Uma Advogada Extraordinária (2022)

Acting was good but last few cases messed up

I was waiting for this drama and I'm so disappointed.
It was going great in first few episodes then eventually it was unbearable to watch it. After skipping most of the scenes of romance & courtroom in last 8- 10 episodes I finally finished it. I was hoping that it'll get better with time but it didn't.
Eun bin is an amazing actress, I've watched almost her all dramas, she was great in this one too, versatile actress I must say, but they showed her too intelligent that it was hard to watch.
Kang tae Oh had nothing to do much, he didn't even get the screen time which he deserved, coz he's the love interest of FL. There wasn't much background info, specially why and when he Started liking FL. I think that there wasn't any need to show their romance at all. They could show their strong and understanding friendship. But....
Side characters wasn't interesting at all. Specially kwon, they didn't have to show him good in the end. I mean in just last 2 episodes, why ??
Only starting few cases were strong enough to watch and made me curious, but later... they all were so boring, when they went jeju, it all got messed up there and I started skipping scenes after that.
At last I'm highly disappointed, I suggest you to watch Eun Bin's other dramas or there're so many good courtroom dramas. You should watch them instead of this one.
Ummm why this drama need season 2, I don't understand. Let's see what they want to show in it's sequel in 2024.

Leia Mais

a swing and an, unfortunate, but probably well intentioned miss.

the premise seems to have been "good doctor, but with lawyers." and it did not go well.

they never seemed to quite get into a good rhythm with the problem of the week structure. the k-drama penchant for caring more about the audience's emotional reaction than story telling is on full display, inflicting a fatal wound to a narrative already beleaguered by bad choices. with every case and every client they couldn't stop themselves falling into tropes. They tried to make their main stream, culturally accepted points of view seem progressive, radical even, but with all the nuance, craft and situational awareness of an 80's after school special.

and that's before i even mention the irresponsible and lazy depiction of autism.

if you can over look some "oof" the romance is cute. The acting is good and the characters who get development are interesting, sometimes even funny.

Leia Mais

Likeable but they messed up really hard with some things

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is an enjoyable drama, especially in the beginning. I like that they showed how normally Youngwoo can live, she can work, she can date. After all she is not a sick person. Her relationship with Junho was also one of the best things in the drama, it’s well made and it’s good to see a representation of autistic ppl dating and this not being an issue. Also, most of the characters have really great chemistry with each other, they’re really charismatic and lovable as well. Junho is one of the most perfect guys I’ve seen in a kdrama. Some cases were good too and in general the show can entertain us. I’m also very happy with the cast, love all actors and all of them did a great job. But, I must say I liked more in the beginning, after EP12..not that much. And even with these good points I talked about above, we must talk about the really serious problems that the drama have.

I love Youngwoo but we can’t deny that her character is REALLY stereotyped. She is dorky, super smart, and is put off as a different person from others. The drama really tried to put her as a “weird person” and this is contributing to the stereotypical view that people have of autistic people. (even the korean title of the drama is “weird attoney woo” which is MADNESS). I also saw a lot ppl commenting on how her autism is "docile" and that made me realize that Eunbin changed her tone voice to be more high/cute (which I really don’t understand why this was necessary). I love her, she’s a great actress, and I think this was the direction she was given to by the director, but like…why? Also, when the drama tried to bring another autistic person (EP3 and EP10), they also filled the scenes with a lot of stereotypes. Don’t get me wront, I liked both episodes, EP3 for example was really good, it just that the way they’re choosing to show and represent autistic ppl here is a turn off sometimes.

I also feel like the drama had a hard time talking about Youngwoo, her personality, likes and stuff. Everything about her is connect to the fact that she is an autistic person, and that’s because the drama is showing and talking about this too much. We know that she likes whales (it’s her hyperfocus), and that she is a strong-willed person who wants to live independently. But I wish we could’ve seen more.

