episode Eight Transcript - The Butterflies on the Concrete Podcast : What got me Through The Week?

(Audio for this podcast can be found under the Podcast Tab on the navigation menu)

This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for any professional medical, psychological, financial, legal, or other advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you feel you are in a life-threatening situation, please promptly contact the appropriate authorities, medical providers, or crisis intervention service providers in your local area for immediate assistance.  All rights are reserved and this podcast, in whole or in part, may not be distributed, reproduced or otherwise used without the written permission of Hyssop & Ebony LLC.

Welcome to the Butterflies On The Concrete Podcast: What Got Me Through The Week? This week I want to talk about my favorite Korean drama, Find Me In Your Memory. I started watching it on a whim while it was currently airing back in 2020, and it remains a show that I can rewatch with excitement each time without getting tired of it.

Find Me In Your Memory stars Moon Ga-young, who portrays the female protagonist, Yeo Ha Jin, a famous actress, and Kim Dong Wook, who portrays the male protagonist, Lee Jeong Hoon, a renowned news anchor.

When I started watching this show back in 2020, I thought it was my first time seeing Moon Ga-young act, but it turns out she was Jung Yong-hwa’s sister in the drama, Heartstrings,an older show which I really loved and would recommend. As for Kim Dong Wook, he was a supporting character, one of the coffee shop employees, in the classic, hit show, Coffee Prince, which I highly recommend as well, and this show was my first time seeing him in a lead role. I think I first watched it on the KOCOWA app, but it’s also available for streaming on the Viki app as well.

The premise of Find Me In Your Memory appears to be straightforward on the surface - a top star falls for a news anchor. However, what makes the show more interesting is that the news anchor, Jeong Hoon, has a medical condition where he remembers absolutely everything in his life while the top star, Ha Jin, has a terrible memory and is very forgetful. After Jeong Hoon interviews Ha Jin, somehow a rumor spreads that they’re dating, which she doesn’t refute because he’s piqued her interest. He reluctantly agrees to pretend to date her so that news of a breakup won’t ruin the release of her new movie, but as she tries to get closer to him, he tries to distance himself away from her. Ha Jin starts out getting a lot of hate because of the types of characters she plays in dramas, but with the  new movie role and the dating rumors her image improves. When Jeong Hoon suddenly receives threatening mail related to his fake relationship with Ha Jin, he finds himself in a situation that’s similar to what he experienced in the past when he lost  his first love, and that’s when he makes a crucial decision that  he shouldn’t be *avoiding* Ha Jin, he should be *protecting* her.  It’s from there that their love truly begins to blossom.

There’s so much more to the plot, but I don’t want to spoil it for first time viewers. It’s so well written that each and every scene has a clear purpose, building and strengthening their relationship with expert precision.  Ha Jin has a bright demeanor despite having a painful past. Jeong Hoon is a man with a strong sense of responsibility after losing his first love. 

Ha Jin’s sister, played by Kim Seul-Gi who was also  fantastic in the drama, Oh My Ghost,is such a great character I want to highlight her for a moment. She’s funny because Ha Jin always posts on social media at inconvenient times, or dates haphazardly, or says  the wrong thing in interviews, and it’s an interesting dynamic because she’s a younger sister acting as her manager, who works alongside her older sister having to scold her,  or clean up her mess with her entertainment agency.

Another person I’d like to highlight is Yoon Jong-Hoon, who was really great  in the more recent drama Shooting Stars, and plays the male lead’s psychiatrist best friend in this show.  Their bond is noteworthy.

At this point I want to discuss some of my favorite aspects of the show and my favorite episodes so there will be spoilers ahead. Don’t say I didn’t give you proper warning :) Okay, so, let’s get started then.

The details in this show are really poignant and impactful. In particular, that Jeong Hoon can’t drive in the snow because his memories take him back to the day he saw his first love die. His girlfriend’s death is absolutely heartbreaking and her stalker’s actions are truly terrifying. So creepy that I don’t know if I would be able to watch the actor who portrayed that character in anything else without thinking of how chilling and frightening his behavior was.  To watch Jeong Hoon as he relives such painful memories is just gut wrenching. So, so sad. 

Find Me In Your Memory sometimes is a thriller, and at other times a romantic comedy. It’s an emotional rollercoaster in some ways, but it’s cathartic. You’ll likely cry at some moments, I certainly did.

