Dr. Romantic Season 3 Episode 7 Recap & Review

Dr. Romantic Season 3 is a Korean drama series broadcasted by SBS starting from April 28, 2023. It is directed by Liu Renzhi, who also directed “Doctor Romanctic”, “Dr. Romantic S2”, and written by Kang Yin-kyung, who wrote for “Dr. Romantic 3 Romanctic”, “Doctor Romantic S2”, and “Fox Bride Star”. The story revolves around Kim Sabu, a genius doctor working at Doldham Hospital in a local city, and his interactions with passionate young doctors. In the Asia-Pacific region, it will be exclusively available on Disney+ every Friday and Saturday at 22:30 starting from April 28th. ( Source: Wikipedia)

Most of the cast members in Dr. Romantic Season 3 are returning from Season 2, and the storyline continues where Season 2 left off. If you haven’t watched previous seasons yet but don’t have enough time to catch up on everything before watching this season, we recommend at least starting with Season 2 so that you can follow along more coherently~ However, there may be some connections between certain characters in Episode Four of Doctor Romantic Season Three and an incident in Season One; therefore if possible it would be better to watch all three seasons!

Dr. Romantic Season 3 Episode 7 Recap

🩸Park Min-Guk proposed a budget plan for trauma centers to a city council member when he encountered Ko Kyung-Sook – Kim Ha-Nul’s mother – who was clearly still grieving her son’s death while sarcastically criticizing Park Min-Guk’s humanism being overshadowed by money matters. Meanwhile Seo Woo-Jin came across an injured man on his way somewhere; however this patient kept tightly clutching his bag and appeared very nervous. At the trauma center, they received a report of a shooting incident near a nearby military base. On the other hand, Lee Sun-Woong was practicing stitching surgery diligently but when Kim Sabu wasn’t around he could perform like a miracle worker; however, with Kim Sabu present by his side, his hands became stiff and uncooperative.

🩸Jung In-Soo saw four injured patients brought to the trauma center which reminded him of the terrifying memory of Kim Ha-Nul’s death. He froze up and didn’t know how to give orders until Kim Sabu arrived suddenly and dealt with everything quickly and systematically. Cha Jin-Man secretly observed Kim Sabu all along wondering why he was chosen as director for the trauma center – it might be due to internal issues such as Kim Sabu starting to decline in skill level. Meanwhile, one patient recognized Nurse Eun-Tak while Choi Seok-Gu was also there which shocked Nurse Eun-Tak greatly. On another note, since Cha Jin-Man didn’t show up to direct things himself despite waiting for him all this time, he left everything for Kim Sabu to handle on his own~ In fact, during their conversation Cha Jin-Man even hinted that being too aggressive towards injured hands might cause problems?

🩸Dr.Nam noticed that all armed soldiers outside were acting suspiciously while Jang Gi-Tae found out from news reports that the shooter who attacked soldiers at a nearby military base is still on the loose; therefore he rushed over to investigate whether or not “the culprit” could be among them at the trauma center – when they discussed if it’s possible that someone from within their ranks committed these crimes instead of an outsider soldier Jang Gi-Tae immediately realized something was wrong and suspected that some soldiers are hiding something important. Back in emergency room (ER), Choi Seok-Gu kept provoking Nurse Eun-Tak and even mentioned that she had killed someone in the past which made her so angry that she almost hit him; fortunately, Seo Woo-Jin stopped her just in time leaving Yoon A-Reum stunned. Seo Woo-Jin waited for Nurse Eun-Tak to arrive at the operating room but when he couldn’t find her, he had to perform surgery with Jang Dong-Hwa instead while Nurse Eun-Tak was blocked by Choi Seok-Gu halfway through and disappeared.

🩸The blood transport vehicle got stuck on the road due to heavy snowfall, but Kim Sabu found Yang Ho-Joon nearby who came in handy. Park Min-Guk also rushed over carrying blood bags after finding out about this situation. Both of Kim Sabu’s surgeries didn’t go smoothly – one involved emergency treatment while the other caused massive bleeding during bullet removal. Cha Eun-Jae began blaming herself for making a mistake when facing a patient who was close to death. In ER, they couldn’t find Nurse Eun-Tak or two patients.

