No doubt the Japanese “Doctor X” is interesting, but when it comes to depth and cohesion of a central message, it can’t hold a candle to this kdrama.

1. The Hippocratic Oath

The shortened version is narrated in a voiceover.

Dr. Bu: In my capacity as a member of the medical profession, I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity. I will give to my teachers the respect and gratitude that is their due. I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity. The health of my patient will be my first consideration. I will respect the secrets that are confided in me, even after the patient has died. I will maintain by all means in my power, the honor and the noble traditions of the medical profession. My colleagues will be my sisters and brothers. I will maintain the utmost respect for human life. I will not permit considerations of creed, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, sexual orientation, social standing, or any factor to intervene between my duty and my patient. I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity, even under threat. I make these promises solemnly, freely, and upon my honor.”

And because we’re smart and curious bitches on this blog, here’s the Hippocratic oath in its original, long form.

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art – if they desire to learn it – without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

The screenwriter stresses the importance of this oath from the beginning.

In 1988, Drs. Gu BonPyeong (the chairman of the Guseo University Foundation and president of the Magnolia Society) and Bu SeungGwon (the director who receives the melons) were in the same graduating class. As the chairman’s son, Dr. Gu was given all the awards by the college dean when really, these should have gone to Dr. Bu. However, the college dean only agreed to this arrangement (note the subtext here: the idea didn’t come from him) on the condition that the young Dr. Bu led the oath. I guess, the dean was demonstrating his Solomonic wisdom here. He didn’t offend the chairman but he “entrusted the [oath-taking] to someone who really deserves it.”

The implication here is that the oath is more important than any medical award. It serves as the moral code and ethical guideline that bind all doctors through the centuries (at least, the Western-trained doctors. I don’t know if other cultures have an equivalent one).

The distinction of being the doctor to lead the oath is an honor reserved “Only those truly committed to medicine should lead the oath.” That Dr. Bu is chosen meant that he’s the exemplar of graduating class of 1988.

Now, fast-forward to 2020 in the age of Covid, and Dr. Kim, head of the Korean Medical Association, calls for a general strike of doctors. In 2026, his place is succeeded by Dr. Ma, head of the Intern Resident Association, chief resident at Guseo, and direct boss of Intern Park. They both take the podium where every year, the Hippocratic oath is delivered.

Again, the implication is clear. The pledge to practice their profession with “conscience and dignity” and to prioritize the health of patients as their “first consideration” has fallen by the wayside.

Throughout the episode, SuJeong and her merry band of doctors refer to “conscience and dignity.”

Examples:

a. After SJ volunteers to perform pediatric surgery, Dr. Bae follows her out and confesses that he’s afraid to do the surgery himself as the child’s blood vessels are so small and fragile that they may fall apart at his touch. He reveals that the child’s parents died during the last 2020 doctors’ strike and they don’t want the child to die because of another strike as well. SJ points out that the parents didn’t die because of the strike.

SJ: “I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity.” We all promise that. Conscience and dignity were both missing. That is why her parents died that day.

b. When the ER Dr. Kim is informed that the ER needsto shut down its operation because 70% of the residents are gone, he protests vociferously, “You call yourselves doctors?!” And then he cries in a corner, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop them from closing the ER.”

Afterwards, Dr. Jo teases him about it. I find it funny how she has him figured out to a T.

c. Intern Park calls out his fellow interns.

Park: The only reason you became doctors was to get richer, now you’re about to put your patients’ lives on the line and walk out. How can you brand those who stay behind as traitors, just because they wanna care for their patients? Ya! Ya! It’s you assholes who are the selfish ones. Where’d your conscience go, huh?

The central message of this episode is unequivocal. Physicians must recommit to the oath they made when they began their vocation. Their work must always be guided by conscience and dignity. The health and well-being of the patients are the primary considerations. And…

There’s no such thing as traitors among colleagues who choose to stay behind to care for patients.

