Kim Ji Won is the right call for Doctor X. The medicine, less so

Two episodes in, SBS's Doctor X went 11.4% then 14.9% nationwide, and a lot of that is her. Gye Soo Jung is a freelance surgeon who walks into a hospital and takes on the director on her first day. That only works if the lead can be cold and funny in the same scene, and Kim Ji Won has been doing that composed, slightly untouchable energy since Queen of Tears. Here she gets to turn it all the way up.

Where it falls apart for some viewers is the medicine. Korean viewers have been picking at scenes, one complaint was about a hernia that had already been reduced getting sent off for emergency surgery, another person said they wanted to smash their monitor. The best part is the show's on-set medical consultant, emergency doctor and writer Namgoong In, replying on Threads that if something is medically wrong, you can assume the consultant fought the production team and lost. So keep the casting and give the consultant a few more wins. She's carrying it.