Review: My Name

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Slick, gritty, and with more than a dash of blood and violence, Show isn’t your typical nor traditional Korean drama, that’s for sure.

I think what Show does well, is tell its story in a manner that’s equal parts twisty, action-packed and emotionally compelling. In that sense, I feel like Show is quite well-rounded and perhaps therefore more able to reach a wider audience.

For example, you might not be into fight scenes per se, but you might be emotionally invested enough in our protagonist’s journey, to see it through anyway.

Very solid, and very bingeable, if you’re in the mood for a revenge tale with its fair share of grit.

THE LONG VERDICT:

So the reason I was curious to check out this show, even though it’s not in my typical drama wheelhouse, is because I’ve heard that this is quite the breakthrough role for Han So Hee, and I wanted to see her in action, for myself (Han So Hee’s excellent; I’ll talk more about that in a bit).

What this meant, though, is that I watched this as quite the noob at this sort of revenge-crime-thriller genre. Therefore, there are likely some things that are much clearer to other, more seasoned viewers.

Generally speaking, Show had me quite effortlessly on the edge of my seat, as it dished out its twists and turns, and I found it all quite engaging and dizzying, at the same time.

Overall, I thought this was well done – but I feel compelled to qualify that I don’t know a great deal about this genre, and therefore am likely easier to please than the seasoned revenge-crime-thriller veteran. 😅

OST TRACK 1: MY NAME

Here’s the title track of the OST, My Name, which I found to be the track that tended to stick in my head, while I was watching this show.

I like how it’s got a laidback yet edgy vibe to it, like it’s a pacing panther, just waiting to unleash its coiled up power.

If you’d like to listen to it on repeat while reading the review, just right-click on the video and select “Loop.”

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. Stuff can get pretty violent.

Just as a rough gauge, I’d say that if you covered your eyes each time stuff on your screen got on the more extreme end of bloody, gory or violent, you’d still manage to watch at least 65-70% of the show. So, it’s not terrible, most of the time.

2. Suspension of disbelief is required.

There are things that wouldn’t add up too well, if studied under a strict analytical lens. For example, basically everyone in this drama world is typically highly functional even after serious injury and blood loss.

Learning to shrug and roll with it works best, to make this watch an enjoyable one. Thinking of this show as a dark fantasy helps – thanks to Trent, for suggesting this lens!

3. This is an antihero sort of story,

..with our protagonist on a personal mission for rogue justice. Therefore, there are times that she does things that are illegal, &/or otherwise questionable. If this sort of thing bothers you, then perhaps this show isn’t for you.

STUFF I LIKED

Han So Hee as Ji Woo / Hye Jin

I’d thought Han So Hee did a good job of playing “The Other Woman” types in World of the Married and Money Flower, but it did feel like Han So Hee was getting typecast; she kept getting cast as pretty young things with romantic fixations.

That applies to both World of the Married and Money Flower – and it also applies to her role in Nevertheless.

I can see why Han So Hee would pick a gritty sort of role in a revenge story like this; it’s just the ticket, to prove herself as a serious actress with range.

And I’d say that Han So Hee does prove herself as an actress with more depth and substance, than her other roles might have suggested. I thought she did an excellent job of the role, with some especially stand-out scenes.

As a character, Ji Woo / Hye Jin tends to be closed off and reticent, and yet, I found it reasonably easy to tap into what she might be feeling, at any given point in time. Very nicely done, I thought.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1. Ji Woo goes through a lot, in just this first episode, and the range of events gives Han So Hee the chance to show us a range of expression as well.

I immediately feel sorry for Ji Woo when we meet her; she’s just a teenager in high school, and yet, she has to deal with such awful things on a daily basis.

Policemen tailing her and harassing her every day because they’re after her father; schoolmates gossiping about her and ostracizing her; classmates’ parents and teachers all wanting her out of the school.

It adds up to a lot, and I’m not surprised that that decision, to have her transferred to another school, because she was making everyone “uncomfortable,” would be the straw to break this camel’s back.

Han So Hee plays Ji Woo with a mix of sullenness and fragility, interlaced with toughness, that I find an unusual and intriguing mix.

She makes me curious to know more about Ji Woo, and that’s before I even know more about Ji Woo’s context. And, in Ji Woo’s most difficult moments, I do feel like Han So Hee’s digging deep, to portray Ji Woo’s emotions; her fear, terror,  sorrow and hopelessness.

It’s awful, that Ji Woo lashing out at her dad, about how awful things are for her, would be the thing that brings Dad (Yoon Kyung Ho) back to check on her – which is how he ends up getting killed.

Dang. That’s a terrible burden to carry; Ji Woo’s basically wracked with guilt that Dad had died because of her.

No wonder she’s so desperate to find Dad’s killer. And how horrible, that no one seems to be interested in actually bringing Dad’s killer to justice. It’s understandable that Ji Woo would attempt to find the killer on her own, and it’s horrible to watch those guys beat her up and abduct her, just because she’s vulnerable.

E2. This episode, I was bummed for a while, because it appeared like Han So Hee wasn’t playing Ji Woo with the same interesting mix of fragility and feral-ness that we saw in episode 1.

However, I realize that it makes sense that Ji Woo isn’t played that way for too long. After all, she has to toughen up real fast, and with our story moving fast as well, it really isn’t long before all we see is a tough, hardened crust.

I’m assuming that the pain and fragility is still there, but now, it’s hidden underneath an armor that Ji Woo’s created for herself. All that to say, I think Han So Hee’s delivery of Ji Woo is still solidly on point.

E2. The attempted rape scene was hard to watch, and it’s made so much worse by the fact that those guys really take so much glee in the thought of raping Ji Woo.

I was very relieved that Ji Woo is able to hold onto enough of her reflexes, despite her woozy state, to defend herself. At the same time, I can see how this incident would force her to create an even tougher armor for herself.

For the record, I do think Ha So Hee does a good job of portraying Ji Woo’s fear and horror when she’s fighting to protect herself while drugged, and also, her grievous wretchedness, when she cries over her father’s shattered urn.

It’s just.. different, from what we saw of Ji Woo in episode 1, and I found Ji Woo in episode 1 nothing short of haunting.

All that said, I do rather like the bit where Ji Woo (Hye Jin, now?) keeps surprising other people, who underestimate her because she’s a girl. She’s got guts and she’s got some sharp fight moves, and I really like the idea that she’s proving to be so much more than people think.

On that note, I also wanted to say that I appreciate how her fight moves are much sharper and faster, now that she’s a seasoned fighter. That flaily quality about her fight moves, which we’d seen in episode 1, is now gone. Nicely done, I thought.

