First stills from KBS's I Remember You (Hello Monster)

72 May 27, 2015June 9, 2015

First stills from KBS’s I Remember You (Hello Monster)

by javabeans

Ah, first stills are out for the drama formerly known as Hello Monster, now called I Remember You, about a genius profiler and the cop who stalks him and their eventual romance. I know, that sounds like an odd premise, but it’s the capsule description that was originally given; I still have a little difficulty understanding how that dynamic works, but do have faith that the drama will make sense of it in the execution.

For instance, the logline accompanying all the current promos is that it’s a “sweet and fierce investigative romance,” with a plot that’s “sometimes comical and sometimes grave,” whose story investigates a suspicious case and delivers both “tense thrills and satisfaction.” Lots of contradictory words are being thrown at us, but I’m expecting a clear tone to emerge once the show gets going. It makes the drama sound like a quirky romance with a dark side, sort of like My Secret Hotel mixed a murder mystery into its rom-com throughline. (That show fizzled a bit so maybe it’s a bad comparison, but hopefully I Remember You will pull off the genre-fusion with more success.)

I Remember You features Seo In-gook playing a cold, exacting, urbane character who can size people up in one look, a skill he employs as a shrewd criminal profiler. The character sounds more strait-laced than we’ve seen Seo In-gook recently, but while I’ll miss his exuberant puppy side (see: High School King of Savvy), I can readily see him working the perfect genius angle too — his grown-up Answer Me 1997 character was in that vein, as was his bodyguard role in Master’s Sun. He’s described as “dangerous” as well as charismatic… though no hint yet on the source of that danger.

Jang Nara plays an elite investigator who has been observing Seo In-gook for a long time, and the two come into contact when he returns to Korea after working with the FBI to work on a special task force. She joins the team, headed by Lee Chun-hee, while Choi Won-young serves as a forensics consultant.

I Remember You began with script readings last month, released its first stills this week, and premieres on June 22 as KBS’s next Monday-Tuesday drama.

Via MBN, Hankyung

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1 sfgirl

May 27, 2015 at 12:27 PM

Seo In-guk in a suit and hair off his forehead!! I am in! I never claimed to be deep!

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Nicnac74

May 27, 2015 at 12:48 PM

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aweebit

May 27, 2015 at 3:18 PM

+20

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modestgoddess

May 27, 2015 at 1:32 PM

lets be shallow together, he looks gorgeous

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Chhavi

May 27, 2015 at 9:44 PM

I so agree with you.....

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Dedicated

May 27, 2015 at 1:42 PM

Hahahaha! I love your expression and am using it right away! "I never claimed to be deep!" :-) and my sentiments about the hair exactly, I just don't understand why so many k-drama actors have that "curtain" like fringes covering their forehead down below their brow line, which takes at least one third of their face. I like it better when they have it off their forehead and that gives them a sharper and smarter look! I never claimed to be deep! ;-)

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Beanfan

May 27, 2015 at 5:21 PM

Haha... I will never again claim to be deep!!

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peaches

May 28, 2015 at 2:49 AM

different countries have different trends and aesthetic preferences, that's why-_-;

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coby

May 28, 2015 at 3:42 AM

hahaha! reminds me of Doo-joon in Let's Eat. I like to see him with his hair brushed up like FOREVER!

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bbstl 🧹

May 27, 2015 at 2:32 PM

hahahaaaaaaa just exactly what I would have posted, too.

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qwenli

May 27, 2015 at 6:49 PM

yep, he is getting more dashing, show after show. haha

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poignant

May 28, 2015 at 7:56 PM

SO TRUEEE!!! Always laugh (in a positive way) at his first appearance vid on Superstar K contest, how diff he is now, so gorgeous and mesmerizing! *blush*

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kobrakiddo

May 28, 2015 at 12:35 AM

TOTALLY watching this for the hair and him!

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fab

May 28, 2015 at 6:13 AM

+10000 ?

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pastmidnite

May 28, 2015 at 6:22 AM

"I never claimed to be deep!"
--> totally love this :-D

Gorgeous man...simply gorgeous...

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2 Trinity 🍆

May 27, 2015 at 12:27 PM

I wish they had kept the name Hello Monster. I Remember You is such a forgetful title. But despite the boring name I'm looking forward to this. Sounds like it could be fun and both SIG and JN are excellent actors.

