Resident Playbook Episode 1 Review: A Fun and Warm Start

Resident Playbook Episode 1 Review | Leisurebyte

Director:
Lee Min-soo

Date Created:
2025-04-12 18:40

Editor’s Rating:

4

Resident Playbook (2025) is a South Korean medical drama set at the Jongno branch of Yulje Medical Center, spotlighting the daily lives, emotional struggles, and deepening friendships of young obstetrics and gynecology residents who courageously choose to enter a challenging and often overlooked department amid Korea’s ongoing low birth rate crisis.

A spin-off of the beloved Hospital Playlist, the series brings a fresh yet familiar charm as it follows Go Youn-jung, Shin Shi-a, Kang Yoo-seok, Han Ye-ji, and Jung Joon-won in the main roles, with Lee Bong-ryun portraying a guiding professor. Directed by Lee Min-soo and written by Kim Song Hee, Resident Playbook explores growth, teamwork, and resilience in the world of modern medicine.

– Contains Spoilers –

Resident Playbook Episode 1 Recap

The episode opens in a whirlwind of unsettling dreams. Oh Yi-young jolts awake, haunted by nightmares that hint at a past she’s desperately trying to bury. Once a promising doctor, Yi-young has abandoned her medical career after an unspecified trauma. Now drowning in a debt of 50 million won, she’s barely surviving. Her older sister—fierce, loving, and practical—urges her to return to medicine, the only way they can hope to climb out of the financial abyss. Reluctantly, Yi-young agrees, and she finds herself back at Yulje Medical Center’s Jongno branch, the very hospital she once left behind.

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As she reenters the world she had fled, Yi-young crosses paths with Ku Do-won, her old colleague and now senior in the OB-GYN department. His reaction is warm, albeit cautiously optimistic. He’s happy to see her but makes it clear—he hopes she stays this time. Alongside Yi-young, three fresh-faced first-year residents join the department: the soft-spoken and slightly timid Pyo Nam-kyung, the hyperactive former K-pop idol Um Jae-il, and the clinically brilliant but emotionally aloof Kim Sa-bi.

Their first team meeting sets the stage for dynamics that promise both comedy and chaos. Do-won, along with other senior residents Ki Eun-mi and Cha Da-hye, welcomes the new recruits. Nam-kyung is taken aback that Yi-young doesn’t recognize her, even though they were classmates. Jae-il is all smiles and endless curiosity, while Sa-bi rattles off her achievements like it’s a resume pitch. Tension, awkwardness, and hidden baggage—all wrapped up in white coats.

After the meeting, Yi-young is warned by Nam-kyung about Professor Seo Jung-min, the feared head of OB-GYN known among residents as The Witch. Despite the heads-up, Yi-young flounders in her first surgery with Prof. Seo. Mentally absent, she misses cues, freezes during a crucial moment, and gets a fierce verbal lashing when she fumbles a suture request. The scene is painfully uncomfortable and sets a grim tone for Yi-young’s second shot at her career.

Meanwhile, the other residents start revealing their colours. Nam-kyung, despite her composed demeanour, crumbles emotionally during a childbirth case. Sa-bi, on the other hand, handles paperwork with cold efficiency, getting consent signatures from terminal patients without even offering a comforting word. When she’s called out for her lack of empathy, she seems more puzzled than apologetic. Jae-il, meanwhile, is a walking medical textbook with no off switch—he bombards Da-hye with questions at all hours, clearly meaning well but nearly driving her over the edge.

As the exhausting first day comes to a close, Do-won joins Yi-young for a late dinner at her place. Over rice and tired sighs, their relationship is clarified: Do-won is her brother-in-law’s younger brother, and he’s the one who pulled strings to get her back into Yulje. Yi-young confesses she has no intention of staying—just long enough to pay off her debt. Do-won doesn’t argue, but his silence speaks volumes.

Back at work the next day, Do-won casually warns Yi-young that her next patient falls under Prof. Seo’s direct care. Yi-young sighs, bracing for impact. But the case itself takes a twist—the patient, pregnant with her second child, insists on telling her boyfriend it’s her first. Yi-young is taken aback but doesn’t pry. However, during a routine check, she notices the patient’s cervix is fully dilated. When Prof. Seo examines her later and finds things stable, she erupts in anger, chastising Do-won for Yi-young’s inexperience.

The fallout stings, but the day isn’t over. Later, Do-won is seen tenderly reassuring a cancer patient about an upcoming surgery, gently securing her consent. Sa-bi witnesses the exchange, and something shifts in her. When she asks why he bothers to “waste time” comforting patients, Do-won replies, “Here, saving lives matters more than collecting signatures.” It lands.

Then comes the turning point: Yi-young’s patient suddenly goes into labour. She alerts Do-won, but he dismisses her concern—he’s not willing to risk another encounter with Prof. Seo. Yi-young, however, trusts her instincts and takes action. But the baby won’t wait. In a chaotic but oddly magical moment, Yi-young delivers the child right in the hallway. Alone. No gloves, no tools, just instinct and grace under pressure.

Prof. Seo and Do-won arrive just after the birth, stunned. Seo, in her own sharp-tongued way, pretends to scold Yi-young but can’t hide a flicker of admiration. The other residents, each worn down by their own challenges, begin showing signs of growth. Jae-il starts learning how to diagnose without panic, earning Da-hye’s cautious respect. Even Sa-bi appears more reflective.

The next morning, Yi-young gets an unexpected compliment from a professor during surgery for her quick thinking the previous day. But when asked to close the final suture, she politely declines—her tone misunderstood as arrogance. The episode ends with the professor quietly asking for her full name. When she hears “Oh Yi-young,” a knowing smirk forms. She walks away, leaving us with one clear message—Yi-young’s past is far from forgotten.

And just like that, the scalpel is drawn. The cut has been made. The healing—or unravelling—has only just begun.

Resident Playbook Episode 1 Review

Episode 1 throws us into the deep end of Yulje Medical Center’s OB-GYN department, and it’s a wild ride from start to finish. Between nightmares, screaming professors, a hallway childbirth, and a former K-pop idol asking about rashes at 3 a.m., the show wastes no time establishing its quirky ensemble and emotional stakes. Oh Yi-young is the perfect underdog lead—wounded but strong, trying to quietly survive while the universe (and her debt) nudges her back into a world she’s not ready for.

What makes the episode shine is how it weaves in the personalities of the first-year residents—each a walking disaster in their own delightful way. Kim Sa-bi is a stone-cold genius with the emotional warmth of a clipboard, Um Jae-il is a lovable whirlwind of confusion, and Pyo Nam-kyung is the deer-in-headlights we all root for. Do-won’s quiet support and Professor Seo’s witchy wisdom add layers of mentorship, chaos, and unexpected comedy. And that baby-in-the-hallway scene? Iconic.

If this first episode is anything to go by, Resident Playbook is gearing up to deliver the same heart-tugging, laughter-filled magic as its parent series, just with more yelling and a lot more placenta.

Resident Playbook is streaming on Netflix.

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