This drama is truly a masterpiece!

The OST is fabulous, the acting is outstanding and the story is great. Everything about this series is worthy of compliments.
The drama contains all the elements that keep the watchers constantly interested and captured. It makes you want to know how the story will unfold and how it will conclude.
As I say this, I must admit however that the pace of the story at its beginning was pretty slow to me, so I kept it on hold for a while. Though, as I picked it up again I didn’t feel it was slow at all and the story unfolded smoothly. I am very grateful to myself for trusting the series and watching it until its end because it. is. worth. it!!!!!
Also I would like to add that even though this series has an ending that will make you satisfied, it is absolutely not tear-free. I can’t deny that on episodes 14 and 15 I bawled my eyes out!
Anyway, I highly recommend it!!!!

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Who else watched this drama with great anticipation but was left with a sense of bitterness?

I will start off by saying that I believe this drama is likeable and fun to watch, however I feel like there are aspects of it that could have been handled differently to make the story have more sense and coherence.

THINGS I LIKED
First of all, Strong girl Nam-soon was fun and watchable. There were elements of suspence that kept me hooked to the series until the end and there were also a few adorable romantic interactions between the leads, which lightened the plot.
Compared to Strong Woman Do Bong-soon this drama is a totally different thing: the romance is much less, the chemistry is not the best and some things don’t make sense. Despite this, I still liked the series because it felt different and it has potential.
Also I enjoyed SGNS because it addresses some important issues of today’s world, such as criminal organizations, drugs, corruption, self acceptance (Nam-in’s case) and people’s hardships (such as homelessness and overworking).

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE
Now I will delve into the reasons why I didn’t like this drama. And they are MANY.

SGNS vs. SWDBS
Starting strong with a comparison between SGNS and SWDBS.
I’ll be honest. I really disliked how the powers of the three women were connected. It lost all the originality of SWDBS, in which the powers were just given from mother to daughter without the need to form a connection. It was exeptionally annoying, especially in that scene in ep. 15 in which Geum-ju tosses and turns like an idiot in the mud, drinking from a water pipe.
The way their eyes turned blue and all those effects just felt tacky and unnatural. It was like watching an American superhero movie: the hero, who’s got amazing powers with amazing effects, always wins and never develops psichologically. If I wanted to watch that I would’ve opted for a Marvel movie, not a kdrama.

IRRELEVANT GRANDMA’S LOVE STORY
Honestly all the grandma’s love story had good prospects… It conveys the message that even elderly people can still fall in love and experience a youthful, heart-beating love story… only that it didn’t fit in this drama. At. All. It was totally unnecessary and it just took away screen time.
And the grandpa? Jun-gan’s husband? Totally unnecessary. I feel like he didn’t add anything to the series. It was just a big waste of time.

NAM-SOON’S HOMELESS FRIENDS DESERVED BETTER
All the screen time wasted on the grandma’s useless love story should have been given to Hyun-soo and Teacher No. Their story was actually interesting and it would’ve been such a perfect add to the plot. For instance, they could’ve helped Nam-soon when she started working at Doogo, instead of disappearing for half of the series ony to appear again when they’re useful for the investigation. I genuinely liked them and I am very disappointed in how their story turned out to be left incomplete.

IMMATURITY
All the times Geum-ju (or others) told Nam-soon to have a baby I wanted to throw myself out of a window. It was so cringe!! And it never fit well with the atmosphere!
Also, telling Nam-soon to have kids is the equivalent of telling a four-year-old to start a family! The FL was too immature to have a baby and she barely knew Hee-sik!
I liked the ML and I liked the way he took care of Nam-soon, but I don’t think they can have babies yet!
Another level of childish was the grandma. You think she would be a mature and wise person since her daughter grew up with a strong will and a strong sense of justice… but no! Turns out the grandma used her daughter to get rich, leech off of her and then proceeded to not even care about her husband’s whereabouts when he left! She beat him to a pulp and she didn’t care about him anymore.

GEUM-JU
There’s one thing I want to say about Geum-ju: I don’t like her. She’s too unrealistic.
It felt like all the opportunities in her life fell from the sky, but not in a good way. Rather, in an unnatural way.
First of all she started her business God only knows how. She easily made lots of money and became super rich. Then, with all the drug situation approaching, she stumbled upon Opulentia (or even better, Opulentia came from the sky and knocked at her door) and she started getting all the top secret information without lifting a finger. Honestly she should’ve struggled at least one bit, but no she didn’t.
Also she was the biggest hypocrite ever. She yapped about how much she cared about Hwa-ja, and about how natural it was for her to help people, but apparently she’s not talking about her family. She didn’t look like she genuinely cared about her children. She never stopped Nam-soon from putting herself in danger and from risking her life. And she never ever cared about Nam-in. When that poor boy left her to live with his dad she just accepted it, and when he got sick she never showed interest until she discovered that he was drugged.

OPULENTIA
I don’t know if they will make a second season, but if they do, they need to explain Opulentia, because it is the biggest plot hole I have ever seen.

SI-OH
Can we all agree to the fact that Si-oh deserved better?
If someone told me that I could change just one thing in this drama, that would be Si-oh’s fate.
He deserved far more attention than what he was given. He has a tragic backstory: they could’ve certainly delved into it a bit more. His story with the mafia at a certain point became even confusing, since the writers didn’t address it properly.
Also, Si-oh didn’t deserve that insignificant death that they gave him. He died without a fight and that was unnatural of him. It is crystal clear that the writers just came up with something to get rid of him. He’s the character with the most psychological depth among all and he deserved a second chance.
He’s the only one that had some chemistry with the FL. I liked their interactions and it looked like she could make him genuinely happy. He also started reflecting on himself and he started wanting to change into a better person thanks to Nam-soon… I was furious when Nam-soon turned her back on him with such ease!!


Here I will point out some other aspects that should’ve gotten more attention.

CULTURAL HERITAGE
Can somebody tell me what happened to Nam-soon’s hair and traditional clothes?
I can’t believe how they totally erased her Mongolian cultural heritage and made her fit, in just one day, into the Korean rich girl standard! It was extremely disappointing to see her culture erased just like that, only because now she was Geum-ju’s daughter. She became an entirely different character.

BREAD SONG
Oh! So Bread Song was the Nozh the entire time! End of the series.
Honestly I am very fond of his character. He was fun and witty and I wish I had gotten to see him more as a villain. He would’ve been interesting.

NAM-SOON’S FATHER
Probably my favorite character after Si-oh. He genuinely cared about his children like a real parent would do. Even though he knew he didn’t have powers, he tried his best when he had to find the antidote for Nam-in. And on top of that, he knew when to step back!


LAST THOUGHTS
In this review I wrote all the things that I didn’t like. But if someone asks me whether I would watch this series if I went back in time, then my answer would be yes. It is true that it has plot holes and that some parts of it (all the grandma’s drama) are unlikeable, but overall this series is pretty good and easy to watch.

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