Kim Ji-won Starrer 'Doctor X' Hits Another Ratings Slump

Kim Ji-won's surgeon kept a short-staffed hospital running in the latest episode of "Doctor X: Mafia in White" (Dakteo X: Hayan Mapiaui Sidae). Her character pushed through 12 straight hours of surgery. The episode lived up to the nickname fans of the show know her by: "the crazy Gye of the operating room."

The drama is still the ratings leader, with no clear rival. Episode 8, which aired Oct. 31, drew a nationwide rating of 15.6%. Still, the show has not broken the 20% mark. Its ratings have dropped two episodes in a row, from 19.5% for Episode 6 to 16.5% for Episode 7 and 15.6% for Episode 8.

Kim Ji-won plays Gye Su-jeong, a surgeon at Guseo University Hospital. In Episode 8, a young cancer patient got through to her. Yoo Ga-eul (played by Gi So You), 10, had gone through eight rounds of chemotherapy with no improvement. A major staffing crisis at the hospital had pushed the surgery back with no date in sight.

During a staff conference, Gye pointed to one of the terms in her contract. It lets her perform the surgeries she wants to. She announced she would operate solo, without an assistant.

Many in the room objected, citing safety and procedure. Gye shot back.

"Have you ever been kicked in the stomach? Ever had a huge rock crushing your stomach?" she said. "Right now, someone keeps kicking that 10-year-old in the stomach. Someone has put a huge rock on top of that stomach. If you're a doctor, get in on this surgery."

Hospital director Boo Seung-kwon (Son Hyun-joo) made her a bet. The operation usually takes more than 10 hours. If Gye could finish it successfully within six, he would expand her contract terms. Her answer was flat: "I never fail."

On the day of the surgery, surgery professor Do Yoon-sik (Kim Young-min) came to her with worries mixed with guilt. He pressed her on whether she could really see it through. Gye turned the question back on him and on his own past decision to give up on a surgery.

"Do you know the key difference between us?" she said. "I don't want to fail, so I do it myself. You don't want to fail, so you don't do it yourself. I don't fail because I can't be allowed to."

Then things went wrong. Professor Hwang (Kang Hak-soo), a neurosurgeon who had kept operating on patients while sick, collapsed in the middle of a surgery. The hospital needed a doctor for an emergency operation.

Gye was already worn out after a full morning of surgeries. Only one hour was left before Ga-eul's operation, set for 12 o'clock. She went straight into the operating room to save Hwang anyway.

Others urged her to push the 12 o'clock surgery back. She refused. "I won't let Ga-eul hurt for even one more minute," she said. She put everything she had into the emergency surgery and worked as fast as she could.

She finished it in less than an hour. Then she focused on getting her strength back so she could go into Ga-eul's surgery in good shape.

At the same time, Boo was stirring up trouble elsewhere. He grilled Jang Hee-sook (Lee Jung-eun) about Gye's past. Pointing to surgical skills no one else could match, he asked a pointed question: "Is Gye Su-jeong Doctor X?"

That question goes right to the heart of the show. Gye's talent has carried the hospital so far, and Episode 8 shows the people around her are starting to ask where it came from.