Summary
“If I Where A Whale…” provides another intriguing case along with solid character work as Extraordinary Attorney Woo rounds out its third week with confidence.
This recap of Extraordinary Attorney Woo season 1, episode 6, “If I Where A Whale…”, contains spoilers.
Another solid episode of Extraordinary Attorney Woo rounds out the show’s third weekend, and its popularity shows no sign of abating just yet. Of course, it hasn’t been given any to, since each episode has built nicely on the last, not necessarily in terms of plot specifics but certainly amongst the core cast and their developing dynamics. While the cases themselves are interesting, I’d imagine it’s this attention to characterization that will keep people coming back.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo season 1, episode 6 recap
Speaking of cases, though, this episode’s is about Hyang-sim, a North Korean defector who is being charged with injury as a result of a robbery. She has a daughter named Ha-yun whom she reluctantly and temporarily deposits at an orphanage at the top of the episode, and Young-woo and Su-yeon are given the case thanks to its classification as one of public interest.
So, details. In the most basic possible terms, Hyang-sim is accused of breaking into the home of a woman named Sun-yeong with another defector named Jeong-hui in order to recoup a hefty sum of money exchanged in the whole defection brokering process. A lot of time has elapsed – Jeong-hui is serving four years in prison – and unless it can be proved that Hyang-sim didn’t physically assault the victim, which is a tough sell, then the case doesn’t have much of an upside.
Anything involving North Korea is complex. “If I Were A Whale…” finds an intriguing angle by honing in on the doctor who assessed Sun-yeong after the attack, and highlighting his clear bias against North Korean defectors and their status as non-taxpaying citizens. It also highlights an important cultural distinction regarding North and South Korean law that seems like it’ll provide an appropriate loophole for Young-woo – at least until it doesn’t.
The resolution of the case, though, is largely unimportant. What matters is that it stokes passion in Young-woo, and we get to see further contours of her character. We get to see her relationship with Su-yeon develop, and get to ponder over her potential connection with the CEO from Taesan; an explicit carry-over from the previous episode that suggests we’re moving more in the direction of serialization than these isolated cases of the week suggest.
That change in direction, should it occur, will probably be arriving at just the right time, and it has some strong character work to build on already. I have every confidence that Extraordinary Attorney Woo has much more in store, and I’m intrigued to see where it decides to go next.
