[Spoiler alert] Black Pean Episode 1 Recap (1/2)
Episode 1 of Black Pean was such a rollercoaster ride, here's a recap of the episode's highlights if you watched the raw video and want to know what's going on. My apologies if I didn't get the medical terms right. Please let me know if there's anything I should correct.
Bon Appétit!
Tojo University Hospital, whilst famous in the Tokai region, is considered relatively obscure in the larger medical national scene. Tojo University Hospital welcomes its VIP guests, Professor Nishizaki Keisuke and newly appointed lecturer Takashina Gonta, doctors from rival hospital Teika University Hospital. Despite its relative obscurity, Tojo is famed for its cardiologists' surgical skill while Teika boasts of its technical advances in cardiology.
Professor Saeki Seigo, Tojo's genius and the ace of the cardiology department, will weld the scapel in today's seemingly impossible surgery. The Saeki method, where the surgeon operates on a beating heart, drastically shortens the time taken for the surgery and the burden on the patient. However, during the surgery, another patient calls for Saeki's attention when she undergoes an aortic dissection prior to her scheduled surgery the next day. Saeki sends his disciple, Dr Yokoyama, to proceed with the second patient's surgery while he finishes up with the first patient. As Saeki continues in Operating Theatre 1, he monitors and instructs Yokoyama who's in Operating Theatre 3.
However, things went horribly wrong in Operating Theater 3 when Yokoyama blindly follows Saeki's instruction through an intercom without fully checking the patient's condition. The patient's blood splatters like a mini geyser over the operating table while the surgical team springs into action to stop the bleeding.
"Shall we call for him!?" exclaims a panicked surgical assistant. Everyone in the team freezes as though the guy just mentioned Voldemort's name.
"We must never call for him," says Dr Yokoyama despite facing a patient who could die on his operating table.
"But he's the only one who can save the patient!"
"If we get him involved, you know how this will end, don't you?"
"Who is that person?" asks medical intern Sera, oblivious to the situation. "If that person can save the patient, we should call--"
"Be quiet! Interns should just back down!"
Dr Tokai enters the OR, to the dismay of Dr Yokoyama.
”You're in my way," says Tokai to a dumbfounded Sera.
Tokai takes a look at Yokoyama's handiwork. "What are you doing here, Tokai? You're not needed here, get out!"
Ignoring him, Tokai turns to the surgical assistant. "Why did you only perform the ascending aorta replacement? Hmm?"
"Why? Because it's Professor Saeki's instruction." says an adamant Yokoyama.
"Oh..." Tokai is impassive as he stares at the bleeding heart.
"Was the rupture at the cardiac base part of his instruction too?" says a sneering Tokai.
"Don't be foolish! Are you saying that the professor made a mistake!?"
"I'm saying that he made a *huge* mistake. The reason is the monitor. He only saw the ascending aorta, and missed out on the tear at the base."
"Now, the *problem* is the person who blindly followed the instruction he's given without checking the base... the *surgeon*. I'm afraid he prioritized his ego and continued operating based on an erroneous instruction, worsening the problem. That's what happens when you give a scapel to someone who doesn't use his brain."
Tokai leans in for the kill. "I'll erase your mistake for 10 million yen."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" exclaims an enraged Yokoyama.
"Write your resignation letter," taunts Tokai. "I'll erase your mistake with your severance pay, just give me 10 million yen."
Yokoyama eventually cracks under the pressure and submits to Tokai's offer. "Please help me, I'm begging you..."
Yokoyama is relegated to a corner as Tokai expertly stitches up the patient. At that moment, everyone realizes that there are not one, but two geniuses at Tojo University Hospital. After Tokai successfully stops the bleeding, he declares that he would perform the Saeki procedure, to the shock of everyone in the operating room.
"Do you know how to perform the Saeki method?" asks a flabberghasted assistant.
"No."
"What!?"
"Well, I just received 10 million yen."
"Gotta work hard for it."
Nurse Nekota, who could not be more aptly named, smiles gleefully while she watches Tokai at work.
As Yokoyama packs his desk, Tokai comes to him with an outstretched hand.
Yokoyama hands a bag to Tokai, who checks it for the cash. Tokai condescendingly smacks Yokoyama with a wad of bills before he leaves.
In the meantime, Sera unfortunately has Tokai reassigned as his mentor. He searches for Tokai in the hospital's on-call room, only to discover that Tokai has monopolized much of the space for himself. "It's supposed to be a nap room, but now it's something like Tokai's room. He lives there now."
Fellow doctor Kakitani reveals that Tokai doesn't write any theses, so he'll never be able to climb up the ladder at Tojo. In terms of status, he's actually below Kakitani. But Tokai's skill on the operating table is unparalleled, so the other doctors have no choice but to listen to him during the surgeries. Professor Saeki just lets Tokai do as he likes.
"Because of him," continues Kakitani, "so many doctors had to leave this hospital. Yes, he saves patients with his hand, but he kills doctors with the other."
"A demon, that's what he is."
In the meantime, Takashina Gonta is seconded from Teika University Hospital to Tojo. Tokai eyes him as he enters the room.
Takashina brings with him the SNIPE, an equipment that replicates the effects of the Saeki method but in a completely different way.
"Anyone can perform an operation by pressing this switch." proclaims Takashina, and Tokai calls immediate bullshit.
As Tokai is speaking to Saeki in his office, Saeki praises him for saving a patient scheduled for a later operation.
"You've done so much for me," says Saeki. "In the mitral valve surgery that you performed a few days ago, you were trying not to cause trouble for me, didn't you? To think that you have mastered the Saeki method."
"Hmm? What could you be referring to?" Tokai feigns ignorance of his achievements.
"Forget it," says Saeki, "there can only be one person in the world who uses the black pean."
Tokai's mom, Harue, calls him as he's going over case files. "Have you received the rice that I sent you?"
"Yes, it's here." deadpans Tokai. "I'm eating it every day and I can't finish it."
"Don't you have someone to eat it with you?"
"Regrettably, no. I'm eating it all by myself."
"How sad!" laughs Harue. "You're a doctor, you should be consistently surrounded by 5 or 6 women. What did you become a doctor for?"
"Did you call me just to tell me that? If it is, I'm hanging up."
"Hang on!" says Harue. "How is Doctor Saeki? Your father was so happy that you went to the same hospital and you're now working with the same doctor as he did."
"Work hard on behalf of your father too," says a cheerful Harue, whose voice is at odds with Tokai's expression.
In the meantime, Sera manages to persuade patient Minagawa to live on, rather than choose to die. Minagawa is eventually selected as the first Tojo patient to undergo the cardiovascular surgery using the SNIPE.
Saeki announces that he and Tokai will assist Takashina in the SNIPE surgery, much to Tokai's annoyance.
"I don't mind," says Takashina, "it's a surgery that doesn't need assistants in the first place."
"It's just in case," laughs Saeki. "You're fine with it, right, Tokai?"
"If the professor so wishes," says Tokai.
"But if i have to take over the surgery halfway, could you get him to submit his resignation letter...?"
"How about it?" says Saeki.
Takashina is confident and gamely takes up Tokai's proposal. "Sure, but if the operation is a success, he's the one who has to go. It's for the good of the hospital as well. From what I've heard, you're the most troublesome person in this department."
Undeterred, Tokai turns to face Takashina. "Make sure you turn up on the day of the operation," says Tokai as if he's reminding a child to take his exams.
Tojo University Hospital, rated the shittiest onscreen workplace in 2018.
Click here to go to part 2!