Do Bong Soon, une force de la nature (2017)

For those on the fence after watching a few episodes

If you've watched a few episodes and are wondering why the ratings for this show are so high, take my advice: Stop now. This isn't the show for you. It will not get better enough to feel worth it. The last three episodes are good, but no matter how many lovely pairings of our leads together you give me, it doesn't make up for the side stories taking over this drama.

If you feel like the slapstick humor was pretty good in the first episode and then quickly soured: Stop now or get used to the sour taste continuing. The potty humor goes swirling round in the toilet episode after episode.

If you feel the thriller aspect of the show is discordant and hope it will be a relatively minor element: It won't be minor nor will it feel worth be jarringly pulled away from the sweet moments of romance.

If you feel like the actors are good but you can't quite find enough redeemable in the characters they're playing (especially the male lead and second male lead): It's going to take those boys a loooong time. There are a few cute moments. I fully support fast forwarding to the Min-hyuk eye smoldering. Just skip to watch just the parts with him and Bong-soon together and call it a day. They're really what we came for anyway, right?

The actors are great at acting and are super attractive. But pretty doesn't make this a good story for me.

Also: Domestic violence is not comedy. A wife beating a husband is no different than a husband beating a wife. The violence should not be minimized or pardoned by the viewer.

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Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is a hilarious rom-com, with an undertone of gender issues. The show has the usual k-drama tropes; the “rich and good looking” chaebol heir, his antagonistic family, the sassy female lead, the love triangle, and the “boy gets the girl story” after overcoming difficulties and obstacles. However, surprisingly “ Strong Woman Bong Soon” was able to deliver a fairly impactful storyline and sociocultural critiques about issues in South-Korean society also.

Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) is a woman born with superhuman strength. A hereditary ability running through the matriarch line of her family, it can only be used for good or she can lose her strength forever like her mother ( Shim Hye Jin) did. Despite her abilities, Bong Soon adores her father ( Yoo Jae Myung) who is a gentle warm character, and her twin brother, Do Bong Ki ( Ahn Woo Yeon) , who works as a doctor in a hospital. However, our heroine often struggles to tie down a job as well as desperately yearning to be a game developer .

There are two other men in her life. One is her childhood friend, Guk Doo , a stern police detective played by Ji Soo who has been her long-held secret crush since their teen years . Also she hides her strength around him, since he claims to have a soft spot for tiny, fragile women, just like Bong Soo seems to be at first glance. The other man who enters later into her life is Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik) the baby-faced CEO of AINSOFTware, a gaming company. One day he witnesses Bong Soon's superpowers against a group of gangsters, and he hires her to be his personal bodyguard to protect him against an anonymous caller, who has been making death threats against him. At the same time a serial kidnapper starts taking tiny, fragile women off the streets as Bong Soon soon finds herself finally using her powers for good by trying to hunt down this mysterious criminal .


Written by screenwriter Baek Mi Kyung, “ Strong Woman Do Bong Soon” is a fairly mixed blend of slapstick comedy, old fashioned romance ( with various successful and questionable effects) and a refreshing look at gender roles and sexism . The series does not sugarcoat delivering criticism towards chauvinism associated with the South- Korean Patriarchy: the police office, the youth gang, the gangster mob in the local vicinity , and the patriarch of the chaebol's family, are all absurdly dysfunctional and over-the-top to highlight notable critiques of gender roles within South-Korean society .

Park Bo Young was undeniably a delight as the petite super-strong female lead with line deliverances that were pure comical gold in a similar manner to costar Park Hyung Sik. As a character, Bong Soon was fairly intriguing by challenging traditional gender stereotypes, however, she wasn’t inherently a perfectly-written character either due to often being a little boorish and fractious at times ( especially with her treatment surrounding Ahn Min Hyuk early on in the series) which may annoy viewers in the beginning. However, Bong Soon does grow as a character by learning to mature , respectful herself as an individual as well as develop an endearing romantic relationship with Min Hyuk.

Similarly, Ahn Min Hyuk isn’t without his faults either. He is often slightly naive, sarcastic and equally fractious as Bong Soon. Nevertheless, Min Hyuk is given an equivocal chance like Bong Soon to grow as a character from seemingly shallow at times, towards having a more complicated familial scenario and circumstances.

