Recap Korean Drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" Episode 16

Who is Tae Su-Mi’s son?

Episode 16 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo starts with a slightly different change of pace. We follow Tae Su-Mi’s son, Sang-Hyeon, who’s somewhat of a genius. He’s won awards for Cybersecurity, he has numerous solved Rubik’s Cubes across his shelves and his favourite food is also gimbap.

While he eats, Sang-Hyeon overhears the Raon case on TV, including how In-Cheol (the CEO) is still unconscious.

As his mother watches, Sang-Hyeon steps up and admits he’s responsible for the hack. Su-Mi implores him not to say anything and to keep all of this a secret between them. Su-Mi is desperate to get the Ministry position and demands he not turn himself in. However, Sang-Hyeon throws a curveball when he mentions Young-Woo.

At Hanbada, Jang is still in charge but he reprimands Min-Woo, Su-Yeon and Young-Woo for their part to play in the Raon case. It’s still not over yet, despite winning the first trial, and CEO Han actually jumps in to be part of their group too.

What happens to Raon?

At the same time, it’s all change over at Raon as a new CEO in Mr Kim Chan-Hong is brought forward in In-Cheol’s absence.

Speaking of absence, Su-Yeon and Mon-Wo show up to meet Myeong-Seok in hospital. He has a facemask on but he seems to be healing up. Apparently the surgery went well and he’s been taking better care of himself for his ex-wife, who shows up prompting the lawyers to leave.

Ji-Su and Myeong-Seok talk, with the latter seriously contemplating quitting Hanbada for her in order so they can have a relationship. According to Ji-Su, this is the only solution so they can be together without work getting in the way.

Does Min-Woo betray Young-Woo?

Meanwhile, Min-Woo meets with Su-Mi and feeds back what’s been going on with Young-Woo. He brings up her failed relationship and admits now’s a good time to take her down.

Min-Woo is not the one to do it though. He’s had a change of heart and decided to start living like a fool instead. Of course, this ties back into Su-Yeon and her words last chapter.

That night, a representative from Taesan Law Firm stops by and give Young-Woo a brochure with a promotion to Taesan Office on, including a professional counsellor all paid for, along with double her current salary. Jun-Ho listens to all of this and he’s shocked, eventually deciding not to follow through with his confession of love.

Inside, Young-Woo speaks to her father, who admits that her parentage is going to be made public and this is basically Su-Mi’s way of trying to get rid of her.

When Young-Woo drops the brochure on the table, Gwang-Ho already knows about this of course and believes leaving for the States is in Young-Woo’s best interest. But what does she actually want to do? Young-Woo certainly doesn’t understand why she needs to hide right now, that’s for sure.

What happens with Sang-Hyeon’s confession?

At Hanbada, Sang-Hyeon appears and admits to his big sister that he’s the one who hacked into Raon. He also brings up that a guy called Chan-Hong was the one who hired him to do this and steal the files. Chan-Hong wanted to remind In-Cheol of the “developer spirit”, given he had turned too far into a businessman instead.

Chan-Hong’s thinking is that he wanted to use this attack as a way of convincing his colleague to invest more in security. Sang-Hyeon made it seem like North Korea were the culprits through some well-placed red herrings. The reason he’s coming clean now though is because In-Cheol is in hospital and got hurt.

The thing is, if Young-Woo comes clean with this, then it’s against her own client’s interest leaving her in somewhat of dilemma.

Either way, Su-Mi’s son does record a video of his confession about the hack, just in case Hanbada decide to use this. CEO Han wants to use this as leverage against Su-Mi, stopping her getting to the position of Minister. As Han claims that it’s like “killing two birds with one stone”, Young-Woo suddenly gets a lightbulb moment once more.

How does Young-Woo resolve the case?

Young-Woo determines that as Sang-Hyeon gave the personal date he stole to Mr Kim, he encrypted the whole thing so nobody could actually access the personal data. This means the damage due to personal data breach hasn’t occurred yet.

