“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is as good as the hype says it is, lets talk about it!
Note: this will be a spoiler review of the said episodes in the title. This is a subjective review.
I will be the first to admit that I initially dismissed “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” for the lack of a better word. My justification was the genre… while I don’t particularly dislike dramas based on law-proceedings, they do tend to get dull and information heavy easily. Added to that, there is only so much you can do with it because most tend to follow a similar path. “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” turned out to have been the exception.
When June came around, we had so many new kdramas, so I thought I would delay watching “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” for a couple of weeks while I review other more urgent projects. In hindsight, that might have been a better idea because I am suffering right now. The wait is killing me.
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is honestly one of the best surprises from a 2022 kdrama, and also one of the best surprises from a kdrama in a while.
Lets talk about it.
The script
“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” screenwriter Moon Ji-Won has only one other credit to her name and its a movie not a drama. However, its safe to say she has crafted one of the best written scripts of a 2022 kdrama. I can talk about why I believe so for like 3 hours but I’ll condense it to a couple of sentences if I can.
First thing first, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” doesn’t overwhelm you with information nor is it heavy either. Court-based kdramas tend to focus on revenge and a heartbreaking backstory, in this case, this is nonexistent.
On the contrary, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” brings warmth and laughter. Its such a warm heartfelt kdrama that discusses delicate topic sensibly which brings me to my next point of why I love the writing for this drama.
Screenwriter Moon Ji-Won handles some of the most difficult topics so sensibly and at the same time, it doesn’t feel as if she’s forcing a certain conclusion upon you, its more like she presents facts and probabilities and leaves it up to you to decide how you feel about it.
She discusses some topics that one can easily make mistakes in not necessarily because a screenwriter can be a horrible person but simply because of ignorance, intended or not. She discusses disabilities and a wide spectrum of it delicately. She knows how to approach it and how to present her thoughts too.
While it might be easy to say ‘this is insensitive’ or ‘ignorant’ when seeing a kdrama scene that discusses such topics badly, if you’re the one writing it, it might not be so easy for you to spot where you judged wrong. Also, considering how many k-netizens were even surprised that autism has a spectrum and is not a one-size fits all tells you there is a long way to go before people are properly educated on such topics.
Having said this, she still doesn’t shy away from why parents, for example, struggle daily to take care of their kids. Its not easy to approach this and not make it sound either too soft or too hard on people dealing with such situations.
Screenwriter Moon Ji-Won presents nuance to situations, a sensibility that can be lost easily among the general public because we’re conditioned to see every situation as either black or white.
Every episode deals with an interesting topic and manages to stay fresh. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the characterization which brings me to my next point.
The characters
Screenwriter Moon Ji-Won has done a great job with each character including the supporting characters. This isn’t easy to do.
Whether it be a progression in a good or bad direction, the main and supporting leads got their chance to shine and we got to explore them a bit more.
Honestly, I can’t decide who my favorite character is. I really like Woo Young but I also really like Jung Myeong-Seok too. And of course, I can’t forget our walking green flag Lee Jun-Ho [are all Lee Jun-Hos this hot?].
I also like Choi Su-Yeon and Dong Geurami.
Even with the characters I didn’t like, I still loved the way they were written and the actors’ performances which takes me to my next point.
The performances
ENA is not a public channel according to Wikipedia, its listed under cable channels…. So…. Does this mean it won’t be easy to see our leads get the awards they deserve?
A lot of what people will immediately point out about “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is how great Park Eun Bin’s performance is and of course, I agree.
Park Eun Bin has always been amazing. She’s very underrated. One person pointed out she actually changes her voice for some of the characters she plays.. and it hit me, ya, she does that sometimes. She’s a pro. Portraying such a character must have not been an easy decision or a walk in the park as I am sure many of you already know. I think she’s doing a great job so far.
Park Eun Bin’s performance overshadows everybody else’s due to the obvious but they all do an amazing job too. I personally really like Kang Ki Yong’s performance here as well as Jin kyung’s performance [the one who plays Woo Young’s mother].
I am also happy to see Kang Tae Oh get so much attention. I’d say he’s one of the underrated members of the group 5urprise for sure. He’s a good actor who picks nice characters, its nice to see fans appreciate an actual nice character in a kdrama, a walking green flag not a red flag pretending to be a green one.
Conclusions and hopes for future episodes
I have been thoroughly enjoying “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” thus far. I only hope it continues to be this heartwarming and interesting.
I can see its becoming a bit more heavy right now with the drama dialed up a lot more than when it originally began but as long as it attains the charms it had, I highly doubt anything will stop it.
I also believe it can break through the 20% mark with ease. It will certainly become one of the biggest if not the biggest success stories from a 2022 kdrama.
Its been a while since I’ve seen a kdrama garner such a response from both domestic and international fans. Usually, its either one or the other but this time, everyone is united to say “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is a masterpiece and they’re right. It has become a cultural phenomena with many lines from the drama going viral and get quoted on Korean TV.
