I Remember You ep 12: Reunited and it Feels So...Good?

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa and WHOA. This week was amazeballs! So much going on and sooooo much to talk about! Let's get started!

First and foremost (even though out of order), our brothers are reunited. You heard that, right?
Reunited.
Brothers.

After all these many years, these two are face-to-face. And, thankfully, it is not so bad as far as reunions with murderous brothers go. I mean, they could have found each other as one was handcuffed and being hauled away to prison. Or one of them could have been trying to actively kill the other. Or his girlfriend. You know, whatever. But no, we actually get a decent, and extremely emotional, reunion; a fact I greatly appreciate. I don't think my emotions could have handled anything less. I was a total basket case as it was, and I already knew what was going on. Nothing came as a surprise, yet, there I was, blubbering like a wee little babe and gasping through all the revelations. Now, that's what I call a good drama right there. So, yes, the brothers are brought back together and it is full of all kinds of emotions, both positive and angsty.

Min's claims/accusations from his perspective: You abandoned me. You sent me to Joon Yeong. You hoped I was dead. You didn't search for me. You betrayed me and told Joon Yeong about me. You didn't recognize me. Each and every one like a barb on Hyeon's heart. He tries to tell Min that he didn't abandon him or send him off to Joon Yeong and that there was a reason why he never searched. These boys obviously have a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully Min can at least see that his brother clearly loves him and is just as broken up over their separation as he is. Hopefully. And hopefully he will give him a chance to explain and tell his own story.

Before the tearful reunion though, Hyeon has to face the ugly truth that lives inside of the envelope of information gathered from his arty friend.

He's terrified of just what he is about to discover, obviously convinced that his brother is a probable suspect and is the young lawyer. Both facts are confirmed as soon as he finally gets up the courage to open that envelope and then turn over the picture.

He learns the common connection between all of these past murder victims investigated is that they had thrown away someone close to them. Oh, the pain and agony! Hyeon is consumed with angst and guilt and all that kind of thing one can imagine someone in his position would experience.

I'm sorry to admit that, while absolutely brilliantly performed, SIG and all his hotness kind of distracted me from the angst of the moment. I sat there, watching, totally and completely in awe of him. And yes, loving his jewelery too. Honestly, you would think that I'd be immune to him at this point in the drama, but I'm not. Not even close. Do you know how good he looked in every single scene?! Oh. My. Goodness. Kill. Me. Now.

Just a small spattering of beautiful SIG moments in 12. Isn't he just absolute perfection?! You know, with Kmuse off playing in California, we don't want SIG to get lonely, now do we? *wink wink* Don't worry Kmuse, your guy is in safe good capable hands here. No need to worry about a thing. I'll We'll I'll take good care of him in your absence.

Speaking of "kill me now", that was one of the things Hyeon figures out - that Min has been killing others in lieu of killing the one he truly wishes to, ie his hyung Hyeon.

Can you imagine? No wonder he is so agonized. Here he is, realizing that because he felt abandoned as a child, his little brother has been killing, well, not-so-innocent people in his stead. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for anyone, even if the dead are lowlifes that the world is better off without.

I am happy that we get to finally hear what the big secret little Hyeon told the psycho was. It's along the same lines that I think we were all suspecting - that little brother Min was the monster that Dad thought Hyeon to be.

I knew it! I knew that Hyeon was covering for Min and that Dad had the wrong son pegged for being the one with "issues". But Hyeon didn't want to see his little brother locked up like he was, so he kept quiet, only telling the psycho killer, who then used that to play mind games with Min. Min is 100% convinced that big brother abandoned him, basically handed him off to a psycho, and left him to rot. Obviously that is not the reality of what happened, but that's what Min has grown up believing thanks to psycho, and probably due to his own "issues" as well. Is Min actually a monster? We don't really know. We are pretty darn positive that he's killed multiple people, so yeah, kind of safe to give him that label, but, well, there's always a but. In this particular case, the "but" is that Min's false belief that he was abandoned led him to target people that abandoned loved ones. If the past hadn't happened, could he have grown up to be a normal, functioning, non-killing part of society? Hard to say. This is one of the many emotions and questions that Hyeon is grappling with and feeling the burden of.