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nasalhazel

May 27, 2015 at 1:08 PM

Ironically, I Remember You is impossible for me to remember.

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graey

May 27, 2015 at 7:29 PM

+1!

The title, "Hello Monster", was the thing that caught my attention rather than the plot. Am I shallow? Haha.

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Fitri Iphiet

May 28, 2015 at 12:52 AM

+100000

ironic!!

btw SIG works really hard,, he's like everywhere in this year..does he go to military this year??

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mugi

June 23, 2015 at 10:25 PM

ikr. i remember you is so bland, sounds like some mushy love dramas with horrible acting and story plot. Hello Monster is cute and eye catching

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3 Kai0407

May 27, 2015 at 12:30 PM

Is that young moonshik from healer?

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Xix

May 27, 2015 at 12:37 PM

Yepp it is! Actor's name is Son Seung-Won :D

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mary

May 27, 2015 at 2:42 PM

Aha! Awesome spotting~

Gonna rec this to my sis. (It already was a good rec based on SIG and Chun-hee, but she liked young Moon-shik too. :D)

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4 kjojo

May 27, 2015 at 12:35 PM

i honestly don't know why everytime you report on this drama, you always write about how the plot doesn't make sense or sounds absurd. I feel like it actually makes a lot of sense, and I'm sure there's going to be an explanation behind her 'stalking' i just feel like it's not as unbelievable and hard to understand as you're making it out to seem

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Gidget

May 27, 2015 at 3:55 PM

I can see why she says that. It's not that she can't understand the premise, but rather that she doesn't see how they'll bring together the contradictory elements in a way that's both cohesive and engaging. Some themes have obvious harmony. Others look dissonant. Like horror-thriller and rom-com.

For example, Girl Who Sees Smells blended dark/light sin it's horror-thriller/rom-com story lines. But the way they blended them lowered the overall quality of the drama (most people weren't saying it was bad, just that it had potential to be better if some things had been done differently).

Conversely, they did a similar dark/light blend in Angry Mom and did it exceptionally well.

Now it looks like they're going with the same concept in both Hello Monster and Masked Prosecutor. So we'll see how well they fare.

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5 hyperbutterfly89

May 27, 2015 at 12:46 PM

Some dramas sound like a hot mess or a snooze fest when you read the synopsis but turn out to be great dramas like KMHM, healer, misaeng, girl who sees smells, heart to heart... and some dramas sound great on paper but turn out to be a hot mess like great marriage, hyde jekyll and me, my secret hotel, the heirs... so I try not to judge a book by it's cover or a drama by it's synopsis :D

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growingbeautifully

May 27, 2015 at 5:08 PM

@butterfly89
+10 me tooo!!!

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6 Elle

May 27, 2015 at 12:47 PM

Anybody but her...I can't stand her acting, too bad she keeps killing my desire to see these dramas, especially when I like the male lead...dang it!

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museofmanymasks

May 27, 2015 at 1:42 PM

For some reason I'm surprised you don't like her but yeah she seems like the anti-thesis for a cop show. She would fall squarely in the damsel category.

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mimi

May 27, 2015 at 2:55 PM

Kinda amused when seeing people saying that JNR couldn't pull off a tougher role, since she started out her career playing characters with spunky personalities. And all of them were quite successful and well received. ;)

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emilie

May 27, 2015 at 3:49 PM

I can see where you're coming from, but I watched JNR's older dramas and her acting isn't as one dimensional as people may think it is. I don't think she started out well with emotional scenes in particular but now that she improved a lot on that part I actually think she's a good actress because she was already great at comedy from her debut. And even if not I think she is in general likeable, except I really disliked her character in Mr. Back. Then again, I hated the whole drama.

Frankly speaking, I would've thought she's easy to like since she acts in well-received dramas most of the time. My question mark with this drama was SIG actually because I was unconvinced that he actually fits the image. But now that he looks so freaking good without the man bangs I'm really looking forward to this drama. Especially since JNR is well-known for having electrifying chemistry with her co-stars that it'll be really cool to see them together.

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Sarah92

August 26, 2020 at 9:31 AM

Here I come in 2020 loving Jang Nara so much that I watched this show 3 times (And read all these comments). She is great actress, I don’t doubt anymore!

