Strong Girl Bong-soon: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

[[File:Strong Girl Bong-soon English Title Card.jpg|thumb|400px]]

 

Unemployed 27-year-old Do Bong-soon is the latest recipient of a mystic gift of [[Super Strength|profound strength]] which has been passed down in her family from mother to daughter for generations. This gift of strength comes with [[Kryptonite Factor|a catch]], though -- if it's misused (specifically, [[Never Hurt an Innocent|if an innocent is harmed with its use]]), it will desert the recipient. Her mother misused her strength and lost it, so Bong-soon is ''very'' cautious about using hers -- but when she does, she can flip automobiles over effortlessly or send large men flying hundreds of feet with a single blow. Of late, though, she has been having trouble controlling her strength, giving her no small amount of concern and even more reason to be cautious in its use.

Despite her gift, though, she has no particular urge to go out and use it for anything. Instead, her dream is to become a video game programmer and to create a game with a main character based on herself. She also desperately wants to become a tall, willowy and elegant woman, which is the ideal physical type of her long-time crush, In Guk-doo. Guk-doo, an abrasive young police officer recently <s>exiled</s> reassigned to Violent Crimes Team 3 at the neighborhood police station, has been a friend of hers since high school, but is unaware that she's been pining for him for years; instead, he seems to regard her as an annoying, trouble-prone little sister.

 

 

Not long afterward, a murder and a series of kidnappings strike [[w:Dobong-dong|Dobong-dong]], the Seoul neighborhood in which Bong-soon lives. And when her best friend Na Gyeong-shim is attacked by the kidnapper, Bong-soon becomes determined to catch the culprit. With help and training from Min-hyeok, she manages to gain control over her strength again. And soon, Min-hyeok and Bong-soon find themselves and their relationship growing into something more -- as the kidnapper turns his attention to her.

** Three episodes later, there's an Almost Kiss between Bong-soon and Min-hyeok as she's drying his hair after washing it in his hospital room. ([[It Makes Sense in Context]].) Min-hyeok stops it when he realizes that Bong-soon is about to kiss him only because ''he'' wants it, not because ''she'' wants it.

** Another happens in episode 12. In a private moment Min-hyeok leans in with obvious intent to kiss her, and then grins and kisses her on the forehead instead. However this one is after they've gone well beyond "almost" several times already.

* [[Always Someone Better]]: Min-hyeok and Guk-doo are this to ''each other'', as seen in episode 6 -- Min-hyeok demolishes Guk-doo at pool, and Guk-doo takes him to the cleaners in darts.

* [[Amateur Sleuth]]: Bong-soon's determination to find the kidnapper makes her one in purpose if not necessarily in skills.

* [[The Bluebeard]]: Judging by his [[Perverse Sexual Lust|almost sexual enjoyment]] of a play called ''[[Bluebeard|The Seven Wives of Bluebeard]]'' in episode 7 -- and his own earlier declaration to one of his victims that he intends to collect seven "brides" -- the kidnapper clearly partakes of this trope.

* [[Bluff the Impostor]]: In episode 12, after several text message exchanges with Gyeong-shim [[Not Himself|sound wrong]] to Bong-soon, she asks the person on the other end how "Wild Soybean" (Gyeong-shim's dog, who died the year before) is. When the other person says "fine", she knows that Gyeong-shim's been taken by the kidnapper.

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: Demonstrated by the kidnapper several times, including an instance in episode 14 where all he accomplishes with his dramatic and sadistic gesture is {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|undoing the clever gambit that deprived Bong-soon of her super-strength an episode earlier]]}}.

* [[Brand X]]: AINSoft is [[NCSoft]] with the serial numbers filed off. The AINSoft office scenes are actually filmed in NCSoft's offices in Seoul, and NCSoft has a [[Product Placement]] deal with the production; the screenshots we see of AINSoft's flagship game ''The Chronicle of Albertan'' are actually from ''[[Lineage Red Knights]]'', an NCSoft product.

** Episode 13 ends with Bong-soon unconscious after {{spoiler|losing her strength}} and the kidnapper having driven off the road and into a lake.

* [[Cold Sniper]]: {{spoiler|When arranging to be smuggled out of Korea in episode 15, Kim Jang-hyun also buys a Soviet-vintage Russian sniper rifle with the obvious intent of shooting Bong-soon before he goes. And he does get off one shot at her when they force him into a confrontation.}}

* [[Comes Great Responsibility]]: This is built into the gift of strength, which will desert its recipient if they misuse it.

