Strong Girl Namsoon (2023)

Watch the drama first

I'm currently watching episode 16, and I wanted to see if there are any reviews regarding the bad Russian the actors are speaking, but I found nothing like that, only bad reviews. It's kind of shocking since I liked it. It was the first drama in which I really didn’t care who the main female lead chooses in the end and really enjoyed the drama itself. When you come across this drama, you see that it has many main leads, so it’s obvious that it will have multiple storylines. Overall, I can say that it’s not one of my favorites, and I definitely wouldn’t watch it again, but for the first time watching it, I am satisfied. Sometimes I was really happy, and then I cried. For me, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. And actually, what I wanted to say is you can try watching it and see for yourself if you like it or not. The fact that I would recommend this drama, and I saw that others don’t, makes me believe that I shouldn’t trust all the reviews out there because mine could be different.

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A fun time but missing something

Overall I had fun with the show. It didn't reach the heights of its predecessor, but I still enjoyed it on balance. The characters were generally fun to watch, plenty of funny moments and decently paced as the tension escalated. The main cast were an interesting mix of characters and they played them well.

I did think though that the main conflict resolution was kind of anti-climactic, especially with how the main villain, Ryu Shi-oh was built up (and acted incredibly by Byeon Woo Seok. That unhinged intensity was great to watch)
And I just didn't feel the main couple managed to fully click in the end. In fairness, the legendary on-screen chemistry of Park Bo-Young and Park Hyung-Sik is more than a tough act to follow. And the leads do their best with what they are given, but I feel like the story didn't do enough of the legwork to make their falling for each other feel organic and I feel like we skipped over a few steps in their development. It's a shame too because individually Lee You-Mi and Ong Seong-Wu do a great job, but the chemistry in their shared scenes just doesn't quite feel there. And especially given the show had at least 4 major subplots going on as well, it just seems like there could have been space to give that core relationship more room if some of those subplots had been reduced. And one of those subplots only really became obviously important in the last 5 minutes of the finale.
There were also a couple of moments where I feel they played up Nam-Soon acting cute and being just a bit too childish, to the point it felt mildly infantilising of her character.

But for the most part, I enjoyed watching it. It's a bit unfortunate it's always going to be compared to its much-beloved predecessor rather than entirely on its own merit, but overall it's a fun, if imperfect, show.

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Inferior to the Vastly Superior Series, Strong Girl Bong Soon Do!

Strong Girl Nam Soon does its best to create its own unique storyline, despite sharing its universe with Strong Girl Bong Soon Do. Unfortunately, it's a cheap imitation that tries way too hard to be funny, intriguing, and insightful, and comes up short in all three.

The original series with Bo Young Park was a series that always remained focused on its protagonist and also had a very intriguing thriller aspect where a serial kidnapper is on the loose.

This series attempts (and fails) to utilize three protagonists (from grandmother to granddaughter) and can never captivate the viewer because it's spread out too much. While all three are interesting characters, it's simply not enough. Half the time, I wanted them to shift back to Nam Soon. While the grandmother and Hwang Geum Joo (the mother) had some good scenes, it would have served the plot much better had they been relegated to secondary characters.

There also are some serious differences between the powers of Bong Soon Do and Nam Soon Do, which are never fully explained. Bong Soon had superstrength, and some invulnerability, but that was pretty much it. Here Nam Soon has superstrength, speed, enhanced vision, and immunity to some drugs, etc. In short, she's nearly as powerful as Superman, which makes her character less interesting. Superheroes who are all but unbeatable are boring, which is why Superman's powers have always changed throughout the course of the character. There are also many inconsistencies in Nam Soon's use of her abilities, especially her vision. It seems she can see things from miles away, but that's only great if you know where to look and what to look for!

Series like this one also tend to live or die by how good the villain is. In Strong Girl Bong Soon, the creepy guy targeting women was very well done, and he showed his ability to often outsmart Bong Soon. Here, we have a very "vanilla" villain in Ryu Shi Oh, who's a part of the Russian mafia and using a new drug that is targeted at the rich in order to get them to buy the antidote. Of course, the writers decided to use this as a method for Ryu Shi Oh to use the drug to give himself enhanced strength. Ryu Shi Oh isn't a very smart villain, and because of this, he's largely uninteresting.