The side characters can be a bit of a mixed-bag especially in regards to the second male lead and Bong Soon’s mother. Admittedly, Guk Doo does become inherently more respectful towards Bong Soon as the series progresses, however, his early treatment of the main heroine by putting her down often from her physical appearance and emotionally flaring up in her face at times did become slightly irksome. In a similar manner to Guk Doo, Bong Soon’s mother was equally frustrating at times by her problematic treatment towards her own daughter. Whilst the circumstances were suggested and put forwards to some extent for viewers , her overall relationship development with her own daughter seemed slightly lacklustre.

In addition to this, it is arguable that the ending was a little anticlimactic as well as finally putting a stop to the seemingly “ unstoppable killer” did feel a little disappointing . Nevertheless, “ Strong Woman Do Bong Soon” may not have been flawless within its delivered problems of characterisation and comedy ( at times), but it was inherently a lighthearted fantasy, romance tale with intriguing characters, a fairly well-written heroine and romantic pairing as well as prominent messages and critiques towards gender in South-Korean society.

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This was all set up to be one of my most favorite dramas ever! So how did it only make a final overall of 8?



Story (7.5):

I'll start with that I really enjoyed the first half more than the second half, even though the blossoming relationship was really great to see and there was great chemistry between the actors that didn't show up as much in the first half.

However, there were just enough overly ridiculous elements to this drama that it just couldn't get the 10 I so wanted to give to it after the first few episodes.

The main reasons include: stupid gangsters, stupid police, stupid "professional" workers, stupid comedy, stupid monk, stupid jokes...

The other reasons include: unnecessary gangsters, unnecessary "professional" workers, unnecessary stupid comedy, entirely unnecessary monk, unnecessary stupid jokes... And too little Ji Soo (only kind of kidding).

I enjoyed some of the comedy and loved to laugh at this drama, but it just got more and more ridiculous.

I don't want to bash on this drama too much because I really, really enjoyed it especially every scene that had: Park Bo Young, Park Hyung Shik, Ji Soo; and also didn't have: Kim Won Hae, Im Won Hee.

However, the final deal breaker was the final scene of the final episode, which episode I really enjoyed on so many levels and really didn't enjoy on some other levels.

It was great to see some last scenes with a sadly 2d but amazingly acted villain, and the result of relationship between mains was just the cherry on top... But then they had to go in and throw that last scene in which you see some irresponsibility with some mumbo jumbo about the world which I admit looked cool, but the more I thought about it the more I felt it didn't fit with the character...

*SIGH* That probably took away at least 0.5 off of my final score.



Acting/Cast (10):

Park Bo Young and Park Hyung Shik were aMAzing together, and having Ji Soo in there was just a great plus. The rest of the casting was great too, especially from the villain! and even from the overly ridiculous characters as they played it how they should have, even if I didn't exactly enjoy it all.



Music (7.5):

I guess I should also mention the music... It wasn't anything spectacular that I loved; the Love you love you song was fine and actually a really decent song, but nothing unique. Some people may like the Trouble song too, but not my cup of tea.



Rewatch Value (8.0):

For rewatch... I could re-watch a lot of the scenes over and over, and in truth I watched the majority of the drama twice, one raw and once with subs; but I think most of my rewatching will only be done on the first half, especially if it's full episodes.



Overall (8.0):

Wish I could have given it a 10, but had enough filler comedy I just couldn't deal. Still a great drama and recommended!

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As another reviwer had already stated, this show tried to be too much. Though I did enjoy the first couple of episodes quite a lot, the second half of the series just seemed to he quite a drag, and at times I found myself quite irritated at certain episodes, so much so I decided to just skip through each episode to find the satisfaction that I had from the first half of the series.

Seriously though, you have a plot that appears to be solid when in reality it was actually very flawed. Majority of the characters ended up just being annoying. Basically, the whole premise of the show was terrible in my opinion. Here you have a psychopath who ends up abducting girls with the reason being that he was a fan of play, then you have a bunch of stupid police who cant keep up with the criminal; constantly making mistake after mistake. The girls being abducted are done so (not coincidentally) IN THE SAME AREA, though nothing special has been done to prevent further crimes and so more abductions occur. Then you see a seemingly rebellious Gook Doo who, even after being told not to do certain stuff, does so anyway (spoiler) and apparently he just isnt resilient enough, loses his objective at hand, BECAUSE, fFS, if you notice THE AMOUNT OF TIMES that sOooOOO MANY people have looked into the junkyard to no avail, omg, that irritated me soooo much, lile, if you're going to be a rebellious cop for the good of the town atleast be thorough with it and don't do a half assed job.

Moving onto Bong Soons mother... wow... at the beginning I did see how her attitude towards her husband was an attempt to be comical, then after a while it was just plain abuse, wtf xD, it was legitimately only an abuisive relationship; it was funny the first time, but when that sort of irrelevant thing is included into a show, not only does it get irritating from being repetitive, it actually is worrying ahaha.

