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Frank Doris

Review: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

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Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022)

review | Extraordinary Attorney Woo

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This excellent South Korean series, currently on Netflix, uses a well-rounded character to shed light on some of the issues of autism 

by Frank Doris
January 18, 2023

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is a lawyer show—but it’s not a “lawyer” show. True, the main character, Woo Young-woo, is a lawyer. She works at a law firm, she handles cases, and a lot of the action takes place in a courtroom. But this is not a stereotypical “lawyer show” with the all-too-predicable clashing legal egos, soap opera, and contrived murder-mystery machinations. Rather, the series, which earned the highest ratings ever for South Korean TV network ENA, revolves around the unique and charming character of Woo Young-woo, who has autism. (The series is currently available on Netflix.)

She is shy and socially awkward yet brilliant, having graduated first in her class at Seoul National University. She is able to get a job as a rookie attorney at the prestigious Hanbada law firm as a result of . . . well, I don’t want to give it away as the circumstances of her employment become a key plot line throughout the season. Since she’s uncomfortable communicating with others—or even getting through a revolving door, as seen in a poignant yet hilarious opening-episode sequence—Woo is at first misunderstood, unwanted, and resented by her fellow employees. These include, among others, Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok, Woo Young-woo’s boss, who at first wants nothing to do with her but gradually becomes her mentor; Baek Ji-won as Han Seon-young, the woman who heads Hanbada; and Kang Tae-oh as Jee Hun Ho, one of the first at Hanbada to befriend her.

Woo Young-woo soon proves her abilities as a lawyer, thanks to her remarkable intelligence and memory and her encyclopedic recall of laws and legal procedures. Her co-workers realize she’s a valuable asset to Hanbada—especially when her abilities start to help the firm win cases, often as a result of Woo’s unconventional approaches and flashes of insight, sometimes accompanied by visions of . . . whales. (It’s weird, and it works.) Not only is Woo masterful at recalling the most arcane aspects of law, her lack of or perhaps unwillingness to conform to the conventions of social interactions means she often speaks with blunt honesty, in direct opposition to the usual hypocrisies of people saying one thing and meaning another, or outright lying, something Woo is completely incapable of.

The plots are far from the usual conventional lawyer-show fare. In one episode, Woo and Hanbada defend a recent bride who has tripped on her wedding dress —which exposed herself and an embarrassing tattoo. Another involves a very funny rivalry between three brothers, two of whom have deceived the third into thinking he’s inherited a fortune only to find that he’s millions of won in debt. Some episode titles reflect the series’ often-unconventional flavor: “Mr. Salt, Mr. Pepper and Attorney Soy Sauce,” “Wild Card vs. Tactician,” “Holding Hands Can Wait.”

I can’t imagine anyone other than actress Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo. She is the character, conveying her personality with her at times puzzled, at times penetrating facial expressions, her strange and obsessive hand movements, the way she haltingly walks, and even her wardrobe of sweaters and clunky loafers with big heels. But Woo is far from one-dimensional. She dives into her new role at Hanbada at first with timidity, fear, and a lack of understanding about her role in the company and, literally, how she’s supposed to deal with her co-workers. Over the course of 16 episodes, we see her evolve, gaining confidence and understanding of how the world works. (A second season has been given the go-ahead.) At the same time, she remains stubborn in many of her character traits, especially when it comes to avoidance of eye contact, her ritual behaviors . . . and food, which is the subject of more than one very funny moment.

