Completed - 8/27/2022
Subjective Rating - 8.75 because I enjoyed the 2 special needs cases.
Objective Rating - 8.0-8.5

*Disclaimer* I have been working with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) for 20+ years. So my review might reflect some of my experience. However, I am NOT someone with a disability, and can’t speak for those with IDD or other professionals in the field. I am a drama watcher and will review “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” (EAW) as such, and not as a case study.

In order to fully enjoy this drama, one should bear in mind that this is not a documentary of Woo Young Woo, nor is this a law drama. This is a light hearted drama showcasing the uniqueness of Young Woo and her personal growth in life, career and love. When watching this, I would assume the creators want to shed light and educate on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and to break some myths.

Having said that, I fully enjoy this drama. I was very hesitant to watch EAW as I worried the portrayal of someone with a disability is going to piss me off. I don’t want this drama to shed a negative light on someone with a disability, or paint a rosy picture either.

Portrayal of Woo Young Woo and Disabilities - I feel that the creators of this drama put all the common traits, quirks, and characteristics of someone with ASD into Young Woo. I personally believe if I meet an individual in real life with all these traits, this person might not be as cute and adorable as Young Woo. They would have a much tougher time in life, despite being a genius and graduating with high honors from a prestigious university. But as I said, this is not a documentary, so I will just go with the flow. There are two court cases about people with IDD and I am glad that the show mentioned the ‘Spectrum’ part of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The range is so wide that we can’t assume all individuals with ASD behave the same way. In fact, it doesn’t matter what your disability is, each individual is unique and special in their own way. We cannot assume someone with autism knows how to interact with another person with the same diagnosis, as evident in episode 3. In another court case, the focus is on romantic and sexual relationships between a young lady with mild intellectual disability and a man without a disability. It touched on some very important subjects - advocating for one’s rights to love and make decisions, understanding what love/sex mean, parent’s control and overprotectiveness, what the individual wants vs what their family wants, dignity of risks, stigma of being in a relationship (can someone with IDD be in a romantic relationship? yes they can!). These are all very realistic issues. Between EAW and the recently aired “Our Blues”, I am happy to see the portrayal of independent women with disabilities. They want to look pretty, want to have a boyfriend, and want to work to make a living, they want what everybody wants.

Park Eun Bin/Woo Young Woo (FL) - What more can we say about this amazing actress. She really deserves a Baeksang for her portrayal of Woo Young Woo. Another amazing drama after last year’s “The King’s Affection”. I am tired just watching her play this role and be in character mentally and physically for 16+ hours. Not only did Park Eun Bin give us an adorable Young Woo, but witnessing Young Woo’s growth, and Park Eun Bin’s acting in some very emotional but subtle scenes is an absolute joy. Young Woo gives us many comedic moments and you are never bored when she’s on the screen.

Kang Tae Oh/Lee Joon Ho (ML) - I am sure many of us fall in love with Joon Ho’s adoring eyes when he looks at Young Woo. This character is such a sweetheart and he loves and adores Young Woo for who she is. I almost placed him in my special Ideal Man list. However, I didn’t, because aside from being a romantic love interest, Lee Joon Ho is quite useless in this drama. He’s always on the sidelines or runs errands. There’s no character growth and nothing really happens to him. The romance is sweet and quite predictable. I just wish there’s more.

Supporting Cast - I enjoy the overall acting for the supporting cast. However, similar to my criticism of ML, this drama is very Young Woo-focused. Everyone else serves as a vehicle to help Young Woo grow in life and in her career. None of the side characters or stories are well developed. As much as I enjoy seeing powerful female lawyers, I still don’t understand why they’re rivalries. I do love the sismance though. Isn’t it nice to not have any catty, petty women but supportive female friendships? The secondary romance is somewhat bland. It should have started sooner. The way they fall for each other is not believable.

Court Cases - As mentioned this is not a law drama. The cases are short and episodic. I generally am not a fan of this format and find it repetitive. However, I didn’t feel it this way. The cases are not particularly interesting or exciting to me, aside from the 2 cases I mentioned above. Everything seems to resolve quite easily because Young Woo is a genius. I was never on the edge of my seat. This is probably the most light-hearted ‘law’ drama I’ve ever watched.

Overall, I strongly recommend this very binge-worthy drama. It’s light-hearted and fun. I hope the popularity of this drama does shatter the stigma and myths about Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Other Random Observations:
1. Lawyers should really lock their office doors when they go home.
2. Love the dolphin and whale hats - cute!!!!
3. Love the list of hilarious dates - picking up trash and protesting about dolphins.
4. First few episodes, the background music plays too much and tries to manipulate how viewers are feeling about certain scenes. This is not as noticeable in the latter part.