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Strong Woman Do Bong Soon korean drama review
Completed
Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
10 people found this review helpful
by softmilkmoe
Jan 6, 2021
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 5.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers
I honestly have no idea how I was able to continue watching until the end.
*contains a lot of small details that may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.*

There are so many little details to criticize and talk about in this series that would probably take me hours to write, so I'll just pick out the most important parts and summarize it. But with the mixed reviews of high and low ratings, I understand that it depends entirely up to each person's preference and personal taste. Here's my personal take.

THE ROMANCE:
I can enjoy some cliche and endure a little bit of cringe so I was able to stomach those moments and just gobble it up as it is. I found Bong Soon and Min Hyuk's relationship at the end pretty cute despite being over the top sugar cringe for many. I personally think their relationship gradually blossomed and it was a natural (and quite predictable) course of events. I think that was the sole focus of the whole story and therefore has the most proper development. BUT, before I got to enjoy that taste, I had to endure the horrifyingly out of place and annoying love triangle. I'm a HUGE sucker for well-done love triangles, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't even bat an eye on this one even if I wanted to. The love triangle scenes got my eyes rolling I just wanted to get it over with. Gook Doo's dense character felt unnatural and was a bit hard to sympathize with. It just didn't feel right. The other characters' romance were barely given any screen time, and rightfully so cause it wasn't even... anything special. In fact it was so shallow. Some guy holds someone else's girlfriend's hand and just like that she's in love. Girl you thirsty??

THE COMEDY:
The slapstick comedy is a hit or miss and is solely reliant on each person's sense of humor. I would admit that I laughed out loud on some particular scenes, mostly on the circumstances and their facial expressions (like Min Hyuk's secretary's high-key scared expressions, or the gang in the hospital's interactions). I know my boyfriend is a huge fan of exaggerated comedy like this, and when we watched a few of the hospital scenes together (Kim Won-Hae is one of our favorite actors) he was dying on his chair. After awhile of being repetitive though, it gets tiring and unnecessarily placed in awkward transitions, so I personally skipped them because it served no actual meaning or purpose to the plot anymore. Most of the side characters are there for comic relief, and tbh some of it is actually unbearable. I think they tried to make Bong Soon's parents' relationship one of those comical gags, but the portrayal was plain domestic violence and made me feel more concerned instead of relieved. Some of the characters were also static and exaggeratedly stereotypical that their sole purpose of existence was just that, to be pointless comical background characters with no personality aside from that one trait or stereotype they were given. Other than that, they are not memorable and the plot would've still moved the same without them. It's quite sad.

THE SUSPENSE:
The first time they laid out the mystery, it seemed exciting. The president needs a bodyguard, meanwhile the neighborhood is having a dreadful serial kidnapping case. Who could this person be? Is it connected?
I was hoping there would be some grand plot twist in the end. But all we get is an underwhelmingly forgettable mystery plots. The president's mystery case had very little impact and was painfully predictable (Oh, did you say he trusts one of his brothers? You don't say...). The other mystery was also not very memorable and was there for... basically nothing?? The motives behind the culprit was just... questionable. It'll leave you asking... that's it? that's all there is to it? It was beyond underwhelming. Imagine you were having a good night sleep and dreaming of something really nice and some random drunk dude decided to wake you up. That's how aggravatingly useless the point was.

THE CHARACTERS:
Honestly, this whole series revolved only around the relationship of the two main characters Bong Soon and Min Hyuk (just their relationship, barely the character development). The rest of the characters are given one trait that you could summarize in one sentence and that was that. Gook Doo is a dense and upfront policeman who only realized he likes his childhood friend too late. The mother is an abusive b*tch whose actions are never justified and her whole character is intolerable. The father loves his daughter very much and is constantly abused for.. being a good father and hardworking husband?? The brother is a nice doctor. Gook Doo's ex being lowkey thirsty. The gay employee being... gay? Yah.

THE GAMING COMPANY:
Okay so I'm fully aware this is the most useless subplot they have that people shouldn't even pay attention to and blindly follow through, but as an artist who knows a thing or two about game development, I felt really confused and triggered about this whole subplot of Bong Soon wanting to work for a game company. She wanted to develop a game with herself as the main character. First of all, as far as I know, you can't get hired for just your ideas. You need to be able to DO something. What exactly can she do? All I see was her trying to decide on weapons of her character model by clicking the screen... I have so many questions... Is that on photoshop? What exactly are you clicking? Who drew your model? Are you the artist? Then why is she drawing with a goddamn MOUSE??? What exactly is the planning and development team? Planning sounds like project management, development sounds like programming.. but those two are usually different teams as well..? I'm a little confused.
The most accurate portrayal was Min Hyuk drawing her character on a tablet. Yes, that's how you do digital art. Wait, the president can draw--?? Is that what he contributes to the com- WHAT?
Holdup it's not even the biggest bullshit I've seen: After she pitches her game, few weeks later it's ALREADY OUT? Do these people know planning takes months and coding can take years??? How is it out alre- HOW??????
Anyway, I know these are very minor details but I would have at least appreciated if the writers did a little research on the basics of making a game or at least consult someone who works at one.


OVERALL
Overall, I think the bad outweighs the good points in this drama. There were too many things that the writers wanted to do and so they packed almost all the genres in this drama and it just became a complete chaotic mess. The main plot was underwhelming, the subplots were pointless, the characters forgettable and underdeveloped, the comedy and romance were tolerable at best. The transitions were jarring and sometimes confusing. Every theme was fighting each other to overpower the other but they all ended up mediocre and exhausted.

Halfway through I asked myself why I was still watching this, and I really thought about the answer. There was nothing that kept me going. Nothing that made me want to continue. I was simply bored.
I've given my two cents and have stated my concerns/opinions so you can figure things out on your own.
The verdict of this is drama being worth a try is entirely up to your taste.
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