Dr. Romantic Season 3 Episode 7 Review

Cha Jin-Man: “Are you teaching me how to do it?” Oh Myung-Sim: “You don’t understand the field of external injuries, so you have to learn.” The conversation between Oh Myung-Sim and Cha Jin-Man is like a fusion of humanism under the principle of reality.

The humanism (meaning everything revolves around people) discussed in this episode is the belief and philosophy held by Doldham Hospital and Kim Sabu. Seo Woo-Jin had previously told Cha Jin-Man that sometimes being crazy can help reach certain levels, which Kim Sabu calls romanticism. Therefore, in Doldham Hospital, the spiritual state of medical staff saving patients despite all obstacles is humanism – the concept of doing whatever it takes to save lives.

However, in this episode Park Min-Guk and Ko Kyung-Sook said that “humanism alone cannot save patients’ lives.” This season’s writer changed Doldham Hospital’s belief from solely relying on romantic ideals to also considering more practical considerations. This is very different from the previous two seasons, and I’m not sure if audiences will find it abrupt or not. However, by adding Cha Jin-Man as a character who represents beliefs and principles into Season 3, the writer wanted to make some adjustments to Kim Sabu’s beliefs.

For example, in the first two episodes when Cha Jin-Man thought that spending large amounts on patients with only one or two percent chance of survival was not worth it because there would be little return on investment; his thinking was based more on principles rather than practicality. Thus Cha Jin-Man’s ideas bring out some cruel realities.

Perhaps viewers may think that Dr. Romantic 3 should uphold an atmosphere similar to previous seasons where they hold onto concepts such as “miracle doctor,” “great love,” and “no regrets giving everything” while treating patients; I agree since watching dramas often involves wanting warmth and emotion that differs from the real world. However, in Dr. Romantic 3 , I feel that the writer has strengthened the sense of realism and emphasized that running a trauma center or hospital cannot solely rely on high-level romantic ideals and dedication.

While watching this drama, I kept thinking about my own struggles with healthcare management in medical environments. Park Min-Guk told Ko Kyung-Sook that hospitals exist for patients but money is also necessary for survival because from the moment treatment begins, there will be a need for large amounts of material and human resources; even a small piece of cotton has its corresponding cost.

Although we all know hospitals should not be “profit organizations” since pursuing profit goes against medical ethics (for example, at the beginning of season two Doldham Hospital was planning to build a VIP patient center next door to make money instead of saving trauma patients), it’s an unavoidable reality.

Therefore, at first using Park Min-Guk and Ko Kyung-Sook’s opposing words brought out both romantic ideas and practical impacts when managing hospitals – they require money to operate while upholding their romantic ideals. This echoes how all medical staff were happy seeing advanced equipment in the trauma center despite knowing it requires funding.

Of course, writers still have to uphold Kim Sabu’s romanticism as it is essential within any hospital setting. To me personally, running a hospital requires both “humanism” + “financial reality.” Cha Jin-Man represents one aspect like an outer shell while Kim Sabu represents soft power within a hospital since doctors must hold onto humanistic beliefs like him to fulfill their duties and save lives.

As for why Kim Sabu would give up his position as head of external injuries department remains unclear; this point had been raised by another reader before who felt similarly confused as Cha Jin-Man did regarding Kim Sabu’s decision (since he analyzed that internal reasons may have caused him not wanting this position).

The appearance of Choi Seok-Gu seems to be provoking Nurse Eun-Tak, and he even said “you should be like you were in the past, especially since you killed someone.” We still don’t know what happened to Nurse Eun-Tak in the past. However, I don’t think she actually killed anyone; perhaps she failed to save a patient (since there are scars on her body), causing her guilt that has been haunting her until now (as she recalls the words “save me, please save me” repeatedly). Therefore Choi Seok-Gu’s appearance serves as a reminder of her inner guilt.

This episode feels like an accumulation and brewing of many subplots where each character faces psychological pressure and suppression. For example: Nurse Eun-Tak’s inner demons from the past; Jung In-Soo’s self-blame for Kim Ha-Nul’s death; Lee Sun-Woong facing pressure due to his vision problems (he may have color blindness?); Cha Eun-Jae not trusting herself leading to complications during Kim Sabu’s surgery resulting in self-blame. All these become obstacles that each character must learn how to overcome.

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