Doctor Slump

January 27, 2024

Plastic surgeon Yeo Jung-woo (Park Hyung-sik) is accused of malpractice and suspended. On the same day, anaesthesiologist Nam Ha-neul (Park Shin-hye) has a breakdown live on a broadcast. Two former academic rivals, each at their lowest point, end up in the same officetel building in Mapo.

January 28, 2024

Jung-woo and Ha-neul recognise each other. The drama establishes that their old rivalry was built on mutual misunderstanding — each thought the other had an easy path to success.

February 4, 2024

A shared afternoon walk in the Hongdae neighbourhood — two broken people who no longer have to perform competence for each other. The drama's tonal register is established: warm without being cloying.

February 10, 2024

Ha-neul's depression is named explicitly and without shame. The drama's careful handling of mental health becomes one of its defining qualities.

February 17, 2024

A night walk in Hongdae, the neighbourhood's energy contrasting with their internal quiet. Jung-woo begins to notice Ha-neul as something other than a rival.

February 18, 2024

A shared meal — both characters eating with genuine appetite for the first time in the drama. An episode about the basic pleasures of being alive.

February 24, 2024

Jung-woo experiences jealousy. He is embarrassed by it. He is not very good at hiding it.

February 25, 2024

Ha-neul considers returning to work. The drama handles her ambivalence — the simultaneous fear and desire — with real psychological accuracy.

March 2, 2024

Jung-woo confesses his feelings in a scene set on the Hongdae café street. Ha-neul does not immediately reciprocate — and the drama earns the patience required by that choice.

March 3, 2024

The first episode in which both characters are openly happy. It does not last, because nothing simple ever does.

March 10, 2024

Both characters are genuinely recovering — not dramatically, but incrementally, in the way that recovery actually works. The officetel building becomes a sanctuary.

March 17, 2024

The finale. Two people who hit rock bottom in the same week, in the same building, choosing each other. Named one of JTBC's most-acclaimed dramas of 2024.