# Live Up to Your Name (2017)

> A brilliant Joseon-era oriental doctor, held back by his low birth status, is pulled through time into a modern hospital.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/63487

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, fantasy
- Created by: Hong Jong-chan
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Kim Nam-gil, Kim A-joong, Yoo Min-kyu, Mun Ka-young, Uhm Hyo-seop, Ahn Suk-hwan, Lee Dae-yeon, Oh Dae-hwan
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7094874/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: wistful, melancholic, sincere, tense

## What critics say

Viewers rated the single season positively, praising its medical storytelling and lead performance while finding the time-travel mechanics and later episodes uneven.

## Synopsis

Live Up to Your Name (2017) is a South Korean time travel medical drama created by Hong Jong-chan for tvN. Kim Nam-gil plays Dr. Heo Im, an oriental doctor renowned in Joseon for acupuncture and moxibustion whose advancement is blocked by his low social status. Kim A-joong appears as Choi Yeon-Kyung, and Mun Ka-young plays Dong Makgae, while Uhm Hyo-seop and Yoo Min-kyu round out the principal cast. The engine of the series is a gifted healer's struggle for recognition in a rigid class hierarchy, with his talent colliding with modern hospital medicine and the skepticism it brings. Each episode mixes clinical cases with court politics and a slowly building personal backstory. The sixteen-episode run is a single continuing story rather than a case-of-the-week format. Its tone is wistful and melancholic, with romance and a sense of tragic history threading through the medical plots. Set in Joseon-era Korea and in a contemporary hospital, the show sits in the vein of Doctor Stranger and Mr. Sunshine for fans who enjoy time-slip stories with historical texture. Viewers drawn to sincere medical storytelling and star-driven romance will find it resonant.

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