"Failure is Not an Option": 'Doctor X' Causes a Sensation by Relieving Viewers' Frustrations

The SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Doctor X' has broken the 15% viewership rating mark in just three episodes, setting a new personal best for three consecutive episodes.

In particular, during the third episode broadcast yesterday (October 16), a scene where the character Gye Su-jeong, played by actor Kim Ji-won, saves a cerebral hemorrhage patient played a major role in driving up ratings.

'Doctor X' is a drama that tells the story of Gye Su-jeong, who becomes a genius doctor relying solely on her skills, regardless of educational background or gender.

Gye Su-jeong firmly rejects professors' hospital rounds, dinners, and social activities with a resolute declaration of "I do not do those."

[These are my working conditions. Director's rounds, professor's rounds and participation in dinners, ghostwriting professor's thesis and organizing data. I will not do any of these.]

She is a character who directly criticizes doctors who blindly submit to the hospital director's authority, calling them "irresponsible people" to their faces.

Yun Seok-jin, a Chungnam National University professor and drama critic, analyzed, "Amid ongoing medical strikes, there have been concerns about South Korea's healthcare system. Gye Su-jeong's voice is refreshing and hits right at the points that the public finds frustrating."

Until now, genius doctors with overwhelming skills in medical dramas have mostly been the exclusive domain of male actors.

Dramas like 'Romantic Doctor', 'Severe Trauma Center', 'White Tower', and even the overseas drama 'The Good Doctor' were like that.

Of course, there have been works featuring female doctors as protagonists, but they primarily focused on the process of growing into a doctor.

Against this backdrop, 'Doctor X' is one of the rare works where a female doctor who already possesses unrivaled skills appears as a "dark heroine."

According to Nielsen Korea, the first episode recorded a nationwide rating of 11.4%, the highest premiere rating among miniseries broadcast this year.

Episodes 2 and 3 jumped to 14.9% and 15.1% respectively, figures comparable to 'Manager Kim', which surpassed 20% in just four episodes and recorded the highest viewership rating among dramas this year.

'Doctor X' is based on the Japanese drama 'Doctor X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon', which aired for seven seasons from 2012 to 2021.

While maintaining the core premise that a highly skilled outsider doctor stands up against the authority and absurdities of the medical establishment, the story has been reorganized to fit South Korean realities and sentiments.

(Source of footage: Drama 'Doctor X: The Age of White Mafia')
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.