I fail to understand the hype over this drama; granted, the cutesy relationship between AMH and DBS was worth watching, but Ifeel like people overlooked the fact that the plot was terrible

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I DIDNT FINIISH THIS DRAMA. Okay there's your warning. I got to like ep 6 before I dropped it. I just found this drama highly offensive. Yes I know it's a comedy, but so is weightlifting fairy and sassy go go, and I wasn't offended by those. Why was I offended? One was bong soons character. Yes the everso adorable bong soon. Being cute doesn't make you a good character. Sorry. I have seen super hero movies and you know a pattern I've noticed super heroes typically deal with super villains, as in their strengths are matched. But let's say you're the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and deal with smaller crimes, spider man still manages not to put people in the hospital for 6 months even tho he could. Cuz you know thievery just doesn't really equate to a six month hospital trip. Yes she fights for justice, but the way she does it I equate to the people that cut off someone's hand for stealing something (ok not that bad but you get the point) the punishments she gives doesn't match the crime. "But she hasn't learned how to master her power!" people say. HOW OLD IS SHE??? How has she NOT learned to master her power?? But that's enough on bong soon, let's move on to min hyuk. He drove me crazy too because in his own way he was pretty sexist too (yes gook du isn't the only sexist male on this show). He hires bong soon basically because she's pretty, and from what I've seen, doesn't even require her to do her job. They basically go on day long dates. Oh and when he's actually in danger he protects her!!! As a woman I find this offensive that a male would hire me on looks, and not on skills. Or even worse knows I have the skills but won't let me use them, so he can "protect" me, even though it's MY job to protect HIM. And the whole gay thing. If I was watching and was gay I'd probs be offended "I'm glad my sexual orientation is one of the only means of humor this show can think of...thanks..." speaking of gay, gook du. I'm pretty sure he was secretly gay, cuz man some of those scenes...also I started this drama for ji soo, and you give me THAT character??? No personality, is incredibly sexist, boring, and overall a jerk??? Like I can't tell if it was bad acting or writing. Either way I expect better. You know who was another awful character? The mom. She literally suggested to bong soon to rape min hyuk. "Use your power and get him laid!" Ummmmm they think he's gay at this point...so he wouldn't be willing....so that equals rape. But I forgot this is comedy, how dare I be offended by this. Apparently I should take this as comedy but be enraged by Trumps locker room talk. How I love double standards *sarcasm* last but not least the pacing sucked. One moment it's slapstick the next its thriller. I've been noticing this blend in dramas lately. DRAMA MAKERS THIS IS A TERRIBLE COMBO! Just please stop it, do us all a favor. Alright that's the end of my review/vent. Overall despite its supposed cuteness, I found this drama to be downright terrible and offensive.

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Had a great starting but was disappointed towards the end.



Lets talk about the positive points of the story first:

Starting was really good. It was comical, absurd, funny and interesting. The theme itself is interesting and the character of Bong Soon was well thought. I can see her character development throughout the drama and it kept me going. The ending was wholesomely satisfying with conclusion for each character. It's generally a light-hearted drama with exaggerated comedy. There are many fluttering moments for the two leads that you'll enjoy as much as I do.



Next, the negative points:

I felt that the drama wasted so much time on other unnecessary details/segments like the gangster and high school students part (especially the monk). I understand that the writer may want to lighten up the mood, with drama going on for other characters, but then its really excessive. They could have put the time into creating more detailed and intense climax. Every time the leads come across the kidnapper, the details become so slipshod that I cannot ignore the loopholes.

Other story that could have been more detailed: Hee Ji's presence, Bong Soon's parents' cold war



Like many others, I really love BongBong (Boyoung) and MinMin (Hyungsik) so much. To be honest, the romance and chemistry between them is the major point that kept me going after episode 11. Gookdu (Jisoo) is kind of being wasted in this drama, he is just there as a catalyst for the leads to fall in love, I wasn't able to see Jisoo's potential as an actor (hope he will get a better character next time). Casts did generally OK and suitable to their roles. Characters that shone in the drama are BongBong, MinMin and Oh Dol Pyung and the respective actors did well!



The OST Superpower Girl is super super suitable for the drama, fun and positive, really suitable for whenever Bong Soon is displaying her strength. Songs are apt to the situations in the drama but there aren't any outstanding OSTs (only Superpower Girl).



