At first, the story's focus was on Heo Im and YK's characters as doctors...showing us the passion for their job, their desire to treat people and all. I see a lot of people complain on how "slow" the development is for the romance part of this series which I will definitely agree with....nearing half of the series and there's still nothing between them. Until the writer decided to cater for it, to the romance part of the story and when she did...the whole story became so cheesy, messy and lost all of the mystery and depth of the story. The slow romance development suddenly bloom in and the focus of the story became all about their romance. The rest of the problems, questions and other things about the story has been forgotten because the focus went on just to show how much these two love each other and they were being prepared to be that star-crossed lovers (not to mention, the unfair treatment that the other characters got...they were completely forgotten and ended up as nothing but "extras") and then the ending...they could've save the story with the ending but noooo they went for another cheesy one.
It's really disappointing, definitely not something I expect from KNG's work.
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This review may contain spoilers
To die is to heal and live again
This show has been on my watchlist for the longest time. I've watched several time travel tales that discarded any resemblance of logic for the sake of drama. Fortunately, this show gave time traveling a novel spin and is an integral part of the story telling. While the Show did not pay too much attention to the butterfly effect, it did not treat the temporal shift as a gimmick neither.I'm sure there is no need to bring up the synopsis again. The important point here is that the ML did a great job portraying the fish out of water aspect of a doctor transported from the 1500's to present day Seoul. He was shown to be super resourceful and resilient. The Show made light of his ability to adapt to the present though. While it helped to move the plot along, it did lacked credibility.
Where the Show injected some novelty into the tropey plot is when the FL was taken back to the Joseon era by the ML on several occasions and it was she who had to adapt to the sudden change of her circumstances.
This jinx position allowed the Show to explore problems in both eras and forced the OTP to confront them as a team. The writer-nim also used their time in Joseon as a circuit breaker to take them away from the fast paced and insulating modern world. This gave the OTP breathing space and opened their hearts and minds to each other.
In the end, this is much more than a rom-com even though the early episodes were heavy with comedy. The Show skipped through several genres without pausing for breath. Tragedy, treachery and conflict were heavy in the second half and it was much more melodramatic. One cannot escape the social commentary which is mirrored both in the modern as well as olden times. The rich and powerful are still lording over their "slaves" and are prone to hide their inadequacies. The more things change, the more they stay the same....
Overlaid on top of such weighty subjects was the bittersweet romance of the OTP. Both leads are damaged and flawed. The Show forced them to confront their demons and plot a path through moral dilemmas so that they grew and heal each other. Their chemistry was so natural and their emotions so raw. While they did bask in the glow of their burgeoning love, their days together were numbered. You can sense their despair when they were separated and their longing for each other was palpable.
The acting was superb from the main cast. The range displayed by the M/FL was exceptional. The script is intricate with a solid core as foundation. However, some aspects of time travel were a bit contrived. The odd plot holes were just brushed aside. The oriental medicine aspect also took on an almost mythical quality so you might want to suspend your disbelief.
I do wish the ending was more fan service. We demand hugs and kisses, not a walk down a crowded street! The epilogue was very cute. The SML is in for a fun ride. :)
It is a quality production and it showed both in the set design, costumes as well as the OST.
The final caveat, this show is not for you if you dislike historical drama, cruelty, brutality, graphical medical procedures including acupuncture.
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Must watch! Tru gem
There are virtually no flaws in this drama! It delivers everything you may ask for from medical/historical/romance!It has comic moments, hardships, losses, beautiful love story!
I especially enjoyed:
1. Absolute 10 stars acting and cast!!
2. Unquestionable chemistry between ML and FL! First time a simple stare can satisfy my romance craving enough to overlook the lack of kisses :)
3. Well written story with no big holes
4. Totally no unsupportive relatives or other weird family/rivals melodrama.
5. The happy ending :)))) in all possible ways!
There is no actual negative point, but 13 to 15 episode was a little boring due to prediction. Despite being well played, I kind of expected everything and wasn’t much entertained but still find it perfect!
The other little downside is the time travel side of the story, I am against using self-harm/suicide/medical help to dye no matter what the reason.
I am wondering what other drama aired at the same time to overpower this underrated drama gem?!?
