“Strong Girl Bong-soon” (2017) is a Korean dramedy about Do Bong-soon (Park Bo-Yuong), the most recent woman in her family to inherit superhuman strength. She tries to live a normal life by hiding her powers and unsuccessfully looking for jobs until she crosses paths with Ahn Min Hyeok (Park Hyung-Sik), a successful gaming company CEO who witnesses her impulsive vigilante act to stop a new gang moving into the neighborhood from bothering a weaker person. Min Hyeok is smitten but disguises his adoration with a job offer as his bodyguard, which she accepts under the condition that he eventually let her design a game. She considers him aggravating and only has eyes for the clueless In Gook-doo (ji Soo), a former classmate and music prodigy turned cop who is suspicious of Min Hyeok’s intentions and enjoys bossing Min Hyeok around, especially with a rash of kidnappings of local women.
Consisting of sixteen episodes, “Strong Girl Bong-soon” is equal parts slapstick comedy, action and mystery. Park manages to be simultaneously cute, credibly tough and quick to take umbrage at being underestimated as the titular character. The show enjoys relying on the incongruity of such an adorable, petite woman being able to turn the tables on arrogant men who refuse to accept reality that she is physically superior to them. Bong-soon shrinks herself and makes herself more agreeable to get Gook-doo’s attention to no avail. When Bong-soon tries to fit society’s image of an acceptable woman, including in terms of education and career, she denies what makes her undeniably unique and special. When she is fully herself, she is not sexualized, but is shown wearing sweats and being practical.
If Min Hyeok sticks out, it is not because of his good looks or wealth, but his immediate acceptance of her powers and his desire to have her embrace them. He deliberately acts as obnoxious, controlling, weak and needy to get her to stick around and accept her role as the protector instead of pretending to be less. By provoking her, he welcomes when she does not adhere to emotional feminine norms of always being pleasant. He does not want an agreeable woman, but a real one even if he gets hurt in the process. While I’m not cosigning his methods, which could be overbearing if the viewers were not privy to his motives, it is subversive for a man to be so confident and willing to glory in a potential partner’s ability to protect him.
The love triangle between Gook-doo, Min Hyeok and Bong-soon was not my favorite part of the show because the options were so one-sided. Even if Min Hyeok was not competition, Gook-doo would still not be an option. Please, ladies, do not date a man like Gook-doo. His confidence was disproportionate to his actual abilities, and he had more in common with the main villain than he would probably feel comfortable admitting. He preferred weaker women. He instructed women how to act and seemed to think that they existed for his benefit without seeing and appreciating them for who they are. When his girlfriend figures out that she will always be second to his career, a career that he is not even good at, she won my heart. Yes, girl, run! It was strange to me that I do not recall any scenes with Gook-doo as an adult and his mother. He was not much better in his relationships with other men whom he instinctually took a competitive, belligerent stance. While he gradually improves as a human being as Bong-soon stops hiding her abilities, he does not improve on his impulsive, ineffective behavior without guidance from others. He does not need to be a leader. He needs to be led. He makes a better foot soldier and friend. Gook-doo was more engaging when he was drunk, undercover, or generally freed from expectations of how he should act. When he was free to be someone else, he showed a freer demeanor. I have no idea if it was intentional or Ji Soo’s interpretation of the character.
The main cast’s antics and interactions are the television series’ strength. Even without crimes to solve, the show could have kept my attention by just focusing on her hilarious family. Her parents are former athletes who now run a local café, and her brother, Do Bong-ki (Ahn Woo-yeon) is a doctor. Shim Hye-in, who plays the matriarch, Hwang Jin-yi, often steals every scene with her outlandish and colorful presence who has no problem keeping everyone in line without any powers. Her bullied dad, Do Chil-goo, is credibly loveable and tender in his scenes with Park. I loved that the expected family dynamics are turned on their head. The mother encourages her daughter to have extramarital sex and is protective of her son entering relationships. I felt uncomfortable when “Strong Girl Bong-soon” played the abused spouse trope for laughs by reversing the gender.
I would have loved if “Strong Girl Bong-soon” gave the grandmother more screen time. I loved the show’s mythology, which felt underexplored. When a late plot twist requires Bong-soon to entreat the source of her power, it left me with more unanswered questions. The grandmother gave viewers an opportunity to expose the mother’s weak points without course correcting too much in diluting her character’s bossiness. It also exposed another reason why the mother hated Gook-doo’s mom, who is a famous local author.
The fight scenes are satisfying but are a bit cartoonish to keep us on Bong-soon’s side because if it was more realistic, viewers may begin to see her more as a bully even when her opponents have it coming. I wanted more fight scenes because they were so fun and satisfying. Occasionally “Strong Girl Bong-soon” explores tangents by showing her opponents’ bruised egos and bodies and how they alternately scheme against or worship our heroine to recover. Kim Won-Hae pulls double duty hilariously playing two opposite characters who cannot stand her, and I won’t ruin the surprise, but the second character is everything. I would hate to work with that character in real life, but on screen, his character is an icon and a delight.
“Strong Girl Bong-soon” has a “Three’s Company” take on same sex couples. These relationships are mostly played for laughs so I am uncertain how queer viewers will receive the show. The idea of two men together is depicted as innately amusing. On the other hand, representation matters so simply having gay men on screen even for laughs may ease viewers into acceptance. Ahn pretends to be gay so Bong-soon won’t consider his conduct sexual harassment, and she imagines him as aggressive sexual competition for Gook-doo, which is not a prevalent love triangle storyline. Step it up, Stephanie Meyer. Edward and Jacob? Also because of her mom’s machinations, a blanket ends up casting a love spell on two gang colleagues, which leads to a lot of wholesome canoodling. A coworker treats a fellow employee’s crush on Ahn as worthy of sympathy, not ridicule.
I enjoyed “Strong Girl Bong-soon” though some episodes felt like recaps or had too much filler, especially in the last episode. There are subtitles, which may dissuade American viewers, but don’t you dare watch an American version if one should emerge.
