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Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 6 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo, Kang Tae-oh as Lee Jun-ho, Ha Yoon-kyung as Choi Soo-yeon, Ju Hyung-young as Dong Geu-rami, Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok, and Joo Jong-hyuk as Kwon Min-woo. We discuss:
The songs we featured during the recap: Overture and Girl Dad (It Takes Such a Long Time) by Roh Young Sim.
Our delightful Zoom meet and greet with listeners, where many shared their love of Extraordinary Attorney Woo as their gateway into K Dramas.
The varied opinions on Lee Jun-ho, from the fantasy of a perfect green-flag partner to the critique that he’s bland or too idealized.
The heartbreaking case of a North Korean defector, Gye Hyang-sim, and how it highlights issues of motherhood, justice, and societal prejudice.
The dangerous and emotionally devastating journey of North Korean defectors and how the South Korean government processes and supports them.
The emotionally raw parallels between Gye Hang-sim's pain and Woo Young Woo’s deep empathy for Gye Hyang-sim, especially Woo Young Woo’s moving whale metaphor, where she likens Gye Hyang-sim to a mother whale who refuses to abandon her child even at the cost of her life.
The shocking moment when CSY and WYW barge into the judge’s chambers, and how their family pedigrees become unexpectedly relevant to the judge’s view of them.
The meaning of bongwan (ancestral clan origin), and how it reflects deeply ingrained class and social cues in Korean legal and elite circles.
The surprise ending of the case, where the judge suspends Gye Hyang-sim’s prison sentence due to her confession, lack of a criminal record, and unfamiliarity with South Korean law.
The subtly developing triangle between Woo Young Woo, Lee Jun Ho, and Choi Soo Yeon, fueled by Kwon Min-woo’s manipulative suggestion that Lee Jun Ho likes Choi Soo Yeon.
The emotional theme of mothers throughout the episode, culminating in the poignant department store scene where Tae Soo-mi almost crosses paths with her daughter WYW.
Our admiration for Attorney Jung, who quietly supports his junior attorneys and upholds justice, even at the cost of corporate clients.
References
I remember this episode so vividly—it was both endearing and touching. I’ve always loved a good mother–child story, and this one beautifully sets the stage for the Tae Soo-mi and Woo Young-woo storyline.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Joanna, I actually have “Maria” in my name, so Irma is technically my second name. My sister, on the other hand, has “Marie” in hers.
Oh, and I managed to secure a ticket for Park Bo Gum’s fan meet here in Bangkok tomorrow! After seeing all the clips from the Manila fan meet yesterday, I couldn’t resist—I was lucky enough there were still a few available tickets.
Hi Irma! I’m so jealous, because he is perhaps the most multitalented actor right now. I watched all the episodes of “The Seasons, Park Bo-Gum-Cantabile” on Viki. He hosted, sang and played fantastic piano on every episode, and obviously loved doing it. Highly recommend to all you guys. Enjoy and let us know how it is!
DeleteThis is Ellen, from my phone
DeleteIrma, thank you for sharing that you're also a Maria! Awesome!
DeleteI can't wait to see your photos from the Park Bo Gum fan meet. I saw photos from his fan meet in Manila. What a gift to his fans. No wonder people are crazy for this guy. When you show your fans this type of love, they give it right back!
I'm hoping to go to the Philippines next year. Maybe there will be a fan meet when I'm there! I want to go with Shine!
Hello Ellen and Joanna, Bo Gum's fan meet was a treat, he was such a sweetheart. Ellen, you're correct that he is multitasking-talented - he acts, sings, plays the piano, dance, and speaks in English. I had to sit through almost 4 hours without having to understand a thing as the fan meet was in Korean and translated in Thai. Google Translate failed me. Oh Joanna, I hope you can attend a fan meet in the Philippines. Pinoys are pretty big on such things that they fill an entire arena.
Delete"E.A.W" is such an amazing drama that successfully tugs at our heartstrings, but to those who do not also recognize the great moments of comedy in this show, I say "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!"
