Other opinions aside, are we entering an era where the second leads are finally having their moment and are going to get the girl? Strong Girl Nam Soon‘s trailer had us thinking that Shi Oh was the romantic interest of Nam Soon, but now we believe that it might be the one surprise of this two-dimensional show that Hee Sik gets the girl at the end of the story. At least, that is how the relationship between them is developing, along with the hints that Shi Oh is not just gray but perhaps a straight-out villain. On a different note, we came across a term recently that was the ‘born sexy yesterday’ woman. Basically, it is a female character who is extremely intelligent and strong but has no idea of the hardships of the real world, making her appropriately innocent to be considered desirable by the male lead. As we can see, Nam Soon has been written that way, and we are annoyed at a grown woman acting like a child and sounding like one. It is especially bothersome because it was seen that a strong woman could only be likable if she was infantilized. This one thing has immediately made sure that this series will be nowhere close to Strong Girl Nam Soon. We are supposed to move ahead and not fall behind in time, but when it comes to accurately representing women on screen, perhaps that remains too big of an ask. Let us just move on and look at the recap of Strong Girl Nam Soon Episode 2.
Spoiler Alert
Does Geum Ju find out the truth?
Geum Ju is almost sure that Hwa Ja is not her daughter, but she asks her secretary to keep an eye on Hwa Ja until they can be absolutely sure. The secretary plants a microchip on Hwa Ja and hears her conversation with her friends, where she talks about scamming Geum Ju out of her money. However, Hwa Ja believes that the real Nam Soon will come back very soon. Everyone on the show has a feeling about Nam Soon being close, and it makes sense, considering how the preview is hinting that the reunion will happen in the earlier episodes rather than the later ones. Either way, Geum Ju comes to know the truth, but she doesn’t throw Hwa Ja out of the house. The only reason we can understand is that Geum Ju is starving for her daughter, and she is accepting the fake one as a temporary replacement until she finds the real one. But Hwa Ja has perhaps found Nam Soon from the videos of her circulating online. If Geum Ju sees the videos, it is game over for Hwa Ja.
On the other hand, Geum Ju is continuing with her vigilante mission, which she started for the sake of her daughter. She finds the woman she was trying to protect in Strong Girl Nam Soon episode 1, only to see that she has jumped off the roof. The police suspect foul play, and the investigation is underway. Geum Ju also gets into an exclusive club and makes an impression as a rule-breaker. She says she wants to create an equitable world for all, but that earns her laughs from across the room, from everyone except one person, who gives her a card to check out and says that it is where she should go if she actually wants to make a change.
What is the drug investigation?
The tip that the police had received about drugs coming in from Mongolia probably had the wrong flight because it wasn’t anyone on Nam Soon’s flight but Shi Oh who had the drugs. Otherwise, it was the nurse carrying the masks that had the drugs. That is something very potent, and from its description, it sounds more deadly than delusionally creative, so we are not sure what their real purpose is. Shi Oh shows himself as a villain because he uses that drug on himself, and we can’t imagine anyone doing that if they were on the side of the good. Or our speculation in episode 1 was right, and Shi Oh is just crazier than Ahn Min Hyuk had been.
In the police station, Hee Sik is investigating the case, and he not only makes a handsome officer (as Nam Soon says), but he also makes for a beautiful wife (as his disguise was). He finds a man who is one of the contacts of the drug dealers and gets his phone for further proof. The team has also nabbed a huge consignment of drugs that were coming in from overseas, but that is far from what they missed coming in through Shi Oh, though they have yet to discover that. In the meantime, Nam Soon is occupying more and more of Hee Sik’s thoughts.
Does Bong Gu recognize Nam Soon?
Nam Soon was scammed as soon as she landed in Korea. She has nowhere to go and is forced to think on her feet. She sets up something akin to a Mongolian ger in the park near the Han River. That is where she ends up meeting Hyun Soo and Son Saeng, two other homeless people, and the three of them form a friendship where Nam Soon builds another ger for them, and they show her how to survive without money. But the other people don’t take kindly to there being two gers in the park, and the ruckus that is created lands them all in the station, where Nam Soon finally meets Hee Sik again. He helps her by giving her some money and asking her to get a photograph taken so that they can get her another passport, which she needs if she is to find a job.
Throughout this time, as we mentioned before, Hee Sik and Nam Soon get a little closer. He promises to help her find her mother, and he probably already thinks Nam Soon may have something to do with Geum Ju after he sees the news. Also, since Nam Soon learned Korean from an old lady, she doesn’t use honorifics, and that has already placed Hee Sik and her on informal terms. One of Nam Soon’s powers also involves her seeing across distances, and she spots Hee Sik partying in his room, which seems to give her some comfort. As we pointed out, she acts as if she was born yesterday, so she isn’t really keen on looking away from Hee Sik’s private moment, as anybody else would have.
At the end of Strong Girl Nam Soon Episode 2, she goes to Bong Gu’s photo studio to have her photograph taken, and when he sees her, he stops in his tracks. Bong Gu had always said that he would recognize Nam Soon the moment he saw her and that she had Geum Ju’s eyes. If he wasn’t bragging, he should be able to recognize Nam Soon, but that would solve the whole thing immediately, so we need to see what happens next.
Final Thoughts
A love story might not be at the center of this show like it was in Strong Girl Nam Soon. If we are wrong and Shi Oh is actually the real romantic interest of Nam Soon, he needs to make his presence felt in her life a little sooner than this. There isn’t much else to say, and we need to see if the writers can come up with anything that isn’t just about the women’s comedic use of their superhuman strength.
