By Evi Chrysoheri,
It’s a fact that K-dramas recently became one of the hottest categories amongst others in the section of series. The upcoming rise of this kind of television program could be justified due to its highlighting of Korean culture, the everyday modern lifestyle and even more subcategories, in combination with great actors. One K-drama worth watching is ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, which was released in 2022 on South Korean television but can also be found on Netflix, starring Park Eun-bin, along with Kang Tae-oh as the love interest and Kang Ki-young as a senior attorney and mentor of the protagonist.
This series is about a young woman, Woo Young-woo, who is autistic. She is a new lawyer, working for a well-known law firm in Seoul. At the same time, we see the world from the protagonist’s perspective and how her condition affects her daily life. Therefore, this K-drama raises awareness about topics like the issues people with disabilities face and the stigma around them that still exists in today’s societies.
More specifically, ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ narrates the story of Woo Young-woo, a girl who was raised by her single father, as her mother abandoned her when she was still a baby. In the future, however, their paths will cross in an unexpected way. As time goes by, we see a glimpse of Woo Young-woo as a teenager and the bullying that she suffers from her classmates because of her autism. However, this is where she meets Dong Geu-rami, a girl with an explosive and confident personality that defends Woo Young-woo from her bullies and gradually becomes her inseparable friend. Later in her life, even though the main lead graduates from National Law School with a distinction, she still struggles to find a job due to her autism. That’s when her father takes it upon himself to ask for a favour from an old college friend that owns a big law firm, ‘Hanbada’, doing all this behind Woo Young-woo’s back.
In the series, the female protagonist is usually characterized by others as a ‘weak link’ because of her disability and how she should be treated differently, something that angered one of her co-workers, Kwon Min-woo. However, with her intelligence and ability to memorize information, she emerges victorious in most trials, proving her worth. It is worth mentioning the love and interest the new lawyer has for whales, as well as other sea animals (mostly mammals), and how she correlates information about them in personal and work-related situations, in a metaphoric way. Thus, this series abolishes prejudices and stereotypes, emphasizing the productive way of thinking and the strong skills a person with autism has, just like her neurotypical peers. We also see a romance blooming between Woo Young-woo and one of her co-workers, Lee Jung-ho, who is neurotypical, and how their entourage reacts to their relationship. Additionally, in one specific case Woo Young-woo undertakes relating a death, her client, a young severely autistic man, is falsely accused of murdering his brother, who was a medical college student. During the course of the trial, we witness how society is quick to incriminate the suspect and, at the same time, the discriminatory comments that blow up on social media about him. Even the parents prefer their son to do prison time than the public to know that the dead son actually committed suicide, because in their minds it will bring shame to the family. After those events, Woo Young-woo is discouraged and distances herself from work, but she is soon to recover and make a dynamic comeback.
Of course, the K-drama contains a touch of fantasy and drama, as is evident from the name of the category, so not everything should be taken at face value. In conclusion, it is worth watching ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ because, beyond the fact that it addresses phenomena like the stigma people with disabilities carry that still exists in today’s society, it is also an enjoyable, funny, romantic and often light-hearted series that will relax and entertain the viewer while simultaneously giving food for thought.