ReplyDeleteOne line in Episode 6 gave me my single biggest LOL moment this week. It's very DRY and also completely unexpected:
Woo has exasperated the judge to the point where he loses his temper and chastises her, saying "anyone who wants to talk from now on will have to raise their hand!" On the next court date, Woo immediately interrupts her boss speaking to the judge, explaining under her breath that he must now raise his hand in court before speaking. Understandably confused, he asks his young attorney why the judge would make such an unusual demand.
"I think it's because his family is the Ryu family of Pungsan." (a quick shot of her boss now DOUBLY confused!) LOLOLOL
OK, so why is this funny? (if you simply READ it, it's probably not) It's funny because we know the character and her sometimes unusual (and occasionally naive) way of seeing the world. We recall the previous court date, and imagine how she processed this irrelevant discussion of families and who's from where (as you touched on the podcast), followed by the judge eventually losing his temper and yelling at her. It's funny because we can imagine Woo taking "everyone must raise their hand!" EXTREMELY seriously as marching orders with no expiration date, until his honor declares otherwise!
Therefore "I think it's because his family is the Ryu family of Pungsan" is an almost-reasonable hypothesis for Woo, while being completely nonsensical, out of left field and super confusing for her boss.
This is character-driven comedy (rather than plot driven). The beauty of E.A.W. is we are not "laughing at her autism" -- at this point, we have absolutely embraced the character, her strengths and even her quirks -- which is surely a tribute to the great writing and the incredible performance from Park Eun-bin. This is no easy feat, and just one reason this is an EXTRAORDINARY show.
Jeff, you are SO right! This show is touching and funny, but in a really subtle way. I think the Attorney Jung character is amazing. He's the straight guy who is just hilarious. The way he looks at WYW is just wonderful. He gets exasperated, but he's always patient.
DeleteYes! We have embraced WYW's character, challenges and quirks!
Oh man! You should have had me on the podcast because as an extraordinary attorney myself, I have soooo much to say about the legal aspects of this episode!
ReplyDeleteFirst, Attorney Kang picking which attorney will handle the cross examination at the last minute would never happen. A cross examination, or even a direct examination, are not things you decide at the last minute and just wing it. You spend a lot of time preparing for each witness. It’s not like a basketball game where the coach just says “Woo, you’re in!”
You can only object to leading a witness when it’s a witness on the same side as the attorney. That’s why sometimes you hear an attorney ask for permission to treat the witness as a hostile witness.
In the US, there is no way a judge would ask, much less pressure, a criminal defendant to answer any questions, much less a question the defendant about their understanding of the law. That was crazy!
And you are right, Attorney Woo and Choi Seo-yeon going to see the Judge outside of court without the other attorney present would likely get you sanctioned and thrown off the case. There is no way a respectable Judge would allow that for even a second! But this judge did seem somewhat sus.
These are the kinds of things that really bothered me the first time I watched the show. But now I am much more resigned to the fact that this is not a show about the law, and it is really a show about an autistic person functioning in a professional field. I’ve come the suspend my disbelief on some of the legal aspects so that I can really enjoy the show.
On a non-legal note, did you notice how both Lee Joon-hoo AND Choe Seo-yeon moved to protect Attorney Woo when the abusive husband came storming out of the house? I thought it was such a sweet moment.
And another reason I should have been on the podcast was so I could rave about Ha-Yoou-kyung! I love this actress, and I will definitely be checking out Gangnam B-Side where she finally has a much deserved lead role.
And of course, since no one asked, here’s What’s Malcolm Watching:
Above the Bar on Netflix. This is another legal drama, but it’s the most accurate one I’ve seen so far. I think it really does a pretty good job of portraying the office politics. It’s still pretty unrealistic where it has first year attorney doing trials, but its far more plausible the EAW. Not sure where its going with the two leads, or whether I like it. But I can recommend it.
Love, Take Two on Viki – This is city person moving to the countryside type drama, sort of like Hometown Cha Cha Cha or Welcome to Samdal-ri. This one involves a mother daughter that make the move. I’m a few episodes in and can recommend.
Aema on Netflix – I just started this one. It is about the South Korean film industry in the early ‘80s. It stars Lee Hanee, who I’m sure you all remember as Miss Korea 2006. Not so sure about the plot so far, but I am loving the early ‘80s South Korea vibe! The costumes and sets are amazing!