E3. It’s becoming very clear that Hye Jin looks to Choi (Park Hee Soon) for approval, and her loyalties are to him. She’s ready to shoot Pil Do (Ahn Bo Hyun) in order to save Choi, and, she’s also ready to use that gun that Choi had given her, which was supposed to have been used to kill her father’s murderer.

Both feel like risky moves, and it’s clear that Hye Jin would do both things, if that’s what it takes to save Choi.

E5. It seems pretty significant to me, that when Do Gang Jae / Scarface (Chang Ryul) taunts Hye Jin to kill him, she can’t find it in herself to shoot, but the moment he starts to spill her real name, she doesn’t hesitate to silence him with her gun.

She might not be vicious in the sense of actually wanting to kill people (unlike Scarface), but she can and will kill, in order to protect herself.

E6. What a world-tilting revelation, for Hye Jin. She’s believed in Choi, and trusted him with her life, for years. Even when she’d suffered, she’d trusted him. She’d worked to protect him, at her own risk, while undercover. And she’s just discovered that he’s the one that she should have been after, all this time.

For someone whose entire mission in life is to avenge her father, this must hurt, and shock, and frustrate Hye Jin, on such a deep level.

That scene where Hye Jin stops the car, and ends up flailing on the floor, barely able to breathe because she’s hyperventilating, is really well done, I thought.

Han So Hee really delivers this of raw, trembling, overwhelming horror mixed with helplessness, and I can believe that Hye Jin’s processing this all in a very painful manner.

That decision to burn that tattoo right off her chest, right there in the car, is such an extreme one. Yet, I can believe that someone as scrappy as Hye Jin, who has found her entire life for the past 10 years to be a complete lie, would absolutely do something as drastic as that.

I don’t know if I can buy that she wouldn’t even wince at the burning of her flesh, but I get the idea, that she is now determined to divorce herself from the organization that had, up to recently, had her complete loyalty.

E7. It feels.. complicated, generally speaking. Hye Jin’s feelings towards everyone and everything, and in particular, Cha and Choi, for one. She’s spent such a long time being endlessly loyal to Choi, that it feels like a huge adjustment, for her to suddenly think of her as her enemy.

Also, judging from how Hye Jin goes to the hospital to check on Cha, it feels like she carries some guilt, likely for the suspicions and assumptions she’d had about him, when she’d thought of him as the person responsible – or at least involved – in her father’s death.

That beat, when Hye Jin puts her father’s ashes next to her mother’s, and apologizes for having misunderstood him all this time, is a really poignant one.

I feel like if she’d only known what he did for a living, her entire life would have been different, and she would have been able to live without encountering some of her most damaging wounds.

[END SPOILER]

Park Hee Soon as Choi

Drug lord Choi is arguably the most fascinating character in this drama world.

He was basically like a kaleidoscope, in my eyes, in the sense that with each situation that we see him in, I’d see a new side of him, and sometimes I’d even see him in a whole new light.

And, some of these sides seemed at odds with each other, which made it all the more interesting and intriguing. He made me want to know which side of him was closest to his true self.

Big props to Park Hee Soon, who oozes effortless, restrained charisma as Choi, and makes him as magnetic as he is enigmatic. Maybe he should always play a sharp-suited, conflicted drug lord, heh. 🤩

[SPOILER ALERT]

E2. I am very intrigued by Choi this episode, because it’s becoming clear to me that he’s not quite to be trusted.

There are times when he seems like Ji Woo’s life-line, like when he punishes Do Gang Jae, who’d tried to rape her, and when he promises that no matter what she does, the organization will take care of her.

And there are also times when he seems like a genuine friend to Ji Woo, what with him accepting that tumbler of camomile tea from her, and talking about old times that he’d shared with her dad. Plus, he specifically talks about the time that Dad had come to his rescue, and basically saved his life, back in the day.

BUT. There are also times when we see that he’s being coldly calculative about Ji Woo. He tells his righthand man Jung, that Ji Woo being in the Narcotics team will benefit the organization, and then calmly agrees that they’ll have to kill her, if anything goes wrong.

I’d (naively) imagined that even drug lords have some kind of honor code, and I’d imagined that Choi was protecting Ji Woo because of his past ties with her father. However, it’s dawning on me that Choi isn’t protecting Ji Woo at all.

He basically lets her sink or swim, in most situations that he places her in. He didn’t even warn her that someone would try to assault her, even though he says that he knew that she would have to deal with this kind of situation, at least once.

If he knew that she was in such real danger, why didn’t he say anything? Is there any real benefit to her not knowing in advance? After all, once she’s been attacked once, she’ll be on her guard, much like how she would’ve been on her guard, if he’d warned her..?

E5. My opinion of Choi continues to evolve, as our story unfolds.

I’d imagined that Choi would be pretty ruthless, if it came down to sacrificing Hye Jin, but this episode, we see that he puts himself in danger because of her, to Jung’s chagrin. Additionally, when he perceives that Hye Jin is in danger of being outed, he attempts to get her to leave the country.

To my eyes, this definitely seems like he’s trying to protect her. After all, he could have had her killed instead, if her presence in Narcotics was proving to be inconvenient for him.

That being said, I do think that part of the reason Choi trusts Hye Jin as much as he does, is because he knows just how much she’s glommed onto like a duckling to the first living thing it sees.

I think he understands just how important he is, in Hye Jin’s eyes, and therefore how she would put him first, and not lie to him. I believe that that’s why he knows that he can trust her.

E6. I find it interesting that Hye Jin brings that photo right to Choi and asks him about it. I feel that this is because she trusts him, and therefore believes that he will tell her the truth. And the thing is, what Choi tells her sounds pretty plausible.

It matches what Hye Jin knows of her father, and it’s possible that Dad had defected to the organization, while forsaking his old job and his old life.

Choi’s clearly thought about his cover story, for if and when Hye Jin ever asked about her father having been a cop.

The thing is, Choi’s emotions around all this, as he talks with Hye Jin, feel very real. I am leaning towards the idea that Choi really had felt deeply about his friendship with Yoon Dong Hoon, and his regret at Yoon’s death, and his wistfulness for the past, is real.

This means that Choi had had Yoon Dong Hoon killed, and then taken in Yoon’s daughter, and trained her to have Cha killed, for having sent in Yoon undercover, all the while allowing Yoon’s daughter to believe that she’s going undercover on a revenge mission. That’s.. messed up.

E7. It feels like Choi’s feelings towards Hye Jin are even more complicated than Hye Jin’s feelings towards him. He’s known all this time, that Hye Jin is the daughter of a traitor, so to speak, and he’s been using her, by deceiving her. Yet, there’s a part of him that defaults to wanting to protect Hye Jin.