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This drama healed my soul
I'm currently on a medical drama marathon. I started with Dr. Romantic 1, then Season 2, then Dr. John, Doctors and now Live up to Your Name.I came with no expectation. I thought it was simply the usual drama about doctors, but I was surprised when I realized it was about a doctor from Joseon Period (400 yrs ago) who time-travelled to modern times which will intertwine his fate with a talented cardio doctor. The two will be in a journey of healing (both others and themselves). I know it's in the blurb, but I didn't read it at first. So it was a pleasant surprise when the two leads time-travelled back and forth throughout the series.
In terms of medical content, you'll be pleased to see a lot of scenes in the operating room. Beware though that it will be graphic. It's also interesting that they gave equal attention to acupuncture. It amazes me at how doctors from ancient times were able to heal without the technology that we now enjoy.
The healing journey of the two leads will make you ponder about questions such as "what's the reason why you first wanted to become a doctor (or your field of work)?" and "what can we do to help others?" I'll probably rewatch this again if I need a reminder of these things.
I'm not familiar with both leads, but I'm so surprised with their craft and their chemistry. It's such a sweet relationship that transcends time and generation.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
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Story: This is a time-travelling, medical romance drama. The drama started with a cheerful but jaded doctor in the Joseon era - Heo Im - who's job was to serve the people by day and the nobles by night. He wore two masks - one of a benevolent and kind doctor to the poor, and another a doctor who's only interested in fame and fortune. Which is the true Heo Im?
Heo Im was an exceptional and talented acupuncturist. After many years of treating the sick and needy, his efforts were finally recognised. In a once in a lifetime opportunity, he was summoned into the palace to treat the king. However, as he was about to treat the king, his hand shook and he lost his concentration. As a result, the king ordered for Heo Im to be imprisoned. Heo Im escaped and while he was being pursued by palatial guards, he was shoot by arrows and fell into the river. When he woke next, he's in 21st century Seoul. Hence starts his time-travelling adventure.
The female lead (Yeon Kyung) is a cardio-thoracic doctor who was skeptical of oriental medicines at first but after her many interactions with Heo Im, became impressed with his skills. The drama is very character-based. It's about the journey of self-discovery for Heo Im and Yeon Kyung as they learn about themselves, deal with their dark pasts and make peace with their current selves in their journey towards becoming the best doctors in their own fields.
I love the character Heo Im played by Kim Nam Gil. He's quirky, funny, wise, serious, ambitious, evil and nice all wrapped up in one yummy package of a talented acupuncturist. Heo Im is a bag of contradictions and Kim Nam Gil was born for this role. You'll find yourself laughing, smiling, nodding and crying with Heo Im. You will be emotionally and mentally invested in his character as well as his counterpart - Yeon Kyung.
Unlike Heo Im's hot and cold character, Yeon Kyung's a pretty straightforward character. From the get go, you'll know that she's someone who had had a painful past and that had caused her to be indifferent and cold towards her grandfather, skeptical towards oriental medicine and passionate about saving lives. From the moment they met, she and Heo Im influenced each other in a positive manner. Eventually, they fell in love with each other. Their chemistry is perfect. If I am to describe their relationship chemistry in two words, those words will be 'playful' and 'passionate'.
The time-travelling in this drama is not one-way. In other words, both Heo Im and Yeon Kyung travelled back and forth between Joseon and modern Seoul a few times. It wasn't until the third time that it happened that they finally figured out what triggered the time-travel and why they were the ones affected. After that, the time-travelling became a tool they use intentionally to help others.
The overall story is perfect but if I were to be nitpicking on the little things that the drama could improve on, it would be on the logical progression of the story at certain parts of the drama. For example: In one scene, Yeon Kyung and Heo Im were trying to fight off gangsters in Seoul and were cornered. Heo Im was injured while protecting Yeon Kyung. They time-travelled. Then, they met with Japanese soldiers. Yeon Kyung whipped out a taser and pepper spray and defeated the Japanese soldiers. One would wonder, why didn't she use the taser and pepper spray on the gangsters to start with? That would have saved Heo Im and they wouldn't have to time-travel right into the hands of Japanese soldiers! This is just one example of illogical story progression in the drama. Another would be the placements of things, like Yeon Kyung's medical bag, when she or they were running or when moving from one scene to another. If you keep an eye out on where she placed her medical bag when she fell and where it was after a while, you'll realise that in one scene, it wasn't with her and in the next scene, it's strapped over her shoulder! However, these are minor bloopers and didn't significantly distracted my enjoyment of the drama. You'd have to enjoy the drama as it is and not critically pick it apart as how professional reviewers do. As a whole, the drama focused heavily on the characters and not necessarily on little details such as those I mentioned.
