SHOW / EPISODE

Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo [K-Drama Eps 13-16]: What makes a good Kdrama ending, Comforting Taebin Fans about Shipping Angst & Discussing the Possibility of a Season 2

2h 11m | Oct 2, 2022

It's been awhile since Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo has ended but do you still find yourself buying whale objects and looking at photos of Park Eun Bin & Kang Tae Oh? This week we talk about the last episodes in Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo, particularly the lovely Episode 16. We also look in depth at the angst that fans have faced with 'shipping' the main couple 'TaeBin' in this drama. Finally, we talk about the possibility of a season 2.

In this episode, let's chat about:

1.The rough penultimate episodes as well as the beautiful ending that unfolded in episode 16. I talk about the rough ride into the last episode including fan criticisms about pacing and character inconsistencies. But ultimately, we talk about what makes a good K-Drama ending and look at why the ending of Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo was so satisfying and loved by all. Subtopics discussed include how:

-The last episode had great pacing and didn't feel rushed even though it introduced a new relatively important character.

-Closure given to Woo Young Woo's relationship with her mother

-The Kdrama avoided bad tropes including time jumps and the '5 minutes of happiness' ending where the reuinon of the main characters are left to the last 5 minutes of the final episode. Instead, Woo Young Woo and Jun Ho was given a beautiful solution to reunite them.

-The unpopular second lead romance was only implied rather than explicit

-The more villainous characters were shown to have their own growth and none of them turned out to be too bad in the end.

-Young Woo's growth remained the central focus of the story

We also talk about a little bit about the legal cases and how they reflected a lot of realities about the law and the legal system in real life. We look at some of the discussions about social commentary, ethics and about experiences on the spectrum that these cases highlighted.

2.Defining Shipping culture & Comforting Taebin fans who are anxious and worry that Park Eun Bin or Kang Tae Oh don't get along. We talk about why fans 'ship' their favourite K-drama actors and what the extremes of shipping can mean.

I also present a comforting analysis on why Taebin DO get along and go through and provide context for every single rumour or point of angst that I've heard from anxious fans. Subtopics discussed include:

Selcas

- Not posting a duo only selca doesn't mean that Park Eun bin & Kang Tae Oh dislike each other and posting a selca doesn't prove that they like each other. All it proves is that 2 people enjoy taking photos!

-There are reasons that stars like Park Eun Bin have taken photos with some of her co-stars but not others. For example, stars often take more photos when doing period dramas, the staffers from the agency may encourage the stars to take more photos in certain projects, stars may take more selcas wiith their co-stars if they're promoting a drama that is only considered a romance drama, stars might not promote in such a romantic way if a drama has sensitivites like Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo & some stars might not like taking selcas/selfies.

Behind the Scenes footage

- Park Eun bin and Kang Tae Oh had a more organic type of chemistry in the behind the scenes videos rather than one made for show, Behind the scenes videos also depend on the editing and type of activites shown (ie. the best behind the scenes videos show more scenes of the acotrs playing around between takes rather than just filming the scenes themselves. EAW sometimes focused more on the filming side of things)

-Also the behind the scenes didn'r show all of Park Eun bin and Kang Tae Oh's moments together - the montage of scenes at the start of each behind the scenes video shows there's other moments that they have included a few seconds of, but have not shared entirely in the videos. But you can see how playful they are in other interviews & Swoon games videos.

- In terms of Park Eun Bin's behaviour towards Kang Tae Oh on set, she often had to stay in character, her character was challenging to play so she had to focus and they shot romance scenes at night which was tiring...so it makes sense that she might not have been as hyped up behind the scenes. But Kang Tae Oh matched her moods.

-The genre and length of a drama also determine how the actors might interact in a behind the scenes video.

-No behind the scenes hug = it's probably because they finished filming on different shoots.

-Park Eun Bin and Kang Tae Oh do show their own sense of closeness - Park Eun Bin teases Kang Tae Oh a lot more than she had with her past co-stars. And they have their own moments of tenderness like Park Eun Bin stroking Kang Tae Oh's hand when they have to hold hands.

Interviews, Fan meets, Photoshoots & Ring

-Photoshoots: Unfortunately, Park Eun bin and Kang tae Oh didn't have a photoshoot because of magazines not offering a photoshoot slot in time. And then schedules not aligning.

-Interviews: Park Eun bin choose to call Kang Tae Oh a friend rather than just an actor she worked with which showed a sign of closeness.

-Fan Meets: It's rare for K-dramas to get a fan meet, but Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo got one and we got to see Park Eun Bin and Kang Tae Oh interact live. There were sweet moments between the two with Kang Tae Oh whispering to Park eun Bin etc. And Kang Tae Oh continues to be attentive to Park Eun Bin which shows he's not being frozen out by her, but understand her intentions.In terms of Park Eun Bin's personal fan meet, she didn't turn away from Kang Tae Oh, but from her own acting.

-Ring: Kang Tae Oh says the ring is from his CEO and it would be a term of respect to wear a gift from your boss, In Asian culture, rings are not necessarily a marker of a relationship.

3.The Possibility of a second season for Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo. We talk about why Kdramas rarely have second seasons compared to US shows and look at reasons why Extraordinary Attorney Woo Young Woo might not have a second season including Kang Tae Oh's military enlistment and Park Eun Bin's tiredness from filming as well as reluctance to weaken the storyline. We also talk about what would be better than having a season 2...

Related articles and Interviews:

Agency selcas:

Park Eun Bin's agency CEO has the selcas of Rowoon and Park Eun bin on his instagram, so these are probably agency photos rather than personal sellcas

Interviews where Park Eun Bin talks about wanting to maintain a pure image:

Park Eun Bin Arena interview

Interviews about the challenges of playing Woo Young Woo & Kang Tae Oh and Park Eun Bin's relationship

Park Eun Bin talking about staying in character while filming

Park Eun Bin talks about the challenges regarding her role as Woo young Woo

Park Eun Bin talking about how hard it was to play the role of Woo young Woo (Fan translation)

Kang Tae Oh talking about Park Eun Bin having a hard time filming in Star One magazine (Fan translation)

Kang Tae Oh talking about how well him and Park Eun Bin worked together

Park Eun Bin calling Kang Tae Oh a friend rather than just an actor she worked with (Fan translation)