I also just don’t know what the hell happened after EP12. Youngwoo breaking up with Junho was really unecessary for me. Youngwoo’s boss being sick like WHY????? And who thought it would be a great idea to put Sooyeon falling in love with Minwoo? I would’ve understood if this was put in the beginning but after all the things he said and did? We’re talking about a drama that is showing how bad society treats autistic ppl, we’re all seeing how the main lead suffers a lot with it, so what is the reason to put the main lead friend to fall in love with a guy who is an ableist? Literally, it just don’t make any sense. It’s ridiculous. I knew Minwoo would have a redemption arc later but it was TOO LATE, like literally in the last two episodes. In the end, he didn't even had a decent or well-constructed redemption arc, everything felt extremely forced.

So yeah. I think overall, it’s a entertaining show with enjoyable characters but I don’t think it’s the ideal show to lean more about autism because if you look deeply about the perspective of autism, still have a LONG way. They’re still contributing to stereotypes and misinformation. And it seems like the writers lost their way in half of the drama, which is unfortunate. It could have been a 10/10 show for me.

Leia Mais

Good or Bad rep of the autism comunity ?

First let me say that this show has some of my favourite Korean actors, so I was quite excited to check it out. I'm always a bit nervous when it comes to autistic representation, because being autistic myself, most of the time they can be quite bad and traumatic. But for Woo YoungWoo it’s both good and bad… so here’s my brutal opinion:

Just like so many other films and series with autistic representation, a lot of it is stereotypical, problematic and strait up ableist. It’s quite easy to tell that that Park Eun Bin isn’t on the autism spectrum. being autistic myself, it was easily recognizable as a neuro-typical actor doing inverted-masking* to look autistic. Which is really wrong, and can be extremely harmful. But let’s say that her performance was perfect representation of autism. Would that make it okay not to hire an autistic actor ?

And it’s yet again another autistic-savant. Savants represents probably around 50 to 75 people who are on the autism spectrum on the planet. Yes, people, not precent. Woo YoungWoo being a yet another savant makes it seem like there are way more of us special autistics.

The world is already extremely discriminating agents the autistic community, both in front and behind the camera. Some of this discrimination is done openly, but a lot of it is also built the groundworks of society, work hours, expectations, lack of accommodations, etc. I’m speaking from experience and I’m high-masking. The excuse for casting a more famous non-autistic actor over an autistic actor to playing an autistic character is usually to try to get more viewership, but could you imagine a studio casting this way with ANY other minority group ?

It needs to be a universal rule for studios that if a show has an autistic character, you cast an autistic actor. There may be some rare situations where casting a non-disabled actor in a disabled role might be necessary, but that isn’t the case for Woo YoungWoo. All this does is communicate that big studios believe autistic people are not capable enough to be actors, even when we are portraying our own autism. For me, it’s absurd to think a show have the intention of elevating autistic voices and then refuse to let an autistic character be played by an autistic actor.

Now, sometimes it is challenging because a writer or director who isn’t autistic may be the one pitching the show, but it is then the studio’s responsibility to make sure that the autistic people are hired into the other key positions. Could you imagine if I (a white teen from Norway) pitched a show where the story cantered around Korean culture and then no one on the production team, nor the actors who played the Korean characters were actually Korean ?

Woo YoungWoo is a very docile, autistic. She’s highly attractive, acquiescent and she’s infantilized and treated like a pet by almost everyone. And that’s because her autism is docile. The way her autism manifests isn’t disruptive, she doesn’t have to miss work because of overload, she doesn’t have to excuse herself from meetings, she doesn’t have major emotional responses even to incredibly emotional cases or when people are screaming at her. Her autistic traits barely need any accommodation at all. All of her autistic traits are maybe weird, but still cute and adorable. So, everyone wants to make her their pet.

Another big problem is the Korean title of the show “이상한 변호사 우영우” literally means “weird Attorney Woo YoungWoo” that doesn’t sit well with me. And I have criticism of the English subtitles. I don’t know how it’s said in Korean, but they chose to translate everything in person-first language and the majority of English speaking, autistic communities prefer identity-first language. I preferer to say “I am autistic” or “they are an autistic person” rather than “I have autism” or “they are a person with autism”. Saying I have autism makes it sound like an illness, rather than what it actually is.

I’ve gone over the things I dislike, so I might as well talk about some things I did find likable, like looking at it through the culture of Korea the show is quite ground-breaking.
The first awesome thing about Extraordinary Attorney Woo is that they’re portraying autism in a woman. Autism has largely been depicted as a male condition. Women are far more likely to go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. The fact that they chose a woman for the lead who’s autistic is pretty revolutionary.

