Are Women Human?

LEEEEEE JUUUUN HOOOOOOOO

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Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Comforting Endings

My favorite thing about EAW’s ending was the fact it was a pretty quiet affair.

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lingering-sunrise

I'm satisfied with Min-woo's character arc. I don't think it was a real "redemption" (even though that's the trope it followed), because he never apologized, didn't seem to learn from his actions, didn't commit to being "better"... Choosing to quit scheming and be a bit friendly wasn't a complete turnaround of character. He still always acted in self-interest.

But he never felt like "the baddie" to me. He was selfish, but stayed on good terms with Jun-ho. He argued with Su-yeon but was never very cruel. He was ableist and rude and scheming towards Young-woo, and flirted with chances to cause real damage to her career, but didn't have what it takes for the follow-through. He's morally in the same category of his higher-ups because he focuses on social standing, scheming, and "what's normally done" over morality and innovation. I thought he would have fit in well at Hanbada (in a bad way).

All of this, plus, redemption is in the eye of the beholder? I’ve never thought that the show was trying to “redeem” Minwoo. Showing a character doing some good things or thinking better of doing a bad thing isn’t necessarily redemption! Viewers get to decide if that’s enough to redeem the character or not. Given, again, the show clearly indicating that Minwoo backed off not because of any deep-seated principles but because the girl he likes would want him to do it I think it’s clear he has a ways to go with his moral development.

waitmyturtles

Oh my gosh, family. What an awesome ride. I just want to say, before I get into my review here, that EAW was my first full fandom conducted on Tumblr, and I got a lot of awesome feedback and questions on my posts, so thank y'all so much for reading these! I find writing these posts super therapeutic! (I saw some repeat mutuals reblogging my posts and adding awesome tags and comments – I HEART YOU ALL!) SPOILERS AHEAD! Long post!

Before I dive into my list, I want to first say that: the finale was FULL OF K-DRAMA TROPES and I was SO HERE FOR IT. LOVE CONFESSIONS! Stunning courtroom revelations! Sensible judges! GOVERNMENT! Restaurants! Delicious food! HOSPITALS! Ex-wives! Emergency board meetings! REPORTERS! SECRET SIBLINGS! Shared genes of possible sub-clinical psychological diagnoses! Longing camera shots on lovers! RECONCILIATIONS! Hacking! Possible escapes to the States! URGENT DRIVING! URGENT PHONE CALLS WHILE DRIVING! Minors! LEGAL CONFESSIONS! PARENTING CONFESSIONS! Possible hints of revenge by crazy-ass bosses in coming seasons!

I mean, the list goes on. We didn’t think the writers could do it, but y'all, they did it!

Okay, besides the awesome trope applications, here are my thoughts on the episode.

1) Why do I watch Asian dramas? Because, so very often, they center on themes of family in ways that I don’t think Western content even begin to touch. (And as an Asian, they are so much more relatable to me.)

This episode introduced family as the unwinding theme to end this season, while still offering amazing and nuanced commentary on communication, as I wrote in my last post.

I wrote in my notes, while watching this last episode, that I think the correlation between family and communication is that: both of these themes are just fucking complicated. They are not binary. Family and communication are so deeply nuanced and attuned to the people acting as family or communicators, and to the people receiving family and communication.

I wrote in my last post that the penultimate episode set up examples of how Young-woo interacts with the world, and how the world interacts with her. Young-woo had the absolute PERFECT SUMMARY of this when she met Tae Su-mi in the government hall. Oh my gosh. The meditation on co-existence. It was gorgeous. The narwhal and beluga analogy:

“Because everyone is different from me, it’s not easy to adjust, and there are a lot of whales that hate me, too. But it’s okay. Because this is my life. Though my life is unusual and peculiar, it’s valuable and beautiful.”

