A very cute, funny, romantic and really well put together drama. The story was fluffy and dark at the same time. I really liked it. It's fun to watch. There were really funny characters. Funny scenes. And a beautiful ending.
Let's not forget about the chemistry between the two leads were fire hot... *the kiss in ep 15*
I started this drama because of Park Hyung Sik. For me he stole the spot light in 'Hwarang' and when i found out that he was the lead here. I had to watch it. And I'm glad that I did. Because he was absolutely amazing. He was cute, cocky and so so sweet. But in episode 14 he just became 100 times better. He did all the right thing with his lines, his delivery and with his expressions. I loved him in here. I love him everywhere. Just look at the guy's smile!
Same goes for Park Bo Young. This is was the first time I saw her. And I loved her. She is cute and on the money with her acting. She made this character look effortless. Her acting in ep 14 was wow.
And the new guy Jang Mi Kwan! Loved that physo killer.
The music was beautiful.
It's a beautiful drama. And you will love it. It's really funny. And really sweet but not over the top. It has a weird balance to it. That will make you love it. If you are into RomCom then this is your drama. And Park Hyung Sik looks awesome in here!
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Misogyny, homophobia, domestic violence in a comedy, as comedy? Oh, no.
The creative team behind Strong Woman Do Bong Soon assembled all the ingredients necessary for a delightful screwball comedy. Fun wacky premise? Yes—a diminutive woman is born with the strength of your typical superhero. Of course, she wants to go through life without being noticed, so she must hide this gift. Charming and beautiful lead actors with good chemistry? Yes—but then we expect that from every K-drama at this point. A powerful man in need of protection? Yes—a CEO accustomed to being in charge must hire the Strong Woman to be his body guard. Naturally, their agendas clash to create comedic plot points. Villains appropriate to a screwball comedy? Yes—not one but two dysfunctional families and a group of inept mobsters are the comic foils to our two heroes. Action sequences in keeping with the screwball premise? Yes—at one point, the titular Strong Woman singlehandedly brawls with 30 mobsters and vanquishes them all in true cartoon-violence style. That is to say, it’s both funny and satisfying. Having assembled these ingredients, the creative team delivers a finished product that delivers on the promise of its premise. For much of the time, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is a textbook example of what a viewer would want from a screwball comedy.But this creative team was not content with the strong comedic elements they compiled. They must have concluded the story needed some drama too. So, to their wacky tale featuring cartoonish-feats of strength, leads squabbling with parents whose goals for their kids differ from the kids' own goals for funny, if typical, family conflict, and a half-hearted but light love triangle, this creative team threw into the mix the following additional and super-amusing ingredients: brutal, violent misogyny; kidnapping and torture; multiple ways to ridicule and demean gay men; and turning domestic violence into a joke. To say these elements do not mesh with the elements discussed in the fist paragraph would be to grossly understate the degree to which Strong Woman Do Bong Soon went off the rails as a series.
Once the viewer decides no longer to overlook the brutality of scenes that involve the stalking of women, the beating of women, the mental and physical intimidation of women after their kidnapping; once the viewer can no longer stomach the tired, cliched portrayals of gay men whose only purpose in the story is to make the point that being gay is disgusting and gross and to serve as the butt of jokes for others; once the viewer decides that domestic violence is never funny even if the perpetrator is the wife rather than the husband—well, once the viewer really reflects on those things Strong Woman Do Bong Soon ceases to function as an innocuous screwball comedy. At that point, it’s just an unwatchable mess.
And that’s a shame, because when the series wasn’t being actively misogynistic, insultingly homophobic, or miscasting a social problem for comedy, the rest of it was quite entertaining. This show was popular in its day—and plenty of fans continue to choose to overlook the issues I mentioned above, precisely because the screwball comedy ingredients actually deliver effective screwball comedy. But I cannot imagine people will watch this mess in the future and think it aged well.