That’s all for this week. Off to take on a pro bono case!
Malcolm, great point about how Lee Jun Ho and Choi Soo Leon were protective of Woo Young Woo when they went to visit the house. I'm so happy you're comment on this show, as an attorney and as a K Drama lover. What fun for you AND for us!
DeleteI am loving Beyond the Bar. I don't know if there's going to be a romance between our leads. I'm kind of hoping not, only because that would be so inappropriate, but hey, let's see where the show takes us. I think the legal and ethical challenges are just mind bendingly interesting!
Will put Love, Take Two on my list. I adored Homeown Cha Cha Cha.
I completely understand Malcolm’s reaction to EAW. I also struggle sometimes with series where I know the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteThe intellectual knowledge that the law is not the point, still can’t completely remove the emotional damage lol.
For me, the series has very little to do with law. I don’t take anything seriously when it comes to the legal stuff. As a rule of thumb, I don’t trust TV shows. They just pique my interest in something.
The series for me is about addressing a variety of social issues concerning the Korean society. Rather than case of the week, I see it more as “cause of the week”. The writer is clearly unhappy with a lot of issues (rightly so) and wants to shed a light on them. She could have gone with criminal/mystery type of cases while still keeping the arching theme of Autism. But, instead she chose to challenge the audience not only on Autism, but on other issues.
This episode was a middling one for me. Not bad, but not particularly great either. I do have few issues with it, but I need to write an essay to explain, and I don’t have the energy to do that.
For me the highlight was WYW talking about the mother whale at night. I had a lot of emotions. Disgust with humans, but also hypocrisy as a meat eater, and that led to a bit of self-loathing.
I have now finished E09 of “One Spring Night”, and I am loving it. Unless they mess it up, this is probably going to be a strong favourite of my Kdrama of 2025.
I just love this slow pace where I get to see conversations between characters. I love these flawed characters, who are very believable. Their actions is a mixed bag. Some good, some bad, some clever, and some stupid. Even when you disagree with their actions, you can perfectly understand them.
Until now, there is nothing outlandish, and over the top. Everything is measured. There is hardly any shouting.
I just feel I am watching a story that is real with just some minor embellishments.
I have also watched the first two episodes of Bon Appetite, your majesty. I think a lot of people already comparing this to “Mr Queen”. In my opinion, the similarities are very superficial. Also, based on the first 2 episodes, “Mr Queen” is better in every single department, and it is a class above.
All that said, the series is reasonably entertaining, and considering it is only 12 episodes, I am going to stick with it. I have to say, I am very surprised to see it reaching No.1 on Netflix (including English language).
I watched “Aema”, but stopped in the middle of 2nd episode. I think the subject matter is very interesting, but I hated the constant shifts between seriousness and “comedy”, which is mostly silly (sometimes even slapstick) in my opinion. Had this been a straight drama I would have stuck with it.
Seven Seas, I'm so happy to hear you are enjoying One Spring Night. It's one of my favorites. Alas, it will never be covered by K Drama Chat because it does not have a Korean OST. LOL Bob Apatite Your Majesty is on my list. And I agree that Aema is not that great a story. I am mostly watching for the visuals.
DeleteI must say the OST is annoying in this series because it is in English. I find it very jarring, so I just mute it.
DeleteBut, I am NOT an OST person. I care about the score, but OST is usually just something in the background. I do from time to time like certain songs, but that is rare. 90% of them just blend into each other.
I like Korean songs, but old ones. When it come to songs, I just love old stuff no matter the language.
OST, or not, I don't think "One Spring Night" is good choice for podcast though. Eventhough I am loving it, it has to be said it is really slow and not a lot happen. And, it lacks the incredible writing of "My Mister". I think it is for selective taste.
Seven Seas, thank you for this thoughtful comment! I think you are right that EAW is a "cause of the week" show and that's partly why we picked it. There's something interesting each week and a lot to dive into. We sometimes struggled to fit everything we want to say in one hour!
DeleteI agree that the scene where WYW thinks about mother whales and then thinks about herself and HER mother was quite touching. And tragic. It makes me think of the millions of kids around the world who feel their parents didn't love them. Gah! What a terrible thought.
