Summary
Another funny, charming episode continues to rely on fish-out-of-water comedy, but also churns through plot beats surprisingly quickly, giving the whole show a refreshingly snappy pace.
The second episode of Strong Girl Nam-soon ended on quite the cliffhanger, with Nam-soon being unknowingly reunited with her biological father, Bong-go, who recognized her immediately. Episode 3, “Three Generations”, picks up immediately from here but lets the moment pass. Nam-soon’s passport is recovered, so she doesn’t need the photos. She doesn’t realize who Bong-go is. It’s the frustrating so-close-yet-so-far moment on which stories like this are always built.
But there’s plenty more to concern ourselves with in the meantime, so settle in for a breakdown of the entire episode, which naturally contains major spoilers.
Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
Nam-soon has some pressing concerns — she’s being sued for throwing people around at the campsite, she plans to sue her scammer in return, and her misunderstanding of formal language and Korean customs means she’s continuously walking into new legal problems and obvious flirtations with Hee-sik, who doesn’t quite know what to make of her.
This cluelessness does, admittedly, give the show its character, and I found “Three Generations” to be very charming and funny. Nam-soon gets some work on a movie set to earn money to pay back the man she hurt at the Han River, and she’s a pleasure pointing out catering discrepancies and calling the director lazy.
When Nam-soon hands over the first installment to the man and accidentally exposes his philandering, it’s the kind of gag the show didn’t need to include but I’m nonetheless glad it did.
Was that Bong-soon?
On the subject of fun but ultimately needless scenes, there’s a Bong-soon cameo in “Three Generations”.
Bong-soon is the hero of Strong Girl Bong-soon, of which Strong Girl Nam-soon is a spin-off. Nam-soon and Bong-soon are blood relatives, cousins, but they don’t meet each other here. Instead, Joong-gan runs into her after sharing some of her own backstory liberating Majang-dong from gangsters. Again, there’s no real need for this, but it’s such an enjoyable nod for fans that the effort is worth it.
Who attacks the Han River camp?
Meanwhile, Hwa-ja has developed a new plan. She intends to live at Geum-ju’s daughter forever and enjoy her great fortune, but getting away with that entails getting rid of the real Nam-soon. So, she despatches some goons to turn over the ger camp by the Han River.
READ: Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
Nam-soon arrives in the middle of this and violently intervenes using her powers. The police arrive too, with Hee-sik taking Nam-soon back to his place. He tells Ji-hyeon to look into those who attacked the camp while Nam-soon makes herself at home, using his shower as if she owns the place.
Ji-hyeon confirms Hee-sik’s developing suspicions of Nam-soon’s parentage by revealing that Hwa-ja, Geum-ju’s “daughter”, orchestrated the attack. Hee-sik calls Geum-ju to tell her that he has found her daughter, but he’s left visibly agog when Nam-soon comes out of the bathroom dripping wet, wearing one of his shirts.
Once he has put his tongue back inside his head, Hee-sik — whose constant sarcastic muttering to himself is also a reliably funny — tells Nam-soon that he has found her mother. They arrange to meet the next day.
Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 3 Ending Explained
“Three Generations” ends with Nam-soon and Geum-ju both on their way to meet one another, only to be distracted by a nearby disaster.
Nam-soon uses her powers to intervene in a building fire that has left several innocents trapped. While she’s leaping up through the open window and carrying people to safety, Geum-ju spots her and tries to help. The two of them eventually lock eyes, surrounded by the flames, as they both have the moment of realization that they’ve found one another.
Nam-soon approaches Geum-ju, but as she does so, another explosion sends her flying out of the window. She begins to fall to the ground. Geum-ju leaps after her, and the episode ends with her catching Nam-soon in midair as both continue to plummet to the street below.
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