what the he..
i can't comment much, this drama has a messy story. good acting but it seems like a waste because there are a lot of unimportant love stories in the drama unlike the first story, especially the grandparents. I was so sick of seeing him that in the end I only watched Wooseok's part to watch the main story.can't comment much, this drama has a messy story. good acting but it seems like a waste because there are a lot of unimportant love stories in the drama unlike the first story, especially the grandparents. I was so sick of seeing him that in the end I only watched Wooseok's part to watch the main story.
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Strong Family & Co
First of all I would to mention that I'm not a fan of SWDBS.I only like two types of men. One is MinHyuk and other one is ShiOh. So if you’re some moral police you can skip this review.This drama is about "save the world" trope which isn’t my type. The whole drug plot is weak and dragged out.The mom has more plot than the FL. There are so many frontal shoots of her walking in slow motion in fancy dresses. I cringe everytime she's in her "badass" look. Also it's hard to focus on her face because of the botox. It's really hard to root for her when she has more empathy for a random girl who tried to kill her daughter than her son.
The ML and FL interaction are just boring. They feel more like a honest police uncle and a lost child than a couple I want to ship.
FL was too childlike and goofy. I'm going to ignore the ML because even writers did it to him. He adds nothing to the plot.
I know It's bad when I'm more interested in the villain and hoping he would somehow end up with the FL.It's not because of the fact he's handsome.
It's because his two minutes interaction with FL is the most gripping part of the drama. Yes, this actor's beauty is out of the world but but he also stands his ground in terms of performing. I love that he can be a cruel monster to everyone but a literal gentleman with girl he like.
A red flag is used in a context of human relationships and he always treated namsoon well since the beginning. There were no "red flag moment" in the relationship he had with namsoon.
It was such a poorly written drama but it gave us a memorable character.
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Disgusting - worst kdrama I had watched
its all disgusting.do not waste your time. Cringe overload on chemistry of female character.also the story was meaningless.it didnt have character development.the story messing with all the characters.if you watch this drama u will die bcoz of cringe female lead character. Want to banned like this drama not mr queen.its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgustingdisgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting its all disgusting
You will thank me later.
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As mom says “don’t these people talk to each other”
In a world with 3 strong women, 3 weak men family, and one kidnapped grandma, you’d think they’d talk to each other and you’d think they’d know the 3 women are strong
She’s such a bad mom, yet again blaming the dad.. like first off they’re 21 year old adults, and secondly you are the reason for his insecurities so there’s only one person to be blamed
I reaallllyyy can’t feel like these 4 are a family, tbh she didn’t have to be lost, maybe a late bloomer or someone who hated her powers and wanted to be normal, now they’re like a bunch of ppl just there
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Think twice
From the start, this show was lacking. Unfortunately, all the "strong" women are roles that don't do anything for the seasoned actors. The plot and script were poorly developed and executed. The only strong point to the show is don't take any kind of "medication" from strangers. I continue to watch and keep hoping the show will pick-up but it is just more of the same. I guess reviews have to be at least 500 words, but this would be one negative review. I'm not sure what more I can say about this show. I guess if you like a particular actor, then the show is worth watching. Just don't be too disappointed.Was this review helpful to you?
A waste of time, honestly
This show gave me nothing. I had low expectations since I loved the first version, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, but this one was even lower than my expectations. I didn't care about the characters, most of the were SO annoying and I couldn't get past it. I liked the grandmas storyline and that was about it.The drug plot was confused and weird and I found I got bored half way through and couldn't focus on what was happening.
The romance was boring and rushed at the same time. I didn't feel like the main leads connected at all and then suddenly they were getting married. It felt like they forced a romance plotline in to get the views but they didn't really want it in there.
The ending wasn't really satisfying for me. Nothing was fully wrapped up (possibly they want to follow the new trend of adding more seasons) but it's not worth a second season.
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This review may contain spoilers
Just save yourself and don't watch this.
oh gosh, where to start.Like the majority i was also really looking forward to this drama and boyyy was i disappointing. i was in no way comparing this to the prequel, it was just objectively a really bad drama.
- In my opinion the whole premise had great potential- who doesn’t like strong female leads! But even from the first episode i was side-eyeing the entire time, nothing made sense. For e.g. Namsoon initially getting lost in Mongolia was stupid anyway- but her rich family’s inability to find her was even more ridiculous. Having all that money and resources to be able to find someone anywhere, and they decide to hold a strength competition¿? within KOREA when your child went missing in MONGOLIA. how would a literal CHILD make her own way back to korea??
- though the first few episodes were silly it was still enjoyable, but as it went on it was just ridiculous and the humour seemed very exaggerated to a point it got me skipping most scenes.