Post-brotherly reunion, Hyeon sort of comes clean on all of this with Ji An. He confesses that he has met his long-lost brother and admits that brother might be a killer while he thinks she is sleeping. She's not. Sleeping, that is. At least not when he drops the "my brother is a killer" bomb on her.

Ah! This scene! How he's having a bad dream and wakes to her being there by his side, comforting him. And then she nods off herself as he looks at her so lovingly and then catches her as she falls.

And then looks lovingly at her again as he confesses his deep, dark, painful truth just learned. I died! These two! Srsly!

She asks him about it the next morning at the breakfast table. He confides in her much of what he has learned, but leaves important details out, namely the current identities of both Min and Joon Yeong. This information proves to be useful information that he probably should have let her in on later on in the episode, but we'll come back to that. For now, we have him doing a pretty decent job of involving her and keeping her in the loop. As far as Kdramas go, it's actually a fairly shocking amount of information being shared. I love watching her support him through all of this. Right now she is acting as a concerned "person close with him" and not as a cop, but warns him that soon/eventually the cop will have to come out so he better fill her in sooner rather than later on all that he's holding out. It so wonderful that he has her in his corner and that she has his back so definitively. Just gives me all sorts of warm fluttery feelings.

Things he did tell her: Yes, he has met with his brother and yes, his brother is quite possibly a murderer. Also that he has identified Joon Yeong and he is someone they both know. Things he would not tell her: Who this brother is and how she knows him and who Joon Yeong is.

The part where Hyeon takes Ji An into the hidden room and lets her listen to the tapes left for him by Joon Yeong was beautiful. She is there listening and gets visibly upset all of the sudden. Concerned, he leans in and asks her what is wrong, to which she replies that she is sad being there in that room knowing that that was where he was hidden away at such a young age. He has an emotional moment where he confesses that if he had told his dad what was really going on with his little brother, it would have been Min locked away in there. Then he breaks down as he thinks about how what he told Joon Yeong about Min changed the course of Min's life and the guilt he feels over that, wondering if Min could have grown up differently if Hyeon had kept that bit of information from the crazy man.

Ji An responds by hugging Hyeon and comforting him. He is surprised but grateful for the warmth and kindness she is showing him. That little bit of human contact that makes all the difference. He thanks her, looks lovingly into her eyes and then pulls her in for a sweet kiss on the forehead that I swear even I felt all the way down to my toes!

Now, as much fun as all the brotherly reunions and lovey-dovey bittersweet moments are between our gorgeous OTP, it's time to talk about the latest murder(s). We can't have an episode without at least one murder. This one has a carryover murder from last episode and then gets its very own. We'll back up to before the Hyeon/Min reunion and start first with the carryover - the young man brutally beaten to death by classmates while his adoptive mother looks, and then walks, on. That's right. This "mother" sees her adoptive son being beaten, they make eye contact even, and she just walks away, leaving him for dead. Absolutely disgusting. Though now, through her atrocious act, her life is threatened by our avenging twisted vigilante killer, Min. When Hyeon realizes the threat, he dashes off to try and save the dirtbag "mom". No answer at the door and he, and we, assume the worst, especially when we see Min leaving the property and strolling to his car. Dude, he's wearing a baseball hat, obviously someone has just died. It's clear as the nose on his perfect angelic face.

Baseball hats at night always indicate "criminal" in Kdramas.

Look, I don't care HOW dead you are - if SIG comes banging on your door, you answer. Plain and simple.

Except, lucky for her, it looks like Min didn't "feel like it" and let the woman live, a fact that relieves Hyeon to no end and let's him breathe at least one breath of fresh air when he finally does meet with his brother and resolve the "oh crap - did he kill again?!" question.

Later, when Dr Death comes to talk to Min about how he didn't kill the horrible family that left their adoptive son to die, Min comes right out and asks him if Hyeon really did abandon him and why he, Min, was left with Joon Yeong/Dr Death. Joon Yeong/Dr D's response? "Because it was convenient for everyone that way". Huh? What the heck is that supposed to mean? And did that answer Min's first question? Is this clearing things up or confusing them even more? I don't know.

