2017 introduced us to Strong Girl Bong Soon, the story of a girl born with superhuman strength who uses her powers to bring to justice the perpetrator of a serial kidnapping and murder. The series became so popular that the author decided to grace us with a spin-off.
Strong Girl Nam Soon tells the story of Gang Nam Soon, a girl separated from her family at a very young age who is in search of her birth parents. Let us follow Nam Soon as she goes searching for her parents in Korea and maybe finds love along the way.
Strong Girl Nam Soon Episode 1 Recap: Who is Gang Nam Soon?
The series opens in 2013 in Mongolia as a young girl, Tsetseg, lifts a man twice as large as her and throws him out of the fighting ring.
At the same time, in Seoul, Gang Bong Go is meeting a reporter who is writing an article about his missing daughter, Nam Soon. Her mother, Hwang Geum Ju, decides to hold a nationwide strength competition to search for her missing daughter.
The missing child has a genetic trait that makes her immensely strong. It has been passed down among women in the family since over 500 years ago. It is probably due to some anomaly in their X chromosome.
To estimate the strength of Nam Soon, we see the first birthday celebration. During doljabi (a fortune-telling game), baby Nam Soon got confused by the array of items and threw the entire table, including the set of doljabi items, away.
Geum Ju is a woman who possesses not only superhuman strength but also high business acumen. She is the breadwinner of the family. Bong Go was a stay-at-home dad who aspired to be a photographer.
He went to Mongolia with Nam Soon, his muse, to click pictures of the starry sky but ended up losing her. This incident was also the reason behind Geum Ju and Bong Go’s divorce.
Meanwhile, in Mongolia, Tsetseg asks her parents why she is so strong. Her parents are also unaware of the reason, as they found her lost among the vast greens. She was riding a horse and crying for her father (appa), but the couple thought the horse was named Ppappa.
Tsetseg is obsessed with the beautiful Korean idols, as they make her want to protect them. She is hearing PSY’s sensational Gangnam Style when she remembers that her name is Gang Nam Soon.
She tells her mother about it and reveals that she wants to go to Korea in search of her identity. She herds sheep to earn money for her travels and also starts to learn Korean. She was reciting Hangul alphabets when she instinctively belted out an alphabet song her father would sing, much to her shock.
Seasons change and years pass by as the young girl, Tsetseg (henceforth Nam Soon), grows into a beautiful lady. Her Mongolian father tells her that she should head to Korea before it is too late. But she is worried about leaving him and her mother behind.
In Seoul, it is the final event of the Tenth Annual Strength Contest. For the first time in the history of the contest, a contestant has been able to hold a weight of 120 kg. Geum Ju is emotional about finding her daughter, while Bong Go is sure that she is not Nam Soon.
Still from Episode 1 of Strong Girl Nam SoonOn the announcement of the results, the contestant, Ri Hwa Ja, shares a secret nod with the staff member helping her as well as a judge of the contest. The contest is likely rigged.
Geum Ju calls for a family meeting with her mother, ex-husband, son, and brother. Hwa Ja’s blood group is a match, but Bong Go is still not convinced.
DNA results are never consistent due to the X chromosome anomaly. So that is out of the question too. But all this information is not a secret due to the very public search for Nam Soon.
Bong Go mentions a scar sustained from a childhood injury, which is not public knowledge as even Geum Ju did not know about it.
Though she believes Hwa Ja is her lost daughter, Geum Ju sceptically checks the soles of her feet. And she finds a scar! This further cements her belief. Thus begins the life of Ri Hwa Ja as Gang Nam Soon.
In the meantime, it is the real Gang Nam Soon’s final day in Mongolia. Her family has sold all their sheep. Ppappa, her companion since the day she separated from her birth father, takes his final breath.
While Nam Soon’s found family is helping her pack for her journey to Korea, the fake Nam Soon is enjoying a day of shopping and makeovers with Geum Ju.
When Geum Ju returns to her pawn shop, she encounters a distressed-looking customer. She lends her the money but looks suspiciously at the retreating figure.
The same customer is jittery as she checks the rear-view mirror multiple times. A car soon drives by, and they make a trade of drugs. This entire exchange is seen by Ganghan Police Precinct’s newest detective, Gang Hee Sik.
Hee Sik gets a hold of the woman but loses the dealer. While he is contacting a backup team to track the dealer’s car, a motorcycle flies over his head. The rider, Geum Ju, crashes their car.
Strong Girl Nam Soon Episode 1 Ending Explained: Will Hwang Geum Ju Realise Ri Hwa Ja Isn’t Gang Nam Soon?
The department gets wind of a drug mule on board a flight from Mongolia, and Hee Sik, with senior Young Tak, heads out to the airport. Boarding the same flight is Nam Soon.
A flight attendant wishes a safe flight to a passenger in business class. He asks whether safety is the priority since he prefers speed.
Right at that moment, the cops stationed at the airport are contacted by the control tower. The flight from Mongolia, with Nam Soon and the mule onboard, is about to land, but it is not slowing down. In the cockpit, the pilots suspect that the spoiler is broken.
Hwa Ja is glaring at Nam Soon’s childhood pictures when Geum Ju enters. Hwa Ja is curious about how strong she (Nam Soon) was as a child.
Geum Ju tells her that she (Nam Soon) is the most unique among the descendants. As a five-year-old, she had flipped a car. Not only did she have superhuman strength, but she also had great speed and jumping abilities.
Due to the issue with the spoilers, the plane had to make an emergency landing on the runway without being able to slow down. This causes the passengers to be tossed around.
Nam Soon jumps down on the runway and speeds to one of the pair of rear wheels. She summons her inner strength, which affects Geum Ju and her mother, Gil Joong Gan. Geum Ju checks on Hwa Ja, who is unaffected and realises something.
The plane narrowly misses an apron bus and stops. There is chaos around the plane as emergency services arrive to help. Amidst the chaos, the only person who spots Nam Soon near the rear wheels is the man in the black suit from the business class.
Strong Girl Nam Soon Episode 1 Review
Considering Strong Girl Nam Soon is a spin-off of Strong Girl Bong Soon, there were many reservations about the similarities and/or differences in the plot and the characters. So far, other than the superhuman strength, there seem to be very few similarities.
The scene where Gang Hee Sik appeared for the first time was hilariously unbelievable. But since this is a fantasy romance, we better keep logic aside and just call it destiny. The presence of narcotics would hopefully add more thrill and crime to it.
Ri Hwa Ja’s motives for posing as Nam Soon are not clear as of now. But her intentions seem nothing sort of sinister if her glares are anything to build a theory on. The question is whether the strings control her or whether she holds the strings.
When the spin-off was announced, we were wondering if any characters from the original would appear. Kim Won Hae’s characters—both the gang member and AinSoft employee—were sorely missed. But his cameo was a welcome surprise. Since Nam Soon is supposed to be Bong Soon’s cousin, could we perhaps have a cameo by Bong Bong and Min Min?
