This review may contain spoilers
After watching 20th century girl and seeing all the Ryu Shio edits, I was quite intrigued to watch this series, but decided not to due to all the negative comments. But now that I have watched Lovely runner, I decided to give it a try for Byeon Woo Seok. Unfortunately I couldn't finish it, even for him!Why did I drop after ep 8 (+ep 9 only Ryu Shio scenes)?
- FL: I believe they wanted to make the FL innocent and naive, but she ended up being a 6-year old child in an adult body. At first I found her cute, but then when the whole spy thing started, she was just dumb! Someone mentioned that this series audience are kids, and that's really true! Who would hold a watch with hidden camera like that? And why didn't the cops give her any instructions regarding the computer, usually in movies they put an USB stick into the computer to get access, but here she is stealing the whole computer... I think it's supposed to be funny, but it just felt stupid.
It's so sad, she could have been a very cool & cute character...
- ML: The actor is cute, but character is very bland, boring and uncharming. Also he didn't have any chemistry with the FL. The romance didn't really make sense to me, like how & why did he fall in love with her?
- FL's Mother: It would have been great to show that she succeeded as a hero & businesswoman, but as a failed mother (not sure if that happens later in the drama), that would add more complexity to her character. And then we could have seen her redeeming herself.
- Villain: Him verifying FL's identity and ML being able to hide voice recorders in the building was very sloppy for someone who was part of Russian mafia. He also wasn't as cold as I expected him to be. However I didn't watch the whole series, so maybe after watching the whole drama it would make sense...
As for the rest: I didn't care about the grandma at all (was kind of expecting her boyfriend to be an enemy, but read somewhere that that wasn't the case). I was disappointed that FL's brother and uncle were very weak and had nothing to themselves than being "ill". At least her father showed some kind of character...
So, overall this series is not good imo (even w/o the comparison with Do Bong Soon). It failed to capture me. I'm actually a sucker for cute FL, but it has to be done right, which this series couldn't. I fail to see the good points of this series...
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I'll make it short...
Strong Girl Namsoon had a cool premise with the mix of the different approaches of feminism, but the story went off the rails.Kang Nam Soon's search for her parents in Gangnam turns into this weird drug case involving her family, and it just feels forced.
The detective subplot is okay, but they threw in a villain, Ryu Si Oh, who's the only thing worth watching.
The writing is a mess, though.
No clear direction, and it feels like the writers lost their way.
The family dynamics are interesting, but the lackluster plot overshadows it.
Despite some cool action scenes and good performances, the show doesn't live up to its potential—just a letdown.
The series could have done better in delivering a more coherent and empowering feminist storyline.
( I'm being generous here so I gave 8 because I'll be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a bit )
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This review may contain spoilers
I WAS DISAPPOINTED!
I wanna start off by saying that i really wanted to love this drama! I feel like there's something missing. I personally felt like it was rushed and could of been better. the only character we got to kind of know was Ryu Shi-Oh. i would have Ike to have a back story on how Gang Nam-soon was lost. Also I think Nam-Soon mom got more screen time than anyone. it started off kinda slow. i liked it after episode 2. in my opinion it was kinda hard to keep up with all the characters just because they were thrown in randomly for a short period of time. personally i felt namsoon had more chemistry with Ryu shi-oh than Hee-shik. also it felt like they rushed their love story and it felt cringy and bland. The only reason i watched until the end was because Wooshik! WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE KILLED OFFF!!???? Also whats up with putting half the characters in the hospital almost every episode? no ending has ever upset me more than this, I'm super disappointed.One thing that i really liked was how they brought awareness to homelessness, drug abuse, sexism, and ageism
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Could not match the Original
Strong Girl Namsoon started off on a great note and it was a breath of fresh air. However, it slowly started to lose sight of plot by focusing on an absurd number of characters that are not even secondary to the plot. They just don't contribute in any way.Although I'm not writing this series off completely (at least not until the final 2 episodes have aired), I feel bad at how it went from being a wonderfully original and stand alone show to an inferior second season.
