The SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Doctor X' has broken past the 15% viewership rating mark in just three episodes, breaking its own highest rating record for three consecutive episodes.

In particular, the third episode broadcast yesterday (October 16), which featured the scene where 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 solely through her skills, regardless of her academic background or gender.

Gye Su-jeong firmly refuses professors' rounds, drinking gatherings, and social activities with a resolute declaration of "I don't do that."

[These are my working conditions. Attending director rounds, professor rounds, and drinking gatherings. Writing ghost papers and organizing data for professors. I absolutely do not do any of these.]

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

Yun Seok-jin, a drama critic and professor at Chungnam National University, analyzed, "With continued medical strikes, there have been concerns about South Korea's healthcare system, and [the drama] is refreshingly scratching the exact points that the public finds frustrating through Gye Su-jeong's voice."

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

This was the case for 'Romantic Doctor', 'Severe Trauma Center', 'White Tower', and even the overseas drama 'Good Doctor'.

Of course, there were works featuring female doctors as protagonists, but works dealing with the process of growing into a doctor were dominant.

Against this backdrop, 'Doctor X' is one of the few works in which a female doctor with already unrivaled skills appears as a "dark heroine."

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

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

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

While maintaining the core premise of a highly skilled outsider doctor standing up against the authority and absurdities of the medical world, the story has been restructured to fit South Korea's reality and sentiments.

(Video Source: Drama 'Doctor X: Age of White Mafia')