Another part of the drama I loved was the interesting facts on acupuncture such as acupuncture points and what they do. I find that very educational. It made me want to read up on acupuncture and traditional oriental medicines.
Acting/Cast: Perfect acting and cast. Kudos to Kim Nam Gil and Kim Ah-Joong. There's also a significant number of elderly veteran actors and actresses in this drama. Three cheers for their excellent acting!
Music: Beautiful OSTs. I thoroughly enjoyed them!
Rewatch value: This is one drama that's enjoyable at every episode. I am saving it for re-watch. Perfect material for drama marathon when the mood strikes.
Overall: I am giving this drama 9/10. Overall story and character development's perfect. It is in the little nitty gritty detail that cost it a minus 1 point. If the director and writer polish up some scenes here and there, this drama will be a perfect 10/10. Absolutely a hidden gem!
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If you don't love this, we can't be friends
I adored this story.First, I'm not a fan of time travel or Joseon dramas and still this story stole my heart. I've watched many Kdramas that felt like they just tried to fill 16 episodes, but IMO there was no filler or time killers here. The story was engaging, the characters were very like-able and there was more than usual skinship (although sweet and innocent and not overdone in any way).
I literally LOL'ed quite a few times and even called my husband to come watch one funny scene with me. I am in love this series and it has firmly taken its place as one of my top 5 Kdramas of all time. I have also found a new favourite actor and I'm going to watch more of Kim Nam-gil in the future.
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Is there such a kind of thing? Yes, there is, and it's great.
The story was quite nice, it had lots of cliffhanger moments, where you just had to keep going to see what's gonna happen. The whole setting was interesting and entertaining to follow.
It was very emotional, with some dramas, little evil schemes, your typical drama stuff I suppose, but it was done nicely I think, it wasn't irritating, or too much. There were also a lot of lovely moments, where you just had to keep watching to get more! It felt sweet and honest. The mains were great! And the side characters also deserve a thumbs up!
The show also had I think an okay premise, about how doctors should be doctors just to save lives and such, but to be honest I don't think it came out so straightforwardly at times, even though they tried to highlight it with actions and words, but it wasn't always clear what they wanted to show as something bad or why it was a bad thing. Well, it's a little confusing without revealing details, and that's not my intention, so let's just say, I though it was a little confusing in the writing too...
It was quite silly at times, good silly and bad silly as well, like how some problems were solved in a too cheesy way sometimes, but usually it was actually quite realistic and serious enough to believe the situations and such.
The only bigger problem I had with this show is the one I usually have with similar romantic time-traveler shows. This is the reason I don't really like them to be honest, even though they have such potential. You know, it's the solution. But I won't say anything more about this, I read some people were satisfied with it, I'm not, but I knew it long before I won't be.
About the rating, I'd say it's a very strong 8, which is a GOOD show in my book. But for personal reasons about the flaws of time-traveling ending, I had to give it a 7.5. (sorry)
Still, such a nice, entertaining, sweet series! If you want something that has actually a quite exciting setting, but also some sweet moments, I'd say give it a try!
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Lovely romance that keeps you smiling through to the epilogue!
Live Up To Your Name has been on my PTW on Netflix for wayyyy too long XD. I'm not sure why I didn't watch it sooner, but after finishing it, I'm mad at my past-self for not watching it sooner! Haha! It *did* take between 4-6 episodes for me to get really invested in the story, but after that, I was thoroughly hooked!Being a daughter of immigrants, the way the MMC, Heo Im, struggled with the modern day culture and language made me giggle often as I could easily identify with the struggles he encountered while adjusted to the foreign modern world! His many moments of adjustment while in the modern world sincerely helped maintain a balanced tone and mood - it never got too dark or sad!
The comedy, time spent in each world, practiced medicine, and romance are really well balanced throughout this entire drama, even weaving some historical facts in there to give context. The ending was very good too, which I was happy about (I was worried there for a second, "I thought this was a happy ending!" 'XD).
I really liked that they go back and forth between worlds - the time spent in the past was personally very meaningful to me, and especially humbling to the FMC, Yeon Kyung.
My favorite arc of the story was when interacting with the Japanese General, General Sayaka, especially when saving the children!