He goes to turn himself in, in order to test Hye Jin. And previously, when it had looked like Hye Jin’s cover was in danger of being blown, he’d gotten Lawyer Kang (Baek Joo Hee) to get her a fake passport, and a place to go, that would at least imitate the beachside life that she’d once dreamed of, with her father.

And now, this episode, when Hye Jin gets arrested for helping him, his instinct is to get her out – even though he has concluded that the reason she’d gotten him out, is so that she can kill him.

Yet, at the same time, when Jung tells Choi that Hye Jin is likely to have found out the truth, and they need to kill her, it doesn’t seem that Choi disagrees.

In fact, it seems like Choi endorses that ambush that Jung springs on Hye Jin at her apartment. That feels so mixed up and messed up, right? On the one hand, he’s trying to kill her, but on the other, he wants to get her out of police custody.

I can only conclude that this is an example of some kind of underworld code of honor. Like, I’ll get you out since you got me out; let’s settle our scores away from the glare of the law. Kill me if you can, and I’ll kill you if I can..?

[END SPOILER]

The connection between Hye Jin and Pil Do

I’m honestly pleasantly surprised by how well Show teases out the connection between Pil Do and Hye Jin.

I mean, we start out with quite a bit of distance between them, with Pil Do holding a grudge and Hye Jin determined to keep to herself, and we don’t have a great deal of screen time to work with, and yet, the connection that forms between them feels organic and believable. I thought this was really nicely done.

Since I don’t have a dedicated section for Ahn Bo Hyun, I just wanted to also say that I thought he was very good in this role. I don’t see any traces of his past characters that I’ve seen before, like in Yumi’s Cells, or Itaewon Class.

He comes across as a completely separate, different person here, and that’s pretty cool.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E4. How interesting, that Cha passing Hye Jin’s personal file to Pil Do, only seems to increase Pil Do’s empathy for her. I mean, yes, he’s suspicious of her, and tails her, but Hye Jin’s determination to track down Scarface seems to win him over, and he’s quick to attribute it to the death of her fake druggie dad.

E5. I’m pretty impressed that under circumstances where she’s severely disadvantaged, and Scarface looks set on killing her, Hye Jin would ask for Pil Do to be released, because, in her words, he has nothing to do with this.

This feels like a big thing for Hye Jin, because she’s been driven by revenge for so long, and has been so suspicious of the people around her, particularly the people from the police force, that it’s surprising to think that she might have developed some real loyalty to someone from the police.

On a similar sort of note, I feel that Pil Do’s reactions this episode, when it comes to things concerning Hye Jin, come from what feels like a much more personal place than before. Now, it doesn’t just seem like he’s defending her just because she’s his partner and it’s his duty to do so.

Now, it feels like he’s personally invested, and has some kind of personal stake in Hye Jin’s wellbeing.

From the way he tries to protect her even when he is himself cuffed and helpless, to the way he doggedly works to apprehend Scarface and his cronies afterwards, everything Pil Do does, has that extra layer of personal involvement and investment to it.

The scene where Scarface puts Pil Do and Hye Jin in that van in the compactor, and leaves them to die, with the compactor steadily coming down on them, was really hard to watch. And I say this, even while knowing that they would survive it, somehow. That’s good execution; Show had my throat in its grip, even though my brain knew that everything would work out.

The desperation of both Pil Do and Hye Jin, to free themselves and each other, is so visceral. Even as they struggle, there’s a sense of hopelessness about their struggle, because their efforts feel so ineffectual in the face of the relentless descending of the crushing plate. Ack.

It says a lot, that when Pil Do doesn’t think he’s going to make it, he shouts at Hye Jin to get herself out, while she can.

By the same token, I feel that it also says a lot, that when Choi arrives and rams his car into the compactor, thus stalling it and saving Pil Do from being immediately crushed, Hye Jin’s instinct, despite her loyalty to Choi, is to get Pil Do out from under there.

The fact that she hesitates, the way she does, and doesn’t just run to Choi, does show how she’s grown loyal to Pil Do, in spite of herself.

And then there’s how Pil Do tells Hye Jin about how he’d lost his little sister to drugs, and promises Hye Jin that he’ll help her nab whomever it is, that she’s intent on catch. That’s definitely stepping into personal territory, right there.

E6. The fact that Hye Jin suffers from nightmares after killing Scarface indicates that she really is quite vulnerable, underneath her tough exterior.

For this reason, I’m glad that Pil Do seeks her out, just to keep her company. She says that she’s fine, but he knows that she’s not, and insists on just sitting with her, and drinking with her, for the evening.

That’s really thoughtful and empathetic of him, I feel. And I do tend to think that this stems from his own experience; most likely from the first time he’d killed someone. He seems to know from experience, that the aftermath of killing someone, is not an easy thing to deal with.

I find it significant, that when Pil Do asks about Scarface knowing Hye Jin from before, she tells him the truth; that he’d tried to rape her after drugging her, and she’d sustained the scar on her hand, trying to wake herself up from the drugs.

She leaves out other details about Dongcheon, of course, but the thing is, she’s essentially telling Pil Do the truth about a very traumatic and vulnerable time in her life.

Also, there’s the thing where he asks what she likes to do, and she eventually tells him that she likes to sit by the beach. That is also something that’s very true and very personal to her, because that’s her memory of Dad. I think this all says something, about her level of trust in Pil Do.

On his part, I do feel like Pil Do’s sense of compassion for Hye Jin has increased, now that he knows about Scarface and how he’d attempted to rape her. I can feel him processing Hye Jin’s trauma, just from looking at his eyes. He looks stunned, sad and sorry, all at the same time.

[END SPOILER]

Special shout-outs

Lee Hak Joo as Jung

I just wanted to say that I surprised myself by growing a soft spot for Jung, even though he’s a supporting character who doesn’t enjoy all that much screen time.

For some reason, I rather like him. He seems really loyal, in the context of his chosen organization.

He’s so focused and dogged, when it comes to accomplishing whatever mission Choi gives him, and he appears to be completely sincere in supporting Choi, without harboring his own agenda, as well.

Kim Sang Ho as Cha

I also found myself having a soft spot for Cha, despite Cha’s true agenda being kept vague for a good portion of our story. This is probably leftover affection from me having seen Kim Sang Ho play so many good guys, like his role in Sweet Home.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I was most impressed with Cha’s guttural reaction in episode 6, when he realizes that Hye Jin is Yoon Dong Hoon’s daughter. His anguish, shock and horror, as he wails about how Choi’s gotten Hye Jin under his wings, so tangible. Really well done, I thought.

