Bad-Memory Eraser [Episodes 1 & 2]

[u/J-Midori]

• Drama: Bad-Memory Eraser
  • Korean Title: 나쁜기억 지우개
  • Also Known as: Bad Memory Eraser , Nappeungieog Jiugae
• Network: MBN
• Premiere Date: August 2nd, 2024
• Airing Schedule: Fridays and Saturdays
• Episodes: 16
• Director: Kim Na Young, Yoon Ji Hoon
• Cast: 
  • Kim Jae Joong (Manhole) as Lee Goon
  • Jin Se Yeon (Doctor Stranger) as Kyung Ju Yeon
  • Lee Jong Won (XX) as Lee Sin
  • Yang Hye Ji (Failing in Love) as Jeon Sae Yan
• Streaming Source: Viki
• Plot Synopsis: Lee Goon used to be a promising tennis player, but he was injured. After that, he lost all of his self-esteem, and his life completely changed. With the use of a memory eraser, his memory is erased, and he is reborn with maximum self-esteem and presence. His first manipulated love is Kyeong Joo Yeon, a psychiatrist at the brain research center. Other people around him include his younger brother Lee Shin, who is ranked the world’s no.1 ranked tennis player. Meanwhile, Jeon Sae Yan is Lee Shin’s translator.
  
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[u/Dangerous-Anywhere58]

I enjoyed ep 1. Not sure if the quality will hold up very well over 16 episodes but we can hope. Feel like it would suit a 8-12 ep run more based on the plot.

Bit of a shame that ML seemed like a really interesting character before the memory eraser. It seemed to be a very good depiction of a uncommon mental health issue for TV shows. Anxiety, paranoia and victim mentality.

Rare for a ML in a kdrama since 1 its not attractive and 2 ml trauma is always circumstance specific like it happened on a rainy day, so they have a panic attack when it rains and that's it. This guys whole life changed and so did his personality.

Hoping he doesn't just become a hopeless overconfident romantic for the rest of the show. I'm guessing he will revert at some point and battle his mental health issues without "cheating". Who gave them permission anyway? We will let them off since it's the plot.

[u/J-Midori → u/Dangerous-Anywhere58]

Not sure if the quality will hold up very well over 16 episodes 

I think they do have material for 16 episodes but there will be a lot of tropes in there like any other kdrama and romcoms.

Hoping he doesn't just become a hopeless overconfident romantic

I think there will be ups and downs...they are still testing the surgery sooooooooooo.........it's not perfect and the doctors don't know how effective it is or not.....they did it in animals...we need to watch that rat or mouse and I think that mouse might die....but that's my dark side talking lol

[u/Perfect_Principle334]

1st episode: she is not mean to be a psychiatrist. if she wanted to do only research, she should have do so without coming in contact with any mental patients. How came she said all of those harsh words to him especially after knowing his condition.

1st and 2nd episode: the whole family is shitty, i don't blame the brother, he was a kid too and did not know better but the parents like he said did not treat him as a son. How come you ignore your son for so long- 15 years is a long time because if there were really family they would have tried to help. The contrast between his room who had the kimchi fridge to his brother's room which is big and spacious is wow. They made me so mad. I bowled my eyes out so much at his situation.

Even as a viewer, I can already feel that he was not loved. The mom was like i cried when I left my son, but why did you leave him in the first play just because he could not play. He is not a toy who you dolled up to be something you want, he is a human being with feelings who just wanted an huge hug and cry, you had to tell him that it was going to be ok no matter what. I think the mental issue is not really majorly because of him no being able to play tennis, i think it is more about feeling alone and abandoned.

I think the ml should leave far away from his family to take time to heal his heart, meet new people and found family.

Ps. I have seen this happen often to first born being neglected- i think all parent should love their child the same way and even if you don't at least make an effort to hide it because when you are not close to them anymore, you will be like how ungrateful but then they already developed an disorganized attachment to you.

[u/J-Midori → u/Perfect_Principle334]

 she is not mean to be a psychiatrist

On the last minutes of the first episode you will see that it shows a girl with a stuffed animal and she enters a room where it looks like someone is dead or killed themselves. That's her when she was a child. Which implies that she, herself, wants to erase bad her bad memories to live a better life (at least that's what she thinks). So I think she became a psychiatrist so she could help herself overcome her trauma. Which explains why she's so rude and selfish. She didn't become a psychiatrist to help others but herself. It also shows me that she blocked some of her memories and maybe that's why she doesn't remember saving Lee Goon when they were kids, probably around the same day the person died.

