Strong Girl Nam-soon: Episodes 7-8
by mistyisles
Our fearless heroine throws herself right into the lion’s den as she tackles one investigative task after another. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), our villain is more than happy to let her in on company secrets if it means he gets a closer look at what makes her tick.
EPISODES 7-8
Hwa-ja lunges to stab Nam-soon. But Nam-soon grabs her hand, stopping the blade inches away from her abdomen. She throws Hwa-ja back, inadvertently breaking her leg, and asks tearfully if Hwa-ja hates her that much. (Answer: Yes. The way Hwa-ja sees it, Nam-soon destroyed her chance at happiness.) Hee-shik sees to it that Hwa-ja will be taken straight to the police station once her injury is tended to.
Since none of the items Nam-soon swiped from Doogo’s warehouse test positive for drugs, her next idea is to search for clues in Doogo’s client list. And as luck would have it, Shi-on summons Nam-soon to his office. He wants to learn more about her superstrength, and she figures getting close to him will easily open an opportunity to peek at that client list, so they’re both happy to exchange numbers.
Plus, Shi-on isn’t immune to Nam-soon’s infectious charm. Like Hee-shik, he grins in amusement at her bubbly mannerisms. Unlike Hee-shik, however — and I mean this in the creepiest way possible — Shi-on looks at her like he wants to eat her alive. Also, he thinks that because her strength is natural instead of drug-induced, she must be heaven-sent just for him.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when Shi-on offers Nam-soon a promotion to Doogo lobbyist, he requires a performance test first. He has her stand inside an industrial press the size of a swimming pool and gives no explanation aside from a very un-reassuring, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you die.” Next thing she knows, a gigantic slab of metal is hurtling down to crush her. Just like with the airplane when she returned to Korea, stopping the press requires so much of her strength that Geum-joo and Joong-gan feel the energy surge from afar. But in the end, Nam-soon throws the press back upwards and flies out unharmed.
Shi-on, delighted, welcomes Nam-soon to his inner circle. He probes for information on the source of her powers, but remembering a previous warning from Geum-joo, Nam-soon gives a noncommittal answer, and Shi-on accepts it for now.
In the meantime, Shi-on also meets with Geum-joo for a game of cards. The winner gets to make an offer the loser can’t refuse, so when Shi-on folds, granting Geum-joo the victory (it’s unclear if he let her win or if she intimidated him), she starts by asking about his goals and financial backers. In a way, they both want the same thing: power. But while Shi-on simply wants to rule at the top of the food chain, Geum-joo wants to redesign the system such that those with the most power use it to help the weak and poor, not extort them. To that end — and as a cover while she investigates Shi-on’s connections to the Russian mafia — she offers to become Doogo’s sole financier and keep things above-board.
Further investigation leads her to a surprising and puzzling revelation. Because guess who’s casually hanging out in the background of Shi-on’s Russia photos? That’s right — Bread Song, who has so completely charmed Geum-joo’s wealthy friends by now that they couldn’t care less about the fact that his entire identity is a giant question mark. After all, he’s doubling their investments, and all they had to do was pay off a few homeless people so they can use their names for extra untraceable accounts.
Speaking of covering things up with money, when Shi-on hears that one of his workers has passed away on the job from exhaustion, he’s enraged… but only until he’s assured it won’t be a mark on Doogo’s record. Nam-soon, on the other hand, visits the worker’s surviving family to offer condolences and financial support for his young brother. She explains how her Mongolian parents took her in when she lost her own family, and that she wants to use this opportunity to pay it forward.
When she asks Hee-shik out for drinks afterwards, they have an interesting discussion about how one person winning the capitalism game (i.e., Geum-joo) requires others to lose (i.e., the deceased worker). I’m curious to see exactly where the show is going with this conversation, but for now it’s labeled a question of inseparable “light and shadow.”
Between family parties and the ongoing investigations, Nam-soon and Hee-shik have been doing a lot of bonding recently, from commiserating about missing their families (his brother was killed while studying abroad) to outright declaring that they always feel better in each other’s presence. Now, a very tipsy Nam-soon sort-of-accidentally suggests they date. The suggestion goes unanswered, mostly because she starts repeating “I love you” in Mongolian and giggling when he asks what it means. This leads to a happy little chase, a skinned knee (hers) and a piggyback ride (from him).