The rest of the supporting cast is marvelous. You feel like you’re watching a slice of real life, not an assemblage of actors. Everyone absolutely shines in their roles but I must single out Jeon Bae-soo as Woo Gwang-ho, Woo Young-woo’s single and beleaguered father; Joo Hyun-young as Dong Geu-ra-mi, Woo Young-woo’s best friend and one of the few to befriend and stand up for Woo when she was young; and Im Sung-jae as Kim Min-shik, proprietor of Woo and Mi’s favorite restaurant and meeting place.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is filled with twists, whether it’s a case filled with unusual developments, the unfolding of Woo’s relationships with her fellow Hanbada employees as they begin to understand and respect each other, or the revelation of some quite unexpected romantic and familial relations. Again, I don’t want to give anything away other than to note that the series seamlessly combines drama with comedy and juxtaposes the undeniable charm of Woo with some very tense encounters with people who don’t understand or like her. In the end, you can’t help but feel affection for Woo Young-woo.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo is filmed with a light, sunny look, even in most of the interior shots. The sound is refreshingly clear and the dialogue easy to understand, unlike the sonic murk of so many series today. (I listened to the English soundtrack. It’s also available in the original Korean and with subtitles in various languages on Netflix.) The look, like the acting, contributes to the feel of eavesdropping on reality. The soundtrack is a combination of piano music and Asian pop, much of it composed by Noh Young Shim, and perfectly complements the show with its sometimes somber, sometimes lighthearted feel.

If the reason for this thought-provoking yet always delightful series is to break misconceptions and prejudices about people on the autism spectrum, Extraordinary Attorney Woo succeeds admirably. By making Woo Young-woo a likable and complex character, a person rather than a stereotype, the series enlightens us.

Frank Doris is the editor of Copper, an online audio and music magazine. He has more than 30 years of experience in public relations and marketing communications and has written for a number of publications including Copper, Cineluxe, Sound & Vision, CE Pro, The Absolute Sound, Home Theater Review, and others. He is also a professional guitarist and yes, played at CBGB back in the day.

PICTURE | The series is filmed with a light, sunny look, even in most of the interior shots, which contributes to the feeling of eavesdropping on reality

SOUND | The sound is refreshingly clear and the dialogue easy to understand, unlike the sonic murk of so many series today

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© 2023 Cineluxe LLC

Luxury Turntables–An Introduction

Luxury Turntables--An Introduction

Luxury Turntables—An Introduction

Swedish Audio Technologies CF1-09

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No other aspect of premium home entertainment offers as many exquisite options or as many points of entry, from basic to baroque

by Frank Doris
updated December 21, 2021

With the resurgence of all things vinyl, there’s arguably never been a better time to add a high-end turntable to a home entertainment setup.

A what?

Audiophiles like me take this for granted, but most people don’t even realize luxury turntables exist. But what makes a turntable luxury? Well, if it’s defined not just by price but by the ability to deliver a compelling musical experience, the best record-playback systems sound remarkably realistic, blurring the line between “reproduced sound” and the feeling the musicians are right in front of you.

A fine turntable can also be strikingly beautiful, whether a minimalist design like the classic Linn Sondek LP-12 or the clockwork-tech visuals of the VPI Avenger Reference.

If you think of audiophiles as a bunch of tweak-crazy perfectionists—assuming you’ve ever bothered to think of them at all—well, in some cases you’d be right. (Certainly in my case!) But don’t let the thought that a turntable isn’t a simple plug & play purchase scare you away from buying and enjoying one of these gorgeous pieces of machinery. 

But there’s one thing I need to emphasize before we proceed: A high-end turntable will require setup.

If you don’t know, or don’t want to know, the tricks of the trade, you can enlist the help of a dealer, systems integrator, or turntable setup specialist (yes, there are people like that). Their advice (and that of expert reviewers) on which turntable to buy will also be invaluable. While setup is exacting, it’s not a black art, so if you want to learn how to do it yourself, I would recommend Michael Fremer’s turntable setup DVD.

Better turntables start at around a few hundred dollars for a complete turntable/arm/cartridge setup, and spending from $500 to around $2,000 will bring immense musical satisfaction. But if you’re striving for the sonic ultimate, manufacturers like SME, Brinkmann, Spiral Groove, Rega, and Technics offer models from four and five figures up to turntables like the mighty $440,000, 780-plus-pound TechDAS Air Force Zero, and beyond. The TechDAS features five interlocking platters floating on a cushion of air, and a host of exotic proprietary materials, including a motor that’s no longer made.

Should you decide to invest in such a dazzling device, you’ll need to add a tonearm and cartridge. (While there are plenty of excellent complete turntable setups on the market, for many high-end record-playback rigs, the turntable, tonearm, and cartridge must be chosen separately.)

