Bad-Memory Eraser – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

Episode 2 Recap

The recap of Bad-Memory Eraser Episode 2 begins with Lee Gun telling Ju-yeon that she is his first love. The new Gun is narcissistic, confident and overly charming with everyone and the doctors believe the trial to be successful. 

But unbeknownst to them, Ju-yeon is worried as she recalls touching Gun’s face and him waking up for a second post-surgery. She reasons that instead of erasing the memory of his first love, it must have been manipulated so that he mistakes her for the same girl. But she does wonder why his first love has turned into a bad memory that he would want to erase. 

Meanwhile, Gun’s last memory is of his last tennis match as a kid before the racket-throwing incident. But when asked about him jumping in the river, Shin interrupts and claims Gun tripped on the stairs.

Next, Dr. Han advises the family to keep Gun in the dark about his past and the trial. Gun is to be isolated and observed for the next 100 days. The family also feels guilty as Han explains that Gun only remembers his last match because everything from then to the present must have been bad for him. We also learn that it is Shin who signed Gun up for the trial and has taken over as his guardian.

As for Gun, he runs into Ju-yeon and pulls her into a storage room. He believes she has been searching for him and gets frustrated when she claims she doesn’t know him. They overhear a nurse flirting with her boyfriend and Ju-yeon tries to leave before they can be found out. But Gun makes a noise and the nurse calls Dr. Tae-oh to check out the storage.

With Ju-yeon crushing on Tae-oh, she suddenly stops Gun from opening the door and he is amused. But she does notice that he is holding the doorknob with his left hand as his right hand still seems to be in pain. Outside, with the doctors calling security to look into the storage room and Gun refusing to hide, Ju-yeon proposes rock, paper, scissors. She wins and walks out, pretending to be on a call while Gun is forced to hide in the laundry bin.

Well, he disappears and the hospital goes into panic mode. The Lee family arrives home to see Gun bathing in Shin’s bathroom, wearing Shin’s clothes and using Shin’s bedroom. Shin doesn’t correct him but they are in awe with Gun’s new self-obsessed personality. While the mom is annoyed, the dad lets him be as he feels bad for his son.

At the hospital, Ju-yeon believes the trial has failed but Han stops her from dropping Gun as a test subject. He reasons that Gun is much happier and it is their job to resolve any side effects. Meanwhile, Gun returns to the hospital to a harried staff. The nurse reprimands him and tells him that Ju-yeon has been looking after him daily and he should do well to listen to her.

As for Ju-yeon, she gets a call from her mom, nagging her for working overtime and being messy. Gun walks in on her and teases her before handing her a drink to thank her for taking care of him. She ends up dreaming about him and the board scolding her for ruining his memories and she feels guilty.

Elsewhere, Shin is busy filming a commercial with Shi-on while still giving a cold shoulder to his agent. Shi-on wonders where Gun is and the agent tells her about the incident. She ends up at the hospital at the same time as Shin arrives. However, Shin is waylaid by a super-fan. Ju-yeon gets caught in the middle (literally) as he tries to avoid the fan but she keeps holding his hand and screaming his name. 

As for Shi-on, she finds Gun who is impressed that she is his fan. He is quite blunt as he observes how she is stuck doing commercials but she is grateful as his advice for her knee injury is spot on. She gifts him a tennis racket and wonders about his lost medal.

This triggers a couple of memories – the head injury from his last match, the first love going back in the water to find his medal, his parents leaving him behind, Gun spotting his medal and the first love at the reunion and jumping in the river. He blacks out and has to be admitted to the ICU.

The friend, Guk-bong is the only one waiting for him and he tells Ju-yeon that it is his fault since he forced Gun to go to the reunion. We are finally told what happens that fateful night – Gun goes to the reunion and finds his medal. The staff points him to the girl who left it – it is his first love, she has brown hair and a bow.

He runs after her only to find her in the car park, making out with Shin. Heartbroken, he calls Guk-bong at the bridge before he jumps. He believes he is not worth the girl’s love and is just happy that she is alive. Guk-bong feels bad that Gun lost his tennis, his family and his first love all to his brother.

Ju-yeon then finds the mom sitting by Gun’s side. Mrs. Lee comes clean that she knows she has been a bad mother but she wasn’t always like that. We then get her backstory too – she is a former athlete and the last time she cries is when she leaves Gun behind to take Shin to Australia. She wants her sons to be strong so she decides never to show them any weakness. She also recalls her last interaction with Gun before his accident. Following the reunion, he comes home and in anger starts eating all the food that’s being given to Shin.

While the father wants to let it go, the mother berates him, calling him selfish. Gun explodes as he shares he has given up everything for Shin. Even in school when he was bullied, he never fought back as it would ruin Shin’s reputation. Mrs. Lee is furious as she tells him to talk to her respectfully and his last words are that she has never been a mother to him. At present, she vows to use this second chance to be his mother.

At that moment, while Shin is in the gym, some cops show up. As for Gun, he wakes up and heads to the hospital grounds to practise tennis. Ju-yeon finds him tearing up and for once he is not cocky. He believes he must have been feeling empty as he stopped playing tennis for so long. Ju-yeon says he can resume whatever he wants and just then, the tennis ball machine ejects a ball.

Gun stops the ball from hitting Ju-yeon with his right hand and wonders if he can regain his memories. Ju-yeon suddenly decides to pretend to be his first love so that he can get over his pain by keeping his bad memories hidden. Meanwhile, the actual first love shows up at Ju-yeon’s mom’s place. And that is the end of the Bad-Memory Eraser Episode 2 recap.

The Episode Review

Well, a lot happens in the Bad-Memory Eraser Episode 2 recap. To get things straight, the Nevertheless girly is Gun’s first love and also Shin’s current girlfriend. She also happens to be somehow related to Ju-yeon. Well, that’s a whole love square.

And Shin seems too suspicious but also a little too worried for the older brother he took for granted. Is it guilt out of neglecting his brother or guilt from pushing Gun in the river? Since we have the mother’s point of view, it seems that Gun’s suicidal tendencies could have been overridden by his anger towards his family.

While it was satisfying for viewers to watch him lash out at his mom, it must have been similarly cathartic for him. So, why would he jump? It is also quite strange that it was Shin who found Gun and took him to the hospital.

Then there is Ju-yeon whose thinking is a little convoluted – Gun’s pain is linked to his trauma which means no trauma equals no pain. But if he doesn’t find his true love, he will keep digging into his past till his bad memories once again resurface. So, to stop him, she pretends to be his true love. A very messy move, but consider us hooked.