The highlight of the show was the Gang family's women and their super strength, their connection and how they handle their power. But the limelight should have stayed on Gang Namsoon since the show is named after her. The two MLs - HeeSik and Ryo Si Oh (which sounds a lot like Russia) were actually great for the plot and Namsoon's interactions with them was the only thing that made this show entertaining. Seeing some of the more lighter sides to Ryo Si Oh was enjoyable as was seeing Hee Sik falling in love and getting jealous. You could actually find yourself rooting for both guys are certain points.
Problem is all the distraction of the main plot with useless things like Namsoon's uncle being unrealistically weak despite having no real illness, Namsoon's grandmother's love story and annoyance with her husband, the Bread Song character and his assistant being almost unwatchable among few other moments that I only got through by speeding through the episodes.
There are some nice comic moments involving the 3 women showcasing their strengths along with cute moments involving Namsoon and the two men because of which I can still rate this series an 8. But it is a far cry from the original Strong Woman Do Bong Soon which is definitely one of my favourites. That's because they knew how to focus on the star of the show. It would have been okay to have all these extra characters if they had ensured that the focus doesn't shift too much to all these extra characters. Like the homeless couple who were interesting at the beginning but later became a chore to watch. These are the things that truly weakened the story and destroyed it's core value.
I hope there will be some redeeming qualities in the final two episodes. I'll be updating and possibly revising the review then.
The OST is nice. Sounds even better sped up. heh.
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It's a Drama
Okay At the beginning, we all tought this will get us hooked HOOKED ..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!At the end, we appreciate the effort and the patience of the actors themselfs for being part of this Drama,
We thank them for at least appearing. we dont want to criticize them actors, nor the writers or firectors, as we know this is just for entertainment, It might not be our generation age to watch this.... But im sure children will find it funny and well kinda refreshing, Ot has some LESSONS , avoid the DRUGS, do not take advantage of ELDERLY, which is important we all got the message. We all hope the story stops right there in THERE. No false hope. no cringy spinies sequel nothing,. I feel so empty after watching last ep.
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Poorly written drama!
A Badly written story with great actors who tried to atleast make it watchable.grandmothers love story was unnecessary.
bread song story was waste. He could have been main villain and written as most dangerous.
Ryu Si O.. he was portrayed as tormented boy, they wanted us to feel bad for him and support him, but then instead of showing his redemption, they put him on killing spree, even trying to kill Nam Soon (the girl he loved and trusted)
Kang Sik and Nam Soon love story was just there. no development.
The Homeless characters are just there. no significance.
oof! writers messed it up!
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Not as strong as I expected it to be
Its prequel, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, left a strong impression on me as a casual rom-com enjoyer. As soon as a sequel was announced, I highly anticipated the drama since I believed they could give me another well-fine quality production. Which, they perfectly delivered during the first few episodes but the show lacked creative progress to the main storyline during the middle portion of its airing period.Their comedy entertained me at some point but not by the rest of its elements. I can’t feel any romance lingering in my emotions towards the main couple. Byeon Woo Seok saves the whole show from falling apart. His character is very devilish but his appearance leads me to set aside his evil nature and focus on his fine-acting execution. The supporting characters are doing good but aren’t that capable of catching my whole attention.
I feel like the production will push through another sequel of the strong girl storylines but I wish that they give more time to flourish the script with a right balance of fantasy and reality. Nam Soon feels bland as the show's protagonist and I wanted someone who can deliver the story as what Do Bong Soon does in the prequel. I can’t help but to compare the two shows. Although, I still salute the sequel for a fine job of continuing to nourish the well-loved prequel drama.
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FELL IN LOVE WITH THE VILLIAN... NOT THE DRAMA!
I went in with no expectations, but that was a slap in the face.Sadly to say I only enjoy the first two episode and it just went downhill. The plot is all over the place and pacing is not good. Compared to the orginlal, it's like a ant in the sand.
Honestly, the only thing that makes me wanna keep watching is the villian. He so hot and OMG HIS SMIRK! it makes you root for him and it got me feeling things. UGH, I fangirling so hard. I am obessed with him, instead of the drama. Well, you could say he IS the drama and th plot. I become a big fan of the actor and hope he gets more lead roles.