Hee-shik would much rather Nam-soon back off the Doogo case, but she’s hooked on this whole spy thing. So instead, he outfits her with a camera disguised as a watch and monitors as she visits Shi-on’s office and Heritage Club. She’s the opposite of subtle with it, but fortunately odd behavior is completely on-brand for her, and she makes sure to get multiple shots of that client list (which Shi-on conveniently tasks her with memorizing).
The current top-level employee at Heritage Club gets so jealous of Nam-soon’s promotion that she poisons Nam-soon the first chance she gets. But before Hee-shik can rush inside, Nam-soon pops back up — a little poison is nothing to her! Figuring this was another initiation test, she cheerily takes another sweep around the room with her camera and clocks out for the day.
Again, Hee-shik tries to put his foot down, but again, Nam-soon insists on another spy mission. This time, she’ll sneak into Shi-on’s office after hours and snag key intel from his computer. Contrary to the slick espionage scene Hee-shik’s partner envisions, Nam-soon’s heist consists of disguising herself as a ghost, grabbing Shi-on’s entire computer, and jumping out the window.
You know, the thing about Geum-joo is that she excels at big, grand gestures and putting bad guys in their place — and, as Joong-gan puts it, she has a “Midas touch” for building successful businesses — but when it comes to considering the feelings of people close to her, she can be rather tone-deaf. Case in point: her idea of a fun birthday surprise for her ex-husband is having her secretary accuse him of getting her pregnant in front of the whole family (and plus-ones) and making a huge, ridiculously makjang scene of it.
At the same birthday party, she also announces that Nam-soon will “consummate” this year. Nam-soon and Hee-shik are not asked about their opinions on the matter, but everyone knows he’s the assumed partner, and he’s made aware that he’s expected to produce a daughter to continue the strong woman legacy.
But that awkwardness doesn’t come close to the romance between Joong-gan and her barista beau, whose smile always makes me feel like he’s being held hostage and just playing along to survive. Still, by the end of this week, he proposes to Joong-gan… right when Geum-joo gets a call from her long-lost father. He’s finally back in Korea. This messy family is about to get even messier.
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Tags: Byun Woo-seok, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Jung-eun, Lee Seung-joon, Lee Yumi, Ong Sung-woo, Strong Girl Nam-soon
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1 Kurama
October 31, 2023 at 6:03 AM
This drama is pretty bad... I think I'm going to stop there.
The ghost thing was cute and funny but she stole the screen...
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2 jillian
October 31, 2023 at 6:12 AM
Nam Soon and Hee Shik is the reason I am still watching this. Also I know that Nam Soon's heart is set on Hee Shik, but I am interested to see at what lengths Shi On will do to steal her away. He is smart and already figured out that she was born with her strength. He will soon figure out that Nam Soon is working with the police if he already knows Hee Shik's real identity. But what he does not know is that she will lose her powers if she used it with bad intentions.
Geum Joo being very tone deaf about her family is what I most dislike about her character. Also I am not convinced of Grandma's relationship with the barista. He does not seem to genuinely like her but more intimidated by her. So Grandpa's return will definitely shake things up.
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3 vienibenmio
October 31, 2023 at 6:19 AM
At this point I'm only sticking around for Nam-soon and Hee-sik. They are SO adorable. Actually, Nam-soon's scene with the baddie was even kinda cute, in another drama I could easily ship it.
At least they finally explained how Geom-ju (that's her name, right? Have I finally memorized it)? got so rich.
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4 KDramaTipsy
October 31, 2023 at 6:44 AM
Does it make sense that I'm fast forwarding every scene that doesn't have ShiOn? I'm not interested in the show anymore, not even in NamSoon and HeeShik. Only ShiOn and his focussed gaze on NamSoon is still keeping me here.
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5 Bunny Sonaki
October 31, 2023 at 6:45 AM
The writing is really messy
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6 panshel
October 31, 2023 at 6:47 AM
I love our OTP so much. I can't wait until Hee-sik says, "I don't want to be your brother." The warehouse scene in Episode 6 where Nam-soon told him that she missed him was my favorite scene. Her face lit up when she saw him, and he was backlit by the lights, so his smile was like staring at the sun.
