Strong Girl Namsoon

How could they mess this up so badly?

==Breakdown==
Background plot - 50%
Romance - 30%
Misc comedy - 20%

Background plot - terrible
Romantic chemistry - terrible
Misc comedy - terrible
Production value - Good

Note, the 6.0 for the cast include the guy who played Ryu Shi Oh (which is a 10+). Everyone else plus Ryu Shi Oh averages out to equal a 6.

I've never watched a show or read a book where I was actively rooting for the villain to succeed as much as I was rooting for Ryu Shi Oh. The only other example I can think of is 'Black Panther' and even then, I liked the hero a lot and felt conflicted. Not so with this show.

Ryu Shi Oh was the only good thing (other than the cameo from the original show). And it's not like he was just okay. He was AMAZING. What the actor did with this character was nothing short of miraculous. Thus, when you compare all the other characters and their nonsensical journeys and lack of chemistry to Ryu Shi Oh, it made this show so difficult (and frustrating) to watch.

How did the creators not understand what was happening while they were making it? It seems so obvious. If you have a villain that is 100% more interesting and compelling than the hero, you re-write the script and you reshoot scenes. You make the hero the second lead and you redeem the villain. Come on, people. But, no. We (and Ryu Shi Oh) were robbed. We were so, so, so robbed.

The other storylines were over-the-top and incredibly boring, to be honest. I tried watching them but ended up fast forwarding any scene that didn't include Ryu Shi Oh.

In summary, I can't recommend watching this show, not even for Ryu Shi Oh. Instead, save yourself the frustration and just watch edits of Ryu Shi Oh. You'll get the picture and save yourself the brain-numbing exposure to the rest of this tepid drama.

What a colossal waste of time.

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Read the comment discussion a must - SUPER HORRIBLE writing and NO CHEMISTRY

1.0 is already generous for this Drama and I always question why a member of mydrammalist would give such low rating to
Other dramas. And still finished it..
Now I know.. its like getting into bad relationship..
And you got trapped in the middle, you wanted to go back but then there's this thing call HOPE and you just kept on moving..
So you've been TRICKED, LURED and USED..

The worst written female lead..
Wait, she's not even felt like the lead, her fam members are..

This drama totally shook my belief for kdrama to the core..
Its like eating Raw avocado... do you know how does it taste?
Bitter than medicine..

Read the comments from the drama page, its all there before you invest 16 hours more or less of your time, your thought, your time..

You will be betrayed! Watch something else!

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The Enemies to Lovers trope would have done this wonders.

Mediocre. What a mediocre series. I have so much to say but I'll start with my headline.

What a wasted potential. I'm not saying she should have ENDED up with the villain because the way this was written, it would NEVER WORK. In order for it to be a good "Enemies to Lovers", it needed the villain to be the male lead so HE is the focus of the story. Some people will say they didn't like him and that is completely valid because he was written to be UNREDEEMABLE. If he was written to be LIKED, people would have changed their mind about him. All the writer needed to do was make him smarter, make the female lead smarter too in the way she spies on him, slow burn it a little and then build it up from there into his redemption or a anti-hero ending. Then you will have the greatest progression for a love story that is refreshing and not boring. And for people who hate villainous characters, I promise you, one story that doesn't conform to the standard isn't going to make all the usual romance in kdrama fade into oblivion. There is always wholesome drama that airs EVERY season. We are not running out of stock from those to watch. So there is no need to be agitated that people liked a bad guy as if there isn't thousand of dramas with cute good guys characters. There is something for everyone. For this one in specific, the enemies to lovers would have done it WONDERS.

Despite what I said, I have to say, this drama, even without the romance, was TOO MESSY. It started out good. The first 4 episode were pretty enjoyable but the writers decided to half bake everything else. Too many side plotlines that go NOWHERE. The story was BARELY moving forward. So many unlikeable characters taking the spotlight for no reason. I wish the male characters were more well put together. None of the male characters had more to their story than being useless (except the dad) and don't get me mentioned on the brother constant target for fatshaming. It made me roll my eyes. I thought his story would conclude well as a life lesson that if you fatshame your child, you can endanger their life which is a message I don't mind seeing depicted but then they kept showing scenes of him eating or just talking about food as if that's his only trait... it feels like even the writer didn't learn a lesson from their own storytelling.

