October 13, 2022

Our Take: An extraordinary show that brings diversity and inclusion to K-dramas

*Minor Spoilers Ahead*

The Premise

The success and buzz generated by the drama piqued my interest, and it definitely lived up to the hype! The storyline follows Woo Young Woo (Park Eun Bin), a 27-year-old genius with autism who graduated from Seoul National University (SNU) at the top of her class and then becomes an attorney at Hanbada, one of the top law firms in the country. As a newbie at the company, Young Woo navigates her way through various social and emotional situations with colleagues and clients while using her skills to solve cases and bring forth justice her way.

As she struggles to earn respect and recognition for her craft, her team surprisingly embraces and supports her on her journey. That includes senior attorney and Young Woo's mentor, Jung Myung Seok (Kang Ki Young), rookie attorneys, Choi Soo Yeon (Ha Yoon Kyung) and Kwon Mi Woo (Joo Jong Hyuk), and litigation team member Lee Jun Ho (Kang Tae Ho).

Each episode focuses on different civil cases with varying intensities that tug at our heartstrings while shedding light on Young Woo's life from the outside looking in. As Woo Young Woo and her team tackle new cases, we also witness her professional and personal growth. While she copes with discrimination, ableism, and microaggressions, we see people like her best friend, Dong Geu Rami (Joo Hyun Young), and father, Woo Gwang Ho (Jeon Bae Soo), uplifting and looking after her. On the other end, we also see people viewing her in a negative light and questioning her ability to navigate the world like everyone else.

Paving the Way for More Diversity and Inclusion

While I can't speak for the accuracy of the show's portrayal of autism, the depiction of an autistic person with her own thoughts, dreams, and hopes was a major step forward for K-dramas. Korean culture, like many cultures, often views people with disabilities negatively.

In one of the earlier episodes, Woo Young Woo defends Kim Jung Hoon (Moon Sang Hoon), an autistic client accused of beating his older brother, Kim San Hoon (Lee Bong Joon), to death. As she dives deeper into the case, she discovers that San Hoon had made multiple suicide attempts in the past before this last incident due to pressures from school. Out of anger, the father, Kim Jin Pyeong (Sung Ki Yoon), accuses her of "disgracing [his] son, a gifted student who attended Seoul Medical School with a perfect CSAT score." In response, she asks," Isn't getting a sentence reduction for Kim Jung Hoon, who is alive, more important than the honor of Kim Sang Hoon, who is dead?"

While the family later has a change of heart, this case in particular highlighted the need for support for people with disabilities. Young Woo briefly alludes to the stigma's severity near the end of the episode when she mentions that in the past, many people believed that someone like her didn't deserve to live.

I hope the success of this show opens the doors to future, more accurate representations of people with disabilities on screen and expands their rights in society.

Leading With Empathy and Finding Fulfillment Outside of Work

Attorney Jung Myung Seok was surprisingly one of my favorite characters in the show because I resonated with him a lot more than I thought I would. Initially, I assumed he would get portrayed as a villain who wanted to sabotage Young Woo's career, but instead, he recognized her talents early on and embraced her for who she was.

Finding a manager at work who is patient and open-minded with you can be difficult, especially as a newcomer in the company or industry. It's easy to get caught in situations where you may not be prepared to take on the responsibilities that are asked of you and get blamed for failure. So, seeing Myung Seok take the opportunity to mentor Woo Young Woo into a top-notch attorney was very touching and beautiful to watch. When presented with opportunities to show empathy and compassion in the future, I hope I will become someone willing to go the extra mile to empower my peers to create value and trust their skills.

The latter half of the show portrays his life outside of work and the sacrifices he made to get to where he is in the firm today. As he battles with health problems, we learn about what went wrong in his marriage and how it all unraveled, as well as his regrets about the path he chose.

As a workaholic, seeing him deal with all these uncertainties was like a mirror reflecting some of my struggles and dilemmas. As a highly ambitious and driven person, I've made a lot of sacrifices over the years to advance my career. After several health scares, I've been deeply reflecting on what I want out of life and whether the sacrifices I'm making in pursuit of conventional "success" are worth it. While I still don't have everything figured out, I've taken things down a notch recently and am exploring what a fulfilling and successful life means for me.

You Like Because and You Love Despite

Jun Ho was an undeniably amazing boyfriend and colleague to Young Woo. From the beginning, Jun Ho was very accommodating and supportive. He treated her as an equal rather than someone to pity or look down on. He was the epitome of a line from one of my favorite rom-com movies, Set It Up:

"You like because and you love despite. You like someone because of all of their qualities, and you love someone despite some of their qualities."

In any relationship, there will always be conflicts and differences. Nobody is perfect, and we all have our issues. But, what defines a relationship is whether we are willing to accept our partner despite their flaws and imperfections and commit to growing together.

While I absolutely adored Jun Ho, I wish his character was fleshed out more to give him a proper background story. We didn't really get to know him as a person outside of Young Woo or learn about his struggles, motivations, and hopes.

Final Thoughts

The show strikes a delicate balance between being serious and informative but also humorous and heartwarming. As the show progressed, I experienced the full range of emotions and went from laughing to crying to anger, and I loved it!

The essence of the drama focuses on empathy, not sympathy, which I suspect is one of the reasons why the show was so endearing. Things that may seem natural or easy to us may be impossible tasks for someone else. We don't always see what's happening in people's lives. So, we should remind ourselves to choose empathy and compassion whenever possible and remember that everyone is going through their struggles even if we don't see them.

We're all different in our ways, and that's completely okay! We should celebrate differences because that makes us human and enables us to learn and grow!