My Name: A

My Name: A

This blandly-named Korean show is a hidden gem on Netflix. A young woman fixated on revenge first joins the mafia underground and then the police force as a mole and double agent.

My Name is a fresh, gritty, and compelling mix of action and drama. The woman, Jiwoo, must walk a dangerous tightrope of doing her job, tipping off her mafia organization, preventing her coworkers from finding her out, watching for traitors on both sides of the fence, and searching for answers in her personal vendetta.

Jiwoo is an amazing character. She starts off with some innate fighting skills but quickly gets in way over her head. She takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' though, and after years of intensive training she's a hellcat who can hold her own. She still gets the shit beat out of her on a regular basis, but she's the one still standing (or crawling) at the end and that's all that matters. Her fighting skills and her victories are very much earned over the course of the show.

There's nothing predictable or trite about the story or the action, from the opening scenes to the final showdown. The hand-to-hand fighting is very grounded, visceral, and realistic - a welcome break from the over-the-top fighting and ridiculous moves that have become all too common.

Check it out!