Strong Girl Nam-soon – K Drama Episode 4

Episode 4 of Strong Girl Nam-soon opens with Nam-soon and Geum-ju’s reunion in the burning building. Nam-soon is thrown outside due to a burst of fire. Geum-ju manages to catch Nam-soon in time and land safely. When Nam-soon finally opens her eyes they share a tearful hug.

Sitting in a car, reeling from the incident, they have a proper reunion. Nam-soon tells her about her life and her parents in Mongolia. Geum-ju insists that she will build a building for them. She wants to repay all the people who helped Nam-soon throughout her life.

Nam-soon’s homeless friends, Hyun-soo and Son-saeng, are discussing where to get their next meal when they hear an announcement calling for them. It’s from Geum-ju, who rolls up in a white limousine. She hands them literal bags of cash and tells them to stay at her hotel for the night. And all because they helped Nam-soon. At home, Joong-gan embraces Nam-soon with hugs and tears.

Geum-ju calls Hee-sik and thanks him for getting Nam-soon to her. She insists on visiting his house and picking up Nam-soon’s things. The rest of Hee-sik’s team is looking at the face mask Hee-sik bought in. The team leader, Ha Dong-seok, ends up tasting a bit of the drug and Hee-sik tells him to rinse his mouth immediately.

At home, another reunion occurs when Bong-go arrives. He and Nam-soon hug and she’s then introduced to Nam-in, her younger twin brother. Meanwhile, Hwa-ja’s face is now on wanted posters.

Hee-sik and his team must sort through a vast amount of data from the drug dealer’s phone. Hee-sik makes a deal with the local precinct’s team and they agree to work together.

Back home, Geum-ju tells Nam-soon the rules connected with her power. That she can only use it for good, otherwise she’ll lose it. After Geum-ju leaves, Nam-soon makes a phone call to her adoptive parents. She tells them she can put her strength to good use here.

Joong-gan takes Geum-dong to a doctor because he constantly feels exhausted and wants to lie down. The young doctor agrees to make a strong tonic for him. She seems to leave a good impression on Joong-gan. Outside, she carries Geum-dong on her back since he’s that exhausted.

At her workplace, Joong-gan decided to butcher a whole cow to celebrate Nam-soon’s return.

Nam-soon returns the golden wand to her family. She learns it was a birthday gift when she was five. They then lavish her with a dinner of what used to be all her favourite foods. She can’t seem to remember much so Bong-go says women in the family may have strength but not much brains. Geum-ju isn’t happy about his remark.

Geum-ju tells her employee, Nam-gil, that she’s asked Opulentia to give her information on the major drug suppliers in Korea. She gets a response from the organization saying that Doogo (Ryu Shi-oh’s company) could be involved.

We see Shi-oh himself go to a meeting with the directors and investors of the company. He introduced the idea of hiring women as delivery people. While scrutinizing the vast amounts of data, the police station gets a call about an assault and everybody runs out. Dong-seok begins to feel symptoms of the drug.

Geum-ju tells a journalist to remove all articles online about Nam-soon. Instead, she tells him to focus on the use of drugs in Gangnam. Hwa-ja, meanwhile, gets a fake ID from one of her people. For now, she’s sold a bunch of Geum-ju’s things so she has money. But she still needs a job. She sees an ad about Doogo hiring delivery staff.

In his office, Shi-oh reveals that he’s looking for a strong woman — particularly the girl he saw pulling the plane — by hiring women delivery staff. At the police station, Dong-seok seems unnaturally happy. Hee-sik is not sure what to do about it. Nam-soon calls him and thanks him for everything, before asking him to have a meal with her. He gets flustered but agrees.

Nam-soon has drinks with Hyun-soo and Son-saeng at the place where their gers used to be. Nam-soon and Hyun-soo then head to the film set where the assistant director has offered him a job. When the main lead insults Hyun-soo, Nam-soon stands up to the actor. Meanwhile, Hee-sik gets a call from his mother.

At the prison, somebody visits the bald drug dealer and leaves a face mask on the table within his reach.

Geum-ju arrives at Hee-sik’s apartment to take Nam-soon’s things. She asks him to tell her what he needs since she wants to repay him. He says he wants to catch the mastermind behind the drug case he’s working on. She then pulls out an envelope of money for him. Hee-sik’s mother enters at that moment and catches them together, immediately assuming she’s a sugar mom. Geum-ju says that she isn’t and leaves with Nam-soon’s bags.

Later on, Geum-ju thinks about Hee-sik’s words and texts him, saying that she’s heard about the presence of drugs at Doogo. The drug dealer is found dead in prison. Hee-sik gets the news and hears a face mask was found with him. He finds Doogo selling masks online and tells Dong-seok that he might need to go undercover.

Nam-soon gets a makeover and even cuts her hair short. She wears the clothes Geum-ju has picked out for her. Geum-ju then asks Nam-soon what she wants to do now. Nam-soon isn’t sure since she was only focused on finding her parents. Ultimately, Nam-soon says she wants to do something to help people. She then gets a call from Hee-sik who she is going to meet for a meal. Geum-ju tells her it sounds like a date.

Indeed, when Nam-soon turns up at the restaurant, Hee-sik looks quite starstruck. He tells Nam-soon that he’s going to go undercover for a while. Nam-soon wants to join him. He initially denies it but agrees when reminded about how strong it is. Hwa-ja has taken up a job at Doogo under the name An Eun-ji. We then see Hee-sik and Nam-soon being interviewed by a Doogo official. They get hired as interns.

Hee-sik’s team finds the crypto wallet associated with the drug dealer’s account but it’s been emptied out. At the same time, Dong-seok can’t seem to quench his thirst and keeps drinking water. While in Nam-in’s restaurant, Joong-gan gives Geum-dong some soup and ends up meeting the new barista, Seo Jun-hee. She takes a liking to him and convinces him to have a coffee with her.

While sipping on their coffees, she learns his wife passed away five years ago. She says her own husband left her ten years ago.

Hee-sik and Nam-soon get paired up for work. Nam-soon gets into an argument with the supervisor when he speaks rudely to her. She shows off her strength and he immediately defers to her. Hwa-ja sees Nam-soon.

On their way home, Nam-soon and Hee-sik decide to break into the warehouse later on to look for the drugs. Suddenly, Nam-soon spots the woman who scammed her walking on the road. Nam-soon confronts her and the woman gloats about how quickly the case was closed. Nam-soon tells her to give her money back and when she doesn’t, she grabs the woman’s purse and throws it into the sky. Back in the car with Hee-sik, she claims she’s going to change the world.

Later on, Hee-sik and Nam-soon walk around the warehouses, dressed in black. Geum-ju sets off on her bike and Episode 4 of Strong Girl Nam-soon comes to a close.

The Episode Review

Episode 4 keeps the pace of Strong Girl Nam-soon going. It starts off with several heartfelt reunions as Nam-soon meets all the members of her real family. There are many tears but this is only expected and the show strikes the right emotional chord. The humour, on the other hand, can be hit or miss.

The storyline about drugs is now gaining momentum. Hee-sik’s team leader ingesting some of the drugs has increased the stakes and his slowly changing behaviour and unquenchable thirst is unnerving, particularly since we’ve seen the two previous victims chug water like their life depended on it.

With Hwa-ja also working at Doogo, it feels like all the various storylines are all consolidated into a single direction. Compared to the other episodes this one did feel a tad slow but interesting enough to keep viewers watching!