~ MY NAME ~

Average reading time: 8 minutes

 Personal grade: 17,5/20

Korean Title: 마이 네임

English Title: My Name

Country: South Korea

Director: Kim Jin Min

Screenwriter: Kim Ba Da

Genres: Action, Thriller, Crime

Episodes: 8

Aired: Oct 15, 2021

Original Network: Netflix

Duration: 50 minutes per episode

Content rating: 18+ (violence and profanity)

Where to watch it: Netflix

Official trailer from The Swoon's official YouTube channel: 

Main Cast

• Han So Hee as Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin 
• Park Hee Soon as Choi Mu Jin
• Ahn Bo Hyun as Jeon Pil Do

Support Cast

• Lee Hak Joo as Jung Tae Joo (Choi Mu Jin's right-hand man) 
• Kim Sang Ho as Cha Gi Ho (drug investigation unit team leader)
• Jang Yoon as Do Gang Jae (former member of Dongcheong gang) 

 

Brief Summary:

Yoon Ji Woo is a young girl battling with school bullying and struggling to live on her own. Everyday she's being pointed at and called the daughter of a murdered, her father being on the "most wanted" list of the police. On the day of her birthday, her father comes back to her, hoping to see her after a long absence, but he's unfortunately murdered in front of her. From that point on, Jiwoo swears that she's going to get revenge. She goes to the police who seems to have buried her father's case already. So when a presumed friend of her father, Choi Mu Jin, claims that the gun that killed her father is one that belonged to a policeman, her desire of vengeance becomes her only goal in life. 

Choi Mu Jin is in fact the leader of the Dongcheong gang, one of the biggest drug-dealing company in the country. He welcomed Jiwoo in the Dongcheong gang and agreed to train her and help her become stronger in order to kill the man who murdered her father. One day Mujin decides to send her undercover to infiltrate the police, so that she can easily find the person who is responsible of all her pain.  She joins the narcotic team where she encounters Jeon Pil Do, a police detective in the Drug Investigation Unit who will become her colleague.

Between her desire of vengeance that's the only motivation for her to live and her deep down desperation for living a "normal" and "happy" life, how will things end up for Jiwoo? 

Diving deeper into the characters

Yoon Ji Woo / Oh Hye Jin

Although played by the same actress, these two characters are identical but so different at the same time. Jiwoo is a very insecure girl who has been through a lot and who's basically living alone without any of her parents. She has to go through everything by herself and that's extremely harsh and lonely. Add to that the fact that she witnessed her own father's murder is incredibly inhumane. The amount of violence in this scene is just incredible. SART OF SPOIL The fact that she said to him on the phone that he (her father) was dead to her, that she was tired of waiting for him to come back, and that he decided to come see her on that day but gets killed is extremely violent for that poor little girl who ended up feeling guilty. END OF SPOIL

And then you have Hye Jin, a girl who's still broken on the inside (and Pildo was the only one able to break the ice) but who's stronger on the outside. She got stronger physically by training for hours and hours, and mentally because the things she had to do as a police officer first in the violent crimes unit and second in the drug investigation unit were extremely hard and required a strong mental condition. Plus, she had to be careful of every move she made in order not to blow her cover up. 

The acting skills of Han So Hee are amazing. I really felt pain, anger and stress when watching her on the screen. She conveyed emotions really well (which is why I cried a lot watching this drama) and her understanding of her character really helped make her acting credible. 

Choi Mu Jin

Remember the bad guy in Itaewon Class? That super rich man who thought that being a high-class person was allowing him to do all sorts of things? Well, Mu Jin is the exact opposite while still being the worst villain I have ever seen. This is what I call being a narcissist pervert: using people's emotions to get them to do what we want them to do for our own benefits. START OF SPOIL Like really, Jiwoo got her hands dirty so many times and he never actually showed her respect or did something for her. He never put himself in danger like she did for him, only to discover that he was behind all of that. And the worst of all is the right-hand man, Taejoo, who did the dirty work for Mujin for so long and never had an ounce of regret. END OF SPOIL As soon as I saw Mujin on my screen, I knew he would only bring troubles. 

Jeon Pil Do

This is my favourite character by far. I hated Ahn Bo Hyun's character in Itaewon Class but I absolutely love him in the shoes of this amazing police officer. Down to earth and aware, he knows when to take risks (but sometimes acts out of anger), and he was the only one to bring some kind of comfort to our broken-on-the-inside Jiwoo (whom he knows under the name of Hyejin). START OF SPOIL There had to be some romance at some point, and I'm glad that it happened between Pildo and Jiwoo, the way he really cared about her and wanted to help her find the culprit was really heartwarming and god knows we needed some heartwarming moments in the midst of all this violence. END OF SPOIL There was a lot of injustice in this drama, and the worst one was how things ended for Pildo. START OF SPOIL I screamed when they shot the car and killed him, it was so sad and cruel, but on the other hand it finally gave Jiwoo the courage to kill that bastard of Mujin. END OF SPOIL

Jung Tae Joo & Do Gang Jae

These two are the worst characters of this series, they're even more cruel than Mujin in a way. We don't really know what are Taejoo's motives in joining the gang, and I would have maybe appreciated to know more about him so we could maybe "tolerate" (that's a big word) his actions a bit more. He really was Mujin's puppet and even succeeded in being more cold-hearted than his master. As for Gang Jae, that guy was scary. His look was scary, the way he always kept his mouth open and sticked out his tongue was ... ugh. The only thing he had in common with our main character Jiwoo was the will to get revenge. START OF SPOIL Gang Jae was kicked out of the gang when Jiwoo was brought in. She won a fight against him, and he tried to rape her. He got kicked out at the end, and since then wanted to get revenge on Jiwoo. END OF SPOIL 

Ending and Final thoughts

The ending is ... cruel, to say the least, just like the rest of the drama. Honestly, they couldn't do Jiwoo more dirty than that. At least, she got to know the truth, she got to find the identity of her father's killer and she got her revenge (although she was wrong the whole time about the real killer but at least she got her revenge). The ending was cruel to other characters as well, and I'm specifically thinking of Pildo. God, I will never get past what happened. START OF SPOIL Why did they have to kill him when Jiwoo was just starting to feel a bit happier thanks to him? Like WHY??? END OF SPOIL As for the last minutes of the last episode, they're leaving us with our imagination as to what happened with Jiwoo which is kind of a relief. I didn't want any more violence, I had enough of that.

If you are under eighteen or you are sensitive when it comes to blood and extremely violent scenes, I would not recommend you this drama. 

If you like thriller and action dramas with a lot of dark sides and reflections about some dark realities (the reality of the illegal commerce in some countries for example), I would recommend it, mainly for the acting skills of the actors and the storytelling behind the plot. The way the story goes makes us suspect everyone at some point. If you're sure of one thing in episode 2, episode 3 will make you question it. And that is brilliant. You will love characters and hate others, you will be torn between love and hatred, and you will certainly feel sadness and anger. 

I am giving this Kdrama I final grade of 17,5 out of 20. I am penalising it for the excess of violence that was not always necessary, and for a little lack in context when it comes to characters like Tae Joo or Gang Jae. 

That's it for the presentation of the Korean Drama "My Name"! I hope it was helpful and made you want to watch the drama if you were hesitant. Now I would like to know what were YOUR thoughts about the drama, the actors and characters, so write a little comment down below! 

Take care and I'll see you soon!

Love, Swan

 

Sources: Mydramalist, The Swoon's official YouTube channel.