Horse Doctor Episode 11
So here we are at the aftermath of the dreaded kiss. Ha ha. Or hang on – did she actually kiss him? Are we going to discover that this was all a daydream too? No it appears that it DID happen. 🙂 But Kwanghyun is the perfect gentleman. He manages to get out of this awkward situation but straight into a bigger problem – one of the other vets needs a doctor, but there is no doctor available. And if someone doesn’t treat the patient soon, he’s going to die ….
Kwanghyun reacts quickly after the princess kisses him. He leaps up blaming himself for leaning in too close to her while he was trying to treat the puppy. (Good idea – make it seem like an accident. Although I’m sure he knows what really happened!) The princess, also in shock and not knowing what to do, seems relieved that he is taking the blame (!) but at least she doesn’t let him grovel on the ground for forgiveness.
Horse Doctor (MBC, 2012) Kwanghyun in shock after the kiss!
Jinyung has seen all this too. And she turns away with her hand over her mouth. When Sungha turns up and asks her what’s wrong, she can hardly speak! (Now is this because she ‘likes’ Kwanghyun or is it simply because she can’t believe that she just saw a princess kiss a peasant?!) She doesn’t know what to say, so she just rushes off. Kwanghyun leaves the house in a hurry too, but on his way out he admires Sungha’s horse and the grand house he lives in. He doesn’t realise Jinyung lives here as well! He bumps in to Sungha again and he’s curious to know what Sungha and Jinyung’s relationship is. But Sungha is called away suddenly and tells Kwanghyun to ask her himself. (Now come on, this is dragging out now, how long would it take just to tell him right now? Grrr)
At the palace, the lady-in-waiting is mortified when she hears that the princess KISSED a horse doctor! She will be punished too if anyone ever discovers this! So she advises the princess to STAY AWAY from him then she will forget him. (Hmm. Really? But is this going to be out of sight out of mind OR absence makes the heart grow fonder?)
The princess is in turmoil – how could she have KISSED him?
Dr. Ko takes over his new position as the chief physician of the royal clinic 내의원 (ne-ui-won) He discovers straight away that there are lots of underhand practices going on at the clinic such as doctors accepting bribes etc. He means to put a stop to it. And the whole place is searched thoroughly and the accounts checked. This is very bad news for Lord Jung and Myunghwan who worry about what to do. Where is the money going to come from now? Dr Ko also tells the king that he wants to change the application process for entry to the clinic. He wants to make the exams open for all so that they can get the most talented doctors – not just yangban.
Finally Myunghwan meets Inju again. But her face falls when she sees him. He calls her Inju-ya – the familiar way to address someone close. She tells him not to do that because they don’t have a relationship anymore. She’s guessed that he had something to do with the politicians trying to sabotage Dr Ko when he was in Icheon and she looks disappointed in him. She walks away from him and there seems to be a look of sadness or regret in his eye. (Myunghwan seemed like a good man at the beginning before he ended up being forced into the murder of the king’s son and then his friend. But by siding with the dodgy politicians now – when he has a choice to do the right thing – it shows that he really is weak. Inju meanwhile shows that she is honourable by staying at the side of the good Doctor Ko.)
Inju has severed her ties with Myunghwan
Jinyung bumps into Kwanghun at the stables for the first time since Kissgate. She feels awkward and at first tries to ignore him. But he rushes over to chat with her and STILL wants to know who Sungha is. (Will someone PLEASE put him out of his misery!) He clearly thinks they are having an affair. She doesn’t want to tell him who she is and is saved when one of the student vets gets ‘sick’.
But the other vets giggle as Jinyung checks him over. They know he just wants attention and for her to touch him! But she discovers that his pulse is fast and she wonders if he has some chest problems. Kwanghyun doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with him and that he’s just messing around. But she tells Kwanghyun to keep an eye on him – maybe he IS sick after all.
Jinyung checks the young student’s pulse much to his delight
Suddenly the vets are called out to a small island to see to a horse. They have to get a boat across and once they are away from the clinic and doctors, the young student starts feeling out of breath. But by now it’s too late to catch a boat back and there is no doctor available to see them. The patient is in a bad way and passes out and could die if nothing is done. Someone has to jump into action, but horse doctors are not allowed to treat people.
But it’s clear that the young man is going to die, so Kwanghyun borrows the doctor’s acupuncture needles. He tries hard to remember what Jinyung told him about pressure points on humans. The others think he’s crazy because if anything goes wrong he will have to take responsibility. But Kwanghyun can’t just sit back and let the poor bloke die. Nervously he looks over the needles – they are totally different and much finer than the ones they use on horses. So at first he doesn’t know which needle to use and tries again to remember what Jinyung told him.
Kwanghyun applies acupuncture to the young vet
Kwanghyun applies acupuncture and then they spend a long night waiting to see what will happen. The patient starts breathing again but he won’t wake up and Kwanghyun is worried that he did something wrong. They return to the clinic the following day and Dr Ko is told what happened.
Dr Ko doesn’t blame Kwanghyun. He says the treatment was simply too late. But others aren’t going to be so understanding and when the patient doesn’t wake up Kwanghyun gets worried. Will they blame him? Rumours spread that a horse doctor has been acting like a ‘real’ doctor. Myunghwan is shocked too and looks like he’s going to make a big deal of it. Does he see this as a way to get rid of Dr Ko?
Myunghwan hears that a horse doctor treated a human patient
Meanwhile the princess wanders listlessly around the palace grounds. Without thinking she finds herself walking towards the stables and has to stop herself going to see Kwanghyun. But then she hears some distressing news. She is called to see the queen mother for tea and is told that it’s time for her to MARRY. She can’t believe it but she can’t tell the queen mother why she doesn’t want to get married yet.
She goes back to her quarters in a tizzy and then one of the court ladies comes in to tell her something about Kwanghyun. But the lady-in-waiting stops her from finishing what she was going to say – because his name is not to be mentioned here anymore.
Kwanghyun is getting a hard time from the other vets for trying to be a ‘real doctor’. Finally he is called to the boss and told that they can’t keep him anymore – he must leave the stables. They are throwing him out! But all is not lost because Dr Ko suggests he take the exams to study medicine and become a doctor.
Meanwhile Sungha and his friends celebrate his getting top honours in the civil service exam. Jinhyung arrives and Kwanghyun sees her and overhears the others call her aggashi and so realises that she is a yangban. But there’s no time to talk about that now as the guards arrive and Kwanghyun is arrested!
Kwanghyun is thrown out of the stables
I love the way Kwanghyun gets out of the ‘situation’ with the princess. But he always just walks from one problem straight into the next. And now it looks like he’s going to be punished for trying to help the young vet. I assume he is getting arrested for treating a human patient. And I suppose Myunghwan is behind this. It seems that Myunghwan really wants to get rid of Kwanghyun. But is this because he doesn’t like the idea of a horse vet becoming a doctor? Does he feel threatened? Does it remind him of his own humble beginnings? Or is it because he sees this as an opportunity to somehow present Dr Ko as incompetent – for encouraging a horse doctor to act like a doctor?
