Strong Woman Do Bong Soon 힘쎈여자 도봉순 - Review

 

Title: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon 힘쎈여자 도봉순

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Thriller, Supernatural

Release: 2017

Starring (Main Cast): 

Park Bo Young as Dong Bong Soon

Park Hyung Sik as An Min Hyuk

Kim Ji Soo as In Kook Doo

Director: Lee Hyung Min

Writer: Baek Mi Kyung

Rakuten Viki Rating: 9.7/10

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Audience Rating: 4.9/5

MyDramaList Rating: 8.7/10

Rakuten Viki Synopsis: Click Here

Watch with VIKIPASS Standard on Rakuten Viki: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon 

Episodes: 16 (abt. 1 hour each)

Content Rating: PG-13

Violence: fist fighting, knife fighting, confinement and abuse of women

Sexual Content: kissing, hugging, verbal references

Language: Mild

Ending: Happy, satisfying

My Synopsis

Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) comes from a line of very special women blessed with Herculean strength. The problem is, it is very difficult to control, and she has to use it for good. When the young CEO of AIN Software, Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik), happens to witness her strength he hires her as his personal bodyguard to protect him from a recent series of threats. He falls immediately in love with her, but she is in love with her long time one-sided crush In Guk Doo (Ji Soo) who is an officer deep in investigating a murder and missing women from her part of town. Can Bong Soon help catch the man threatening her city and keep her secret strength intact? Will Min Hyuk be successful at winning her heart?

Trailer

My Review: 8/10

Okay... so my opinion on this drama is extremely mixed. I actually found it hard to write a synopsis because there are multiple plotlines going on here and they aren't all connected. We have the plotline involving Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik) and his family, and the mysterious person who is threatening him. We have the plot that comes with her initial encounter with a group of thugs who continue to threaten her for the majority of the story. We have the plot that involves the man who murdered and kidnapped women in her part of town which involves investigating and helping Bong Soon's original crush. We have the love plot that includes the love triangle of Bong Soon, Min Hyuk and Guk Doo... and so on. Each plot had it's own level of... seriousness? Not sure if that is the best way to describe it, but I felt that this story was a strange mix of serious drama and slapstick and it was a little hard for me to digest. I actually think that it would be easier for me to rate each individual plotline as my liking of each varied so greatly. So, I will get back to that later, but first let me talk about the main characters.

First, I felt that the casting of Do Bong Soon could not have been better. Park Bo Young is petite and cute and is the perfect contrast to her strength. It makes those around her want to protect her... even Min Hyuk who is aware of her strength. She is an excellent actress. One of the best, I think, and she made the role of the cute spunky Bong Soon very believable from start to finish. I look forward to seeing her in other roles. On a character note... I found the choice of clothes they had for her quite interesting. I am not even sure what you would call the style, but it was an odd choice in my opinion. Lol!

This was my first introduction to Park Hyung Sik. Since then I have seen him in quite a few more dramas. He is apparently a very popular actor, and with good reason. Each role I have seen him in he has played a different type of person and he has made each very believable. He has become one of my favorite actors. Here is no different. He plays the CEO of AIN Software who is head-over-heels in love with Bong Soon. As her feelings for him change we get to see his youthful giddy reactions to it that make the relationship between them so much cuter. His personality here is very gentle, yet, he also has no fear of jumping into situations, especially when Bong Soon is threatened. The chemistry between them is off the charts and part of that probably comes from the fact that Park Hyung Sik, by his own admittance, had a crush on Park Bo Young during filming. 💕

And then, we have the third part of the love triangle, In Guk Doo played by Ji Soo. Guk Doo is a police officer and long-term friend of Bong Soon. This is her original crush. A crush she has had for a long time. He is investigating a series of attacks on women in her area. He is unaware of Bong Soon's gift and becomes very protective of her. So, as his feelings grow towards her, hers starts to shift. It creates some nice romantic conflict. Ji Soo does a great job in his role. He is also a very good actor. I know he is now in some trouble for past behavior, but I am hoping resolution and healing can happen there and that it doesn't ruin his career in the long run. I guess time will tell.

And so, back to the multiple plotlines. As you may have guessed, my favorite plotline, and the one that saved the story for me, was the love plot. I literally continued watching for this... and maybe this alone. It is sad to me that this was probably one of the sweetest love plots, and it was stuck in the middle of chaos. *sigh* This plotline got a 10/10.

* The weird tag to the love plot, with the misunderstanding of Min Hyuk being gay (including Bong Soon's odd day dream regarding it) and the awkward drunk thing that happens between Min Hyuk and Guk Doo, 😬 I am going to pretend didn't happen. They are both straight so... why? It had no bearing on the plot except to make things awkward and confusing for Bong Soon.*

The other big plotline was the one involving the man who first killed a woman and then kidnapped multiple others. This was actually a very chilling plotline. Definitely serious and creepy. I had to skip some of it because it was so disturbing to me. Since this carried the majority of the story I would give it maybe a 9/10?

The next plotline was the thug group where we are first exposed to the fullness of Bong Soon's gift, and where she is first seen by Min Hyuk. This plotline was the slapstick one and in my opinion should have been trashed. It also follows the story pretty much throughout and involves some building issue in their community. It really only had a minor positive contribution in that it, one, introduced Min Hyuk and the viewers to Bong Soon's power, and, two, caused an injury that helped move our love plot along. Other than that... it was ridiculous in my opinion and just a bunch of silly filler. I give it 5/10... and that generous 5 comes from the two mentioned contributions. 

Next plot! The threats against Min Hyuk... which is his main excuse behind his hiring of Bong Soon. Early on we see that someone is out to get Min Hyuk... attacks against him as well as threatening phone calls. He handles them mostly without fear and even chases after the threatening person. He seems to be handling it well on his own, which is why I say it is his excuse for hiring Bong Soon rather than his reason. I think his real reason is that he is intrigued by her and that there is likely a connection between her and an incident where his life was saved previous to the start of the story. This plotline is connected to the plotline of conflict within his family regarding the business. If I remember correctly, this plotline does not carry through the whole story. It gets resolved earlier. Hm.... rating I would give it. 8 or 9/10 it wasn't a bad plotline... and had a serious, yet not overly heavy role.

On top of that there is a little family plot on Bong Soon's side that I don't feel the need to go into too much detail on. Really, I ended up skipping over most of it as it was just tedious filler... and it really just made me dislike her mother. Her mother gets my "worst mom of the year" award, by the way. Nothing like a mom who tries to convince her daughter to sleep with her new boss, since he is good looking (and she wants her out of the house, I think). Bong Soon's family plot gets a generous 6/10.

As you can see, I was very torn on this one. However, this is my opinion alone, and I realize that this is a favorite drama to a lot of people. For me... it was just too much of an odd mix of crazy. Again... loved the main characters and the love story. I thought the main large plot was strong... but creepy. Overall, I really struggled with what to rate this because of the different plots. So there you have it. Worth a watch? For the love story, I will say "yes". Lol! Curious on other people's thoughts!

OST

As a bonus here is Park Hyung Sik singing 'Beautiful Lady', which someone edited to highlight this drama. Another surprise to me was his amazing voice and the fact that he use to be a singer for the group ZE:A and it's sub-group ZE:A Five. Enjoy!

And part of the official OST for the drama he sings "Because of You."

Awards Won

Park Bo Young - 2017 - Outstanding Korean Actress (12th Seoul International Drama Awards); Best Actress (1st The Seoul Awards)

Park Hyung Sik - 2017 - Popularity Award (1st The Seoul Awards)

안녕! - 줄스