I Remember You: Episode 14

by rejoycie

Just in case we get too enamored by the bromance, we come down from the high of Hyun’s reconciliation with Little Bro to deal with more pressing matters. Even though our hearts bleed for the misery the brothers had to suffer, we (and Hyun) can no longer look at Min through rose-tinted glasses. Our hero remains the only one capable of getting through to several of our characters, and even at the eleventh hour, the show is still chugging along splendidly with no signs of slowing.

EPISODE 14: “Lee Joon-young’s Room”

Ji-an takes her gun and heads out of her room on a revenge mission, while Joon-ho cooks for Lawyer Jung in the next-door apartment. Thank goodness Hyun stops her in time (in the midst of baking a cake for her), and holds her back. Having thought long and hard about how to deal with Joon-ho, she exclaims that all her choices point to one answer: Kill him. At this point, Ji-an is on the verge of hysteria, and Hyun envelops her in a tight hug to calm her down.

When he lets go, Ji-an forlornly says that this is the only solution she could come up with. And while Hyun empathizes with her, he has faith that Ji-an will eventually find another option.

At police headquarters, the team is in a somber mood as Myung-woo summarizes what we already know: Ji-an’s dad was charged as an accomplice for Lee Joon-young’s escape, causing Ji-an to live her life as the daughter of a criminal. The recent discovery of Dad’s body implies that Dad was innocent, and that Joon-young is still alive and watching Ji-an. From today onwards, the team will focus on capturing Joon-young.

Hyun presents Ji-an with the birthday cake he personally baked, and she’s understandably impressed at his never-ending list of talents. That’s what I’m saying. She expresses her wish to visit Joon-ho and share the cake, her true intention being to see his reaction after he delivered her father’s corpse as a birthday present.

Giving in to her request, Hyun brings the cake and shows up with Ji-an at Joon-ho’s doorstep. Awkward Cake Party commences, as the three of them, along with Lawyer Jung, gather in the living room. Ji-an brings up her father, and explains that the hope she previously had was dashed soon after her talk with Joon-ho.

Joon-ho casually says that it’s a good thing, but clarifies that he’s referring to Ji-an being put out of her misery of endless hoping. Ji-an just adds, “It was a good present in that context. Someday, I should repay it.” Welcome to the Cryptic Club, Ji-an.

In response to Joon-ho’s question about Dad, Ji-an simply says he was the nicest person in the world. Recalling the intimidation tactics that Dad pulled on him in prison, Joon-ho mentions that there are two sides to every person, and people closest to the person rarely see that second side. At this point, Hyun jumps in to say that even if a person has a bad side, the person shouldn’t be framed and killed, which Joon-ho agrees with.

Lawyer Jung and Ji-an are on the same page with Joon-ho’s words about not seeing the second side of people you’re close to. She uses the example of Hyun: She has known him for over 20 years and thought he was a jerk. But now she’s aware that while he’s a little cocky, he’s far from being a jerk. In addition, she’s also known Joon-ho for quite a while (Joon-ho: “Am I also a jerk?”), but doesn’t voice her honest opinions about him. Wrapping up the not-party, Ji-an proposes a toast for her memorable birthday, and she thinks to herself, “And for the day that I throw you [Joon-ho] in prison.”

As Hyun and Ji-an head back to their place, he commends her for keeping her cool. For now, her game plan is to gather evidence that Joon-ho is Joon-young, and remembers that there was a room in Joon-ho’s house that was off-limits to her. Hyun goes along with her hunch, but warns her never to go into that room alone.

Joon-ho is absorbed in his own thoughts, and Lawyer Jung observes that sadness doesn’t suit him. They both noticed that Ji-an looked especially angry today, and Joon-ho’s genuinely puzzled at her reaction. He assumed she wanted closure, so he gave her Dad’s corpse as an answer. But based on her reaction, he wonders if he made a mistake. Lawyer Jung points out that that’s the result when an evil person tries to do good.

In a sweet scene, Hyun and Ji-an take turns watching the other sleep. Hyun rouses from his stupor and they both smile at each other. Aw.