They also didn’t make her two-dimensional character. She struggles with questions of morality as she has to represent clients of questionable character and she loses cases and makes mistakes. Even with her savant, her photographic memory, doesn’t make her infallible and this creates such a complex character. When it comes the other characters around her there’s a bit of a mix bag, but in every episode there’s at least one great moment of some kind of autistic solidarity or understanding or ableism being called out.

They are showing the spectrum of autism through different characters, although western culture is in a different place compared to Korea when it comes to this, so my criticism is that there showing a spectrum of stereotypical autism traits, but it is still pretty amazing that a Korean show is choosing to show multiple autistic characters so that they are depicting some spectrum.

But the most amazing thing is YoungWoo and JunHo’s relationship. From the beginning JunHo is supportive without judgement. That alone is rare. He exabits, curiosity and looks for ways he can provide accommodation for starting in their very first meetings. From there he never expresses any kind of pity or thinking of her less than, and his feelings for her are obviously from a place of just general affection. He sees her and treats her as his equal and he doesn’t treat her that way because of her abilities. But another amazing thing is that he pursues her romantically.

But just because these things are grate, doesn’t mean I necessarily liked the series. I believe in acknowledging the good in something, especially when we’re stuck with it. The show exists, it’s really popular, I can’t change that. So, I want to talk about the things that are good about it. But we also need to acknowledge the very real and very harmful things that it’s going.

Leia Mais

It was by no means perfect, but this was a feel good drama and happy pill for me. I mainly loved this for the wholesome work environment. It was entirely unrealistic, but I needed a break from all the negativity in dramas. That's not to say this was void of negativity. You have Kwon Min Woo who serves as the closest thing to an antagonist. And of course you have the evildoers in all of those cases too. I'm a sucker for some character growth, so I really loved seeing Woo Young Woo grow as a person and lawyer.

Do NOT watch this show if you're expecting an accurate representation of someone on the spectrum. I feel like some things were exaggerated or misrepresented. However, the writers do get some things right. This drama brought up a lot of discussion on the subject matter, especially in countries where people don't have much knowledge about ASD. Some viewers made the extra effort to do some research and this is a big plus, but don't watch this expecting it to be accurate. The writers wanted a story to be different and they got one.

Do NOT watch this solely for the cases. I don't know how to describe them. They were a bit ridiculous, but outcomes/twists were entertaining? They seemed impossible to win, but somehow the team got lucky. Watching this law drama as a foreigner/outsider was a bit weird because I would think of a law in my country and wonder, "They don't already have a law about this?" and "How is this even legal?" But again, this is not my country so I cannot judge or make conclusions based on South Korea's laws. The cases from the first half were more interesting than the second. Then the show starts to go downhill again a bit. You can tell the writers got a bit lazy. Also, news of a 2nd season was announced so maybe they're holding out on stuff. Overall I enjoyed this as a workplace drama, where a newbie joins the workforce and makes a considerable amount growth by the end.

Leia Mais

Wayyyy too overhyped

I somewhat enjoyed this drama, especially during the first few episodes but after a while it just starts falling flat. I understand that the cases are a big part of the show but it started feeling like they were focusing way too much time on them to the point that all the other plot points and character development of the other characters (except Youngwoo's) were being left to the side. Like, the Tae sumi's and the Hanbada CEO rivalry??? like we dont even know why on earth she hates tae su mi so much???

Also the other characters, why dont we know a single thing about the main character's love interest, Junho? Like alright, he's sweet and caring but that's literally it. He doesn't have a plot he's just there being Youngwoo's boyfriend who ocassionally has to deal with other people being ableist towards her and get mad on her behalf, while she just passively stands there not knowing what to do even though she's a 27 year old woman who has had to deal with all of this and more for her entire life. And that's another problem i have which is that we never see her standing up for herself, and the only time we do is because Suyeon literally told her what to do and say to Min woo, and then he continued being an asshole to her who out of nowhere got something of a badly done redemption arc???? And he didn't even start trying to be nice beacause he reflected and realized he was being a piece of shit, it was literally because Suyeon liked him and he wanted to be the type of guy she liked, which is ridiculous.