I love their "Don't get too cheeky" thing. Hee-sik's jealousy "I told you only to be nice to me" and towards CEO Shi-oh is adorable, as is every time Nam-soon tries to use honorifics because he'd told her to. I know that her Mongolian "I love you" is too soon, but he did tell her first that you earn money to buy tasty meals for people you love.
"We need one another." What a confession. In front of her family no less. Dad saying "I like him" and Nam-in replying, "Me too" made me all warm and fuzzy. I thought that Dad would've invited "just friend" Hee-sik to the party when he'd brought Nam-soon to the amusement park. Still, it's too much pressure on our boy to date, marry, consummate, and birth a daughter all in one year, and Nam-soon's only 22 years old.
Besides the drug investigation team, especially Hee-sik's partner Young-tak and cyber maknae Chamma, the rest of this show ranges from bad (Bread Song, barista boyfriend, quitting cold turkey) to offensive (fat shaming, nonconsensual sex, transgender,
shooting in the U.S.this one's realistic), but I love our OTP too much to care.Required fields are marked *
7 Kafiyah Bello
October 31, 2023 at 7:18 AM
I'm going to be honest, I gave up. There isn't enough of the OTP to warrant me watching anymore. Everyone else, especially the mother, have terrible storylines, and the continuing and weird fat-shaming. SIGH.
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8 DK-Drama 🍉🚑🌎 Space Cadetting and Nest Boxing 🗽🍉
October 31, 2023 at 7:38 AM
I can't help loving Shi-oh, especially that short moment when he melts into something he once was. He does not just want power, he has some reason to want it, and though he is clearly on the wrong path, I am sure he 1) Believes it to be the right thing to do 2) is in the strong clutch of that organization. He is not independent, he is being surveyed, and it is dangerous for him to give in to feelings other than lust for power. (Presumedly on behalf of this organisation).
I don't know what kind of mafia-religious mumbo-jumbo he is at, but considering the former leader of the KGB Putin's persecution of LGBT people has been called "A Spiritual Awakening" by a crazy Danish Catholic, #CertainlyNotAllCatholics , Russian religious drug- mafia does not seem too far out to include in a plot.
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9 Lord Cobol (Kdramas, like water, flow downhill)
October 31, 2023 at 8:14 AM
At least Geum-joo is trying to do something about S.K.'s low birth rate.
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10 Semma Vetti
October 31, 2023 at 9:13 AM
While the OTP's interactions with each other continue to be wholesome, Grandma's aegyo with her BF is starting to get annoying, an Mom's kitsch-clothed-sashaying-wide-eyed-menace is getting really old. My tolerance is high, so will continue. But some more "Gan I-Shik+Hilary Khan" would make things so much better.
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11 minnie
October 31, 2023 at 9:38 AM
You know there is something wrong when Geum-joo's brother and her assistant are more interesting than the OTP even though they have significantly less screentime.
I hate the "superpowers". This drama is not fantasy-y enough to make them fly even more so with the FL being too dense to use them properly. And why does she move like a robot most of the time? Even Extraordinary Attorney Woo had more body control than Nam Soo.
Although there are cute moments (assistant claiming she was pregnant from dad was hilarious), it is not enough to keep me interested.
Dropped!
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12 ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae
October 31, 2023 at 11:02 AM
Well, I'm dropping this. Nam-soon's naivety and cutesy-ness is becoming annoying pretty fast and I find both the mom and grandmother obnoxious in their own ways. The OTP is genuinely cute, but I'm gonna rely on good ol' youtube to watch their scene compilations instead of suffering through the rest of the show. It's not a good sign that the only character I find interesting is the sexy, sexy Shi-on. Byun Woo-seok is so attractive here. I wish him and Nam-soon had a more rivals/lovers, sexually-charged dynamic (something like a gender-reversed Batman/Catwoman, maybe?) instead of Shi-on being irredeemably "evil" by Korean standards as a drug addict and Nam-soon constantly acting like a immature preteen child. Oh, the lost potential here...
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13 Koalatown
October 31, 2023 at 11:08 AM
This is definitely a show where it's best not to think while watching. My mother is watching with us and found that reading along was too difficult so now we are watching it with English dubs which don't match the subtitles at all. It is a whole new level of hilarious to hear these voice actors. My kid hates it but I kind of think it makes the unrealism of it more acceptable? Weird.
