SBS’s ‘Doctor X’ delivered its most shocking twist yet in episode 10 on November 7, as sunny intern Park Tae-kyung tried to murder a patient in his hospital bed. The episode averaged 17.7% nationwide, according to Nielsen Korea figures cited by NewsEn.
The patient was Kim Seung-hyo, played by Jeon Kook-hwan, a revered humanitarian doctor and the founder of the medical volunteer group White Wings, where lead character Gye Soo-jung, played by Kim Ji-won, once worked. Seung-hyo came to Guseodae Hospital for a heart transplant, naming Jo Won-jin, played by Lee Jin-hee, as his guardian and Soo-jung as his surgeon.
The real shock came at the end of the episode. Tae-kyung, played by Kim Woo-seok, pressed a pillow over the sleeping Seung-hyo’s face to smother him, while Won-jin stood by watching and did nothing to stop him. Soo-jung rushed into the room and pulled Tae-kyung off just in time, as the tension in the scene reached its peak.
As the episode closed, Seung-hyo opened his eyes and greeted Soo-jung with a loaded line: “Long time no see, Doctor X.” The greeting suggests the two share a past the show has not yet revealed.
Viewers flooded the show’s official YouTube channel after the broadcast, asking how deep Tae-kyung’s trauma must run for him to try to kill a patient, and whether a doctor must save the life of even a villain. Some viewers speculated that Seung-hyo may have conducted human experiments on children at an orphanage, or that he may be connected to the deaths of Tae-kyung’s parents. NewsEn reported the theories as viewer speculation, not as confirmed plot points.
The twist lands at a moment when the drama has been a ratings powerhouse since its 11.4% premiere, climbing to a 19.5% series high earlier in its run. ‘Doctor X’ has also drawn public debate along the way, including a broadcast complaint and controversy over its handling of the May 18 Democratization Movement, but its audience has only grown as the story has darkened.
With only two episodes left before the November 14 finale, the show now has to explain why Tae-kyung hates Seung-hyo enough to try to kill him, what connects Seung-hyo to Soo-jung’s hidden past, and why Won-jin stood by and watched. The answers will decide whether the finale can live up to the cliffhanger episode 10 left behind.
