Two Recommended Netflix Series: The Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Atypical

Extraordinary Attorney Woo 

16 episodes

Original release: June 29 to Aug. 18, 2022

Developed by Kim Chul-yeon

Available only on Netflix

Have you seen Extraordinary Attorney Woo? Several people have recommended it to me recently. It’s a South Korean TV series about Woo Young-woo, a female rookie attorney with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who gets a job with an upscale law firm. Despite her handicap, she employs her high intelligence and photographic memory to win seemingly impossible cases.

I’ve watched several episodes and can understand why it’s getting so much attention. It is topical. It is charming. The lead actor is pretty. And it follows the standard protocol for a short, dramatic series.

It’s good, but I don’t think it’s nearly as good as Atypical, a US-based series about Sam, a teenager on the spectrum, and his life as he moves from high school to college.

Atypical 

Original release: Aug. 11, 2017 to July 9, 2021

4 seasons, 38 episodes

Created by Robia Rashid for Netflix

Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Keir Gilchrist, and Brigette Lundy-Paine

Available on various streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon Prime

Although I’d define Extraordinary Attorney Woo as a lawyer drama and Atypical as a family comedy, there are many similarities between the two. In fact, since it was produced five years after Atypical debuted, it’s hard to believe that Woois NOT a knockoff of the American series.

As I said, Atypical is better. It covers more ground (topically, emotionally, and drastically) than Woo, while maintaining the same level of charm. The characters are more nuanced, too. Sam, for example, isn’t solving problems in every episode. In some episodes, he succeeds. In others, he fails. Plus, the secondary characters in Atypical have their own relationships with one another, which are in themselves interesting.

If you’ve seen neither series, you can get a hint of what I’m saying by looking at their trailers.

For Extraordinary Attorney Woo, click here.

For Atypical, click here.