Ha-jin and Jung-hoon’s relationship and journey as a couple has never been easy, but it also doesn’t get easier. The two find their past quickly catch up to them in the present and sometimes the easiest answer to their problems is always the hardest decision to make.
Find Me in Your Memory: Episode 15 Recap
Jung-hoon is swarmed by a crowd of reporters upon entering the building to his workplace. Reporter Park sets himself apart from the crowd by grabbing Jung-hoon’s attention, but Jung-hoon quickly ignores him. When Jung-hoon enters his office, he meets with Director Choi to discuss about the book written by Tae-eun’s father. Technical Director Kim himself is almost certain that the subject in the book is Jung-hoon, but can’t bring himself to ask the man himself. Lol. Jung-hoon follows up with Il-kwon on Reporter Park’s release from prison. He must have gotten out early because of a good lawyer.
News about the book begins to spread rapidly and even Ha-jin and Jung-hoon manage to grab a copy of the book themselves. The book leaves a bad taste in their mouth and just like how the end concludes, they too become doubtful about how their relationship will survive given Jung-hoon’s illness. Tae-eun turns himself into the police for disclosing his patient’s information to the public via the book. He reveals his reasons for doing so in a quick meeting with Jung-hoon. Tae-eun wants to stop his dad once for all and feels as if he has no other choice but to turn himself in. Now that this is done, it’s either Jung-hoon sues Tae-eun or Tae-eun will have to report his dad. It’s up to Jung-hoon to decide.
Ha-jin grows worried and upset with how people might perceive Jung-hoon after reading the book. To cheer him up, she plans a small picnic date for them at well.. 1AM in the morning. LOL. After munching on some snacks Ha-jin makes for Jung-hoon, the two have an honest conversation with each other about the book. They encourage each other to not be worried and rather to just focus on each other. The two are still as happy with each other as if nothing ever happened. They share one sweet kiss before laying down side by side on the picnic blanket. Aww, so cute.
Tae-eun and Ha-jin meet to discuss about the current situation. Tae-eun apologizes for his father’s wrongdoings as well as for his past actions. He feels guilty and apologetic for not taking care of the situation well enough. However, Ha-jin reassures Tae-eun that he shouldn’t be worried nor should he apologize for something that’s happened in the past. Ha-jin is feeling better and she’s confident everything will turn out okay. Speaking of Tae-eun’s dad, he is arrested by the police for breaking medical law and disclosing his patient’s records to the public. Tae-eun’s dad confronts his son for pressing charges against him. Tae-eun voices his disappointment in his dad once again. He had it coming for him the moment he decided to move forward with the book. Jung-hoon was able to move on from his past and now enjoys his life in the present, Tae-eun’s dad should do the same.
Jung-hoon is enjoying his life in the present, but Reporter Park isn’t going to let his past go so easily. During his own livestream show, Reporter Park exposes to all the viewers the complicated connection between Jung-hoon, Seo-yeon, and Ha-jin. Jung-hoon’s first love, Seo-yeon, passed away so he ended up dating Seo-yeon’s best friend, Ha-jin, next. How could he do such a thing? Gossip and chats begin to spiral as a result of the livestream. Even Jung-hoon himself – who was watching the show – seems somewhat affected by Reporter Park’s comments.
Ha-jin prepares for her role as a teacher in her upcoming drama. However, with all the news and gossip surrounding Ha-jin, her meeting with the director of the drama is cancelled. Oh nooo. Just like Jung-hoon, Ha-jin too is swarmed by reporters outside of her house. Thankfully, Jung-hoon arrives just in time to guide Ha-jin home while Ha-kyung urges the reporters to leave. With Ha-kyung away, Ha-jin spends some time at home with Jung-hoon. She gets to eat all the snacks she wants with Jung-hoon and the two simply relax by watching some TV together. Since all the chaos and attention surrounding the two isn’t going to go away anytime soon, Jung-hoon and Ha-jin encourage each other to stay strong. Times are going to be rough, but everything will be alright as long as they have each other. They make themselves comfortable on the couch in each other’s arms.
