We’re in the homestretch.

Just two important things that I hope viewers don’t miss.

1. Dr. Jo’s parents

As expected, Dr. Jo (Jo) is designated guardian of Guseo Hospital founder, Dr. Kim SeungHyo (KSH) because she is his daughter. And Intern Park attempted to kill KSH because he was sexually molested (and possibly raped) by the man when he was a child.

Just a few points so we’re all on the same page.

a. It’s implied that Jo’s childhood friend became an addict because of the trauma of being sexually abused as a child. However, when she reveals KSH’s sexual abuse to Jo, Jo is convinced that the drugs made her hallucinate everything.

This isn’t surprising. Too often when a sexual abused victim discloses what happened, her family and/or friends reject her disclosure and side with their abuser.

b. We don’t know exactly when Jo’s mother discovered her husband’s pedophilia, but her reactions are typical.

There’s minimalization and what I call, an optimistic denial. Jo’s mother said that after she found out, KSH stopped doing that. She naively believed that the offence was a one-time thing because her husband’s confession triggered a permanent change in him.

There’s also codependency, as in Jo’s mother enables her husband’s pedophilia. She said that she went to apologize to the child’s family. Huh? Why didn’t the husband apologize himself? She believed that her personal apology was enough to show her husband’s genuine remorse and absolve him of wrongdoing.

Then, there’s the attempted cover-up. Jo’s mother mentioned that the child’s mother asked for money. She brought this up to imply that a) the child’s family benefitted from the situation, and b) the monetary compensation was enough to clear her husband’s guilt, and to restore the child to normalcy.

Jo: Are you serious? You’re pretending it’s all okay?

Her mother’s reaction is typical. She defends her husband; she’s an apologist for this pedophile.

Mother: It’s because Dad has a peculiar disease.
Jo: A what?
Mother: He said to me it had been given to him by the Lord, to test him.

Oh dear, this is warped theology. Let’s be clear here: the Christian God never ever tests and tempts anyone to do evil. Why the heck would He do that?

It’s always the devil who tempts people to do evil. Remember Jesus’ temptation in the desert? Satan tempted him to turn stones into bread so he wouldn’t be hungry, to throw himself from the top of the temple to see if God will protect him, and to worship Satan so he could rule the world. Likewise, when KSH said he was tested, it was the devil who did that.

Secondly, this disgusting, disordered attraction isn’t created by God nor a gift from God. It’s because of personal depravity/immorality and free will that people act on their perverted desires.

There’s nothing remotely true in KSH’s theology.

Jo: That’s what he said? It’s a test?
Mother: Mmm-hhhm. Your father is an angel, WonJin. Even now, he’s out there, somewhere far away, helping those who are suffering, all for free, because it’s his life’s work! He’s a good shepherd to the lost sheep.

Jo’s mother is in a cult, and her husband is the cult leader. She shields him from accountability because he’s brainwashed her to think that he’s irreplaceable because his work is indispensable. Nope. He isn’t a good shepherd but the wolf in sheep’s clothing. A good shepherd would have laid down his life for the sheep. But what did he do in the burning building? He covered his body with Baraka’s.

Jo: Dad is a monster. He’s a monster, the worst kind.
Mother: WonJin. How are you able to talk about your Dad like that? He doesn’t do that anymore. You hear me? He’s done. That’s it.

Yes. Jo’s mother is in denial. She lashes out at Jo because Jo is making her face the hard truth about her husband.

Mother: Tell me, have you ever thought maybe your dad did that so you wouldn’t test his strength? So you didn’t get hurt? Have you?
Jo: (sobbing)

Ugh! Jo’s mother just shifts the blame on her. She’s saying that Jo should be grateful…grateful that her father abused another child instead of her. Jo isn’t being appreciative that her father “protected” her from his “peculiar disease” by preying on another child to be her substitute.

As this point Jo knows that there’s nothing that she can say that will change her mother’s mind about her father. Her mother will always side with him and find excuses for his pedophilia. She’s his enabler or in woke-slang, she’s pedophilia-“adjacent.” She defends her husband.

Jo: Oma. You know what? You’re a monster, just like Dad. We’ll never be a family again, like we were in that picture. You’re not my parents; I’m not your daughter.
Mother: Why did you come here instead of going to the police? You could’ve told them the kind of person you believe your dad is. So why did you come here?
Jo: (wordless)
Mother: Because in reality, you want to believe your dad, too. Wonjin, hey. Now that we see things clearly, and know the truth, we just need to believe it.

In other words, Jo’s mother advocates burying their heads in the sand and just wishing for the best.

She leaves the house, and in the rain outside, she takes of her white medical robe. It’s symbolic of course. She washes the family connection off her.

But is this enough?

2. The secondary monsters

We know that the real monster is KSH. But let’s not overlook the secondary monsters who allowed KSH to thrive.

Our female lead, SuJeong (SJ) mentions the “zealots” who combed through KSH’s office after the fire and took away everything that could look incriminating. But I think SJ fails to look at the picture the mirror here.

The adults who didn’t report the child abuse are also monstrous in behavior because their silence and inaction enabled KSH to continue harming children.

Jo’s mother said a lot of wrong things, but in that single point, she’s correct: Dr. Jo could have gone to the police herself, and reported what her friend told her.

So here’s my shortlist of the secondary monsters in this story:

Dr. Jo for failing to report her father
SJ for failing to report Baba
Ms. Jang for failing to report her colleague

I would say that they prioritized their self-interest over victims of KSH. (Well, I’m hoping that his disfigured burned face would have at least scared children away and limited his exposure to them.)

By self-interest, I don’t mean they were protecting their pocketbooks. Clearly, Dr. Jo, SJ and Ms. Jang didn’t profit from maintaining silence. I also don’t mean they were worried about social stigma because these women didn’t care for status anyway and considered themselves “outsiders.” Lastly, by protecting their self-interest, I don’t mean they were afraid of professional repercussions, i.e., facing disciplinary action and peer ostracism.

By self-interest, I mean they were protecting the INSTITUTIONS they were working for from the scandal and fallout of being linked to a pedophile.

For SJ and Ms. Jang, they protected the White Wings Medical Corps, its medical volunteers, and the many donors who gave money in good faith. The head of the organization was perverted, but the volunteer organization itself did a lot of good to the community.

For Dr. Jo, she protected the Guseo Hospital. The founder is perverted but the hospital serves the local community.

There’s no getting around this harsh truth: KSH is guilty of the crime, but others are also culpable for not intervening. Their inaction made them complicit in the crime. They ignored both a) their responsibility as human beings and b) duty as medical doctors to protect children from a known predator. SJ and Ms. Jang only left with Neema and Dr. Jo only left with herself.

Note: in 1974, the US government passed legislation requiring doctors (along with teachers and law enforcement) to report suspected child abuse and neglect. We call it “mandatory” reporting.

So while other viewers are still hand-wringing about whether or not SJ would kill KSH during the heart transplant (I already said no, right? It isn’t her job to be judge, arbiter, and executioner in surgeries), we should look at major shortcomings, too, of the lead characters we consider the “good guys.”