Avvocata Woo

Drama itself is excellent. I loved it. But if you watched this subtitled, then you missed at least 30% of the story.

Most Koreans wouldn't use English subtitle so they wouldn't know. Most English speaking audience don't understand the audio so they wouldn't know. But I'm Korean-American who lived 25 years in each country. I'm equally fluent in both languages but we turn the subtitle on for our daughter who isn't very good with Korean. And the amount of mistakes I notice is ridiculous. I am 100% certain it was translated by a Korean who never lived in English speaking country.

One example is the nickname of Kwon. They translated it to "Tactician Kwon". Which is actually a compliment. But the original Korean word used was negative. It should've been "Plotting Kwon". Because he always plotting something against someone. There are literally dozens of these wrong translations per episode.

Bong Joon-Ho's movies such as Parasite on the other hand are much better. I can tell he spends extra effort making sure translations are perfect. But Netflix Korean shows including Squid Game are horrible.

Come on Netflix, there are 1.4 million Korean-Americans who can do better job.

Before I get to the critique part, I just want to say that I love this show, I think it's brilliant and the lead actor is truly exceptional! It is one of the best representations I have seen of an Autistic character, but with caveats (below). Probably the best I have actually seen is Asa Butterfield's character in the film "X+Y".

However... as the parent of a gifted Autistic son with similar IQ as the main character, who is at University aged 14, I can say there is quite a lot wrong with the representation of Autism here. This depiction is filled with clichèd stereotypes. It's as though she has taken every trait any individual Autistic person has ever experienced and put them into one person. That's not how it works; it's very much a spectrum, and each individual experiences this neurodivergence differently (and differently at different times). This performance is very exaggerated, particularly in the light of the fact that such high IQ Autistic individuals often hugely compensate with their intellect, and also develop very good masking ability. This is especially true of females on the spectrum; they often present quite differently and are sometimes not diagnosed until significantly later as a result... even more so when they are profoundly gifted like this character. The fact that she is completely 'out' with her Autism (not the diagnosis itself so much, but the physical manifestations) would be highly unusual; there is an expectation that people conform to the 'norm' in society, and I shouldn't think that's so different in South Korea.

That being said, I understand it may not have had the same impact or humour had they made the characterisation more subtle, and whilst the manifestations themselves are largely exaggerated (at least while she's in public), they are truthful aspects of what it is like to be Autistic. The lead actor's delivery and timing is superb, the rest of the cast are excellent, and the show is a complete joy.

This is one of my favorite kdramas!

This story is amazing, the characters, the funny aspects and everything! Although I think there's too much whales in it XD.

Woo Young-Woo played by Park Eun-Bin has a very high I. Q. but she is also on the autism spectrum. Even though she is very smart she struggles to find work and when she is offered a job at a prestigious law firm she is unaware that she is being used. In the series we see how she looks at life and deals with her stresses which highlights the fact that she is different but the same. I think the writers did a superb job of getting the message across but luckily they had an actress in Park Eun-Bin who totally owned the role and perfectly trod the line between entertainment and education. The support cast do a sterling job and overall it is a most enjoyable story. The only reason I did not give it a ten is that even though the writers got the character development right the story development particularly at the end seemed hurried and a little contrived.

This drama has to be one of the most enjoyable ones I've seen in a while since It's Okay To Not Be Okay. Just basing from the first two episodes, the drama already has so much potential with the theme. The casting is amazing, and I especially love the choices for the female and male lead (who is such a green flag by the way). While it could be said that there were some instances of exaggeration and pacing issues, it still remained as a positive and honest depiction of how autism really is for many who are on the spectrum. Another thing I like about this drama is the honesty. Instead of depicting her as some sort of detached white male savant, her intelligence seems very realistic and according to how human intelligence really does function in real life, unlike some certain depictions of autism in western media. In other words, she's smart and tops her class, but she isn't unrealistically smart.

I really hope the creators do this drama much more justice in the rest of the episodes, especially since this drama has so much potential to be on the hall of good K-dramas, especially with the Netflix promo, but with the quality we've seen in the first two episodes, I don't doubt it.