Robust Woman Nam-soon is a sequel to the 2017 collection Robust Woman Bong-soon. Like Bong-soon within the unique collection, Nam-soon (her cousin) has superhuman energy, identical to all the ladies in her household. In fact, what she does with that energy, and who would possibly have the ability to have her assist them, is the crux of this collection.
Opening Shot: Drone pictures of mountains and clouds. The digital camera finally settles on a combating ring in Mongolia.
The Gist: Within the ring, an enormous robust growling dude is shocked when a 12-year-old woman named Tsetseg (Yukki Luna) is his opponent. However he stops laughing when she picks him up by his belt buckle and flings him throughout the ring.
In Seoul, South Korea in 2013, we see a reporter interviewing a photographer named Gang Bong-go (Lee Seung-joon). We discover out that the robust woman in Mongolia is definitely his daughter Nam-soon. Plainly she’s been lacking since she was about 5, when she obtained misplaced on a Mongolian journey together with her father. All the ladies in her household have superhuman energy, a trait that goes again a minimum of 500 years.
We see that demonstrated by her mom, Hwang Geum-joo (Kim Jung-eun), who’s the CEO of a high-end Gangham pawn store referred to as Gold Blue. She is so determined to seek out Nam-soon that she’s going to start out a energy contest with a 500 million received prize, hoping that Nam-soon will take part. However when two males stroll in making an attempt to pawn an historical polearm then attempt to rob her secure, she exhibits simply how robust she is.
Bong-go recounts to the reporter how he and Geum-joo met, how profitable she was in any enterprise she began, and the way she wished to verify she had a woman to hold on the bloodline. That produced Nam-soon and her twin brother Nam-in (Han Sang-jo).
Again in Mongolia, Nam-soon watches Psy’s “Gangham Fashion” video and realizes that her house is in Korea. Different visions she will get are of her dad and mom and her Korean title. She tells her dad and mom that she’s going to in the future go house, however she needs to verify her dad and mom are located first. Ten years go by; a now grownup Nam-soon (Lee Yoo-mi) lastly decides it’s time, however first mourns her horse, the one which she was on when she was a child when her Mongolian dad and mom discovered her. She flings the horse’s bell and it lands all the way in which in Korea, hitting a police detective named Gang Hee-sik (Ong Seong-wu) within the head.
The cop is investigating a drug ring, and as part of that, he chases one in every of Geum-joo’s prospects, who desperately got here to Blue Gold to borrow cash. Geum-joo adopted her on a slick-looking bike, suspicious of why she wanted the cash, and meted out her personal justice on the drug sellers.
Throughout the tenth annual energy competitors, an unusually robust younger lady will get observed by Geum-joo, who invitations her for lunch. She finds out the woman’s title is Ri Hwa-ja (Choi Hee-jin), an orphan who was born in Korea however discovered herself in Mongolia as a toddler. Geum-joo is satisfied that this woman is Nam-soon, however Bong-go isn’t so certain. In a gathering with Nam-in and her mom Gil Joong-gan (Kim Hae-sook), nonetheless, Geum-joo insists that they’ve discovered Nam-soon, and shortly lavishes the woman with new garments and a makeover, amongst different issues.
The airplane Nam-soo is taking to Korea is available in for a touchdown too quick; Nam-soo takes it upon herself to leap out and use her tremendous pace to catch as much as the airplane and sluggish it down herself. Whereas that’s happening, a cosmic connection is made between her, Geum-joo and Joong-gan.
What Reveals Will It Remind You Of? Robust Woman Nam-soon is the most recent in a protracted line of comedy-tinged superhero collection, from the ’60s model of Batman to The Boys. In fact, it’s not as campy as the previous or as darkly humorous because the latter.
Our Take: There’s actually a great story brewing within the first episode of Robust Woman Nam-soon, written by Baek Mi-kyung as a sequel to the 2017 collection Robust Woman Bong-soon. There’s rather a lot happening, even within the first episode: Nam-soon coming from Mongolia and getting tied up with the detective, Hee-sik; Hwa-ja pretending to be Nam-soon for so long as she will; Geum-joo making an attempt to determine simply who’s her daughter, and extra.
How all of these storylines play out would be the key to how a lot folks will get pleasure from this collection. As traditional with Ok-dramas like this, there’s a sprawling solid and a bunch of story threads to maintain observe of. However the overarching story of Nam-soon discovering her start household and utilizing her energy to assist Hee-sik might be enjoyable to look at.
Is the present as humorous because it thinks it’s? No; there are too many moments the place the humorous stuff is preceded by sound results and or music cues that scream “THIS IS FUNNY!” moderately than let the humorous parts stand on their very own. Certain, that’s SOP with South Asian comedy collection, however right here there doesn’t have to be over-the-top gags preceded by music cues in an effort to get folks to chuckle. The story by itself is probably going going to be heartwarming in components, action-filled in others, and naturally humorous in others. That may be one of the simplest ways to steadiness out the humor and the drama with no need to put out to viewers the place the humorous moments are.
Intercourse and Pores and skin: None, other than Geum-joo lifting and shifting the mattress a scared Bong-go is in, simply so she has the proper steadiness within the room earlier than they make love for the primary time.
Parting Shot: As Geum-joo and Joong-gan really feel the cosmic connection to Nam-soon, Nam-soon goofily walks away from the airplane, smiling and wiping her forehead.
Sleeper Star: Kim Jung-eun performs Hwang Geum-joo with the suitable quantity of baddassery, particularly for somebody who can mash a automobile towards a tunnel wall with only a push.
Most Pilot-y Line: The visible results within the first episode are a bit clunky, particularly when one of many ladies raise one thing that they usually shouldn’t.
Our Name: STREAM IT. Robust Woman Nam-soon has the potential to be an entertaining superhero collection, nevertheless it typically suffers from too many characters and tales, in addition to humorous materials that isn’t all that humorous.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about meals, leisure, parenting and tech, however he doesn’t child himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared within the New York Instances, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Quick Firm and elsewhere.
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