I Remember You

I Remember You

9/10

I Remember You

Genre:                                  Episodes: 16                         Year: 2015

Romance

Thriller

Mystery

Synopsis:

As a child, Lee Hyun coincidently has a conversation with a psychopathic murder that his father arrested and has been interviewing, Lee Joon Young. Joon Young notices many similarities between Hyun and himself and takes a keen interest in the child. These similarities do not go unnoticed by Hyun’s father, who fears that Hyun is a monster like Joon Young. Not long after this encounter, Joon Young escapes from prison and visits Hyun’s house where he murders Hyun’s father. That same night Hyun’s younger brother, Min, goes missing. 20 years later, Hyun is a criminal profiler, and a string of serial murders bring him to Korea where he meets Detective Cha Ji An, who has been observing Hyun for quite some time.

Cast:

Seo In Guk (Lee Hyun)

Jang Na Ra (Cha Ji An)

Park Bo Gum (Jung Sun Ho)

Choi Won Young (Lee Joon Ho)

Lee Chun Hee (Kang Eun Hyuk)

Min Sung Wook (Son Myung Woo)

Hong Hyun Taek (Young Lee Hyun)

Hong Eun Taek (Young Lee Min)

D.O (Young Lee Joon Young)

General Thoughts:

This drama didn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserved. It was a brilliant hidden gem in a never-ending stream of K-Dramas. Not one member of the cast can be criticised and the plot was virtually flawless with racing momentum. While the romance did take a backseat to the murders and the bromance, it was a nice change from all the dramas that focus purely on the romance and only include conflicts that create tension between the two leads.

So much tension. So much conflict. So many murders.

The characters were all part of an intricately interwoven web of relationships, and every relationship was fascinating to watch develop and unfold- whether it was between our group of main characters, or in our support cast. All motivations of the characters were easily understandable once they were presented to the audience, and the writers did an excellent job at making every character in the series fully unique, fleshed out, and understandable.

And suddenly girls everywhere want to be in the FBI

The chemistry between Seo In Guk and Jang Na Ra was a nice slow burn throughout the whole drama. Their shift from curiosity to liking was a smooth progression that never felt too rushed or too drawn out. As romance wasn’t at the centre of the drama and there was plenty of plot without it, it left time for our two main leads to gradually come to understand and like each other. In so many K-Dramas we watch our two main leads fall into a burning and passionate love and beat whatever odds are set against them. However, in ‘I Remember You’, our two leads draw closer as friends first. While there’s always a very subtle underlying romantic tone, the relationship between the two focuses much more on trust, understanding and support, rather than on pure romantic feelings. It gives the drama more time to focus on the mystery/thriller aspects of the plot (and the killer bromance), and gives our couple a secure, long-lasting feeling. It also doesn’t hurt that Jang Na Ra gets to play an awesome heroine. Strong, independent female leads rarely come by, so we must treasure them when they do.

A rare flower in K-Dramaland- a heroine who can save herself

The rest of the cast complimented the leads perfectly. Lee Chun Hee was adorable as the slightly clumsy, yet surprisingly competent, team leader, and his band of detectives were just as delightful. The wonderful cast were backed up by a solid writing and directing team who knew exactly the best way to make these characters really shine. The writers paid attention to every minute detail- no useless information was given, and while not every piece of dialogue or every camera shot had significant meaning in the plot, it was always well planned out and done with meaning. No moment was wasted in the series, with every second adding something new to the drama.

Congratulations everyone on a drama well done

And of course it was just shot beautifully. The camera angles used to shoot our heroes and our villains were quietly useful in aiding our characters representations, and the occasional melds from our adult characters into their childhood selves were beautiful and heart-wrenching. I even enjoyed the ending (even though I tend to loathe open-ended endings). The story really was all about the journey rather than the destination. All in all, it’s a wonderfully crafted piece of television that tells a compelling, emotional story about truly endearing characters.

What Was Great:

Interesting View into Psychopaths:

Seeing as the mystery/thriller aspect of the series really took the lead (with the romance taking a firm backseat), it was crucial that our villains were nothing short of phenomenal. Which they were. Both Park Bo Gum and Choi Won Young gave absolutely stunning performances.

Welcome to Crazytown. I'm Park Bo Gum and I'll be your guide.

Believable psychopathic portrayals are hard to come by, and yet both actors managed to nail their roles beautifully. As did D.O as our younger killer. The two men were able to switch between their psychopathic selves and their everyday masks so smoothly and seamlessly that it definitely added a great sense of eeriness into the series. Park Bo Gum was a particular standout with his amazing ability to completely capture such a dynamic, complex character and present himself in a way that was easy for the audience to understand. His face is naturally adorable and gives him a really innocent vibe, so it’s astounding that he was able to make himself into a character that seemed so unstable and so dangerous- and yet was always underlined by a sense of childish innocence. D.O has a similar quality about him, where he can express such a frightening character, and yet give off such an innocent, victimised atmosphere at the same time. As well as the astounding acting performances, the show really nailed the way in which it expressed its villains.