It’s difficult to determine which of the people closest to Ha Jin is the stalker. It’s filmed in such a way that they all seem suspicious and so it keeps the viewers interest piqued. And there are often several plot points being developed at once which helps to keep the viewers always guessing about what will happen next. Those plot lines are:

-#1-The relationship between leads (Will Jeong Hoon ever reciprocate Ha Jin’s feelings? Can he move on from the love he shared with his deceased girlfriend, and start over with someone new given his condition?)

-#2-Will connections from the leads’ past hinder their present?

-#3-Who is Ha Jin’s stalker? (Will she be okay? Can Jeong Hoon protect her?)

-#4-Will Ha Jin’s memories return? 

-And lastly, #5, is the stalker Jeong Hoon knew from the past orchestrating the present?

Episode 8 is worth discussing because that’s when Jeong Hoon receives the first set of troubling photos in the mail which prompts him to run towards Ha Jin. He was very cold and distant towards her before this and so this episode stands out to me because he no longer hesitates to be with her, even if it’s just out of concern for her safety.

Episode 12 is another favorite episode of mine because it shows notes Ha Jin made about Jeong Hoon’s work. She shadows him for a drama role, and observes him carefully, his likes and dislikes, his mannerisms, that he’s the first to arrive and last to leave work, how he interacts with his coworkers, and she follows him without him even knowing and writes it all down. Her love for him is very sweet, and genuine. She wants to be closer to him and he finds her notebook and reads her notations. She later says that she wrote these things because she, and I quote, “wants to remember everything about him.”

Another favorite scene from Episode 12, is when Ha Jin takes a photograph with Jeong Hoon’s mother because they’re so in sync with one another. They sometimes say the same thing to him and you can tell the mom adores Ha Jin even though they’ve only just met. It’s really heartwarming, and meaningful for their relationship development in the plot. Also, in episode 12, Ha Jin learns about Jeong Hoon’s condition and tells him,  I’ll paraphrase, that part of her is envious of him, but also not envious at the same time. And that’s exactly how he felt after he found out about her medical condition.

Episodes 18 and 19 are when we learn the stalker’s identity, and when she’s abducted right after he agrees to go to dinner with her for her birthday.  His mom wrote a letter to him saying that “she wishes for him to be happy and that he’ll protect whatever is precious to him.” And Jeong Hoon looks so worried when he finds out Ha Jin’s been taken, and then he does his best to investigate her case, and then locate and save her. The reveal of the stalker is so slow and eerie, first we see him walking towards her, then we see the breakfast he’s made for her, after we learn the first suspect identified by the police was wrong. And like the viewer, Ha Jin is in total shock when she finds out who it is, too.

Episode 20, we see that Ha Jin is scared because in the past Jeong Hoon was nice to her, then he further distanced himself away from her and said goodbye. Luckily, this time, Jeong Hoon promises to be with her no matter what. He says he’ll stay with her until the end.

I loved it in Episode 21 when Ha Jin and her sister scream with joy together after the younger sister finds out Ha Jin and Anchor-nim (what Ha Jin calls Jeong Hoon) are officially together. Their sisterly bond is so special. In this episode Jeong Hoon also helps Ha Jin with her lines and says the drama that she’s starring in is unrealistic because – and I quote - “they meet 3 times in one day, miss each other by a second, then get into an accident,” while Ha Jin says that that means they’re fated to be together.

In Episode 23, we learn why Ha Jin was so tormented in the past, and she starts to remember more about her friend who passed away, which ultimately threatens to ruin her relationship with Jeong Hoon.

That’s the farthest I’m going to go in discussing spoilers for this show…The rest you’ll have to experience yourself. Hopefully this has encouraged anyone listening to watch or rewatch Find Me In Your Memory, because it’s certainly worth your time.

Moon Ga-young and Kim Dong Wook actually made a cameo as Ha Jin and Jeong Hoon in the drama, Shooting Stars,  which I mentioned earlier. It was such a nice scene showing them still together and, honestly, I would love it if there was a sequel showing the next stage of their relationship together. They just have such beautiful chemistry together. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this week’s episode. If anyone is listening to this and would like to talk about how much they also love Find Me In Your Memory, or wants to share something else that  got you through this week, I want to know! Please comment on this episode’s post on our Instagram page WhatGotMeThroughTheWeek, or send an email at whatgotmethroughpodcast@gmail.com.  The transcript and audio for this episode will be posted on HyssopandEbony.com.

Until next time!