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One would be living under a gigantic virtual rock if they haven’t heard of the trending K-drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
The beautiful drama starring Park Eun-bin and Kang Tae-oh revolves around a young and competent lawyer, Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin), who has Asperger’s syndrome.
She doesn't let her condition become a hindrance and joins a major law firm where she uses her impressive IQ of 164, fantastic memory, and a creative thought process to solve cases. The K-drama also stars Kang Ki-young, Ha Yun-kyung, Kang Tae-ho and Joo Jong-hyuk in pivotal roles.
The drama has been basking in glorious success and widespread critical acclaim from fans and critics across the world since its release on June 29.
From social-media-inspired content to a potential American remake, when was the last time an ongoing drama generated this kind of conversation, interest and discourse from global audiences?
However, with all the discussions surrounding its heartwarming plot, the drama has portrayed autism in a sensitive manner, which in itself is commendable.
For those unversed, Park Eun-bin’s character Woo Young-woo is a rookie lawyer with autism spectrum disorder also known as ASD.
It has been a while since we have seen an autistic character in a drama and been so endeared by the sincere portrayal of the condition that people have little to no knowledge of, and we are only delighted to share more drama recommendations showcasing sensitive portrayals of autism.
K-dramas that have depicted autism with sincerity and sensitivity feat Its Okay to Not be Okay, Move to Heaven and more
Extraordinary Attorney Woo’s winning success has made audiences sit up and take notice of specially abled people and why they deserve the love, respect and appreciation in our society.
We have picked five K-dramas which aired over the last decade and featured an autistic character who was portrayed sensitively and kindly by the actor starring in the drama.
1) It’s Okay to Not be Okay
It's Okay to Not be Okay is as much Moon Sang-tae’s story as it is Moon Gang-tae and Ko Moon-young’s story. The heartbreakingly beautiful K-drama features three principal characters and how their lives are intertwined with one another.
Seo Yea-ji plays an antisocial children’s book author Ko Moon-young, Kim Soo-hyun portrays the role of Moon Gang-tae, a caretaker in a psychiatric ward, and finally, Oh Jung-se plays the role of his older autistic brother Moon Sang-tae, who has witnessed their mother’s horrific murder as a child.
Oh Jung-se’s portrayal of the troubled Moon Sang-tae is one filled with hope and courage. Despite their circumstances, he has never allowed himself to feel pitiful and behaves like a typical older brother.
If we could, we would give Oh Jung-se all the best acting awards there for his amazing performance in the K-drama.
2) Move to Heaven
Brilliance has no age and actor Tang Jun-sang is a living proof of that. At all of 18 years old, the talented actor played the role of an autistic boy, Geu-ru, in the K-drama Move to Heaven alongside Lee Je-hoon.
Geu-ru has Asperger syndrome and has been suffering because he has no family apart from his uncle Sang-gu (Lee Je-hoon), who is an ex-convict.
They meet for the first time after the sudden death of Geu-ru’s father and work together to run the family trauma cleaning company "Move to Heaven," unearthing the buried skeletons of the past.
Despite his young age, Tang Jun-sang puts his heart and soul into his performance, matching steps with the accomplished Lee Je-hoon and not missing a beat. It is truly a commendable performance by a young actor in any K-drama we have watched.
3) Good Doctor
The stupendous success of Extraordinary Attorney Woo brought back this charming K-drama back into the limelight.
The 2013 medical drama, Good Doctor stars Joo Won as Park Si-on, a resident in the pediatric field who is on the autism spectrum and must prove himself to retain his job. He is blessed with a fantastic memory and spatial skills.
Despite his amazing talent, he is viewed as a soulless, almost robot-like doctor with no real understanding of what patients actually want. Joo Won takes up a challenging role and lives up to it with a studied ease and confidence, proving his mettle as an actor.
This was one of the first K-dramas to be remade for American audiences and has garnered an amazing response from the audiences there. Industry critics opine that if done right, Extraordinary Attorney Woo will enjoy similar success in the U.S. as well.
4) Brilliant Legacy
In the aforementioned K-dramas, autism is an integral part of the storyline, almost like autism is a character itself, yet in Brilliant Legacy, autism is incidental to the story.
In the 2009 drama starring Han Hyo-joo and Lee Seung-gi in lead roles, actor Yoon Jeon-sook plays Go Eun-woo, Han Hyoo-joo’s younger brother. Go Eun-woo is autistic and his Noona (older sister in Korean) wants to bring him to the United States to study music.
Even though the brother’s role is not important to the narrative, nonetheless, the show does a great job in putting the spotlight on the unfamiliar topic of autism.
5) White Lie
In another blast from the past, White Lie stars Shin Eun-kyung, Kim Hae-sook, Kim Yu-seok, Kim Tae-hyun and Im Ji-eun in pivotal roles.
Similar to Brilliant Legacy, the 2008 drama White Lie doesn’t try to educate viewers about autism, but rather features a character who is autism-coded to score a tick against the important criteria of inclusivity.
The genre-bender drama revolves around a woman named Seo Eun-young (Shin Eun-kyung) who is dumped by her boyfriend Kang Jun-woo (Kim Yu-seok). Alone and pregnant, she finds herself with a job as a nurse and is wholly dedicated to her job.
One of her patients, Kang Hyun-woo (Kim Tae-hyun), is autistic and falls in love with her. Unbeknownst to Seo Eun-young, Kang Hyun-woo is her ex-fiance’s brother.
Hyung-woo only feels comfortable around Seo Eun-young because he is autistic and doesn’t open up to others easily. Despite their troubled equation, Seo Eun-young learns to love him sincerely.
The drama was hugely popular back in the day and was also shortlisted for Best Telenovela at the International Emmys.
The aforementioned dramas are available on Netflix and YouTube for audiences to watch.
