A friend who recently found her way into the vast world of South Korean television on Netflix suggested we take a look at this show. We were not disappointed, although it was quite different in many ways from any other show I’ve watched before.
There were a couple of hurdles we had to get over when we first started watching it. The first was that, like most foreign TV shows, it required reading sub-titles. That problem resolved itself while we were watching one of the later episodes in this first season, when I noticed a message while bringing up the show in Netflix that dubbing in English was now available.
Without doing anything to my settings, when the show came on, it now had American English and slang coming out of the characters' mouths. That was actually a little jarring at first, since we knew from prior shows that these are Koreans in their own native land, who definitely aren’t speaking English. But we got used to it, and it did help not to have to read the sub-titles thereafter.
The other hurdle was getting used to the different norms, cultural standards and behavior of South Korean society, as opposed to our own, and figuring out from the plot what those differences were. It took a little while to get used to that, but it was well worth it, and also culturally enlightening.
But now, the show. The series tells the story of Woo Young-Woo (played enchantingly by Park Eun-bin), a petite young Korean woman just beginning her career as an attorney. However, she is no ordinary new lawyer, as we find out wonderfully from the opening scenes from her childhood.
She carries the heavy burden of a serious autism condition, with many of the characteristic abnormal physical mannerisms, difficulties with noise, touch and sensory over-stimulation, and the tendency to make abrupt “too honest” statements that create awkward social situations for her. She also carries the built-in disadvantage (perhaps even heavier there than in our society) of being one of the few women in an ancient profession dominated by men.
But she is also “extraordinary” in that she has a photographic memory, an IQ of 164, and the ability to rapidly analyze every law and statute of the South Korean legal code in her head, and apply it to finding creative solutions to the civil and criminal cases before her. This brilliance, which led her to being the top student in her law school, is a super-power, but it also makes her (at least initially) the envy of her fellow young aspiring attorneys, who are all jockeying for position in a high-end law firm.
Then there is the curious mystery of her parentage. We know who her father is, and he is the loving parent who has raised her, who she loves and with whom she still lives. We don’t know who her mother is at the outset, but as that plot line develops, it becomes another important part of the story, and adds to the more serious and dramatic aspects of Woo Young-Woo’s new life situation as an adult and a lawyer.
And of course, eventually there’s romance, although it’s no ordinary challenge for her to navigate that otherwise normal life process. How does a person with her disabilities and especially her aversion to touch navigate learning how to love and be close to another person in a romantic way? Yet the results seem both realistic and very satisfying.
This is an almost unbelievably sweet and enjoyable entertainment. Not unlike most of our TV shows from the United States, the cast is filled with good-looking young actors who are persuasive and engaging in their roles. But at the center of it all is Woo Young-Woo, and the amazing performance of Park Eun-bin in the role, with all her endearing odd behaviors, her kindness, gentleness and wisdom, her search for a role for herself centered on her search for justice and fairness in a tough and complex world, and her encyclopedic knowledge of and love for whales.
Apparently the show has been renewed for another season. And it’s just so fun! It's one of my favorite new TV series from the past year, and a great introduction to South Korean television. Highly recommended.
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