Remember: War of the Son (2015) 리멤버 – 아들의 전쟁
Directed by Lee Chang-min, starring Yoo Seung-ho as Seo Jin-woo, Park Min-young as Lee In-ah, Park Sung-woong as Park Dong-ho, and Namkoong Min as Nam Gyu-man.
Watched 4 - 8 September 2026 — 20 episodes (KOCOWA)
Why did I choose this drama? — Having finished The Apartment Job at the end of August, I was looking for something captivating to watch. I was watching Gen Z and Spring Fever simultaneously but hadn't made a lot of progress due to lack of enjoyment. The story premise of Remember sounded very intriguing and I have a thing for a memories theme with memory loss. I also like Park Min-young in her earlier work (e.g. Healer).
What's it about? — Seo Jin-woo has a superior memory, thanks to a condition called hyperthymesia. When his father, who has developed Alzheimer's disease, is wrongfully convicted of murder, Jin-woo uses his special condition to become the youngest lawyer in South Korea. He finds himself up against a powerful conglomerate family and entangled in a web of corruption and bribes. As he tries to prove his father's innocence, he begins to experience signs of memory loss himself.
Overall thoughts — This emotional melodrama was so compelling that I finished it in a couple of days. I love a good underdog story and was waiting for the corrupt Il-Ho Group to be taken down. This took a loooong time and it's one of the show's flaws. The drama feels too long. It could easily have been made into 16 episodes and get to the denouement quicker. Apart from the thrilling plot, I love the cast of different characters and how adversaries turn allies and allies turn traitors. Yet I have to say it gets a bit tiresome that almost everyone is corrupt.
Male lead — I had never seen Yoo Seung-ho in a drama before and I wasn't immediately taken by him. As Seo Jin-woo, he's basically a cry baby in the beginning and has the saddest eyes. I was glad there was a time lapse and he had grown up. He still has his emotions close to the surface but it felt more restrained. I grew to like the actor and his character over the course of the many episodes. I love Jin-woo's scenes with his father, played by Jun Kwang-ryul. The father is a sweet character and the actor has a pleasant face.
Female lead — I love Park Min-young as Lee In-ah. She is feisty and has a strong personality from the start. Idealistic, righteous, and extremely likeable. I think it's my second favourite performance of hers after Healer.
Romance & chemistry — I didn't think Seo Jin-woo and Lee In-ah had a convincing romantic chemistry. Fortunately the romance didn't come out of nowhere and did make sense, but it's underdeveloped and came too late in the series. There is a kiss, though. (Actually, I was already shipping Lee In-ah with the friendly judge, lol.)
Second male lead — Park Sung-woong (seen him in Life on Mars) is a great fit for an ambiguous and morally grey character. Park Dong-ho is a lawyer with a 100% success rate, notorious for defending the (corrupt) rich and powerful. He is cheeky, wears clothing with bright colours and heavy patterns, and speaks Korean with a thick Gyeongsang dialect. It's a colourful character. Yet after the first time lapse, when Dong-ho goes to work for the corrupt Il-Ho Group, he loses some of his initial spark. It's immediately clear, though, that he's not going to stay on their side, and I was waiting for him to grow a conscience. You see him continuously struggling with his moral values. Incidentally, I would have loved for Dong-ho to end up with Prosecutor Chae Jin-kyung (played by Oh Na-ra), with whom he shared a past. She owed him something, and unfortunately the reason was never revealed. She looked pretty and I was glad she turned to the good side.
Villain/antagonist — I had seen Namkoong Min in the cast list and thought he played one of the prosecutors. But I was mistaken. He is the villain. I know Namkoong Min mainly from likeable roles and was afraid that I couldn't see him as a villain. Well, I needn't have worried because Namkoong Min knocks it out of the park with his role. At times he made my blood boil. I can imagine him having a lot of fun playing this villain. His character Gyu-man is unhinged, at times goes completely off the bend, and is having tantrums (some of them quite laughable) which worsen over time. He is a charismatic villain, handsome, always dressed to the nines. Yet I would have preferred that the writers had made his character less over the top. These uncontrollable fits make Gyu-man less menacing and more ridiculous, and I found him to be more creepy and threatening when he was calm, almost charming, with a sly smile. I did feel a bit sorry for him in the end, how his father belittled him and discarded him, and Namkoong Min is very good in the few scenes where his emotions get the better of him. I found him a bad crier in Our Movie but here he did well.
Fathers — Like the title says (War of the Son), this show is about fathers and sons. We see Seo Jin-woo trying to save his father, Park Dong-ho struggling to stay loyal to Suk Joo-il (a gang leader who is a father figure to him) and Nam Gyu-man constantly looking for his father's approval and respect. There's even an episode dedicated to a son seeking out Jin-woo's help to take on the case of his father, who runs a small subsidiary of Il-ho company and is falsely accused of a crime. Also, I want to add a different kind of father-child relationship, and that's the one of Lee In-ah and her father. I love their strong bond and how he always supports her.
Supporting characters — I love Jin-woo's legal team with his loyal aid (played by Lee Jung-eun; love this actress) and the stuttering lawyer. Jung Hye-sung as Nam Yeo-kyung (5th billed in the cast list on MDL) doesn't have a lot to do but I like that she was on the good side and eventually did the right thing. I really liked Kim Jin-woo as Kang Suk-gyu, the judge with a strong sense of justice. Even though he was a friend of Nam Gyu-man, I never worried that he might be tempted to take a bribe. At first I hoped he might become romantically involved with Nam Yeo-kyung but he just saw her as a sister and was more interested in Lee In-ah. In-ah never encouraged him and I appreciated that he never overstepped any boundaries. I just couldn't believe that Song Young-gyu as the righteous prosecutor Tak Young-jin had stepped to the other side (this was really out of character), so when it was revealed that him going into the lion's den of the Il-Ho Group was a set-up for the greater good, I was so relieved and glad I hadn't fallen for the trap. I liked the funny bromance between Pyun Sang-ho (Park Dong-ho's right-hand man) and Ahn Soo-bum (Nam Gyu-man's right-hand man), and was happy Soo-bum didn't get killed by Gyu-man and that he became Jin-woo's ally and played an instrumental part in exposing Gyu-man as the real murderer.
Final episode — The series stays compelling until the finale and everyone pays the price for his crimes. I love that Lee In-ah is the one to arrest the very corrupt prosecutor Hong Moo-suk (played by Um Hyo-sup) and that the evil Nam Il-ho was taken into custody as well. I anticipated an ending where Seo Jin-woo and Lee In-ah would meet again and he wouldn't recognise her. This was sad and bittersweet and had me in tears. (I did my fair share of crying with this show.) I appreciated the fact that they left the ending open, In-ah trailing behind Jin-woo. Will she stay close to him, just happy with the knowledge he's alright? It was hard to part with these characters and not knowing if they would have some sort of future together. Although I wouldn't wish Alzheimer's on anyone (having experienced it first-hand because my dad also had Alzheimer's), for Jin-woo it was maybe a small blessing. With his condition of hyperthymesia, he would otherwise have to live with the painful memories (in detail) of his mother's and brother's deaths caused by the car accident, and his father's death and wrongful murder conviction and the fact that his father never knew of the retrial and the not guilty verdict.
OST & cinematography — I love the song Can you hear me? (들리나요) by Jooyoung, and often noticed the great lighting in this show.
Recommended? — Definitely yes. It's an emotional ride with a great cast and performances.