K-Drama Flashback: ‘My Name’

My Name (2021) attacks misogyny head-on, challenges traditional views of female identity, and makes a woman the unbeaten hero of the story. The way she is—a girl gone rogue and unstoppable in her quest for revenge over a personal loss—deftly subverts gender norms in society.

Dark, violent, and searing with rage My Name is as much about Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) seeking her dad’s killer as it’s about her self-discovery. Her name is what influences who she is, how she sees herself, her inner conflicts, and her experiences, as well as her need to figure out where she fits in the world. 

Ji-woo is a high school senior approaching her seventeenth birthday. Being harassed in class and an ensuing brawl turns her wayward and drops out of school. On her birthday, she sees her gangster father’s murder and vows to avenge him, knowing that the culprit has yet to be identified. She meets a vicious drug lord—Choi Mu-jin (Park Hee-soon)—her late father’s boss and dear friend—to train hard in his fight facility in a bid.

Ji-woo sets off on the most trying journey of her life—becoming the target of mistreatment and attempted sexual assault in Mu-jin’s gang of all-men trainees—but she proves too tough to be messed with, saving her own, although at a great physical and emotional cost, while never letting up on her resolve. In time, she becomes Mu-jin’s spy in the police force, joining it under the alias Oh Hye-jin. 

The situation at hand intensifies the noir drama by the minute as Ji-woo navigates the light and darkness of disclosures and secrets. It consumes a lot of her emotional strength in exchange for her to get through her mission. She nonetheless remains “the action heroine.” Her boldness, bravery, and power pose a threat to the male-dominated structures that have long confined women in secondary, subservient roles. 

My Name gives Han So-hee a chance to flex the way she performs. Her method acting, toned body, fast reflexes, and precise execution of the action scenes make Ji-woo come alive in the story. I like the fact that she aces in fighting hand-to-hand, dispatching enemies with strong blows, slick knife use, and fluid weapon management. Her looks, gestures, and athleticism reveal a skill set that often outweighs those of her male colleagues. 

Ji-woo’s sheer strength and speed are awe-inspiring, as each move and stunt in the expertly choreographed action sequences is pulled off with finesse and flawlessness. While her encounters with the wicked are daunting, she beats them to bits with the ferocity of an untamed force.

Her character relies on revenge, and she lives for it, so nothing can distract her from what she’s here to achieve. Thanks to director Kim Jin-min for balancing her difficult side and the chaotic exhaustive tension in the plot with the element of an occasional romance between her and Jeon Pil-do (Ahn Bo-hyun), a Narcotics unit officer and Ji-woo’s senior working together shortly after she joins his team as Hye-jin.

Pil-do, initially dismissive of her, is drawn in by the woman’s expertise and savagery at work. When realities surface, he perceives Ji-woo as living a precarious life ready to snap any moment. In the final phase of My Name, following a heated argument, he handcuffs Ji-woo, driving her to a beachfront home, where further disclosures deepen their relationship. Pil-do vows to catch the offender if she quits wrecking her life for revenge. 

Ji-woo gives in, but the itch to hunt her target returns and deepens when Pil-do is shockingly shot dead the next day. In fits of maddening fury, she takes on his gang and kills the guy eventually.

My Name is a gorgeous K-drama—a stellar cast and great work in a story of dogged pursuit of justice, featuring a dynamic heroine—together with the standards of excellence in storytelling, cinematography, action, bone-crushing fight scenes, emotive nuances, build, and just about everything else. Ji-woo’s journey is commendable, a testament to her willpower and capacity and the powerful and transformative nature of female protagonists in the action genre.