JO KADLECEK is impressed by the South Korean Netflix series…
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Park Eun-bin stars as Woo Young-woo in ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’. PICTURE: Netflix.
Who knew a television series with subtitles could grab your heart in all the right ways? But that’s what happens with the new South Korean series, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, one of Netflix’s top 10 foreign shows of the year.
And extraordinary she is. Character Woo Young-woo – whose name, she tells us each time she introduces herself, is a palindrome, like kayak, deed or noon – is a high functioning autistic woman with savant gifts. In her first job out of law school, where she scored the highest in her class, the young attorney struggles to fit in and if not for her photographic memory, she’d quickly become a deficit for her law firm given her lack of social skills with clients. But she loves the law, sees approaches and strategies even her seasoned mentors can’t and remembers each legal article at just the right time in each case.
“What makes this series so alluring is not just the courtroom dramas or the firm’s quest for justice…No, it’s the attorney herself who pulls us in and helps us see things in new ways.”
What makes this series so alluring, though, is not just the courtroom dramas or the firm’s quest for justice, though both make for refreshing television. No, it’s the attorney herself who pulls us in and helps us see things in new ways. In something as seemingly simple as walking through the revolving door of her high-rise office building, Attorney Woo (played by Park Eun-bin) stares and wonders how she’ll get in and out to the other side. She analyses the door’s movement, its rotation and air stream as she considers what to do. But through the help of a kind-hearted and handsome colleague (Kang Tae-oh), she learns quickly how to navigate lifestyle basics most of us take for granted. And so by the end of the first episode, this astonishing and delightful “underdog” has us in her thralls.
Actor Park Eun-bin has taken on the lead role with amazing physical detail; as noise is a problem for many with autism, we see her headphones as crucial armour for her on the subway or a crowded foot path. Her bouncy walk, expressive eyes and curious fingers mirror the uncertainty she, as an autistic woman, faces each day. And with each episode, we discover with her the traits and feelings that lead to a growing self-awareness and confidence as she tackles the competitive profession of South Korean law.
Most of her colleagues, slowly, also learn how to appreciate and respect the disability world. Her wise boss Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young) grows increasingly warm toward his rookie lawyer as he learns to see her autism as a strength more than a weakness. Her law school acquaintance-turned-law-firm colleague Choi Su-yeon (Yoon-keyong Ha) (whom Woo refers to in one beautiful scene as “spring sunshine”) brings a protective and sisterly approach to her relationship with Woo.
Dong Geurami (Joo Hyun-young), Woo’s only childhood friend, provides the comic relief and outsiders’ camaraderie that we need, a lovely balance to the serious commitment of Woo’s single father, Woo Gwang-ho (Jeon Bae-soo). Together they create a family and ensemble of complex characters whose backstories build in each episode.
But it is the kindness and sensitivity of Joon-ho, lee (Kang Tae-oh) who calls out our better angels and shows us how we all want to respond to those on the margins, to those with disabilities whom many consider outsiders or unable to contribute anything meaningful to society. In him, and in his budding romance with Woo, we see the hope and power of a synthesis of how we know things could, or should, be. But it is a precarious world, one likely to encounter – like any good story – a dark side of conflict.
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It’s not hard to understand the growing popularity of Extraordinary Attorney Woo, especially given its clever use of magical realism (whales are Woo’s comfort companion); nor is it a surprise that Hollywood and other countries have been pursuing the rights to the award-winning show’s concept and loveable characters.
But the quality of acting, writing, and confrontations with difficult and timely issues – ie. parental pressure on school children, gambling, perceptions of North Korean defectors and the disabled, etc – make this a uniquely South Korean show. Its culture is as crucial to the story line as Woo herself; to try to translate it into any other language or culture would be to miss its significance. In fact, English-speaking viewers should watch it with the subtitles rather than the translation so as to hear the nuances and beauty of South Korean voices and life.
Finally, this is not a Netflix show to binge on, simply because it is so emotional and thoughtful that it’d be wise to take time to reflect on what happens in each episode, to let the empathy of the storytelling unfold. Because, truly, it’s easy to become so absorbed in these characters that we can forget, after all, it is “just” another television show, albeit an extraordinary one.
