Avvocata Woo

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.

Tired of superheroes? South Korean stuff. Bored to death by old and overused tropes? South Korean stuff. Cringing at awful acting? South Korean stuff. Vomited in your own mouth again thanks to a sophomoric script? South Korean stuff.

Weird Lawyer Woo Young Woo is the umpteenth example that South Korean TV regularly gets right the myriad things that Hollywood can't or won't do. Treat yourself to this all-around awesome series.

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.

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.

It is very rare for me to review a series before finishing it, but this was so darn delightful that I could not stop myself sharing the good news. After 3 episodes I wrote that if you are not watching this you are missing out. Also that Eun-bin Park is simply wonderful as the autistic attorney at the centre of this drama, coping so movingly with the challenges she faces.

Having now watched the whole series my opinion has not changed. This is a joy to watch. All the usual elements of good K drama are here: fine acting, well drawn characters, believable relationships, deft plotting. I could go on: K dramas do so many things well.

But the absolute clincher is the performance of Eun-bin Park. She makes us believe in her character's difficulties. But she also makes us believe in her ability to find a path through that does not contradict her autism. You are on her side the whole series through. She managed to convey a character that struggled with emotions but also gave us those emotions. Remarkable. Utterly believable.

I am no expert on autism. I have read reviews here from those with experience of the condition both decrying and lauding the accuracy of the portrayal. Perhaps another reviewer got it right when he/she said that the condition is a spectrum, so those with experience can find that it varies considerably.