The last two episodes are so ridiculous and anticlimactic, that you just can't wait for the series to end. We don't get the showdown that we'd hoped for, and we get Nam Soon being completely gullible and stupid by taking the drug and trusting Ryu Shi Oh.

However, the performances in the series are generally very good. For some reason, they decided to make almost all of the men in Nam Soon's family fat, lazy, or completely inept. I realize that this was done largely for comedic effect, but it just ends up being silly and tedious after the first few episodes.

While Lee You Mi is a decent actress (always wearing the same, goofy grin), she's no Bo Young Park who is vastly superior in just about every way.

Also, the little "superpower" song used in this series is a joke, especially compared with the vastly superior "Super Power Girl" from the original series that always managed to get the viewer pumped up for Bong Soon Do! The song used in this series is about as inspirational as watching Nam Soon's fat brother stuff himself.

The series left the door open for another series. Frankly, I'll pass. I'd much rather watch Strong Girl Bong Soon Do again. And Bo Young Park's guest appearance in the second episode was easily the high-point of this series!

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Anyway, I think this drama was written off of the villain.

I have a lot to say about this version of Strong Nam soon. Although at the end of each episode, I gave it a high rating, due to the excellent acting and storyline that kept me at the edge of my seat. However, if we investigate it properly, I have never seen characters who frustrate me more than that mother-and-daughter duo. They have super strength power which is a generational power inherited from one woman to the next within the family, therefore it’s nothing new. So, if they have this power why do they not invest time in the ability to match the power with a strategic plan when doing such missions? They are so overconfident in themselves that they don’t even realize how dumb they are.

On the other hand, the villain, Ryu Si O, was excellently written and acted out by the actor. But I can’t help but wish he did not receive such an ending. Ryu Si O was illegally adopted by the Russian Mafia. He was raised in an inhumane way but nonetheless received the best Financial, Political, and Legal Knowledge required to carry out their roles. So, therefore, he is smart (unlike the FL). To escape the people who raised him, he resorted to what he knows as a member of a mafia which is either drugs, weaponry, or money laundering etc, of which in this case it was a special type of drug that enhanced an individual's strength. He succeeded yes but the problem was distributing this drug to the public to unaware individuals leading to a high number of deaths because of this drug. Anyway, Ryu Si O just wanted freedom from his situation at the same time he had learned that with power he could be freed from his past and the mafia.

Anyway, I think this drama was written off of the villain. All the other characters came after.

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Give this drama a chance ..

This drama might not be for everyone but I absolutely loved it.If you’re into cute ,goofy ,crime type of dramas this is for you .
The FLs acting was cute,ML was okay , The mom was okay,and I definitely fell in love with the grandma..She made me enjoy the show the most .The villain acted so perfectly,I forgot he was supposed to be the bad dude.The acting was great ,everything came together beautifully
For the story,it wasn’t anything deep ,but it was interesting.The show started off nicely,I love how they didn’t drag the first episode .Everything was straight to the point as it should be .Id say the story was well written .first 12 episodes had me laughing and smiling

Leads had a cute relationship ,The grandmas relationship got me smiling throughout .And I loved the relationship between the villain and the FL .I liked how he wasn’t lonely anymore and actually had someone..
What I disliked about the drama , the last 4 episodes had me forwarding .I felt so wronged for the villain ,I mean he was the bad person ,but he didn’t deserve to be used by the FL .Had me feeling sad .He deserved a better ending

All in all the last episode ended well ,brought back my smiles and laughter.Its a cool drama..I think it deserves a good rating.A 9/10 for me because I absolutely loved the first 12 episodes and they ended the last episode on a good note.

