There is a scene in ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ that is controversial this week after last week.
In the episode of ENA’s ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, which aired on August 17th, lawyer Jeong Myung-seok (Kang Ki-young) entered the operating room for gastric cancer surgery.
At this time, Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin), who should be working for the company, ran to meet lawyer Jeong.
Woo Young-woo said, “I came here because I wanted to see Lawyer Jung Myung-seok.”
When this line came out, a humorous background sound came out, creating a pleasant atmosphere. Jung Myeong-seok’s mother, unaware of Woo Young-woo’s autism spectrum, expressed displeasure at her words.
Jung Myeong-seok waved his hand in embarrassment, saying, “Attorney Woo didn’t mean it in a bad way.”
She reassured her mother, saying, “Korea is the world’s number one in gastric cancer treatment, so there is a 70% chance of survival if you have surgery. Don’t worry.”
Then again, Woo Young-woo said, “Well, that’s because it included all the cases of patients who were diagnosed with stomach cancer early.
Like lawyer Jung Myung-seok, with stage 3 stomach cancer, the 5-year survival rate after surgery is only 30 or 40%…” . Attorney Jeong Myung-seok, embarrassed, cut off her words and said that he would go into the operating room.
Woo Young-woo shouted, “Please come back alive.” Jung Myung-seok said, “Attorney Woo Young-woo, please be quiet.”
After the broadcast, this scene raised questions about whether it was a scene that should have been included in the flow of the play.
It was also pointed out that stomach cancer patients and people with autism seemed to have been lightly caricatured.
Due to the nature of the autistic person, even if they are not used to speaking while considering the situation of the other person, it may seem excessive.
This is because, even last week, Woo Young-woo constantly talked about the fact that Jung Myeong-seok was a patient of stomach cancer in front of many people, and talked about the negative survival probability of stage 3 stomach cancer several times like a parrot.
Netizens who saw the scene in this week’s episode commented, “How do you use that situation as a gag scene?”, “The drama feels thinner as it goes further back”, “Even if it’s only once, what about the stomach cancer death rate? I don’t think it’s really smart to do something like this”, “This is something that an actor can’t do”, “I wonder what the writer thinks about cancer, so he paints cancer so lightly”, “Aren’t we praised for treating people with autism so well in the beginning? Are you like this?”.
“Why did you do this to Youngwoo?”, “It’s impossible to describe something like this for stomach cancer patients and their families. It seems that the writer’s ability is lacking in the second half of the year”, “Autism is not the only disease. I was disappointed that I expressed it like that over and over again”, “Is that funny?”, “I wrote this for a laugh…”, “I really can’t stand to use disability and disease as a tool for a gag”, “What if I die in front of the patient’s mother?” Are you saying that?”, “I don’t need to edit it because it’s not necessary for the drama” and so on.
Some netizens who watched the episode last week said, “The reason why he appears so many times in dramas is that it is so common”, “It felt rather realistic because my father had stage 3 colorectal cancer and recovered well. Cancer is not a distant story.” .
Some may give a reaction, “See the drama as a drama”, but if you think about it again, it may be difficult for actual stomach cancer patients to remind them of the realistic situation even in the drama. Wooyoung Woo can be like that, but it is questionable whether she should have done it even as a writer. This is the reason why critics are saying that it is regrettable that Woo Young-woo’s lines seem to be confirmed and killed again this time following the last episode.“
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