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Lots of slapstick without much growth
If you like slapstick comedy and silly misunderstandings as the basis for relationships, then this will fit the bill. This type of set-up isn't my cup of tea and I find it rather annoying because it doesn't fuel much depth or growth in or between characters. I don't mind a little, especially at the beginning of a show, but then I prefer a show to move into more meaningful interactions as characters build relationships with each other and share their stories and thoughts with us.Even with the overuse of slapstick and misunderstandings, this show could have been great if each resolution to a misunderstanding included a script with depth in which the characters share their true feelings, insights, and histories with each other. Unfortunately, the interactions and dialogue stayed very shallow. We never get to understand the characters' perspectives on their family drama, their own insecurities, or their feelings for each other. This simply isn't written into the script.
Despite the high ratings, this was a disappointment for me. I kept waiting for a deep conversation where the characters actually learn about each other, have heartfelt conversations with their families, and grow more in love, but it never came.
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Pros :
1. Superb Direction :The director never treats this as a TV show and fills in visual after visual of great beauty and marshals his actors so well.I am now committed to watching any show this PD makes (recently watched Miracle we met!)
2. Casting and Performances : PBY was superb and I also found Park Hyung Sik underplayed his character (he was basically the damsel in distress in this one!) It takes guts to take up this kind of a character and he did it with aplomb.Jin goo also acquitted himself quite well.The support cast was awesome too.
3. Story and writing : This was the first tv show to warm me up to the idea of female superheroes and a lot of credit goes to the writer's efforts who made the character of DBS so interesting
4. OST : Some of the songs and their use was awesome in this
5. Excellent comedy : The comedy in this is hillarious and the scenes bring a smile to your face instantaneously
6. OTP : The initial pics never showed a great pair potential but both the leads worked superbly together
7. Great Ending : I have seen many great dramas run out of steam at end.The ending of this show satisfied me while still looking forward to a season 2..
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This review may contain spoilers
weak weak writing
The reason I decided to write this years after it was released and years after I watched it because I keep hearing the main characters name as the poster child of strong women. And as per usual for ranting reviews, this is pretty spoiler heavy.Romance parts were your run of the mill, cliche, tried and tested kdrama formula; it was cute, it was fun and it was light.
The rest, I had a lot of problems.
A user said that this was an easy-to-watch drama. I disagree. It was very hard for me. In fact, I rated screenwriter Baek Mi Gyeong bad after finishing this. A lot of things in drama were either plain wrong and/or used for cheap laughs.
From now on; my rant starts.
Do Bong Sun's desk at the company. What the hell was that? It was a toy desk, maybe suitable for children going to primary school or younger but no older. From my point of view, giving her that desk was the same as saying "I do not respect you or your work but I am indulging you". It was like those punishment rooms I heard about korean companies that they send people to drive them to quit. How can anyone feel respected and wanted working on a desk like that when everyone else have.. appropriate working environment?
Hospitalized gang and the school gang. Why oh why did they keep showing them? It was not funny seeing a grown man salivate and people groaning or keep getting hurt. It was definitely not sad or impactful (the way it was presented).
And the school gang.. I first thought oh she is going to reform them, teaching to be valued members of society or something. But then they kept showing them acting like delinquents; shouting, fighting gangsters, skipping school... you know, the reason she beat them (and then took them under her wings) in the first place. So, the way it was presented is like She is enabling them instead of showing her affecting her surroundings positively. Intentional?
Only time those groups were "arguably" important for the story was the first encounter of the gangsters where Min Min first saw and became intrigued about Bong Bong, and the last scenes where gangsters told them how the criminal was going to escape and that he has a sniper rifle, and when Bong Bong asked school gang to post the criminals pictures online.
All the rest of the scenes with these groups are in are either filled with saliva, pain or acts of delinquency; all of them played for cheap laughs.
And the thing is; all the rest of the time you showed us these groups could have been used to show more important things (IMO). Like Bong Gi and Hui Ji. They seemed to be more mature than our mains and I can't help but think that their story and resolution would have made the drama richer.
Or the parents. They kept showing Chil Gu bruised right until the end and at the end they just told us "no, Jin Yi was not beating him" and then just let go of that story. Why not show us their relationship?
Oh and just to be clear; the character Bong Bong is not written any good either. The mechanics of her power is all over the place. Bong Bong bullied, hurt and scared people using her power from the first episode and the ONLY time she was unaware she was using her power on an undeserving person she lost her power? So it doesn't matter if undeserving people get hurt with her power unless the scene is funny? Or everyone who is mean to her deserves everything that happens to them? Her uses of her power ranges from scaring, bullying people to practically crippling them.