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7 pogo - sailing HMS Queen of Tears and HMS Sailboat Lovely Runner🍉

May 27, 2015 at 1:11 PM

Can he just have that hairstyle forever? Or throughout the drama, anyway?

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emilie

May 27, 2015 at 3:51 PM

I checked out the fan-taken pics and it's a pity that the bangs are making a comeback, but we can appreciate the look while it lasts.

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sfgirl

May 27, 2015 at 4:51 PM

NOOOOOO!! Dammit.. Is it that hard keeping the hair off the forehead??!!

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8 Nessie

May 27, 2015 at 1:39 PM

Didn't Chun hee also acted in Master's Sun as well? Though his character didn't interact much with SIG.

Ahhhh SIG in a suit will never get old~ He really rocks this look!

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astromantic

May 27, 2015 at 2:49 PM

For a hot minute, he did!

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9 나탈리

May 27, 2015 at 1:39 PM

Jaeyoung ^^ that is now the one more reason to watch it :3

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10 canxi

May 27, 2015 at 1:44 PM

Ooo, Jang Nara's black hair looks lovely. Seo In Gook looks cool, too. I want to watch this. I always like some quirk and mystery in my rom-com even if it doesn't always work out. I still go to watch, haha.

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11 museofmanymasks

May 27, 2015 at 1:59 PM

I don't know how to feel anymore but I really hope it's absurdly funny and not just absurd.

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12 anglvue

May 27, 2015 at 2:10 PM

can someone tell me how jang nara just manages to always look so youthful? i need her secret!!!

i'm looking forward to this. hopefully it turns into something watchable because i've mostly kept to recaps except for school 2015 and warm and cozy (although warm and cozy is starting to turn into a read only drama...)

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13 crazedlu

May 27, 2015 at 4:06 PM

Mismatched, in my humble opinion. Heh.

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14 Cocoboo

May 27, 2015 at 4:27 PM

Aww, I spy Kim Jae Young! I totally didn't know he'd be in this.

Seo In Gook looks very handsome and mature in that suit. I've only seen him in Answer Me so I always think of him as a kid.

I'm not yet convinced by his pairing with Jang Nara too. I may just have to give this drama a shot and see if it pulls off the mystery/romance well.

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15 sweetgirl17

May 27, 2015 at 4:35 PM

Been misssing Seo In Gook :D
the ONLY drama I am looking forward to this year. The rest suck.

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16 jam

May 27, 2015 at 4:37 PM

gosh danggit i will never ever get over how jang nara looks forever young lol!!

anyways, i too am not really convinced of their pairing as well. but i'll just have to give the drama a chance to see. im hoping the plot doesnt sink out on us..

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17 DeeDeeW

May 27, 2015 at 4:53 PM

Ohhh...he is my favorite and looking very handsome here!!! Really looking forward to this! Hopefully we will see a more 'plucky' JNR. For me, she seems to be the same character just moved from show to show with name changes. I'm not sure why, but that's what I think when I think of her.

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bjharm

May 27, 2015 at 5:51 PM

You and a lot of others seem to feel the same way about Jang Nara, though calling it the same character, is saying in the broadest sense, that all female leads in com/rom are the same. The fact she been called the queen of com/rom tells you that she very good at the role, but looked into in more detail, you see that pretty much all her characters are all played differently from the other. Quite a feat I would say as she has to act within a set formula that all com/rom female leads seem to be locked into. Indeed in many ways that formula is the one she herself set with Bright Girl way back in 2002.

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bjharm

May 27, 2015 at 5:55 PM

ps
http://www.tvreport.co.kr/?c=news&m=newsview&idx=718345
plucky enough? the gun helps though..:-)

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18 Franbergh II

May 27, 2015 at 5:07 PM

haha! reminds me of SIG when he playing 2 personas in High School King. This is the older brother :D

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19 Dkaoru

May 27, 2015 at 5:45 PM

FBI agent moving back to korea? Hmm this sounds awfully like Missing noir M.

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sunnyl

May 28, 2015 at 4:32 AM

+1 I was gonna say that! Love Missing noir M.

