“Strong Girl Namsoon”: Why I Think The Villain Needed More Depth
The Tragic Childhood, Tick; The Romantic Side-Plot a Bit Lacking…
Strong Girl Namsoon is a newly completed South Korean drama that can be found on Netflix. It’s a comedic, contemporary drama about a girl called Nam-soon with superhuman strength, sight, and speed. This is a result of a rare genetic mutation within the women in her family, with her mother and grandmother also being central characters in the story due to them also having superhuman strength. This drama is a sequel to the 2017 drama Strong Girl Bongsoon, featuring stars Park Boyoung as Do Bong-Soon, and Park Hyung-Sik as An Min-Hyuk who both made a cameo appearance as a married couple still fighting justice.
What Is It About?
Our protagonist, Namsoon, gets lost on a trip to Mongolia as a child and is raised by Mongolian parents in a rural part of Mongolia, she later moves to Korea at the age of 22 to find her birth parents. However, the central part of the story revolves around a mysterious drug under investigation for causing multiple deaths in Seoul, and her romance with the police officer she is helping solve the case. She goes undercover at the corporation thought to be responsible for creating the drug, where the CEO (our villain of the story, Ryu Shi-oh / Anton) takes an interest in her due to her superhuman strength and recruits her as his personal secretary of sorts. It’s during this time that he takes a liking to her due to her cheerful and energetic personality which juxtaposed his cold, blunt demeanor.
Through flashbacks, we learn of his tragic back story as an abandoned child taken in by the Russian mafia, forced to fight and train as a killer. His rebellion against the group through the creation of his own drug and anti-dote, and his doomed-to-fail, thought-to-be-dead childhood friend Bin Bin.
Namsoon’s Confrontation
I wanted a more emotion-filled speech during his confrontation with Namsoon. His conflicting emotions of her being the first person he ever loved versus wanting to kill her for betraying him. His love for her was completely overshadowed by the 2-dimensional aspect of his anger and want for revenge and I feel like encompassing the conflicted feelings of love he had towards her would have added a significant amount of depth to his character. Just including a few lines such as: “You were the first person I ever trusted and here you are betraying me,” or “You held my heart in your hands and threw it away so I’ll throw you away just the same,” would have made a huge difference and garnered more sympathy towards his character. Although this may be over-dramatic examples, I think this coupled with a single tear as he attempted to kill her would have taken this scene to a whole new height.
Bin Bin’s Reunion
“I must kill you in order to live.”
“I thought you would be different”
I did enjoy his final confrontation with his childhood friend Bin Bin, and the tragic karma of not only finding out his only friend had survived but that he had been sent to kill him.
“I was abandoned three times. Once, by my birth parents. Once, by the woman I had trusted. And once more, by the only friend I’ve missed. I wish to go out as only having been betrayed twice.”
I think this quote said by our villain is the most memorable quote from the entire show. It completely showcases that he failed from the very beginning and how tragic his life was set to be from beginning to end.
His Final Words
“Tsar Bomba: die with dignity.”
Tsar Bomba is the name of Russia’s nuclear bomb and is also a codename used by the Russian mafia in the show as a kill order. Ultimately, Ryu Shi-oh was the nuclear bomb within the gang that tried to blow the whole gang apart by his rebellion in creating his own drug franchise, but by also causing the whole gang to be discovered by the police — as if he had never created this new drug and his company Doogo, then the Russian Mafia gang in the show never would have been on the South Korean Police’s radar.
He achieves his aim of dying with dignity by not allowing his friend Bin Bin to kill and betray him first. Through this, he succeeded in not having a third betrayal. Again, it would have been nice to include a moment between Namsoon and Ryu Shi-oh since she was already present for his death, such as: a heart-wrenching look directed at Namsoon or some sort of final goodbye, or him showcasing the conflicting emotions of being happy that she’s alive e.g., “I knew you were strong enough to survive it.” I think including a significant moment like that would have added more emotional depth in his final moments.