Ji-an plans to return to her own house today, and tells Hyun to bring Lawyer Jung here, away from Joon-ho. He agrees to do so, and she apologizes for eventually having to arrest Lawyer Jung for his crimes. She gives Hyun some time, and hopes that Hyun can convince Lawyer Jung to turn himself in.

Driving her back to her house, Hyun offers to clean her permanently messy apartment, since it’s his hobby and all. She turns him down, but right before he leaves, she asks how many points she stands at, referring to Hyun’s previous comment that he scores her at fifteen points plus alpha. HA, she’s still hung up on that?

Categorizing the alpha as “something extra,” he launches into this complicated explanation about alpha and dividing by zeros. Her eyes glaze over at the technical terminology spouted, but basically his point is, he can’t put a number on how much she means to him. Lol, that’s actually kinda romantic, in a geeky way.

Satisfied with the answer, she thanks him for holding her back from taking revenge on Joon-ho, but he gives her the credit for controlling her impulses. She smiles at that, and they both give each other this cute tentative wave before Hyun finally heads out.

Not wasting any time, Hyun goes over to Joon-ho’s house, and invites Lawyer Jung to move in with him. Joon-ho starts to explain that being with a doctor would be better for Lawyer Jung, but Hyun just cuts in and hands the decision over to Lawyer Jung — whom does he want to stay with?

Choosing to move in with Hyun (yay!), Lawyer Jung thanks Joon-ho for all that he has done. He packs his stuff and follows Hyun out, but something about Joon-ho’s expression creeps me out to no end.

Heading out for a walk, Joon-ho wonders if he’s being seen as the bad guy. He assumed that separating the two brothers was best for both of them, and belatedly realizes that this distasteful emotion rising to the surface is heartache.

Oh, he’s not alone — the woman who helped him escape as a child tells Joon-ho that he tends to cause more problems when he tries to be considerate to others. For example, when Joon-young spared her life after killing everyone else in the household, she ended up suffering from survivor’s guilt. Accurately pointing out that what he feels is jealousy for the brothers’ relationship, she asks what it is that he’s hoping for. Lost in thought, Joon-ho answers wistfully, “For all three of us to live together.”

Chief Hyun digs up Joon-young’s real fingerprints which she kept hidden, and ponders Hyun’s words that Joon-young is someone near to her. She calls up Seung-joo and instructs him to do a background check on all the external parties they work closely with, under the guise of an investigation into an information leak.

Laying out the cards that Lawyer Jung sent, Hyun asks him for the meaning behind the cards. Lawyer Jung is surprised that Hyun doesn’t remember, although he thinks that it’s probably for the best. Hyun probes more, but Lawyer Jung merely says, “I was born like this,” and doesn’t explain further.

Lawyer Jung asks for a hair dryer and Hyun offers to dry his hair for him, which Lawyer Jung is quick to reject multiple times. Cut to: Hyun drying Lawyer Jung’s hair. Hyun’s contentment is plastered all over his face, as he recalls doing the same for little Min.

At a different police station, Ji-an is informed about a fire 20 years ago that destroyed all the local citizen records, which had to be replaced later on. Connecting the dots, Ji-an concludes that Joon-ho must have utilized this opportunity to take over his new identity, and she wonders what happened to the real Lee Joon-ho.

The fingerprint reports are in, and of course, Joon-ho’s fingerprints are a perfect match for Joon-young’s. In shock, Chief Hyun is noticeably squirmy when she bumps into Joon-ho. He notices her cold sweat and discomfort, and she just pretends that she caught a cold. He takes a second glance at her when they part ways, and she’s barely able to hold herself up after their short interaction.

She makes frantic calls to Hyun, but he’s on the phone with Team Leader Kang and Ji-an, and misses the voicemail from Chief Hyun. Flustered, Chief Hyun packs the fingerprint evidence into her bag, and can’t help looking over her shoulder as she heads to her car.