So innocent, and yet so, so creepy

While other dramas tend to lean towards making their villains the root of all evil and dehumanising them, ‘I Remember You’ aimed to do the exact opposite. Rather than taking a stance where it was good guys vs. psychopaths, the story was more about the struggle of trying to fit in with a large focus on the nature/nurture debate. What makes a monster? Are they born or are they shaped by the environment around them?

Nature vs. Nurture

The drama chose to stick fairly squarely in the middle (as do most psychologists), and it really turned into a story that focused more on how our main villain got to be the person he was, and if there was any chance of preventing Min from becoming that person as well. Rather than being incomprehensible villains, our two main antagonists are constructed as victims of circumstance. They are two people who think differently from everyone else- stuck in their completely child-like minds. They lack the ability to be able to think in any form of grey area, and everything is either black or white- this person did a bad thing, so they deserve to die. It was this childishness and innocence paired with their inability to understand the mindsets of others that really made our psychopathic duo such sympathetic, heart-wrenching characters. By giving this insight into our villains, it added a huge amount of extra emotion into our series- because what are we to do after such sympathy as been created for our supposed evil characters? There’s no way you can just ignore their past crimes (you know, because they kinda killed a whole bunch of people), but then how do we get a happy ending?

Bromance to End all Bromances:

The heart of everything in this drama is the bromance between Hyun and Min. Because the brotherly love is laced with such tragedy, it makes it that much more emotional.

Oh my God, these two

Even though a scene may be adorable, it’s always interwoven with a sense of sadness- because the brothers (and us viewers) know that these happy moments won’t last for much longer.

The cuteness is overwhelming

While it was sad to watch Hyun grieving for his younger brother while he thought Min hated him, it was just plain brutal watching how purely these two brothers loved each other and wanted to be together, even though they both knew that Min had come too far for it to lead to a good ending. The relationship between the two had smooth, believable progress. When Min thought that Hyun had abandoned him to Joon Ho, he hated his brother, but was still doing everything in his power to catch Hyun’s attention- even to the extent of murdering people. Min’s sense of longing for his brother and desire to be with him again was always present, even though it was initially hidden under a layer of betrayal and hurt feelings, it was always there. It made Min’s progression from cold-blooded killer to adoring little brother so believable- because underneath it all, Min had always been the adoring little brother. 

Excuse me while I go cry for the rest of my life

Treated Audience Intelligently:

Along with kick-ass heroines, dramas that treat their viewers like smart adults are surprisingly rare. Even though our main male lead is basically a genius, and our two antagonists are pretty darn smart themselves, the show manages to avoid treating the audience like a bunch of idiots.

Given just enough information about our characters

Even in times when the plot is becoming a bit tricky, the writers manage to walk that fine line between leaving things too confusing, or completely over-explaiting a situation. There are times when the drama doesn’t spell out every single situation- we are given the information we need, no more, no less, and the drama keeps trucking along with its fantastic momentum. The writers don’t try and drag out the show’s mysteries either. We’re given a few hints and then the truth is revealed. It doles out one answer at a time, and occasionally gives us a new question to keep the momentum rolling. Thankfully, the drama didn’t try to hold onto Hyun’s past or the identities of our psychopaths until the final hour. We’re given a great chunk of Hyun’s past in the first two episodes, which really shape him as a character and make him much more understandable to the audience, but still manages to avoid dishing out all the secrets. Similarly, knowing who the two psychopaths are doesn’t diminish the story at all.

Welcome to the world of ambiguous conversation, Han Yi An

Rather than sacrificing character development for the sake of mystery, the writers instead opted to reveal most of their cards early on in order to maximise the viewers sympathies to the characters and maximise the emotional turmoil of our characters.

What Wasn’t:

Some Characters were Sidelined:

The only real downside of this drama were that a few characters did get pushed to the side a fair bit. The two policemen involved (whether directly, indirectly or whatever) in Joon Young’s escape were a tad under explained.

I'll totally bypass plot explanation for more brother bonding

It was clear enough that their involvement in Joon Young’s escape was minimal and that they did gain information to climb higher in their careers, but not much was mentioned beyond that. I still have no clue as to why the policewoman who raised Hyun didn’t lift a finger in trying to find Min. But on the other hand, if I had to choose between explaining that lady’s motivations or adding in more bromance- I’d choose Hyun cooking and blowdrying Min’s hair any day.

Re-watch?

Very possible. Min is definitely one of Park Bo Gum’s best characters as he’s so complex and fascinating. Hyun is definitely one of Seo In Guk’s best characters as he’s so handsomely condescending and damaged. Together the two have a heartbreaking bromance that’s worth watching over, and over, and over again.

Already the bromance of the year