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a silly ride through good vs evil land

I have not seen Strong Woman Do Bong Soon so I'm reviewing this show on it's own. This is the 2nd installment (which ends with a setup for a 3rd) about a genetic line of females with superhuman strength. Nam Soon is a 3rd generation strong woman in her family. She's separated from her father by accident while on a trip to Mongolia at age 5 and is raised for the next 20 years, a la Superman, by a loving, childless Mongolian couple on their isolated farm. On return to Korea she instantly attracts attention and is reunited with her mother with the help of a young police officer. Nam Soon soon teams up with the officer to join her mother's secret crusade against a powerful, international illicit drug trader.

The show has a comicbook feel with jerky and awkward action sequences and bionic woman sound effects. Nam Soon's mother is like a self-made Bruce Wayne, a trillionaire vigilante who funds all her own toys, including a BatMobile, black leather cat suit, and live-in personal assistant (a younger, female version of Alfred). However, unlike Bruce Wayne, she is surrounded by family: her mother, brother, 2 adult children & ex-husband. The vibe never gets very serious despite the deadly danger they face. As Nam Soon and her mother carry out their covert operations, one has to suspend all logic in how they get anything done.

The characters are more like caricatures and the show lacks depth. The arc of Nam Soon's obese twin brother, Nam In, features him delivering 90% of his lines with his mouth full of food, and is a joke stretched way beyond funny. None of the men have any super powers, even those born to strong women, and they struggle to find their place in the family. Not until Ep7 do the implications of power imbalance get explored when Nam In decides to move out, and his father is ruthlessly pranked at his own birthday party. The strong women aim to use their strength to "do good" in the world, which only means stamping out crime in comicbook style while neglecting their own family, until it's too late, when the crime reaches them, too. And even then, do things really change?

Lee You Mi takes quite a turn from her stunning role in Squid Game, but the strength of her talent isn't enough to pull the exaggerated naivety of Nam Soon past being a cartoon character. Park Bo Young makes a cameo appearance as (Strong Woman) Do Bong Soon, as the only reference to the 2019 series.

This drama runs largely on the novelty of seeing women beat up men, although the final showdown isn't what you'd expect from a superhero story. There is some pleasure, though, in seeing a 60-something year old grandmother driving a Lambo, dressed in incredible fashion & living carefree as she pleases. The show could've made a more meaningful exploration of gender and power, or even given a satisfactory arc of redemption, but it gave only a superficial and silly ride through good vs evil land.

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Watch it for what it is

I thought it was fun and I watched it for what it was, it's was fun and funny.

I am a big fan of Strong Girl Bong Soon and was so excited to see the spin off getting released, I usually watch series when they are finishes as I binge and hate waiting but for this I watch it on the day it was released. So ok wasn't as great as Bong Soon, but still I found it fun to watch. If it was the same as the original might as well watch that again for the 3rd time, I found it different, especially the way the 3 woman can sense each other.

I didn't like the mothers acting which was OTT or Nam soon's but I over looked it and finished it. I dunno why the big fuss of so many people say its rubbish and dropped it as I thoroughly enjoyed the series.

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you'll fall in love with the characters!

I absolutely loved this drama but the thing I liked the most was that every single character was likeable, even with their flaws (and believe me, all of them had a lot; but that's the fun part, they didn't tried to hide it). Gang Nam-soon it's the best and she's also amazingly interpreted by the actress. BTW, every main actor/actress here is great!
But if you are looking for something policial/suspense/too much action, you'll get disappointed. It's part of the plot (and it's well done) but it's not the main focus. It's much more fun, light-hearted and many times, just straight up silly.
I completely recommend it but you must watch with an open heart, to fall in love with nam soon, hee sik and ryi o. it will bring you good laughs, heart warming moments and, just sometimes, a good policial suspense. Recommend it!

(English is not my first language)

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Just watch with no expectations.

I think way too many people are watching this drama and comparing it to Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon which is AMAZING, and so, people are getting disappointed. My only advice is that you start watching with no expectations and you might be able to enjoy the drama the way I did.

