Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우) is a Korean legal series that revolves around a lawyer with an autism spectrum disorder. The story follows her journey as she steps into one of the biggest law firms, taking up cases that she resolves in her own peculiar way. The Korean drama is directed by Yoo In-shik and written by Moon Ji-won, starring Park Eun-bin, Kang Tae-oh, Kang Ki-young, Baek Ji-won, alongside other cast members. The 16 episodes show premiered on June 29, 2022, and releases new episodes every Wednesday and Thursday at 9 pm KST. Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 has a run time of 77 minutes.
Netflix describes this Korean series as:
Brilliant attorney Woo Young-woo tackles challenges in the courtroom and beyond as a newbie at a top law firm and a woman on the autism spectrum.
-Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 starts off by introducing our protagonist- Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin) who has been diagnosed with autism right at the beginning of the show. As the father and daughter return from their doctor’s visit, the building owner of the house they live in charges straight at the father and accuses him of wooing his wife. However, upon witnessing the violence around her, Woo Young-woo panics and speaks out about the criminal law articles she had read in her father’s law books. Her father is surprised and happy as this is the first time that she has spoken out loud. He is further stunned when she recalls articles from the criminal law books.
We then see a time skip and here enters our fully grown and peculiar protagonist who seems to have an obsession with whales. As she prepares for her first day at the Hanabada law firm where she will be working as an attorney. She then heads to her father’s gimbap restaurant and asks for a Woo Young-woo gimbap as she calls gimbap a safe food with no surprises. Her father asks her questions about how to reach her office while he forbids her to talk about whales.
On her way to work, we see her way of handling crowds is by listening to whale sounds. She soon makes her way to the building and faces her first challenge- the revolving door. She is unable to use it, however, a stranger (Kang Tae-oh) comes to her rescue and later takes her to attorney Jung Myeok-seok’s (Kang Ki-young) office. She enters the office and introduces herself to the attorney after he asks her who she is. He is unaware of it being her joining day and pulls out her resume from the drawer. Woo Young-woo then tells him that the resume should have two sheets and then tells him that the second page has her autism spectrum disorder written on it.
He is surprised but asks her if she had something else to add to it. She looks toward her colleague Choi Soo-yeon (Ha Yoon-kyung) who shakes her head asking her to not say anything weird. But, our protagonist is unable to hold herself back and gives a funny introduction to the three this time. Attorney Jung Myeok-seok leaves with her resume after which Choi Soo-yeon comes to her telling her that she wasn’t supposed to say weird things. Another Kwon Min-woo (Joo Jong-hyuk) who is also in the room questions how they know each other and finds out that they had gone to the same law college.
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The scene shifts to the CEO’s office where Jung Myeok-seok has gone to ask about the new attorney and the missing sheet from the resume. When he asks why she has hired someone with autism, she says that it would have made him overlook the accomplishments that she has made written on the first page. She couldn’t let go of talent and thus hired Woo Young-woo. He rebukes saying that social skills are important for an attorney and one can score easily by memorizing for the exams. They soon concluded the argument by making a bet, where Jung Myeok-seok will assign her a case to see her qualifications as an attorney. If she fails then the CEO is to let go of Woo Young-woo.
We are back in Jung Myeok-seok’s office where he assigns Woo Young-woo a criminal case where the wife in her seventies had hit her husband who is in her eighties with dementia, Park Gyu-sik, with an iron box. While Woo Young-woo goes through the files, she sees the picture of the iron box and goes off-topic as she finds the shape of the iron box resembling a sperm whale. She soon starts to go on about facts about a sperm whale but soon Jung Myeok-seok stops her and tells her to focus on the case.
We the scene of the case they are studying and how the incident went on to be. The husband seems to unreasonably accuse his wife of flirting with other men and the argument soon escalates to the wife picking up the iron box to hit her husband in frustration. However, the woman soon realizes that her husband has fainted and calls for an ambulance.
Jung Myeok-seok, after explaining the incident, tells Woo Young-woo that the woman has been charged with attempted murder. Woo Young-woo repeats his words, which she had been doing since he began explaining the case. She apologizes and tells him that she was using echolalia which is common among autistic people, while once again distracting herself and explaining what it is. He tells her to stop with the echolalia as he continues with the case and tells her that the prosecution has asked to put that woman on probation. They then go to meet the woman.