Now, for murder #2. Hyeon is sent a package containing pictures of a murder scene. Some dude has been skewered with a bit of rebar. We get a shot of a mysterious man leaving the crime scene and, much to our relief, it is clearly not Min this time.

Hallelujah! A murder we know he didn't commit! What it ends up being is a revenge killing related to a case from Hyeon/Min's father's past. Once upon a time, Dad was chasing down a bad guy. Bad Guy's girlfriend ended up accidentally dying in the arrest of her boyfriend. Boyfriend hasn't let this go and now looks to be seeking his own revenge. Or someone is seeking revenge on his behalf. That part honestly confused me a little as they made it sound like Bad Guy died too, but I don't know. Someone related to that case is mad and seeking revenge. Hyeon, since he is sent the crime scene photos personally, is assumed to be the main target of the avenger. Which he is, just not in the way we originally might guess. Dr Death (along with Min as they are talking together in a little psycho pow-wow) points out that the better revenge would be if Hyeon had to watch someone close to him die just as this bad guy did. That means Ji An and Min both better watch their backs, especially Ji An since no one else knows the Min connection (that they know of)(it is hinted that criminals know more than we think they know so maybe, just maybe, someone out there knows, which would put Min in the danger zone).

Concerned for Hyeon's safety, a couple members of our favorite homicide detective team show up late one night at his place.

Ji An has just come out of the shower and panics at the thought of being caught at a boy's (especially this boy's) house, so she runs off while he entertains his unwelcome guests. Failing to find a spot she deems adequate enough to stow her guilty shacking-up self in, Ji An climbs out the window and roams the neighborhood, clad in head towel and all. While doing so, she encounters Dr Death.

Keep in mind at this point that Hyeon has not told her just who he is. Granted, she's a smart cookie and kind of figures it out for herself during their encounter, so it turns out to being okay-ish in the end, no thanks to closed-mouth Hyeon. Still, she spends some quality time chatting it up with our lead psycho as I spent quality time yelling at the screen. I yelled as she sipped tea in his house and then I yelled when she got into the car with him like a blooming idiot! First, history has shown that tea with this guy doesn't always end well. I expected her to drop dead right then and there. He sure was being super duper uber creepy through all of this. By some miracle, she survives tea, but then, pretty much asking to be killed, she climbs into his car and lets him drive her home! By this point, she's all but confirmed that he is Joon Yeong, the man she's been hunting her whole life, yet, she still willingly gets into his car and LET'S HIM DRIVE HER HOME!!! To where she lives! I am screaming and ready to smack her throughout this entire scene! Idiota.

At least my fear was somewhat unfounded as, thankfully, she didn't die. Some crazy conversations with a psycho, but no dying. At least not yet. Night's still young though. She gets home, safely, and Hyeon gives her a call as soon as his detective house guests leave. When he finds out just who drove her home though, he flips out. Good boy. But maybe next time tell the girl just who it is around them that she should avoid? Maybe? For our sake if not for any other reason? Of course, knowing her, her knowing who is who would probably not stop her in the slightest. In fact, it would probably just make her rush head-long and fearlessly into any encounter with Dr Death all that much quicker. The girl does on occasion seem to be lacking that self-preservation switch in her head - you know, the one that stops you from, say, entering a murderer's garage and getting abducted yourself? But that's why we love her. She's plucky and brave and no damsel in (constant) distress. Anyway, that night after Dr Death drops her off at home, she is going through her Box of Hyeon with all that she has gathered on him throughout the years. She is laughing at herself and her crazy stalker ways when something catches her eye. It's a picture of Hyeon during one of his return trips back to Korea and, lo and behold, who should be standing there in the background, but one certain young lawyer. Being the smart cookie that we have already deemed her to be, she starts to put together and hypothesize that this guy could be the long-lost brother.

