Memorist ~ A Psychic Detective and a Criminal Profiler

“Memorist” is a 2020 K-drama series, with 16 episodes, adapted from a webtoon with the same name, and categorized as Action, Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Mystery, and Supernatural or Fantasy.

♦ Should Scanning Memories Be Legal or Illegal?

A review of “Memorist” published via Annyeong Oppa blog asks these 3 questions:

• What does it take to be someone with good memories?
• What memories are worth keeping?
• What are those memories you wish you could just forget?

Yeah. Those are all good questions. But the main question posed in “Memorist” that needs to be answered is: Should a person be allowed to scan another person’s memories?

That question is followed by lots of other questions such as:

• If consent is given to scan your memories, would that be OK?
• If a victim of a violent crime is unconscious, would it be OK to scan their memories?
• Since it’s one human scanning the memories of another human, how do you guarantee that the scanner is telling you the truth? (They’re the only ones who know what they see.)
• Should scanning memories be completely outlawed and not permitted under any circumstances?

The main character in “Memorist” is Detective Dong Baek. Since he was a young child he could scan another person’s memories simply by brushing up against them. Can you imagine him as your boyfriend or husband? I mean, even if you just met him and shook hands, he could scan your memories without your consent. Is that cool or scary?

Dong Baek could have used this special ability to become a celebrity and make a ridiculous amount of money. Instead, he chose to become a police detective. He thought that would be the best way to use his gift, i.e. catching criminals.

Unfortunately, many who work in law enforcement and the elected officials do not agree. They want to pass a law that makes it illegal to scan anybody’s memories. Well! Since he is the only one with this particular ability, the law would be made especially for him.

Han Sun Mi is a criminal profiler. Correction: She has a reputation for being the best criminal profiler in the country. Another notch on her belt? At age 30, she is the youngest person to serve as Senior Superintendent in the history of the police force. Her superior’s advice is to fo her job WITHOUT using Dong Baek, a psychic.

But why can’t Han Sun Mi work WITH Dong Baek? Because whenever crimes are solved, he would receive all the credit, and regular police and their work would be considered “useless”. As if … had it not been for Dong Baek’s psychic abilities the crime may have never been solved OR would not have been solved as quickly.

Han Sun Mi often reaches the same conclusions that Dong Baek reaches without scanning people’s memories. But she kind of thinks that working with him is not all bad. One one occasion she and he separately tracked down a criminal, but he had not arrived on the scene she might have ended up dead.

By contrast, on a different occasion, she told him that was the prime suspect in a murder case. WHY?

• For one thing, she remembers when he openly threatened the murdered person. 
• Also, she allowed him to scan the memories of the witnesses and he said there was nothing in their memories. But was that the truth? But suppose he was the killer and said there was nothing in their memories because he knew they all had memories of him committing the crime.

Dong Baek gets in trouble for using his ability to perform his duties. When he believes he is on the trail of a criminal he uses his ability with or without approval from his superiors.

• Because of this, his superiors take disciplinary action and he gets suspended, and might even be put in jail.
• In some instances, civilians (even though they were gulity) take action to sue him because evidence or information that proved their guilt – which he discovered by scanning their memories – was obtained “unlawfully”, i.e. “without their consent”.

Han Sun Mi gets in trouble because sometimes she accepts help from Dong Baek, even though her superiors told her – warned her – not to do that.

With or without the approval from their superiors these two use their own abilities and skills to solve crime, and that includes uncovering corruption in high places. A psychic detective and a criminal profiler are quite a dynamic duo. Better than Batman and Robin. OK! Maybe just as good, if not better. LOL.

Main Characters:

• Dong Baek (played by Yoo Seung Ho, “The Magician”, “Moonshine”, “I’m Not a Robot”, “The Deal”)
• Han Sun Mi (played be Lee Se Young, “The Story Of Park’s Marriage Contract”, “The Red Sleeve”, “Kairos”)

Where to Watch (NOTE: Watch Free on Viki without an account)

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.6 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.4 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 8.9 out of 10 stars
• Amazon customers rated this series 5 out of 5 stars
• Public reviews shared via Google: 4.9 out of 5 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.4 out of 10 stars

My personal rating aligns with the Viki viewers.

“Memorist” was an excellent crime fiction series. But in reality, not only would I not want someone to be able to scan my memories but I would not want that kind of special ability either. Being able to scan someone else’s mind would make me crazy! It’s hard enough to keep track of my own thoughts and memories.

Still! As a fictional storyline, a scriptwriter could imagine all kinds of “What If” scenarios. For 16 episodes, they imagined quite a few scenarios. If law enforcement had psychics with that kind of gift, it would probably make crime-solving much easier. Especially if they were trying to catch serial killers. I particularly liked the episode titled “Double-Edged Sword”.

INTERESTING TIDBIT:

• “The usefulness of psychics in police investigations is controversial, but psychics have long been and will undoubtedly continue to be involved in unsolved criminal investigations.” (Quote Source: PSYCHICS AND POLICE WORK | Office of Justice Programs | US Dept of Justice)

LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Everything You Need To Know About Memorist K-Drama | Candy
• K-Drama Review: “Memorist” Daunts With A Series Of Twisted Crime Cases That Are Shocking To The Core | Hello KPop
• K-Drama Diary: Best Moments From “Memorist” That Are Worth Re-watching | Hello KPop
• Memorist: The drama that gives you worth keeping memories | Annyeong Oppa

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Viki Global TV. “MEMORIST – OFFICIAL TRAILER | Yoo Seung Ho, Lee Se Young, Go Chang Suk, Jo Sung Ha.” YouTube Video. YouTube, March 11, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20A4j5mi5jc.