This review may contain spoilers
How far would you go for love?
*Minor SpoilersAs a result of watching "Mr Queen," I became more open-minded about historical Korean dramas. As a result, I watched 'Under the Queen's Umbrella', 'Mr Sunshine', " Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency", "Kingdom" and 'The Kings Affection'. However, in between all of those titles, I wanted one that was more lighthearted. My choice of "Live Up to Your Name" turned out to be great.
While it wasn't nearly as funny as "Mr. Queen", it also had time travel between the modern day and the Joseon Era. The twist was that both time periods were included throughout the journey.
In terms of the story and plot, this is important. Both Dr. Heo Im and Dr. Cho Kyung are mentally and morally challenged, both in modern Korea and the Joseon period of 1592. There are a number of medical choices that each of the leads make depending on their beliefs and past experiences. Each doctor has their own style of treatment. They use these techniques to their benefit.
The story opens with the main character Dr. Heo making a series of decisions that ultimately lead him to the present day. He discovers It is necessary for him to be close to death or even die in order to change time lines.
Dr. Choi's past family incident haunts her to the point it effects her performance at times. A series of circumstances brings the two leads together. Both are very capable doctors. As a result of their union, they have to make a series of difficult moral and ethical decisions. Due to this, the series gets very creative with combining modern and old themes by putting them in challenging settings.
The characters were developed and arced well to the point where I included them on my list of favorite couples in Korean dramas. There are a couple of scenes in both eras that sealed that decision for me.
If you're looking for a time travel fantasy infused with dramatic themes, romance, and humor, "Live Up to Your Name" is a terrific choice. As a result, it leaves one thinking about ethical decisions entwined with skill, moral choices, and love. The acting is good because the leads make the situations relatable and plausible.
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Great time travel drama about acupuncture
Likes:1. I appreciate acupuncture now thay i know something about it
2. Like how they showed that both traditional acupuncture and modern hospital can help save lives
3. I liked the character development and romance between of Heo Im and Yeon Kyung
4. The whole time travel always came ay the right time but sad that Heo Im have to kill himself over and over again to do it
5. Loved the scene where Heo Im was crying after Duchil's brothers death. That was one emotional scene. Actually any scene where KNG and KAJ were crying were so good. KNG is seriously going up my list as one of my fave actors.
Dislikes:
1. Not much really. Sometimes the parallel story in Seoul and Joseon can get cheesy but it's ok because they needed to learn their lesson
2. We dont really know where the magic needles came from
3. Wish Makgae had more screen time
Rating: 8/10
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This review may contain spoilers
As far as time-travel romances go, this one is really enjoyable! Both main characters end up going back and forth a few times to their various origin eras which allows them both to understand the difficulties that they each face within those eras. I thought the ML was a bit too goofy in the first few episodes and it was hard to swallow. It also seemed weird that the FL liked to go clubbing, a hobby she seemed to drop like a hot brick when she met Joseon Man. As the series continued, they both come and go from modern-day Seoul to historic Joseon together, not apart, which was important in developing their relationship. In so doing, the FL at least is able to see how ML suffered so much and her sympathy for him grows. BTW, what is up with all the hats and headgear from the Joseon era??? Seem might uncomfortable frankly! I think the straw lampshade and the black cap with the propeller on the back are standouts, though. OK, I have to address what I can only label ML’s bipolar-ness. I get that he’s going through a transition as a person but he seems to choose the extremes. Either he’s really serious about doing his work and in his life or he’s Mr. Happy Bubbly. When he came back from Joseon and worked for Director Ma was when he was really, really weird. He completely cut off communication with FL. Then, finally, when he realizes and/or matures into being the best version of himself, he abandons the Oriental Medicine Hospital and goes back to the oriental clinic where he seems to be on Cloud 9. Anyway, it was great to see that he finally matured into the ultimate version of the doctor as a compassionate person but a bizarre process. SPOILER ALERT HERE: Onto the last episode--I cried through 80% of it (and 75% of previous episode) and really thought that their separation was final, but no, in the end, despite that he’d been told when he goes back, he can’t return, he actually returns!!! What?!? Was that by accident? If so, how did that work? And, I know this is fiction but HOW is he going to practice without a license? I HOPE that there’s a way for him to get it without having to go through formal schooling. The last 5 minutes of joy left me with more questions than answers! Was this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
A gem in the time travel genre with a few notable flaws
8/10 is my rating. This is a 2017 South Korean romantic fantasy comedy drama. It iis a historical medical drama with a time travel element. It has 16, approximately 70 minute episodes.First I will provide a synopsis then review.