There's a lot of other things that i have problems with in this show, specially the fact that the main premise of it its a very stereotypical portrayal of autistic people, with the whole genius and perfect memory thing and other things in general, but overall, yes, i still pretty much enjoyed the show but i feel like the people reviewing it on here are being way too nice about it and making it out to be something that it's not.

Leia Mais

An Amazing and Much Needed Journey

As sad as I was to see Extraordinary Attorney Woo come to an end as exhilarated to have been a part of this beautiful drama's journey that was very personal to me, and knowing a second season is on the way makes me bubble over with excitement. I enjoyed everything about this drama, from the different case stories and practical solutions and wins to the subject matter presented to the different personalities we encountered throughout the journey -- each bringing something special.

Without question, Park Eun Bin was beyond exemplary in this role. She deserves every award, as do her co-actors, and so does the drama. From the heartthrob Kang Tae Oh to Joo Hyun Young (Dong Geurami was one of my favorites) to Ha Yoon Kyung and Joo Jong Hyuk -- a real-life-like character that tries very hard at all the wrong things but isn't scared to admit his mistakes because it is never too late to do the right thing. But the one that touched me the most was Kang Ki Young as Jung Myung Seok.

But the one that touched me the most was Kang Ki Young as Jung Myung Seok. He won me over every time he came on screen -- a very special standing ovation to a fantastic actor. Kudos to the production staff but especially to the brilliant storyteller, director for bringing the story to life, and editor for the excellent choices, the animation/CGI, and cinematograph.

I love the message this excellent drama leaves me with: our choices and our past always have a way of catching up to us, no matter how hard we try to make them go away. Words are powerful. They can create, or they can destroy so choice them wisely. And just because someone is different doesn't make them weird, it makes them extra special. So treat others the same way you would like to be treated.

Leia Mais

It was very good, until it is not.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo has taken the Kdrama world by a storm with the amount of people that are paying attention to this drama from the start of its airing. It is a very likable drama that is easy to follow, especially if you're a Kdrama fans who always follow the huge amount of other law kdrama.

EAW was amazing from the start, it displayed, mostly a very relatable aspect of the view and struggle of people with autism. But I am not gonna touch abt those, whether the accuracy or any stigma that it manage to show bcs honestly I do not have enough knowledge for that. Instead I will talk abt the plot, mostly the cases and the development of the main characters through out the drama.

Most of the cases that are shown in the drama was pretty simple and common, and I actually like it. After so many law dramas featuring murders, serial killers and psychopath, EAW is a breath of fresh air with their simple cases involving various issue and topics. I enjoy most of the cases that are addressed in this drama as I always like this kind of episodic theme in dramas.

As for the main characters, most of them are very great and well-written, except for a few, which is actually the reason how this drama turned from a 9 to an 8 for me. For me the most illogical and shallow part of the writing of this drama is on Jun Ho, Min Woo, and Soo Yeon's character, specifically towards the end of the drama. For Jun Ho, although it is undeniable that he is an amazing character and a great boyfriend, somehow, the build up of his characteristic feels a lil bland. He lacks a proper background story that can help the viewers understand him as a person; such as what are his struggle? His stand? His motivation etc? But of course, I still enjoy their sweet scenes together bcs they never fail to give me extreme butterflies.

For me the fall of this drama started from Ep 13-14, as it has been agreed by quite a lot of people last week. This involves the writer extremely changing Min Woo's character out of nowhere that actually cause a lot of confusion. It seems like they want to give him a redemption arc, yet they don't even know where it come from. Why would he change? What made him change? And if he did, why is it that not even once did he utter sorry for Young Woo? It's just utter confusion

And what's worse, they also ruined Soo Yeon's character, like just bcs of some generous action from Min Woo, just bcs he acted kind a few times, Soo Yeon all of a sudden fell hard for him who she always hates and she knows is an asshole all these while. Like it doesn't make any sense.