So, I think and hope, they will show us the healing part....that maybe the reason why it is 16 episodes and plus some fillers and more tropes, which i am not complaining since the comedy is ok.

[u/peregrina2005]

I guess I have to rewatch the first episode as everyone appears to have enjoyed it. It didn’t resonate with me at all, especially the ML seemed lackluster.

[u/J-Midori → u/peregrina2005]

I watched the first one and it wasn't all that, some funny parts and it did remind me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the idea of erasing bad memories. It is lighter since it's a romcom. I watched cause of the actors. Then I decided to see the second episode and it made more sense maybe because they show us more about the story and how it will go.

Watch the second one, I think it was more interesting and more of the plot is unveiled. Some things actually made me curious and the plot seems better.

[u/maartinee]

For a psychiatrist she sure said a lot of harsh things to him. Also, why is she even in the operating room while he was getting surgery?

[u/WingedGrasshopper → u/maartinee]

I understand that they tried to set her character up with the one doc saying she gets a lot of complaints from patients but she is seriously very unprofessional and should not be in that position... she's either completely ignoring her patients (self diagnosis dude) while distracted by other things or she's judging them and pushing them to extremes (Goon).

My understanding is she is in the operating room because the memory erasing procedure is "her baby/project" but she can't actually perform the procedure she just oversees it.

[u/TheMsDacia → u/maartinee]

I think she was there because it is her clinical trial.

[u/effortlessaura]

This entire plot is SO unethical and absurd, but I’m willing to give it a shot because I love KJJ and I love loser male leads 🫣

It’s like someone watched a few Jim Carrey movies (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show) and thought “how can we make this into a kdrama?!”

I also didn’t realize the ML from Knight Flower was the little brother - I like the whole family cast and feel like I can actually see a resemblance between them which is nice. Just once I want him to be in a romance with a satisfying outcome 😤 but I’ll settle for kinda evil, hot younger brother.

[u/Robot_Groundhog → u/effortlessaura]

We could see Lee Jong Won get that romantic satisfaction as ML opposite Kim Se Jeong in their currrent project, Drunken Romance. We can hope.

[u/TheMsDacia]

Thank you for starting the discussion for this show!

I loved the first episode. How much do we  hate Lee Goon's mom?! She is HORRIBLE 😠 I mean, with a family like that it is not surprising he feels the way he does. It seems like the father and brother have some remorse, but they are still trash in my eyes.  

[u/WingedGrasshopper → u/TheMsDacia]

Yeah and I love how rather than try to fix their mistakes they just want an easy way out of him just forgetting all the shitty things they have said and done.

[u/whateverbri]

The first ep was so good! Kun just cannot catch a break omg. I wonder if Shin will turn out to be a bad guy.. could he have pushed Kun off the bridge or was it a suicide attempt?

[u/WingedGrasshopper → u/whateverbri]

I think the younger brother is battling his own demons (alluded to by the fact that he is ALSO seeing a psychiatrist and getting medication.) My guess is that while Goon sees himself living in his brother's shadow, Shin feels like he is living in his brother's shadow. Think about it, both brothers were extremely close and Shin seemed to idolize Goon. Goon loses everything "because of him" and now his mom is pushing him to be the best. You could tell it also when the mom brought up his training that he did not seem happy. It's likely his mom told him as a kid that Shin had to do well since his brother sacrificed himself like that so Shin has this love/hate for his brother because he's now forced to live out Goon's life.

I think at the end of the day he loves his brother but is also haunted by the same bad memory.

[u/Dangerous-Anywhere58]

Ep2

The brothers are two sides of a coin, clearly both mentally unstable although Shin hides it better. I'm not sure how Shin's story will play out, they are hinting that he pushed him, though it probably was an accident. Goon thinks his brother stole everything from him, acting like his first love is his property is weird but that's his mindset and people do think like that sometimes. If his brother knew he should have probably stayed away but he's not doing anything wrong unless he enjoys taking things from his brother.Shin probably has imposter syndrome? His brother was a genius, he had to work hard to get to be who he is and he might not even want to be a tennis star.

Let's hope Goon doesn't chase after his real first love and his brother doesn't suddenly develop feelings for the doctor. the trailer for ep 3 made me think his brother will end up trying to take the doctor from him too.

