Kim Ji Won simply does not miss. Her new SBS drama “Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia” leapt from an 11.4% premiere to 14.9% in episode two, prompting MyDaily’s [MD People] feature to ask whether her track record of hits will hold.
According to the feature, the October 9 premiere was the highest-rated SBS Friday–Saturday debut since “The Fiery Priest 2,” with episode two already chasing this year’s biggest hit, “Kim Bu-jang.”
It is Kim’s first TV return in two years after playing chaebol heiress Hong Hae-in in “Queen of Tears.” She now plays genius surgeon Kye Su-jeong, modeled on the Japanese original’s Daimon Michiko — fiercely confident and blunt — with Kim layering in her own charm, from matching the speech level of whoever she talks to, to a goofy bit where she ruins her hair to eat more pork cutlet.
The piece is not all praise: it flags clunky localization of the Japanese original, flat supporting characters, and a medical-accuracy debate, with real doctors criticizing certain scenes. Medical advisor Professor Namgoong In joked that if anything medically wrong airs, viewers should assume the advisors lost the fight with production.
Still, the feature notes her filmography — “Descendants of the Sun,” “Fight for My Way,” “My Liberation Notes,” “Queen of Tears” — has led the conversation every time, each with a different character.
It closes on her character’s line: “Don’t worry. I never fail.” So far, neither has she.
