Strong Girl Bong-soon

Strong Girl Bong-soon[1] (Korean힘쎈여자 도봉순) is a 2017 South Korean television series starring Park Bo-young in the title role as a woman with superhuman strength, with Park Hyung-sik and Ji Soo. It aired on JTBC from February 24 to April 15, 2017.[2][3][4][5]

Strong Girl Bong-soon
Promotional poster
Also known asStrong Woman Do Bong Soon
Hangul
힘쎈여자 도봉순
Literal meaningStrong Woman Do Bong-soon
Revised RomanizationHimssenyeoja Do Bong-sun
Genre
Written byBaek Mi-kyung
Directed byLee Hyung-min
Starring
Theme music composerMoon Sung-nam [ko]
Country of originSouth Korea
Original languageKorean
No. of episodes16 + 1 special
Production
Executive producers
  • Song Won-sub
  • Park In-sun
Producers
Cinematography
  • Moon Se-hong
  • Lee Min-jin
EditorOh Dong-hee
Running time60–70 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkJTBC
ReleaseFebruary 24 (2017-02-24) –
April 15, 2017 (2017-04-15)
Related
Strong Girl Nam-soon

The series received audience acclaim, with its final episode recording 8.96% in nationwide ratings, becoming the "highest viewership rating among JTBC dramas" at that point of time.[6][7]

Synopsis

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Do Bong-soon (Park Bo-young) was born with superhuman strength. Her strength is hereditary and passed along only to the women in her family. Her dream is to create a video game with herself as the main character. She desperately wants to become a delicate and elegant woman, which is the ideal type of her crush, In Guk-doo (Ji Soo), a police officer. Thanks to her strength, she gets a job as bodyguard to rich heir Ahn Min-hyuk (Park Hyung-sik), the CEO of a gaming company, Ainsoft. A series of kidnapping cases happen in Dobong-dong, the district Bong-soon lives in, and she is determined to catch the culprit, who targeted her best friend. With help and training from Min-hyuk, she manages to control her strength to use it for good causes. Min-hyuk and Bong-soon find their relationship growing into something more. Their relationship at work and in pursuit of the kidnapper creates comical and dangerous situations, which bring them closer.

Cast

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Main

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A young woman born with superhuman strength who tries not to use her powers but does not hesitate to use them for good when needed. She has had a crush on Guk-doo for a long time but eventually falls for Min-hyuk. She will lose her powers if she harms an innocent with them.
A chaebol heir and CEO of a video game company who hides his pain underneath his cheeky demeanour. He knows Bong-soon even before the "Bus incident" but is not aware of it until much later.
An idealistic rookie detective who is passionate about justice. Known for being crazy and extremely aggressive, he is continuously transferred from one department to another. He was initially unaware of Bong-soon's powers.

Supporting

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People around Do Bong-soon

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Bong-soon's twin brother. He cares for Bong-soon.
Bong-soon's mother. She corners Bong-soon and always prioritised Bong-ki. She often assaults her husband.
Bong-soon's father. He is naive and cares deeply for both his children. Despite being beaten by his wife frequently, he tries to maintain a positive attitude.
  • Park Bo-mi as Na Kyung-shim
Bong-soon's best friend from Busan. She was Kim Jang-hyun's fourth kidnapping victim. She knows about Bong-soon's powers.
  • Baek Soo-ryun as Lady Soon-shim
Bong-soon's maternal grandmother.
  • Kim Mi-hee as Myung-soo's mother
  • Kim Soo-yeon as Jae-soon's mother

People around Ahn Min-hyuk

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Min-hyuk's secretary.
  • Han Jung-kook as Ahn Chul-do
Min-hyuk's father, Chairman of Ohsung Group.
Min-hyuk's half-brother.
  • Shim Hoon-gi as Ahn Dong-suk
Min-hyuk's formerly trusted half-brother.
  • Lee Se-wook as Ahn Kyung-hwan
Min-hyuk's half-brother.

People around In Guk-doo

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Guk-doo's girlfriend.
  • Yoon Ye-hee as Jung Mi-hwa
Guk-doo's mother.

People at Baek Tak Party

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Do Bong Police Station Criminal Team 3

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  • Choi Moo-in as Team Leader Yook
  • Oh Soon-tae as Bulgom (Brown Bear)
  • Joo Ho as Neokboi (Knock Boy)
  • Choi Hyung as Heollaengyi (Hell Angel)
  • Kim Won-suk as Dotbogi (Magnifying Glass)

Ainsoft Employee

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Head of Development Planning Team; doppelgänger of Kim Kwang-bok.

Extended

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A criminal. He was the true perpetrator of the serial kidnapping of young girls, and throughout the series, especially the latter part, he was in an enmity with Bong-soon and tried ways to get rid of her. Eventually, Kim Jang-hyun was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and kidnapping.
  • Son Hyo-eun as Jung Hyang-sook
A murder victim. She was in fact, Kim Jang-hyun's first intended kidnapping victim but was murdered by him due to her fierce attempts to self-defence.
  • Choi Hyun-seo as Kim Ji-won
High-school teacher; the first kidnapped victim.
  • Choi Young-shin as Lee Joo-young
Dance instructor; the second kidnapped victim.
The third kidnapped victim.
A high school student and the leader of Bong-soon's lackeys.
One of Bong-soon's lackeys.
Do Bong Walnut shop employee.
  • Kim Tae-soo as Oh Hyun-joong
The contract killer.
  • Lee Ho-chul as Team Leader Jo
Oh Hyun-joong's associate.
  • Hapkie as Member of Baek Tak Party
  • Kim Won-jun as Subway Molester
  • Lee Jung-kwi as High school boy bullied by Il Jin's gang
  • Jun Byung-chul as Lee Woo-jin

Special appearances

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Production

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The drama is written by Baek Mi-kyung who previously wrote Beloved Eun-dong and directed by Lee Hyung-min of Ms. Temper and Nam Jung-gi. Filming started in October 2016 and finished on April 11, 2017.[12][13]

The drama serves as a reunion between Park Hyung-sik and Yoo Jae-myung who previously worked together in the KBS2 drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth, as well as Kim Won-hae.