Live Up To Your Name is a lovely romance - I would 100% recommend it! The main actors, Kim Nam Gil and Kim Ah Joong have great chemistry, which makes their romance and tension all the spicier! It's got great comedy, not bogged down by too much corporate business politics, and a smashing OST (the instrumentals especially are fantastic - "Fate" by Yoo Jonghyun is my favorite!).
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Live Up to Your Shame
Things can get really muddy when talking about the science of acupuncture, although this is a fantasy but to try and push one narrative over the other this desperately is a tough sell in this scenario. I don't think the drama managed to navigate mixed medicine practices from a modern medicine point of view successfully. In fact, the entire thing was dropped very quickly a few episodes later without being brought up again. So why did they ever bother? The first 5 episodes were enjoyable without overbearing time-travel cliches. However, everything turned to worse with episode 6, that's where they introduced your typical mundane cheese of someone who traveled in time. At this exact point, there was a harsh shift in the story, everything slowed down, and a plethora of extreme suspension of disbelief elements in contrast to the world building they had established were thrown in. Although we got brief hints of the story at the beginning from her grandpa and that one prisoner but it felt like it won't address these points until the last few episodes and that turned out to be true. Although I enjoyed the first 5 episodes but the rest were just disappointing.Was this review helpful to you?
Medical doctors shift between past and future to become better people.
"Live Up To Your Name" is a concoction of genres by the fine alchemists at TVn, proposing to you the following scenario: what if a historical figure of traditional Korean medicine - Heo Im - managed to time travel to 21st Century South Korea? What would he do? Since scholars in Joseon kept no record of other prominent time travellers ("Queen in Hyun's Man" and "Faith"), we as viewers are once again regaled with the nowadays uncommon drama story of a proficient figure trying to work out what a television is, or why carriages somehow go extremely fast without any horses pulling them.Uniting both humour, time travel, and romance aspects of the story is the medical theme: "Live Up To Your Name" presents a sensationalist clash between hard boiled rational medical science against traditional Korean medicine in form of acupuncture. To a certain extent it conforms to contemporary tendencies of displaying distrust towards medical science for various reasons (in most cases unsubstantiated) and looking to alternative medicine as a solution. This becomes the focus point in the starting rivalry between the lead characters, Dr. Heo Im and Choi Yeon Kyung, as they act as representatives of both worlds. This rivalry slowly but steadily progresses into a dynamic relationship with complicated feelings getting entangled and their personal growth taking turns at improving. While some episodes act as filler and may stall the main plot, I can't say I felt this was an annoying impediment as pacing quickly jumped back into action. Perhaps more disappointing is the ending itself not because of how it ends but rather the time that is dedicated to it -- not enough in my opinion.
On the acting department Kim Nam Gil and Kim Ah Joong are remarkable in their performance as the leading actors, as well as the remaining main cast and support roles. Special shout out to Choi Chun Sool for playing a loveable yet extraordinarily grumpy grandfather. The lead actors clearly put a lot of effort into their characters, and there is an undeniable chemistry with a few spicy scenes that may result in a feverish state that may require medical assistance or acupuncture.
The weakest part of "Live Up To Your Name" is its soundtrack as it offers nothing out of the ordinary and it's mostly unnoticeable. I personally found the intro song out of touch with the story itself and rather rough on the ear but I am sure other viewers will appreciate the rough rock intro.
Does it have re-watch value? With 16 episodes, each 60 minutes long, I would say it depends heavily on the viewer and how good their memory is. "Live Up to Your Name" is a peculiar blend of genres set on entertaining you with the old world versus the new world of medicine in mind and while the leading characters cement this story and provide you with several hours of entertainment, once you are done with Heo Im and Choi Yeon Kyung a return trip won't be happening any time soon.
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Tbh i did not like the female lead Kim ah Joon in the start. She seemed to have a cold and sly personality from her look. But as the drama proceeded I loved her acting more. Watching the drma it seems that she took her role very seriously and her relationship with Dr. Heo Im was very touching. Their chemistry will make you cry, love and adore them so much that it will make your heart flutter.
The plot of the drama first started with time travelling but the way both the characters supported each other to build and evolve into a better person was appreciable, i.e. how Dr. Heo Im character changes from a greedy to a selfless person and Yeon Kyung character evolved from a cold hearted person to someone who was empathic towards her patients.
And the best part of he drama is that despite all the time travel b/w the Josean era and the modern Seoul it had a HAPPY ENDING!
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