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

Chang Ryul as Do Gang Jae [SPOILERS]

To be honest, I found that I didn’t instinctively understand Scarface and his revenge agenda. I guess I had trouble putting myself in his shoes, and therefore only tried to understand him from an objective viewpoint, which.. didn’t work very well.

Many thanks to Trent, who helped to shed light on 2 things that I found especially perplexing about Scarface.

1. I didn’t get his revenge against Jung.

It makes sense to me that he’d hold a grudge against Choi for the way Choi had punished him, but man, that attack on the Dongcheon gym was something else.

However, I didn’t get Scarface’s revenge against Jung, because it had been Choi who had meted out the punishment that had turned him into Scarface. Meting out the same punishment on Jung feels like a coward move to my eyes, honestly, because it’s not Jung that Scarface should come against, but Choi himself.

Trent’s take: Scarface sees Jung as a reasonable proxy for Choi, and also, he is maiming Jung as a warning to Choi, that he will be next.

2. I didn’t get his revenge on Hye Jin.

His revenge didn’t really make sense to me, in that Hye Jin really didn’t do him wrong. He was the one who’d tried to rape her; she’d simply fought back, to protect herself. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me that just because she successfully fought back, and he got caught and punished, he wanted to kill her.

Trent’s take: From Scarface’s perspective, he was on the way to winning the big competition when Hye Jin swooped in and basically stole his place as the winner. And so he set out to have a little “fun” (and get some payback) on the girl who beat him, and instead, he ends up maimed and exiled. Of course he wants revenge.

Thanks, Trent!! Looks like I have a lot to learn, about putting myself in the shoes of a guy like Scarface. 😅

Last but not least, I also wanted to say that, oddly enough, even though Scarface continues to curse Hye Jin with his last breath, I find that I don’t relish his death.

In fact, I even feel a little bit sorry for him, because it feels like he’s been so misguided, that he’s ended up wasting – and cutting short – his entire life. Or maybe that’s just credit to Chang Ryul’s delivery. There’s just something about Scarface’s dying breath, that makes me feel some pity for him.

[END SPOILER]

The grittiness of this drama world

Our drama world is very slick and polished, but at the same time, it’s also very gritty, if that makes sense. It’s a world that’s dark with dubious intent, and where danger’s lurking around every corner.

It’s necessary, given the premise of our story, but I have to say that this drama world isn’t a world that I’d like to exist in. 😅

[SPOILER ALERT]

For example, the “training grounds” where Choi drops Ji Woo, in episode 1, feels like some sort of wild safari, where you’re left to fend for yourself against all manner of danger and wild animals.

The conditions are pretty horrible, and the trainees here don’t appear to have any kind of manner of decency, judging from the way they treat Ji Woo.

[END SPOILER]

The fight scenes

E1. So far, I find the fight scenes violent enough to make a statement, but not so violent that I find it difficult to watch. Also, I think that so far, Ji Woo’s fight moves and reflexes reflect her Beginner status quite well.

Her movements have a flaily sort of quality to them, that I can believe would come with being a relative newbie. That’s very good attention to detail, I feel.

E2. The fight choreography in this show is proving to be rather interesting. What I mean is, there are some moves that feel like they come out of nowhere (to my untrained, non-fight accustomed eyes of course), like how Ji Woo /Hye Jin basically spins that guy around on his back on the ground, so that his arm is painfully twisted in the wrong direction.

E4. I haven’t seen a whole lot of knife fight choreography, but on first impressions at least, Choi’s moves remind me a lot of Jung Kyung Ho’s drug lord’s fight moves in Heartless City.

Those were also short, sharp, stabby moves, while he fought one to many. Both scenes are equally badass, I think.

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

Specific bits that I found tough to watch [SPOILERS]

E3. The scene where Scarface attacks the place with a bunch of guys, all wielding huge blades, and all basically hacking at whatever bare flesh they come across, and impaling anyone who gets in their way. Eep. That was a very violent, bloody spectacle indeed.

E5. The whole thing where Scarface confronts Hye Jin and tries to kill her and Pil Do, is so stressful to watch.

When Scarface stabs her in the leg, and then relishes stepping on her wound, I winced at the squirt sound effect, and at the imagined pain of having a fresh stab wound bear the weight of a full grown man. Yikes. 😵

E7. I found it hard to watch Hye Jin tend to her own gunshot wound. Does she even remove the bullet, before stapling her wound shut? That niggles at me, I have to confess, but as Trent pointed out to me, it’s possible the bullet only grazed her arm.

The specific occasion when the police behave like jerks [SPOILERS]

E4. The whole thing, where Cha Gi Ho and Pil Do go to the memorial service of the fallen gang members, feels so unnecessary. In fact, I think less of the detectives for going, because even though I know that they’re looking for information and clues, they don’t go about it in a manner that’s helpful to anyone.

They act in such an annoying manner, and are pretty much disrespectful, even though the gang is mourning their dead. And, nothing that they do actually gains them any information anyway. Pil Do going around and giving his name cards to gang members, saying to call him, if they feel like talking, feels downright insulting.

Unless I missed something here, I honestly feel like this was a waste of time for everyone involved, especially since they don’t gain any information from it, nor acted in a manner that would have helped them gain information.

To be brutally honest, this beat dulled my respect for both detectives. It almost feels like they’re there just to gloat. And maybe bait the gang members towards personal violence, with their rude behavior.

Logic stretches [SPOILERS]

I know I said earlier, that suspension of disbelief is required while watching this show.

However, just for the record, here’s a quickish rundown of the various times during my watch, when I felt the need to close my eyes and just roll with it:

E1. I do think there’s some suspension of disbelief needed, around Choi’s set-up. I mean, since his drug activities are so illegal, isn’t it a bit of a stretch that he’s got this glossy huge office, where people can be seen systematically packing drugs..?

I’d always imagined that that kind of thing would be done in secret, and not in a glossy office where the cops could bust in, at any time?

Also, I find it a bit of a stretch, that Ji Woo would even know where to find Choi, since she isn’t presented as being very familiar with Dad’s work. Also, she’s only 17 years old. What would she know about where to find a drug lord?

E1. While I don’t know how realistic it is that Ji Woo learns so well so quickly, I rationalize that we don’t actually know how much time has passed from the time Choi comes to give her that lesson on attacking her opponents’ vital points, to her competing in that all-in-one brawl.

Perhaps more time has passed than I think. And also, there’s the thing where Choi’s said that Ji Woo has potential.

