Doctor Cha Episode 15 Recap And Ending Explained: The Penultimate Episode Takes Us Back To The Beginning!

From the past few episodes, Kim Dae-Jin and Kim Jung-Woo’s Doctor Cha has become synonymous with the popular English phrase “deja vu”. Right from the semi-finale week, the writer Jung Yeo-Rang has diverted Cha Jung-Sook’s (Uhm Jung-Hwa) journey. The destination seemed blurry back then but now, the fog is slowly evaporating. This new phase of Jung-Sook’s journey seems to be taking her back to the beginning–and us, too. Remember Doctor Cha Episode 1 when Jung-Sook was diagnosed with liver disease and had to undergo surgery? Well, this new episode is in sync with the first one. There is a stark difference though, a difference that lays the foundation for the finale of Doctor Cha Jung-Sook.

As we all know, Jung-Sook is a first-year resident who chose to return back to her profession after serving her husband, Seo In-Ho (Kim Byung-Chul) and his family. After a death scare, Jung-Sook decided to resume her journey and utilize her medical degree. This episode isn’t just nostalgic, it is also a rollercoaster ride where emotions keep flooding in.

Doctor Cha Episode 15 Recap

Doctor Cha Episode 15 Recap And Ending Explained

Netflix’s Doctor Cha Episode 15 commences with Jung-Sook coughing up blood and running towards her once-surgeon now-friend Doctor Roy Kim (Min Woo-Hyuk). As expected, Jung-Sook’s liver is deteriorating again and since she’s been missing out on her immunosuppressants, her condition is way worse than Kim predicted. Throughout the 15 episodes, Kim has stuck by Jung-Sook through thick and thin. He never gave up on her, never tried to cross any lines and never let his feelings mess up his relationship with her.

In the last episode, Kim’s extensive search for his parents came to a halt. He met his family and what a family was it, full of selfish people trying to use Kim for their benefit. Kim’s biological father needs a bone marrow transplant and despite having four other children, none of them is ready to donate him their bone marrow and yet expect Kim to do so in exchange for a few hundred dollars. While Kim is yet to fully deny them, he has no intention of donating anything to anyone–except Jung-Sook.

SIMILAR: Doctor Cha Episode 14 Recap And Ending Explained: A Life-Threat Surrounds Jung-Sook Once Again!

Ae-Sim Creates New Problems For Jung-Sook And In-Ho

In-Ho’s mother, Kwak Ae-Sim (Park Joon-Geum) is a troublemaker, one who can never be satiated. Jung-Sook devoted the golden years of her life to this vile woman and yet, in the end, Ae-Sim couldn’t appreciate her wholly. In the last episode, after the grand hair-pulling accusation-laden debacle with her boyfriend’s wife, Ae-Sim’s life has been sliding down. In this new episode, Ae-Sim’s so-called loving boyfriend has raised his hands and offered her just a few sentences of consolation.

Ae-Sim, under the influence of her boyfriend, has invested over 300 million in a hospital that turns out to be a scam. What’s better? The money wasn’t Ae-Sim’s, she has brought it from a member of the elite club Ae-Sim is a part of. Now that the lender and everyone in Korea have discovered the scam, Ae-Sim’s prestigious reputation is endangered. She needs 300 million bucks right away and there’s hardly any option left. So, she decides to sell out the building she brought a few years ago under Jung-Sook’s name to avoid taxes without Jung-Sook’s knowledge.

Ae-Sim drags In-Ho to the divorce lawyer’s office, hoping for a reprieve. But given that it is In-Ho who cheated on Jung-Sook with his high-school sweetheart, Choi Seung-Hee (Myung Se-Bin), there isn’t much option left. I know I have mentioned that In-Ho is a colour-changing side-switching chameleon, but I can’t help but assert it once again. He asks Jung-Sook to sell the property and help Ae-Sim clear off her debt and when she refuses, he goes on accusing her and pointing out that Jung-Sook doesn’t deserve a penny from his assets. 

Moreover, he turns to the woman he betrayed, Seung-Hee, for help as well. However, she declines thankfully.

Doctor Cha Episode 15 Ending Explained: Who Did Jung-Sook Choose?

Jung-Sook has never been one to bid goodbyes easily, she just doesn’t have the heart to walk away. If she did, she wouldn’t have endured a husband who couldn’t bother smiling at her once. She wouldn’t have tolerated an ungrateful, ruthless mother-in-law and would have pursued her career instead of raising her kids, Jung-Min (Song Ji-Ho) and I-Rang (Lee Seo-Yeon). As Jung-Sook sits down for lunch with her fellow residents, accumulates her belongings and passes by the corridor of Guan Univeristy Hospital, she demonstrates her personality once again. Jung-Sook needs treatment stat and for that, she has had to file a leave application. Whether she will be able to get back as a doctor is still up in the air.

On the other hand, Kim’s results are out and he has offered to donate his liver to Jung-Sook. As the news of Jung-Sook being sick spreads like wildfire in the hospital, In-Ho gets restless. He might be a chameleon but deep down, he has a few cells in his heart that care for Jung-Sook. So, he decides to donate his liver to his wife–something he hesitated within the first episode. When he hears a first-year resident talking to Jung-Min about Kim’s tests and claiming that Kim has abundant love for Jung-Sook, In-Ho loses his mind.

Jung-Sook and Kim are at a bikers’ shop when In-Ho barges in and both of them indulge in a childish fight. Since both of them are willingly offering Jung-Sook their livers, the choice is left to Jung-Sook and we will get to witness it in the next episode!

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