Young-Woo echoes these same sentiments in court, as a video is played just to those involved to show Mr Kim is the one who organized the hack. Not only that, but the Board of Directors decide to cover the whole thing up and play damage control, dismissing Chan-Hong from the board of directors.

However, a recovering In-Cheol decides to go one step further and actually take legal action against Chan-Hong. Despite all of this, the defendants and the Judge decide not to use this video as evidence after all.

Through all of this, Sang-Hyeon messages Young-Woo and confirms he won’t be testifying as he’s moving to the US. This is obviously Su-Mi’s doing. CEO Han believes the workaround for this is to leak the video anyway and try to win the approval of the public.

How does Young-Woo convince Tae Su-Mi to let the evidence stand?

Young-Woo is against this, given it’s going to cause San-Hyeon to be vilified. Instead, Young-Woo decides to take matters into her own hands and convince Su-Mi herself, meeting her at Taesan Law Firm.

On the way there though, Jun-Ho speaks his piece and talks about why he likes being with her and all the things he’s grateful for. From the twinkle in her eyes to holding Young-Woo tight; these things make Jun-Ho happy. He also urges her not to break up. And as a result, Young-Woo tells him she agrees, and thinks they shouldn’t break up after all.

Young-Woo confronts her mum and tells Su-Mi that she likens herself to a narwhal. She sees herself as a valuable, rare and beautiful commodity, wanting Su-Mi to see those same values and do what’s right. She pleads with Su-Mi to be a good mother to Sang-Hyeon, making up for what she didn’t do with her and actually reprimand Sang-Hyeon properly, letting him come clean with the video. It’s a big moment, even for Young-Woo, who starts crying after such an emotional meeting.

Is the Taon case wrapped up?

This meeting does the trick and Sang-Hyeon is allowed to testify. There are terms, of course, and one of those comes from the fact Young-Woo is the one who has to question Sang-Hyeon. Young-Woo does just this, questioning Sang-Hyeon in court. He’s pretty forthcoming and even apologizes to Raon for what he’s done. Tae Su-Mi is in attendance too and she silently watches on while her son is questioned.

Tae Su-Mi steps up in front of the media and tells them all she’s sorry for what her son has done, and even stepping down from the Minister of Justice position. Han gets her way but at the same time, Su-Mi learns some humility and will hopefully double down on actually being there for her son now.

With the case resolved, all our characters gather together for food and to celebrate. A recovered Myeong-Seok shows up with Ji-Su and he’s asked whether he’ll return. He tries to wink at Young-Woo, insinuating he will be coming back, but she doesn’t get the hint so Myeong-Seok sticks with a “maybe” for now!

How does Extraordinary Attorney Woo end?

The next day, Young-Woo learns that she’s been given a full time contract at Hanbada. Her father is unbelievably proud of her and watches as she leaves for the law-firm. “My daughter’s all grown up” Gwang-Ho says proudly.

As for Young-Woo, she heads back on the subway once more, in a lovely throwback to episode 1 when she saw that whale pass by the train outside. As she skips into work, Young-Woo greets Jun-Ho and admits she’s feeling a sense of fulfilment.

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The Episode Review

So Extraordinary Attorney Woo bows out with a pretty good final episode, one that wraps up most of the big plot points while brushing over others so it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but is certainly more positive than negative.

Min-Woo’s character has been pretty poorly handled and by the end, he almost gets a redemption but I would have liked to see some resolution with his actual career. Even one scene (unless I missed something obviously, in which case comment below!) to show him getting a contract at Hanbada would have sufficed.

Jun-Ho’s character is also another that hasn’t had a whole lot of depth, but beyond that everyone else has had a really solid arc.

The rest of the show has been pretty well written and the cases themselves have certainly been one of the better parts of this series. There’s a consistent effort across the board to bring this back to the slice of life drama that made the early parts of this so endearing, and that’s what we get through this final chapter.

With an extended run-time at 1 hour 22 minutes, Extraordinary Attorney Woo does well to bring everything back around, with that visual of Young-Woo riding the subway and seeing the whales outside. Whether there will be a second season or not is left up for debate, but one thing’s for sure – this has been a wild rollercoaster ride of a K-drama over the weeks!