** In episode 8, Bong-soon makes the conscious and deliberate decision to actively use her strength to help people instead of trying to ignore it and live her life quietly, reasoning that this is why it was given to her family in the first place. {{spoiler|And by the end of episode 16, she's actually become Seoul's resident superhero.}}

* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Seems to be averted throughout the series -- however many of them there are, the [[Mooks]] all seem to fight at about the same level. Which is to say, they quickly get their clocks cleaned by Bong-soon.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Strongly implied of Min-hyeok's father. Explicitly stated of his business associate, the gangster boss Baek Tak.

* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Guk-doo increasingly becomes one the more times the kidnapper strikes, especially after Bong-soon foils the first attempt to take Gyeong-shim. He may always have been something of one, though; his reassignment to Violent Crimes Team 3 at the start of the series is implied to be in some way punitive.

* [[Crime-Time Soap]]: Sometimes wanders into this territory, but the police are always of secondary importance to Bong-soon.

* [[Diary]]: In episode 10, Grandma shows up with a stack of journals, containing the personally-written accounts of many generations of the family's strong women, for Bong-soon to read and begin contributing to. (True to form, Bong-soon's mother only wrote two lines before deciding it was too much trouble.) Bong-soon adds her own contributions starting in episode 16.

* [[Did Not Get the Girl]]: Well, that's what happens when you're oblivious ''and'' an ass to her for nigh unto 15 years, and only after she meets another guy do you realize your own feelings, Guk-doo.

* [[Distant Prologue]]: The first episode begins with a scene of Min-hyeok on a bus that has abruptly stopped after careening out of control on an overpass; sitting in the rearmost seat, he watches out the window as a girl in a pink hoodie (Bong-soon, of course) lets go of the bus and walks away. We find out later that this took place about a decade before than the rest of the series.

* [[The Ditz]]: All of Bong-soon's teenage "minions" give off this vibe. They seem remarkably hard-of-thinking at times.

* [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]]: There's a strong subcurrent of this in Bong-soon's tearful speech [[Calling the Old Man Out|calling her mother out for her treatment]] in episode 7.

* [[Duel to the Death]]: Baek Tak insists his men battle Bong-soon in this way in the ambush he's planning in episode 8.

* [[Eloquent in My Native Tongue]]: Seen from the other side with Bong-soon's attempts to use English words and phrases, and usually mangling them.

* [[Equivalent Exchange]]: In episode 14, Bong-soon's mother explains that while the girls of the family have super-strength, the boys tend to be weak and sickly. (And that's why she favored Bong-gi over Bong-soon, because she felt he ''needed'' it.)

* [[Hopeless Suitor]]: Once he actually figures out his feelings for Bong-soon, Guk-doo is too late to do anything about them -- but he tries.

* [[Horrendous Home Remedy]]: Bong-soon's family has a guaranteed cure that's been handed down from mother to daughter from time immemorial: "poop liquor" -- an alcoholic beverage made from ''fermented shit''. Amazingly -- or maybe not, given how much [[Functional Magic]] there is in the series -- it actually seems to work on everything including physical injuries.

* [[Human Aliens]]: Bong-soon claims to be one in episode 11 in order to mess with "Gristle"'s head.

* [[I Have Your Wife|I Have Your Mother]]: At the end of episode 8, Baek Tak lures Bong-soon into an ambush by faking the kidnapping of her mother (who is out of town).

* [[It's Personal]]: When his friends Bong-soon and Gyeong-shim become targets of the kidnapper, Guk-doo's professionalism as a cop (never strong to begin with) begins to erode somewhat.

** Conversely, Kim Jang-hyun takes Bong-soon's interference in Gyeong-shim's abduction ''very'' personally, making it a point to go back after Gyeong-shim and use her to lure Bong-soon into a trap. And after Bong-soon forces him to abandon his underground lair, frees the girls he's been holding there (other than Gyeong-shim to her despair) and makes him the target of a nationwide manhunt, all he cares about is tormenting and destroying her.

* [[Jerkass]]: Both Guk-doo and Min-hyeok come across this way, but while Guk-doo is genuinely abrasive with most people (and really a monumental ass towards Bong-soon much of the time), it's just protective coloration for Min-hyeok.