Talk about understanding her in-and-out-and-back-in-again of how she interacts with society. Her analysis of co-existence with a majority nautistic world. Her time at Hanbada, her time with Jun-ho, her growth with her dad and her friends, have helped her develop into the adult she is, getting a better understanding of how she sees the world and how the world sees her.

And she had the damn guts to say this to her mother who abandoned her. Maybe she had those guts because of the self-orientation she has as a person with ASD, but I don’t really think so. I think it’s because she knows she’s grown into a broader understanding of who she is as an adult and a person who deserves love and respect.

(I keep hammering at this point that the life lessons she demonstrates are for ALL of us, regardless if we are autistic or nautistic, and once again, I think the plot demonstrates this.)

2) A couple more notes on family:

Her dad. Yes, her dad played with the devil, and somehow, the plot unwound to relieve him of guilt. I know there’s a lot of criticism of Young-woo’s dad out there, and I get it.

But….. I’m a parent.

And…. I might get why he played with the devil. When you see your kid sad – you might do anything to make them happy. There’s a feeling of love intoxication you get when you have kids. I get it. I get why he did what he did, because when you see your kid sad, your heart stops in a way that’s far more arresting than romantic love.

Which is why I think he was SO relieved to see that Young-woo had her contract renewed at the end of the episode.

It was a close call, to allow his daughter to be played by CEO Han.

But. Remember Young-woo standing up to her dad earlier in the series, asking him to not interfere in her life? We didn’t see her saying “no” to her dad to go on the Hanbada paid vacation or to the States with Taesan. But we all know that she DID say no. Because she was still riding out the case in the end.

She stood her ground. She GREW. She’s his daughter, but she’s also HER PERSON, HER OWN SELF. That happens in family. Shit’s complicated, and parents aren’t perfect. Parents have got to allow their kids to grow. I think we didn’t see the communication there, but she pushed her dad to let her grow. He let her. And fate played out in her favor.

(Also, one note on these conversations getting editorially cut in the show. I wrote last night about non-communication being communication. I wonder if those intentional editorial cuts were meant to kind of replicate the non-verbal moments that Young-woo has in own her life.)

3) More on family!

Who else is her family? Jun-ho now, obviously. (I posted earlier today on the whole cat analogy thing – you can read my thoughts there, but I thought it was sweet and clunky.)

Who else is her family? She says it at the end. Hanbada is her family. She likes it there. Who knows if there’s another law firm in her offing. But: Hanbada is and was a part of her growth. She likes it. That’s her authentic feeling.

And who else became family? To Attorney Jung, Hairy and Geu-rami became family and vice versa. And Attorney Jung got a part of his family back. (I want to see more Ji-su in upcoming seasons.)

4) More on growth and change!

Really quickly, it was interesting to see Tae Su-mi decide to quit her candidacy to be a “better mother” (hmph), and interesting to see Min-woo’s switch and growth. We better see these changes in more depth in season two!

Also, I need to better understand the beef between CEO Tae and CEO Han, seriously. As evil as they are, I love me some crazy beesh action.

5) So, I’ve reflected on tropes and the occurrence of the theme of family in K-dramas, but I also want to commend EAW on centering a person with ASD.

I don’t even know if I have the words to say, as an Asian, how important it was to see this centering. Many of us in Asian cultures are disenfranchised, disengaged with, sidelined, bullied, and ignored for characteristics that stray from perceived norms of our cultures. Our own parents and siblings do that to us. Our schools, our friends, our co-workers, bosses, strangers. Even social media. You stray from a norm — you’re committing a risk. And it just feels more pronounced in Asian cultures because the idea of the perfect family is set up to be this all-encompassing, ultimate ideal that a family unit needs to achieve.

I’m a black sheep in my family for many reasons – I’ve strayed from the path of my parents. I’m my own person, an Asian-American working mom, much to the chagrin of my own folks, who want me to be at home with my kids (literally, not joking).

So in a major, well-financed drama, to see an individual woman with ASD, something she cannot at all control physiologically, doing these THINGS that independent women DO – earning a badass salary, working her ass off at a high-level job, being the GENIUS that Min-woo says she is, being a freaking credentialed lawyer with top honors, getting a hot boyfriend – it just really means a lot to me.

It tells society – the black sheep can win, too. The fact that this drama performed well beyond what ENA and Netflix expected is truly heartwarming. Moon Ji-won – you are my hero. You packed so much in that I have written literally thousands of words on your work. Thank you for centering and giving agency to the black sheep, for the sake of our Asian cultures that often leave us behind.

****

THANKS FOR READING, FAM! I may have more thoughts over the next few days. Park Eun-bin, omg, I don’t think I could love you more. Kang Tae-oh, be safe, my man. Season two can’t come soon enough. <3

❤

Nigerian but the cultural similarities esp with family dynamics are high up on the list of why I watch kdramas and other Asian dramas.

jipuragi

EAW sibling headcanons

Young Woo shows her fave gimbap place to Sang Hyeon (it's her dad's shop😁) He loves it, and just like Young Woo, he doesn't like ham in it

Sang Hyeon gets his family cook to make his special gimbap for Young Woon to try. The house staff dote on him cause he's kind so it's no problem at all!

Geu Ra Mi makes her gimbap and Sang Hyeon is horrified.

He doesn't call Geurami 'noona' and Young Woo backs him up

Sang Hyeon gets a crush on Su Yeon who thinks it's cute when Young Woo brings it up. Minwoo is not amused. (Sang Hyeon threatens to hack him)

When Sang Hyeon gets his heart broken for the first time, Young Woo doesn't hold his hand or hug him. She books them a sailboat along the Han River and they talk about whales and boats

They make a plan to eventually visit the ocean someday

And privately, they each think that it's nice to have a sibling

#extraordinary attorney woo #Kdrama

Directly in my veins please

beeedelweiss

He used a whole child wtf

Juvenile law in S. Korea is as I understand it pretty different from, say, the US, where kids are often charged as adults and all but the youngest kids in the system can be given long sentences. I get the sense this dude saw Sang Hyeon as a perfect pawn because even if Sang Hyeon had been caught, there would have been serious limits on prosecuting him.

Although a friend pointed out there is a whole sector of the industry dedicated solely to working with clients to find weaknesses in their cybersecurity and dude could have hired someone to do a "pen-test" of where their system was vulnerable to penetration so why the heck did this dude even go this far I wonder

neung-so-hwa

Nexflix's subtitle was "cats sometimes make owners lonely" but what junho really said was not "owner". it was "butler". I don't know about other country but in korea, cat "owners" jokingly call themselves 'butler' who work for their master, their cats. I think nuances is important. Junho would never imply that he is the owner of cat, our youngwoo, or he wears the pants in this relationship. I would like people to know that he called himself a butler not an owner.

neung-so-hwa

side note: pet culture in korea

Pets were called 애완동물 which sounds like humans own animals because they find them cute. It gives impression that pets are like toys. So these days people are saying 반려동물(companion animal) more than 애완동물 when refer to pets. This term sees pets as family member and considers animal rights. Thus pet "owners" in korea, mostly younger generation, don't prefer to call themselves owners. They say their are butlers(집사), guardians(보호자), moms, dads, roommates etc. My cat is my youngest sister. So I am my cat's 언니(eon-ni, big sister).

It is so incredibly cute when Koreans refer to themselves as hyung/oppa/unni/noona (older sibling) when speaking to their pets it's just SO CUTE

werewulfbf

Lee Jun Ho looking at Woo Young Woo Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episodes 1-16

This woobie. The human embodiment of the 🥺 emoji.

pursemongerstuff

Can we give a shout out to the casting director? They did an amazing job casting Young-woo’ family. Legit looked like they copy and pasted Tae-mi!

All three of them have attached earlobes like, the detail?!

neung-so-hwa

Nexflix's subtitle was "cats sometimes make owners lonely" but what junho really said was not "owner" it was "butler". I don't know about other country but in korea, cat "owners" jokingly call themselves 'butler' who work for their master, their cats. I think nuances is important. Junho would never imply that he is the owner of cat, our youngwoo, or he wears the pants in this relationship. I would like people to know that he called himself a butler not an owner.

This is very important and I just know people will be yelling about it assuming the English is a direct translation when it's not.

I would have translated it as "their humans" rather than "their owners."

all-about-the-tea-parties

I haven’t gotten that far but I’ve seen posts and a looooooot of ppl seem mad about the miscommunication in Young-Woo’s life. Some are mad about the break up due to insecurity that could be “easily solved” and some are mad about her dad never reassuring her. And those are valid feelings - but I don’t know why you’re all mad at the writers for these decisions.

First off, I kind of wanted them to break up at some point. Normally I hate this kind of thing, but this is her first relationship. I wanted to see her be treated as a person, who makes mistakes and falls out of love and changes her mind. Why should her very first romantic endeavour go according to plan? She’s not a fairy tale character.

Based on what I’ve seen I think all the decisions are decidedly IN character. Let’s not pretend anyone is above insecurity. Let’s not pretend ppl aren’t capable of falling into assumptions. Junho makes assumptions about YW all the time. In many ways, his approach to being w/ her is to dote on her, please her, as if she’s a child. And like EVERY allistic person I’ve ever met, as he gets more comfortable w/ her and their relationship he drops the routine that established it (direct communication) and instead falls into his natural way being (intuitive social understanding). He begins to assume things. He assumes, after promising to wait to know each other, that they’ve peaked and are official.

He doesn’t explicitly ask this. He just. Assumes. Because he’s NT. because he’s used to this being unspoken. He became comfortable and fell back into a pattern. It’s normal.

I mean, I’m watching in live time the entire audience do this.

“Where’s the directness that’s canon to YW’s personality????”

What’s directness? When has YW ever been direct about her feelings outside of things she’s confident in the knowledge of? Insecurity is in everyone and insecurity in autistic ppl keeps us alive. Feeling safe and trusting others is a danger (and yes it sounds like a contradiction because autistic ppl are naturally very trusting but on an INTIMATE level we aren’t).

YW believes she’s a charity case. It may not have been said but that’s a fact. All she knows is that Junho is kind. Kind ppl do nice things. Like hang out w/ autistic ppl even if they make them feel lonely. Junho doesn’t ever really contradict these things (because he doesn’t realise he has to).

And the audience in many ways is no better. Time and time again I see applause for Junho demanding boundaries and compromises from YW. Ppl clap and say “it’s good that he’s not the only one working at this”

Junho has only ever had to stretch his social muscles when it comes to YW. YW is doing it all the time. For everyone in every aspect of her life. So to conserve energy, she watches for patterns, makes assumptions.

From the discography of her life, YW knows how this ends. It ends with her being a burden. Her being proven unloveable. Her being alone. She’s nipping it in the bud. Before it hurts too much.

All her life, despite audience and in-world people belief, YW has born the brunt of social responsibility. Born the fallout. If something goes wrong, it’s her fault, if there’s a miscommunication, it’s her miscommunication. She should’ve known better, learned faster. If people dislike her, that’s on her. When people *like* her, it’s an accident.

She’s been taught her whole life to accept other peoples feelings, and bottle her own. Despite seeming cold, despite seeming selfish, YW is very self-punishing.

God I’m losing my thread of thought.

What I’m saying is the miscommunication is not only applicable - it’s learned. YW doesn’t defy people when they tell her she makes them lonely. Doesn’t talk about her own loneliness in response. She accepts it. In her eyes it’s true.

I mean look at her dad.

In all of six episodes I’ve seen, never once has he shifted the responsibility of his own happiness off YW’s shoulders and onto himself. He’s her parent, and yet he blames his daughter for his loneliness. Because she’s autistic, I’m sure on some fundamental level he doesn’t believe she can feel it. But. She. Canonically. Does.

And so we’re here. With Junho who believes someone as direct as YW will believe him when he tells her things, but also openly expected her to *intuit* a change in their relationship. And YW who deeply believes that every person in her life lacks fulfilment when she’s part of it.

So she breaks up with him. Tells herself it’s pragmatic actually. Honest. Choosing to see another way goes against everything she knows to be true, and autistic are nothing if not rigid when it comes to their life lessons.

This makes sense. It’s me. It’s every time I chose to act against my better judgement and hurt because of it.

Meanness in others is painful but usually it’s upfront. I can handle open hostility. The hostility beneath the surface tho? The hostility of the people I love, who blame me for their loneliness? The people who, despite knowing how I am, insist upon change anyways? Because now we know each other?

You don’t know YW. she wouldn’t insult you like that. Wouldn’t stick her hand into a flame like that. People hide themselves, and so shall she.

Miscommunication is *human*. It’s an aspect of a deeply neurotypical society because patriarchy *thrives* in the grey area.

I haven’t watched it. I’m following the outrage online but I don’t agree with it. I don’t blame Junho. I don’t blame YW. I know where this knot started and it’s hard to blame people when they’re hurting themselves.

For a final thing to leave with my allistic readers. I understand you’re confused because YW *is* typically very direct. But you’re perceiving the moment wrong. Autistic people are always attempting to mimic allistic ones. It’s what we think you want. It’s what we *know* you want.

Young-woo read into a situation, and chose to read the writing on the wall. It’s the wrong writing, the wrong wall. She doesn’t know that though, all the walls look the same to her. She chose to bow out. She both thought this is what people wanted, and felt too insecure to challenge it.

IMO the only character who has ever challenged her defeatist attitude is Suyeon. I can imagine Suyeon yelling at her “are you going to spend the rest of your life letting other people decide your happiness?” I imagine Young-woo would listen to Spring Sunshine Suyeon. She’s always taken the lids off difficult bottles.

Not autistic so not my lane, but this is pretty much how I read what's going on with Young Woo in this week's episodes, and what she needs from Jun Ho.

It's exactly right that for the most part he's been moving as though just liking her and being together is enough, rather than making a proactive effort to take on the ableism Young Woo has no choice but to confront every day. People will say awful things. People will insist on pushing food that your girl can't stand the texture of. If you're not ready to be loudly and assertively on her side in a world that is hostile to her, you're not ready to be with her. You know she can't eat meat and raw fish, tell your sister that up front, or say you can't do lunch, SOMETHING. Don't make Young Woo have to tell you she'll force the food down because she cares about you that much.

Tldr I want to see Jun Ho be less passive about being with Young Woo.

sukaato

on food and friendship in extraordinary attorney woo ep 13 + 14

perhaps the world ends here - joy harjo / a pot of red lentils - peter pereira / on the intimacy of the mundane - eve lionheart / our beautiful life when it’s filled with shrieks - christopher citro

#extraordinary attorney woo #ramblings #kdrama

Emotional eating scenes in dramas where the food is MORE THAN JUST food = my drama kryptonite

Not taking my kryptonite drama trope and adding more feels on it

Not I love you I want us both to eat well

I am INCONSOLABLE.

ohmuqueen

Minwoo’s redemption thing is just so weird bc it’s like we’re missing a scene where he changed his mind about taking out Youngwoo as his competition? Like they’re literally writing him as if he no longer is carrying out his villainous plans against her anymore. Otherwise why would we want him to be with Suyeon? Why is he being nicer to everyone overall? (Except Youngwoo, but he doesn’t seem to have had any direct interaction with her for these past two episodes) if he still plans on making her leave Hanbada why do they want us to like him so bad? Is that a trick question bc the CEO is going to make it impossible for her to work there after revealing who her mother is? Is Minwoo’s plotting null and void simply bc someone else is plotting against Youngwoo anyway so might as well make Minwoo “nice” in the meantime? I…don’t get it. Why should I like Minwoo now simply bc another character is plotting against Youngwoo now? Minwoo is still not someone I want to be paired with Suyeon 😑 is the show making this gotcha! moment, saying like “oh Minwoo is just another grey character bc Youngwoo exists in a world that will always be against her!” Like…I’m not entertained you jerks.

I suspect the writer/producer are deliberately making Min Woo a mixed bag of a character, just like so many cases in this drama have been a mixed bag morally and ethically. This is not a drama that will tell you how you should feel about characters doing bad things or potentially having bad motivations. It leaves it up to the viewers and I think it's frustrating to a lot people because they want a clear stance, want to know whether X person is on the good or bad side of the fence, and the drama refuses to answer that question. That's not necessarily bad or incoherent writing.

The drama isn't being opaque about whether Min Woo's underhanded behavior and nasty comments towards Young Woo are good or bad; they're unequivocally framed as bad. Nor is it pretending he's not still doing those things, as both eps 13 and 14 deliberately draw attention to his (really sad, poorly thought out, ineffectual) scheming. But it's also not making it easy to pigeonhole Min Woo by framing all of his behavior as bad, or by pretending it's not possible for him to be a relatively decent son and a relatively decent friend to Jun Ho and also be a sexist, ableist ass to Young Woo, or by making it so characters we like (like Su Yeon and Geurami) are only repulsed by or indifferent to him. That's not how humans work. People ignore red flags sometimes or suddenly gain a new perspective on a person they thought they disliked (Su Yeon). People respond solely to outer appearance and feelings of attraction without really knowing a person sometimes (Geurami). These things might make for frustrating watching when characters we love are drawn to characters we loathe, but it's not frustrating because it's unrealistic. It happens all the time. And even Young Woo doesn't have a one dimensional view of Min Woo, or she wouldn't have invited him to learn the characteristics of the Jejudo indo Pacific bottlenose dolphins so he could come dolphin watch with them. Nor does Myeong Seok, from the proud looks he was casting around the table in that last scene where they were all together.

Tl;dr this drama is not the type to tell you whether to feel Min Woo has been redeemed or not, or to tell you how to feel about Tae Su Mi's decisions prior to her embracing straight up sabotage. It leaves it to the viewer decides how to take these developments.

respectthepetty

The fact that she breaks up with him because she thinks he deserves someone who won't make him feel lonely, then proceeds to leave him heartbroken and alone begging for a reason while she walks away to continue working is peak self-fulfillment.

The fact that he becomes quiet when he notices that she is distressed but believes it is because he is yelling and not because she is upset at what she did and that he believes she is breaking up with him due to external reasons like Attorney Jung being sick or not being able to see the dolphins is the epitome of self-denial.

The distance between them exists because they love each other too much yet don't love themselves enough to know they deserve this love.

Much like the dolphin, they are so focused on seeing the one aspect that they miss the big picture. They care so much about the other person's individual happiness that they don't realize they are essential to that happiness.

What you see isn't everything. Don't be blinded by what you see. Keep in the mind the essence of what lies beyond that.

#extraordinary attorney woo #kdrama #This is an EAW tumblr now

😭

waitmyturtles

Alright. SPOILERS. It might take me a couple posts over today and tomorrow to process EAW ep. 14. I’ll try to keep things organized. My Big Thoughts on Young-woo are at the bottom. Long post warning.

1) I’m going to sound a far different bell than the reviews I’m seeing on the tag. I think the writing of ep. 14 was absolutely FANTASTIC. I am giddy over how good this writing was and I can’t wait to re-watch this episode.

I think ep. 13 needed to set up a lot of conflict very quickly to get to the important penultimate episode next week, which we know can be huge. Today’s (Thursday’s) episode, for me, ironed out a lot of the sudden conflict we saw, including contextualizing Attorney Jung’s illness. When he says that South Korea has the best treatment for stomach cancer (a relatively common ailment in those parts of Asia that we don’t see as much in the US), I believe it, and I think the writers intentionally put those lines in there to give viewers who know that background a touch of relief (but we’re still worried about him).

2) Content-wise, obviously, things are not going as linearly as us viewers would have liked or expected. But y’all – I believe the writers know this and are doing this to us. Look at what Su-yeon said to Min-woo: “I almost reported you to the police for the crime of not staying in character.” The writers know what they’re doing!

Another way I think the writers are injecting lightness here – when Jun-ho said he wouldn’t drink, and then he got plastered. I think it was set up to be cute. I’m not reading a forever devastation and finality to the break-up, partially based on the existence of that scene. More on this below.

(Also, side note, now we know that Min-woo knows. And, whoa, seemed to actually be supportive of his homeboy in the relationship – Min-woo hadn’t tried to get them to break up, I guess?)

3) I believe the writers are setting up a moral dilemma conflict for Min-woo that I might be here for. NOT a hard bet, because I think he’s still scheming, but I wonder.

I also think that Su-yeon is fixing to be a freaking superhero vis à vis that dilemma. I’m getting that from the preview for ep. 15, where we see Su-yeon protecting Young-woo from reporters.

4) I’m seeing fam on the tag calling out CEO Han for being evil and scheme-y, but we already knew she was, and Young-woo’s dad knows this, too. Her scheme is not a surprise to me. Her hiring of Young-woo was going to lead to something like this. I just want to know their background in law school. Maybe CEO Han has a hereditary competition with Tae Su-mi. I want to know that juicy juicy drama.

(I wrote this before, but this is why I think CEO Han eats Min-woo over this somehow. At least I hope so.)

(Frankly, and I know this is bad of me because it puts Young-woo in the middle of all of this shit, but I hope CEO Han blinks out Tae Su-mi. I think Tae Su-mi is pure evil.)

5) I think the big themes of this episode were: compassion, empathy, creativity, and revelation. Here’s why.

I believe the stories of Attorney Jung and Young-woo are linked. He’s the elder – a senior partner who ignored his personal life, who ignored the people who loved him personally, to live and breathe the law. As his ex-wife notes, he’s more alive when talking to an attorney than when talking to her.

Wasn’t Young-woo the same as she was breaking up with Jun-ho? She was more energized about her law revelation than about communicating the reasons for the break-up. She kept that part to herself. And Jun-ho, bless him, was asking for that reasoning, continuing to demand to Young-woo that she work on empathizing with him.

We know that communicatively, there is a lot that Young-woo and Jun-ho need to say to each other. But this IS a drama, and the writers need to stave off that content to wrap up the series next week.

However, I REALLY think we saw a lot of compassionate growth in Young-woo this episode. We saw her ignore Attorney Jung’s insistence to not fuss over him. We saw her absorbing the words of the song about the burden of love at the noraebang. We see her looking at Jun-ho on the plane.

I think the way the writers are building Young-woo’s self-awareness and self-growth is absolutely gorgeous. In many instances, it’s wordless. Because – we see her, as she’s growing into her adulthood, learning the words to use in these moments.

Autistic or not, aren’t we all doing that, growing as adults, learning about our emotions and ourselves? What’s the difference here, between her and Attorney Jung? Not a lot, in this moment.

6) Jun-ho and ex-wife Ji-su, the two lonely left-behind lovers. Ji-su says she left Attorney Jung because of her loneliness. We see Jun-ho in his loneliness on the beach, left behind because Young-woo will not take him to where she thinks she’s going – to always need to be cared for in her life, leaving her lover lonely.

