The episode began with a hopeless man bewailing that he had an unfair life.

Ex-Soldier: In this world, you can’t make it even if you try. No matter how hard you try, there’s a line that you can never cross. Still they say you should do your best. That if you work as hard as you can, you can make it. Why do they keep giving as false hope? It’s infuriating. What can’t be done can’t be done. You’re born with different circumstances and have different starting points. Isn’t that right?
Dr. Seo: Sure, the world is an unfair place. And it’s unjust. But still, don’t assume that others have it easy while achieving things that they’ve worked so hard for. That would really infuriate me. Because I worked myself to the bone to get here.
Ex-Soldier: There’s only one way that we can make things fair for us. Dying. Let’s keep it fair and die together. Me. And you, Doctor. It’ll really be fair between us. Sounds fair, right?

The ex-soldier pointed the gun at Dr. Seo. Then, the camera cut away to the entrance of Doldam Hospital as the sound of gunshot was heard.

Given this introduction and the title “Inciting hope,” it’s easy to see the direction of the plot. I don’t think there’s a need to explain what happened in the episode relative to the theme of hope. But I will anyway because I can’t leave a hole for Episode 7.

To be brief, I’ll limit myself to one character, Dr. Lee, the newest member of the Doldam Hospital.

In this episode, two of his handicaps are shown.

One, he has something that’s akin to stage-fright in actors. He gets anxious when performing in public. He’s unlike Prof. Cha who was asked by Dr. Park to give a “performance” in order to “earn the staff’s favor” at the Trauma Center.

Although he didn’t want to, he gave the staff one heck of a performance to dispel once and for all any doubts about his surgical excellence. Lol. In this moment, he was exactly the elephant being pushed into the fridge that Master Kim envisioned in Ep 1.

Dr. Lee is different from Prof Cha when it comes to performing in public.

On his own, he practiced his suturing with surprising dexterity. But when Master Kim and Dr. Bae appeared at his side to watch him, he suddenly became awkward and clumsy. His fingers were all thumbs.

Master Kim: Which are your actual skills? What you showed before or now?
Lee: Sorry, Doctor. I can manage when I’m working alone but…
Master Kim: But do your hands freeze up when someone is watching?
Lee: Yes.
Nurse: (interrupting them)
Master Kim: Keep practicing. I won’t watch.

Then, his other handicap is his color-blindness.

Note: I like the color saturation in this scene. The blue of the lockers behind Dr. Lee is blindingly vivid and brilliant. To me, this highlighted the fact that Dr. Lee couldn’t detect the vibrancy of colors. He could only see their shades.

So, who was the one “inciting hope” in him?

Dr. Bae.

He instilled hope by showing that he had confidence in Dr. Lee.

Bae: Have you handled vascular cases before?
Lee: I haven’t performed surgery myself but I have assisted with it.
Bae: Then this will be your first time leading the surgery. Look here.
Lee: (hesitating) You want me to do this?
Bae: I saw you practicing earlier. I’m sure you can do it. It’s a big blood vessel, not a small one. So it won’t be that complicated.
Lee: What about Master Kim?
Bae: He went into emergency surgery on the gunshot wound patient with Dr. Cha. The only cardiothoracic surgeon who can operate on this patient at Doldam now is you, Dr. Lee.

Dr. Bae further “incited hope” in him before the surgery. Even after he learned of Dr. Lee’s color-blindness, he didn’t waver in his confidence in him. He reassured him that he was competent to do the job.

Lee: (exhaling)
Bae: Don’t be nervous. Just do it like how you practiced. You can do this.
Lee: Yes, Doctor. (then exhaling once more) Patient is a 29 year old male. He has a distal femur fracture and a femoral artery laceration. After a thrombectomy using the Fogarty catheter, I will repair the damaged areas.

Note the number of people in the operating room in Dr’s Lee’s first performance…or his debut.

Then, when Dr Bae needed to correct Dr. Lee, he did so in a gentle tone and calm voice.

Bae: Dr. Seonung, you have to push it in a little more. All right. That’s good.

Bae: You’re doing much better than I thought you would. Should we…increase the pace a little bit?
Lee: I’m sorry. I was going a bit slow, wasn’t I?
Bae: You were just being cautious. That’s not a bad thing.
Lee: Thank you. I’ll begin the distal revascularization now.

I like that Dr. Bae accentuated the positive. Nervousness was most likely the reason Dr. Lee was going slow, but he chose to put a positive spin on this.

Later, when Master Kim checked on their patient, Dr. Bae made sure to praise him.

Master Kim: Looks like the operation went really well.
Bae: Dr Lee was actually more meticulous and calm than I thought he would be.
Master Kim: Is that so? You must have practiced a lot in secret on your own.
Lee: No, that’s not it. Dr. Bae Munjeong helped me a lot.
Master Kim: Remember this patient’s name. Since he’s the first patient you’ve operated on in this hospital.
Lee: (nodding) Yes. I’ll make sure to remember his name.

My comments: 

a. I like that Master Kim reminded Dr. Lee to remember the patient’s name. It’s important for Dr. Lee to humanize — or to connect — his performance to an actual living, breathing person, and not just to a surgical procedure.

b. The way I see it, Dr. Lee killed two birds with one stone. He performed surgery undeterred by his stage fright and color-blindness. And he did it with Dr. Bae’s help and support.

c. Dr. Bae incited hope in Dr. Lee.

To me, this is the central message of the title. To “incite” hope is to mentor, encourage, and support the individual to continue doing what he likes no matter the handicaps and obstacles in his way.