- the plot in itself felt like there was too much going on. The writer could've done something profound and hard hitting with the drug storyline but it just turned out to be lacklustre and lame. There so many subplots that it actually took away from the interesting ones. and then more characters were added without any backstory or any real purpose other than highlighting certain plot points.
- Namsoon lacked the charm the writers intended for her to have, there was no use for her to be ‘childish’ considering she still had a good upbringing and had been around civilisation. Her initial lack of formalities was confusing considering she did spend her childhood in korea.
- unnecessary side characters i.e the homeless couple. What did they even bring to the story. I even thought the dad and brother were useless- i wish they gave the brother some sort of strength and substance. ANY sort of use tbh.
- min min couple were the saving point lol
- Even though i saw the charm of Ryu Sio, and i admit i had high hopes for him, but even his character was poorly written. Lets be honest, he was a sh*t villain, seriously how can you be so dumb to let his girl anywhere near you and your secrets? however he was just the best of the bunch, the only character that had some depth and a background story which made viewers like the guy, knowing damn well that he’s a murderous pyschopath. And even after his death they still added some MORE backstory. What do we now do with this info??
- gave all that character development to Ryu Sio to then have him kill himself in the first 20 mins of the episode and then have the other characters continue on with their day like nothing had happened. There was no real closure for his character.
- Heesik was just…THERE. lol ok he’s a cop and he's inherently good, he had a brother that died. WHAT ELSE?? PLEASE TELL ME MORE. He’s one of the main characters but there was nothing interesting about him. just bland.
- no chemistry between the leads in my opinion, It was cute that they liked each other from the get go, but as the show went they had less scenes together to a point that their ‘love’ seemed random and unnatural at the end.
- why did the grandma and her lover need all that screen time. Unnecessary and unwanted.
- how did Namsoon’s mongolian mum pass airport security with a BOMB? is the security in korea that bad?
- The mothers acting was just too over the top. Billionaire and secret vigilante, who gets their hair and makeup done before any heroism can take place.
- the women in show apparently had some connection when great strength is taking place but couldn’t use that connection to find their lost daughter.
- how did Namsoon become a police office when she evidently lacks any knowledge of the law or any form of training for that matter.
there’s so many things that i found ridiculous whilst watching this that i can continue the list but let me finish here. It was implied that there might be sequel… PLEASE NO. just stop right here lol
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MOST AWAITED SEQUEL to WORST MADE SEQUEL
I’m gonna keep this brief and to the point-1. The mother gets more screentime than the actual FL.
2. ML is boring af and has no chemistry with FL.
3. Villain is 10x more attractive, has an actual interesting backstory & had more chemistry with FL.
4. Nobody gaf about the police officer being dr*gged for 10+ episodes.
5. Nobody also gaf about the grandma's love-story.
6. Storyline sucks. It had so much potential and they could’ve taken advantage to make it more interesting.
7. Only good thing was Bongsoon & Minhyuk's cameo (+villain).
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The women are way too overpowered and that makes it boring
Namsoon is born with a superhuman strength from her mother's blood, but she went missing as a child in Mongolia. When she grows up she comes to Gangnam, South Korea to find her parents. Her mother tried to find her while also tried to live a righteous life with doing good deeds, but her family is involved in a drug case. A young detective join forces on the drug case to solve it together...First impression 4 eps in, too much overacting in my opinion and I wasn't in the mood for it at that time, So I pause it and caught up on the final week it's airing because I do like how the story focused on the women. You get to see them all in their different personalities, and how they use their strength and how their strengths are perceived by other people in their lives and around them... Namsoon and her interactions with people in her life is beautiful. This part is cute and fun but it doesn't really move the plot. Apparently the women seem to always win and while it is cool to see it makes it kind of boring. No tension in the fights because she will definitely beat them, it's like Tom and Jerry. I need my hero to struggle a bit in dealing with challenges.
Ong Seong Wu… He's in his coming-of-age phase and wuaw, so handsome! His acting impressed me in Moment of 18 but unfortunately, his character here is not very interesting. I feel no romance chemistry between the leads – but they're very good as friends. The only character who is most interesting throughout is the villain. Some characters has no real purpose in the story. It's fun to watch if you enjoy a cheesy & campy superhero story, but that's it.
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Strong Girl Nam Soon; One of The Worst Dramas of 2023?
While it is wrong to entirely compare the prequel and sequel as they do focus on respectfully different characters, due to the heavy similarities and world building between them, I will be using the original to compare the quality in writing and decisions taken by the screenwriter. ( Be warned this is going to be a long review.)
