“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” Has Autism Spectrum Disorder

“Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is a 2022 Korean drama TV series, with 16 episodes, categorized as Legal Procedural, Courtroom Drama, Romance, and Comedy (Rom-Com); streaming on Netflix.

• Season 2? Extraordinary Attorney Woo Season 2 | Everything you need to know It has been officially confirmed and S2 is expected to be released in 2024; but the exact release date is still unknown.

SUMMARY: An attorney with autism spectrum disorder is also a genius and gets hired to work at one of the most prestigious law firms in the country. Her “disability” enables her to think outside of the box. Most of her colleagues praise her for her unique approaches to various cases.

♦ She Can Talk AND She’s A Genius?

In “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, we meet Woo Young-Woo as a young child. There is a fight on the street between her father and another person and she blurts out “inflicting bodily harm” and then cites the law that is being violated. Everybody is shocked because nobody knew she could actually speak, let alone quote from a law book. That was when her father realized his daughter was a genius. Woo Young-Woo grew up, attended law school, received top scores, and was offered a position as an attorney at Hanbada. Many of the law firms would not hire her because she was autistic.

• NOTE: “Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave.” (Quote Source: Autism Spectrum Disorder | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH))

On her first day at the job, the Senior Attorney Jung Myeong-Seok asked the CEO, his boss, how was he supposed to work with someone who couldn’t even introduce themselves properly. The CEO told him that he was being biased and discriminating against a person who had a disability. His boss told him to work with her and see if he had any problems with her job performance. After all, Woo Young-Woo graduated at the top of her law school class at Seoul National University. Clearly, she has SPECIAL ABILITIES.

Jung Myeong-Seok assigned her to what he thought was a simple case and to his surprise, her approach toward settling the matter was something he had never thought of. He realized that Woo Young-Woo could see details and specifics that the other attorneys missed. From that day forward, he assigned her cases the same way he would assign them to all of the other attorneys. There were even some cases where she was uniquely qualified to handle the matter. For example, there was a case that involved an autistic young man accused of killing his brother.

♦ Her Professional Life is Great. What About Her Personal Life?

Lee Jun-ho is a legal support staffer who works with Woo Young-Woo. He would also like to become romantically involved with her but does not quite know how to approach her. Instead, he is happy to be her assistant on the various cases because he can at least be close to her. Woo Young-Woo loves to talk about whales so he says she can talk with him during lunchtime. But if she absolutely has to talk about whales, and it’s not lunchtime, he will make an exception.

He also tries to engage her in conversations about other things. One time, she explained to him the difference between what’s in her mind and how other people think. She said that other people have to consider “you and me”. Whereas in her mind it had always just been “only me”. There are no “others” inside of her mind. Lee Jun-Ho told her he appreciated the stories she shared with him because they helped him understand her more.

Of course, Woo Young-Woo did not realize that, at the time, he was saying it because he was interested in having a relationship with her beyond their professional interactions. Later on, however, she would begin to understand her own feelings about being in love. But would they be able to marry and raise children like “normal” people?

Main Characters:

• Woo Young-Woo (played by Park Eun-Bin, “Castaway Diva”, “The King’s Affection”, “The Ghost Detective”)
• Lee Jun-Ho (played by Kang Tae-Oh, “The Tale of Nokdu”)
• Jung Myeong-Seok (played by Kang Ki-Young, “Queen of Divorce”, “The Uncanny Counter 2”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 8.6 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.9 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 9.6 out of 10 stars
• CommonSenseMedia: 4 out of 5 stars
• Google users shared a public rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as Common Sense Media.

Despite some criticisms from people in the autism community, this series gets high marks for everything. The performances by the actors and actresses, the interesting storyline, the various cases explored and explained, etc. OK. The OST (original soundtrack) wasn’t that memorable. Also, the references to whales and their analogous applications were very educational. I’m excited about Season 2.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

An autistic person’s review of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” | The Peak

A Review of the Netflix Series Extraordinary Attorney Woo | Autism Spectrum News

K-Drama Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo | Greysuitcase

‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ comes to an end, but the series has made a mark | Korea JoongAng Daily

Netflix: 5 Things We Loved About ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ | Tatler Asia

TRAILER/TEASER:

Netflix K-Content,. “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” YouTube, 23 June 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxeXECe2t-c.