Ji-an makes a trip to Hyun’s house, just as Joon-ho shows up with a ton of food he prepared for Lawyer Jung’s speedy recovery. Just then, Team Leader Kang shows up in time to join the little gathering. Initially surprised at Lawyer Jung’s presence at Hyun’s house, Team Leader Kang remembers that Lawyer Jung ranked higher than Ji-an, and says that they look good together. Um, what is he thinking of?

After parking her car, Chief Hyun senses footsteps behind her. She turns around to confront the guy, and heaves a sigh of relief to see that it’s Eun-bok, his all-black outfit already screaming shade. She asks what he’s doing here, and he responds with a sudden knife stab to her gut.

Apologizing for his deed, he explains that he has to repay his debt “to that person.” Chief Hyun drops to the floor, her wound bleeding out, and Eun-bok takes off with her handbag after ensuring that it contains the fingerprint document.

Over a meal, Team Leader Kang bluntly asks who Lee Joon-young might be, earning him four long stares from the table. He takes it as a sign that everyone knows about Joon-young, and that he seems to be someone of the present rather than the past. Joon-ho says he doesn’t know who Joon-young is, and the two brothers smirk at his blatant lie. Ji-an steps in to explain that Joon-young killed her father, Hyun’s father, and kidnapped Hyun’s brother.

Lawyer Jung ahhs in understanding, and lightly comments that Joon-young must be a very bad person. Taken aback by Hyun’s backstory, Team Leader Kang adds that it’s possible he has a connection with Joon-young too…

But before he gets to that, all their phones starting ringing off the hook, reporting Chief Hyun’s situation. Ha, Lawyer Jung feels left out that he’s the only one who didn’t get a phone call.

Having changed out of his black attire, Eun-bok washes his hands to get rid of any traces of blood. He gets a call and the entire team, along with Hyun and Joon-ho, gathers at the scene of Chief Hyun’s murder. Gah, she died?

The disappearance of her handbag points to it being a simple robbery case, but since Chief Hyun’s their boss, the team can’t be involved in this case. The CCTV recording shows similarities between Chief Hyun’s murder and a recent string of robberies, and Joon-ho steps up to do his analysis, despite the accusing stares from Hyun and Ji-an.

Stepping away from the crowd, Hyun checks his phone, and we hear the voicemail that Chief Hyun left. She admits to his earlier accusations that she was scared of the career that she had painstakingly built crumbling around her. But she’s determined to do things right from now on, even if it’s too late. She admits to having kept Joon-young’s fingerprints, and asks him to wait for her to reveal his identity. Her last words to Hyun are especially touching: “I didn’t raise you out of a sense of guilt. To me, you really are my son.”

The next day, the team turns up in their full police uniforms, after Chief Hyun’s funeral. They return to their desks in a somber mood, and Ji-an thinks back to her conversation with Hyun. They put together bits of information to conclude that Joon-ho must have found out about Chief Hyun finding the fingerprints, and hence, is the most likely suspect behind her death. But Joon-ho was with them during the murder, which means that there must be an accomplice. The question is, who?

Judging from the wounds on her body, Chief Hyun didn’t defend herself, implying that the murderer must be somebody she’s familiar with. Considering that the murder was disguised as part of a recent string of serial robberies, the culprit must have access to inside information from the police. Which narrows down Joon-ho’s accomplice to someone in the police station.

Hyun details Chief Hyun’s case to Lawyer Jung, and her participation in Joon-young’s escape. Just as Hyun’s about to ask him for help, Lawyer Jung interrupts and asks why he would help when she deserved to die. Because of Chief Hyun, Joon-young escaped from prison and started this whole chain of unfortunate events. Her death is well-deserved, and in fact, Lawyer Jung feels that she died too comfortably, considering all the wrongs she has committed.

Slightly stunned by the hidden venom in his words, Hyun looks at Lawyer Jung in a new light. But Lawyer Jung’s next statement sends a further chill down our bones: “If it were me, I don’t think I would have sent her so easily. What a waste.” He asks if he’s wrong to think like that, but Hyun just ruffles his brother’s hair, making an internal promise to change Little Bro for the better.