Strong Girl Nam focuses on a pretty much carbon copy setup to its predecessor, give or take with some new storyline and characters to make it “ different”. The main heroine is Kang Nam Soon ( Lee You Mi), a girl with super strength who grew up in Mongolia. Desperate to find her birth parents, she journeys to South Korea where she encounters billionaire and her biological mother Hwang Geum Joo ( Kim Jung Eun) and grandmother Gil Joong Gan ( Kim Hae Sook). Both women possesses superstrength as traditional with the matriarchal line of the family.
Despite a complicated reunion, Nam Soon’s happy ending is far from complete when she becomes involved in a drugs case and helps out Detective Kang Hee Sik ( Ong Seong Wu) who is gradually developing feelings for Nam Soon after his encounter with her early on. As Nam Soon becomes more involved in this mysterious case, she also encounters the elusively mysterious entrepreneur Ryu Shi Oh ( Byeon Woo Seok). Will Nam Soon be able to live happily with her family or she is in too deep with the investigation?
To give the shown one thing it could have been a pretty interesting premise.The first few episodes were interesting in setting up the rough concept of the series and did introduce our characters as potentially intriguing . In particular; the notion that there could be more representation of women across different generations was really fun also. The series’ major problem early on though came from not really knowing what it wanted to be. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon had fun balancing out mystery whodunnit, comic relief and romance in a way which worked well and gave the characters some room for development. Strong Girl Nam Soon tries doing the same but,unlike its predecessor, really struggles in balancing it out.
It would be understandable if the show was leaning more towards lighthearted fun, but the irony of the matter was that for the most part, the mystery element of the series was arguably just as dark in concept as the original. The series did attempt to offer some more “ dramatic tension” in scenes relating to the drug case setup, but a mixture of overreacting and being overshadowed by the comic relief sadly didn’t give the storyline that much of a punch.
Speaking of comic relief, the series is definitely indecisive . There are certainly a few jokes which occasionally land quite well ( one of my favourites being when Gil Joong Gan schools the cops and encounters Park Bo Young’s cameo), but for the most part, the series seemed to struggle with a mixture of gradually tiresome gags ( particularly directed towards male characters for no other reason other than trying to poorly imitate the situational irony from the original.)
Acting-wise was a pretty mixed bag with a mixture of overreacting and pretty wooden dialogue and characterisation . Byeon Woo Seok probably shone through the most in the series with his performance ( without spoilers) as a more ambiguous character, though was not given full justice either by reduced screen time either . Lee You Mi and Ong Seong Wu are both good actors, but the writing really didn’t give them a lot of justice.
Characters are another major post which has to be discussed. Kang Nam Soon was arguably one of the most underdeveloped character in the series and that is saying something for someone whose name is involved in the titles. Fundamentally, Nam Soon embodies the “ girl with a kind heart” trope. She is somewhat naive to the world but is ultimately out to do the right thing.
The problem is that Nam Soon doesn’t have a lot of focus or personality as a character. This is really ironic considering how much potential surrounds her. After all, there was so much possibility to talk about her experiences growing up in Mongolia more and her adopted family ( a notion Nam Soon quite happily seemed to forget in favour of the plot setup), possible complicated feelings surrounding her family abandoning her ( as well as evident insecurities surrounding her mother in particular) and of course trying to control her strength or experiences in the past. For the most part, Nam Soon pretty much breezes past with the idea of super strength or just happily moving on from a separate life and another culture (which hardly seems bothered by ) into another.
She always seems to win fights and rarely struggles with any major difficulties aside from a few “ tense” moments ( especially later in the series) which are rarely delivered afterwards. To give its prequel it’s due, one major development for the heroine was learning to control her strength and insecurities around it . While both characters have grown up in different circumstances, the lack of flaws or awareness Nam Soon actually possesses of her own situation or character , made her pretty one-dimensional in a way which shouldn’t have been the case. ( Her ending was particularly a bit of a last minute conclusion which just didn’t make sense considering her personal experiences and background.)
The next major character to talk about is Nam Soon’s mother, Hwang Geum Joo, who arguably had the most screen time for some inexplicable reason. ( More than the actual heroine.)There are some mixed feelings with this character. On one hand, her storyline was so heavily drawn upon it was had not to focus on her in the show. However, Geum Joo rarely struggles to be as likeable as the show wants her to be.
This seems to a major problem with some characters. The show wants us to like them, but in reality, it’s hard to really digress what it is about them which meant to be so intriguing when it was forced on viewers.It is a shame as Geum Joo had a potentially very interesting story; a woman who has made it in the world, living a separate life from her husband and son , struggling with the loss of a daughter and running a business could have all been excellent writing points to give her flaws.