E2. I agree with Trent, that there is some suspension of disbelief required, that a petite woman like Ji Woo, would be able to beat up so many bigger guys, but I’ll take it, while assuming that there’s something to be said for skill, over brute strength.

E3. Things get complicated this episode, with the Narcotics team out to ambush Choi. This means that Hye Jin’s out there on the field, in a situation where she’s supposed to nab Choi, when instead Choi had planted her in Narcotics, so that she’d be a help to him and the organization.

It makes me wonder how thoroughly he’s thought this through, or how much he’s even talked with Hye Jin about this. I know Choi is made out to be the strong, silent type, but it seems foolhardy to plant someone in a team that’s legitimately out to get you, and not talk about contingency plans..? I’d pegged the organization as being more.. well, organized, about things.

Jung wonders why Hye Jin hadn’t called them to let them know in advance, and Choi ignores Hye Jin’s calls for some time too. I get that they’ve just lost a lot and are sore, but it just doesn’t make sense to me, that it doesn’t occur to them that Hye Jin might not have been in a position to alert them.

E4. While I would like to say that Han So Hee’s pull-ups are impressive, I think there’s some CGI involved.

What I mean is, it’s highly unlikely that her muscles are lifting her weight on their own, because of the relative lack of strain and definition visible, during the shot. I’m pretty certain that if she were lifting her body weight on her own, there would be a lot more visible strain and definition in her arms.

My guess is that she did those pull-ups with the help of a resistance pull-up band, and the pull-up band was subsequently CGI-ed out. Still makes for a pretty cool shot, though, if you don’t look too carefully. 😅

E5. The twist reveal, that Yoon Dong Hoon had been undercover, blew my mind. What doesn’t make sense to me, is, if Detective Jo (Kim Byung Cheol) had known that Yoon Dong Hoon had been an undercover cop, then why did he harass Hye Jin / Ji Woo the way he did?

I mean, it doesn’t make sense, period, that the cops would harass her, but if Yoon Dong Hoon had been one of the cops, and Detective Jo had known about it, it makes even less sense.

THEMES / IDEAS

Here are the top themes that come to mind, when I think about this show:

1. Loyalty. What that means, and the price that comes with it.

2. What’s the true price of revenge, and is it worth it?

3. Context really is everything.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

Well that was quite the whirlwind of a finale.

Coming in, I wasn’t really sure where Show would lean, ultimately. Would Hye Jin get Choi via the long arm of the law, or would she go rogue?

Maybe a more seasoned viewer who’s more in tune with this genre’s general patterns and tropes would have been able to predict the outcome, but I honestly wasn’t able to guess. I was just holding onto my hat, along for the ride. 😅

What I appreciate about this finale, is how it’s as much of an emotional journey, as it is an action-packed one.

It’s not just serving up more and more action, to amp up the adrenaline quotient in this show (which I have the impression that action flicks tend to do). Instead, Show digs into the emotional side of things, while also amping up the action, and I feel like the combined impact creates a pretty excellent amount of oomph.

There’s the whole question of how Hye Jin responds to Choi, in his promise that he won’t let Hye Jin go to prison. On the surface, it sounds like Choi’s asking her to come back to him, and be on his team, but in the context of our story, this really is Choi asking her to come to him – to fulfill her promise of killing him, like she’d said.

That’s dark and twisted, but I don’t think that Choi has an actual death wish. Rather, he wants to settle this score, according to the laws of their world, and that’s why he’s telling Hye Jin to come to him.

The way Hye Jin gets out of custody at the hospital is a great combination of creativity, quick-thinking, and good ol’ sharp fight skills.

And of course, there’s the detail, that the medical assistant who helps her, is the same woman whom Hye Jin had shown kindness to, at Mango’s drug joint. This particular beat is very kdrama, I feel, but y’know, I like it. I like the idea that the good that you do, inspires others to repay the debt of kindness, sometimes when you least expect it.

I am relieved that Cha makes it, and I’m also glad that he wastes no time in telling Pil Do the truth about Hye Jin and her dad. Hye Jin’s in a difficult position, and it’s definitely better for her to have Pil Do on her side, than pitted against her.

Ahn Bo Hyun does a great job of showing us Pil Do’s complicated thoughts, as he processes this world-tilting information about Hye Jin.

I mean, in his mind, one minute she’s a felon who’d stabbed Cha and left him for dead, and the next, she’s a victim whose father had been an undercover cop. It’s a lot, and Ahn Bo Hyun conveys very well, how every last gear in Pil Do’s head, is going at full speed, to try to keep up with the changing narrative.

Kudos too, to Han So Hee, because aside from her fantastic delivery of the complexity of Ji Woo’s grief in episode 1, I feel that her delivery of Hye Jin’s wild-eyed desperation this episode, is a close second, and some of her best work.

I like the idea of Pil Do coming at Hye Jin with compassion instead of animosity, and I like how they fight off those attackers from Dongcheon, and then take off in the getaway car that Butterfly Lady has provided. I also think it’s a nice touch that Pil Do takes Hye Jin to the beach because he remembers her talking about wanting to go.

I’m on board with the idea of the bed scene, even though my brain protests that it’s hard to believe that anyone would be in the mood for sexytimes, if they’ve been stabbed, but.. this is just how Show rolls, in that people in this drama world have the superhuman capacity to be highly functional despite serious bodily injury.

I can understand the idea of Pil Do and Hye Jin wanting to connect on a physical level, as an extension of the mutual understanding and acceptance that they’ve established. However, I have to confess that I’m not big on the execution of the scene itself. It looks rather awkward to my eyes, and some of it feels intentionally gratuitous, to me.

I think this scene would have benefited from a more restrained, less in-yo-face execution, because that would have kept the focus on the emotional connection between Pil Do and Hye Jin, without veering off into the relative sensationalism of lots of bare skin, which I felt didn’t serve much (if any) narrative purpose.

Although I find Choi’s agitated outburst a little hyperbolic in execution, I think I get the idea, that he’s always been emotionally invested in his friendship with Dong Hoon, and all of this – Dong Hoon’s death by Choi’s own hands, and Hye Jin’s quest for revenge – is finally coming to a head, with him reaching breaking point.

In particular, I can believe that the idea that Dongcheon is possibly doomed because Hye Jin looks like she’s going to testify for the prosecution, would be a big contributing factor to Choi losing his composure in such a big way.

While Pil Do’s death feels like one of this genre’s favorite calling cards – build up the emotional connection, before unceremoniously ripping it away, for maximum emotional pain – I think the reasoning behind it is sound enough to get Show a pass on this front.

I can buy the idea that Choi would want to kill Pil Do, for the sole purpose of getting Hye Jin away from the legal path she was about to embark on, and back on the path of rogue justice.