Other noticeable flaws of this drama for me is the build up for the Tae Su Mi scandal. It has been brought up to our attention abt it from early episodes, but somehow it seems like the writer forgot abt her character in the middle of the drama, then start going for all the cliches plot first; a breakup, a dying plot and a sloppy redemption arc, and then on the last episode they brought her back and all those buildup goes to waste as it was all settled with no climax all in one episode

I know I touched more on the flaws rather than why I like this drama, but that is bcs it is obvious that this drama is very easy to like and enjoy, and will be memorable. But the flaws that came up on the last 4 episodes took me by surprise that I just have to vocalize it somewhere. Of course, these are all just my opinion and I still had a lot of great time with this drama despite its flaws. Honorable mentions for Jung Myeong Seok, Dong Geurami and Young Woo's eureka moment

Leia Mais

NOT extraordinary, not awful

I hesitated about watching this drama for a long time, in the end it was neither as good as I hoped it would be nor as bad as it could have been.

One of the biggest problems I have with Extraordinary Attorney Woo is the way it infantilises and fantasises autism. I have no problem with the presentation of an autistic person who has an idiosyncratic speaking style, but the presentation of attorney Woo's speech is that it seems designed to be cutesy, and that was to be a problem with the entire presentation of her autism.

I cut the drama some slack for that because I know that Korea is an extremely ableist society. It demonises the different, and it may well be that the drama decided to present the attorney as a cute overgrown infant at least in part in order to overcome the deeply ingrained antipathy toward the different in Korea's extremely homogenous society. Nevertheless, it got very wearing. The intent may have been noble, but the effect it was, for me, counter-productive. Presenting her as “a genius fairy” was demeaning, and even her display of the characteristics of her autism was inconsistent.

Similarly I am fine with the idea that attorney Woo has cetaceans as her special interest. One of my best friends is on the spectrum and his special interest is Koine Greek grammar – his brother, further on the spectrum, has superhero comics as his special interest. Both display the same sort of devotion to their interest she does to cetaceans.

But again the presentation of her special interest was infantile and fantasised. Not in the fact that she always wanted to talk about them, that would be normal, but the whole fantasy element of her "Eureka!" Moments involving various cetaceans floating through a field of vision was disappointing for me. Disappointing because it suggested again that she somehow lived in a fantasy world , not like a normal human being .

That fantasy world was also evident in many of the cases. One of the worst examples was in episode nine, involving the "kidnapping" of the children from the Academy bus. Like the kidnapper, I find the whole concept of forcing children to effectively spend 16 to 18 hours a day in some form of schoolwork repugnant. Nevertheless, it is legal in Korea and the extent to which that episode relied on "jury nullification" and sheer feel good fantasy was disappointing.

The wide range of cases covered was a positive highlight, bringing attention to lots of serious issues that are seldom featured in K Dramas. Much of the dialogue when serious was also well thought out, and if it does anything at all to prompt some to consider neurodivergent people in a new light, that’s great. Park Eun Bin did a good job of portraying the character she was given, even if that character was in the end profoundly unsatisfying for me.

So in the end, I give this 6.5/10 – 0 points for its depiction of autism, 6.5 for its highlighting the issue OF autism, and for the often quite exceptionally relevant and well thought-out social issues covered in the cases of each episode

Leia Mais

Story declined but was still pretty enjoyable

I was so captivated by the first episode that I kept watching but unfortunately, it started lagging starting the third episode. I mostly watched just to finish the court case because I was curious of how Woo Young Woo would resolve it. Other than that, I felt like I skipped through half the drama.

First, I'll say that the female lead did such a phenomenal job acting. It also brought lots of awareness to autism that I didn't know before. (As well as a bunch of whale facts). I think I read somewhere that she did a lot of research on autism to make sure she didn't portray the character wrongly or stereotypically. However, the male lead...I felt like he didn't really have a character. I saw on TikTok and my friends were talking about how he's the biggest green flag in korean dramas, but he had no personality. The romance seemed very forced, in my opinion. The way that he was helping her in the beginning as a friend was very cute, but then all of a sudden, he started giving her loving gazes out of the blue. I feel like the romance could've been done more naturally, or even not at all. I really liked the side characters though, like Choi Su Yeon and especiallyyyy Attorney Jung. I think he brought in a lot of the comedic aspect and did well with it.