I personally enjoyed the plot: the drug-case. I think without Pavel, Ryu Si-Oh, and the police force, the drama would've been a flop. That main storyline was the main thing holding the drama together, but I have to admit, it was quite dragged- I think a 12 episode drama would've been sufficient but I don't understand kdrama productions' obsession with 16 episode dramas.

Like everyone else, I loved the character of Si-Oh (the way he was written, his backstory, and how well Byeon Woo-Seok played the character) . What I don't understand is why Gang Hee-Sik was the BLANDEST character in the drama even though he is the ML. Namsoon, Si-Oh, Geum-Ju, the grandma, Nam-In, Hwa-Ja, and even the homeless people all had a side-story or backstory that made viewers feel attached to them but the ML didn't. I don't understand the writers' intentions. Moreover, I think Hee-Sik was a knock-off Ahn Minhyuk: Ong Seong-Woo both resembles him, has a similar voice as him, and the same mannerisms as him. I think he was casted purely because of his resemblance to Park Hyung-Sik. The drama didn't do justice to Ong Seong-Woo's potential acting skills. Also, the chemistry between the ML and FL was crap compared to the FL and SML.

Absolutely adored Hwang Geum-Ju and thought she was badass as hell! Strong, motorbike rider, rich, cool mum. What more could I ask for?

To summarise, I enjoyed the drama but found it too dragged and was disappointed with how the ML was written. Good time pass drama though. Looking forward to seeing more Byeon Woo-Seok in future dramas.

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The worst comedy show ever

This is the worst comedy show i have ever seen. I wanted to watch bcoz of JTBC high ratings.
I can't understand how people bear to watch it till the end & it end with high ratings. I can't bear to watch it until episode 5.
I did not come to see reviews before watch it. Because i thought consider it’s ratings, It’s maybe good drama. But completely disappointing, so my rating is also 1 for this drama.
So much overacting & bad story.
I thought first season was good, so it will
be also good.
They try to make comedy with too much super power, but it’s too much to bear.
with too much super power she also
gain too much eye & talking power.
How can this kind of drama gain this kind of high ratings , i wonder. So many good dramas Can't reach good ratings but with this story it’s already very funny.

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Not the perfect sequel BUT a great standalone series

As a major fan of the original SWDBS, this fairly did not disappoint. Romcom elements of the original was not beat but the story did not fail me. It leaned heavily on the plot (the romance being almost completely an extra) and I love that the plot was interlaced with the rest of the story rather a completely separate entity.

1. I love the expansion of their universe: how they added a lot of exploration to their powers (super-sight, super-speed, super-jump, and in the very, very end, super-loud 😂). I love that it gave more depth and how the women apparently have a connection and how they help each other through the activation of their extra strength within. I just love how they explored on that since DBS’ mom lost her powers in the original and so we never got to see the what-could’ve-beens.

2. The tragedy of the antagonist here was a nice touch, adding more humanity into this character in comparison to the psycho kidnapper in the original SWDBS who had no motivation whatsoever apart from being mentally problematic.

3. The progression of the story for me was fairly good. I dove in without expectation and was left craving for more. Though, again, it didn’t lean heavily into the love story and the leads’ chemistry fell short compared to the original, the story as a whole was nicely done and the actors, for me, fairly delivered.

4. I like that the ending, though closed and satisfying, left a huge room for a sequel to come out. I think it’d be intriguing to see what will come about the first mention of a super-male in their family if it ever comes to it.

Overall, great show. Would still recommend.

PS: Only downside I guess was I wasn’t a fan of the grandma’s new boyfriend (nor was I invested in their relationship and nor did it add to the story). I was lowkey expecting a twist in the end that the grandma would still go back to the husband because we find out that apparently the dealer who provided the brother’s weighloss pills (drugs) was the daughter of the new boyfriend, which then would’ve justified the screentime and investment into their relationship, but nope, did not turn out that way. So to be honest, their entire relationship was more a statement the writers/director/whoever was in charge wanted to make than a plotpoint that helped push the story forward and make it complete. (And if I may say, technically, they did commit adultery even if it’s legal by South Korean law 🤷🏻‍♀️.)

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