And Choi reads Hye Jin very accurately, too. It only takes the few seconds after Pil Do’s death, for Hye Jin to decide that she’s going to have to kill Choi with her own hands, after all.

The final showdown between Choi and Hye Jin is bloody, slashy and stabby, but above all, it’s emotional.

It’s clear that Choi’s out to prove a point; that Hye Jin won’t be able to kill him, just like her father hadn’t been able to kill him, while Hye Jin’s struggle, aside from fighting her own physical exhaustion, is to prove Choi wrong, and avenge her father’s death.

Plus, now, it’s not just about avenging Dad, it’s about avenging Pil Do as well, who’d literally died because of his involvement with Hye Jin.

It feels like some kind of dark poetic justice, that Hye Jin ends up killing Choi, using the very skills that he’d taught her, once upon a time.

I’m a little disappointed that we don’t get to hear any final words from Choi before he breathes his last, and I also feel that it’s a stretch, that Hye Jin would be able to get away with killing Choi, after fighting him in his office with her bare hands and therefore surely leaving fingerprints behind.

Also, there’s the thing where the CCTV in the building would have surely captured her entering the building and fighting her way to Choi’s office.

But.. that’s just not how Show rolls. This is a dark revenge fantasy, where details like these don’t actually matter; what matters is that Hye Jin got her revenge, and lived to tell the tale. I think we’re meant to just believe that she’s slippery and skilled enough to evade detection.

I did think it was a poetic touch, that we get to see Hye Jin visiting her family grave.

I was rather puzzled at first, by the placement of the third urn, because, given the situation, how could she have had access to anyone’s ashes, right?

But I rationalize that perhaps she’s put an empty urn there, to represent Pil Do, along with his keys (because I’d hate to think that Hye Jin might have stolen Pil Do’s ashes out of his family grave 😳).

It’s a scene that’s rather sad to my eyes, because Hye Jin is all alone in the world, even as she stands there in that cemetery, and gazes upon her family.

But the silver lining, I suppose, is the fact that her revenge is finally done, and even though Pil Do’s gone, she now sees him as family, and will always have him in her heart, as family.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Dark, slick and emotionally-driven. Solid, with the right lens.

FINAL GRADE: B+

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Charlotte
Charlotte
7 months ago

Binge-watched this. Tight action with a tense plot that relies on the psychological layering of a lot of characters on both sides of the war against drug crime. Good from that viewpoint. But it was also nice to come to your blog and read the many comments posted about the slick ‘western’ veneer that Netflix has been spreading over their branded k-dramas. Yes, Hye Jin fits the caricature western bad-ass women that are predominant lately, although she has good reason to be since she’s always thought her Dad was in a Drug Ring; so in essence she’s had no way to access any of the strong femine qualities valued in strong women like our real-life mothers and sisters. Although, it did occur to me while watching, that the series could have been about a young boy who lost his Dad and vowed to get revenge too. He would have had the same weaknesses physically and emotionally as our Hye Jin had at the beginning, and the series likely could have also included a male rape scene and a romance ending with his woman being killed. We wouldn’t have missed anything different emotionally or physically. And it’s been done a lot before. Hye Jin being a woman actually didn’t mean that much to the core plot. (Maybe I’ve watched to much western tv drug gang shows ). Finally, the ending too didn’t reflect the confuscian justice of K-dramas where heroes may fight for revenge, but generally it comes with bigger penalties. Seeing our heroine well-dressed and at peace somehow in the last scene didn’t fit. Yes, she’s alone, but there was no honour in being alive after what she did in order to get it. So many wasted lives to achieve it. Especially after Pil-do reminded her that her Dad would want Choi brought to justice in the way he lived as a cop. I know the fight to the death was what Choi wanted, but she allowed herself to buy into it all, bending to his will like she had at the beginning. Somehow if maybe Pil-do was the one left standing, then although it would be sad to see her die, it might have been just a bit satisfying to see the balance regained in the k-drama-verse of good triumphing over evil. Eventhough both Choi and Hye Jin had become monsters, in the west Hye Jin becomes heroic. This was a good drama to get you thinking about all the action/revenge tropes. And reading your great post and the thoughtful comments here made me feel like there are others who haven’t fallen in love with Netflix’s ‘massaging’ of the message and the magic that our original K-dramas sparkled with. Thanks for the space to express my opinion.

Grace
Grace
1 year ago

I quite liked the show and I felt it had a lot of westernisation in it, which kinda put me off slightly. Even though I’m not Korean nor do I understand Korean, I enjoy listening to OSTs sung in Korean. So the first song being sung in English threw me off.

As you’ve mentioned and a couple of other people have mentioned, the acting was really good from almost all of the cast. The emotional connections was well developed in such a short time frame and I was able to empathise with them and understand why they chose to do whatever it was they did (Do Gangtae included – his actions are similar to that of Park In Gyu (TWoTM) a false sense of entitlement).

I can’t say I liked the ending as much as I did the other 7 episodes especially that forced love scene at the beach. I get that her humanity needed to be shown, but imo, a comforting hug or cuddling or hand holding seemed more appropriate considering the nature of their relationship instead, they could have shown that particular scene in the morning after building up that sort of tension between them. Or maybe the scene could have worked had they tried to sensationalise it. It was rather jarring and not within the same flow.

Funny enough, I actually pitied Choi Muijin the most and found his death quite fitting. Being killed by someone he trusts after raising them up. I couldn’t overlook all of the injuries Jiwoo had sustained and how she was able to kill a man who’s stats were high in terms of energy and experience even though Choi Muijin was prepared for death.

I also didn’t find it implausible that Jiwoo could beat up people larger than her. I’m not too sure which one, but there are some martial arts out there that literally show people that physical size doesn’t matter and I think it’s what she used in that hand twisting scene. I mean she was trained by one of the best.

Overall, I enjoyed binge watching it 🙃

Last edited 1 year ago by Grace
emily
emily
1 year ago

I think the keys in ep 8 when she visits her family’s grave is her dad’s because one of the keys is broken (from ep 1 when dad broke the key to their house)

seankfletcher
seankfletcher
1 year ago

I think its awesome that you took the time to watch and review My Name, kfangurl 😎 I watched show in two halves and found it to be a very satisfactory revenge/action/ thriller. In fact, it was very reminiscent of the very good Hong Dramas and movies in the same vein (yes, folks – there are some good ones out there). That aside, eight episodes was just right. To go beyond this number of episodes would have burst the bubble of built up anticipation and need for resolution.

