We’re back with another K-drama review, and today we’re talking about ‘Strong Girl Bong-soon’. This 2017 drama is about Do Bong-soon, a woman with superhuman strength.
We’ve briefly mentioned this gem before, but it is such a great show that it definitely deserves a full review. Not only is the main heroine an absolute icon, but the story is so much more than you’d expect.
Strong Girl Bong-soon
Another hero appears! Bong-soon (Park Bo-young) is a petite, frail-looking girl gifted with superhuman strength. She sees this gift more like a nuisance, as it clashes with the type of image she wants for herself: That of a cute, elegant, feminine girl. It just so happens to be the ideal type of her crush and childhood friend, police officer Guk-Du (Kim Ji Soo). Girl we see you tryna hide who you are for a man – you need to stop that asap.
This power runs in the family, and all female children inherit it. The strength comes with a catch: she must never use it for personal gain, or she will become weak. Bong-soon may generally be hiding her strength, but she doesn’t mind putting it to good use when the situation calls for a hero. She steps in to put baddies in their place (and stacks them in neat piles), and protects others.
Her dream is to design a game with herself as the main character, and so she applies for a job at a major gaming company, Ainsoft. It just so happens that Min-Hyuk (Park Huyng-Sik), Ainsoft’s CEO, is being stalked and is in need of a bodyguard. After seeing Bong-soon beat up some thugs threatening a school bus driver, he offers her a job.
This look like it’s setting up to be a fun love triangle romance drama, right? Wrong. You see, there is a kidnapper lurking in the shadows. Women have been going missing, and this creep seems to be starting a collection.
The verdict
I’ve already spilled the beans and said that I think this was a truly excellent drama but let’s go into more detail about why.
The feminism though
Bong-soon is a perfect example of a ‘strong female character’ done right. The main problem with many ‘strong female characters’ in media is that they are often stripped of any actual feminine traits. They might be cool, strong leaders, but maybe their sense of fashion would rival a potato’s, or maybe they hate puppies, or pink, or have no interest in romance, or are slobs. They’re basically men with tits, which is why they fail as feminist icons. Cause god forbid a woman is both a badass and also likes babies. #thehorror
Buffy would proudly welcome Bong-soon in the club. While she does try to hide her strength to appeal to her crush, she’s not trying to be what she is not. She is both cute, and girly, and can kick major butt, and these traits are not mutually exclusive. Her journey is about accepting all of herself and realizing her partner should be able to do that too. Once more for the people in the back cause we literally all need to learn this.
The men
Now for the boys; Their characters are obviously written to contradict each other, to the extent that Min-Hyuk even just generally hates cops. On the one hand, Guk-Du is well-meaning and feels like he needs to protect Bong-soon. This doesn’t change when he learns of her strength. He holds deeply ingrained expectations about traditional gender roles and struggles to come to terms when the tables get reversed. While he’s definitely not sexist, it’s clear that he’s a more traditionally masculine dude, and to a degree, he needs the validation of being the protector.
Min-Hyuk on the other hand is this cheeky, slightly spoiled, eccentric CEO who gets princess carried by Bong-soon and has zero problems with that. He holds deeper trauma, and Bong-soon is not just protecting him from physical harm, but her caring nature is what helps soothe his pain.
And then we have Mr. Faceless Kidnapper incel creep. He literally collects women and keeps them prisoners. This was not some minor subplot that was happening in the background. This became the major focus of the plot, especially in the second half of the series. He is the personification of misogyny and sexism. The danger he poses was not understated. In fact, all the scenes about this were unsettling and felt straight out of a thriller K-drama. Him being eventually taken out by Bong-Soon is pure poetic justice.
Should you watch?
Have you been reading? Yes! This drama is an absolute must watch. It’s fun when it needs to be, and dark when it must, the romance is adorable, and it’s honestly a unique show. All the actors’ performances are rock solid, and the pacing doesn’t suffer from the all-too-common second half lag.
‘Strong Girl Bong Soon’ hits that rare intersection where both fans of romance and fans of crime dramas will equally enjoy watching. If you’ve missed it, you can catch it on Netflix or Viki. Here’s the trailer below:
