Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is a hilarious rom-com, with an undertone of gender issues. The show has the usual k-drama tropes; the “rich and good looking” chaebol heir, his antagonistic family, the sassy female lead, the love triangle, and the “boy gets the girl story” after overcoming difficulties and obstacles. However, surprisingly “ Strong Woman Bong Soon” was able to deliver a fairly impactful storyline and sociocultural critiques about issues in South-Korean society also.

Do Bong Soon (Park Bo Young) is a woman born with superhuman strength. A hereditary ability running through the matriarch line of her family, it can only be used for good or she can lose her strength forever like her mother ( Shim Hye Jin) did. Despite her abilities, Bong Soon adores her father ( Yoo Jae Myung) who is a gentle warm character, and her twin brother, Do Bong Ki ( Ahn Woo Yeon) , who works as a doctor in a hospital. However, our heroine often struggles to tie down a job as well as desperately yearning to be a game developer .

There are two other men in her life. One is her childhood friend, Guk Doo , a stern police detective played by Ji Soo who has been her long-held secret crush since their teen years . Also she hides her strength around him, since he claims to have a soft spot for tiny, fragile women, just like Bong Soo seems to be at first glance. The other man who enters later into her life is Ahn Min Hyuk (Park Hyung Sik) the baby-faced CEO of AINSOFTware, a gaming company. One day he witnesses Bong Soon's superpowers against a group of gangsters, and he hires her to be his personal bodyguard to protect him against an anonymous caller, who has been making death threats against him. At the same time a serial kidnapper starts taking tiny, fragile women off the streets as Bong Soon soon finds herself finally using her powers for good by trying to hunt down this mysterious criminal .


Written by screenwriter Baek Mi Kyung, “ Strong Woman Do Bong Soon” is a fairly mixed blend of slapstick comedy, old fashioned romance ( with various successful and questionable effects) and a refreshing look at gender roles and sexism . The series does not sugarcoat delivering criticism towards chauvinism associated with the South- Korean Patriarchy: the police office, the youth gang, the gangster mob in the local vicinity , and the patriarch of the chaebol's family, are all absurdly dysfunctional and over-the-top to highlight notable critiques of gender roles within South-Korean society .

Park Bo Young was undeniably a delight as the petite super-strong female lead with line deliverances that were pure comical gold in a similar manner to costar Park Hyung Sik. As a character, Bong Soon was fairly intriguing by challenging traditional gender stereotypes, however, she wasn’t inherently a perfectly-written character either due to often being a little boorish and fractious at times ( especially with her treatment surrounding Ahn Min Hyuk early on in the series) which may annoy viewers in the beginning. However, Bong Soon does grow as a character by learning to mature , respectful herself as an individual as well as develop an endearing romantic relationship with Min Hyuk.

Similarly, Ahn Min Hyuk isn’t without his faults either. He is often slightly naive, sarcastic and equally fractious as Bong Soon. Nevertheless, Min Hyuk is given an equivocal chance like Bong Soon to grow as a character from seemingly shallow at times, towards having a more complicated familial scenario and circumstances.

The side characters can be a bit of a mixed-bag especially in regards to the second male lead and Bong Soon’s mother. Admittedly, Guk Doo does become inherently more respectful towards Bong Soon as the series progresses, however, his early treatment of the main heroine by putting her down often from her physical appearance and emotionally flaring up in her face at times did become slightly irksome. In a similar manner to Guk Doo, Bong Soon’s mother was equally frustrating at times by her problematic treatment towards her own daughter. Whilst the circumstances were suggested and put forwards to some extent for viewers , her overall relationship development with her own daughter seemed slightly lacklustre.

In addition to this, it is arguable that the ending was a little anticlimactic as well as finally putting a stop to the seemingly “ unstoppable killer” did feel a little disappointing . Nevertheless, “ Strong Woman Do Bong Soon” may not have been flawless within its delivered problems of characterisation and comedy ( at times), but it was inherently a lighthearted fantasy, romance tale with intriguing characters, a fairly well-written heroine and romantic pairing as well as prominent messages and critiques towards gender in South-Korean society.