Dr. Romantic 3 Episode 12 Recap & Review

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Dr. Romantic 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”, “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 Dr. Romantic Season Three and an incident in Season One; therefore if possible it would be better to watch all three seasons!

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Dr. Romantic Season 3 Episode 12 Recap

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🩸Dr. Romantic Season 3 Episode 12, the news of Cha Jin-Man’s killing of a student has spread like wildfire in the hospital. Cha Eun-Jae begins to suspect whether it is Cha Jin-Man who has changed over the years, or if she herself has become a different adult than him?

Park Min-Guk confesses to Kim Sabu that he accepted favorable conditions for helping the trauma center, but in Kim Sabu’s eyes, this is a humiliating compromise. Park Min-Guk believes that this is not a matter of right or wrong, but rather that Cha Jin-Man does not have what it takes to be a director. Especially since none of the team members he initially recruited wanted to follow him, which already indicates that Cha Jin-Man lacks leadership qualities.

While Kim Sabu can agree that it makes sense for someone without strength and ability to leave their position as director, political deals should not be involved in such decisions. Furthermore, Kim Sabu thinks Ko Kyung-Sook did not allocate such a huge budget just because of personal grudges against Cha Jin-Man – she deliberately wants to prevent the trauma center from operating so that Congressman Liu can promote his eco-city enterprise.

Jung-Geum suddenly disappears from emergency care and everyone rushes to find her. Yoon A-Reum is very worried about Jung-Geum because there is actually a tumor in her chest that could burst at any time.

Cha Eun-Jae’s mother confronts Seo Woo-Jin about living together with her daughter; however, Seo Woo-Jin believes they are both adults who do not need parental consent and they had discussed living together many times before doing so. Nevertheless, at last, Cha Eun-Jae’s mother still hopes Seo Woo-Jin will end things with her daughter soon enough.

Kim Sabu criticizes Cha Jin-Man for wasting time on meaningless things. The duty of a doctor is to save lives, and what keeps doctors going is their sense of mission, not those honors or titles.

Even in such an unfavorable environment, one must endure until they can make changes. As a senior figure in the hospital, Kim Sabu should find solutions to these unfair situations instead of exploiting and bossing around new doctors.

Cha Eun-Jae tells her mother not to hold onto her so tightly because it’s her life and her decisions may not necessarily suit her. She even mentions that Cha Jin-Man is no longer respected by everyone.

🩸After overhearing the conversation between mother and daughter, Chae Jong-Hwan talks with Seo Woo-Jin about returning to Seoul Hospital soon enough for better status and treatment; however, Seo Woo-Jin has no intention of leaving as he dreams of making Doldham Hospital the best hospital in the country.

But when Cha Jin-Man hears Seo Woo-Jin talking about “dreams,” he sighs at how three years ago he tried teaching Woo Sang-Min responsibility but ended up taking his own life instead.

He doesn’t understand why young people nowadays cannot take responsibility yet demand so much – how can anything great be achieved this way? However, Seo Woo-Jin believes that each generation faces different challenges in life; today’s world does not emphasize strength since younger generations are struggling through tough times biting down hard on their teeth. Meanwhile, Kim Sabu never gives up on anyone at the hospital and always stands by all medical staff.

Actually, Kim Sabu had already learned from Oh Myung-Sim that Lee Sun-Woong was the one who brought in Cha Jin-Man’s replacement, so he intentionally assigned Lee Sun-Woong to perform surgery on him. Feeling guilty, Lee Sun-Woong confessed to Kim Sabu that he initially wanted Cha Jin-Man to resign but later heard about the budget for the trauma center and felt like he should do something. Kim Sabu scolded Lee Sun-Woong and told him that true revenge is showing his skills and becoming better.

Kim Sabu accidentally met Jung-Geum who said her family had all gone to heaven and being alive for too long wasn’t a good thing. She treated Kim Sabu as her husband and said not everyone can be a role model for others because it comes with many responsibilities. However, she suddenly fell into a coma while talking to him, so he rushed her to the emergency room.

Jung-Geum was in critical condition but Yoon A-Reum couldn’t contact any of her relatives for surgery. When she woke up, she asked Kim Sabu not to contact her busy children before feeling sleepy again and passing away with a smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Cha Jin-Man returned home with Seo Woo-Jin saying their chosen house was perfect for a fresh start. He also urged Seo Woo-Jin to cherish Cha Eun-Jae more. The next day, Cha Jin-Man submitted his resignation letter telling Park Min-Guk that every decision has its consequences which may only become apparent after some time passes; implying that Park Min-Guk should make wise decisions unlike himself.

Park Min-Guk was shocked when Ko Kyung-Sook denied having made any promises regarding the budget proposal even though they previously agreed on it together. Now that Cha Jin-Man left them alone against external threats targeting their trauma center, Park Min-Guk realized he had been set up. As Kim Sabu predicted, even Cha Jin-Man’s advice not to be too confident in one’s decisions was relevant.