Also the FL doesn't feel like a FL here. Her mom and grandma took most of the spotlight away from her. It would have been more enjoyable to see both mom and daughter work and plan together but still have the daughter as the MAIN focus. Instead, she got sidelined in her OWN story. She have all these super powers and abilities yet all of it disappeared in the other half of the story. As for the grandma, if she was the character who ALWAYS save the day when her daughter and granddaughter in trouble, she would have be a badass character.

As for the romance, it was BAD. What is the point of watching a romance drama where the male leads already in love by episode 4? Let's say, okay, we like the early romance because some dramas actually do them too... but... there is no build up? No confession leading up to being together? One day, they are together. They just throw a scene with both of them and hope they convince you into liking it. The kiss scenes are all randomly placed and the grandma have MORE of a romance storyline than the FL. People only like the romance because it's the male lead and female lead. Not because it's actually well written.

I gotta give it to Byeon Woo Seok's. His back must hurt from trying to carry this drama. The villain was the only interesting character in the show. I loved the FL at the start but like I said, she got SIDELINED SO HARD, there is nothing to say about her. I've made a character analysis of Ryushio if anyone's interested. https://kisskh.at/729535-strong-woman-kang-nam-soon#comment-15450791

The villain got all the package. Good backstory, goals, ambition and was even soft to watch him when he wasn't being a menace to society. He progressed the story when nothing else was. They made him dumb in not figuring out the FL identity so they can extend this to 16 episodes but that can be forgiven because without it... OOOOOF. Would there be a story??? The villain is the best thing about this show. He brought a good amount of the international watchers. I was never going to watch this show if I didn't come across his edit. My sister also WASN'T going to watch either if it wasn't for these edits. There is too many good dramas airing to be wasting it on a mediocre one like this one.

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Strong beginning, abysmal plot until the end. Or: A whole lot of " WHAT!?"...

Wow, I really liked the premise with three women having super powers and all. But around episode 2 or 3 it all just went down the drain. Nam-Soon is behaving and looking like a child - and without any kind of expertise becoming a cop. WHAT!? The sub-plot with the two homeless people was just for nothing at all, and except for Nam-Soons father all the male family members are whiny, pathetic and straight out anoying every time they're on-screen.

The main plot is as flat as a piece of paper. The super power are almost never used and I basically nothing substantial happens. And the ending made me REALLY salty because the final two episodes are a big fat "giving the finger" right into the audiences faces, saying it doesn't value the audiences time. No cool end boss fight, no climax, no nothing. Not even a cool quotable line...

[SPOILER]
Nam-Soon is confronting the villain, he tells her, her mongolian mother is having a bomb with her. But Nam-Soon can rescue her by taking the drug and not drinking any water within one hour. AND SHE TAKES THE DRUG! WHAT!? Why didn't she just knock out the villain (darn, she has super powers!) and then calls her mom and the police to deal with the bomb situation?

But, well, she is lying there, deeply in pain, gasping for air. And her korean mother and her grand mother are also suffering with her. WHAT!? Why do all of these three women are having super powers to beginn with? I do get that they're somehow connected to each other (and I like that idea!), and one could argue that it makes the ending more intense and that those women do have a weakness bla bla bla... But their powers are never utilised, except for pretty minor things. So why do they have those powers and why is it necessary to take those powers away from them?

And then there is this one moment, where Nam-Soon is out of her being in pain misery, getting up, noticing a door with a bomb on it. She grabs that door and throws it into the outer space (or reeeeeeally faaaaar away, at least) - so she is really strong. A moment later the villain comes, beats her up like it's nothing and explains to her she lost her super powers because of the drug. WHAT!?
[/SPOILER]

OK, I admit, there are a few nice moments during the whole show here and there. But all in all: Most of the characters are flat-out anoying or impossible to be taken seriously and many scenes are just fillers. Many of said scenes do not hold up to their premise of generating action, suspense or even interest! There's dealing with love-affairs, eating too much food and wanting to lose weight, whining about mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. But it all leads to nothing and is dealt with on a superficial level! The plot is full of gigantic (plot) holes and all over the place!