2. Intern Park

Speaking of Intern Park, I’m glad it’s been confirmed that he is the son of a hospital administrator. In my write-up of Episode 3, I said that it probably escaped the audience attention that he’s the “son of the great director who started with a plastic surgery clinic in Busan, and grew it into the biggest medical center of the region.” Ms. Jang — SJ’s director or “handler” – figured out who he was early on, but from the looks of it, he wanted to keep it secret from SJ.

My guess is his reason for being secretive is the same reason he decided to do his residency at Guseo instead of Yeongsin: to make a name for himself without relying on his father’s achievement or his inherited privilege.

But his co-interns won’t let him forget it.

Intern 1: Your father runs a hospital, so [the intern strike] doesn’t matter to you?
Park: (sighing) No, it doesn’t matter to me.
Intern 2: Can you believe the way this bastard talks?
Intern 3: Hey, why did you come here?
Park: What?
Intern 3: I mean you went to Yeongsin University. And we know, Yeongsin is a much more prestigious school than this little backwater university. And it’s a branch hospital, too.

I think Intern 3 means that since Guseo is a branch hospital or a satellite campus, it isn’t that elite. Yeongsin Hospital, on the other hand, is the main hospital.

Intern 2: Don’t you think you’re being a little too self-deprecating? I mean, Park TaeGyeong, it’s not like you caused any trouble there. Why’d you ditch such a good place and come all the way here?

He implies that he looked into Intern Park’s stint at Yeongsin University and couldn’t dig up dirt or academic issues preventing him from interning at the hospital. So he infers that Intern Park’s avoiding internship at Yeongsin because of low self-esteem.

This irritates Intern Park because naturally no one wants his private life being snooped on. But what really sets him off is when his fellow interns bring up his nepo-baby status again.

Intern 1: I told you, it’s because his dad’s a hospital director, you selfish son of a bitch.
Park: Yah! Is there anyone here who’s not a damn doctor? I mean, anyone who’s not a doctor’s son here? Your dad’s an ophthalmologist. Your mom’s a dermatologist. And you…isn’t your dad a vet? That would explain your inferiority complex.

Lol. He turns the table on them; he isn’t the one with low self-esteem.

Note the medical professions of the parents: ophthalmology and dermatology. It’s widely known that, in Korea, the public views these specialties as non-essential medicine. These doctors are criticized for valuing profit and aesthetics over actually saving lives.

Park: I asked if there’s anyone here who’s not a damn doctor. Hey, anyone here become a doctor because you were poor? Or because you wanted to save lives? You assholes are rich and your degrees were handed to you.

There you go. He didn’t go to Yeongsin because he didn’t want his degree handed to him. I’m assuming that it’s become common knowledge over there that his family owns the biggest medical center in the region.

Park: The only reason you became doctors was to get richer, now you’re about to put your patients’ lives on the line and walk out. How can you brand those who stay behind as traitors, just because they wanna care for their patients? Yah! Yah! It’s you assholes who are the selfish ones. Where’d your conscience go, huh?

My comments:

a. I told you to watch out for this screenwriter’s soapbox, right? If the viewers are getting a ton of information all at once from one character — like the viewers are drinking from a fire hose – then the subject matter must be the screenwriter’s platform or strong message.

A character’s monologue (usually a rant by SJ or Intern Park) = the screenwriter’s opinion on the issue

b. Essentially, dermatologists and ophthalmologists – especially in private practice – are seeing backlash from the public because they’re considered as profiteering (i.e., mafias in white, too) and pushing unhealthy lifestyles on society.

c. There’s also a perception that only the rich can become physicians because of high tuition costs of medical school, and inaccessibility of elite prep schools (or cram schools). They’re locked out of the medical track at an early age.

This is most likely why Dr. Bu – I pointed this out already – has a preferential treatment for the poor working class. He probably came from a low-income family himself and attended med school with financial scholarship/assistance.

Interestingly, this war of words nearly turns into a fistfight when Intern 1 (or whatever, he’s the son of eye doctor) mentions SJ.