** Even when Guk-doo figures out that he's in love with Bong-soon, he still can't quite shed all his Jerkass ways -- in episode 11 police business forces him to [[Stood Up|bail on a meeting with Bong-soon]] where he was going to confess his feelings, just a minute before she arrived. At no point in the ensuing few hours did he call her to tell her ''why'' she got stood up even though it's pretty clear he had at least a few free minutes to do so.

** Guk-doo when he discovers critical evidence that can link Kim Jang-hyun to the kidnappings -- ''after'' he's just [[Police Brutality|illegally assaulted him]]. On video.

** In episode 14, Bong-soon and Min-hyeok when they realize they accidentally based the villain for her video game on Secretary Gong.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Bong-soon looks to be college-age or maybe even younger (there are moments one could swear she was 14). She's actually 27. (Her twin brother Bong-gi is a practicing doctor.)

* [[Ominous Multiple Screens]]: The kidnapper has a wall of video screens in his lair, all hooked up [[Big Brother Is Watching|to cameras he's planted around the neighborhood -- and even in the office of the police group trying to catch him.]]

* [[Relationship Upgrade]]: Bong-soon and Min-hyeok in episode 11.

* [[Repeat Cut]]: Occasionally used to emphasize the importance of a moment, such as when Min-hyeok kisses Bong-soon on the forehead in episode 12 -- and the start and end of the kiss each get their own repeat cut. An interesting variation is seen in the very first episode, when Bong-soon makes a solo [[Power Walk]] away from the thugs she's just demolished, and the [[Split Screen|screen splits]] with each cut, each panel having a different level of close-up on her.

* [[Revenge]]: The kidnapper takes Bong-soon's interference in his first attempt to abduct Gyeong-shim [[It's Personal|''very'' personally]] -- and goes out of his way to "punish" her for it. He also targets Hee-ji not just because she fits his target "type", but also specifically to get back at Guk-doo.

* [[Right Behind Me]]: In episode 5, Secretary Gong is cataloging the damage Bong-soon did to the thugs from the first episode, all but saying how much of a monster she is (and how he got off easy with only a damaged tailbone) -- while Min-hyeok is desperately trying to warn him that Bong-soon is in the room with them, hiding under a desk. He only stops when she comes out.

* [[Romantic Comedy]]: Much of Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's early relationship plays out this way.

* [[Ronin]]: Bong-soon is the Korean equivalent of the modern version, having failed the entrance exams to get into ''any'' college because she spent her entire senior year of high school focusing on the school's knitting club and (very slowly) making a scarf for Guk-doo.

* [[Running Gag]]: Bong-soon, regarding "Gristle", keeps asking, "Are you sure he doesn't have a twin?"

* [[Scenery Censor]]: We cannot see at first how badly Min-hyeok is wounded when he gets stabbed in episode 9 because of the (in)convenient placement of a chair between him and the camera.

* [[Taking the Bullet]]: In episode 9, Min-hyeok interposes himself between Bong-soon and a thug attempting to knife her in the back, and takes the stab wound himself.

* [[Teach Me How to Fight]]: Something like this is in play when the delinquents whom Bong-soon has cowed beg her to be their master in episode 4.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: Putting your face within a foot or so of {{spoiler|Bong-soon and Min-hyeok's twin infant daughters}}. You're just ''asking'' for a knock-down and a black eye.

* [[Testosterone Poisoning]]: Seen in action with Min-hyeok and Guk-doo's extended dick-waving contest in episode 6.

* [[This Is Reality]]: Inverted during Secretary Gong's rant about Bong-soon in episode 5 -- he says, "How can she be so strong? Is this reality?"

* [[Three-Point Landing]]: In the final moments of episode 16, Bong-soon leaps off the top of the AINSoft building -- thirteen stories up -- and lands in the street below in this posture.

* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Guk-doo, who doesn't realize he's in love with Bong-soon until she's given up on her [[Unrequited Love]] for him and moved on.

* [[Unrequited Love Lasts Forever]]: Averted. Bong-soon gives up on Guk-doo after longing for him for almost half her life.

* [[Unskilled but Strong]]: Bong-soon, at least at the start of the series.

** Averted utterly by her grandmother, who has both the gift of strength ''and'' martial arts training.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Pages Original to All The Tropes]]

[[Category:Korean Drama]]

[[Category:Dramatic Hour Long]]

[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]