One Spring Night was okay for me. Not amazing. I think Ellen had it right when she said the OST ruined it for me. It was too jarring. And perhaps I'm just tried of Jung Hae In playing the same character in so many shows: Something in the Rain, One Spring Night, and Tune In For Love. And I love this actor!
I 1,000% agree with you that comparing Bon Appetit to Mr. Queen is a mistake. Superficially, there are similarities, but the story lines are different, the acting is different, the focus is different. I have watched two episodes of Bon Appetite and so far, I like it a lot. But it's a mistake to compare it to Mr. Queen.
Love all your comments, Seven Seas, Irma, Joanna, and Malcolm. Malcolm, I really enjoyed your appearance on the CLOY review speaking about North Korea as portrayed in the series. Would love to see you back on re the law.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a veteran tech writer and film student focused on screenwriting, I have my own area of professional nits to pick, like the fourth kidnapping in When The Phone Rings. Loved the series anyway, but I was glad you guys covered it in a single episode.
I’m going to Seoul on a solo vacation, and plan to go to Sunshine Studios and the DMZ, as well as all the palaces. Anybody have any must-do’s to suggest? I leave on November 20, return to California on the 30th. All my potential vacation companions aren’t interested in Kdramas like us, so I think they would be bored with my itinerary.
On what I’m watching, just finished Marry My Husband on Prime, and found it unsatisfying. Just enough to keep going but not enough to recommend. The ending seemed overdone and empty at the same time, lots of filler. Starting Home Town Cha Cha Cha because of Soon-Hi’s recommendation. She persuaded me on Mr. Queen, and I just treasure that show now.
Thanks Ellen, that's kind of you to say. I'll see if I can get Joanna and Sung-Hee to invite me back to share my legal expertise (or lack thereof)! ;-)
DeleteVery jealous you are going to South Korea. Obviously, I need to go sooner rather than later. I've never been, so I can't really recommend anything.
A lot of people did not really enjoy Mary My Husband, which surprised me. I loved it, but I love anything with Park Min-young in it!
Thank you Ellen.
DeleteI am somewhere between you and Malcolm on Marry My Husband. I enjoyed watching it for most part, especially the first half. But, the introduction of a certain character later on really damaged the story for me.
On the whole, I think it was decent enough, but forgettable.
I wish you a very nice trip to South Korea. I hope I can make it there one day.
Ellen! Please come on the podcast after your trip and tell us all about it! And please share photos on Instagram so that we can reshare! So exciting for you. It's a crime that I still haven't visited South Korea, but I'm working on it.
DeleteYou are a professional screenwriter? Wow! Another reasons to get you on the podcast! Are you finding more and more crazy endings in these shows? When the Phone Rings went to Argan, Marry My Husband went to Argan, Queen of Tears went to Argan. The crazy batshit factor seems to be intensifying.
I loved Hometown Cha Cha Cha. There is a dark element but it is very real. And the coverage of mental health trauma is very good. The acting is wonderful. And the funny elements are super cute. I hope you love this show.
Have fun planning your trip to Seoul! I'm so jealous. I'm conditioning my family (husband + 2 sons) that our next family trip would be South Korea. Please share your itinerary.
DeleteThis is great, I’ll feel like I’m taking you all with me! I plan to keep a trip diary with comments and photos for my friends as I usually do, with helpful tips if I have some. I’ll be staying at a hotel in Insadong, which is walking distance to the major historic sites. Joanna and Sung-Hee can post it here on the blog if you all want that.
DeleteI am a professional writer, and have written screenplays and had an agent, but not produced. But I ran a screenwriting workshop for 10 years with produced members, and I’m a veteran student of the form. We all agreed on one thing, which is that when it’s good, we get immersed in the story and characters like everyone else. But when it’s bad, if you’ve studied screenwriting, you can see when and where and why it went wrong.
I’d love to discuss the art and craft of screenwriting in Kdramas, because that’s why I love them! One of my screenwriting teachers, Larry Carlsson, had a motto, “Make Me Care!” Our favorite Kdramas do just that.
Joanna, I’ll message yiu on Instagram with more on all this.