My Name series premiere recap: Ji-woo’s quest for vengeance!

In its season premiere, Netflix series My Name (AKA Undercover or Nemesis) introduces us to the main character, Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee), who is regularly bullied for having a “Dongcheon” gangster as a father, named Yoon Dong-hoon (Yoon Kyung-ho). The police hound her outside her home, saying her dad should turn himself in. At school, she is bullied for having a “junkie” dad. After getting into a significant fight over a drug-planting prank (where she easily held her own, despite being outnumbered), the school decides to transfer her.

Yoon Ji-woo runs away from school, fleeing back to her home. She gets a call from her dad, who apologizes that he can’t cook her a birthday meal. He asks her if she likes the iPad he bought her, but she isn’t easily bought off. In fact, she tells him that he’s dead to her now. This prompts her dad to come out of hiding and pay her a visit.

My Name and the murder

On the way to visit his daughter, he gets in a significant scrape with cops, smashing his hand through their driver’s side window! However, the trouble doesn’t end there on My Name. He gets shot by an unknown assailant outside of his daughter’s apartment, ultimately dying. Yoon Ji-woo tries to identify and track the attacker, but he gets away, aided by the rainy conditions outside. Later, at the funeral service for Dong-hoon, she sees other gangster acquaintances of her father, and she decides to seek their aid in revenge.

After her plight is dismissed by a Dongcheon leader, Choi Mujin (Park Hee-soon), she sees her father’s body one last time in the morgue. Shortly after that, the police drop the case, partly out of prejudice against her father but also due to a lack of leads to track the killer. As the reality settles in, she also realizes her angry words over the phone led him to return home to his death. Those no doubt make her feel guilty for his death and give her extra incentive for some vengeance.

Proving herself

Determined, Yoon Ji-woo goes back to Choi Mujin, pledging to avenge her father’s death. He tells her to stab him and she chickens out, which he sees as a bad sign. Things ramp up even further on My Name when, after she returns home, someone in a hood knocks on her door, who reminds her of her father’s killer. She does not answer but does try to get a good view of him when he eventually drives away. The next day, she puts up flyers asking for information on the killer, even pledging a cash reward.

Three men meet her that night — but not to help. Although she does pretty well in fighting them at first, she is outnumbered, beaten, then put in the trunk of their vehicle. Being resourceful, she nearly escapes from the trunk. However, by the time she is ready to fight them again, Choi Mujin has beaten them up instead. Unfortunately, things don’t get much easier for her.

Brutal training

My Name then has Ji-woo participating in a Dongcheon fighting tournament, which doubles as her training. Many of the people there are abusive to her, with Do Gangjae (Chang Ryul) seemingly being the worst of the bunch. However, because Choi Mujin instructed her to attack a person’s vitals rather than worry purely about strength, it becomes unclear of Do Gangjae will win the competition.

What are your thoughts on My Name? Let us know in the comments!