Basic common sense is frequently missing. Like this baddie doesn't think it's weird some guy in a baseball cap and a very obvious ear piece rushes towards him, stops, adjusts his cap and then stands there awkwardly until a car honks him, he returns to it and that car doesn't drive off? Shouldn't some baddie radar alarm be ringing?
I get that there is this super powerful drug that has been developed and presumably being sold by a Russian mafia type, but what is the end game? It seems rather lethal which means you lose out on continuous revenue from addicts who need their high if most of them die especially without the snail/slug antidote. Also it's unclear but the drug seems to do more than give a high. Does it give people what they desire most.. or feel like they get what they desire most? Is that the thing with the brother who is taking it to lose weight?
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14 Pan cake
October 31, 2023 at 11:24 AM
Another drama drop:
A guy almost crushed you between iron plates which weigh around tons and you just said don't do that again because I felt offended..wowwww. Seriously. I have noticed she has zero interest in her brother, she wants to save the world but not her brother. Nice noona..like mother like daughter.
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15 zindigo
October 31, 2023 at 12:19 PM
The family dinner scene was priceless -- especially the text exchanges between father and son, and the looks on the faces of the ML and grandma's bf in the midst of all the lunacy. Did you catch the sly hand heart Namsoon gives Hee Shik when he sits down at the table? So cute.
I'm fine if this is messy. I'm fine if some of the acting is over-the-top. I'm fine with a sexy villain. Why not? It makes things more (ahem) interesting. I'm even fine with some of the less, shall we say, PC elements of the story.
And I've been singing the Super Powers song all day. It's surprisingly motivating. Boom chicka pow! Boom chicka pow! HAHAHAHA!
For some reason the flat out ridiculousness of the whole production just appeals to me at the moment. That last scene where she jumps out of the window with the computer is freaking hilarious.
I'm still along for the ride!
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16 ♡Peach_Mochi♡
October 31, 2023 at 1:13 PM
Finally there was a poop scene. At least no one was drinking it.
Good thing this isn’t an Amazon Prime show or else the Doogo warehouse storyline might get tricky. What if the creation of superstrong, tireless warehouse and delivery workers is the goal of the drug biz? Or am I just thinking like an capitalist?
Shi-on smolders effectively, but he regards Nam soon’s strength as a means to acquire and consolidate power. So at some point their world views will clash.
What worked for me:
Still love our cute OTP and glad they spent more time together. Not sure either has really processed the 22-year-old deadline business.
Show seems to glorify the lifestyles of the idle rich but mocks them at the same time.
Grandma’s approach to educating Geum joo — not every kid benefits from cram school and the intense academic culture. She gave her daughter a practical education that played to her strengths and it paid off.
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17 sakuradaydream
October 31, 2023 at 4:54 PM
I left a looooooooooong post on another forum page of the differences I observed & the things that annoy me in SGNM and to summarize ALL that, lets just say I'm disappointed with the direction the show is going but I don't have the heart to drop it yet seeing that SWDBS has a special place in my heart.
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18 S.Eesa
November 1, 2023 at 12:01 PM
This show is doing one of the worst crime a drama can do - it is boring. I do not care about 70% of the show. The mother and grandmother stories are tedious to watch. There are too many characters, most of which are uninteresting. The only redeeming things about the show are - interactions between ML and FML and FML and sexy bad guy.
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19 Olivedreams
November 1, 2023 at 4:45 PM
This show is beyond bland, all over the place in terms of plot and a victim of poor casting to boot.
The FL’s character is written to be simple and childlike and I suppose endearing but comes across as childish and extremely annoying.
The ML’s character is beyond bland and is totally overshadowed by the villain who is not only handsome but charismatic to boot.
I dropped after 3 episodes or so. Not even the hotness of the villain could save this mess of a show.
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20 His-inamorata
November 4, 2023 at 1:38 PM
The reason people seem to dislike this show is because of the comparison to SWDBS. This is a spin-off. It's not SWDBS Season 2. It's a unique story of it's own and I absolutely LOOOVEEE it.
If youre new to kdramas, please dont take recommendations from the comments. For some reason, Dramabeans has become quite toxic and vindictive in criticism these days. I miss the Dramabeans of 2011.
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