Synopsis
In Josean times,, Heo Im (Kim Nam-gil) is a well respected and sought out doctor of traditional medicine. He makes an error when treating the king and the soldiers hunt him down and shoot him. He falls in the water but instead of dying he wakes up in modern day South Korea. As he wanders around trying to figure out this strange pace, he bumps into Yeon-kyung (Kim Ah-joong), an up an coming superstar in the cardiothoracic field. Destiny has plans for them as two lives become intertwined and they travel back and forth from Josean. Falling in love brings new meaning to a long distance relationship. Can they figure out what strange destiny brought him forward in time and what he is supposed to do?
Review
The romance between the leads was well paced and believable. Kim Nam-Gil did a masterful job of playing the slightly bumbling yet brilliant Josean doctor. The main supporting characters and side characters were well developed with just enough information on then pm to be compelling. Overall it was a good medical drama and another gem in the time travel genre.
Spoilers*. Two things I did not like about it was to me there was a character inconsistency. Where in the end he goes back to Josean, even though he had fulfilled one of his main goals back in that timeframe, and he had said earlier in the series that he preferred modern times. Nothing has significantly changed back in Josean, other than the fact that they were at war with Japan, which would’ve made it an even more unpleasant place to be, I didn’t like that tge way he had to travel was to kill himself and found it disturbing when he had to put a needle through his heart multiple times. I also thought the end where it didn’t seem like he would be able to time travel again but then suddenly dad was not logical. He is in Joseon amped that seemed to be that but then he saved his friends in a completely unexpected accident which sent him back to modern times. Instead of being shocked by the unexpected eventt and getting his bearings and deciding if he was ready and happy to be back, he shows up around her and he’s like hey I’m back I’m staying and let’s get together, To me that was a weird way for him to return to her it wasn’t like he had been trying to find ways back he seemed to have accepted he was staying in Josean and was settled in. She said how can I trust you as you said you weren't leaving before. I completely agreed with her. I would not have trusted him either. Then it sort of abruptly ends with the, bantering about his sudden return. It felt very rushed.
#Liveuptoyurname
#kimNamGiil
#KimAhJoong
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This review may contain spoilers
One time watch
I randomly stumbled upon this drama while finding for new dramas in Netflix, so i gave it a try. The first 2-3 episodes pulled me into the story and grabbed my attention. the first half of the drama was interesting and liked the silly antics of ML (Kim Nam Gil). It was my first time watching Kim Nam Gil's drama and tbh i felt like his acting in this drama was quite okayish. in the first half his acting elevated the storyline but at some point of time i lost interest in the story and even his acting in the second half felt mediocre.There were many scenes that felt illogical for me:
1. when he is about to treat the king his hand tremored from what is shown as the child's death. but she is alive and waiting for him?? then if we consider that his hand tremored coz of ill intentions of the doctor then why didn't his hand tremor all those nights he treated for rich and in those cases he treated the higher officials in modern world?? *confused*
2. When mak gae (moon ga young) also can time travel to modern world from joseon (ep 16), why did he leave her with doo chil in joseon and come back to modern world with FL after his humiliation by minister of war?? it seems like they know the game that if he held onto somebody they would also time travel with him.
3. Why did Heo Jun knowingly didn't promote Heo Im further than superintendent when Heo Jun is shown as a fair guy. it seems he also came to know about heo im's ability to time travel when he saw that needle box with heo im while treating the king. so what made him feel like heo im is not potential enough for a promotion before that??
Also i felt like there were some unnecessary fillers and cliches just to extend the story. Lyk why would they kill Ha ra's character when she is doing all fine after surgery just to add extra emotional trauma to FL and ML and make the entire episode about FL feeling bad about not saving Ha ra when its not even FL's fault!! *sigh*
Anyway for me it was a tough watch from second half. Had to skip some scenes and fast forward it just to make it to my completed list.
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You'll cry with laughter and sadness
Filled with laughs and emotional scenes; a real roller coaster.Characters develop so well, from arrogant to humble, cold to warm and enemies to friends.
Family misunderstandings, painful memories, traumas, love and loss ~ this drama has it all.
Heo Im (Kim Nam-gil) was a real life physician who developed his own techniques of acupuncture and wrote journals on the practice. Whilst there is a comedic theme through the series, his legacy is not undermined, whilst the drama also balances the use by complimenting with modern medicine; both have their place.
I loved the cast of characters and there are other true ones, such as Japanese general, Sayaka, who was actually a Korean named Kim Chung-seon.
I loved every aspect of this drama and whilst it was occasionally a bit far fetched and melodramatic, overall it was a joy to watch.
