Strong Girl Nam-soon – K Drama Episode 12

Episode 12 of Strong Girl Nam-soon begins with Nam-soon entering Shi-oh’s office right after he takes the drug. The veins on his neck still stand out blue. When she asks if he’s okay, he tells her not to come closer. He goes down to the warehouse where a Russian man accosts him.

He has been sent by Beom, who has instructed Shi-oh to send her the antidote. Shi-oh says that the antidote is his business, not Pavel’s.

Geum-ju speaks with the Opulentia agent, who tells her that Pavel’s Nozh is in the country and might have their eye on Geum-ju. He also tells her to let him know if she needs a gun.

Hee-sik gets a phone call and rushes to the police station. He’s told that Gang-su died after drinking from a vial. But Hee-sik knows he didn’t kill himself.

In Shi-oh’s office, Nam-soon sees the antidote vial and lets Hee-sik know. Shi-oh returns to the office, drinks the antidote and is suddenly in a much better mood. He tells her he’s booked a dinner reservation for them.

Madam Kim sneaks into Geum-ju’s stand-in’s hospital room and tries to kill her. The woman turns out to be a secret agent trained in martial arts and fights her off. Geum-ju arrives and tells Kim to let everyone know she’s alive.

Nam-soon and Shi-oh go for their dinner reservation and the latter says they should be friends. He says he once had a friend but lost touch when they were ten years old. He then gets a call from Kim, who tells him Geum-ju is very much alive.

Back in his office, Shi-oh calls Kyle and tells him to tail Geum-ju, her family and her companies. He tells Nam-soon he needs to find Geum-ju’s daughter.

The lawyer who visited Gang-su before his death turns out to be a fake. Hee-sik then gets a call from Geum-ju who tells her about Red Heels. But they know they can’t arrest her, as she would just be forced to kill herself. Geum-ju sends Hee-sik the woman’s location, thanks to the tracker she put on the suitcase full of money.

The woman packs up her stuff and leaves but Hee-sik catches up to her and blocks her car with his. He arrests and reveals how Gang-su died while in custody. He warns her not to hire a lawyer. Since that’s how Gang-su died.

At the autopsy, the doctor tells Hee-sik and the others that Gang-su died of a heart attack due to the vial’s contents. Young-tak wonders what the lawyer said for Gang-su to immediately kill himself.

In Shi-oh’s office, the CEO has dozed off when Nam-soon hears his secret phone ringing. He wakes up and takes the call. Beom tells him to find the missing jacket but Shi-oh stands up for himself and tells her not to order him around. Nam-soon asks him who it was but he doesn’t reply. He tells her to stay by his side no matter what.

Joong-gan meets with the young doctor who made Geum-dong the tonic for his health and asks her to make another. She keeps talking Geum-dong up and making hints of marriage.

Nam-soon meets Hee-sik and tells him Shi-oh is going after her family. He tells her to stay at his house. He seems jealous about Shi-oh making advances on Nam-soon. She assures him by saying that her first time will be with the man she loves.

Geum-ju tells Na-young to live at Geum-ju Hotel for a while, to protect herself. Before leaving, Na-young admits she had a good time being a news presenter. Geum-ju even sends two cars of security detail to protect Bong-go and Nam-in. Geum-ju calls them and tells them to take care of themselves. Hee-sik drops Nam-soon off at his place, and she tells him to come home soon.

Shi-oh has another conversation with Beom, who threatens him with something called the Tsar Bomba. He claims that Pavel has no income without him. While interrogating Red Heels, Hee-sik learns that there are a lot of distributors across the country who work for Madam Kim. She tells him the antidote comes from the blood of sea hares.

Prosecutor Moon goes through the evidence against Ryu Shi-oh and decides to confront him. Shi-oh agrees to the meeting. Before he leaves, Kyle tells him that he’s located all of Geum-ju’s family except for her daughter.

Shi-oh tells Nam-soon that he will be late to work and she decides she can go in late as well. Shi-oh meets Prosecutor Moon who straight up asks him if he’s in the mafia. Moon grows angry but Shi-oh taunts him by saying they have taken drugs together. This is a shock to Moon who has never taken drugs. Shi-oh claims that he can easily frame Moon as a druggie and even threatens his wife, daughter and mistress. He then coolly walks out of the room.

