Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the Innocent Autistic Trope
Making the case that Netflix’s new K-drama hit subtly subverts this autism genre
Spoiler Alert: this article contains minor details from episodes of the Netflix show Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
I’ve been watching Netflix’s latest hit K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo for the last couple of weeks. It’s taking me a long time because I can’t sit and watch more than one episode at a time. For one thing, the episodes are around 70 minutes long.
Another reason I may not be able to binge-watch multiple episodes is that the main character is autistic and her experiences hit too close to home for me to be able to live in Young-woo’s world for very long. I already live it every day.
I’m not saying I’m an autistic savant like the titular character. I’m not. Far from it. I am just autistic and therefore parts of the show deeply resonate. It can be overwhelming.
Young-woo’s savant capabilities are one of the things that initially put me off regarding this show because I thought, “Here we go again, a show with an autistic main character who is a stereotype.”
I get it, savants are dramatic. They are a built-in guarantee of drama and surprise for a film or TV show.
