Live Up to Your Name

August 12, 2017

Heo Im (Kim Nam-gil), a genius acupuncturist from 1600s Joseon, is transported to modern Seoul. His bewilderment at contemporary medicine and his conviction that his methods are superior establish the drama's comic premise. Gyeongbokgung establishes the Joseon world.

August 12, 2017

Dr. Choi Yeon-kyung (Kim Ah-joong), a cold, brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, encounters Heo Im — a man she dismisses as a fraud.

August 19, 2017

Heo Im's experience of modern medicine at Severance Hospital — the specific incomprehension of a 17th century specialist encountering 21st century technology.

August 19, 2017

The first patient treated using a combination of Heo Im's acupuncture and Yeon-kyung's surgery — the drama's central medical innovation.

August 26, 2017

Extended Joseon sequences at Gyeongbokgung — Heo Im's original world and the patient he failed before his time travel.

August 26, 2017

The drama's direct examination of what traditional and modern medicine each offer — their complementary limitations.

September 2, 2017

Yeon-kyung's personal history — the trauma that made her cold, the losses that made her precise.

September 2, 2017

Heo Im and Yeon-kyung's professional partnership developing into mutual respect.

September 9, 2017

A patient neither traditional nor modern medicine can help alone — the case that proves the collaboration's value.

September 9, 2017

Heo Im's feelings for Yeon-kyung — expressed with Joseon-era directness that contemporary Seoul finds startling.

September 16, 2017

The drama's central question: can Heo Im stay in the present, and what does the answer mean?

September 16, 2017

Heo Im and Yeon-kyung's relationship — complicated by the 400 years between their origins.

September 23, 2017

A connection to Heo Im's original Joseon patient that requires him to reckon with why he was brought forward in time.

September 23, 2017

A case where modern medicine fails and Heo Im's traditional knowledge succeeds — the drama's argument for integration.

September 30, 2017

Whether Heo Im can or should return to Joseon — and what both answers would mean.

September 30, 2017

The finale. Kim Nam-gil's comic and emotional range as a man from another century finding his purpose in the present.