404. Live Up to Your Name 명불허전 (2017) Korean

Kim Nam Gil, Kim Ah Joong, Yoon Joo Sang, Yoo Min Kyu, Um Hyo Sup

Drama Rating: 9.5/10     Neck Score: A+

I've wanted to watch this show since it first came out, but didn't for two reasons. One, it wasn't subbed legally anywhere, and two, it's a doctor drama and I usually struggle with those. I mean, everything is life or death and always about surgery, and that gets old for me pretty darn fast. At one point I was thinking: How many people are they going to kill off! Just learn your doctor lesson already!!! But, then it was subbed on Netflix, and I just had to get over the medical stuff and just watch it. It helped that I absolutely love Kim Nam Gil (especially after Fiery Priest). The premise just looked too good from the previews, as did the chemistry between the main actors. It's a time travel drama, where a famous Joseon doctor, Heo Im, travels to modern times and meets a resident who is already a super talented heart surgeon. It is past vs present and oriental medicine vs western. However, that really is just the super basic premise. The time travelling reminded me 100% of the time travelling of Queen In Hyun's Man, which is not a bad thing at all, since that drama was also amazing. But the only similarities are how our Joseon man travels back and forth, those mechanics of time travel, and not the plot or anything else. So yeah, it blatantly takes that concept, but why not? In Queen In Hyun's Man it was a talisman that transported him every time he "died" but in this one it was a magical needle box, since Heo Im was an acupuncturist. So I said, it could be boiled down to that same form of time travel with the past vs present in both customs and medical knowledge, but what it's really about is what it means to be a true doctor and what that looks like in both the past and the present.

334. The Fiery Priest 열혈사제 (2019) Korean

Kim Nam Gil, Kim Sung Kyun, Lee Ha Nui, Go Joon, Keum Sae Rok

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A+

I don't know if I've ever had a drama that's stressed me out this much. I loved it, but I also was so worried about half the characters all the time, especially since the bad guys were just so bad. Like they really made them kick puppies. Like, they made them hurt children, and priests, and puppy priests, and really nice people. Also, half the characters that you know are supposed to be good guys are working for the bad guys. This was a corruption crime drama on steroids. It reminded me a lot of Lawless Lawyer, with the level of corruption, etc., but with a much larger comedy element. Even the bad guys were comedic, just not when they were killing people, etc. Also, we don't get the romance because, well, he's a priest. Waste of some good chemistry, but it's not about that. But what it doesn't have in romance is made up with some epic bromances.