Even the acting is so-so. Some actors are really good, most are okayish to bad. The korean mom is all about looking cool and hot, the grandmother is a mixture of tough-as-nails and wholesome, and the female lead, Nam-Soom, is a mid-twenty something child in every way possible: smiling, talking, behaving, the whole package! Even her way of using her James Bond watch to film the villains office (while the villain is with her!) is screaming "Hey you, you don't mind me filming all of this, don't you!?". But of course the villain doesn't mind, because he doesn't notice it in the first place!

What a waste of time. Bad! Really bad! Really, really bad!

Well, at least the music is okay, and the policeman is actually quite believable.

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l'ho vista sperando un finale migliore per Ryu Si Oh

sinceramente pensavo di droppare la serie all'episodio 4, l'ho continuata solo per Ryu Si Oh, che nel bene o nel male ha portato avanti da solo la serie, farlo uscire di scena così è stata una stronzata, con il modo giusto avrebbe avuto un glow up migliore..
Nam Soon di un imbarazzo totale.. non la commento nemmeno per quanto mi abbia totalmente delusa il suo personaggio, io capisco l'infanzia lontano dalla società, vissuta in campagna con quattro persone in croce, ma non credo che il popolo mongolo sia così stupido come in qualche modo lo rappresenta lei..
la madre? che dire.. pessima.. non solo si sente superiore al resto delle persone perché ha forza e ricchezza.. (no il fatto che si "sdebiti" con chiunque tratti bene la figlia non la giustifica).
uno dei temi trattati, come il delicatissimo tema sull'obesità, fatto passare per una storiella tappa buco..
la storia d'amore della nonna mi sarebbe piaciuta un po di più se il vero villani fosse stato il fidanzato della nonna..
il poliziotto, per quanto carino possa essere l'attore, lho trovato a tratti inutile..
questa serie è un vero FLOP

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I was so excided to watch this and so disappointed by the end of it.

With Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (Swdbs) being one of my favorite dramas and this one being a sequel written by the same person I thought this would be a great show but I couldn't be more wrong. WTF was this show?
P.S. For those of you who are going to tell me to look at it as a different show and not compare it to Swdbs, No, just no it's a sequel taking place in the same world, and Bong Soon literally has a cameo. So I'm going to compare.

This drama is supposed to be an action rom-com but there are no enjoyable action scenes and it doesn't help that there is basically never any suspense as the "heroes" in the story at all times have the upper hand. There is never a moment where it feels like Shi Oh is going to succeed in his plan. Then for the fighting scenes, I guess they are somewhat okay however this story is supposed to take place not long after Swdbs yet so much of this part of the family's strength is different and what's with their ability to know when the others are in trouble when that's not something that existed in Swdbs. As for the romance part of things literally, none of the characters who are supposedly in love with each other have any chemistry. As for the comedy, nothing was funny, there wasn't a single humorous moment.

On top of that, about half of this show feels like filler scenes. What even is the importance of any of the scenes with that homeless couple past the first few episodes? Anyway, this is overall a very disappointing show and while I would like to watch a better sequel, I think it's best if we stop here. This drama just shows why it's better to only have 1 season shows.

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You will never be glamour.

Due to the many storylines it possessed, it failed for us [as the audience] to connect with any character or story.

I found myself rooting for Ryu Sioh (played by Byeon Wooseok) simply because he was the only character to have had any depth and growth even if it felt short towards the end; he was not immune to the awful writing.

The writers ignored what made Strong Woman Do Bongsoon so special. Bongsoon (played by Park Boyoung) was just like anyone else — she was flawed. She made mistakes and was held accountable. She grew as a person as the story progressed and the supporting cast was vital to what we saw. Whereas Strong Girl had so much elements that ultimately failed to anchor each other (drug cartel, the Russian mafia, capitalism, poverty, addiction, scams, homelessness, and way more). We know we're supposed to care about these things, but it fell short in the end because it was just an overload of content that didn't make sense.

