Doctor Slump Episode 1 Recap and Review: Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik Face Horrible Hardships

The much-anticipated Doctor Slump is finally releasing for audiences to enjoy, taking over jTBC’s Saturday-Sunday release Welcome to Samdal-ri, starring Ji Chang-wook and Shin Hye-sun. The enigmatic Park Hyun-sik was last seen in Our Blooming Youth as Yi Hwan / Scholar Park and the talented Park Shin-hye starred in 2021’s Sisyphus: The Myth as Kang Seo-hae.

The general storyline follows Yeo Jeong-woo and Nam Ha-neul who were rivals in the past but are now living two separate lives as successful personalities. However, it all comes crashing down and they both quit to start afresh. As the two past enemies meet and are forced to share living quarters, their relationship starts to slowly change towards something romantic.

– The Review Contains Spoilers –

Doctor Slump Episode 1 Recap

The episode opens with Ha-neul walking out of the hospital clearly in a lot of pain. In a voiceover, she discusses how she noticed everything around her while walking down the sidewalk. Although everything was normal, however, she fell in the middle of the road in pain. As the cars barrelled towards her, she almost went under a truck. Elsewhere, Jeong-woo is performing surgery but is unable to save his patient which clearly traumatises him.

We cut to Busan, 2009. It’s a happy and sunny day as the seaside town of Dadaepo is celebrating Ha-neul becoming Korea’s top student! Elsewhere, a young Jeong-woo is also quite happy with his stellar performance in academics. After a silly fight about selling their factory, Ha-neul tells her mother to sell off her dying business and move to Seoul where she can get a chance to get admitted to medical school.

The news of a transfer student stirs up controversy among everyone, especially when it comes out that she also aced the test like Jeong-woo. The moment they meet, their rivalry begins as they both realise that there can only be one top student in the school. Soon enough, Jeong-woo realises that Ha-neul is not someone to be trifled with, as she even has dry coffee with water so that she can save the time of going to the bathroom and studying instead! Either way, as the two of them race to school to see who reaches first and studies faster, future Ha-neul mentions that only one of them was accepted to Hanguk National med school.

At the Hanguk National University Hospital Plastic Surgery Alumni Association meeting, we come across Dae-yeong, who greets everyone and he discusses with his friends Jeong-woo’s popularity on NeoTube. Dae-yeong seems to be jealous of his batchmate which is further proved when he refuses to acknowledge him at first. Having reached his limit after a while, Dae-yeong tells Jeong-woo that if he continues to live selfishly, he will pay one day and a minute later we see him receiving The Minister of Health and Welfare Award.

Later on, Jeong-woo meets his school friends and they implore him to come to the reunion. As they drink and discuss old times, Ha-neul comes up in conversation and he mentions that although she didn’t get into the med school they both wanted, her unrelenting attitude must’ve resulted in her doing something as great. We jump to Ha-neul’s life, wherein she is getting insulted by her senior for the dissertation that she submitted. Working as an anesthesiologist, her life is more difficult than Jeong-woo’s, to the point that she is skipping meals which is affecting her health.

In contrast, Jeong-woo’s life is more laid-back and happy, until “the incident”. It featured him working with a high-profile client from Macau but we don’t get to learn too much about her. Jeong-woo starts the procedure on his client while Ha-neul starts to feel ill as we go back to the first scene of the episode. The truck, thankfully stops right before running over Ha-neul who has passed out long before this.

As her friends tend to her, Jeong-woo tries his best to save his patient who seems to be quickly losing her life. After she passes away despite him trying to save her with all his might, Jeong-woo checks in with the police and tells them that there were no complications during the surgery that would indicate things getting this bad.

Unfortunately, the CCTV also malfunctions only during the surgery and the incident hits the news, sending him into a panic. The case goes to trial after they find anticoagulants in her blood during autopsy and the prosecution even finds a vial of the substance at the clinic. He even has a falling out with his friends who apparently believe that he threw away evidence in the trash at his clinic, complete with his fingerprints.

Kyung-min helps him out when he feels lost and it’s clear that his 10 billion won debt needs to be cleared at the cost of everything he owns. Elsewhere, Ha-neul looks fine after getting her gallbladder removed, which caused her to pass out in the middle of traffic. Either way, she continues to get screamed at by her professor and despite this rather pitiful existence, she decides to push on. Unfortunately, she now faces trauma and goes to a mental health clinic and talks to a therapist about how she wanted her life to end just before the truck reached her. He diagnoses her with depression but she surmises in the end that she doesn’t have time to be depressed.

When she reaches home, she goes to the terrace and comes across a man standing on the edge and it turns out to be Jeong-woo, looking dejected. As they recognise each other, the past floods back for them both and they both remember liking each other… and hating each other.

Doctor Slump Episode 1 Review

First episodes are always exposition-heavy and it’s the same for Doctor Slump. However, I am getting the whiff of a small crime-thriller along with a mental health-focused series in the upcoming episodes of this rom-com. When it comes to this episode, though, it was quite entertaining and, even though we hardly know anything about either of these characters, I found myself feeling a bit heartbroken for them in their present lives. The first episode was a nice mix of light-hearted and extremely serious moments.

A lot of people will relate to Ha-neul’s struggles since they are oh-so-common among high-achievers. Meanwhile, I feel like Jeong-woo’s trial scene was a bit kooky, especially with the medicine vial being found in the trash in the clinic. I mean, sure that’s one way to frame someone, but I think we could’ve gone a little more complicated route and given something more interesting to pick apart. From where we stand right in the first episode, he’s clearly being framed. It’s also quite silly that his childhood friends would start throwing punches the moment they hear anything against Jeong-woo. However, Yoon Park is a treasure and I hope to see more of his character’s love-hate relationship with Jeong-woo.

All in all, the first episode paints a vivid picture of what to expect and I am looking forward to watching this relatable heartwarming drama unfold every week. The series is clearly following the “enemies to lovers who heal each other in the process” trope and I am not complaining.

ETA: For anyone wondering, this is a LONG episode, so buckle in! But, I think the drama’s episodes will level out later. It’s a thing I have found first episodes to do so really not thinking too deeply into that… yet.

Doctor Slump is streaming on Netflix.

Also Read: All of Our Reviews Of Doctor Slump