Strong Girl Bong-soon/Trivia


 * Acting for Two: Kim Won-hae as both the cowardly gangster Kim Gwang-bok and the Camp Gay AINSoft manager Oh Dol-ppyeo (AKA "Gristle").


 * The Cameo:
 * "Charles Go", an MBA consultant brought in by Baek Tak to advise the gang on how to defeat Bong-soon, is played by famous Korean actor/singer Yoon Sang Hyun.
 * Comedian Kwon Hyuk Soo as the allegedly Indian Buddhist monk Nizamuddin from episode 12 and onward.
 * Several other minor characters, including the fortune-teller/medium, the rude driver from episode 6 and the voice-phishing specialist in episode 8, are also cameo appearances of well-known (in South Korea, at least) performers. Actor Song Won-Geun does an As Himself cameo in one episode as well.
 * Many of these performers are part of a loosely-affiliated Production Posse with the show's director.


 * Genius Bonus: In episode 5, an Italian aria plays under Secretary Gong's expressions of shock and despair when Min-hyeok instructs him to privately settle his differences with Bong-soon (who accidentally put him in the hospital for four episodes) in a separate room.  The aria is "Lascio ch'io pianga" by Handel, which is about despair and sadness.  Averted in the Rakuten VIKI version's subtitles, which "helpfully" identify the aria and its themes for you.  And if you're going "what aria?", you were probably watching the Netflix version, which replaced the aria with generic instrumental rock.


 * Product Placement: Unashamedly so, with a dozen or so companies -- perhaps most prominently Royce' chocolate and NCSoft -- getting on-screen time and banner ads as part of the closing credits.  An intriguing exception is automobiles -- the police cars are clearly late-model Hyundais with the Hyundai logo blacked out.


 * Scully Box: Given that Park Bo-young is almost a foot shorter than Park Hyung-sik (Min-hyeok), there are multiple scenes where it's obvious one must be in use.  (And just as many where he practically bends double just to kiss her on the forehead.)


 * Series Continuity Error: When Bong-soon walks away from saving the bus in the very first sequence of the first episode, she is calm and her sneakers are intact and spotless.  When we see the same moment from her point of view some ten or so episodes later, she's frantic because her sneakers have had their soles destroyed by the friction they suffered while stopping the bus.


 * Shout-Out:
 * Team Leader Yook is a huge fan of the 1972-1989 Korean police drama Chief Inspector, and makes frequent references to it, often using it as a guide to how he runs Violent Crimes Team 3.
 * In episode 11, "Gristle" makes an Incredibly Lame Pun on "alien" and "Lee Kye-in", the star of Chief Inspector, suggesting that Chief Inspector has some level of Author Appeal for someone on the production staff.
 * In episode 4, Bong-soon hoists Min-hyeok into her arms and carries him away from a shooting; it's Played for Laughs when things suddenly go into slow motion and the soundtrack breaks into Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard -- whose most prominent promotional image was Kevin Costner carrying Houston in the exact same manner.
 * In several episodes, Team Leader Yook refers to Bong-soon as "Avengers Lady" -- at first because the gangsters accused her of beating them up, and later because he learns she really does have super strength.
 * Episode 6 has several:
 * Among the possible masks the Guk-doo's police colleagues offer to Gyeong-shim in an attempt to identify the one the kidnapper wears is a Guy Fawkes mask.
 * While drunk off his ass, Guk-doo compares himself to Cinderella.
 * Min-hyeok later compares Bong-soon to King Kong (and himself to Anne Darrow).
 * Subverted when Min-hyeok offers to help Bong-soon train and turn her into another "Xena"; he's not referencing Xena: Warrior Princess, but the lead character from AINSoft's flagship game The Chronicle of Albertan, who is also the company mascot.
 * Episode 7 opens with an Imagine Spot/dream reproducing the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet which turns into a tragicomic nightmare. Episode 10 repeats the setting for a different dream, that ends with an Almost Kiss between Bong-soon!Juliet and Min-hyeok!Romeo.  Episode 11 has yet another Romeo and Juliet dream, only with two Romeos (Min-hyeok and Guk-doo) fighting over who's the "real" Romeo and "Gristle" trying to cut Juliet out of the action entirely.  Bong-soon's subconscious is apparently quite confused about things.
 * The kidnapper is very clearly influenced by (and possibly sexually aroused by) the story of Bluebeard.
 * In episode 8, while walking with Bong-soon along a river, Min-hyeok mentions When Harry Met Sally... and its famous line about women and men not being able to be friends -- as a prelude to telling her both that Guk-doo isn't really her friend, and, in a roundabout way, that he himself is romantically interested in her.
 * At the start of the fight which opens episode 9, Bong-soon recreates a Pre-Ass-Kicking Moment from a 2013 Korean action movie called New World.
 * The moment during the fight in episode 9 when Bong-soon flips her hood up over her head seems to echo the look of Bruce Willis in his poncho in Unbreakable.
 * In episode 16, Min-hyeok mentions that he's seen the anime 5 Centimeters Per Second just before he proposes to Bong-soon in a veritable storm of Cherry Blossoms.


 * Standard Snippet: Bong-soon's first day on the Planning and Development Team in episode 10 is hailed by banners, streamers and "Pomp and Circumstance" -- the latter both sung by Secretary Gong and played on the soundtrack.


 * Timeshifted Actor: Several, as we have more than a few flashbacks to both Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's childhood years:
 * Go Na-hee as young Do Bong-soon
 * Lee Hyo-dan as young Do Bong-gi
 * Choi Min-young as young In Guk-doo
 * Choi Seung-hoon as young Ahn Min-hyeok
 * And the young actors portraying Min-hyeok's half-brothers as boys.
 * However, Bong-soon, Guk-doo and Min-hyeok at high school age are played by their "adult" actors.


 * Trans-Pacific Equivalent: For a while an American version -- to be called just Strong Girl -- was in development for broadcast on The CW, starring professional wrestler, actress, author, mixed martial artist and judoka Ronda Rousey.  The chances of a faithful adaptation were slim.  However, the network declined to fund a Pilot based on the script.