REVIEW: ‘Strong Girl Nam-soon’ Episodes 15-16

All things must come to an end. In the case of Strong Girl Nam-soon, the ending only serves to set up what is planned by the television network JTBC for a third series set in the universe. While Strong Girl Nam-soon Episodes 15-16 wrap up more pressing storylines, new information revealed paves the way for the next entry in the Strong Girl universe. With an additional ending scene that builds on the Strong Girl lore, these decisions are both bold and – arguably – a little vexing after such an uneven run.

The most pressing storyline for Strong Girl Nam-soon Episodes 15-16 is the task of hunting down Ryu Shi-O (Byeon Woo-seok), who continues his rampage against both Nam-soon  (Lee Yoo-Mi) as well as the Pavel crime syndicate. His antics capture the attention of the mysterious Pavel leader Nozh, placing Shi-O under the threat of the dreaded Tsar Bomba order i.e. an order of death. This doesn’t stop Shi-O from lashing out nor does it stop him from fixating on destroying Nam-soon.

For Nam-soon and her family, they are mourning the death of the murdered Lee Myung-Hee (Choi Hee-jin). Nam-soon and Hwang Geum-ju (Kim Jung-eun) are saddened and enraged, with both setting their sights on Shi-O. Both split ways after Nam-soon receives a call from the brother of a deceased Doogo worker she helped out. With her identity out in the open, Nam-soon can target Shi-O without compromise but, before she can do that,  Lieutenant Gang Hee-sik (Ong Seong-wu) and his team have to stir the hornet’s nest.

Hee-sik has continuously proven himself to be smart in this series. Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 15 highlights this well with how his team pits Shi-O and Pavel against each other with malware at their disposal. Sending an encrypted list to Shi-O’s secret phone, this tactic opens up many doors for Hee-sik and his team since they now have full access to his phone.

Shi-O is progressively cornered. Hiding out in an old boxer studio, he makes and receives several calls including one from Nozh, which mentions his own Tsar Bomba. Another focuses on there now being a warrant out for his arrest and a travel ban preventing him from fleeing abroad. Shi-O then arranges for someone to pick up Dr. Choi, the man Shi-O had been employing to create his super drug. Once picked up, he calls Secretary Yoon to make sure the man is kept hidden before calling Nozh. In exchange for Pavel’s protection, Shi-O offers up Dr. Choi.

With the location now revealed, Hee-sik, Nam-soon, and the police rush to extract Choi before Nozh’s men can get there first. Nam-soon deploys her superpowers to snatch Choi up first, but she can’t ride the high for long. Shi-O’s men have located her Mongolian mother who’s just about to leave Korea. With little else to lose, they trick the woman into bringing a bomb on her plane. Nam-soon is unaware of the danger her mom is placed in until after she’s dropped off Choi at the police team’s headquarters. Despite a conversation with Hee-sik surrounding his worries about her potentially dying, upon receiving a call from Shi-O, Nam-soon rushes into danger.

She meets Shi-O at an abandoned warehouse and they strike a rather unfair deal. Shi-O informs Nam-soon of the danger her mother is in. If she consumes a large amount of his drug and manages not to drink water before an hour is up, he’ll turn himself in. Picking up the water bottle before the hour hits will result in the bomb going off in the plane. She takes the drug and the pain is almost instantaneous. It’s not long before Geum-ju and Gil Joong-gan’s (Kim Hae-sook) feel the effects.

Geum-ju feels the effects in the middle of her search for answers. She has been running around in Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 15 trying to track down more news on Bread Song (Kim Ki-bum). This leads her to money launderer Yeom Su-san (Kim Mi-Hwa), who provides some information on Song but not a whole bunch. It does confirm that he is involved in dirty money, giving a little something for Geum-ju to hold onto. Things seem to be hitting a stride before the drug effects hit hard, causing her to dramatically fall onto the ground. Realizing that it means Nam-soon is dying, she calls her mother panicked.

Joong-gan is out on a date with Seo Jun-hee (Jung Bo-suk). Ironically, after confirming her love for him and promising never to leave, the effects hit. After talking with her daughter, she quickly realizes what she needs to do to activate the group power link the women share. Lifting up a giant Buddha, her energy is used to revitalize Geum-ju and Nam-soon enough to make it through their current ordeal. Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 15 ends with Nam-soon waking up and kicking open a bomb-strapped door.

A lot happens in Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 16. The start of the episode forces a confrontation between Nam-soon and a drugged-up Shi-O. He has a major advantage now that Nam-soon has been weakened by the drug but she still manages to prove how mortal he is after spearing him. Hee-sik arrives but is unable to catch Shi-O when Nam-soon collapses. Choosing love over civic duty, he goes to Nam-soon’s side while Shi-O makes his escape.

After all the hinting at mortality this season, we see all three generations of strong women confront death. All three are nonresponsive, with Nam-soon and Joong-gan being the ones coding. Hee-sik, knowing that the antidote is needed in order to save them, tries to track down a vial. Traveling from place to place, he learns the antidote must be refrigerated or else its potency is rendered moot. He manages to finally find some when he ends up at the Doogo warehouse, thankfully saving the family in the process.

The major interest in Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 16 is what happens to Shi-O. Discovered by Nozh at the boxing studio, his childhood friend is sent to kill Shi-O. There is a sad exchange between the two before Shi-O requests that he only has to die with two betrayals on his conscious, with the third being his friend killing him. Seeing the writing on the wall, Shi-O is left with a gun, with the police swat team not far behind. When finally confronted by Nam-soon, Hee-sik, and the swat team, Shi-O finally takes back control by taking his life. It’s a depressing note, especially to kill himself in front of the woman he once had feelings for but there is a fine line between love and hate.

Strong Girl Nam-soon Episode 16 also shines a light on the true identity of Bread Song, as the writers wrap up that storyline. Well, at least in that particular chapter. After Shi-O dies, Nam-soon and Hee-sik pivot to their own relationship and career trajectory. For Geum-ju, Opulentia has zeroed in on Nozh and trying to locate his identity. As is revealed in a bloody ship sequence and in a photo sent by Opulentia, Bread Song is Nozh. And, while this is actually a brilliant reveal when taking into account actor Kim Ki-bum’s performance, it feels a little too little too late. However, given the set-up for the next spinoff series, perhaps not.

The storylines surrounding Geum-ju’s father and where he stands in the family are wrapped up as well as the storyline surrounding our former homeless couple, Ji Hyun-soo (Joo Woo-jae) and Teacher No (Kyungri). In an already jam-packed episode, we’re reminded of how unnecessary it was to prolong and include these extra tidbits of story. Especially when we’re greeted with an end credits scene on top of everything else meant to prep viewers for what is to come. It’s a lot.

Strong Girl Nam-soon Episodes 15-16 may wrap up everything the series has had going for it, but it continues the trend of tackling way too much. This ends up taking away the emotional impact certain storylines are meant to have once concluded like Shi-O’s death. With the series now concluded, the issues that the series had once Nam-soon reunited with her family earlier on come fully to the front. With some pruning, this series could have been great but, with Strong Girl Nam-soon Episodes 15-16 here, we’re left to sit with everything that’s been thrown at us.

With a resounding feeling of what’s next, Strong Girl Nam-soon Episodes 15-16 carries the burden of wrapping everything up while setting up the future. While we do receive closure, the overwhelming burden of everything the series was juggling proves how too much ambition can weigh everything down. And that’s a weird way to end things.

Strong Girl Nam-soon is streaming now on Netflix.