Unable to hold in his curiosity anymore, Team Leader Kang broaches the topic of Joon-young with his father. He throws all sorts of questions that hint at his father’s corruption, especially Dad’s hand in closing Chief Hyun’s murder as a mere robbery.

Finally coming clean with the truth, Deputy Chief Kang reveals that he was merely covering for Chief Hyun. Right after Joon-young’s escape, Chief Hyun had confessed her arrangement with Joon-young, but Deputy Chief Kang chose to sweep it under the rug and instructed her to continue extracting information from Joon-young. During a press conference, he engineered the rumor to throw Ji-an’s dad under the bus as an accomplice, effectively diverting the public’s attention away from her in Joon-young’s disappearance.

Furious at his father, Team Leader Kang is speechless that his father would pin the blame on an innocent person, just to protect the image of the police. Deputy Chief Kang sighs at the coincidence of Ji-an joining the police force, and Team Leader Kang just explodes that Dad is still unrepentant. Dad tells Team Leader Kang to forget about it, but Team Leader Kang solemnly says that even if he feigned ignorance, he would eventually inherit all of Dad’s sins.

Lawyer Jung approaches Hyun and requests for him not to expose Joon-ho’s identity, since doing so would incriminate Lawyer Jung as well. He asks if that’s the result Hyun wants, although the lack of evidence would make it impossible to do so anyway. Holding onto Lawyer Jung’s hand, Hyun proposes dissecting Lawyer Jung’s motive for his murders.

If Lawyer Jung was killing Hyun repeatedly in his mind through murdering others, Hyun’s question is, does Joon-ho go through a similar experience? Lawyer Jung sheds some light on the issue, that Joon-ho has taken in other kids aside from him. In Joon-ho’s mind, he is repeatedly killing his family members who abused him, and also saving his own kid self many times over. Interesting.

Eun-bok meets up with Joon-ho, and lets him know that Chief Hyun’s murder was his repayment for Joon-ho rescuing him from his hellish life.

Indebted Friend initially runs away at the sight of Hyun, but Hyun talks in circles around him and successfully gets him to conduct a more detailed background check on Eun-bok (who was found to be an orphan previously). Ha, just before Hyun leaves, he hangs back to tell Friend that his score is above 20, which is considerably high, although Friend has no idea what he’s referring to.

Joon-ho and Hyun meet up for drinks, and Joon-ho asks if Hyun had a purpose for this meeting. Hyun just thinks to himself that even if he can’t forgive Joon-ho, he wants to try and understand Joon-ho before throwing him behind bars.

Joon-ho expounds on a Scottish legend about a man who can see into people’s deepest souls, and all he could see was the evil in people. His eyes became wounded, and he had to live the rest of his life handicapped. Hyun replies that not all souls are evil, and Joon-ho just says that some are nevertheless evil, like Lawyer Jung’s.

He asks if Hyun can handle Lawyer Jung by himself, and Hyun replies in the affirmative. He receives a call from Ji-an, and she finds out that he’s currently with Joon-ho. That means that Joon-ho’s house is currently empty, and she gets the idea to break in and check out the off-limits room.

On the way back to their houses, Ji-an rings Hyun again to let him know that she’s currently trespassing in Joon-ho’s house, and asks him to delay Joon-ho for a bit. And while he has to bite back a reprimand to her for defying his earlier warning, Hyun accedes and buys her some time by asking Joon-ho how he would like to be addressed.

Joon-ho tells Hyun to decide that on his own, and muses that he will be expecting more visitors for the night. All of a sudden, Hyun drops the bomb: “I know who you are. And you are aware that I know.” Joon-ho asks Hyun why he didn’t call him out earlier, but Hyun states that he’s still missing part of the evidence required to prove that Joon-ho is Joon-young.

Having entered the room of interest, Ji-an finds a photo album full of children’s photographs. Hearing someone enter the house, she grabs a couple of the photos to keep. She doesn’t do a great job of sneaking out of the room, since Lawyer Jung is standing right there to catch her in the act.

