Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: If Criminal Minds & Bionic Woman Had a Baby

K-Drama

Jul 14

“Born with supernatural strength, Bong-soon fights evil and procures justice while getting tangled in a love triangle with her CEO boss and cop crush.”

— Netflix

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (Viki)

Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon had been recommended by a number of people but it took me a few months to get fully into this K-drama. I don’t think I even got through the first episode in one sitting. As the title suggests and what they show us from the get-go—Do Bong-Soon is strong. As in superhuman. A trait handed down through the female side of her family.

I can’t help but like the fact this features a strong woman as the lead character. But after I finished episodes one and two I still wasn’t engaged enough to immediately keep going, but some of it may have had to do with my schedule. What kept me coming back is Park Hyung-Sik—and the fact people kept telling me they liked it. When I went to California in mid-June I made a concerted effort to watch this before any other K-dramas and was able to finish the series in about a week.

If you’re looking for something fun and lighthearted Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon is a good choice. The relationship between the two lead characters, Do Bong-Soon and An Min-Hyuk was cute and sweet—but it focused more on friendship than romance through most of the series. Most would probably describe it as a romantic comedy and while there was a lot of wishful thinking going on, there wasn’t much actual romance—as in less than normal—even for a K-drama. The emphasis seemed to be more on the serial kidnapping mystery aspects of the storyline which was creepy enough to have come from Criminal Minds, though not executed as such.

I’m not a fan of over-the-top caricatures and SWDBS had its fair share of these, which is probably why it took me a bit to fully engage in this K-drama. What I mean by this is characters without depth or explanation who are supposed to be funny but they end up annoying me because they’re a caricature, not a character. If you ask me, the bully adversaries, the Buddhist monk—even Bong-Soon’s mom all belong in this category.

One highlight was Kim Won-Hae who played a dual role. Kim Gwang-Bok was a caricature IMHO and annoying—but Oh Dol-Byung was pretty fabulous. At times Dol-Byung was also a bit over-the-top but endearing enough that I could overlook and enjoy the character. If you haven’t watched SWDBS yet don’t peek ahead, just let that dual role put a smile on your face as it’s revealed in the series.

Once I got several episodes in I was engaged enough to keep coming back to find out what happens but if I’m honest, I found SWDBS to be kind of average. That’s not bad, but it’s not enough that I ever see myself watching it again. Am I in the minority here? Let me know in the comment section. Always willing to listen to a differing opinion.