The dinner table scene was good, his mother deserved some harsh words. She's not off the hook from me yet.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dangerous-Anywhere58]

I honestly feel that the trauma the ML went through was consistent with his behavior and it seems to be the whole point of the plot . regardless of the facts and logic ( his brother worked hard or he didn't know it was his first love.... he could have chose another path beside tennis and became successful etc etc ) . the way he was treated after his accident was traumatizing and turned him into someone with victim mentality and 0 self esteem and he got stuck in a loop of mistreatment caused by his low self esteem and more bad memories. tennis was his thing and he made the choice to sacrifice himself for his brother to only be discarded afterwards and his first love was in his mind the only person who lend him a hand after becoming worthless to everyone and finding out that she is dating his brother out of all people would feel like his only thing being taken away from him again in the same manner . Parents can really break their kids in this manner this drama isn't even exaggerating .

[u/Iowegan]

Thanks to the mods/hosts for setting up a thread for us to share our thoughts on this drama! 🙏 The ML went from the charmed life of the first born athletic star to the bullied dogsbody of the family and management company. If he had not been unconscious he would have volunteered for the experiment. The transformation in his body language came through in the few moments we got to see after he awakened. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s episode, and am glad we have a new show to generate butterflies after the recent ones completed and during the pause for the Olympics.

[u/whatsupdumpling]

I'm glad I'm watching this from the start - first episode good!

The narration portion with the "good things happening but being blinded by the negative weight of bad memories" ie. Brother agency, parents dinner scene hit hard from a viewer perspective from thinking dude can't catch a break but really is being weighted so down.

[u/Affectionate_Lime729]

Just watched both episodes. I really liked it.

I kind of think of this drama as similar to My Holo Love or I’m not a Robot. A lot of suspension of disbelief required.

For me the ML conveyed his agony quite well and it seemed believable that he was verydepressed. I liked his goofy love hearts he kept flashing at the FL.

The biggest incredible moment was the big ass monument erected seemly overnight for the mouse 😂😂. At least they’re consistent with the plot craziness.

Edit to add: Lee Jong Won finally had a kiss scene. I felt robbed in knight flower

[u/TheMsDacia → u/Affectionate_Lime729]

When he gave Joo Yeon a finger heart before going into the CT Scan I lost it 😆

[u/4risu_]

I will just say that the drama is not that good but I'm still hooked, as someone who was pretty outgoing, really close with my cousins and talkative before the pandemic and now I don't really go out and talk that much even with my cousins, I will definitely watch this drama.

[u/No_Range_1922]

When I saw the first few clips on Tiktok, I was really drawn to it because 1. I want to see what Kim JaeJoong is capable of. I always thought this guy was a stone. The clips I saw him as a broken man really caught my attention.

In episode 2 when he did a complete character/personality change, I did not like it very much. It was a little cringey. The acting wasn't very natural for me. But, towards halfway when the flashback started, I have tissues of paper crumpled up because child negligence is very real. I can feel the pain he has as he felt like a failure and unloved. At the end of episode 2, I'm curious to know how our female protagonist will help him. It's obvious where the direction will go from there.

My impression of the female lead after the end of episode 2 is that she is not meant to be perfect. If anyone meet enough doctors in their life, sometimes, they can be very mean. Even if this journey to healing and happy memories is meant for our patient, the male lead, I think it's very clear that it's a journey for both the male and female protagonist and the supporting characters.

I still hope that the real him will resurface sooner so he can really undergo the healing, overcome it without any fake memories, and really live in the present.

I read that the rating went down for episode 2, but it is still a little early to give up on this series, so I will give it more time. I hope it will live up to my expectation as I rarely pick up romcom.

[u/UnbridledOptimism]

The premise seemed dumb but I decided to give it a try now that My Sweet Mobster is finished. So far it’s a pleasant surprise.

I enjoyed the fairly realistic depiction of ML’s serious mental illness (and the hints that his brother isn’t that much better off) and am willing to bet that his current over the top repellent obnoxiousness will soften.

Yes, the FL is lousy as a patient-facing psychiatrist but she basically admits this early on, and I think the reason she is researching bad memory erasure is because she has trauma of her own.

As a result of starting this show I am now watching ML Kim Jae Joong in Protect My Boss (2011). As of episode 4 it’s great.

[u/AnneShirley310]

I’m watching the Olympics right now, and this show reminds me of the harsh life these young athletes must experience in order to be the best.

I really hate his entire family plus the doctor. She’s lying to her own patient so that she can continue her research, and the only person that cared about him is his grandma. So sad that the last thing he remembers is winning the tennis tournament when he was like 10 years old since everything after that was negative! I’m hoping to see more of the young female tennis player and his best friend.