Tae-eun takes some time off to focus on himself. He shares with Jung-hoon his plans to do some volunteer work as a doctor overseas for a while. Meanwhile, the public scrutiny doesn’t seem to stop. Instead, it only worsens and Ha-jin’s career is affected negatively by Reporter Park’s livestream. All the companies and directors who had previously wanted to work with Ha-jin is now demanding to cancel their contracts with the actress. She currently has no work. The only other option they have is a role that would require Ha-jin to travel abroad. Even Jung-hoon’s career as a news anchor is impacted by all the controversy. Upper management wants to replace Jung-hoon with another news anchor, but Director Choi advocates for Jung-hoon. She wants to keep him. If they’re going to fire Jung-hoon, they would have to fire her as well. Technical Director Kim and Jung-hoon eventually learn about Director Choi’s situation and stress out at the thought of her being fired and replaced by someone else.
Jung-hoon makes his final decision that night. Before going live, he absorbs and processes everything around him: the employees who’s worked for him to make his news broadcast as effortless as possible and all the years he’s been a news anchor for his segment. After the broadcast concludes, he hands in his letter of resignation to Director Choi and remains adamant in leaving the news station. This is the best he can do to protect Director Choi and everyone else 😦
Jung-hoon shares the news with Ha-jin that night about his resignation. He’ll still return to the news station in the meantime until they find his replacement, but he won’t be working as a news anchor anymore. Ha-jin stays up all night to contemplate her next move. She informs Ha-kyung of her final decision in regards to her work: she’s willing to move to the United States for her next project. Ha-kyung shares the news with Il-kwon. Filming might take longer than a year in the U.S. so she’s okay with breaking up with Il-kwon if that’s what he wants to do. However, Il-kwon doesn’t give up so easily. He’ll follow Ha-kyung to the states and can apply for a job as a correspondent over there. Simple and easy, right?
But things aren’t so simple for Ha-jin and Jung-hoon. After being informed by Ha-kyung about Ha-jin’s relocation, Jung-hoon meets up with Ha-jin to discuss about it that night. Ha-jin cuts to the chase and expresses her honest feelings about everything. Things aren’t going to get easier or better so it’s best they just break up for now. Things will only get more difficult if they were to stick together. However, the memories and experiences that they created together will never change. Ha-jin remains grateful to have been with Jung-hoon and to have experienced such great happiness while with him. Jung-hoon is willing to wait for Ha-jin and will remember everything about Ha-jin even if it’s not what Ha-jin herself necessarily wants. The two attempt to hold their emotions together during the difficult break-up, but Ha-jin tears up immediately after walking away. She refused to shed any tears while in front of Jung-hoon for she didn’t want that to be the last remaining image Jung-hoon had of her before leaving. Omg, I’m gonna cry too.
Fast forward two years later. Jung-hoon is still working at the news station, but has been demoted to a news reporter. He joins drunk Il-kwon who is feeling a bit depressed about his relationship with Ha-kyung. Although the two are still together, he misses spending time with her. Doesn’t Jung-hoon still think of Ha-jin? Doesn’t he miss her? Jung-hoon of course misses Ha-jin. Even the smallest things like drinking a can of beer reminds the former news anchor of Ha-jin. Speaking of news anchor, Director Choi pleads for Jung-hoon to return as a news anchor for his segment. She’s afraid that the entire segment will be deleted if things stay at this pace. Plus, the new president of their company has a positive perception and attitude towards Jung-hoon so he can totally return if he wishes to.
However, Jung-hoon remains reluctant and hesitant to do so. The public still hasn’t entirely forgotten about him yet. He wants to remain low for a while longer. With much more free time now in his hands, Jung-hoon remains updated on the latest news about Ha-jin in Hollywood. Her projects and work in the states have been successful. However, the Hollywood actress makes sure to visit her home country. While waiting at a red light in his car on the way to visit his dad, Jung-hoon notices someone who looks just like Ha-jin in a car opposite of him. It’s not until the car passes by him that he recognizes who the driver is. It’s none other than Ha-jin! While she focuses on driving (as she should), Jung-hoon (who is still waiting at the red light) glances at Ha-jin and slightly smiles upon seeing her in her car. She’s finally back.
