Tamal Kundu
Created by Jee-woon Kim, whose previous works include ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ and ‘A Bittersweet Life,’ ‘Dr. Brain’ is a mesmerizing exploration of the darkest depths of the human psyche with plenty of sci-fi and mystery elements. In episode 2, Dr. Sewon Koh’s (Sun-kyun Lee) attempt to sync his brain with his wife Jaeyi produces mixed results.
He enlists the help of private detective Kangmu Lee (Hee-soon Park) to learn more about the relationship between Jaeyi and Junki Lim. Meanwhile, lieutenant Jiun Choi leads the investigation of Junki’s murder and considers Sewon her primary suspect. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Dr. Brain’ episode 2. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Dr. Brain Episode 2 Recap
In episode 2, or ‘Chapter 2,’ Sewon enters Jaeyi’s mind after syncing his brain with hers, and it seems like they are in one of the happier memories they have made together. It’s morning; they are on their bed. Doyoon is there as well, jumping up and down. The family appears to be content. Suddenly, Doyoon walks out of the home. Alarmed, Sewon tries to follow, but Jaeyi stops him, claiming that their son is safer away from him. Everything around Sewon then changes, and he finds himself standing in the middle of blood-red surroundings. An older Jaeyi pleads to him to find their son.
Sewon aborts the sync, realizing that he is not just seeing Jaeyi’s memories but also her dreams, nightmares, hallucinations, and hidden desires. A person in a coma is still clinically alive, and their brain is a hodgepodge of activities. Realizing their effects on the syncing can be confusing and dangerous, Sewon decides not to use any other living subjects until he finds a solution.
Jiun and her partner visit Sewon’s home and accuse him of murdering his wife and Junki, her lover, prompting Sewon to take them to the basement where he is keeping his wife alive. It is revealed that Jaeyi tried to commit suicide, or at least that’s what the show wants you to believe for now. When she went into a coma, Sewon brought her home to take care of her.
As he continues to get glimpses of Junki and Jaeyi spending time together, he realizes that the brain sync with his wife wasn’t a complete failure as some of those memories belong to her. In one such memory, Junki and Jaeyi try to inform Junki’s daughter Seejin about Doyoon’s passing, but she keeps claiming she saw him that morning. Sewon contacts Kangmu and hires the private detective to help him find more about Junki and Jaeyi’s relationship and Heejin, hoping that the information will lead him to his son.
Accessing Junki’s memories becomes progressively easier for Sewon. He and Kangmu visit Junki’s home, where Sewon instantly remembers the code to unlock the front door. Standing in the hallway where Junki was killed, he recalls the face of the murderer. Meanwhile, two men visit the house where Seejin is staying with her grandmother and uncle. Finding the body of his son’s cat Mika at Junki’s home, Sewon realizes rigor mortis hasn’t set in yet. He brings the dead cat to his lab to sync his brain to that of the animal.
Dr. Brain Episode 2 Ending: Who Is Kangmu Lee? Is He Dead?
Sewon first meets Kangmu when he sees the latter outside his home. After he syncs his brain with Mika, the cat, he sees the moment of Junki’s death and the plate of a car he thinks belongs to the killers. He calls Jiun to ask her to run the plate for him. She still suspects him of murdering Junki but looks up the plate. It is revealed that the car belonged to Kangmu Lee, who was a police officer turned private detective. He died a few days earlier, and his car was demolished. Right after she tells Sewon this, someone tries to get into his home. When Sewon asks who it is, the person on the other end of the door answers that it’s Kangmu.
Now, it can’t be an imposter, as the audience gets a glimpse of the real Kangmu when Jiun looks up the car plate in the database, and it’s the same, albeit younger, person as the one Sewon meets. The only other option is that he is the manifestation of part of the memories of the people Sewon synced his brain with. These memories can belong to Junki, who met Kangmu. But the manifestation is much more real than any of Junki’s memories that Sewon can currently access.
So, this means that Sewon got these memories from when he synced his brain to his first subject. When Sewon synced his brain with the cadaver, he saw the person is being smashed to death with a stone. Kangmu is probably this first subject. Sewon didn’t recognize him because his face was a ruined mess. Sewon’s first attempt at syncing was such a success that the memories of Kangmu have manifested within Sewon’s psych as a non-self-aware version of the real Kangmu Lee.
How Did Junki Lim Die? What Happens to Heejin?
As the coroner tells Jiun and her partner, Junki was killed by professionals, people who knew what they were doing. Episode 2 introduces the said professionals as they visit Heejin’s grandmother’s home and abduct her, her grandmother, and her uncle. The real question here is who is targeting Junki’s family and why? Clearly, it is someone with plenty of resources, given that they have gotten such high-end killers to do the job for them.
Junki seems like an ordinary man, so the only reason that the killers have come after him and his family is his relationship with Jaeyi, who herself doesn’t seem to warrant such interest. However, Sewon, on the other hand, is a different case. His research must have piqued some interest somewhere, and these people probably have decided to target Junki’s family.
Read More: Where Is Dr. Brain Filmed?
