Monday 25 October 2021

Drama Reviews - My Name (2021)

My Name is about Yoon Jiwoo (Han Sohee), who witnesses her father being murdered. She joins a criminal organisation and later infiltrates the police to seek revenge on her father's murderer. 

Picked this up because it's pretty short at 8 episodes and wanted to watch a Han Sohee show properly, since I dropped The World of the Married, and only watched Soljiwan cuts of Nevertheless. After watching her here, I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed and think she'll be a strong contender for Best Actress. She proves that she's not just a pretty face and has tons of range, wholly embodying the hurt but vengeful character of Yoon Jiwoo, who later adopts the identity Oh Hyejin when she becomes a mole in the police force. 

The first episode of the show lays down the foundation of her shitty circumstances and how she joined Dongcheon, the organisation headed by Choi Mujin (Park Heesoon). Park Heesoon is full of gravitas and charisma as the gang boss, and kind of takes Jiwoo under his wing, training her to eventually be planted as a mole in the police force by telling her that the murderer of her father is a police officer. 


In the police force, she transfers to the Narcotics team and is paired up with Jeon Pildo (Ahn Bohyun), who also has a sad backstory and lived for revenge. They start off on the wrong foot (in usual kdrama style), but eventually open up more to each other, culminating in a rather controversial scene in the last episode. I personally was okay with the scene as I thought the pair had obvious tension, although I can see why people say Han Sohee is being typecasted. It was also important to drive home the point in the subsequent scene, where yet another person precious to Jiwoo is taken away.

The directing was a standout, and the drama felt like a movie. Great shots and cinematography. Being an action film, there were tons of action scenes, but they were well choreographed and I like the creative ways that Jiwoo would use to overcome her opponent, especially since she was obviously smaller and weaker than them. The only minus point would be that the Captain and Jiwoo seemed like they had special healing properties with how they managed to survive despite tons of stab wounds, which if weren't immediately fatal, would have caused them to die of haemorrhagic shock.

The writing was probably the weakest point. There were quite a few plot holes (probably more if I analysed more), but honestly, I tried not to think too hard and closed an eye.

I know some people did not like the latter half of the show, but I actually thoroughly enjoyed the show up till the end, and don't mind that the ending still has several questions left unanswered. My most important takeaway of this show is that Han Sohee can REALLY ACT.