My Thoughts:
I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t be laughing at that ending scene, but I can’t help myself! I know cars are a thing in Kdramaland, but I didn’t think they would be this important in a drama. Remember when K-dramas would always have their two leads walk past each other and everything is in slow motion and you watch as they ignore each other and pretend not to know the other? Yeah, that’s exactly what happened in this ending scene except Ha-jin and Jung-hoon were in cars, not on foot. It seems like Kdramaland has upgraded! Hahaha. I couldn’t believe what I was watching at the end. Too good, too good!
Moving on from the ending scene, I couldn’t help but be disappointed with this episode. I think I have these expectations because this is the second to last episode and I want things to be wrapped up carefully. I want all loose ends to be tied up and I want to see more of our couple. I want to see Sung-ho pay for his crimes. I want to witness Jung-hoon and Ha-jin confront their past and fight in the present together. Therefore, I couldn’t help but be disappointed when none of this happened in this episode.
That’s not to say that this episode was horrible or anything because it wasn’t completely devastating. I liked watching the impact and negative effects of Ha-jin and Jung-hoon’s past catch up to them. I liked seeing how our couple responded and reacted to all the controversy and attention that was being thrown at them. That’s one aspect of their relationship that they didn’t address until they were forced to do so in this episode and that was interesting to watch. Now that their past has been revealed, how are they going to respond to it? Are they going to keep fighting? Or are they going to simply give up? And as we saw in this episode, it was a mix of both. At first, Jung-hoon and Ha-jin were determined to stick together and to rise above all the negativity and chaos that was being thrown at them, but they realized that it was too much for them. There wasn’t a lot that they could do to win except break up and hopefully let things pass over. Let time pass by so that things can calm down. It’s unfortunate that this was the option that they both went with, but it was the only option that they had. Of course, Ha-jin and Jung-hoon didn’t want to break up, but they had to resort to doing so in order to prepare for their future. I would like to think that they broke up in this episode so that they could get back together once everything has died down within those two years.
But I do have to admit that as heartbreaking as the break-up scene was between Jung-hoon and Ha-jin, it was also such great acting by Kim Dong-wook and Moon Ga-young. SO SO GOOD. I actually wanted to tear up watching the two have to confront the reality that they were denying the entire time. They had no choice but to break up. There was nothing else they could do in order to calm things down. At that time, there is no normal for them. I always enjoy watching our couple spend time together and be adorable together, but is it weird for me to say that I also enjoyed the break-up scene just as much? Not because they broke up, but because the acting and the emotions that both actors poured into that scene was exceptional. Kudos to both actors for being so good!
Another scene that hit me pretty hard in this episode was the scene of Jung-hoon during his last broadcast as a news anchor. It was bittersweet to watch that just because we were introduced to him in the beginning as a news anchor and that’s been his only profession this entire drama. Jung-hoon’s job as a news anchor was mainly what we saw of him so it was so sad to see him have to quit. It was so weird to see him sit in his usual chair and review his script one last time before he was to go live. I think it says a lot about the type of character Jung-hoon is and how impactful of an attachment his role of as a news anchor is to him as a person.
I’m not so sure how the final episode is going to wrap things up for our main couple. I’m still wanting some kind of conversation and acknowledge between Ha-jin and Jung-hoon about Seo-yeon, but I don’t think it’s going to happen at this point. The only things that are going to save this drama for me is watching Sung-ho receive the punishment and consequences for the horrible crimes that he’s committed and our main couple receive some kind of closure from their past (however that looks like). Although this episode technically wasn’t a filler episode, it also did feel like there wasn’t a lot going on. Most of it was focused on Ha-jin and Jung-hoon’s attempt to deal with all the attention they were getting about their relationship. Like I mentioned, I’m glad the drama gave us some insight on how they both dealt with the situation and how it impacted them together as a couple and individually, but I’m not sure dedicating an entire hour to this was the wisest choice. Regardless, I’m hoping the finale will wrap everything up nicely and give us something much more fulfilling and wholesome than this episode did.
Extra screenshots from the episode~
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