Tired of the unrelenting grimness of American entertainment in the 21st century? So am I.
The last place I would have ever expected to find an antidote is South Korea – especially after the Academy Award winning nightmare that was “Parasite.” Nevertheless, that’s exactly what’s happened. “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is the sunniest, sweetest, most humane television series I have encountered in a long, long, LONG while.
The premise has Woo Young-woo, a brilliant rookie attorney with autism spectrum disorder, enter a major firm in Seoul. Her forthright manner and character quirks are at first disconcerting to her colleagues and clients, but Attorney Woo always proves herself to be the smartest person in the room. She’s endearing in her guilelessness, funny and painful in her obliviousness to social cues, and loveable to her core. Furthermore, she is obsessed with whales, and prone to launch into spontaneous soliloquies about them. Every episode contains an “aha” moment, when suddenly she’s struck by a winning insight into a particularly sticky case. Her hair blows back from her face, the epiphany captured in euphoric slow-mo, as the camera glides over her shoulder to metaphoric visions of dolphins playing and whales breaching.
I’m not sure how the autism community has reacted to this show, but I think it’s great. It’s engagingly written, uniformly well-acted, and beautifully filmed, with lots of light and hope suffusing its world. All the characters are so well-drawn. I love how even the most Machiavellian among them have their redemptive moments.
If you liked the Tony Shalhoub series “Monk,” about the detective with obsessive compulsive disorder, I think you’ll enjoy this. But even more importantly, it will make you feel good about the world and good about people.
Given the premise, you might expect it to inspire some reflection on the challenges of living with autism. But the show is also revelatory in that it demonstrates that life, law, and love in Seoul function much the same as they do here. These people could be my neighbors. I WANT them to be my neighbors.
Why do I literally have to search halfway around the globe to find top-quality entertainment with some humanity? From South Korea, no less, which abuts an unstable nuclear power. What do we have to complain about here? We’re neighbors with Canada! And yet, you’d think from our entertainment that the U.S. is the most miserable hell hole on the face of the planet.
If there’s a lesson to be gleaned from Attorney Woo, it’s that the world offers many insights and rewards to those who are able to step outside and approach things from another perspective.
If you have access to Netflix, definitely check this one out. And if there is a choice between dubbed and subtitles, go with the subtitles. The voices and line deliveries are essential to the performances. Every episode is chock full of smiles and tears. But in a good way, not in a sardonic, ironic, bleak, nihilistic way. I’m generally not a “TV” guy, but I have to say, the 16 episodes of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is time well-spent. It’s easily the best thing I’ve seen in the past year.
The inspirational and touching score is by Noh Young-shim. Here’s the show’s opener.
PHOTO: The cast of refreshing “Woo,” enjoying some refreshment