For the court cases, I love dramas that do one case per episode, but a lot of these felt like they were trying to fill up the episodes with the most random things. I did have a select few that I enjoyed, but a lot of them felt like a waste of time and were forgettable.

I will say that the one thing I liked was the ending with the redemption of several characters, though those were also kind of rushed. I heard that they're coming out with a season 2 and wonder what else they're going to do with this. Probably even more court cases?

Leia Mais

II started watching this show because of the intriguing plot; I've seen too many shows where the ML is the smart one or has some extraordinary abilities, so to finally have a female as the smart lead, that too an autistic female character, I couldn't say no! To top it all off, my favorite actress, Park Eun Bin, took on the role! I wouldn't miss this show for the world. I will not comment much on how autism is portrayed in this show because I am not on the spectrum and it would be inappropriate for me to determine whether or not the portrayal of autism is accurate. Instead, I encourage viewers to read comments from our neurodivergent friends who have provided incredible insights on the show; I have learned a lot from them, and I would recommend that everyone read what they have to say. My review will mostly cover the other aspects, so here's a list of pros and cons (if you haven't started watching the show yet, perhaps this review will help!)

Pros:
1) A very lovable female lead. It was heartwarming to see her journey as an attorney as she learned the realities, sorrows, and joys of life. If you only need one reason to watch this show, the female lead is it.

2) endearing side characters I liked geu-rami and chef hairy's dynamic, and I enjoyed how they guided Young Woo when she had questions about her job and her love life. Myeongseok and Su-yeon, the other side characters, were also likeable and played important roles in YW's development.

3) The romance was so sweet; I haven't seen such a wholesome romance like Jun Ho and Young Woo in a long time. They had great chemistry (eun bin and tae oh! what have you done to me!) and their interactions were heart-fluttering. I was happy to be the third wheel!

4) Fantastic cinematography and graphics! I loved the intro and episode intros, as well as Young Woo's eureka moments. It was a nice and original touch to show the whales whenever she made a breakthrough in a case. For me, it really elevated the entire show.

5) Many have said the legal cases were boring but I thoroughly enjoyed them. They felt realistic to me, and they left us with some important messages.

6) Sweet OST

7) A happy ending (whether or not it is satisfactory is debatable ahah)

Cons
1) Young woo's relationships, both with her father and with Jun Ho, lacked development. I wish we had seen more of her interacting with her father. I also wish certain scenes with Jun Ho hadn't been cut/ faded out because it left us confounded. I also wanted to see more of her relationship with Su Yeon, perhaps even flashbacks to how YW and SY were in law school.

2) A lack of character development for certain characters: I believe this is the first time a male lead has been barely developed. The thing is, I adore Jun Ho, and unlike other viewers who kept demanding to know why she liked her, I understood why he did from the start! That's just love, man. A lot of shows just throw in leads with no chemistry whatsoever together but that's not the case with YW and JH so I personally didn't see an issue with them getting together. But my issue is that we didn't get to see more of his family, where he previously worked or studied, why he lives with Min Woo and why he has such rude friends, and so on. The same can be said for the other characters; Min Wo's arc was too poorly executed. Tae su mi, hanbada ceo, and other characters were underdeveloped. even chef hairy!

3) use of kdrama cliches: as most viewers would say, the last few episodes completely deviated and used every cliche kdrama trope out there ahaha, and it became kinda makjang at some point as a result. MYS' illness didn't make sense to me, nor did Min Woo's 'redemption' arc, nor soo yeon suddenly being interested in min woo. Because of the use of these tropes, I believe the ending was rushed. We also didn't get to see much of YW with her half brother because the writers crammed in unnecessary plotlines. It was as if I were watching a different show. I am fine with these cliches/ tropes if they are executed well but I didn't like how they were used in this show.

That's all I have to say! I had more thoughts, but I can't put them into proper sentences right now haha! To sum up, I believe this show is worth watching. I was obsessed with it and told everyone I knew about it! If there is a season 2, I hope they delve deeper into YW's interpersonal relationships and perhaps even have her meet with a counselor (since it was mentioned). If there is a season 2, it will be interesting to see how the story develops. Please watch this show! Young Woo is an amazing character and I wish her all the best.

Leia Mais