While out for a stroll (? - the timeline gets a little fuzzy here) Ji An sends an article detailing the event from the past that is now haunting Hyeon in place of his father. Hyeon pieces together what is going on here, that he is not the target, but that someone close to him is. He's drawing the same conclusions that our Psycho Brain Trust has drawn. That his most precious person is the one being hunted.

Aww!!! I loved how as soon as he figures this out, that he immediately thinks of Ji An. SHE'S HIS MOST PRECIOUS PERSON!!! She is the one closest to him!! HE LOVES HER!!! He wants to hug her and kiss her and marry her. Okay, might be stretching that one a *little* far, but the fact still remains, when he has to figure out who this most precious person is, it takes him no time to award her the gold star. He calls her up in a panic, asking her where she is.

She's casually strolling along in some deserted bridge/alley/something-or-other in the dark. Hearing the panic in his voice as he asks her where she is, she stops for a second to hear that there are footsteps coming up behind her. Heavy, ominous sounding footsteps. He's screaming, she's turning and....end of the episode.

We must wait until next week to see just who it is behind her. Murderous revenge seeker? Random stranger? Dr Death or Min coming to save the day? If she gets abducted once again, I swear I will roll my eyes. I know we still have four more episodes to go and we can't just have these two making out the whole time or our two brother's happily skipping down the lane together, hand in hand, but still, I'm growing weary of her being attacked/abducted/living in danger and would like for our two lovebirds to have time together when one of them is not having their life threatened. Trust me, the other scenarios playing out in my head right now are much, much more pleasant than Ji An getting into a brawl with yet another lousy criminal. It involves those gorgeous shoulders and that muscular back of his....

 ...eh hem. Sorry. Got lost there for a second. Where was I?

Now, part of this episode that I didn't really get into because it was on the side and didn't flow with our narrative here, was all of time spent with the two brothers reconnecting. Once the initial sob fest and painful angst was behind them, we actually got some cute. For real! Oh, that made me so happy! I get the sad and angst and all that and know that it isn't gone forever, but I so appreciated the lighter side too. Like when Hyeon shows up at Min's place and then keeps popping up around him.

Min: This coming and going... Hyeon: I'm going to keep doing it. Min: You think that will change anything? Hyeon: I'm going to try. (more or less - I'm paraphrasing here)

Maybe if he can "big brother" him enough, Min will stop and listen to his side of the story and start to finally believe that his big brother did not in fact abandon him, but that he has always been loved and missed and that hyung suffered just as much from their separation as Min did. I also loved how, with a smile, Hyeon offered to let Min kill him. The first time, during their tearful reunion, wasn't so smiley, as he is truly offering himself up as a sacrifice in order to get his little brother to stop his murdering ways, but the second time was. And it was adorable. How "stop killing others in my place and just kill the one you actually want to kill - me" is cute and "aww"-worthy, I just don't know. But it was. That's just the magic of this drama I suppose.

First time, a little angsty, but still with an element of sweet brotherly bromance

Second time, with two of the cutest, most adorable grins you ever did see. Hyeon: Just promise me that if you get the urge to kill anyone, you make sure it is me you're killing. Min: Should I do that then? *grin* Hyeon: *grin* Me: ded.

I don't know how they will resolve this one, but I can't wait to find out. These two brothers and their story? Heartbreaking. Min's probable crimes? Chilling. Yet, somehow, our young psycho killer is just so lovable that I can't help but root for him and hope he gets his happily ever after along with his brother. Dr Death, while having his own tragic rip-your-heart-out-and-stomp-on-it story himself, garners a little less sympathy from me, probably because he isn't so sweet and innocent looking (and well, because, as an adult who kidnapped and then screwed with a kid's mind, I obviously hold him a little more responsible than said kid who's mind was messed with at a very young age).

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here, so I will sign off for now with my very deep and thought out conclusion that this episode rocked. SIG is still hecka hot and growing more so episode by episode. Min is the most adorable psycho serial killer in the history of psycho serial killers. And Ji An is a lucky lady who really needs to be more aware of her surroundings. The end. Join us next week as we see just who was following Ji An and as we continue to bang impatiently on the table demanding a proper kiss between our lovebirds.

Until next time, back hugs and fish kisses,
Dongsaeng