I marvelled at the performances by all involved. Each character was not just a cardboard cut out of what it means to be either in a gang or to participate in a gang’s demise. I found I wanted to know more regarding each one. I think that Han So Hee’s move to broaden her horizons and clearly show she is capable of so much more will definately pay off. Her action skills, timing and emotive (or lack of emotion) facial expresions were spot on. The final scenes between Hye Jin and Choi were a little nod to a favourite SK action movie of mine: The Villainess. Then there is Maggie Q in the recently released Protege (she was also awesome in Nikita).

Kim Sang Ho is a personal favourite of mine. It was nice to see him play a character with a few more layers and not the conniving police captain in a number of shows of late – except for Sweet Home where he was the awesome mentor.

In terms of suspending disbelief, yes show does ask that of us in a relevant way. It does so by paying a nod to some classic fight scenes and shows. Then we have the gang members in suits or the display of faux elitism that says: good dress sense reflects well on the boss and opens the door on the boss being able to undertake business in a civilised manner. However, Hye Jin’s use of the knife was spot on – she actually used key moves that many shows ignore, but as any expert will tell you, are essential to ensure victory.

In terms of scarface, I did have a bit of chuckle re the big blades he was fond of. Given my penchant for production continuity, I noticed in a couple of scenes the blades were a bit rubbery i.e. they wobbled and curved on at least two occassions. Blink and you will miss it. Was his demise justified? Yes, and I didn’t mind how it happened. It was for Hye Jin to resolve and she did it as she saw fit.

In terms of drug labs in “glossy” (exclusive) open or public environments, it is a thing. Drug lab busts are being made in hotels (and nice ones at that), all the time. I read of a recent case regarding such a situation. The hotel group manager was a key part of the operation and the enterprise was of a such a size that no less than enforcement agencies from at least three countries were involved.

I am fine with Choi not uttering any final words. It would have been a waste of breathe anyway 😱 His was a fine performance and in the end, with his demise, youthfulness with conviction prevailed. The final scenes at the cemetries was a fitting touch.

Trent
1 year ago
Reply to  seankfletcher

What he said ⬆️⬆️⬆️😁

ngobee
ngobee
1 year ago
Reply to  seankfletcher

Haven’t seen this one yet, but after P.D. and Hellbound I am getting the impression, too, that this shorter series format can pack the punch of a movie while satisfying our need for serial narration (is that even a word ?) I personally enjoy this development quite a bit. You don’t have to dwell in the darkness shown for 16 episodes (Guest, Tell Me What You Saw etc.) but the story comes across.

Aiki4640D
Aiki4640
1 year ago

I watched this right after the hype of Squid Game so the “afterglow” of the former kind of affected my view of this one at first. However, i’ve always had a penchant for stories with strong (kick ass), smart (streetwise) and no-nonsense (broken but spirited) female lead so I think this story is great (of course, ignore the unlikely parts, suspend belief – just enjoy the ride). The story’s twists and turns got me hooked, other than the superhot villain (is he a villain? I think he has a soft spot for Hye Jin/Ji Woo although he has to abide by the gangster code. Idk, i have a bad habit of rooting for the suave, well dressed bad boys anyway). I think overall the acting is great, the storyline is captivating and the whole moody ending is just a nice cap to the story (no spoilers here).
But! I do have something against that part where fl and good guy cop had a little something something after escaping for a bit. This part stood out oddly, it was so not Kdrama when things are more subdued and sweet. I’m no prude but that sexy scene reminded me of western shows (there’s aaalways some gratuitious t&a here and there) and imo, it didnt fit in this story. It’s the reason i’m kinda sick of western series – the gratuitous sex scenes/nudity is just to pull some audiences in, a bit of spice. But unnecessary to the story telling most of the time
Anyway, good show, great review. As usual, i agree to everything you said here.

Natalia
Natalia
1 year ago

Well, I dropped this one, mostly because having watched a significant number of shows in this particular category, I found it pretty predictable since the beginning
Having said that, I thought it was a pretty good execution of a revenge/undercover show – the only drawback forme was the female lead. Don’t get me wrong, I think she did an excellent work, it’s just that she’s so petite that not once did I manage to overcome my disbelief about how she beats up trained fighters double her size.

Nishimiya
1 year ago

I think this drama is best drama 🤧 becouse the story line is just superb and heart touching 🥺❤️ it has only few episodes but u will never be bore to watch per episode,u can complete this drama in just 2 days 😗and in per episode u will get different types of vibes ⚡and the acting of all the actors are fabulous, this drama will touch your heart 🤧❤️,so I highly recommend this drama to watch 😌❤️

beez
1 year ago

– I wasn’t going to watch this but after reading the first few spoilers, it sounds so interesting so I had to stop reading since I guess I’ll be watching this now.

Antonio
1 year ago

Unfortunately the drift of the “westernized” netlfix kdrama is proceeding fast. Even if many do not admit it, we love kdrama precisely for the real and non-stereotyped and imaginary male and female figures.

The alleged butt-breaker woman present in all US productions is not liked by either men or women. It is just a shoddy product of the degenerate feminism that has invaded the West.

The real, strong and feminine female figures are those featured in non-Netflix Krama (think of any woman featured in My Mister, My Unfamiliar Family, Mother, SWDBS, WWWSK, Reply 1988, Do You Like Brahams … and virtually any unpolluted Kdrama show from the alleged Western values).

The other incredible thing is that even Cdrama are healthier and more anchored to reality than Western TV. And a person who hates the Communist dictatorship says so.

I hope to be able to go back to watching Western shows someday, when this postmodern and lying cancer will be just a distant memory, and men and women will be represented in a realistic way as is the case with Asian TV.

reaper
reaper
1 year ago
Reply to  Antonio

Finally somebody speaks the truth.
I hate when they use the word “strong” is such a stupid way.
Why does a violent person equal a strong person. That doesn’t make sense at all. Wouldn’t it be called strength to decide not to fight?
And also putting that useless s*x scene in there is just peak westernization.

Antonio
1 year ago
Reply to  reaper

But in fact, what they call strong women on US shows are just excuses for hitting straight white males and promoting misandry.

The real strong women are those of My Mister, or Mother … And even when we occasionally find a Strong Woman in kdramaland, the appropriate Park Bo Young still manages to maintain sweetness, femininity and love for the other sex.

None of the kdrama or Cdrama I mentioned today could have a remake in the USA, they would be accused of being misogynist, retrograde, fascist, racist and so on …

Korean actors and directors should stop selling their souls to the devil Netflix. Yesterday I saw Sweet and Sour with the delicious Chae So Bin (watch I’m Not a Robot) … same speech I do for My Name. Garbage, nihilism and emptyness.

reaper
reaper
1 year ago
Reply to  Antonio

True. I have the same feeling.
And I totally agree with you. Except the Park Bo young part…(I hated strong woman do bong soo):D

They really couldn’t remake most of them.
I just don’t get why feminity within women is considered as something bad or a weakness these days.

