Bad-Memory Eraser – K-drama Episode 12 Recap & Review

Episode 12

Episode 12 of Bad-Memory Eraser begins with Ju-yeon and Shin rescuing Gun from the pool. However, it is Sae-yan who shows up at Gun’s home and nurses him from his fever. He is confused while Sae-yan is clumsy but does her best to take care of him. She shares that she is prepaying him so he will look for her biological father once he is well.

While he wonders where Ju-yeon is, she is being a nuisance at home as she is not needed at the Athlete’s Village and has also taken leave from the hospital. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Han is still hurt by Nurse Song’s comments. As the staff plans their next outing, he is self-deprecating. Song tries to include him but a dense Dr. Yeo shoos him away thinking he is busy.

As Sae-yan cooks for Gun, she updates Ju-yeon on his health. We learn that Ju-yeon sent Sae-yan to look after him and does her best to avoid him. On hearing the phone call, Gun tries to talk to Ju-yeon but Sae-yan hangs up. Ju-yeon goes back to doing household chores and ignoring Shin’s calls. She also comes across Gun’s diary, which Sae-yan had discarded.

In it, he writes about his honest experiences which are mostly sad. Shin sends him trophies that he wins and Gun feels like his brother is mocking him. During his military enlistment, he passed the time by thinking about his first love. Both brothers also have the same birthday but their parents only celebrate Shin’s. Gun wonders if his first love would also abandon him if they were together, which is why he is scared to meet her.

Meanwhile, Shin is busy looking for the guy who took the photos of him choking Gun on the bridge. CEO Hong is on it and believes the man must be a gambler and must be wanting Shin to fix a match.

Sae-yan continues to take care of Gun and can’t help but notice how handsome he is. However, he only wants Ju-yeon as he makes up excuses for Sae-yan to call her. He grabs the phone and finally gets to talk to Ju-yeon. She insists that Sae-yan is much more warm-hearted than her so he is in good hands. She hangs up and we see that she is outside his apartment, reminiscing about their good memories together.

Her timing is perfect as Shin shows up at her place looking for her. Mrs. Kyung is in awe as he decides to wait for Ju-yeon so he can surprise her. She brings out the fancy china but her grand-nephew, Seung-hyun spills the tea on Shin. Mrs. Kyung gives him clothes meant for her late husband and he promises to wash them before returning.

As he hangs out with Seung-hyun, he wants to know more about his pretty aunt but Seung-hyun thinks Shin is asking about Sae-yan. They bicker as Shin claims Ju-yeon is prettier. He also happens upon Gun’s diary and takes it.

Back at Gun’s, Sae-yan tries to make grappa, an Italian remedy which requires a spoon of brandy. She doesn’t think it’s enough and she keeps pouring more and tasting till she finishes 2 bottles of brandy. By the time she brings Gun the concoction, she is drunk and the remedy is just brandy. She falls asleep and Gun is amused as he ends up taking care of her. He gives her hangover pills and pinky-promises to look for her father as she cries over him.

Elsewhere, Ju-yeon walks all over town and runs into one of her patients. She looks downcast and he diagnoses her with heartbreak. It is such an illness that even bad memories with the loved one become a cherished memory.

She heads home and sees Shin playing cards with Mrs. Kyung. Angry, she drags him out and points out that she has been avoiding him for a reason. She believes that he kissed her to help Gun but he declares that he likes her. She apologises for leading him on but she doesn’t like him back. He thinks she is being mean to him because of Gun.

Unable to reason with him, she tries to kick him out. At that moment, they are interrupted by a sick Gun carrying a drunk Sae-yan on his back as she wants to see Seung-hyun. Ju-yeon frets over Sae-yan and Gun is hurt that she isn’t even sparing him a glance. Taking his opportunity, Shin thanks Ju-yeon for a great evening and promises to return her father’s clothes. 

Gun isn’t perturbed and challenges Shin to a tennis match, commenting that Shin always eyes his things. As they play, Gun is good but Shin scores the first point. Gun suddenly asks about Shin’s wrist band and we see that it is the band that slipped when Shin rescued Gun at the bridge.

Shin is shocked as he realises that Gun has regained some of the memories of that night. The witness from the bridge watches them from afar. After the game, Shin burns Gun’s diary but the witness grabs it.

As for Sae-yan, she drunkenly rambles about Gun as she recalls that he was initially trying to kick her out. But by the end of the day, she believes that they have become friends. Ju-yeon looks sad and accidentally burns her finger while cooking.

The next day at the Athlete’s Village, while Shin and Sae-yan bicker as usual, she claims that he is not Ju-yeon’s type so he shouldn’t think of dating her. Guk-bong is enamoured with her but Shin is distracted when he gets a text from the witness, wanting to meet.

Shin rushes to the location while Hong has his men follow him. A strange man shows up and the bodyguards grab him but he just turns out to be a fan. The actual witness is outside and runs off. Shin notices him and starts chasing him but he is hit by a car and his knee is injured.

Meanwhile, Gun goes to the police station to look at the report of his accident. The cop goes on about Shin being such a good brother that he didn’t even wait to take off his shoes before jumping after Gun. This confuses Gun as he only has the memory of Shin choking him and then being in the water.

At the end of Bad-Memory Eraser Episode 12, Gun heads to the bridge and hits the jackpot as he finds a truck that was parked nearby. He downloads the footage from the dashcam but he is interrupted by Guk-bong who reveals Shin has gone missing. While Gun looks for Shin, Ju-yeon panics as Seung-hyun shares that Shin has taken Gun’s diary.

The Episode Review

Bad-Memory Eraser Episode 12 again veers into the no-chemistry zone as Ju-yeon once again avoids Gun and tries to set him up with Sae-yan. But her broken-hearted lamenting doesn’t actually create any sympathy. Instead, viewers will be busy shipping Gun with Sae-yan as they have more chemistry. Quite odd for a show to give the main lead chemistry with literally everyone except the female lead. 

This episode does not do any favours to Shin either as he jumps into his evil arc. Sure, we get that he loves and hates his brother, and would hurt him but also jump into the river to save him. But did he have to get childish with the kissing and pretending that he had been with Ju-yeon all day while Gun was sick? The writers really need to figure out how to keep the characters likeable while also giving them complex angles.