'Extraordinary Attorney Woo's' take on autism spectrum becomes sensation

Actress Park Eun-bin plays the title role in ENA's series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," which has become very popular recently. Courtesy of AStory, KT Studio Genie

Popular drama takes 'open-hearted approach' to people with disabilities

By Lee Gyu-lee

Autism spectrum characters have popped up in Korean dramas or films once in a while. Yet, it seemed very rare for those characters to become the center of the show's spotlight, as they are rather placed in minor or supporting roles.

However, the recent series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo," not only challenged such notions by having a lawyer on the autism spectrum as the lead character, but it also has proved that it can hit the right note and become a sensational series.

Local cable network ENA's legal series, which also streams on Netflix, revolves around a character named Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin), who is a genius but autistic newbie at a top law firm. Starting her first job after graduating from a prestigious law school at the top of her class, Woo tackles challenges and prejudice in and beyond the courtroom with the help of the firm's co-workers, including paralegal Lee Jun-ho (Kang Tae-oh) and senior lawyer Jung Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young).

The 16-part series kicked off with a 0.9-percent viewership rating on June 29, but soon became the talk of the town with its rating skyrocketing to 9.6 percent in only six episodes, last week.

The heartfelt series topped Netflix's official non-English Top 10 chart in the following week of its premiere, recording almost 24 million hours of viewing. Its production company, AStory, revealed last week that it is reviewing a proposal for a remake in the U.S.

The series is also set to be made into a webcomic and released globally in four languages: Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik explained that the series has the whole package ― from the characters to the plotline ― to garner popularity, on top of the uniqueness of a main character on the autism spectrum.

"(The series) built a storyline as a legal drama ― considered one of two major genres for success along with medical dramas ― from a female-centric perspective. And it presents a socially valuable character who has a disability. And this character, unlike previously portrayed ones (in the media), is not only charming and adorable, but also has a perspective that even people without disabilities can empathize with," he told The Korea Times.

"The lead character is not like any other characters people have seen before. The autism spectrum provides the series with uniqueness and distinctiveness. It's not easy to create (a story) that seems familiar but is not. Yet, the series accomplished this and that's what makes it different," Kim said.

A scene from the series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of AStory, KT Studio Genie

In each episode, Woo comes across different lawsuits, and she finds creative, extraordinary ways to work around the cases.

The series invites the viewers into Woo's quirky but lovely world, filled with people who care for her as well as the CGIs of her favorite, comfort animal, a whale, floating around the scenes. She constantly faces obstacles and prejudice despite her talent as a lawyer, but manages to take steps forward to grow into a better attorney.

Moon Ji-won, the creator and writer of the series, shared that she wanted to take viewers on a journey to get to know the "extraordinary Woo Young-woo."

"We usually refer to those, who are atypical, unfamiliar, unique, peculiar, uncanny, random, odd and outside-the-box, as extraordinary. Those people can stir tensions and sometimes cause trouble. But they also can change and enrich our world, and make it a more interesting place to live," she said in an interview released through the network. "I hope, through the series, that people can experience the extraordinary energy that such extraordinary people have."

Critic Kim noted that such a feel-good series met the audiences' needs amid the current content market filled with blockbuster, dark and dynamic genres.

"The series is a coming-of-age story and overall, it is filled with an optimistic, heartfelt human story rather than negative views," he said.

Series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" topped Netflix's official non-English Top 10 chart in the first week of July. Courtesy of AStory, KT Studio Genie

One series viewer, surnamed Jung, 29, expressed that the series' healing, heartwarming story is the reason she follows the drama.

"The recent series I've watched were usually hard-hitting and often portrayed people's twisted desires and social injustices. That's what makes them interesting and intriguing but it also puts emotional stress on you," she said.

"But 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' doesn't have any of that. And in the cases that lead the story, there's no absolute evil. Each person has their reasons and stories that led to the case, which I could resonate with and makes it easy to watch," she said.

Despite the series' sensational popularity, some people raised concerns about its portrayal of a person on the autism spectrum, pointing out that the story's unrealistic features, like the character's stellar career and abilities in the courtroom, fall short of realistic autistic representation.

Critic Kim, who has years of experience acting as a consultant in making films and series that help raise awareness of disabilities, said that such criticism is needed for the media to move forward in improving representation of people with disabilities.

"There will always be criticism no matter how realistic disabled people's lives are portrayed. Even disabled people have different views on disability. So what we should do is to find a common ground," he said. "If it's too close to reality, the issue is that non-disabled people would not watch it. Then it's impossible to raise awareness … the priority of a fictional drama is that, although it is based on reality, it needs to have a form of art that makes more people watch it. And what's important here is that we continue to criticize the minor mishaps in that process and take actions to revise and correct them," Kim said.

A scene from the series, "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" / Courtesy of AStory, KT Studio Genie

Adding that "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" focuses on making autism familiar to the public, Kim noted that the series takes a rather more open-hearted approach to depicting the realities of people with disabilities.

"The important thing is not how difficult disabled people's lives are in reality. It's important to show how they have changed and how people are trying to change while the social infrastructure and circumstances interfere," he said. "This series puts the focus on depicting diverse cases of such realities"

He lastly added that the series' success is very meaningful, as it has set an example for the further representation of people with disabilities in the media.

"There has been almost no series that delicately portrayed a disabled person expressing their own opinion and thoughts (in Korea). So I think this in itself has an enormous meaning: the fact that you can have a character with a disability and still get a successful response both in the country and abroad," he said.