This type of selling out will only increase in the future.
Is Sweet and Sour not good?
After Chae so Bin (one of my faves) was in strongest delivery man I had some troubles watching stuff with her in it.

Antonio
1 year ago
Reply to  reaper

I don’t know if you are male … but I really fell in love with Park Bo-young in Strong Woman. She was so cute and cartoonish!

I loved Chae Soo Bin so much in I’m Not a Robot, she was really beautiful and very sweet too. Sweet and Sour has all the flaws of Netflix movies. I miss Strongest Deliveryman.

If you are Western and looking for healthy entertainment, I recommend When Calls The Heart.

The problem we are talking about of non-feminine women also applies to men who are increasingly portrayed as feminine. Even in the US it is fashionable to talk about toxic masculinity. The two problems are closely related as you can imagine. Also for this reason, if you want fresh air, you have to watch Kdrama, Cdrama and TaiwanDrama to see exceptional and examplary male figures.

reaper
reaper
1 year ago
Reply to  Antonio

Yes I am a dude ^^ I agree she was cute and cartoonish but at the same time I felt like she was abusing her powers and treating her friends badly.

Thanks for the insight on Sweet and Sour.

Yes. I am from Germany. I might check it out thanks for the recommendation.

Very true. A man wanting to be a man is toxic…. apparently.
Only the good old american shows that are still running have these types of men.

Yes this is one of the reasons why I started watching dramas even tho I had to take a break because they produced a lot of SH*T last year and this year.

JJ
JJ
1 year ago
Reply to  reaper

@reaper – Love what you said – “Wouldn’t it be called strength to decide not to fight?” 🙂

reaper
reaper
1 year ago
Reply to  JJ

Thanks ^^

reaper
reaper
1 year ago

In Germany we have an Award show called „Goldene Himbeere“ (golden Raspberry) it is like the oscars but instead of the best actors, actresses and shows the worst actors, actresses and shows get awarded. Even people like Sandra Bullock and Kevin Costner received it.
This show is my golden raspberry of the year.
Was about to write a little rant but thought it would be a waste of time.

Su San
Su San
1 year ago

So glad that you tackled this one–thanks. Wow, gore-orama! I watched “My Name” because of stars Ahn Bo Hyun and Han So Hee. Their stunts were amazing. It was exciting to see them show a range of their abilities as actors. I can’t believe I watched all of it!

This story seemed like a Kdrama response to the popularity of the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo or Kill Bill series, with female lead revenge by extreme violence. Kudos to Han So Hee for her portrayal of Hye-jin. Suspending one’s sense of belief is necessary in these types of dramas.

Fleshing out Hye-jin’s backstory with some quick scenes at Police University would have given more depth how Hye-jin transitioned to her law enforcement gig. (She is shown in uniform in ads–are these scenes on the floor of the cutting room?) I really wasn’t into the details of the gangsters but they drove the action-filled plot.

I had trouble believing Hye-jin accepted of Pil Do as her friend, her trusted colleague and her romantic interest. Beyond Pil Do’s one awkward request to “grab” drinks after work plus one home visit, his interest in developing their relationship as more than work partners just wasn’t enough to add up to the beach house scenes. Perhaps a little more development creating tension between Hye-jin’s blind obsession with revenge versus her need to be accepted/loved by Pil Do could have convinced me.

In an online interview with Ahn Bo Hyun, he said that it was decided that the intimate scenes at the beach house were necessary to show that Hye-jin was capable of human feelings, not just animal-li,e instinct. I agree that the nudity came across as gratuitous–because I don’t watch this genre in kdramas I don’t know if it is the “norm” or was it just for Netflix?

Many action shows feature a break in the action where there is time for intimacy to make the “hero” more humane and relatable. Anyway, there wasn’t enough on-sceen emotional connection to establish that her relationship with Pil Do was essential for her to transition to a life hot fueled by revenge.

So, do you think Hye-jin will be back for season 2?

beez
1 year ago
Reply to  Su San

@Su Dan – Korean dramas were known for being being tame, innocent, and anything sexual in nature was implied. If, for some reason, the plot necessitated showing characters in bed, they were usually fully clothed and not under the covers.

Only the Korean cable shows might show a couple in a more adult and realistic way of being under the covers with a bare shoulder peeking out but there was usually limited touching in those scenes.

I’m not prudish and have no problem with very revealing and intimate scenes when watching western shows or any country’s (including Korea) movies, but it was just a nice, refreshing thing about Kdramas that you knew what you would not be seeing.

There was also an amazing amount of sexual tension that came across on screen just by way of restraint as you would watch an OTP (one true pairing couple) in close proximity to each other but yet not touching. So that by the time they finally kiss… gangbusters!🎉

Su San
Su San
1 year ago
Reply to  beez

Thanks, Beez!

Su San
Su San
1 year ago
Reply to  Su San

Forgot to mention that My Name was listed as a 4 out of 5 stars drama to watch on Netflix by US TV Guide Magazine, and even listed the Korean stars–the influence of Squid Game is real!

Trent
1 year ago

Ahhh, I’m so happy you decided to take a flyer on this one!

I really enjoyed this, enough that when I followed along on a rewatch (after binge-ing it when it first dropped), well, I enjoyed that too. It was slick and twisty and well-executed and emotionally compelling enough to hold up pretty well, I found.

Oh, and the comment I was going to make, assuming you made it through the end (which you’ve now done):

Spoiler for the final episode of My Name
Remember the trope of fridging? I found it…interesting? I guess is the word, that Show essentially pulls a reverse fridging (“reverse” only because the gender on the protagonist is flipped here) in the final episode. Hye-jin, her context radically shifted by the revelation that her father was a cop all along, and the door to a more emotionally expansive and morally-defensible pathway opened by the empathy and understanding of Pil-do, is prepared to turn away from her revenge and atone by giving herself up and facing prison time. So of course the narrative goes (via Choi, of course, who as you say has internally consistent reasons for wanting her to come to him and settle it face to face) and kills the person who empathizes with her and who she now cares for, as a means of recalling her to her revenge and rededicating her to her original purpose. In a sane, conventional law-and-order world, this is terrible, but that’s how this sort of tale rolls, and in the context of this particular narrative world, I think it’s a pretty satisfying ending (mileages will probably vary there, which, fair enough).