The Return Trip Theory: Has Gyeo-ul Gone OOC? [Hospital Playlist Analysis]

One of the sequences that may have baffled viewers in Episode 5 of Season 2 is Jang Gyeo-ul's Busan trip and her missing the return trip via KTX. Some may have speculated that the KTX is a reference to premarital pregnancy. We have another view on this, and it shows how skillfully the writer lays out her story blueprints and hides them in plain sight. It also tells us that nothing is ever arbitrary when it comes to ShinLee storytelling. If anything, it seems to us that their strength as a duo lies in the writer's mastery of literary devices and of bundling together layers of meanings, disguising them as fluff or as seemingly isolated scenes, and we're sure that ample support is given by the PD to execute them masterfully on screen. Really, it's so brilliantly put together, the nerd in us cannot help but stan!

So how do we start explaining what we see? Maybe, we should go back to the WinterGarden "fluff" in Episode 3 of Season 2. This is the first time that we get to see the KTX. It is so loud in the background, it's basically screaming for us to pay attention. It reminds us of Ha-yul who repeats her candy flavors twice, just so we are alerted that they are codes for something - or Easter Eggs as some might want to put it.

Now, what do trains remind us of? They remind us of a line that goes from Point A to Point B. The route is basically a straight line, figuratively, because the starting station, the end station, and even the stations in between are predetermined. Why is it important to point this out? Because the writer uses the train as metaphor for what has been the WinterGarden journey so far, particularly in Season 1. And that journey is the map that we will be following for Season 2, only this time, instead of going further, since Busan is basically a point zero, we're going back, thus, the return trip. We will now go from Point B to Point A, hinting at upcoming reversals.

But why make Gyeo-ul take the ambulance for the return trip? Why not a taxi or a truck? We theorize that it's because of the implication that the ambulance carries sick people. And the return trip for Gyeo-ul is foreshadowed as a journey where we will see more of what makes her vulnerable as a character, what makes her/her situation flawed and that the journey will bring her to a place of healing. We think that moving forward, we are going a bit more in depth into her heart this time.

To appreciate the detail that they have put in this, we ask you to compare how the train moves in Episode 3 vs how the ambulance moves in Episode 5. Whereas the train runs fast and smoothly, you will see how they portray the ambulance ride as slow and bumpy with the visible shaking of the vehicle. Yes! The shaking is intentional. We can say that the two vehicles even represent Gyeo-ul herself, or how we have perceived her so far vs how the show may intend to reverse that perception now by showing more of her personal and inner life. We anticipate that we'll see the other side of the coin when it comes to her perceived straightforward characterization, and how, in fact, this perception may have hidden from us some bumpy aspects that we will be seeing for the first time.

It is also worth noting that the scene seems to connect to Ha-yul's candy flavors via the food that Gyeo-ul offers to the driver: strawberry - gum, orange - squid, toasted rice - two tumblers of coffee. We will not be diving into their meanings, however, as we are yet unable to point out the specific individual connections, if any. Nonetheless, we believe that the choice of mentioning 3 kinds of food is deliberate in order to weave this return trip together with Ha-yul's candies. Why do they do this? We theorize that they do this in order to drive the point of the interdependence of Jeong-won and Gyeo-ul's growth arcs. We suspect that we can interpret the ambulance scene as basically a re-execution of Ha-yul's scene (Jeong-won's POV), this time based on Gyeo-ul's POV.

To understand why we think Ha-yul's candies are important clues to the narrative, you may want to check out our article: https://wintergardencrew.wixsite.com/website/post/making-sense-of-ha-yul-s-candies-hospital-playlist-season-2-wintergarden-theory

Anyway, with all of that said, we think that now is a time when we must let go of our prejudices and relax our old perception of Gyeo-ul because Season 2 seems intent to show her in a different light. Does it make her out of character? We hope, just like we do, that you can appreciate it instead as her development into a three-dimensional character who feels like a real person instead of a caricature. The intention may not be to portray her as a consistent character, but rather to see her grow into a warmer, more sympathetic person. And as we know, growth requires changes. Plus, for a three-dimensional character, there's really a lot of new aspects to be discovered and we cannot assume to already know everything. It's pretty much the same with real people, right? We cannot assume that we know them fully unless we've walked in their shoes.

Will we turn away from Gyeo-ul because we find ourselves allergic to new aspects of her that we discover now, or like Jeong-won, will we choose to kiss and embrace her character, and give her space to open up, to heal and grow?

There's so much that can be said about the WinterGarden story alone, and we're sure that a lot of brilliance is still unknown to us when it comes to other stories contained in the series. This is a work that cannot have been whipped together hastily. Literary evidences within the series tell us that the writer and the production team has a carefully laid-out plan for this franchise. It is basically a gift that we choose to treasure because the way that it is intricately written and executed on screen shows so much thought, heart and passion. As the COVID-19 poses challenges to its production, we pray for the cast and the whole team's health and safety, and we wish them the best of luck in the achievement of their intent and vision for Hospital Playlist.