The Strife of the Three Brothers
Episode 4 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo starts with a disagreement over land ownership. Three brothers are due to split the land but the percentages are skewed and the memorandum looks like it could have problems. The land is worth a lot of money and 2.26 billion in taxes hang heavy over the final bill. Unfortunately, the two eldest brothers manage to peer pressure their youngest, Dong-Sam, into being left with 260 million won in debt while they make off with a cool 5 and 3 billion respectively. This guy happens to be Dong Geu-ra-mi’s father, and with Young-Woo no longer an attorney, having quit at the end of episode 3, Gue-Ra-Mi enlists her friend’s help to try and stop this injustice. Together with Young-Woo’s father, they head off and grab this memorandum together. This ordeal includes a big road trip to Ganghwa-Do, Driven by Woo’s father Gwang-Ho. Now, Young-Woo was bullied back in school, including the kids playing awful pranks on her during a game of “I’m sorry”. It’s here that Geu-Ra-Mi jumped in, deciding to help out Young-Woo. Since then Young-Woo has stuck to her, admitting she feels safe with the school misfit. In the present, the trio head off to Ganghwa-Do where Young-Woo confirms that the memorandum is very disadvantageous for Dong-Sam and things don’t look good. The thing is, Young-Woo knows the law and, in particular, how the inheritance law states that all children should receive equal amounts of inheritance regardless of age and gender. As Dong-Il (the eldest) has lied about this, it falls legally under deception. So in other words, it’s a fraud. The only solution is for Dong-Sam to sue his brothers. Geu-Ra-Mi heads off to try and find Jun-Ho, needing his legal counsel on the matter. Thanks to Young-Woo’s instructions, she heads over to the “tall and good looking” one, but ends up talking to the wrong person. It’s a pretty humorous scene, eventually leading to Geu-Ra-Mi finding the right guy and, subsequently, Myeong-Seok. However, Myeong-Seok doesn’t believe Dong-Sam will win and admits that his chances are slim. Not only that but he’s wondering just how they’re going to prove it’s a deception. Given Myeong-Seok hasn’t actually processed Young-Woo’s resignation yet, he decides she should handle it herself while he oversees it as a senior Attorney. On her way out the door, Jun-Ho tries to talk to Young-Woo, claiming he’s left a gift on her desk. Only… it turns out she’s already thrown it away! In court, the two brothers stick together and oust Dong-Sam, turning against him and profiting all the same. Without proof that this is an outright deception, there’s not much they can do… or is there? It turns out Dong-Sam’s neighbour, Jin-Hyeok, is quite the eavesdropper and furthermore, he actually did hear what they were saying. Well, I say eavesdropping, he actually writes it off as him retying his shoelaces! In the middle of this, Geu-Ra-Mi suggests Jun-Ho take Young-Woo off to see a sunset – which he does. It’s a beautiful sentiment and you can tell he really cares for her. It’s here he broaches why she’s decided to quit. Young-Woo believes she’s the weak link. But for Jun-Ho, he reveals that he wants to have an attorney like her next to him. The next day at court, Jin-hyeok takes to the witness stand but he tells them all that he couldn’t hear anything from inside. It would appear that he may have been paid off, especially if the two brothers smirking at one another is anything to go by. After a particularly heated family argument later that night with Dong-Sam and Geu-Ra-Mi both sustaining injuries, Young-Woo decides to use this in the case. Now, because of this, Young-Woo finds a loop hole in that Dong-Sam can actually cancel the gift contract because of this assault. As we soon find out, this was their plan all along, and it’s worked an absolute treat! Speaking of which, Jun-Ho gets Yung-Woo another gift, this time in the form of a big painting of a whale up on the wall. Her face lights up and Jun-Ho is incredibly happy. As for the brothers, Dong-Sam steps up and decides that after paying back the tax, he’s going to split all the money evenly between them all. That means they’ll all get 2 billion won each. Off the back of this, Young-Woo has a renewed vigour and will to work again. But as she dances about her office, we cut back several months to see those moments of Mss Han showing up at Gwang-Ho’s door. She wants him to send her over to Hanbada Law Firm. And as she drives home, Han comments how she looks like her mother.
The Episode Review
So Attorney Woo returns with another good episode, this time slowing down slightly to focus on a case that’s close to home for Young-Woo. It makes for a pretty compelling watch overall, and the series has done well so far to keep things intriguing with these different cases. Thankfully they’re not too complicated to understand either, which is something some of these law dramas slip up with when they get bogged down in the nitty gritty details and complexities of law and financial issues (looking at you Money Game. I worked in insurance for 6 years and even I was scratching my head at some of the jargon and terms used!) Attorney Woo has been really solid when it comes to its characterisation and Young-Woo has a good deal of depth too. The fact that there’s light wisps of romance in the air between her and Jun-Ho is super cute and I hope that the show explores that further, breaking down barriers and leaning into this further. Ultimately though, Extraordinary Attorney Woo has been a very enjoyable series thus far and the ending certainly leaves the door wide open for an intriguing double-bill to come next week.