Kang Dong-Ju was on his way to the hospital while Dr. Nam, Oh Myung-Sim and Jang Gi-Tae were anxiously waiting for him. When Kim Sabu learned that the budget proposal would never pass, which he already knew beforehand, he decided to bring in someone better than himself as the new director of the trauma center – Kang Dong-Ju – ready for a fight.

Dr. Romantic 3 Reviews Episode 12

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Kim Sabu’s thoughts on Cha Jin-Man are not bad. “I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect you. As a doctor, you’re still excellent.” In Kim Sabu’s heart, he still believes that Cha Jin-Man has the ability. The line from episode 10 of “Dr.Romantic Season 3,” where Kim Sabu tells Cha Jin-Man “Don’t you understand? You’re just Plan B,” is actually a warning to Cha Jin-Man that if he doesn’t change, he will only be a backup plan.

To be honest, I do support you in my heart. I hope you can find your own way to solve problems differently than me. There were even moments when I thought it could come true. But instead, you continue to waste your life on meaningless things.”

Therefore, Kim Sabu did give Cha Jin-Man many opportunities; however, what Kim Sabu saw was someone who was always obsessed with the reputation of being a doctor. We all know that the image of a doctor in Kim Sabu’s mind should not pursue or obsess over profit like how Cha Jin-Man is obsessed with protecting doctors’ reputations without considering taking care of sick and injured people.

For example, in the case of Kim Ha-Nul and during episode six of “Dr.Romantic Season 3” when Cha Jin-Man criticized Seo Woo-Jin for choosing to abandon treatment for an incurable patient so as not to be accused of medical malpractice – Seo Woo-Jin said: “A survival rate between one or two percent is enough reason for me to perform surgery.” We can feel that every decision made by Cha Jin-man is based on his career as a doctor rather than following Kim Sabu’s philosophy which is saving every life possible.

That’s what “Dr. Romantic 3” does – it leads viewers back to thinking about the essence of things: “What is the duty of a doctor?”

“What’s left for a doctor without reputation?” “Sense of mission. Our duty is ultimately to save those who are injured and sick. That is our starting point, and it must also be my end point, so nothing else matters.”

I fully understand that the writer of “Dr.Romantic Season 3” explores the medical system and doctors from a more macro perspective. The existence of doctors lies in “saving lives,” not providing you with ways to achieve personal ambitions.

This is why Kim Sabu said, “What reason do doctors need to do their job?” When Kim Sabu was mocked by Cha Jin-Man as having medical skills but only being considered a third-rate doctor, he replied, “Is that so? But I don’t care.” This answer is what was mentioned earlier. Although doctors have many opposing positions in the medical system and each has reasonable reasons, the existence of doctors lies in “saving lives,” not using them as a means to achieve ambition.

“Without a sense of mission, this damn medical system cannot operate. Do we want to let those critically ill patients die?” Kim Sabu still knows that some aspects of reality are difficult to achieve. In fact, when Cha Jin-Man said: “How long do we have to endure? How much rudeness should we tolerate for this belief?

Even if we try our best to treat them, all we get is insults and complaints”, I don’t know what everyone saw in Cha Jin-Man? Actually, I quite like the character Cha Jin-Man under this writer because he is very realistic and true; he completely embodies the struggles of a doctor within the medical system.

In fact, Cha Jin-Man is also a sad product under the medical system; perhaps it’s because I used to work within the healthcare industry which makes me feel that his persistence isn’t wrong but rather due to grievances.

Throughout this episode, I kept thinking about why Cha Jin-Man was so persistent? In fact, we can trace it back to the origin of his character’s story. He couldn’t feel any love within this medical system; instead, he felt more grievances which led him to be afraid of admitting mistakes and thinking that all new doctors should go through such hardships like him.

This reminds me of what Cha Jin-Man’s wife said: “Only those who have been loved can understand how to love others.” Although she was talking to Seo Woo-Jin, it is actually more suitable for Cha Jin-Man ~ Therefore, we will see that Cha Jin-Man cares so much about his reputation rather than dedicating himself or knowing how to love in return. From this episode, I think the writer throws a question at the audience: “Who hasn’t been loved?“

“We have to endure until when?“

“Endure until there is a change, until we find a solution for all the unfairness. That’s why us elders are here to lead the younger generation. We didn’t come into power just to exploit and boss around the young ones.”

As the head of all medical staff in the hospital, Kim Sabu is like a father figure to everyone. He can be strict at times but he also shows a lot of love. Seo Woo-Jin feels that Kim Sabu has never given up on him and will always stand by his side. In “Dr.Romantic”, Seo Woo-Jin’s storyline is revisited where he was once someone who almost gave up on life due to debt.

That’s why in this season, Seo Woo-Jin mentions several times “If I hadn’t met Kim Sabu and Cha Eun-Jae back then, what would I have become now?” Therefore, Seo Woo-Jin was loved by Kim Sabu and so were other characters such as Kang Dong-joo, Yoon Seo-jeong, Jung In-soo, Nurse Eun-tak Jang Dong-hwa and Lee Sun-woong – they were all children who were influenced and loved by Kim Sabu.