can conclude the stories with so many subplots with just 5 episodes left. So, fingers crossed for season 3 to happen. I'm sorry for my rambling. I hope you don't mind :)
Thank you for chewing on my comments about WG/Rosa more! Your three ep7 posts and all the comments have been great and have triggered even more thoughts (and I chuckled at the comments re nothing happened 🤣).
Like what I commented in the earlier post, one of the similarities between Bidulgi and WG is the secrecy of their relationships. While an initial, short-term secrecy could be exciting and allow more intimacy, I personally find long-term secrecy to be potentially troubling for a couple. A secret relationship helps create the bubble where they can solely focus on each other, but it also prevents them from getting to know each other more thru seeing how they interact with others as a couple, and whether they are able to tackle real life issues, including potentially conflicting family cultures, as partners.
I love how you put it – that there are definitely bubbles that need to be burst in days to come. For me, the bubbles started to thin up after the time jump when I saw that they are still keeping the relationship as a secret, and it appeared to me that other than the normal interactions at a workplace and relationships pre-existent to their courtship (i.e. GU with her mentor IkJun), the other lacking 5 had not become closer and personal w/ GU (they are all addressing her as Dr. Jang Gyeoul when she is mentioned among group meals). And while it appeared that JW has at least acknowledged to his mom that he is now dating, I felt that he has not even told Rosa the name of his girlfriend (and of course, a even deeper implication and potentially something more to chew on is that neither Rosa nor GU has told JW about their meeting and conversation that helped trigger the Christmas confession). So, it seemed that they are still pretty much in their own private world most of the time. While I enjoyed seeing the fluffs, especially before the time jump, it has been something that caused my concern in the recent episodes, especially after seeing their dissonance on how / whether to perpetuate the secrecy of their relationship.
You definitely have chewed on more than me re the reason why JW has not brought GU to see Rosa and I think your view is very plausible. One reason I enjoy HP is how the plot twists make me think deeper and examine my own ideology - I recognize that my interpretations and my own expectations of the plotlines are very much framed by my own belief system + cultural background, etc., and so often I get surprised by the twists (or lack of) in the drama that totally expose my hidden prejudice – so I am trying not to assume anything and wait for all the backstories be revealed in due time.
As heavy as Ep7 was, it definitely has set many things in motion for the upcoming episodes (or in your words, the horse has bolted – I love the imagery!). And that is another common theme I now found between the scenes – you could consciously or unconsciously try to deny, avoid, pretend, or mask things, but you cannot control how nature / destiny takes its course – and letting go control might be the best thing for many of the characters now as it will set their horses bolting to new places, getting them unstuck from the current conundrums – be it Junwan learning about Iksun’s return from the call, WG having to face dark moments with what’s happening to the moms, and Minha and Mrs. Yang meeting as their real selves without any concerns on how their lives might be connected in the future (and SeokHyeong will have to make efforts to show love and respect to the women he loves, while standing up for the one relationship he most values). Just like one wise HPB surgeon said in S1, “thinking that you will be fine (not facing things) is asking for luck, and that kind of luck does not happen” – ok, this might be a stretch, but I really thought about what Ikjun said there when I pondered more about ep7.
And we have the ghost / psychic of Yulje to give us hope for positive outcomes (and also to show how all the ep7 plot twists might have been hinted): "As long as you both want to make it work and aren’t too far apart, just wait and see and something will come along..; things happen, whether they are good or bad, then you will have to work on those things together."
My heart was heavy after watching ep7, but thanks to all your posts and the comments from everyone here, now I am excited to see how things unfold in the next 5 episodes - happy or sad, our characters will move on, grow up, and we will continue to cheer them on.
There's just never enough to say about HP 😝 I've not seen any of the Reply series but having just come off Prison Playbook which was brilliant in its own right, I must say ShinLee upped their game with Hospital Playlist.
Your points about Jeong-won's and Jun-wan's twinning life paths are so beautifully made, and I think, you are not wrong about the author's intention here - after all, they are called soulmates in the show and they have similar names.
I also love your take on how this unfortunate suffering makes Jun-wan a better physician and a better person, like a gold purified in fire.
Just a quick thought about Gyeo-ul - when people are actively avoiding difficult situations and emotions they can't deal with, they tend to work long crazy hours to have an excuse not to think about that... But now that she's forced to leave the safe space of Yulje, she will have to deal with that. And grow-up. Her face expression in the taxi was one of a grown-up woman.
Re: Ik-jun. I guess I understand him better after his conversation in the GS office with Yun-bok. When your family is in danger, you don't care how you come across to other people and what they may think of your decisions. He made a decision a year ago. He won't interfere in this relationship. And that's something I can't help but respect in the end.
Lol, the first criticism of ep7 saw on Twitter today - "nothing's going on, no progress". And here we are, dissecting it right, left, across, and again...nothing, indeed. 🤣
I also have a lot to say and new perspectives are popping out of the blue. I guess that happens when all I think about is HP and WG. ;p
Going back to Gyeoul, I remember that scene when Ikjun was trying to encourage her after her first solo surgery went awry, positive words did not do much and instead wanted to know about her Professors mistakes. Together with the S2 curtain scene with JW, her words seemed as if she was putting herself down. All of these scenes were still somewhat done in a lighthearted manner, but now contextualises her tendency for the negative in dealing with things and situations. I was reminded of Kelly Clarkson's Piece by Piece song, in its lyrics she was able to put into a phrase the direct correlation between an uncertain childhood (abandonment in her case) and its ripple effect into adulthood, as we'd see these adults still grappling and wondering about their worth as a persons and professionals.
