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Small but Mighty

In 16 episodes the romantic superhero k-drama Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon runs the gamut from silly/goofy comedy to serious thriller, all with an unlikely romance between the main characters that slowly builds into a surprisingly and quite wrenching love triangle, so I never knew what to expect -- and I enjoyed that aspect a lot.

Thanks to a secret family legacy, aspiring game developer Do Bong-Soon (Park Bo Young) is blessed from birth with Hulk-like superhuman strength. She's so strong she can basically swat a truck out of her way with one hand, but her gift is also a curse. She has trouble controlling it, and tries to hide it so she can seem more attractive to her schoolgirl crush, police detective In Guk-Doo (Ji Soo). Through a series of mishaps she's hired as a personal bodyguard by Ahn Min-Hyuk (Park Hyung-sik), the extremely attractive yet slightly crazy CEO of a successful gaming company, who has been receiving threats from an unknown assailant. Meanwhile, a masked man begins attacking and kidnapping young women at night in Bong-Soon's neighborhood.

There are a lot of subplots in this series, including what seems to be the prerequisite destiny aspect to the romance. I didn't mind; I like busy stories. As ridiculous as the comedy can be -- much of it is the Korean version of slapstick, just over-the-top -- the kidnapping case and the unlikely romance between Bong-Soon and Min-Hyuk are what kept me on the edge of my seat. Guk-Doo also becomes a much bigger part of the storyline when he forms a love triangle with them, and Bong-Soon is forced to choose between her unrequited and newfound loves. All the while the psycho kidnapper keeps escalating and becoming more and more menacing.

There was a lot to adore about this k-drama. Park Bo Young first wowed me in Doom at Your Service, and she did not disappoint at all in this earlier work. She also had even better chemistry with Park Hyung-sik, who plays his part flawlessly. I'll warn you upfront, you never get tired of looking at Park Hyung-sik; he's absolutely gorgeous. Ji Soo provided an intense alternative hero figure as the cop and Bong-Soon's crush, and without even trying he stole a lot of the scenes he was in, too. I'm going to watch it again soon because it was so much fun. It's no longer available on Netflix, but you can catch it over at Viki.com.

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