Strong Girl Kang Nam Soon (2023)

Strong Girl Nam Soon; One of The Worst Dramas of 2023?

While it is wrong to entirely compare the prequel and sequel as they do focus on respectfully different characters, due to the heavy similarities and world building between them, I will be using the original to compare the quality in writing and decisions taken by the screenwriter. ( Be warned this is going to be a long review.)

Strong Girl Nam focuses on a pretty much carbon copy setup to its predecessor, give or take with some new storyline and characters to make it “ different”. The main heroine is Kang Nam Soon ( Lee You Mi), a girl with super strength who grew up in Mongolia. Desperate to find her birth parents, she journeys to South Korea where she encounters billionaire and her biological mother Hwang Geum Joo ( Kim Jung Eun) and grandmother Gil Joong Gan ( Kim Hae Sook). Both women possesses superstrength as traditional with the matriarchal line of the family.

Despite a complicated reunion, Nam Soon’s happy ending is far from complete when she becomes involved in a drugs case and helps out Detective Kang Hee Sik ( Ong Seong Wu) who is gradually developing feelings for Nam Soon after his encounter with her early on. As Nam Soon becomes more involved in this mysterious case, she also encounters the elusively mysterious entrepreneur Ryu Shi Oh ( Byeon Woo Seok). Will Nam Soon be able to live happily with her family or she is in too deep with the investigation?

To give the shown one thing it could have been a pretty interesting premise.The first few episodes were interesting in setting up the rough concept of the series and did introduce our characters as potentially intriguing . In particular; the notion that there could be more representation of women across different generations was really fun also. The series’ major problem early on though came from not really knowing what it wanted to be. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon had fun balancing out mystery whodunnit, comic relief and romance in a way which worked well and gave the characters some room for development. Strong Girl Nam Soon tries doing the same but,unlike its predecessor, really struggles in balancing it out.

It would be understandable if the show was leaning more towards lighthearted fun, but the irony of the matter was that for the most part, the mystery element of the series was arguably just as dark in concept as the original. The series did attempt to offer some more “ dramatic tension” in scenes relating to the drug case setup, but a mixture of overreacting and being overshadowed by the comic relief sadly didn’t give the storyline that much of a punch.

Speaking of comic relief, the series is definitely indecisive . There are certainly a few jokes which occasionally land quite well ( one of my favourites being when Gil Joong Gan schools the cops and encounters Park Bo Young’s cameo), but for the most part, the series seemed to struggle with a mixture of gradually tiresome gags ( particularly directed towards male characters for no other reason other than trying to poorly imitate the situational irony from the original.)


Acting-wise was a pretty mixed bag with a mixture of overreacting and pretty wooden dialogue and characterisation . Byeon Woo Seok probably shone through the most in the series with his performance ( without spoilers) as a more ambiguous character, though was not given full justice either by reduced screen time either . Lee You Mi and Ong Seong Wu are both good actors, but the writing really didn’t give them a lot of justice.

Characters are another major post which has to be discussed. Kang Nam Soon was arguably one of the most underdeveloped character in the series and that is saying something for someone whose name is involved in the titles. Fundamentally, Nam Soon embodies the “ girl with a kind heart” trope. She is somewhat naive to the world but is ultimately out to do the right thing.

The problem is that Nam Soon doesn’t have a lot of focus or personality as a character. This is really ironic considering how much potential surrounds her. After all, there was so much possibility to talk about her experiences growing up in Mongolia more and her adopted family ( a notion Nam Soon quite happily seemed to forget in favour of the plot setup), possible complicated feelings surrounding her family abandoning her ( as well as evident insecurities surrounding her mother in particular) and of course trying to control her strength or experiences in the past. For the most part, Nam Soon pretty much breezes past with the idea of super strength or just happily moving on from a separate life and another culture (which hardly seems bothered by ) into another.

She always seems to win fights and rarely struggles with any major difficulties aside from a few “ tense” moments ( especially later in the series) which are rarely delivered afterwards. To give its prequel it’s due, one major development for the heroine was learning to control her strength and insecurities around it . While both characters have grown up in different circumstances, the lack of flaws or awareness Nam Soon actually possesses of her own situation or character , made her pretty one-dimensional in a way which shouldn’t have been the case. ( Her ending was particularly a bit of a last minute conclusion which just didn’t make sense considering her personal experiences and background.)

