gf44
Slow burn study of memory, grief & love
Find Me In Your Memory is not a flashy drama. It is subtle and when it focuses on its characters - it's quietly moving. The overall tone of the drama is melancholic but leavened with flashes of humour, of thrills and a sense of growing kinship and camaraderie between our leads and secondary characters.
While the drama relies on the old tropes of amnesia and invasion of privacy with a heavy handed use of flashbacks it never falters in the pacing of the story. In fact, for a drama that deals with some difficult topics, and has one of the more menacing stalker arcs I've seen, there is a deftness to the storytelling. The writer and director know where they are going and how they'll get there. We just need to sit back and follow along. As the story progresses, you realise that at its heart this is a drama about the connections we make with our, how ties deepen or fray over time. At the centre of this realisation are our two flawed leads who on the surface are as unlike each other as chalk and cheese. Jeong Hoon, our ML, is reserved and polite yet incisive and courageous and deeply kind. Hae Jin, our FL, is effervescent and forthright yet comes across as somewhat simple, or even shallow. A misperception that is systematically taken apart as the drama progresses. I think, for me this drama was so interesting because it lets its characters show us that what you see is often a curated presentation of a set of personality traits and characteristics. Underneath there are emotional eddies and currents that you'd never know about until someone lets you in. And that's what our leads and secondary characters do so well: they let each other in, ever so slowly. Personal gains are made with painstaking effort.
It's slow burn at a really high level.
None of the secondary characters are space fillers. Each one has a thesis and an arc. Some you hate. Some you like. And some you grow to like because like people irl they change.
The tropes Find Me In Your Memory Relies on are old and hackneyed but in this instance I can see the value of how they are used and why they are integral to the story we are being told. Having said that, I'm tired of watching reenactments of the power of patriarchy, terrible parents and noble idiocy among lovers -- who sacrifice themselves and their happiness without considering how sacrifice affects everyone else around them. Luckily, this last pet peeve of mine doesn't last for very long. Mainly because the other thing this drama does well is have our characters (mostly) communicate with each other. People have conversations and chats and talk about their feelings and fears. It's TREMENDOUS to watch adults in relationships behave like adults rather than candyland characters. And our FL in particular is very good at talking things out. She's ably supported in this by her sister (who's her manager) and the ML.
If you're into dramas that are melancholic character studies with slow burn romances interspersed with moments fraught with mystery without getting in too deep about convenient plot devices then give Find Me In Your Memory a chance. One you adjust to the pacing, it's well worth your time.
While the drama relies on the old tropes of amnesia and invasion of privacy with a heavy handed use of flashbacks it never falters in the pacing of the story. In fact, for a drama that deals with some difficult topics, and has one of the more menacing stalker arcs I've seen, there is a deftness to the storytelling. The writer and director know where they are going and how they'll get there. We just need to sit back and follow along. As the story progresses, you realise that at its heart this is a drama about the connections we make with our, how ties deepen or fray over time. At the centre of this realisation are our two flawed leads who on the surface are as unlike each other as chalk and cheese. Jeong Hoon, our ML, is reserved and polite yet incisive and courageous and deeply kind. Hae Jin, our FL, is effervescent and forthright yet comes across as somewhat simple, or even shallow. A misperception that is systematically taken apart as the drama progresses. I think, for me this drama was so interesting because it lets its characters show us that what you see is often a curated presentation of a set of personality traits and characteristics. Underneath there are emotional eddies and currents that you'd never know about until someone lets you in. And that's what our leads and secondary characters do so well: they let each other in, ever so slowly. Personal gains are made with painstaking effort.
It's slow burn at a really high level.
None of the secondary characters are space fillers. Each one has a thesis and an arc. Some you hate. Some you like. And some you grow to like because like people irl they change.
The tropes Find Me In Your Memory Relies on are old and hackneyed but in this instance I can see the value of how they are used and why they are integral to the story we are being told. Having said that, I'm tired of watching reenactments of the power of patriarchy, terrible parents and noble idiocy among lovers -- who sacrifice themselves and their happiness without considering how sacrifice affects everyone else around them. Luckily, this last pet peeve of mine doesn't last for very long. Mainly because the other thing this drama does well is have our characters (mostly) communicate with each other. People have conversations and chats and talk about their feelings and fears. It's TREMENDOUS to watch adults in relationships behave like adults rather than candyland characters. And our FL in particular is very good at talking things out. She's ably supported in this by her sister (who's her manager) and the ML.
If you're into dramas that are melancholic character studies with slow burn romances interspersed with moments fraught with mystery without getting in too deep about convenient plot devices then give Find Me In Your Memory a chance. One you adjust to the pacing, it's well worth your time.
Was this review helpful to you?