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20 Heartoppaya

May 27, 2015 at 7:51 PM

I'm getting Castle flashbacks.. And Son Seung Won is in it??? ♥ I'm in!!!!

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21 Sun

May 27, 2015 at 8:04 PM

SIG was wasted in the sageuk he was last in. Glad to see him in another drama, but I don't really see him matching with JNR.

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22 Sarah

May 27, 2015 at 8:14 PM

I'm not usually into these murder/mystery cop k-dramas but this sounds interesting. Too bad they didn't keep the title Hello Monster, it sounds both scary and mysterious, while I Remember You sounds like a sad melodrama.

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23 kimchikay

May 27, 2015 at 8:30 PM

Seo In Guk looks delicious in that suit and tie might I say. I wonder if he'll ever go back to singing, he really hit it off as an actor!!

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24 poignant

May 27, 2015 at 10:02 PM

Can't wait for this drama to air! <3
SIG always challenged him self in every roles he got, hope this one shine as well! feels like Lee Hyung Suk vibe hehe

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25 rockyroad

May 27, 2015 at 11:59 PM

Lee Hyungseok is back <33333

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26 Jyc

May 28, 2015 at 1:50 AM

He is SO rocking that hairstyle ♡

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27 Quiet Thought

May 28, 2015 at 4:18 AM

Four male leads, one female. It's a kdrama cop show, for sure.

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28 Unsub

May 28, 2015 at 7:02 AM

When i read profiler and FBI, my thoughts quickly went to a US tv show called Criminal Minds xD

Anyway, Seo Ingook as a profiler? COUNT ME IN!!!

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Selenette

June 5, 2015 at 4:41 AM

@Unsub

Yeah... Seo In-gook's character sounds like a crossover of BBC Sherlock and Reitt of Criminal Minds.

Hopefully Jang Nara's character is at least as sharp as Kate Beckett of Castle.

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Selenette

June 5, 2015 at 4:42 AM

*Reid not Reitt obviously

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29 osmanthustea

May 28, 2015 at 8:37 AM

Jang Nara and Seo In-gook! That's reason enough for me!

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30 HKIM2011

May 28, 2015 at 11:12 AM

I'm really hoping that it ends up doing a better job of blending the dark and rom-com elements than the Masked Prosecutor. I had such hopes for that drama, and I'm finding it hard to watch.

Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I'm wondering why Korean dramas are so in love with genius heroes who come back to Korea after working for the FBI these days (e.g., Missing Noir M). Don't you have to be a U.S. citizen to work in the FBI? And these people happen to speak perfect Korean and want to move to Korea after having worked in the FBI? The character profile just doesn't make sense to me. Having said that, I'm still watching and enjoying Missing Noir M, and I'll probably watch this drama for Seo In Gook.

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Quiet Thought

May 28, 2015 at 5:08 PM

Apparently Jdramas do the same thing. Why they do it is a puzzle, as I've never seen any of these characters act or talk or make any reference to their American experiences. For the most part, they never show any signs of even knowing English.

Mostly, it seems. Korean characters go to America just to disappear for a while so the other characters have an excuse to not know everything about them or what they've been doing or how they've changed over the years. Which kinda makes sense, what with Korea being only a few hundred miles long. The millions of ordinary people leading ordinary lives can easily remain strangers all through those lives. However, "genius" cops or "genius" doctors or "genius" businessmen will run into each other or at least hear about each other from time to time.

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riarallahssi

May 28, 2015 at 11:45 PM

I call it "remnants of western colonization" though South Korea and Japan weren't really colonized by the west, just influenced.

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31 tura

May 28, 2015 at 1:01 PM

is that not nosy Jang from Pinocchio, I love him cos he is totally crazy

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32 tura

May 28, 2015 at 1:02 PM

Seo In gook looks great tho

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33 Carinne

May 28, 2015 at 5:49 PM

Wow, I almost couldn't recognize Chunderella. He has aged quite a bit after having a family of his very own. Oh, how parenthood strips you of your youth.

I can't wait to watch Ingukkie on the small screen again. Yay!

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34 Xai

May 29, 2015 at 12:33 AM

WAAAAH! Oppa!<3
I'm really going to watch this for you and unni Jang Nara!
I first saw him act in Master's Sun and I loved him there, being badass and all.
I wish this drama will do well.
Fighting!