While JTBC's Saturday-Sunday drama 'Doctor Cha Jeong-suk' shows unbreakable popularity and captivates the home theater on the weekend, Kim Byung-cheol, who plays the role of Seo In-ho, chief of the colon and rectal surgery department in the play, unfolds a passionate performance that skillfully moves between seriousness and pleasure, and is infinite. It's getting good reviews.
Starting with the first episode rating of 4.9% and surpassing 18%, Kim Byung-chul created an attractive villain by portraying Seo In-ho, a 'bad husband' who hates but cannot hate him, with excellent level-controlling acting. It made me realize the power of being an actor once again.
Kim Byung-cheol's true value could be confirmed not only in 'Doctor Cha Jeong-suk' but also in his previous works. In KBS2's 'Descendants of the Sun', he played the role of special forces lieutenant colonel Park Byeong-soo with a righteous and solemn charisma. Recording the highest viewership rating of 38.8%, it remained a hot topic in Jangan.
tvN's 'Goblin' also created a lot of issues. In the play, he played the role of Park Joong-heon, a thief who drove Kim Seon (Kim So-hyun) and Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) to death next to Wang Yeo (Kim Min-jae) in the Goryeo Dynasty and wandered around the old world as ghosts for 900 years. Overwhelming, responsible for the tension of the play, causing a 'catastrophic syndrome'. This achieved the highest viewership rating of 20.5%.
Afterwards, in tvN's 'Mr. Sunshine', he acted as a scene-stealer through the role of Il-sik, the owner of the pawnshop 'Haedrio', who was once the best hunter. It seems like an absurdity, but it skillfully digested the clever aspects of the story, and created a colorful tiki-taka with the characters who lead the story, giving a small smile. In the process of achieving the highest viewership rating of 18.1%, he played his role to the fullest and contributed to his popularity.
JTBC's 'SKY Castle' is also indispensable. Cha Min-hyeok, a law school professor and the incarnation of ambition obsessed with success, naturally unravels the process of changing from a coercive head of household to a man full of humanity, leading to enthusiastic responses from viewers. In particular, it received an explosive response of 23.8%, the highest viewership rating, by capturing a person who could be hated with his unique friendly charm and solid acting skills.
Kim Byung-cheol's box office success story continues in 'Doctor Cha Jeong-sook'. As the protagonist of the 2023 JTBC drama's highest viewership rating, he is building a golden filmography by standing tall as a 'box-office guarantee check'. A great performance that breathes vitality into each character in each work, and has emerged as a 'viewership fairy' following 'an actor to believe in' and is already looking forward to what kind of activity he will show in the remaining two episodes.
Kim Seo-yoon, staff reporter seogugu@tenasia.co.kr