Hwang Geumjoo (played by Kim Jungeun) was lifeless. A terrible mother who cared more about this arbitrary belief that she was meant to cure the world of its wrong by throwing her wealth at it. She is a failed attempt at being Batman (wealth, black ensemble, adopting corrupt children?). She fails her son, Gang Namin (played by Han Sangjo), by fatshaming him and only caring when it comes to bite her in the ass. She fails her ex-husband, Gang Bonggo (played by Lee Seungjoon), by focusing on her empire, fundamentally, leading to their divorce. She fails Kang Namsoon (played by Lee Yoomi) the most. She loved the idea of her daughter and urged her to be a miniature version of herself.

Namsoon was a caricature of herself. There was a constant reminder that she was raised in Monoglia, but it was never utilized properly. "She's from Mongolia, so please excuse her Korean. She was not taught to speak formally." That was the only time it was brought up. I wish there was a storyline (we already had so many, what's one more) where she struggled to connect with her biological family and Korean heritage. Her Mongolian life (and most importantly, her parents who raised her) was erased. Geumjoo throws money at them as a thank you as that's the only thing her character does.

Don't even get me started on the forced romance between Gil Joonggan (played by Kim Haesook) and Seo Joonhee (played by Jeong Boseok) that got more attention and progression than anything [and anyone] else albeit leading to nowhere. Kang Hee Shik (played by Ong Seongwu) and Namsoon got less screen time despite being the main leads, which [to no one's surprise] had their development suffer.

There was way more emphasis on the responsibility of wielding their power (as seen as Do Bongsoon's mother losing it). Strong Girl's family uses it freely without consequence and there's never a moment where they're hesitant or mindful of their actions. It weakens the importance of Bongsoon's sacrifice. Almost completely retconning the history and gravity of their constitution. Why is there a lack of repercussions in Strong Girl?

Judging from the extra scenes in the finale, it seems that this universe will expand and given from what we got here, it will be even worse.

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Writing 101: How to make a happy ending a bad ending

If a happy ending and a cameo from the original IP (Strong Woman Do Bongsoon) couldn't even save a show then it means it's very bad storytelling.

You've got as FL a reckless girl with superhuman power. Overload it with an overacting, self righteous with a savior complex FL's mother. Sprinkle in the ditzy FL's grandmother with a cringe love story. Then add in a kind of wimpy, goofy cop with gold digging parents as ML. Garnish it with a sexy villain with a tragic back story. That is the recipe for making you root for the villain and his redemption instead of the good guys. The story should have been about Namsoon but Geum Ja kept being pushed to the forefront. It would have been fine if Geum Ja was a good mother and on the surface she is but she truly isn't. Her fat phobic comments to her son, her derision for her husband, her self righteousness just because she is strong turned me off. The comedy were cringe and weren't funny, not at all. The only people that I really liked were Namsoon's adoptive parents, the villain Ryu Shio, Shio's childhood friend and Namsoon's father.

The way they ended Ryu Shio's arc was so tragic that even though the story supposedly have a 'happy' ending, it made me unsatisfied and wished that I have never watched this drama. Will I rewatch? Will I recommend it to others? Definitely no, unless it is to give an example of very bad and lousy writing with lousy and overacting actors.

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Watch at your own risk

Okay first of all, im a really big fan of SWDBS. I love the min min couple, i mean PBY did an excellent job as a cast along with PHS but for this drama, i have to say otherwise. I’m watching for them as a cameo and BWS. The reason why i gave the acting a high rating is because of BWS. I really didn’t expect this show to be THE WORST DRAMA. I mean by worst is compared to SWDBS, this is just the worst. It is as bad as it can get. Please, read the warnings and watch it at your own risk.

Some things just doesn’t make any sense and everything is just cringey even the ML and FL.

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Low stakes and oversaturation of characters

Before going into this, it was already pretty clear that Strong Woman DBS, which had one of the most iconic kdrama couples ever, was a difficult act to follow. I'm going to try and get all the comparisons out of the way first. While I wasn't a HUGE fan of the humor in SWDBS, it knew well enough to take serious moments seriously, and everything else was strong enough to make up for it; I loved the leads and the murder plot was thrilling and high-stakes. This drama has the same issue with its humor, but its other aspects are either weak or worse.

