Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Season 1 (Review)
Writing the review of this show is mostly redundant: it’s among the most well-known series of 2022. In my opinion, Extraordinary Attorney Woo is the best K-Drama of 2022 and one of the best shows overall. Netflix placed it on the 2nd place among most popular non-English shows in 2022 and 6th place among all time most popular shows.
The main character of the show is Woo Young-woo (a phenomenal Park Eun-bin in this role), a rookie attorney at a prestigious Korean law firm. She is also autistic and has a photographic memory. That last part is very similar to American show Suits (2011–2019), now mostly known because of inclusion of a certain royal in its cast: but this concept is much better executed by Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and, in fact, Woo Young-woo is much more interesting character than Suits’ Mike Ross.
At her firm Woo Young-woo works with a group of co-workers: Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-oh, later her love interest), Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young), her mentor, Choi Su-yeon (Ha Yoon-kyung) her colleague and friend, and Kwon Min-woo (Joo Jong-hyuk), who begins as her rival in the show. Among other important people in her life is her father, Woo Gwang-ho (Jeon Bae-soo), who raised her alone because of her absent mother, and Dong Geu-ra-mi (Joo Hyun-young), her closest friend (Young-woo and Geu-ra-mi friendship and their special greeting became instant sensation on TikTok and Instagram).
Like most legal dramas, Extraordinary Attorney Woo is partially a procedural show, although some legal cases take more than one episode to resolve. A selection of cases revolves around a theme where Young-woo and her co-workers usually protect the weak and unprivileged against powerful and influential people: a theme so often used in K-Dramas. There is a great episode (ep. 3) where Young-woo defends an autistic young man, which allows the show to explore the theme of autism even more, and show how autistic people are treated in the society. Among other highlights, in episodes 7 and 8 the team defends villagers against construction of a highway which would destroy the village. Many episodes consider important issues, like, e.g., episode 9 deals with overworked children in schools, a huge problem now in Korea, while episode 12 is a gender discrimination case in the workplace.
The main antagonist of the show is Tae Soo-mi (Jin Kyung), a CEO of a rival law firm, and the overarching arc of rivalry between two law firms is the main spine of the show. Another arc is focused on Young-woo’s family: her close and warm relationship with her father, and how they struggled with the absence of her mother. The identity of her mother is being slowly revealed during the show, as well as the mystery of who Young-woo really is. At the same time the show unveils that the intentions and motivations of people around her were not always benevolent. While “the secret identity” motif is so prevalent in K-Dramas, here it is executed really well, nicely woven into the fabric of the whole series, helping viewers to understand Young-woo more and explain her struggles.
There is also a romance arc between Young-woo and Lee Jun-ho. Because Young-woo is autistic and Jun-ho is not, a part of their arc revolves around the question if their relation can even work. This adds up to yet another aspect to the overarching theme of how autism and autistic people exist in society and how they are treated by others.
The highlight of the show, though, is Park Eun-bin’s performance as Young-woo. Park Eun-bin already showed her phenomenal acting skills in recent The King’s Affection, where she portrays a woman posing as a man, but in Extraordinary Attorney Woo her acting is just on another level. According to interviews, Park Eun-bin studied autism and was consulting with experts, and it shows. Her Young-woo is a complex performance creation: she has her own mannerisms and gestures, even a particular way she looks at people or interacts with them, she has her own gait and way of interacting with a space around her, she also has a distinct way of talking. Park Eun-bin’s performance is very consistent throughout the show and never breaks the character. The amount of work she put into this is just mindboggling. If I didn’t know I would be certain that she is actually an autistic person. It’s certainly the best performance in K-Dramas in 2022, and one of the stellar performances of this year overall.
Park Eun-bin’s performance is additionally amplified by the clever use of visual effects: while they might be considered a bit cartoony, they visually show her way of thinking and interacting with the world, as well as her special relation with whales.
In sum, Extraordinary Attorney Woo strikes the right balance between heartwarming comedy and a series which invites reflection and insight into the issues of modern society. While the whole cast and crew should be applauded for their great work on the series, Park Eun-bin’s performance remains the most memorable element of the show.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