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It Keeps you Hooked on and The ending was done right
I think its my first review or maybe a review I am writing after ages. I found this drama after a long slump period but I am so happy that I found this. The story is about time-travel and enlightenment. Naturally it has the laughter and tears for you. Its a Medical drama so it has the Life-Death equations. The Script keeps you curious, though there were parts in ep 5 6 and 7 where I might have dropped the show the curiosity of whats gonna happen now kept me going.The part that makes me the Happiest is that they left us with very satisfying Finale.....which is rather rare....So I absolutely Loved it
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This review may contain spoilers
I really tried to like this drama
A person who grew up with money constantly yelling at person who didn't grow up money to not work for money even though the person, who didn't grow up money, has already shown he cares about people.Found the main female lead petty, self-righteous and judgmental and not in a cute way. It didn't seem that she was working for free. Still don't understand why the male lead didn't put some of the money and jewels in his pocket when he went to the hut on his first trip back to Joesen since he was on the run whether he was in staying or going back to the future (like how I did that?) and his primary focus supposedly is having funds to feel secure.
The female lead stops the male lead from getting modern training in his field of expertise so he get gainful employment and then drops him over and over again. So annoying. In the end I just couldn't take her character or the script any longer.
Th acting was really well done and I liked most the cast..
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Not the best use of my time.
I really enjoyed the premise of the show, as the time travel aspect adds a lot of entertainment value and comedy when the characters were being thrown through time. However, I typically don't watch a lot of Asian dramas and I think the over-exaggerated reactions and sound effects were jarring and broke the immersion a lot. Also, there was a lot of potty humour (fart and poop jokes) which kind of missed the mark for me.[more spoilery criticisms]
I was hooked for the first three episodes, but after a while I could tell that they were really trying to milk the misunderstandings portion of the show. Eventually it came to a point where I couldn't like the female lead's character anymore. For me, a lot of the to mains' interactions didn't seem very natural because of how much the female doctor would hyper-focus on negative aspects of the acupuncturist and ignore any time-travel hints (which is fine at the start but tends to get old pretty fast) for the purpose of taking control of the conversation. She also lost a lot of her doctorly-compassion for this guy by episode 5 which was really strange to me, considering he saved her life a couple of times and took care of her while she was in an unknown world. I think considering she got a taste of what it's like to be in a foreign land you don't understand, without anyone to rely on, it's extremely sad how quick she cast him aside when they got back (All because she saw him desperately trying to rescue his life's savings?). I know the scumbag/money-grubbing qualities of the male doctor character was pushed pretty hard at the start of the show but I think it made the writers lazy with the writing for the female character in that they thought viewers wouldn't find any fault in her actions, but, for me, any compassionate scenes she had were overturned by her dismissive actions.
[more spoilery complaining about episode 5]
I'm at the part where she stopped the guy from turning in his resume to the oriental medicine hospital director. Even though the scene was played for laughs, I thought it was really irritating how the lady surgeon wouldn't explain anything about the hospital feud or illegality of practicing medicine without a license, and just seemed to tell him to be content with going to jail, and that she didn't want anything to do with him. That lack of empathy and proper communication is so painful to watch.
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This was my first time watching Kim Nam Gil (this review is from March 2020)…Kim Nam Gil’s acting amused me and made me so emotionally invested. He managed to play a laugh-out-loud funny character, but also the painful look in his eyes was no joke, his attitudes, his actions. Yeah he was the star.
The drama had a very interesting content; oriental medicine, and managed to not bore me like the usual routine of medical dramas. Also the time travel thing did not feel cliche, overdone, or badly executed. It was very interesting, fun, and meaningful. It was quite unique here.
The chemistry was very much there, but most importantly, the story was carried perfectly, without leaving any uninteresting holes or spots.
The music fitted the theme very well and grew on me. The OST reminds me of earlier dramas feeling in a nostalgic way.
The historical-modern interactions and attitudes were interesting.
It is not easy for me to like a female lead like Yeon Kyung. I don’t like female leads similar to her. But She managed to play a strong person but still a fragile and delicate female.
That is how it is supposed to feel. Yes it feels sad and happy, but not torturously, heart-wrenchingly depressing. This is how a kdrama is supposed to feel like.
Ah Kim Nam Gil is now one of my favourite actors.
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Funny
Not a lot of Asian shows are laugh-out-loud funny. There might be some cute lines, but generally the shows listed as comedies are more cute than funny. This show was VERY funny. There was a lot of silliness related to this poor guy from the Joseon period showing up in current times. The actors played off of each other well, and I even thought the somewhat slapstick things were funny. This show shone a light on keeping our minds open to the different ways of doing things - ancient medicine versus current medical practices.Was this review helpful to you?