All I can say is;
Weak writing Ms. Baek Mi Gyeong.
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Do not recommend to newcomers to kdrama
I normally don't like writing bad reviews of shows I don't enjoy. But I felt compelled with this drama.First, the good: Park Bo Young is enjoyable to watch as the petite and unassuming Bong Soon as she navigates social circles while hiding her superhuman strength, yearning for a normal life, and a love that remains unrequited for the longest time. She's jaded of her superpower and feels like an outcast even in her own family.
That said, this drama has to be one of the worst shows I've ever watched and I feel so sorry for everyone involved especially the actors who I think did their best to elevate this drama from the heaping pile of shit it wants to stay in.
This drama asks A LOT from its viewers. it wants you to forgive its poor visual effects, it wants you to laugh at its forced slapstick humor, it wants you to forgive it for beating around the bush too much. But the weakest part of this drama is the terrible pacing- it's all over the place. One minute you're following the crime mystery, and once you're invested, it pulls you out back to a 15 minute scene at the hospital where the injured gang stooges gather to try to make you laugh with poop jokes, or a long protracted homophobic scene where the 2 MLs caress each other in Bong Soon's head. Also, practically any time the gang boss or his thin henchman or his doppelganger is on screen, it's complete filler / padding and they're not even funny (well, the metal chopstick bracelet scene was actually funny). Several times I've felt like this drama was just wasting my time while I'm waiting for the story to progress. Certain scenes feel way too stretched and I felt they could've just cut more in the editing room to improve the pacing.
Overall, this is the quintessential Kdrama stereotype most non viewers think when someone mentions "kdrama" to them which is a shame since kdrama has so much more to offer. If someone you know wants to get into kdrama but is hesitant, avoid recommending this at all costs.
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Story (7.5):
I'll start with that I really enjoyed the first half more than the second half, even though the blossoming relationship was really great to see and there was great chemistry between the actors that didn't show up as much in the first half.
However, there were just enough overly ridiculous elements to this drama that it just couldn't get the 10 I so wanted to give to it after the first few episodes.
The main reasons include: stupid gangsters, stupid police, stupid "professional" workers, stupid comedy, stupid monk, stupid jokes...
The other reasons include: unnecessary gangsters, unnecessary "professional" workers, unnecessary stupid comedy, entirely unnecessary monk, unnecessary stupid jokes... And too little Ji Soo (only kind of kidding).
I enjoyed some of the comedy and loved to laugh at this drama, but it just got more and more ridiculous.
I don't want to bash on this drama too much because I really, really enjoyed it especially every scene that had: Park Bo Young, Park Hyung Shik, Ji Soo; and also didn't have: Kim Won Hae, Im Won Hee.
However, the final deal breaker was the final scene of the final episode, which episode I really enjoyed on so many levels and really didn't enjoy on some other levels.
It was great to see some last scenes with a sadly 2d but amazingly acted villain, and the result of relationship between mains was just the cherry on top... But then they had to go in and throw that last scene in which you see some irresponsibility with some mumbo jumbo about the world which I admit looked cool, but the more I thought about it the more I felt it didn't fit with the character...
*SIGH* That probably took away at least 0.5 off of my final score.
Acting/Cast (10):
Park Bo Young and Park Hyung Shik were aMAzing together, and having Ji Soo in there was just a great plus. The rest of the casting was great too, especially from the villain! and even from the overly ridiculous characters as they played it how they should have, even if I didn't exactly enjoy it all.
Music (7.5):
I guess I should also mention the music... It wasn't anything spectacular that I loved; the Love you love you song was fine and actually a really decent song, but nothing unique. Some people may like the Trouble song too, but not my cup of tea.
Rewatch Value (8.0):
For rewatch... I could re-watch a lot of the scenes over and over, and in truth I watched the majority of the drama twice, one raw and once with subs; but I think most of my rewatching will only be done on the first half, especially if it's full episodes.