The humor just isn't my style at all. There's a lot of physical humor and over-acting; it might be fine if it was only used in select moments, but I felt like it permeated every second of drama, even big fight scenes and what should've been tense moments with antagonists. Overall it made the entire tone of the drama seem kind of off — as if nothing actually mattered because it was all for laughs.

The drug plot felt low-stakes not just because of the tone, but also just because of the way it was written. I don't think anyone going into this drama should expect any profound commentary on drugs or class issues in South Korea. The drama seems to try every once in a while with an offhanded comment, but it really doesn't go much deeper and it's even self-contradictory sometimes. There's parts where they touch upon it, but they also make its lead a "good billionaire" because she's kind with her money and because she pulled herself up by her bootstraps. It felt contradictory to any commentary, just so viewers could get some #girlboss moments.

In terms of characters — I'm not a fan of ensembles to begin with and this drama is a good example of why. It felt like there were so many characters and so many subplots that none of them got enough screentime to be complete, and less important subplots took over more engaging ones. The drama spent SO MUCH screentime on the grandmother's romance, which felt slapstick and unserious, while Namsoon and Heeshik's screentime began to dwindle. And as the drama went on it felt like more and more antagonists were getting introduced as random side characters, and because they served no purpose other than to trigger plot points and had no backstory or personality, they began to blur into each other.

The only antagonist that really had a good story was the villain Ryu Shi-O, but my bigger issue with him plays into my low-stakes criticism. He was just...a bad villain. He has physical abilities, sure, but his plans, goals, and motivations weren't that clear, and most of all I just can't believe that he couldn't piece together anything our protagonists were planning when they were being so obvious about it. I mean...Namsoon's acting...

With so many things going on, romantic lines didn't have enough screentime for good development. I'd already mentioned not caring about the grandmother's romance, and while Namsoon/Heeshik were the best in the show, it felt like they didn't really go deeper than both of them being cute.

Honestly, I think there's an audience for this somewhere out there — maybe someone who likes quirkiness and shenanigans — but it's not me. I'm giving this a 2 (and not a 1) just because it didn't utterly infuriate me as much as me just not really caring.

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This is the 2nd worse kdrama I watched this year. Just bad. I am not comparing to Strong Woman b/c I never saw it. I literally started watching this b/c of the short youtube videos of Si-O. I love a good looking guy, villian even better (that's my jam). I actually thought the 1st three episodes were fairly good even with some of the shenanigans going on.

The reason this show is terrible is the writing. Period, point blank. A show can be an over the top comedy/fantasy/drama. That doesn't mean the writing gets to be bad and the audience has to accept the many inconsistency in the story. The plot still has to be logical and reasonably entertaining but this wasn't. There were way too many unnecessary characters and too many unnecessary subplots.

This was the worst, non-climatic ending to a villian I have ever seen!! I didn't expect Si-O to do a complete 180, that makes no sense. But to not have an epic, all out fight scene with the "hero" and the villian was just plain stupid and Namsoon being immobilized by drugs doesn't count. They litterally end the villain and then there were 40 more minutes of show left. A show that, at this point no one cared about.

The best thing about this show is Byeon Woo Seok. That's it.

11/26/23

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Watching a cartoon

If i can guess who would appeal to, it will to 5 years old and below. This story makes no sense, the characters are all (except the villain ML) so bland and too cringe to watch. The chemistry between the leads have no chemistry - it was completely forced from the get-go, and some of the side plots (like those two tent couples? and the grandma unnecessarily side quest for love) makes me want to gag.

The only things I actually enjoyed despite literally slept through 8 episodes is strong woman bong-soon's little cameo and the villain male lead. I felt bad that a 3D character that has so much depth and trauma was killed off so easily in the world of 2D mindless character. It felt like I was watching a cringy cartoon in episode 16. I wish Ryu Shi-Oh was in another series where it suits him. THE character got wasted like that.

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