Kim Ji-won's Doctor X Hits 15.1% in Three Episodes, Two Years After Queen of Tears

SBS's Friday-Saturday drama Doctor X: The Age of the White Mafia passed the 15% mark nationwide in just three episodes, with episode 3 on the 16th recording 15.1% (14.9% in the Seoul metropolitan area, per Nielsen Korea). Kim Ji-won, 34, leads the series, her first project since Queen of Tears in 2024.

The numbers have climbed steadily. Episode 1 opened at 11.4% nationwide, the highest premiere for a miniseries this year, and episode 2 reached 14.9% before episode 3 set a third straight series high. The peak minute of episode 3 hit 16.9%, and the 2049 demographic averaged 4.7%. Some in the industry now see 20% as a matter of time, a level comparable to the pace of Mr. Kim, this year's top-rated drama, which crossed 20% in four episodes. After its SBS run the show streams on Netflix, and within three days of release it ranked first among non-English shows on the official Tudum site.

A Japanese format, rebuilt around Korean anxieties

The series adapts TV Asahi's Doctor X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon, which ran seven seasons from 2012 to 2021. It keeps the premise of a brilliant outsider surgeon confronting medical authority, along with the manga-like staging and the recurring "story of a lone wolf" narration.

What changed is the context. The Korean version folds in disputes that have played out publicly at home: mandatory CCTV in operating rooms and strikes against medical school quota increases. Drama critic Yoon Seok-jin, a professor at Chungnam National University, said ongoing strikes have raised worries about the healthcare system, and that the lead character voices what viewers find frustrating. Kim's character, Gye Su-jeong, refuses hospital hierarchy, skips rounds and staff dinners, and tells obedient doctors how little she thinks of them.

The protagonist herself was reworked. The original's heavy makeup and heels became plain clothes and rugged boots, and her appetite was turned into a fixation on food.

Episode 3 and the hospital's apology

In episode 3, Su-jeong is posted to a short-staffed emergency room, where she spots warning signs in a cleaning contractor who collapses with a brain hemorrhage. With no available neurosurgeon, hospital management argues about whether to transfer the patient or treat her in-house. Su-jeong has already begun a craniotomy. Doctors object that she lacks neurosurgery board certification, until her papers surface and the operation succeeds.

In a later meeting, as neurosurgery professors fall back on the line that doctors are human too, she answers that patients are human as well and asks when they plan to act as doctors. Hospital head Bu Seung-kwon (Son Hyun-joo) then holds a press conference instead of an inauguration, publicly apologizing for the hospital's failings tied to the death of an emergency medical technician a year earlier. The episode also reveals who actually posted the anonymous complaint about that case, and ends with Seung-kwon bringing in a new surgeon and holding off on Su-jeong's new contract.

The production comes from Studio S, Studio Dragon and Hi Ji-eum Studio.

A woman at the center of a genre dominated by men

Female doctors have led Korean medical dramas before, including Surgeon Bong Dal-hee (2007), Hospital Ship (2017) and Doctor Cha Jeong-sook (2023). Those stories mostly followed characters growing into the role or reaching a turning point in life. Doctor X instead starts with a woman whose skill is already unmatched and treats her as a dark hero, a role the genre has largely reserved for male actors. Some commentary has also criticized the series for caricaturing doctors.

From a drink ad to the top of the call sheet

Kim, once known as the "Orangina girl" from commercials, is regarded in the industry as a lead who succeeds across genres. She is known for choosing projects carefully and avoiding frequent work to immerse in one role at a time. This is also her first full-scale medical drama. A production company insider said she worked her way up from supporting roles and lifts her co-stars alongside her, crediting her diligence and sense of responsibility.