Noidz

Best cartoon drama - loved it, the couple, particularly Ong Seong Wu (loved his jackets, damn), and just about everything such as the scenes in Mongolia, secretive/rich environment (along with Penthouse-like OSTs) and play on capitalism, female empowerment with the mother, the grandma (who had their own backstories) and Nam Soon of course, great comedy like with the lazy brother (he was so funny kind of like the sloth in Zootopia BUT the story really had depth here, not just comedy), making fun of misogyny without being offensive like the Barbie Movie (we know some losers complained about it), little moments like Nam Soon looking at Hee Sik dancing from afar thanks to her super vision (iconic scene) or the rain falling above him with the rainbow and when he disguised himself as a woman, Nam Soon keping a picture of Eunwoo in her journal in Mongolia saying she wants to date a good-hearted Korean guy and then fate happens in a really fun way, open-minded take on old couples, contemporary issues, vulnerable people, family relationships (some more complicated than others), adoptive parents/finding your biological family back, teamwork, side characters (the homeless couple, Mr. Bread and his OST, the semi-villain Hwa Ja who impersonated the real daughter, the detective Yeong Tak), etc. I wasn't even a big fan of the prequel, but I liked it too. I liked how it was a big fight revolving around drugs and Russian mafia, and Nam Soon had bigger superpowers (and the "link" they had in their family!). The production quality was high, the ending was great (satisfying conclusion and then surprise), and Season 2 is apparently coming out! (https://kisskh.at/798770-strong-woman-jang-chung-dong)

I didn't think it was poorly written, and there wasn't too much content either. It was all tied together and there was 16 episodes of 1 hour each, which is more than enough.

When I meant vulnerable people and contemporary issues: Namsoon getting scammed at her arrival because of her innocence (her mother tells her she'll teach her about capitalism), overweight people, depression, suicidal thoughts, the elderly targeted by deepfake scams with family member videos.

People hated it because "the villain was hot" (he has a terrible backstory, so yeah). I'll never forgive any of them for insulting the leads (the actors and the characters), the whole cast and story (even saying, "who cares about an old couple, I skip their scenes, only watching for the villain"), saying the prequel was better and this is the worst drama that nobody with taste should enjoy, even shipping Nam Soon with that massive murderer (I always feared their interactions because she was pretending and past some point I was even disgusted when he showed her affection, I started to really hate him when he did one specific thing, I'll write it in spoilers in the comments). They've called the cast ugly, the worst actors... The villain had small appearances at first but although I thought he was really good and a fitting casting choice, it's absolutely untrue that he carried the drama (he didn't even have a lot of screen time). Everyone did - it's an ensemble cast. (unlike the prequel)

"there are too many characters/storylines so we can't get attached to them except for the villain" this makes no sense. Even the music and acting would be rated a 1 because "everything was annoying and cringe except Ryu Si Oh". About the music, it had kpop songs because it was exactly what the drama needed.

The prequel: focus on romcom/CEO romance (Hee Sik and Nam Soon had great chemistry too, it was just different), typical love triangle, popular male lead who acted all cutesy... And while the girl was acting childlike there too oh let's complain about Nam Soon even though you see how she grew up and her personality and also complain about Hee Sik because he's "boring"??? I loved his acting all the time, he always improves and showed his range the best here, I was glad he got a role in a big drama like this, it was popular in Korea too (JTBC is a paid channel and it got high ratings, it's a great family drama so it makes sense) and I've seen the reels of him in the military with his mates holding fan items, which was lovely (he watched the drama with them). At the time a dance contest of Seong Wu actually got viral in Korea, and if you don't know about him he was part of Wanna One. Anyway just to give an example of his acting here, the fear in his eyes when he was about to lose another loved one was very impressive. Seong Wu is a goated person with a big heart and this cruel world doesn't deserve him. For his next drama where he's second lead there was even a comment saying they hoped he wasn't main lead, don't tell me they deserve an ounce of respect. They were always making fun of him saying he's the main lead but no one cares.

Also, a last thing, the romance isn't fucking bad simply because Hee Sik got attached to her quickly. Their relationship was so cute, how she found her dream thanks to him.

By the way, you can watch it without having seen the prequel but Bong Soon and Min Hyuk do have a cameo, Nam Soon is Bong Soon's distant cousin.

P.S. There was a Parasite and Nevertheless reference too, that was awesome.