[KDrama Review] SBS' Remember - War of the Son

If you're a great fan of thriller dramas with a pinch of romance and if you want to watch how humanity is so f****d up these days, "Remember - War of the Son" is definitely the kind of drama that you need to watch. The story is about Seo Jae Hyuk (Jun Kwang Ryul) being convicted of a murder that he did not commit. His son, Seo Jin Woo (Yoo Seung Ho), watches helplessly as his father is sent to prison and put on a death row. Using his super memory (a condition known as hyperthymesia that allows him to recall every detail of his life), Jin Woo becomes a lawyer so that he can someday prove his father’s innocence.

He reconnects with Lee In Ah (Park Min Young), the only person who was with him during the trial of his father which is now a prosecutor and she is determined to help Jin Woo. But things get complicated when Jae Hyuk develops Alzheimer’s disease and begins to think he actually committed the murder, and then Jin Woo starts to exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer’s as well, he needs to fight the clock and save his father's innocence before his memories fail him.

MALE LEAD

Yoo Seung Ho is defnitely one of my favorite actors so far and he once again didn't disappointed me with this drama. How can a 22 years old act so mature? I'm so amazed with his performance that I'm so into this drama that I even marked our calendar as to when the English subbed episode will be released, because trust me, you won't like to watch this without English subs because it is a heavy drama and you won't understand a thing if you don't fully understand the situation.

Get your tissues out because I'm pretty sure you'll cry with him in a lot of scenes in this drama. You can literally feel the sadness that he can feel everytime he cries and look at the screen with those do-ey eyes. You'll just feel the emotion and pain and it would just lead you to crying as to how fuc**d up and unfair his society is. So in regards with his acting, I think it's already obvious that he impressively did a great job portraying his character. But I can't give him a perfect score since I'm pretty sure there should always be a room for more improvement, I don't know how the hell he would still improve in this case but whatever, lol. He's just so great.

SCORE : 9.8/10

FEMALE LEAD

I've already seen a lot of drama where Park Min Young is the female lead like City Hunter and Healer. But I think this is where I loved her the most, well i love her character in healer but this one is remarkably great. She's not the typical female lead with cutesy and goofy actions but more of a serious and strong women. I think her charms have showed more in this drama. 

I admit, I have a lot of hesitations with the pairing at first and I'm also worried that it might not worked since Park Min Young is like 5 years older than Seung Ho, but surprisingly, it worked well! I don't know why but I'm beginning to like the dongsaeng-noona relationship, haha. Well she doesn't looked like a noona anyways, they look like same age friends to be honest. Nevertheless, Park Min Young also gave great justice to her character, from the way she acts to the way she speaks using her eyes, it's really a great and refreshing performance from her.

SCORE : 9.5/10

THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

I don't really have a problem in regards with the supporting characters, from Jin Woo's father down to the rough lawyer and thug leader with a heavy Kyungsangdo accent everyone successfully gave justice to their desired character. Special mention to Nam Gyu Man (Nam Goong Min) the king of psychopaths, lol. I call him the king since he's the best antagonist I've ever seen in my life. Hahaha. I can't even forget his character in "The Girl Who Sees Smells" eeeehh. So creepy. hahaha, and as per usual, he gave us a great performance in this drama as well.

SCORE : 9.5/10

THE STORY/PLOT

The story is really great and when I say it's great, I mean it's really well-done. Personally, what I love about "Remember" is that they didn't emphasize the romance that much, I'm not sure if I am anti-lovers or what but I'm just so sick of seeing dramas emphasizing the romance so much that it's becoming too cheesy for me. A few scenes of romance is already great and that's what this drama have done.

They're focusing the whole drama in the real problem but they always create scenes with decent and tender love. I think for the whole 15 episodes, I didn't even see any kissing scenes, and sometimes when they're like in a heavy situation or they're giving each other motivation, instead of kissing out of no where, they will just give each other a hug. A hug where you can literally feel the 'real' and 'tender' love.

This drama would be one of my favorite dramas of 2016 alongside Reply 1988.

SCORE : 9.5/10

THE ENDING

It feels like the ending was specially made for me. Haha. I'm not being a sadist but I really don't like romance. Well the ending still has a little bit of romance but it's not overdone. This is drama that I've been looking for. You don't need bunch of classic romances or comedy to make a perfect drama, but more lesson that taught you how unfair life is. The way they showed how some of the characters have no choice but to be greedy, how they reacted to unfairness things especially to jinwoo, these are what I've been lookin for. I cried almost every episode, but I realized there are many, real jinwoo out there. People who faced injustice. This is a big slap for everyone especially those who works especially in law world, I wish they could watch this masterpiece and realize how the law could ruin someone's life.

There are so many veterans who suffer from ptsd, alzheimers, etc... and korean entertainment strikes an intellectual chord with these very sensitive issues that have often been skirted under the table that have led to homelessness, suicide, depression or worse. traumas in a life are REAL, and the mind is a powerful survival mechanism.

Thank you for those who involved in this beautiful masterpiece, this is definitely my best of the best drama I've ever watched. The ending is perfect, I know it's possible for jinwoo to get healed but I'm relieved they made the ending in such a good way. I thought I would be happy when nam gyu man died, but I don't know why I cried for him for the first time. It hurts, to be abandoned by the one he trust and love the most. But since nam gyu man did many unforgivable things, I guess it is necessary to make him accept his punishment for everything he did. Big applause to nam goong min, Yoo seung ho, park min young and park sung along who portrayed their characters well. I'm
looking forward for their next drama. fighting!!

SCORE : 9.5/10

FINAL VERDICT

SCORE: 9.8/10 - TOTALLY RECOMMENDED DRAMA.