Tamal Kundu
Developed from the namesake webtoon by Hongjacga, ‘Dr. Brain’ is a sci-fi thriller drama series that delves deep into human psychology and explores concepts like grief, joy, disappointment, and anger through a person who doesn’t experience them like most other people. Meanwhile, it’s also an intricately woven mystery tale that seldom loses its pace.
In the pilot episode, a young Sewon is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He loses his mother shortly after in a vehicular accident. As an adult, Sewon endures more tragedies, seemingly losing both his wife and son. Sewon is a prominent brain scientist and develops a method of syncing the brains of the living and the deceased. When he learns about certain secrets that his wife has kept from him, Sewon decides to use the technology he has developed to find out the truth. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Dr. Brain’ episode 1. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Dr. Brain Episode 1 Recap
Episode 1 or chapter 1 of ‘Dr. Brain’ begins by depicting Sewon’s childhood. After an incident at school, his mother enrolls him in a program for children on the autistic spectrum. While he shows remarkable improvements in cognitive skills, his social skills remain as they were before. A doctor at the facility assures Sewon’s mother that Sewon will be able to function in his day-to-day life even though he may never be a social person.
Being the caregiver of a child with autism has taken a heavy emotional toll on Sewon’s mother. And she feels overwhelmed by the financial cost of it as well. Sewon’s mother dies right before his eyes after being hit by a truck, prompting him to lose consciousness. When he wakes up, he finds himself surrounded by doctors, who discovered an abnormal distance between Sewon’s hippocampus and his amygdala, which is half the size of the former section of the brain.
Sewon has always loved taking things apart to know how they work. After his mother’s death, he developed an interest in the workings of the human mind and became a brain scientist as an adult. As the doctor predicted, he still has socializing issues, but he is quite active in his daily life. He even had a family for a while, but his son Doyoon seemingly died in a fire accident. And after that, his wife, Jaeyi Jung, developed mental health issues. She began claiming that Doyoon was still alive. And then, one day, Sewon lost her as well.
Sewon’s work initially revolves around attempts of syncing the brains of two living beings. When he discovers that the procedure works if one of the subjects is dead, he decides to conduct the first human trial on himself. He acquires a corpse with the help of his colleague Namil and goes through the procedure. However, that doesn’t have the desired effect. The only thing he sees are glimpses of a man being bludgeoned to death. This probably insinuates that the deceased used to be a criminal.
Sewon learns that a private investigator and the police are looking for his wife because of her apparent connection with a dead man named Junki Lim. Desperate to find answers, Sewon tracks down Lim’s body and syncs his brain with the deceased. This time, it seems to produce a better result.
Dr. Brain Episode 1 Ending: Is Sewon’s wife, Jaeyi Jung, Dead? Who Is Junki Lim?
No, Sewon’s wife, Jaeyi Jung, isn’t dead. In the final sequence of the episode, it is revealed that she is in a coma. While the show is yet to reveal what exactly happened to her that rendered her in such a state, we can speculate on a few possibilities. One of them is a suicide attempt, which seems most likely among all the options. According to Sewon, Jaeyi’s mental health rapidly deteriorated after losing her son.
And Sewon, being who he is, reacted to it in a way that was detrimental to her recovery. His assertions about their son’s death probably drove her deeper into instability until she could no longer endure the pain and decided to end it. Another possibility is Junki Lim’s involvement. It is revealed that Jaeyi was having an affair with Junki, so whatever happened to her might have stemmed from their relationship.
Why Does Sewon Decide to Sync His Brain with Jaeyi Jung?
After syncing his brain with Junki’s, certain changes start to happen to Sewon. He suddenly becomes more sociable and starts liking coffee and liquor. He subsequently writes down a list of these new aspects of his personality so that he can revert to his original traits. He also starts to hallucinate because of the sync. After he gains control over what he perceives in this state, a mysterious young girl appears before him, declaring that Doyoon is alive.
Experiencing this in the memories of a person who knew Jaeyi, Sewon begins to think his wife’s claims were not just ramblings; she was telling him the truth. He takes his machine to the hospital where Jaeyi is and syncs his brain with hers. Earlier, Sewon posited the notion that the syncing should work with coma patients as well. He believes that the truth about what exactly happened to Doyoon during the fire accident is hidden somewhere in Jaeyi’s memories, and he hopes to find it.
Read More: Where Is Dr. Brain Filmed?