The next major character to talk about is Nam Soon’s mother, Hwang Geum Joo, who arguably had the most screen time for some inexplicable reason. ( More than the actual heroine.)There are some mixed feelings with this character. On one hand, her storyline was so heavily drawn upon it was had not to focus on her in the show. However, Geum Joo rarely struggles to be as likeable as the show wants her to be.

This seems to a major problem with some characters. The show wants us to like them, but in reality, it’s hard to really digress what it is about them which meant to be so intriguing when it was forced on viewers.It is a shame as Geum Joo had a potentially very interesting story; a woman who has made it in the world, living a separate life from her husband and son , struggling with the loss of a daughter and running a business could have all been excellent writing points to give her flaws.


It seems as though the series was heading in the direction at one point, but the writing had other ideas, by presenting Geum Joo somehow prevailing through it all as a “ cool vigilante” or rarely being questioned for her actions. For example, Geum Joo is meant to be a “ motherly” figure but is rarely involved in the lives of her children . It’s never really explained exactly why Geum Joo has a somewhat estranged relationship with her son, something which could have been developed a lot more, especially when Kang Nam In ( Han Sang Jo) pretty much hit the nail on the head in saying Geum Joo spends a lot more time with Nam Soon than him. While the show wanted us to feel pity for her, I couldn’t help but agree with Nam In’s point more . (Although not when we rarely see Geum Joo interact with the daughter she’s seemingly been searching for desperately beyond the first few episodes really.) More importantly, what was going on between mother and son to hardly be involved with one another to that extent ? Is this a bond which has just fallen apart naturally or has something caused it? Simple coverage on these matters could have been used well for her development, but were instead neglected and gave her little development onscreen.


Gil Joong Gan is more of a minor character in the plot but as the matriarch of the family, she does have a sideline plot involving a potential love interest. She has a good heart fundamentally; but her constant role in interfering and interesting or being used in the romantic setup does begin growing a bit grating. Her romantic setup did seem quite sweet initially especially as we seen an “ opposites attract” scenario, but Joong Gan’s lack of empathy at times, non consensual decisions and near-obsession over him did start becoming a little tiresome.


Kang Hee Sik has risen a lot of debate by watchers in being more of a background character than a male lead as he’s pretty forgettable. Hee Sik is made to embody the “ good detective” trope. He is kind-hearted and brave and committed to his job. Evidently his encounter with Nam Soon makes him develop feelings and that’s all there is really is to say about him. Hee Sik could have been a really interesting character considering his involvement in the case and going into more depth about his personal drive for becoming a detective. Instead, he’s pretty much really there for a potential romance with Nam Soon and a bit of dramatic incitement .

Romance in the show js a bit of a hard one to go over. The main leads do have some chemistry in more comical moments , but there wasn’t really enough buildup due to lacking character development overall. The ending conclusion was expected though felt a little old-fashioned in deliverance.

Speaking of main characters, there’s of course Ryu Si-O, an antagonist in the series and a major mystery. Ryu Si-O was arguably one character the series did get right in maintaining mystery and ironically had better chemistry than the male lead with Nam Soon. Sadly the writing didn’t give him full justice.

The series struggled a lot with having too many side characters and not enough time. For example we have Secretary Jung Na-Young’s ( Oh Jung Yeon) potential romance going on, Ri Hwa-Ja / Lee Myung-Hee ( Choi Hee -Jin) criminal backstory, vagrants Ji Hyun-Soo ( Joo Woo-Jae) and No ( Kyungri), and then HSC Finance Triple’s storyline and then the Drug Gang on top. There was too much going on in the background.Rather than trying to focus on just a few, the plot attempted to cram in multiple subplots without a lot of development or further conclusions.


Pacing wise the series takes a bit of an odd turn. The first few episodes were fairly brisk, but the halfway point really tried rushing through the rest of the series without a lot of thought over execution. The plot reveal on the “ big bad” was meant to be a big surprise but felt more like a last minute throw in due to feeling rushed and somewhat out of place .

Cinematography and settings were a strong point for the series though. Music was a little out of place, particularly the ending credits.

Overall, Strong Girl Nam Soon really struggles with coming of its predecessor’s shadow. It had so much potential to be a well-written series about lost family and coming together to uncover a case, but a mixture of poor writing decisions, characterisation and plain characters and poor pacing made the series feel like it could be arguably be one of the worst shows of 2023. While the series may appeal to some in its own way, it’s fair to say most kdrama fans are going to probably stick with its original over this. Overall, a poorly-written drama with few redeeming features.

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