The love of ENA Lawyer Extraordinary Woo He hobbles towards the finish line. The drama that was acclaimed in its debut for its refreshing take on the well-worn K-Drama lawyer formula and for its awareness of developmental disabilities lost much of its audience goodwill in subsequent episodes of the drama. .
Last week, the drama was heavily criticized for taking cancer lightly. The episode saw one of its characters, Jung Myung Seok, who is a fan favorite, being diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, much to the chagrin of the audience.
Controversy erupted, however, when in one of the scenes, Woo Young Woo is seen repeating cancer survivor statistics. The scene was intended to be funny, which the public found in bad taste.
My mom came back from chemo and, despite her fatigue, she watched the drama, even raised the alarm, only to have her favorite character repeat the cancer survival rates and remind her that she will die soon. How cruel is that? If someone has ever lost someone they loved to illness, there’s no way they could use them so lightly. At the very least, he shouldn’t have repeated that he was going to die. So hopefully you will go through something like this to find out what it does.
— Net-citizen
You’d think, with the controversy, that the show’s editors would make sure something similar didn’t happen, but the drama seems to be doubling down on its cancer jokes in its latest episode.
In the scene, Woo Young Woo visits Jung Myung Seok as he enters surgery. When Jung Myung Suk asked him why he wasn’t at work, attorney Woo replied, “Because I couldn’t see you if you died during the operation..”
When Jung Myung Seok’s mother protests the comment, Jung Myung Suk explains that attorney Woo meant no harm.
Have mom! Lawyer Woo Young Woo meant no harm.
—Jung Myung-seok
Jung Myung Seok then tells Woo Young Woo that Korea is the best in the world when it comes to cancer survival rates.
Korea is the best in the world when it comes to stomach cancer, so there is a 70% chance of survival after surgery.
—Jung Myung-seok
At which Woo Young Woo is seen breaking down the statistics and once again stating the grim reality of people with stage 3 cancer.
These statistics are for those who had early surgery. Since you are a stage 3 cancer patient, you have a 30-40% chance of survival.
— Woo Young Woo
The scene ends with Woo Young Woo encouraging Jung Myung Seok and asking him to shut up.
Woo Young Woo, please shut up.
—Jung Myung-seok
Light, comedic music accompanies the scene, showing that the drama wanted the scene to be fun. Netizens thought it was anything but criticizing the drama for not setting the stage.
이렇게 로코여놓고 정명석 죽이는 건 아니지 pic.twitter.com/zJbuzWrapD
— 트친소골골 (@mm_irx) August 17, 2022
You can’t kill Jung Myung Seok after turning the drama into a romantic comedy.
— Net-citizen
Netizens slammed the scene and asked why editors didn’t remove it.
- “It’s just not very consistent. In some scenes, Woo Young Woo is very empathetic and can read the room well, but in scenes like this, it’s very different. Instead of showing signs of autism, I think the writer just wanted to use it as comic relief.”
- “Wow, the scene lines are surprisingly bad.”
- “It’s getting worse and worse and the character has no consistency. I don’t know what the writer thinks.”
- “Autistic people have no sense of empathy?”
- “He’s so weird…”
- “You don’t care what viewers think? I understand that last week they didn’t know that, but this time they should have staged it.”
- “They cross a line.”
What do you think? Do you think the drama was intended to show a trait of autistic people, or do you think the writer of the drama wanted to exploit autistic traits to make jokes?
Lawyer Extraordinary Woo ends its run on August 18, when its final episode airs.