SBS Friday-Saturday drama Agent Kim Reactivated (written by Nam Dae-joong, directed by Lee Seung-young and Lee So-eun) has become a massive hit, surpassing 15.7% in viewership ratings (Nielsen Korea nationwide) in just two episodes. While the desperate struggle of the protagonist, played by So Jisub, anchors the show, the driving force fueling its rapid rise in ratings is undoubtedly Joo Sang Wook, who is delivering a chilling performance as a villain unlike any he has played before.
Joo plays Joo Gang-chan, a construction company chairman and former mob enforcer who wields absolute power. He exudes an overwhelming sense of madness that shifts the atmosphere of every scene he enters.
His cold, sociopathic nature was captured intensely in a bathhouse sequence during the first episode. While attempting to clean up his image to enter the political sphere, Joo Gang-chan revealed burn scars over his tattoos during a private meeting with Assemblyman Shim (played by Kim Kyung-ryong). With a calm smile, he said, "I felt regret after I started this business. I was embarrassed for my daughter. So, I just burned them off with a blowtorch." He then followed up with a spine-chilling remark that instantly subdued his opponent: "The pain must have been much worse for the people who broke their promises to me and disappeared." This moment perfectly illustrated the dangerous nature of a man who would not hesitate to inflict violence on himself to get what he wants.
However, the true terror of Joo Gang-chan lies in his dual nature. While he is ruthless toward others, he acts as a devoted "daughter-obsessed" father to his daughter, Joo Hye-ri (played by Yoo Ji-an).
When Agent Kim (So Jisub) knelt and apologized in the faculty office regarding a school bullying incident, Joo initially seemed to accept it like a fellow parent. But as soon as Agent Kim left, he dropped the facade. His quiet warning to the principal—"If this happens again, neither this school nor any of you will exist"—was enough to send shivers down the viewers' spines.
Furthermore, the twisted paternal love he showed while comforting his hurt daughter reveals the dark values of his character. He told her, "Don't just take it from now on; pay them back tenfold. You must never let them look down on you. You need to instill such fear in them that they can't even look you in the eye, that their legs go weak just seeing you, so they never dare to challenge you again. If you face something you can't handle alone, Daddy will protect you." He effectively brainwashed her into believing that the world must be ruled by power and fear.
Joo Sang Wook is crafting an iconic villain, seamlessly oscillating between cold-blooded charisma and a twisted sense of humanity in a way that makes it hard to believe this is his first time playing a villain. This is why viewers have been flooding social media with praise, saying, "The genre of the show changes whenever Joo Sang Wook appears" and "He has reached a new career peak."
With Agent Kim, a father trying to protect his daughter, and the villain Joo Gang-chan, who teaches his daughter to become a monster, all eyes are on how their full-scale confrontation will heat up the screen.
Agent Kim Reactivated airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 PM.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.