Intern 1: (grabbing Park by the collar) All this from a lackey for some temp doctor outta nowhere.
Park: (pushing him off him, but then grabbing him by the collar) What did you say? Say it again.

This apparently is the red line for Intern Park. I don’t think he minded being called a “lackey” or minion, but he didn’t want to hear his peers dissing SJ as an ordinary temp from out of nowhere.

Then, Dr. Jo walks in to break up the fight. Notice that she only calls on Intern Park to end the fight and SJ comes out of her hiding place to defend him.

Dr. Jo: Park TaeGyeong. Should I call Dr. Gye? You wanna face the disciplinary committee?
SJ: (grunting from the corner of the room)
Park: (looking uncomfortable because she overheard them)
SJ: (addressing Intern 1) Let him go. Or else, I’ll send you to Dr. Kim SeongJin. As a patient.
Intern: (releases Park)
SJ: (yelling) Right now! Hit him, Park TaeGyeong!

Lol. I find this scene amusing. For one, Dr. Jo fully expected her to be disappointed with Intern Park for getting into a fight, when in fact, she’s egging him on. For another, she sounds like she wants Intern Park to “defend her honor.”

3. “Dating, but not dating”

I don’t think Intern Park and SJ will ever date because SJ doesn’t appear to have a romantic bone in her body. But it has dawned on me that they’re in that ambiguous, unofficial dating relationship that Koreans call “some.”

You see, he treats her like they’re a couple:

They have meals together, or he waits for her to join him for lunch in the cafeteria.

They comfortably joke with each other. During the teddy bear surgery –

Park: Dr. Gye, you have to take this seriously. Hyuna is watching. Dr. Kim got us a lot of new stuffing so let’s make Snuggles cuddly again. We’ll make her nice and plump, pack it in tight—
SJ: (holding up ball of cotton) I’ll pack this in your mouth.
Park: Closing up now.

They protect each other. He stood guard while she took a power nap. She threatened to do bodily harm to an intern if he didn’t release Intern Park.

They complement each other. While he defers to her medical opinion, he bridges the gap between her literal processing and social context. She’s stubborn and abrasive, but she listens and yields to him whenever he explains the situation. He takes care of her elemental needs; she provides him with a moral compass.

They trust each other: she chose him to stitch up her cut arm though he was the most inexperienced doctor in the group.

But note the phone call he received from his mom. I wouldn’t be surprised if his mom called to tell him to return to Busan to take over the family business or to order him to go on a blind date. Lol. These are the usual tropes in these things.

4. Who’s the real mafia here?

It was implied in Episode 1 that the group of doctors in the Guseo hospital are the mafia in white.

But I say that Ms. Jang acts like a Mafia, too.

She “protects” the hospital from closing down due to lack of personnel by sending her “hitman” SJ, and “extorts” exorbitant fees for SJ’s services from Dr. Bu.

Her melons and origami are her way of intimidation. The gifts of melons are like the “threat letters” the mafia send to their wealthy targets to demand money. And the paper origami that she leaves behind in the observation booths is like the graffiti or marker to denote that she – and her “enforcer” or “hitman” – have been there.

5. Agent of change

I like that SJ is finally explaining herself to her colleagues.

SJ: Dr. Do Yunsik. Do you know what the biggest difference is between you and me? It’s that I don’t want to fail so I do it myself. But you, you don’t want to fail, so you just avoid it.

She did this too in Episode 7 with Dr. Bu.

SJ: Mr. Director, I have no interest in shaping, or changing the world. That’s not my responsibility. In truth, I am someone who doesn’t say “yes” or “no” but instead, asks “Why”? To know why is to be a better doctor.

One thing that makes her an unlikeable colleague is that she’s a cipher. It’s hard to “decode” her intentions, character, morals/values, etc. But as we’re finding out, it takes collaborative effort to heal and care for a patient. She’s indeed a superstar doctor but she needs an anesthesiologist, nurse, assistant, other doctors, and even an administrator, to prevent burnout.

There are four more episodes of “Doctor X.” I hope the show ends on a high note.