A chilling and addictive crime drama, My Name (2021) impressed me with phenomenal performances by the entire cast; it was yet another short Korean drama with gut-wrenching power and pizazz. I was so into this story that I finished its eight episodes over only two days, four episodes per day! Crime thrillers are usually not my main cuppa tea in K-dramaland: I usually prefer the romance and comedy dramas the most, but I am sure glad I found My Name even though I was three years late in getting around to watching it! The drama totally mesmerized me and I even dreamed about it after completing it: a sure sign that a story has gotten under your skin big time! There is quite a bit of violence, however, so I really wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger than eighteen years of age.

Han So Hee was our leading lady and I had enjoyed her previously in the delightful dramas Soundtrack #1 and 100 Days My Prince, plus the film After The Rain. She showed off a lot of physical prowess in this revenge drama for one so young, playing a cop. She must have enjoyed making the far more leisurely Soundtrack #1 after the action-packed My Name was completed! I was also thrilled to see brilliant character actor Park Hee Soon (below) in the cast who had played the unforgettable villain in one of my top favorite Korean films, Hansel And Gretel, plus had given yet another exceptional performance in my number one favorite detective K-drama Missing Noir M. His mesmerizing performance in My Name was perfection, and I could see by fans' reactions to him online that he had gained a lot of new attention through this role as a crime boss here.

Actor Ahn Bo Hyun was another great cast addition to the drama, playing Han So Hee's cop partner. I had seen him previously in Descendants Of The Sun, Itaewon Class, Kairos, and See You In My Nineteenth Life. He always stands out in playing characters with a kaleidoscope of different feelings, and he's rather easy on the eyes too!

Last but not least I was very happy to see actor Lee Hak Joo in this cast, whom I had been quite taken with when he played the Ashley Wilkes equivalent character in the masterpiece My Dearest. Very amazing to see the contrasts in his performances playing a man of the past versus a modern, right-hand man to Park Hee Soon's character in My Name. At times he reminded me a bit of a younger version of actor-singer Rain, if a bit more contemplative.

THE STORY:

Bullied in school routinely, young teen girl Yoon Ji Woo (Kim Su Ha, teen; Han So Hee, adult) the daughter of a drug addict, unpredictable, often no-show Dad (Yoon Kyung Ho), grows up tough and resilient. She can knock her bullies down with great physical self-defense moves, up to the point where her high school wants to transfer her to another school. She drops out instead.

 

Then on her eighteenth birthday her Dad sends her gifts ahead of time but when he shows up to see her in person to give her the gifts a cloaked, masked fellow kills her Dad outside their apartment front door. When Ji Woo had tried to open the door lock her Dad had kept it locked so she wouldn't get hurt or killed.

She vows vengeance on the person who murdered her Dad. She chooses to work for a crime / drug group named Dongcheonpa run by a man called Choi Mu Jin (Park Hee Soon) who had been a friend of her Dad's in the past. He seems fond of his friend's grieving young daughter and vows to help her uncover the reason for her Dad's murder and to find the culprit so he can be killed. He is helped in his goals by his quiet, secretive right hand man, Jung Tae Ju (Lee Hak Joo).

    

Mu Jin tells Ji Woo to apply to become a police officer, under a new identity and name, Oh Hye Jin, so she can be a mole for the drug group. Ji Woo as Hye Jin applies under her new identity and is accepted by the police force but is often slow to be accepted and trusted by police chief Cha Gi Ho (Kim Sang Ho, City Hunter, Alice), who places her in the police drug investigation group, and by her new male partner named Jeon Pil Do (Ahn Bo Hyun).

 

When both Pil Do and Ji Woo / Hye Jin are attacked by a group of thugs headed up by a demonic ruffian named Do Gang Jae (Chang Ryul, Lawless Lawyer) they almost die together on a conveyor belt that moves old autos to be crushed for landfills. This near-disaster helps bring them closer to one another, although of course Hye Jin the police officer still doesn't confide in him about her true reality. In time though police chief Gi Ho begins to suspect that Hye Jin isn't everything she presents herself to be to the force. He tells Pil Do to keep an extra close eye on her as they go about their police duties.

Will Ji Woo / Hye Jin ever discover who really killed her Dad? I admit I was rather surprised who it ended up being, and I'm not going to reveal it here because I rarely ever write up end spoilers for my reviews. You should discover its secrets for yourself! Get thee to it! If you like strong female leads definitely check it out. The suspenseful, rapid-paced My Name is still on Netflix as of the writing of this review. Enjoy!

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