Original soundtrack

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Strong Girl Bong-soon
OST Album
Soundtrack album
Recorded2017
GenreSoundtrack
LanguageKorean, English
LabelJTBC Content Hub,
Warner Music Korea
ProducerMoon Sung-nam
No.TitleArtistLength
1."You're My Garden" (그대란 정원)Jung Eun-ji (Apink)04:03
2."You're My Garden" (그대란 정원 (Inst.)) 04:03
3."Heartbeat"Suran03:52
4."Heartbeat" (Inst.) 03:51
5."How Would It Be" (어떨까)Standing Egg03:49
6."How Would It Be" (어떨까 (Inst.)) 03:49
7."Pit-A-Pat" (두근두근)Kim Chung-ha03:30
8."Pit-A-Pat" (두근두근 (Inst.)) 03:28
9."Double Trouble Couple"Mamamoo03:30
10."Double Trouble Couple" (Inst.) 03:30
11."I Fall In Love" (사랑에 빠진 걸까요)Vromance feat. Obroject03:20
12."I Fall In Love" (사랑에 빠진 걸까요 (Inst.)) 03:20
13."Super Power Girl"Every Single Day03:55
14."Super Power Girl" (Inst.) 03:55
15."Because of You" (그 사람이 너라서)Park Hyung-sik03:53
16."Because of You" (그 사람이 너라서 (Inst.)) 03:53
Total length:59:41

Charted songs

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Chart performance
TitleYearPeak chart
positions
SalesRemarks
KOR
"How Would It Be"
(Standing Egg)
201793Part 3
"Double Trouble Couple"
(Mamamoo)
46Part 5
"I Fall in Love"
(Vromance feat. Obroject)
99Part 6
"Because of You"
(Park Hyung-sik)
85Part 8

Ratings

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Average TV viewership ratings
Ep.Original broadcast dateTitleAverage audience share
Nielsen Korea[18]TNmS
NationwideSeoulNationwide
1February 24, 2017Ridiculous Punks
(기막힌 녀석들)
3.829%4.044%3.9%
2February 25, 2017Culprit's Thought
(범인의 마음)
5.758%6.041%6.1%
3March 3, 2017That Person's Secret
(그놈의 비밀)
6.081%7.003%5.5%
4March 4, 2017Her True Identity
(그녀의 정체)
8.301%8.669%8.3%
5March 10, 2017Seems As If They're Friends, and Yet Not
(친구인 듯 친구 아닌)
7.113%8.025%6.7%
6March 11, 2017Happy Together
(해피투게더)
8.692%8.632%7.7%
7March 17, 2017Changes
(변화)
6.834%7.119%7.1%
8March 18, 2017One Step Closer
(한 걸음 더)
9.603%10.261%8.8%
9March 24, 2017Love Risking One's Life
(목숨 건 사랑)
7.423%8.019%8.8%
10March 25, 2017Find A Hidden Heart
(숨은 마음 찾기)
9.668%9.286%9.8%
11March 31, 2017Timing
(타이밍)
7.772%8.572%7.7%
12April 1, 2017Help Me
(헬프 미)
8.477%8.352%9.1%
13April 7, 2017Nevertheless
(그럼에도 불구하고)
7.448%8.036%8.9%
14April 8, 2017A Prelude to the Battle
(배틀의 서막)
8.597%9.251%9.9%
15April 14, 2017Level Up
(레벨 업)
7.834%8.773%7.9%
16April 15, 2017Final
(파이널)
8.957%9.625%9.8%
Average7.649%8.107%7.9%
SpecialApril 17, 20170.8%N/A0.6%
  • In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
  • N/A denotes that the rating is not known.
  • This series aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Awards and nominations

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YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.
201753rd Baeksang Arts AwardsBest ActressPark Bo-youngNominated[19]
Best New ActorJi SooNominated
12th Seoul International Drama AwardsBest Mini-seriesStrong Girl Bong-soonNominated[20][21]
Best ActressPark Bo-youngNominated
Outstanding Korean ActressWon
1st The Seoul AwardsBest ActressWon[22]
Popularity awardPark Hyung-sikWon[23]

Adaptation and spin-off

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Aborted American adaptation

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On November 9, 2018, it was announced that an adaptation of the series was in development at The CW from CBS Television Studios and writer Melissa Scrivner-Love, with Ronda Rousey and Ben Silverman also set to executive produce. The project, titled Strong Girl, would have followed "a former war photographer named Rayna who discovers she is indestructible and potentially the strongest woman in the world. Ghosted by [her Special Operations fiancé] when she reveals her newfound power to him, Rayna is hired as a bodyguard by a billionaire named Oliver, who sees her true potential."[24] On February 8, 2019, it was revealed that the script was not picked up to pilot.[25]

Malaysian adaptation

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The series has recently confirmed to be adapted in Malaysia, with no further news on which broadcasters nor the release date was publicly announced.[26]

Spin-off

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The spin-off of the series titled Strong Girl Nam-soon (힘쎈여자 강남순; Himssenyeoja Gang Nam-sun), starring Lee Yoo-mi, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Hae-sook, Ong Seong-wu and Byeon Woo-seok, premiered on JTBC on October 7, 2023.[27][28]

References

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