Overall (8.0):
Wish I could have given it a 10, but had enough filler comedy I just couldn't deal. Still a great drama and recommended!
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Long & Really Dragged Out
Honestly, I really thought there could be some potential to this show with the relatively high ratings. However, what truly transpired was probably the most frustrating push to complete this show out of all the shows I've watched in so far.I could be quite biased as my very first kdrama ever was It's Okay to Not Be Okay and that set the bar for all subsequent dramas to hit what I still consider to be a balance of romance, fiction, thriller and real life illnesses. This show is clearly not a great representation of any of these and the flow of the show is too forced in my opinion. I would surmise it as the romance is quite abrupt with no real lead up or progression but rather just happens. The storyline is all over the place in that you will have love/romance scenes juxtapositioned with thriller scenes and no real transition between the two aside from their connection to the main character.
In this show's entirety, I would have loved for the thrilling part of the show to not be as forced and drawn out. It truly seemed like the more idiotic the characters were the more aneurysms I would get watching and it wasn't the funny kind either. You'd get a mix of odd gang member violence, superpower main character, love triangle and psychopath thriller all jumbled into one episode and you come to wonder what is going on.
I can't in good conscious ever recommend this show to anybody. The story is just all over the place and even with good acting the storyline cannot be saved. It felt like watching an episode of the Bachelor where there's unnecessary drama in places that make no sense.
TL;DR storyline is all over the place with no clear goal in sight with the acting over dramaticized.
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This review may contain spoilers
As another reviwer had already stated, this show tried to be too much. Though I did enjoy the first couple of episodes quite a lot, the second half of the series just seemed to he quite a drag, and at times I found myself quite irritated at certain episodes, so much so I decided to just skip through each episode to find the satisfaction that I had from the first half of the series. Seriously though, you have a plot that appears to be solid when in reality it was actually very flawed. Majority of the characters ended up just being annoying. Basically, the whole premise of the show was terrible in my opinion. Here you have a psychopath who ends up abducting girls with the reason being that he was a fan of play, then you have a bunch of stupid police who cant keep up with the criminal; constantly making mistake after mistake. The girls being abducted are done so (not coincidentally) IN THE SAME AREA, though nothing special has been done to prevent further crimes and so more abductions occur. Then you see a seemingly rebellious Gook Doo who, even after being told not to do certain stuff, does so anyway (spoiler) and apparently he just isnt resilient enough, loses his objective at hand, BECAUSE, fFS, if you notice THE AMOUNT OF TIMES that sOooOOO MANY people have looked into the junkyard to no avail, omg, that irritated me soooo much, lile, if you're going to be a rebellious cop for the good of the town atleast be thorough with it and don't do a half assed job.
Moving onto Bong Soons mother... wow... at the beginning I did see how her attitude towards her husband was an attempt to be comical, then after a while it was just plain abuse, wtf xD, it was legitimately only an abuisive relationship; it was funny the first time, but when that sort of irrelevant thing is included into a show, not only does it get irritating from being repetitive, it actually is worrying ahaha.
I fail to understand the hype over this drama; granted, the cutesy relationship between AMH and DBS was worth watching, but Ifeel like people overlooked the fact that the plot was terrible
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Watch this show only if you like slapstick comedy
I began watching this series because of the male lead, Park Hyung-sik, after enjoying his performance in Hwarang. He is a pretty boy but must have really needed the money to agree to star in this ridiculous show. There was no chemistry between him and the female lead. They are supposed to be in their late 20's, yet both of them have the mental and emotional intelligence of 15-year old high school teenagers.The only real adults in the show were the detective friend, the female lead's brother and their father (only after he stopped taking the psychological and physical abuse from the mother). Everyone else in the show were clowns.
It baffles me as to why single young women would venture out alone late at night, knowing that a serial kidnapper and murderer was lurking in their neighborhood. Even the female lead's best friend who was already attacked once by the kidnapper later continued to walk the streets alone - not the sharpest tool in the shed!
The show could have been condensed to 10 episodes, but the director and producers stretched it out to 16 episodes full of totally unnecessary nonsense. I found myself hitting the fast-forward button many times after episode 10 and didn't miss any of the storyline.
I would not recommend this show.
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