Also, not to mention how the main lead has no depth or background, hoenstly he just seem like a background character. And the female lead has more chemistry with the villian AND he actually has a actually background and reasoning to do thing. What do we know about the main lead..?? Like nothing LMFAO.
Honestly, these such a lose! It could have been an amazing enemies to lover as the chemistry is between the female lead and villian is SO good. I really trying hard not to compare with the orginial but the romance is SO BAD! it just come out of nowhere between the leads. Like no confession, but they are kissing?
The face that romance is bad gets to me, because the orginial is famous for the ROMANCE. How do you have a sequel but the romance between the male lead is like a dog and a frog trying to kiss?
I'm sorry but I'm not sorry. These series is a MISS, it had suck because it has so much potential. Maybe, the writers could still save it by turning it into a dark romance and shocking us all.
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High expectations hardly ever pan out
What I liked- The cameo from Park Bo Young and Park Hyun Sik!!!
- The cast. I was really excited to see Seung woo who I've been a fan of since his time in Wanna One, and I really enjoyed Lee You Mi who played on e of my favourite characters in Squid Game.
- The background story of Nam Soon's parents
What I didn't like
- The drug storyline. It felt very heavy handed and I couldn't stop myself from thinking that this was very politically handled(?). This might sound out of pocket but kind of like propaganda, I can't think of another word for what I'm thinking.
- Because of how heavily they focused on the drug storyline it felt like the romance took a backseat.
- Si O's storyline. Specifically the romance(?) aspect with Nam Soon. I felt like there was so much potential there and it was all thrown away for the sake of the stupid drug storyline. The chemistry was there and I felt like it could've been a good love triangle but it was just used as something to create a couple of jealous moments for Hee Sik.
-It felt like there were too many things happening at once. There were so may side characters and they all had there respective storylines so it made it hard to focus on the romance of the main couple
Ultimately I feel disappointed by this. Partly that is because I had high expectations because of how much I loved "Strong Woman Do Bong Soon", it's one of my favourite dramas. But if I put that aside I think that I would've still been disappointed by this drama. I don't regret watching it, there were quite a few times that I was laughing and having a good time but I don't think that I will be rewatching this or recommending it to anyone.
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Don't recommending to watch
If you love "Strong girl Do Bong Soon", i don't recommend to watch this, and that memory would stay as sweet. The legacy of "Strong girl Do Bong Soon" cannot continue on this second season or this Sequel.Average story with torture of 16 episodes, and not a single memorable characters in this drama. FL is also a bore character and her family. ML is also not special only villian character has something to offer in this whole series.
In the whole series felt like artificial and story wise needed more improvement,but story shrunk into a mafia, drug, money, average comedy, over forced cuteness. The chemistry between leads not feeling like natural. Despites all negative if you want to try then giving a chance it's all upto you.
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when you cast a perfect villain
Although it wasn't the best thing I have seen the chemistry between the main couple was good and I am obsessed with Woo Seok as the villain. We can all agree that he is a fine piece of cookie but I would have never expected that the evil character would suit him so much. His visuals and calm composure sell the show to me. I am still kinda sad that they had a really good story set up for him but didn't go much deeper. I think he deserved more. especially with this black-and-white attitude when it comes to good and evil. it could have been so much better. I think that his sweet and psychotic smile will live rent-free in my head for some time.Was this review helpful to you?
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Unecessary Plotlines and Poor Character construction
1. some of the acting or atleast the emotional scenes were bad and over the top, especially hwang guemju2. they developed heesik and namsoon’s relationship tooquickly and so it lacked excitement
3. they should jit have made the villains so appealing and lowkey people you root for only to be so harsh to them in the end like the bodyguard and sio
4. bread song was a dumb plotline and he should have just ended up being ryu sio’s lost friend
5. also the random info that came after sio’s death was just unnecessary like him finding his father and the boxing ring ince being an orphanage
6. The vagrant people was an even dumber plotline, Idkw he had to be a jerk and then get treated dirty like that. it was so unnecessary and bad, i hated it
7. I hated Namsoons switch up on sio, I thought she would have more sympathy because of how they developed their story but that was untrue, she became like a different person which is understandable cause of what he did but they should not have made him such a character to sympathize with if they wanted us to feel namsoon’s anger
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