Upon meeting the woman, Woo Young-woo tells her that she was once a tenant in the building her husband owns, and soon the woman realizes who she is. Delighted, the woman tries to talk about her and hug her but is cut off by Woo Young-woo who starts to talk about the case. The discussion soon concludes and Woo Young-woo goes to Jung Myeok-seok with her conclusion on this case. She informs him that this is not a criminal case but a civil case because the woman wouldn’t want to kill her husband as he was the source of income in the household. The pension and the rent from the houses would not be given to her if she were to murder him.
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Jung Myeok-seok is shocked and starts to see Woo Young-woo in a different light and she caught onto something that many missed. He is impressed by her work and apologizes for misunderstanding her, followed by asking her to go to the hospital for a visit. On the other hand, Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-oh) is asked by his colleague to go for a hospital visit with a newbie attorney.
The scene shifts to the entrance and in front of the revolving doors where Lee Jun-ho once again sees Woo Young-woo standing in front of. He asks her if she wants help but she refuses that she is waiting for someone. However, the two remain unaware that they were waiting for each other until Lee Jun-ho gives her a call and they introduce themselves to each other. Lee Jun-ho shows her a solution that can help her use the revolving door and the two soon make their way to the hospital. At the hospital, the two first visit the doctor who tells them that Park Gyu-sik has suffered a cerebral hematoma which is because of the iron box his wife used to hit him. However, there is no damage to the skull.
They then go to meet the couple, but Park Gyu-sik lashes at Woo Young-woo when he recognizes her upon his wife’s reminder. The two leave and meet the woman outside to know about her intentions when she hit her husband. Woo Young-woo tells her that her intentions matter to the case and tries to find out more. The two then return to Jung Myeok-seok’s office and tell him about their visit. Jung Myeok-seok suggests a Jury trial for this case which gets the attention of Choi Soo-yeon and Kwon Min-woo. However, when Woo Young-woo points out that she is in charge of the case, their enthusiasm to be a part of the case falls.
The scene shifts to Choi Soo-yeon leaving work when she sees Woo Young-woo struggling with the door again. She feels frustrated and calls her stupid while helping her out. Woo Young-woo then heads to a restaurant where she meets her friend Dong Geulami (Joo Hyun-young) and asks for her to help practice her speaking skills. They have a fun time while she learns the way of saying “Objection!”
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The next day, Woo Young-woo enters the courtroom for the first time and has a rough start when the trial begins. As the trial continues, Woo Young-woo finds it hard to oppose the prosecution, and day one ends on a bad note. Jung Myeok-seok suggests bringing Park Gyu-sik to the courtroom and having him request the court to not punish his wife. He also assures her that he will do the questioning instead of Woo Young-woo.
However, the next day in court he pushes Woo Young-woo to do the questioning to anger him and show the jury why his wife hit him. The plan succeeds as Park Gyu-sik once again lashes out and attacks her and the trial takes a break while he is sent back to the hospital. When the trial resumes, Woo Young-woo is almost able to prove her case when the news of Park Gyu-sik’s death arrives. The prosecution lawyer takes this as a chance and turns the case from attempted murder to a murder case.
At the funeral, Woo Young-woo tries to comfort the woman but fails to do so due to her autism. The woman only regrets hitting her husband in frustration. Woo Young-woo returns to her office and thinks about the case again when Lee Jun-ho enters and gives her the autopsy report. They then start to talk about how the iron box resembles a sperm whale which piques her attention, and tells her its a miracle that Park Gyu-sik survived an attack from that.Woo Young-woo finds something clicking in her head and she soon makes the connection between Park Gyu-sik’s recurring headache to the cerebral hematoma.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 Ending
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 ends with the next trial where she puts forth this connection while questioning the doctor in charge of Park Gyu-sik’s case. She succeeds in proving that Park Gyu-sik was already suffering from cerebral hematoma before his wife hit him, thus turning this into a civil case. Later, Lee Jun-ho telling Woo Young-woo the results of the trial which came out to be in her favour. He then brings in the woman who gives Woo Young-woo a hug while thanking her. To this, Woo Young-woo no longer holds back and hugs her back, which can be counted as an achievement for our protagonist.
On the other hand, the CEO of Hanabada visits Woo Young-woo’s father, and with this, the episode ends.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 Review
Extraordinary Attorney Woo Episode 1 has been a real entertainer. The cute and funny protagonist that Woo Young-woo is makes this show so different from the legal Korean dramas that we have seen this month. This is a more light legal drama and I am completely up for it! I am satisfied with episode one and want to watch more of Woo Young-woo’s quirkiness and quick-wittedness. Adding to this is the history behind the CEO of a top law firm and the owner of a Gimbap restaurant. The premiere was not one bit disappointing and I cannot wait for more!
Watch it on Netflix.
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