In a K-drama that pits humans against technology, reality against fiction, it is surprising then that it’s the human relationships rather than the VR premise that really shines. The way characters such as Sang-beom ( Lee Hak-joo) inserted himself into Hee-joo’s personal life believing himself to be a better judge of what’s best for her and how Hyun-suk ( Park Hoon) had the audacity to question Soo-jin’s loyalty after literally seducing her away from her husband as revenge was irksome and a wasted opportunity to have some equally-fleshed out female characters. The plot demanded they were used either as leverage or support for the men.
Instead, the three main adult female characters, Hee-joo, Yoo-ra ( Han Bo-reum), and Soo-jin ( Lee Shi-won) were limited to being pawns in the games of the male characters. The scene where he is unsuccessfully fighting off zombies was evocative of the character fending off his own demons, both real and imagined. Instead, in Memories we see Jin-woo literally just about surviving. The toll of the game on his body was palpable – refreshing given how often we see our unfailing, untiring hero valiantly battling evil in K-dramas. Hyun Bin’s portrayal of Jin-woo was superb, particularly in showing the physical and psychological impact of the VR game in a way that inspired empathy. Ultimately, a few of the characters and the human relationships carried the drama along where the plot floundered. At the same time however, questions remained around the world-building: is he alive the way Se-joo existed within the game? Are our two leads destined to only meet one another within the game? Will he age?! Ambiguous endings are fine so long as the world-building is solid enough to give viewers two or three possible scenarios to consider for how things could play out. Jin-woo’s predicament was refreshing in that it wasn’t a neatly-tied-with-a-bow ending. However, the layperson in me needed to Google the concept to get even an inkling of what this meant because of how the drama skated over it. There was an attempt to explain the “instance dungeon” that Se-joo uses to survive within the game through a fleeting pop-up on-screen definition. Given that Se-joo’s whereabouts are the central plot device driving our characters actions, the reveal around his predicament felt rather inadequate.
The most obvious were Se-joo’s predicament throughout the drama and Jin-woo’s fate at the end. However, when the VR concept needed to deliver a plot it fell down, leaving glaring plot holes or exposing some lazy world-building. In the first eight episodes, the world-building was given sufficient focus with the game premise established well. Whilst the social commentary of the premise was strong, the mechanics of it began to falter in the last half of the drama. Unfortunately for Memories of the Alhambrathe latter was true. However, the VR premise was always double-edged sword: it could either elevate the drama to a league of its own or be its own downfall.
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