Dennis Limmer
For anyone who hasn’t seen Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I hope my opening statement persuades you to give at least the first episode a try. The show takes a slice of life from Woo Young-woo while she navigates her internship at the prestigious Hanbada law firm as an autistic genius.
Actress Park Eun-bin’s performance brings an innocent charm and deserves every bit of empathy as she expresses what the character’s life must be like. If you have any emotions, you’ll be affected by her endearing portrayal as a young woman and new attorney with autism.
Now that Season 1 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo has ended, I can’t wait for a second season. The good news is that according to an interview featured on South Korea’s global tech platform site, Naver, season 2 of Attorney Woo is planned to be released in 2024. Thankfully, the producer also states that the entire team will remain the same. And that’s extremely important to me too since the original cast is absolutely vital for the show’s charm.
When I started watching this series, I immediately thought to myself how this isn’t the usual K-drama formula. It was slightly perplexing at first. K-dramas run for 16 episodes and last for only one season. Like cinematic movies, they have self-contained narratives and rarely, if ever, get any additional seasons. Attorney Woo still has an overarching story that develops the main characters and their relationships. But here we also have a case-by-case story that’s reminiscent of serial courtroom dramas that are more prevalent in American shows.
This episodic format requires more on-screen information and plot points for each case, and as a result, reduces the overarching story’s screen time. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just means that the main characters and their relationships will take more time to develop on-screen or they’ll be sped up at times. Thankfully, nothing that happened in the show felt overly rushed to me. This means I can spend more time with the characters if there is at least a second season. Their relationships will also be able to develop more deeply throughout additional episodes.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the finale for season one. The closure it brought felt satisfying enough, but there’s definitely more to look forward to. Even with the major plot lines resolved, for the most part, there are still plenty of story arcs that remain open-ended.
One of the first characters that I’m interested in learning more about is the CEO of the Hanbada law firm, Han Seon-yeong. At the end of season one, she achieves her goal of forcing Tae Soo-mi, attorney and CEO of Taesun law firm, to step down from her promotion to become the new Minister of Justice. In Seon-yeong’s mind, this helped put Hanbada in the lead over their rival Taesun, the number one ranked law firm. But even with this victory, the Hanbada and Taesun rivalry is only amping up. But I believe there’s more to this than we’re led to believe. Seon-yeong knows both Soo-mi and Young-woo’s dad from their law school days. I sense there might be a personal grudge Seon-yeong holds against Soo-mi, perhaps even one revolving around a love triangle.
A character who became a surprise favorite is attorney Jung Myung-seok. After surviving cancer, his future remains uncertain after Young-woo asks him if he’ll return to working at Hanbada. Attorney Myung-seok definitely wants to return, but now that he’s back on good terms with his ex-wife Choi Ji-soo, he might not be able to. I want to know how he’ll try to balance his career as an attorney and his desire to be in a relationship with his ex-wife. It’s already shaping up to be humorous and emotional between him, Young-woo, and Ji-soo. I suspect that he’ll remain on the team by continuing to help mentor Young-woo. There are plenty of opportunities to further develop Myung-seok as he mends his divorce with Ji-soo. Not only can their relationship provide a romantic arc for viewers to follow, it’d also be an opportunity for Myung-seok to seek help and insight from Ji-soo for a case while fleshing out her backstory further.
Continuing with the members of Hanbada law firm, I’m intrigued by the relationship between Choi Su-yeon and Kwon Min-woo. They spent the majority of the season annoying each other and not getting along. But in the last few episodes, their relationship metamorphosed into a budding romance. This was a huge factor in Min-woo’s character development and prevented him from doing more terrible things to the Hanbada group.
Even as I was witnessing hints of this, I didn’t know how to react. But now I want to see what will develop between them. I’m hoping they stay at Hanbada and continue working closely with Young-woo. Speaking of which, I started to hate Min-woo when he tried to take Young-woo down. This was never fully resolved, so I’m hoping he’ll treat Young-woo with the respect she deserves and start to help her as a friend.
Attorney Young-woo’s best friends Dong Geurami and Kim Min-shik make excellent supporting characters. They’re always humorously helping Young-woo through her journey as an attorney. And both of them failed at their romantic pursuits of Su-yeon and Min-woo. I’m wondering if Geurami and Min-shik’s friendship will become romantic. There seems to be something between the two of them that they still fail to realize. Or do they each have someone else out there waiting for them? Also, Dong Geurami and Young-woo have a fun and important history together as best friends. I’d like to see their relationship be the main plot of at least one more episode that doesn’t require a legal case.
Young-woo’s half-brother, Choi Sang-hyeon, was revealed late in the series. Although mentioned by Soo-mi early on during an interview, he only played an important role in the last case. I think there’s plenty of room for him to grow and be featured throughout the second season. He already has a difficult relationship with his mom Soo-mi that needs repairing. And due to his similar genius, I’d like to see him help his half-sister Young-woo on one of her cases this time around.
This brings us to Young-woo’s relationship with her mom Tae Soo-mi. This is complex and there is a lot of hurt between them. I want to see them on good terms. And Soo-mi’s story is an important part of the entire series. Now that she’s failed at becoming the Minister of Justice, will she plot revenge against Seon-yeong and Hanbada? I hope she changes for the better and also helps mentor Young-woo. But as I mentioned earlier, I still want to see her involved in the rivalry between Hanbada and Taesun law firms.
The most overlooked character is Young-woo’s dad, Woo Gwang-ho. After everything that’s happened to him and his daughter, I want to know where he goes from here. I know he’ll continue to support Young-woo, but I can also see him in more complicated situations with Seon-yeong and Soo-mi. I think it would be emotionally engaging if his relationship with Soo-mi was rekindled. And it would be nice for him to finally meet and interact with Young-woo’s love interest, Lee Jun-ho.
What I’m looking forward to the most is the relationship between Young-woo and Lee Jun-ho. Young-woo decided to start dating Jun-ho again at the last possible moment, so now they need the opportunity to progress their relationship further. I want to experience more beautiful and magical moments with them and witness the challenges they have to overcome.
Initially, I thought that if anything was sped up, it was their relationship. It feels like it was based more on Jun-ho’s attraction for Young-woo’s innocent beauty, but as the series went on, that changed. Now it feels like he has a deeper understanding of Young-woo’s purity. And he’s accepted the challenges that will come their way. We already know that Jun-ho’s family doesn’t take too kindly to him dating an autistic woman. I’d like to see them overcome this obstacle. Young-woo summed it up in one of the most powerful quotes of the entire series.
With all of these elements still at play, a second season can definitely keep the magic of the series going. The characters and their relationships must continue to connect with audiences on an emotional level. And the cases need to remain interesting and entertaining with supporting characters. If all that can be achieved, then I’m on board for as many seasons of Extraordinary Attorney Woo as they can give us.
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