Hi, I just came here after reading two of your last posts. I've always been waiting for your posts and all your points were really well-written, I must say. People who were complaining about season 2, mostly found this season quite boring. I have to say admit that the stories and emotions were 'deeper' shown in this season but it doesn't mean that the show has become boring. It's still my favorite show and I still enjoy it as I enjoyed the first season. I felt the show becomes deeper because they always threw us on an emotional roller-coaster for each episode since the beginning of season 2 which didn't really happen in season 1 until the later part of the season. So, this season has precisely shown more than what was shown in season 1. In this season we were shown the characters' flaws, which made us realize that they're also human, like us. But some people would just claim that by doing so, they become out of their character. (Pfft, what else could I say about it?)
And the second reason is, some claimed that there's no progress regarding their ships. Like you've written in your post, I also see a lot of development here. But probably, since people are too frustrated to enjoy the slow pace developments, they can't help but complain. Overall, I agree with all your opinions and justifications. I can't wait for next week so we can untangled all the angst that happened in the last 5 minutes.
And my final thought, since there's a lot of subplots shown in season 7, I kinda feel positive that they will continue it to season 3. Previously, I've had my hopes low because, during the presscon for season 2, shinpd said that he hasn't really planned anything for season 3 although he was planning to do it when the series started, so there hasn't been any certainty yet. But after watching episode 7, I don't think that they can conclude the stories with so many subplots with just 5 episodes left. So, fingers crossed for season 3 to happen. I'm sorry for my rambling. I hope you don't mind :)
Thank you for chewing on my comments about WG/Rosa more! Your three ep7 posts and all the comments have been great and have triggered even more thoughts (and I chuckled at the comments re nothing happened 🤣).
Like what I commented in the earlier post, one of the similarities between Bidulgi and WG is the secrecy of their relationships. While an initial, short-term secrecy could be exciting and allow more intimacy, I personally find long-term secrecy to be potentially troubling for a couple. A secret relationship helps create the bubble where they can solely focus on each other, but it also prevents them from getting to know each other more thru seeing how they interact with others as a couple, and whether they are able to tackle real life issues, including potentially conflicting family cultures, as partners.
I love how you put it – that there are definitely bubbles that need to be burst in days to come. For me, the bubbles started to thin up after the time jump when I saw that they are still keeping the relationship as a secret, and it appeared to me that other than the normal interactions at a workplace and relationships pre-existent to their courtship (i.e. GU with her mentor IkJun), the other lacking 5 had not become closer and personal w/ GU (they are all addressing her as Dr. Jang Gyeoul when she is mentioned among group meals). And while it appeared that JW has at least acknowledged to his mom that he is now dating, I felt that he has not even told Rosa the name of his girlfriend (and of course, a even deeper implication and potentially something more to chew on is that neither Rosa nor GU has told JW about their meeting and conversation that helped trigger the Christmas confession). So, it seemed that they are still pretty much in their own private world most of the time. While I enjoyed seeing the fluffs, especially before the time jump, it has been something that caused my concern in the recent episodes, especially after seeing their dissonance on how / whether to perpetuate the secrecy of their relationship.
You definitely have chewed on more than me re the reason why JW has not brought GU to see Rosa and I think your view is very plausible. One reason I enjoy HP is how the plot twists make me think deeper and examine my own ideology - I recognize that my interpretations and my own expectations of the plotlines are very much framed by my own belief system + cultural background, etc., and so often I get surprised by the twists (or lack of) in the drama that totally expose my hidden prejudice – so I am trying not to assume anything and wait for all the backstories be revealed in due time.
As heavy as Ep7 was, it definitely has set many things in motion for the upcoming episodes (or in your words, the horse has bolted – I love the imagery!). And that is another common theme I now found between the scenes – you could consciously or unconsciously try to deny, avoid, pretend, or mask things, but you cannot control how nature / destiny takes its course – and letting go control might be the best thing for many of the characters now as it will set their horses bolting to new places, getting them unstuck from the current conundrums – be it Junwan learning about Iksun’s return from the call, WG having to face dark moments with what’s happening to the moms, and Minha and Mrs. Yang meeting as their real selves without any concerns on how their lives might be connected in the future (and SeokHyeong will have to make efforts to show love and respect to the women he loves, while standing up for the one relationship he most values). Just like one wise HPB surgeon said in S1, “thinking that you will be fine (not facing things) is asking for luck, and that kind of luck does not happen” – ok, this might be a stretch, but I really thought about what Ikjun said there when I pondered more about ep7.
And we have the ghost / psychic of Yulje to give us hope for positive outcomes (and also to show how all the ep7 plot twists might have been hinted): "As long as you both want to make it work and aren’t too far apart, just wait and see and something will come along..; things happen, whether they are good or bad, then you will have to work on those things together."
My heart was heavy after watching ep7, but thanks to all your posts and the comments from everyone here, now I am excited to see how things unfold in the next 5 episodes - happy or sad, our characters will move on, grow up, and we will continue to cheer them on.