It turns out the Opulentia agent told Geum-ju that Pavel teaches their initiates all about law, politics and finance. When Geum-ju asks him what he did before working for Opulentia, he says she will find out.

Hee-sik tells Red Heels to go back to Madam Kim and work as a mole for them. He wants the full list of distributors in the country. These are the conditions of her release.

At The Heritage Club, the staff is in chaos looking for bugs and hidden cameras left by Hee-sik and Geum-ju. Red Heels, whose name is Tae-ri, calls Madam Kim.

Nam-soon is happily cooking at Hee-sik’s house when Shi-oh calls her and tells her to come in to work.

A senior officer meets Hee-sik and his team. They discuss how the current commissioner general, deputy chief prosecutor and the judge are all in Shi-oh’s pocket. He convinced them to wait for a week, by which time he will be appointed the new commissioner general.

In the morning, Hee-sik is dozing at work and his team tell him to go home. Nam-soon texts him that she’s cooked a meal for him. Hee-sik’s team tease him about being in love with Nam-soon. They go over to his house and insist on trying the food, which turns out to be really bad. Hee-sik is the only one who’s able to eat it.

Nam-soon enters Shi-oh’s office and sees a quarterly report on his desk. He comes in before she can look through it. He offers to help her get citizenship but she says she wants to do things herself. When he asks her how close they need to be for her to accept something from him, she asks him to tell her everything. After some convincing, he agrees. Her first question is why Doogo has a lab. After all, it doesn’t sell medicines. He agreed to take her there.

Geum-ju is driving when she notices she’s being tailed. She gets out of her car and walks, still followed by someone. It turns out to be Hong-do and she catches him in the act.

Bread Song gets a call from Geum-ju who demands he meet her at her Gold Blue office. At her office, her employee Nam-gil meets Hong-do and two seem to connect with each other at once.

Bread Song arrives and Geum-ju asks him what his relationship with Shi-oh is. However, Song has this all turned around. He thinks Geum-ju did everything, including her stand-in at the hospital, because she likes him. Geum-ju makes it clear she wants an explanation for the photograph in Russia. He says he’ll tell her if she will date him.

Hee-sik and his colleagues wonder how to take action against Shi-oh but can’t come up with anything. Hee-sik wears the huge puffer jacket and visits Geum-ju at her office. With the jacket in hand, she orders her news company to go live with the news.

Elsewhere, Na-young gets into a taxi but the driver is holding a small vial. He bursts the vial in front of her face and a cloud of white powder comes out, causing Na-young to pass out.

Shi-oh drops Nam-soon home and adjusts her coat before she leaves, making her awkward. Back in his car, Shi-oh feels confident enough to take on Pavel with Tsetseg at his side. Geum-ju arrives at the news station as well, and realises that Na-young isn’t there yet. She’s in danger.

Nam-soon enters the apartment to find Hee-sik passed out on the sofa. She lifts him and puts him in his bed but he grabs her hand before she can go. He tells her not to leave and pulls her to the bed, kissing her softly.

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The Episode Review

The higher level of tension and thrill continues in episode 12 and it is doing the show well. The seriousness lends more significance to what Nam-soon and her group are trying to do. All the characters feel more driven and the acting, now that it’s a bit subdued, comes across as more authentic.

The story is still a bit slow but the exploration of Pavel, the Russian mafia group, is keeping things interesting. As a whole, the multiple plotlines are coming together and the show feels like it has a sharper focus. It’s fascinating to learn how deep the drug empire goes and to wonder how it will be stopped. Nam-soon is doing a great job undercover and Shi-oh’s growing feelings for her makes me wonder how betrayed he’s going to feel when it all comes out.

At the end of the day, this is a show that works best when you don’t think about it too much. It’s a fight between a family of women with super strength and a ruthless drug lord from one of the most efficient Russian mafias in the world. Hence, it’s best enjoyed when you aren’t thinking about the nitty gritty details.