There are ultra-refined tonearms from some of the manufacturers mentioned above, plus Swedish Analog Technologies (their $48,000 CF1-09 is a mind blower), Acoustic Signature, and Graham Engineering, among others, and dozens of superb phono cartridges from companies like Grado, Ortofon, Koetsu, Audio-Technica, Van den Hul, Kiseki, Lyra, and Soundsmith. The miniaturized works of these diamond-tipped marvels are made to the standards of fine watches.

To descend to another level of audiophile geekdom—and raise another topic you might want to hand off to an expert—you’ll also need a phono stage, which amplifies and equalizes the weak signals coming from the turntable to a level the rest of the audio system can handle. (In the days when turntables were everywhere, phono inputs were common—today, not so much.) While budget and some under-$1,000 turntables have a built-in phono stage, ultimate-performance phono rigs and outboard phono stages like the CH Precision P1 ($31,500) or the Audio Research Reference Phono 3 ($15,000) go together like Ferraris and Brembo brakes. (For an overview of what’s available check Stereophile’s Recommended Components or The Absolute Sound’s Editors’ Choice listings.)

Why is the best turntable gear expensive? Consider: A record groove is around 40 to 80 micrometers wide, while a human hair is 17 to 181 µm wide! When dealing with that kind of micro-level physics, things like stylus shape and cartridge and tonearm alignment become exacting concerns in accurately translating the minute wiggles of the stylus through the groove into electrical signals heard as music. On the macro level, the motor must spin the platter at an unwavering speed (or it’ll be heard as pitch variation) while adding no noise of its own, and the turntable should be immune from outside vibrations.

It all adds up to a delicate balancing act—literally—and the engineering involved could fill more than one book. There are a myriad of approaches to things like materials, cartridge designs (the most common are moving coil and moving magnet), tonearm geometries, motors, and noise isolation. (The Mag-Lev Audio ML1 turntable uses magnetic levitation for platter isolation!) Materials like titanium platters, high-precision bearings, and handmade phono cartridges don’t come cheap, especially when manufactured in small quantities. But when a manufacturer takes a cost-no-object approach, it provides the freedom to reach for the sonic ultimate.

So, what’s best for you? I asked Michael Trei, who is a reviewer for Sound & Vision and a turntable setup expert, what his well-to-do clients want most. Looks? Sound? Bragging rights? “Reliability is the most important thing,” he said. “My customers don’t want to deal with turntables going out of adjustment.”

He added that “arm handling is important.” There aren’t any high-end turntables with automatic operation (let alone remote control!), so you have to manually play your records, and take care in doing so. Because of that, you need to be comfortable with the “feel” of the arm. (Some SME models make it physically impossible to accidentally drop the tonearm.) 

For the klutzes among us, Trei recommends using a moving-magnet cartridge, since the stylus on most can be easily replaced if damaged. If you have toddlers or others who might cause damage, keep the turntable—or them—out of reach! “I wish someone would make a locking turntable dustcover,” Trei mused.

On the other hand, as mentioned before, some audiophiles enjoy “tweaking” their setups. Some turntables are very stable; others require regular attention.

Is it all worth it? Consider me an enabler. A high-end turntable setup will convey music with astounding realism, resolution of musical detail, and a soundspace that can extend beyond the boundaries of your entertainment room or place you right in the audience. If you’ve never heard a high-end turntable at this level of performance, it will be a revelation.

If that’s not luxury for the soul, I don’t know what is. 

Frank Doris is the editor of Copper, an online audio and music magazine. He has more than 30 years of experience in public relations and marketing communications and has written for a number of publications including Copper, Cineluxe, Sound & Vision, CE Pro, The Absolute Sound, Home Theater Review, and others. He is also a professional guitarist and yes, played at CBGB back in the day.

the Mag-Lev Audio ML1 turntable

click on the images to enlarge

VPI Avenger Reference 

TechDAS Air Force Zero 

Audio Research Phono 3

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