It seems as though the series was heading in the direction at one point, but the writing had other ideas, by presenting Geum Joo somehow prevailing through it all as a “ cool vigilante” or rarely being questioned for her actions. For example, Geum Joo is meant to be a “ motherly” figure but is rarely involved in the lives of her children . It’s never really explained exactly why Geum Joo has a somewhat estranged relationship with her son, something which could have been developed a lot more, especially when Kang Nam In ( Han Sang Jo) pretty much hit the nail on the head in saying Geum Joo spends a lot more time with Nam Soon than him. While the show wanted us to feel pity for her, I couldn’t help but agree with Nam In’s point more . (Although not when we rarely see Geum Joo interact with the daughter she’s seemingly been searching for desperately beyond the first few episodes really.) More importantly, what was going on between mother and son to hardly be involved with one another to that extent ? Is this a bond which has just fallen apart naturally or has something caused it? Simple coverage on these matters could have been used well for her development, but were instead neglected and gave her little development onscreen.
Gil Joong Gan is more of a minor character in the plot but as the matriarch of the family, she does have a sideline plot involving a potential love interest. She has a good heart fundamentally; but her constant role in interfering and interesting or being used in the romantic setup does begin growing a bit grating. Her romantic setup did seem quite sweet initially especially as we seen an “ opposites attract” scenario, but Joong Gan’s lack of empathy at times, non consensual decisions and near-obsession over him did start becoming a little tiresome.
Kang Hee Sik has risen a lot of debate by watchers in being more of a background character than a male lead as he’s pretty forgettable. Hee Sik is made to embody the “ good detective” trope. He is kind-hearted and brave and committed to his job. Evidently his encounter with Nam Soon makes him develop feelings and that’s all there is really is to say about him. Hee Sik could have been a really interesting character considering his involvement in the case and going into more depth about his personal drive for becoming a detective. Instead, he’s pretty much really there for a potential romance with Nam Soon and a bit of dramatic incitement .
Romance in the show js a bit of a hard one to go over. The main leads do have some chemistry in more comical moments , but there wasn’t really enough buildup due to lacking character development overall. The ending conclusion was expected though felt a little old-fashioned in deliverance.
Speaking of main characters, there’s of course Ryu Si-O, an antagonist in the series and a major mystery. Ryu Si-O was arguably one character the series did get right in maintaining mystery and ironically had better chemistry than the male lead with Nam Soon. Sadly the writing didn’t give him full justice.
The series struggled a lot with having too many side characters and not enough time. For example we have Secretary Jung Na-Young’s ( Oh Jung Yeon) potential romance going on, Ri Hwa-Ja / Lee Myung-Hee ( Choi Hee -Jin) criminal backstory, vagrants Ji Hyun-Soo ( Joo Woo-Jae) and No ( Kyungri), and then HSC Finance Triple’s storyline and then the Drug Gang on top. There was too much going on in the background.Rather than trying to focus on just a few, the plot attempted to cram in multiple subplots without a lot of development or further conclusions.
Pacing wise the series takes a bit of an odd turn. The first few episodes were fairly brisk, but the halfway point really tried rushing through the rest of the series without a lot of thought over execution. The plot reveal on the “ big bad” was meant to be a big surprise but felt more like a last minute throw in due to feeling rushed and somewhat out of place .
Cinematography and settings were a strong point for the series though. Music was a little out of place, particularly the ending credits.
Overall, Strong Girl Nam Soon really struggles with coming of its predecessor’s shadow. It had so much potential to be a well-written series about lost family and coming together to uncover a case, but a mixture of poor writing decisions, characterisation and plain characters and poor pacing made the series feel like it could be arguably be one of the worst shows of 2023. While the series may appeal to some in its own way, it’s fair to say most kdrama fans are going to probably stick with its original over this. Overall, a poorly-written drama with few redeeming features.
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Different but good
I admit I was more than a little bit apprehensive about watching SGNS because it shared nothing with SWDBS which it is kinda based off of and I really enjoyed. But after the first episode I was like, " this is incredible". It's an interesting combination of kdrama 2016 and marvel movies, something that I've never seen in a K-dramas. It's new familiarity, it gives you that nostalgia that old K-dramas give but at the same time it gives you that thrill, that excitedness with the wonderful made special effects thats marvel movies give. ..I'm honestly excited for what's to come.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I just can’t get over the villain
Don’t get me wrong. The cast is really good and their acting is amaizing of course but for me the problem is the plot. First of all the main couple(Nam soon and the police officer) has no chemistry for me. Their romance has so little screen time and suddenly they’re a couple and kissing. It was so bland for me. The plot would be a lot more interesting if she fell in love with the villain. He fell for her and was smiling multiple times which shown that she could change him, but instead she broke his heart. The plot is to blant, like I can figure out by myself what’s gonna happen next. The only plot that I like is the romance of Namsoon’s grandma. It’s just my personal opinion. I guess I was expecting something else from this drama.Was this review helpful to you?
