Prescribing a profound message, Doctor Cha made an exceptional pitch that it’s never too late to own your happiness.
This new JTBC drama spotlights the story of a once-promising doctor who gave up her career to become a full-time housewife.
abbyinhallyuland watches Doctor Cha on Netflix
Opening Week Rating:
Doctor Cha Opening Week Story
Foregoing her medical career to become a full-time housewife and mother, Cha Jeong Suk (Uhm Jung Hwa) realized how much she had deprived herself of happiness.
Jeong-suk’s daily life mostly involved house chores and attending to the needs of her two children, husband, and mother-in-law. She has been sleeping separately with her husband Seo In-ho (Kim Byung Chul).
“Our relationship is maze-like. There’s no answer and there’s no end.”
Unknown to her, he is in a relationship with his first love Choi Seung-hui (Myung Se Bin) who is also a doctor at Gusan Medical Hospital where Jung-seok’s husband and son Jung-min works.
When she fainted in a mall and woke up in a hospital’s ER, she was told of her extremely worrying liver condition that required a transplant. Fortunately, among her family members, her husband is a match. But her mother-in-law knows the impact of a liver transplant and refuses for her son to give his to Jeong-suk.
As Jeong-suk’s condition worsens, he acquiesces, but on the day he was about to sign the consent form, his mother and mistress both threw a fit. Luckily, a brain-dead patient was declared so Jeong-suk’s surgery proceeded as planned.
“Happiness is not rocket science. Start with something small. Something that you like best.”
Roy Kim, the handsome and capable surgeon with whom Jeong-suk frequently runs to encouraged her to give a shot at pursuing her doctor career anew.
Prioritizing the needs of her family first before her own, her near-death experience and Roy Kim’s pep talk pushed her to claim her interrupted dream 20 years ago.
Delightfully, she also starts living her own life and not being the resident helper of the family. Thinking her strange attitude change is part of the surgery aftermath, In-ho and the rest of the family start moving to do things they can actually do on their own.
Jeong-suk studies hard to prepare for the exam. Her hard work paid off as she passed the exam with an almost perfect score. Next, she moves to apply for residency training at Gusan Medical Hospital in the Family Medicine department where her husband’s mistress is also practicing.
Initially declined for her age and recent surgery, In-ho gets the surprise of his life when he spots his mistress leading her new resident trainees which includes his wife, Cha Jeong Suk.
Doctor Cha Opening Week Musings
If you are in a lethargic mood or in one of those I-want-to-leave-this-job moods, Doctor Cha is an instant mood-making pill that you should try.
It is a tribute to all mothers who gave up their careers for family love and encourages they can still pursue their own happiness still. They just need to commit to their choices.
Admirably, Uhm Jung Hwa captured an engrossing character who takes a bold step in finding her life’s purpose that she lost along the way by living her life for others.
Her story resonates with a lot of mothers who made the choice to be full-time housekeepers even with a promising career ahead.
While being a devoted mother and wife is a noble choice, realistically these mothers set aside their own dreams.
Sadly, in the process of doing that, they tend to be less happy wondering the what-ifs that they did not do in their lives.
Moving forward to Jeong-suk’s motivating journey that would challenge her grit, she sails to prove her worth.
That her age does not define what she can or cannot do in a career she’s passionate about and that her years of perfecting the craft of a homemaker gifted her with a bigger heart to understand the fundamental roles of a doctor: patient care and saving lives.
Be inspired to commit to personally made happiness like Cha Jeong Suk in Doctor Cha! International fans can watch it on Netflix!
Photos: JTBC Drama
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