“How will my broken head remember this day in the future? Without anytime to prepare myself, my life began to crack…Will I remember the man in his 40s who is shaking in fear after getting lost for the first time in his life?” Park Tae Suk.
“A wise man once said that getting lost in life is an opportunity to find new way. But that’s only a saying I might end up remembering today as the day when I realized that such a saying doesn’t make me feel better at all”. Park Tae Suk.
“The heart I tried so hard to ignore gives a command to my brain “Please Persevere As Long As You Can, Persevere As Long As Your Heart Is Still Beating”. Park Tae Suk.
You take a look at the synopsis and read “Alzheimer” and immediately think to yourself “What? Alzheimer again? And what is even worse there is no romance, no fairytale, no young faces… nah I won’t bother this is clearly a tearjerker and I know how it’s going to end anyway so what’s the point?” Well, you have the right to walk away if you think “Alzheimer” is depressing topic I won’t blame you BUT please bare with me here and let me try to sell this drama for you, would you?
Yes, this topic has been used countless and countless of times in dramas, in movies….etc, so what makes Memory special? There is nothing special with the story itself or the elements it has presented. Family, regret, changing the way you lived your life, sorrowful past that you want to run away from, locking away your painful memories and the pain of losing someone…etc these aren’t new topics but let’s face it how many topics can be brand new? Searching for totally brand new topics is almost like a mission impossible honestly. The trick isn’t in the topic but rather in the way it is used and presented. Memory has brought in over-used topics and turned them into a wonderful emotional ride with diverse emotions that will leave you breathless and heavyhearted. The ride was raw, real and very consuming both mentally and emotionally!
I loved how the drama made me feel for each character without leaving the show feeling depressed myself. It is clearly isn’t happy go lucky drama, it has a lot of unfortunate events but it avoids feeling over the top and it also avoids feeling like stuff happens to force viewers tears. It takes you along and you just feel all of it naturally. Doesn’t that scream “different”? I feel bad if someone would call it a tearjerker (not that I have a problem with tearjerker dramas) it is just not what Memory really is.
The best and most important two aspects that made Memory strong felt drama is the award winning acting and the wonderful cinematography/scenery and direction. Usually it is hard enough to find a drama that is excelling in one of these aspects let alone all 3 of them. Even for those of you who never notice scenery or direction you will be forced to notice them here because it is just too good, simply beautiful. The feels that this drama possesses it is all driven from the acting performance. Acting has played the most essential part in this drama along with the heart-wrenching dialogues. I loved each and every sentence spoken here especially the scenes between Park Tae Suk and his wife and Park Tae Suk and his son. Those scenes are one of the most memorable scenes in the entire drama and I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I tell you to watch it for the sake of those scenes only because they are indeed EXQUISITE.
I would love to mention each and every member of this stellar cast because they really deserve the appreciation but that would just make my review endless and words won’t do them justice. I will just mention my favourite ones. First my most favorite misters of all times and our hero here,Lee Sung Min (Park Tae Suk). Kudos to this man, let me just say to the those of you who already know how precious this actor is “congratulations he NAILED THE HELL OUT OF HIS FIRST MAIN LEAD!!” And to those who still haven’t met this man in drama land “PLEASE don’t let my review stop you and go ahead STALK DOWN his profile”. It is sad if you decide to pass on Memory but at least pick one thing for this man and make the time to watch it please. He belongs to those class actors whom you as a drama fan have to watch something for because trust me “acting” doesn’t get any better than this. This man has no limits; every minute spent on watching him he makes it all worthwhile. I also want to mention the rest of my favorites two wonderful surprises Lee Ki Woo and Lee Jun Ho. Their performance both took me by surprise, I have seen Lee Ki Woo before but not as a despicable sorry excuse of human being (which he did WONDERFULLY) and I have seen Lee Jun Ho in a movie and he was likeable then but I had no idea what kind of hidden talent this boy had until I watched him in Memory (his first drama) and boy am I still surprised that he is actually an idol, very impressive! Looking forward to their future projects.
This is one of the few dramas that are blessed with storytelling OSTs and great ones if I may say. There are many great OSTs out there but I appreciate it even more when the OSTs speak the story too this way it gets me even more emotionally invested in the story than I already am.
I generally do not rewatch dramas but I do have very few ones that I'd rewatch. However even for those who do rewatch dramas I don't think Memory is rewatchable material considering how heavy and intense the content is I think once is enough to appreciate it throughly but I also could be wrong so that's for you to decide.
Overall
Clearly this will be one of the underrated dramas here on MDL, nonetheless I have faith that there will be fans out there who are meant for this drama and hopefully will appreciate it the way it should be appreciated. If you are willing to go in an emotional ride and if you don’t mind the predetermined ending, if you are looking for well crafted story, award winning performance and beautiful heartfelt dialogues then this drama should definitely be on your plan to watch list ^^
Don’t let “Alzheimer” keep you away from a great drama such as Memory. Realising what are our priorities in life this is something which never gets old nor boring no matter how old we get we still learn and there will always be a chance to set those priorities right even with little time. "The end is soon HOPE. With the strength you have now be happy" Memory.
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