Joon-ho slowly brings Hyun’s hand to his neck. And just like how he demonstrated in the past, Joon-ho’s pulse is still undetectable, forming the last bit of proof that Hyun needed. Hyun finally addresses Joon-ho as Joon-young, and Joon-ho looks delighted that Hyun finally remembers.

COMMENTS

It’s such a pity that we have to say goodbye to this gem of a show next week, because every episode is consistently fascinating and eye-opening. What stood out for me today was the extra glimpse into a psychopath’s mind, something we haven’t been explicitly privy to in the earlier episodes. I really like the reveal, that honest to God, Joon-ho did what he thought was for the other characters’ own good. It totally makes sense that as a psychopath, he wouldn’t factor in Ji-an’s grief over the confirmation of her father’s death, and even expected her to be thankful for his initiative to give her closure. He was actually disappointed in Ji-an’s lack of gratitude for the “birthday present,” and I find this additional insight into his character a fantastic addition by the writer.

On a similar note, he interpreted young Hyun’s comment about Dad as a signal to get rid of Dad, assuming that it was the only way the two brothers could get a better life. It truly never crossed Joon-ho’s mind that Hyun and Ji-an treasured their fathers’ (living) presence, even if they were the respective source of lonely hardship and endless waiting. Joon-ho probably never had such a person in his life, but given that he showed very minor signs of emotion over Lawyer Jung’s departure, maybe his protege will be the first person to affect Joon-ho.

I like the running theme about how psychopathic killers have this one person in their lives, who becomes their driving force to commit repeated “virtual” murders. Does that mean that having this specific target is what causes a psychopath to cross the line? It’s pretty intriguing to paint Joon-ho as a vigilante, saving children from their abusive parents. Many a times, as Lawyer Jung mentioned, Joon-ho’s intention is pure and good, except that his misaligned moral compass causes him to act on this intention in the totally wrong way.

Speaking of Lawyer Jung, I love love love how he puts up all this resistance against hyung’s “advances,” but totally basks in hyung’s affections at the same time. He has this need to put on a tough boy act to pretend that he hasn’t been yearning for Hyun all this time, but Hyun just knows it and patiently chips away at his facade. And as much as I want to just spend the remaining two episodes watching these two brothers spoon feed each other and dry each other’s hair, the reality of Lawyer Jung’s deeds can’t be denied.

We can guess how much Hyun wants to take the easy way out and see Lawyer Jung as Little Bro, without all the additional emotional and criminal baggage. But Ji-an is there to ground him back to reality, and Lawyer Jung’s response to Chief Hyun’s death was also a wake-up call for Hyun, that their reunion is not the end, but the means to an end, to change Lawyer Jung for the better. At least we get a few episodes of them being cute with each other, before all hell breaks loose. Hyun’s desire to change Lawyer Jung was his motivation to understand Joon-ho, because as much as he wants to deny it, the two are pretty much one and the same. But yunno, hopefully his criminology degree had a course on Dealing With Your Psychopathic Brother, because something tells me there’s going to be tears and heartbreak waiting for us.

For me, I’m way more invested in the brothers’ relationship than the romance angle. There’s just so much more pathos and dynamic progression to wring out of it, so I’m not one bit upset if Ji-an takes a backseat. Yeah she’s a great heroine, but her current supportive relationship with Hyun is perhaps as much development as we are going to get. Their little interactions are adorable and I completely appreciate that they are not afraid to break the hard truths to the other. It’s gonna be a doozy to watch when Hyun hands Little Bro over to Ji-an, but if anything, I’m glad that Ji-an will probably be the one to put on those handcuffs.

It’s amazing how much depth we get out of all of the characters, even those with limited screen time. Most shows suffer from terribly one-dimensional side characters, but thankfully, we don’t see much of that here. Even though Eun-bok only got a few throwaway lines and one scene with Joon-ho, it was already enough for the viewers’ imagination to churn and patch together a plausible backstory for him. Even for Chief Hyun who’s not outrightly a bad person — to a certain extent, we relate to her ambitious nature causing her morals to get blurred along the way. Her death was unfortunate, but I’m so glad that Hyun got to hear her turnaround and her final comforting words to him.

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