In its latest pair of episodes, Strong Girl Nam-soon is well-served by a bit more seriousness and drama. In many ways, the overarching Season 1 story remains quite slow, but that seems all for the better in Episodes 11 and 12 since it allows room for Nam-soon’s undercover gig and burgeoning relationships with both Hee-sik and Shi-oh to develop.
While it seems inevitable that Shi-oh’s affection for Nam-soon will prove to be his undoing and push him down an even more villainous path, it’s interesting in the meanwhile, and the disparate plot threads do seem to be coming together nicely. Here’s what went down in the latest two episodes.
Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episodes 11 & 12 Recap
Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 11 Recap
Episode 11 begins by picking up where Episode 10 left off, with Shi-oh asking to date Nam-soon. Luckily, her startled response highlights that it’s a bit of an uncomfortable topic, allowing us to table this matter until a little later. Don’t worry, there are plenty of things to discuss in the meantime.
For instance, poor Dong-seok finally meets his demise. Hee-sik rushes there after receiving an urgent text but finds him dead. A second text directs him to look for a brown notebook that Deong-seok had hidden earlier. It contains a USB drive full of files and handwritten annotations.
Deong-seok essentially allowed himself to become evidence to help his team arrest the culprits. Hee-sik is able to find and arrest Gang-su, the man who sold Deong-seok the drug.
Also continuing from the previous episode, Nam-in is admitted to the hospital to be treated for his narcotics addiction. Geum-ju knows that there is an antidote through her investigation into Shi-oh, so there’s hope yet, and Bong-go and Nam-soon team up to try and track down the woman who gave Nam-in the weight loss tablet.
The man behind the bank account where Nam-in wired the money is homeless – he was paid by a woman to open bank accounts. This woman is part of Shi-oh’s business and her grift is suckering people in with weight loss pills and profiting on the antidote sales.
Eventually, Geum-ju is able to retrieve the antidote from this woman, as well as begin to televise the drug case on Geum-ju TV. With Shi-oh under pressure from multiple angles, he’s forced to pause business and becomes increasingly incensed with Hee-sik and Geum-ju. However, he’s still none the wiser about Nam-soon, who he continues to pine for.
How does Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 11 end?
At the end of the episode Nam-in is cured, and Nam-soon puts two and two together having seen Shi-oh drinking a very similar substance.
We also learn that Nozh, the leader of the Pavel group, has entered Korea. Geum-ju is told this by the Opulentia contact.
Finally, Hee-sik receives a call informing him that Gang-su is dead.
Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 12 Recap
Episode 12 finds Shi-o in an increasingly bad way. He’s standoffish with Nam-soon, who walks in on him right after taking the drug, brutal with Pavel henchmen, and just generally a bit Jekyl-and-Hyde because of his dependency. With the Opulentia man telling Geum-ju about Nozh and claiming more information is forthcoming, you can really feel the plot strands interweaving in this episode.
After consuming the antidote and calming down a bit, Shi-o asks Nam-soon to lunch.
Meanwhile, Hee-sik discovers that Gang-su died after meeting with his lawyer and consuming a vial of something. Why would Gang-su be compelled to immediately commit suicide?
Elsewhere, Madam Kim visits Geum-ju’s stand-in in the hospital and learns the hard way that she’s handy in a fight. Geum-ju arrives and instructs Kim to let everyone know she’s alive, and she does, interrupting Shi-oh’s dinner with Nam-soon. Just as he was opening up about his Russian and name and such, he’s driven to fury when he learns about Geum-ju’s survival, still none the wiser that Nam-soon is her daughter.
Hee-sik, unable to go after the fake lawyer, arrests Tae-ri, the woman who was behind the weight loss pill scam, and cautions her against summoning a lawyer, for obvious reasons. She tells him that the drug is being sold all over the country and that the antidote is made from the blood of sea hares. He wants to use her as a mole to gather information to secure her release.
There’s a much more prevalent sense of danger in Episode 12. Hee-sik wants Nam-soon to stay at his place, away from Geum-ju, and Geum-ju herself worries for Na-young now that her face is known for disseminating news of the drug. She also arranges for bodyguards to protect Bong-go and Nam-in.
We also see the extent of Shi-oh’s influence. He’s able to blackmail the police chief rather easily, and he has also been able to track down the entirety of Geum-ju’s family – except, of course, for her daughter. He certainly has a much easier time acquiring information than Geum-ju seems to, since Song Bread won’t give away certain details unless she dates him, which naturally makes her furious.
How does Strong Girl Nam-soon Season 1 Episode 12 end?
At the end of the episode, Hee-sik takes the puffer jacket to Geum-ju, who decides to go live with the news. She wants Na-young to present it. However, when Na-young gets into a taxi, she’s ambushed by the driver and drugged, falling asleep in the car.
After Shi-oh, emboldened to take on Pavel, drops Nam-soon home, she finds Hee-sik sleeping on the sofa. She carries him to bed and lays him down. Awake now, he asks her not to leave and pulls her down onto the bed, kissing her.
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