Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Woo Young Woo's name is a palindrome, like kayak, deed, and rotor. If you forget, she'll remind you. 

I'm not a huge fan of legal dramas. Never have been. Never will be. There's a reason why there are so many lawyer jokes: the profession is filled with bloodsucking vampires. So needless to say, I wasn't too eager to watch a show about lawyers in my free time.

But there's one lawyer I love. She extraordinary. She's autistic. And her name is Woo.

When the show debuted, ratings were satisfactory. Woo was no "Stranger Things" or "Squid Game." But then, word got out. And each successive week, the viewership got bigger. And bigger. Each week beating the week before. That's the power of this show. It's not about the hype, it's about substance. Yes, you see law offices and courtrooms, but it's a show about humanity. And who doesn't love a show about a character with superpowers. Even if the superpower is about the law. 

Ever since childhood, she has connected with whales. Hey, they're relatable. First off, they're not sharks.  

Woo Young Woo (Eu-bin Park) graduated top of her class from SNU Law. So she's kind of a big deal. But she is thrown into a law firm where she is different from everyone else: she has a disability and it's fairly severe. It's hard for her to read the room. But what she lacks in social skills, she makes up for in legal knowledge and her ability to come up with creative solutions for her cases.  Solutions that no one else can see. How does she do it? Whales. Yes, those giant mammals who live in the sea. Ever since childhood, she has connected with whales. Hey, they're relatable. First off, they're not sharks. And secondly, blowholes are cool. Whenever you see Woo daydreaming about whales, you know she's cracked a case. She's scanned through the vast libraries of legal knowledge and cases in her brain and has found a creative legal loophole to help her client. Thankfully, she's defending clients who have been wronged. She's not defending an oil company that just wants to get out of paying for an oil spill. 

Law firm heartthrob Jun Ho watches over Woo and helps her with revolving doors.

But surely the show can't be all about lawyers and courtrooms, right? Thankfully, there's romance. Jun Ho is the firm's investigator and all female eyes are upon him. He's courteous, caring and cute. Does Woo have a chance with him? Or better yet, does he have a chance with Woo? In an office filled with lawyers, he's a standout, standup guy. In his free time, he volunteers with the mentally challenged, he drives the legal teams to the courthouse, and he helps Woo get through the revolving doors. How can you not like him?

Better watch out for Min-Woo.

In a K-drama, the unwritten rule is this: you need a bad guy. Min-Woo fits the bill. He's the kind of guy who didn't go to the best law school, probably wasn't at the top of his class, but had the cunning to get into a good firm. Whether he can get his contract renewed or eventually make it to partner remains to be seen. But in the meantime, he will do anything he can to promote himself with Machiavellian tactics and make an impression on the CEO and senior attorneys. He envies Woo's savant legal abilities and hates it when she wins case after case. 

Geulami is a lot of fun. but her taste is men is questionable. 

Geulami is here to provide comic relief. She's Woo Young-Woo's bestie and works at a cafe that seemingly never sees any customers other than Attorney Woo and whoever she happens to bring along. She's like a Korean Awkwafina: a little loud, a little crazy, and super adorable. Like Jun Ho, she always has Woo's back. She loves Woo for who she is and wants nothing more. Oddly enough, she becomes attracted to one of the more unlikable lawyers in the firm. 

At 16 episodes, Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a great romp that you can take your time with and savor. We wouldn't binge it because there's no need to--there aren't cliffhangers and the need to know "secrets" doesn't really exist.  Each episode lives on its own (some legal cases take two episodes to resolve) so you could skip around if you had to, but you'd miss some of the larger story arcs that we won't get into here lest we spoil things for you. 

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is available on Netflix.