I have enjoyed it in general, did not regret watching it despite some major disappointments. And that game Super Bong Sunnie looks really fun.....

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Long & Really Dragged Out

Honestly, I really thought there could be some potential to this show with the relatively high ratings. However, what truly transpired was probably the most frustrating push to complete this show out of all the shows I've watched in so far.

I could be quite biased as my very first kdrama ever was It's Okay to Not Be Okay and that set the bar for all subsequent dramas to hit what I still consider to be a balance of romance, fiction, thriller and real life illnesses. This show is clearly not a great representation of any of these and the flow of the show is too forced in my opinion. I would surmise it as the romance is quite abrupt with no real lead up or progression but rather just happens. The storyline is all over the place in that you will have love/romance scenes juxtapositioned with thriller scenes and no real transition between the two aside from their connection to the main character.

In this show's entirety, I would have loved for the thrilling part of the show to not be as forced and drawn out. It truly seemed like the more idiotic the characters were the more aneurysms I would get watching and it wasn't the funny kind either. You'd get a mix of odd gang member violence, superpower main character, love triangle and psychopath thriller all jumbled into one episode and you come to wonder what is going on.

I can't in good conscious ever recommend this show to anybody. The story is just all over the place and even with good acting the storyline cannot be saved. It felt like watching an episode of the Bachelor where there's unnecessary drama in places that make no sense.

TL;DR storyline is all over the place with no clear goal in sight with the acting over dramaticized.

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Do not recommend to newcomers to kdrama

I normally don't like writing bad reviews of shows I don't enjoy. But I felt compelled with this drama.

First, the good: Park Bo Young is enjoyable to watch as the petite and unassuming Bong Soon as she navigates social circles while hiding her superhuman strength, yearning for a normal life, and a love that remains unrequited for the longest time. She's jaded of her superpower and feels like an outcast even in her own family.

That said, this drama has to be one of the worst shows I've ever watched and I feel so sorry for everyone involved especially the actors who I think did their best to elevate this drama from the heaping pile of shit it wants to stay in.

This drama asks A LOT from its viewers. it wants you to forgive its poor visual effects, it wants you to laugh at its forced slapstick humor, it wants you to forgive it for beating around the bush too much. But the weakest part of this drama is the terrible pacing- it's all over the place. One minute you're following the crime mystery, and once you're invested, it pulls you out back to a 15 minute scene at the hospital where the injured gang stooges gather to try to make you laugh with poop jokes, or a long protracted homophobic scene where the 2 MLs caress each other in Bong Soon's head. Also, practically any time the gang boss or his thin henchman or his doppelganger is on screen, it's complete filler / padding and they're not even funny (well, the metal chopstick bracelet scene was actually funny). Several times I've felt like this drama was just wasting my time while I'm waiting for the story to progress. Certain scenes feel way too stretched and I felt they could've just cut more in the editing room to improve the pacing.

Overall, this is the quintessential Kdrama stereotype most non viewers think when someone mentions "kdrama" to them which is a shame since kdrama has so much more to offer. If someone you know wants to get into kdrama but is hesitant, avoid recommending this at all costs.

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Watch this show only if you like slapstick comedy

I began watching this series because of the male lead, Park Hyung-sik, after enjoying his performance in Hwarang. He is a pretty boy but must have really needed the money to agree to star in this ridiculous show. There was no chemistry between him and the female lead. They are supposed to be in their late 20's, yet both of them have the mental and emotional intelligence of 15-year old high school teenagers.

The only real adults in the show were the detective friend, the female lead's brother and their father (only after he stopped taking the psychological and physical abuse from the mother). Everyone else in the show were clowns.

It baffles me as to why single young women would venture out alone late at night, knowing that a serial kidnapper and murderer was lurking in their neighborhood. Even the female lead's best friend who was already attacked once by the kidnapper later continued to walk the streets alone - not the sharpest tool in the shed!

The show could have been condensed to 10 episodes, but the director and producers stretched it out to 16 episodes full of totally unnecessary nonsense. I found myself hitting the fast-forward button many times after episode 10 and didn't miss any of the storyline.

I would not recommend this show.

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My favorite drama of the year so far. I love the cast and the way everyone works so well with each other. The chemistry between Bo Young and Hyung Sik really got me shook to the core. I found certain aspects of this show lacking, but honestly I was willing to overlook it because it wasn't anything that I found extremely alarming. I will say though, these damn drama cops are really f*cking stupid?! But also I had another issue with how it seemed like they suddenly dumbed down the culprit to get to the ending. Especially as he was working them and deceived them so well. Also [redacted] was kinda frustrating because [redacted] eventually happened therefore I find it so unbelievable that it even happened in the first place. But whatever let's talk about how Ahn Minhyuk is THE PERFECT boyfriend! Ugghhh I love him. JiSoo baby, you'll get to be the first lead one day and you'll get the girl but at no point was I rooting for you to get Bong Soon in this series, not even remotely. SUCH A GREAT DRAMA THOUGH. WATCH IT.

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I don't know why I haven't drop this

I saw so many problems in this show I don't even know where do I begin to explain them.

Well, first thing: THE SIDE CHARACTERS. It bothered me how the portrayal of bong soon's power gets tiring at some point. In the beginning of the show it was interesting to see her beating up those criminals. But then it kinda got really repetitive to see them never getting out of the hospital because of her. And other than being beaten up by her they didn't really have any other function in the show. And what was that monk plot?! (if that can be called a plot even). It was boring, annoying, nonsensical and a bit racist. About bong soon's parents, I can't say I was bothered by her mother abusing her father. But that's a really serious thing that was being shown as a comic situation. So that's a huge red flag in the series.

Second: THE SECOND LEAD. Why did bong soon like him in the first place? He never let her end a sentence when she is talking to him or show him any kind of affection. He never shows her any affection. It's like he doesn't like her. But the thing is: he does like her, he just doesn't know how to express that I think? He couldn't even express his feelings for his girlfriend! It's ridiculous! I think the reason why he doesn't demonstrates he likes bong soon is because of her brother. But he's not even that close of a friend with him and her brother is not the type that interferes with bong soon's love life. So it doesn't make any sense. And there's also the fact that bong soon felt the need to hide her powers from him because she thought he would think less of her due to that. While min min liked her because of that and thinks that she's more interesting because of this. I think I don't need to explain further right?

Third: THE ROMANCE. Bong soon and min min's relationship was really cute. Actually I remember when this drama was still airing and I used to watch short videos and gifs of them. I had never watched a kdrama before so I didn't know how and where to watch these things, but I really wanted to. So I think I didn't drop this drama because of this memory I have. But while watching I got annoyed by how bong soon takes too long to realize her love for min min, and she only gives in to min min's love after that other guy (I can't remember his name) leaves her waiting in the cafe. I didn't understand her hesitance to choose min min since it was obvious the other guy didn't like her (actually he liked her but he's just a total idiot when it comes to love apparently). But the thing that really disturbed me was how, close to the end, I couldn't care less for their romance when all those girls were suffering hell with that kidnapper. Those girls were going through real trauma, they were going through all women's nightmare. And we were supposed to laugh of all the rest. I just wanted that plot to end.

Fourth: THE VILLAIN. The whole plot of kidnapping was the worst thing in the series for me. It was really a trigger. And it wasn't even well treated during the show. But that's smth I'm gonna talk about later. The thing is I don't even think he was a good villain, in relation to plot. The problem is how he doesn't have any connection or relationship with bong soon, so they only have their first meeting in the second half of the series. Bong soon spends a lot of time fighting those gang criminals instead of concentrating in the real villain. I was a lot times hoping that bong soon would finally pay attention to the kidnappings in her area. To sum up, the show didn't create a strong dynamic of antagonism between her and the villain.

Fifth: THE PLOT. When I began watching the show I caught all the heroic references, the opening, the story of her power and how she can lose it, the crimes happening in her area, and I thought I was going to see the story of how bong soon would become a true superhero. However, she took like a loooong time to begin thinking about those crimes and trying to find the psycho who was doing that. Actually, she only worried about that when her friend was in danger, because she was only a hero for her friend, she only used her power to help her friend and those highschool students who looked like a bunch of grownups. Or to hurt people for comedic purposes (min min, secretary gong, that doppelganger). All those kidnapped girls were being tortured and bong soon could only think about that guy who didn't give a shit about her. And when we were supposed to see her big fight against the villain it was all just so... lame. It was dull and annoying. She's Do Bong Soon. Why she can't end up that guy?! And it looked like her two love interests were the ones who really did smth. So bong soon, the great protagonist with superhuman power, was outshined by two men. It completely contradicts the bigger message of the show. The real problem of the plot was the difference of moods in the series. In one scene we're suppose to feel horror and pain for the girls in captivity and in the others we're supposed to laugh and swoon for the other characters. For a comedy series the dark part was too dark.

Wow, I really said some harsh things about this series. But it really disappointed me since I've always wanted to watch it. But the truth is that I should've dropped when I had the time.

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