I’m writing this review partly to try to make sense of what I’ve just watched. I have NEVER seen a kdrama fumble it like this series did, to the extent that I genuinely wonder whether there was outside-the-story/corporate control influencing the story.

We all know the premise of (most) kdramas. There is the female lead, the male lead, second male lead, and often there is also a villain. The female lead and male lead are the OTP who are usually going to end up together, and their relationship gets the most focus. Second male lead doesn’t really stand a chance but he will get some other kind of happy ending. Villain is evil so they will be punished. You’re following me so far, right?

Now, for some reason, the writer of Strong Girl Nam Soon decided to spice up this formula, which is not a problem in itself — the problem is that the resulting story is totally incoherent. It is an insane choice to push your first male lead off to the sidelines and instead place the whole story/conflict/narrative drive between your female lead and “second male lead” who, in this drama, is actually the romantic villain. Meanwhile, the actual supposed main couple have barely any screen time together for the majority of the show (this is NOT an exaggeration), let alone any relationship conflict which is bizarre considering kdramas LOVE romantic melodrama. As you can see from most of the reviews here, this leads to the audience not being invested in the main couple and instead being more interested in the female lead/villain enemies-to-lovers storyline — only then to be disappointed by the show reverting to the status quo of hero+heroine 4ever.

There was literally no reason for the drama to do any of this, mind you. There was no *need* per se for the heroine versus villain storyline to become romantic — it could have just been about Namsoon trying to infiltrate the corporation and find out Ryu Sio’s secrets, while he becomes obsessed with her super-strength etc. without necessarily any romantic overtones. And yet, the show actually goes out of its way to put UST into this dynamic in the writing/acting AND direction, not to mention dedicates a really substantial amount of screen-time to female lead basically dating the villain (again, NOT an exaggeration).

Meanwhile, the ostensible male lead has no character arc, no internal conflict, and no actual flaws to overcome. The only significant things we know about him are 1) he’s a cop, 2) he had a brother who was shot, motivating him to become a cop, 3) he gets upset when his boss dies from the drug because it reminds him of his brother dying. This is all groundwork for character development that never actually emerges. He also likes and is overprotective towards Namsoon, but feels emasculated by her carrying him (booooooo get over it, you will never be Minhyuk).

The writing for the female lead is also disappointing. After reuniting with her birth family, Namsoon’s character development basically stops and there is no clear character arc where she has to question her beliefs/overcome her flaws. Some have commented here that they were disappointed Namsoon doesn’t try to help/sympathise with Ryu Sio. Firstly to be clear, Namsoon isn’t obliged to help someone who is actively trying to kill her family. That being said, I think the disappointment from viewers comes from the writer fundamentally misunderstanding the hero/villain archetypal relationship. The villain exists to challenge the hero, drawing attention to their similarities as well as differences; they are two sides of the same coin. In SGNS, Namsoon challenges Sio in that she taps into his heart which was long unused. However, for Namsoon, there is no point in the story where she questions herself/her own life/her beliefs due to her relationship with Sio. The only time that she acknowledges their similarities (i.e. being “adopted” one way or another) is after his death; imagine how much more compelling this would have been if she actually struggled with this internally while actively manipulating him. However, the writer isn’t interested in giving Namsoon any real struggles or flaws to overcome. She is meant to be a Strong Female Character (TM) and ultimately the embodiment of the show’s anti-drug/copaganda message.

As many here have noted already, Ryu Sio is the only one of the main characters who is well-executed — and this is because he is the only character with clear goals, clear flaws, a clear back-story motivating his present actions, clear vulnerabilities, AND a fully realised character arc (albeit a tragic one). It is therefore absolutely no surprise that his character is the most popular/beloved. I have a theory that Ryu Sio was the writer’s favourite too, as they actually put effort into his character while neglecting virtually everything else about the show. And it has to be said that Byeon Woo-seok kills it. He is both chilling and devastating and has The Range. Probably the best scene that demonstrate this is when he shoves a golf club down some guy’s throat then in the next breath calls up Namsoon with a completely different demeanour to ask how she’s doing and say he misses her. Now THAT’S a character.

IN CONCLUSION, this drama is a wildly uneven mess that seems mainly to exist as a ham-fisted PSA about drugs, which backfires as the drug lord is the most beloved character among viewers.