First, we know she doesn’t need to be as cared for as she thinks, because we know she’s a breadwinning baddie. (She’s confident enough to take care of herself as the rest of the team eats the meat noodles with her take-away gimbap. She’s like – I got me.)

Second, I don’t believe the break-up is final because of the pep talk Attorney Jung gives to Jun-ho. I think there’s a communication ultimatum between these two lovebirds, and Young-woo will need to decide to step up and believe she’s worthy of love, AND that she’s more independent than general society makes her think she is.

7) This is where I think creativity comes in. After that pep talk, I think Jun-ho is fixing to fight for love. God help us, I think this is finally when some communication will take place.

Also, separately, creativity and empathy: I agree with Young-woo that we saw Attorney Jung at his absolute best when speaking to the Abbot at the end of the episode. Speaking to an opposing client is definitely skirting the edges of legal ethics. But he suggests that the temple work with Hanbada’s government affairs team, which is not technically a legal team. Genius. He wants to proactively help in the best way HE can.

Did you see how proud of the team he was when his rookie attorneys were pitching the noodle restaurant owner? He’s realized he’s passed on his wisdom, creativity, and empathy. A huge law firm pitching a restaurant owner in Jeju. Even Min-woo getting into it. I love how the love for Attorney Jung is deeply spread out here.

8) One more point on empathy and compassion.

Did you notice, when ex-wife Ji-su was speaking to Young-woo, what was behind Ji-su?

It was a poster about women’s health. I can’t read Korean, but I did notice the small pink graphic of a set of ovaries.

(Nothing like that will ever get past a mama.)

That shot almost certainly was not an accident.

Part of Ji-su’s sadness is likely not having a family with Attorney Jung. Yet she cared enough for him to fly down from Seoul to Jeju. And is concerned enough about his health to want him to have an earlier surgery.

Despite their break-up – there’s still love and caring.

Despite Young-woo’s and Jun-ho’s break-up – there’s still love and caring.

And, I think by including that poster in that shot, it gives us something to chew on. Young-woo, right now, is thinking she’s not deserving of love because she’ll leave her lover lonely in his caretaking of her.

But I think – in the most subtle, gorgeous way possible – the writers have left us asking: can Young-woo deserve love and family of her own?

We all know that answer.

All of this! We will find out next week, but from where we stand at the end of ep 14 I'm absolutely convinced this is just a bump in the road for Young Woo and Jun Ho, and that part of the point of the last couple episodes was to lead Young Woo and Jun Ho to a place where they make better choices for themselves and each other than people around them have (not only Atty Jung, but also Young Woo's parents, and others). I don't think the writing has gone off the rails the way a lot of folks seem to. All of the signs are there that Young Woo is poised to come into her own both professionally and personally. It'll be a matter of embracing who she is and what she wants instead of internalizing all of the messages she's getting about what kind of lawyer she should be and what kind of future she deserves and can build with a partner. That last part I think is especially key, because right now in her personal life she's at a low point in thinking she can only be a burden to Jun Ho, and next week looks like a potential professional low as well, like we saw in eps 3-4. Both because the paces story is going through point in this direction but also because this is a staple of kdrama storytelling conventions, I think this is very a darkest before the dawn moment for our Young Woo and our whale couple.

nocturnalhunger

A fun detail about the Nakjo sunset scene! When Junho starts telling Youngwoo how he wants her by his side, suddenly hundreds of tiny dolphins begin dancing atop the glistening sea !!

#extraordinary attorney woo

Omg THIS SHOW

myfavoritelatte

Fun fact: Both cases from episode 11 and 12 were actual Korean law suits

(And yes-even the part where Woo’s client died in a car crash actually happened-the money was inherited by the man’s kids, but since they were too young the wife oversaw the money plus she earned money due to costly insurance the man registered prior his death…so karma, I guess?)

I wondered about this and wow, my goodness. Life really is stranger than fiction sometimes.