Gong Hyo-jin's 'A Bona Fide Killer' Hits Series High as Identity Plot Tightens

Actor Gong Hyo-jin is driving MBC's new crime drama "A Bona Fide Killer" with a run of successful hits on her targets, as the show's ratings climb toward series highs.

In "A Bona Fide Killer," Gong Hyo-jin plays Yoo Bo-na, a legendary sniper code-named Kingfisher who takes contracts to eliminate criminals. Each episode brings a new target into her sights, and the case-of-the-week structure has kept viewers coming back. The sixth episode drew a 10.2% rating, a series high, while the eighth episode slipped to 8.8%. Episodes nine and 10 rebounded slightly with 9.0% and 9.9%.

The action has stretched across a range of settings. At a pension on Mount Taegong, Yoo Bo-na ran into an organ trafficking ring. She had been asleep after drinking, but jumped into action when her Sales Team 3 colleagues were in danger. She grabbed a gun from the pension's old caretaker (played by Jung Sun-cheol) and took on the criminals with her bare hands.

Plans shifted when Pyo Gyu-cheol (played by Heo Hyung-gyu), a child sex offender, tried to flee. Yoo Bo-na fired at him as he ran and dropped him with a single shot. With Sales Team 3's original plan no longer workable, she stepped in and closed out the job herself.

For Tak Jong-gu (played by Kim Min-jun), a chaebol heir, the operation moved to a casino. Tak had committed crimes against women and walked away with a suspended sentence. During the mission, Moon Da-rae (played by Moon Seung-yu) inserted herself into the plan, and Yoo Bo-na also crossed paths with Moon Meo-ru (played by Cho Yoon-soo), who had gone undercover as a kitchen worker.

A regional team's operation to catch Cheon Seong-gil (played by Kim Jong-gu) collided with the same mission. Yoo Bo-na drew Tak Jong-gu and Cheon Seong-gil into the same room, then took aim from a cable car across the way. The moment their heads lined up, she fired. "One-two client meeting concluded," she said. One shot, two targets.

More recent episodes brought in Jang Eun-hak (played by Kim Min-sang), who had just been released from prison 20 years after killing the parents of Lee Dong-jin (played by Lee Sang-yi). Yoo Bo-na tracked him down and took the shot, but her husband Kwon Tae-sung (played by Jung Jun-won) showed up at the scene. That put her cover at risk for the first time.

Jang Eun-hak's death also shook Lee Dong-jin and Kwon Tae-sung. Lee Dong-jin had been chasing his parents' killer himself, and now he is caught between personal revenge and his duty as a detective. Kwon Tae-sung, thrown by what he saw, has started digging back into the Kingfisher case from four years ago.

The deeper Yoo Bo-na goes into her contracts, the closer the people chasing her get. The show is running two tracks at once: the hits on criminals, and the slow reveal of Yoo Bo-na's identity. The scene where Lee Dong-jin chases Jang Eun-hak with his gun drawn while Yoo Bo-na lines up her own shot from a rooftop pushed the show's peak minute rating to 11.4%.

Episode 11 of "A Bona Fide Killer" airs on the 4th at 9:50 p.m. KST.