Dr. Brain Episode 1: Ending Explained and Story Recap and Is Sewon’s Wife, Jaeyi Jung Dead?

This recap of Apple TV + K-Drama Dr. Brain season 1, episode 1 contains spoilers. What a brilliant control of Apple TV +. With the success of the original K-Drama series on Netflix, getting visionary filmmaker Kim Jee-woon to create a rich story for his streaming service is a big win. Hope he delivers. Let’s recap the episode from the premiere.

Dr. Brain Season 1 Episode 1 Recap

Episode 1 begins in 1990, in Seoul, in the fall. A young Se-won plays with different colors on a torch, away from other children. He talks about how different he was from other kids and always wanted to break things up. Young Se-won has upset the other children with his actions, and his mother arrives to help them. Se-won played with the fire extinguisher to see what was inside. The teacher thinks he needs professional help and is unable to connect with others.

And so, they see a professional who claims that Se-won may never be able to socialize. It seemed a bit extreme, but maybe it was a reflection of the times. The professional introduces the mother to a new program for people with autism, but it comes at a cost, which is economically tragic for a parent. The situation takes its toll on the mother, and she goes out in the middle of the road, and she is run over by a truck. It all happened so fast, and it’s easy to assume it was suicide. Young Se-won fainted at the sight of his mother’s death. Medical staff note that Se-won shows no emotional reaction to his mother’s death.

When asked about the incident, Se-won remembers fine details; professionals claim that Se-won has a special and unique brain structure and essentially becomes a science experiment. Se-won says that after his mother’s death, he became obsessed with understanding the human brain. And here it is, Dr Brain!

Episode 1 then moves on to the present day – Se-won gives a presentation at a brain conference and uses brainwave synchronization to interact with each other. He believes this technology can help patients with brain diseases communicate. There are questions surrounding ethical dilemmas, so Se-won believes that policies and laws should be in place before the technology is widely used. Ji-woo Hong from Science Magazine talks to Se-won after the lecture. She wonders if her work is motivated by personal reasons. Se-won pushes the question aside, stating that there is no need for a reason. The journalist talks about what happened to his mother, then to his wife and his son. Se-won leaves. It is obvious that he has changed somewhat since he was a child and that he adopted his autism spectrum.

Giving audiences an understanding of Se-won’s experiences, Episode 1 shows him and his assistant trying to transfer memories between two rats. However, the synchronization fails. Se-won tells the story of his wife and son; he knew he couldn’t be a typical husband, but he was trying to have a normal life. Flashbacks show Se-won wanting to get rid of the cat, but the woman maintains that it is their son’s only friend. They argue about their son, but Se-won explains that his son was just like him when he was younger, and he did well. And then, tragedy strikes. Their son died in a fire. Later scenes show the woman is in denial, and she believes their son is alive. What happened to his wife did

And then back to the present, and Se-won made progress late at night on brain sync between two rats. After a rat dies, brain waves work. Se-won needs a human subject, a corpse. However, his colleague believes that his project will not be approved. He asks for help from another colleague (Namil Hong) who has access to the morgue. Se-won understands that his experiment works if a subject is dead. At the morgue, they take out a corpse to conduct the experiment. Se-won makes himself one of the subjects and connects his brain waves to the corpse. He can see the memories of the deceased. Someone hits another person with a stone and blood splashes all over the place. Namil Hong begins to panic when warning beeps come from the computer. Se-won suffered cardiac arrest. He manages to bring him back. Se-won returns home and tells Namil Hong that he doesn’t remember anything.

And then Episode 1 takes a weird turn (if it’s not already weird). As Se-won returns home, he is approached by private investigator Kang-mu Lee. He asks what happened to his wife because Junki Lim is his client, and they want to know where Jaeyi Jung is. An irritated Se-won asks the investigator to leave. As Se-won walks inward, he has visions regarding his childhood. He wakes up the next day and Lt. Jiun Choi from the ST Investigation Unit wants to talk to him. They ask if they can speak with his wife. And then they ask about Junki Lim, who was close to his wife – the man is dead. They wonder if he has an alibi. Se-won gets on the defensive, so the lieutenant leaves. Did the series quickly turn into a murder investigation?

Se-won wants to know why everyone asks him about Junki Lim, so he investigates. He accesses Junki Lim’s corpse and sets up brain synchronization with himself. He sees a young child named Heejin. There is a murder when he sees a bloodied knife. Subsequently, Se-won brings back glimpses of memories in his recorder, but they are not clear. The next day, he goes out to eat with Hong Lim, surprising his colleagues whom he socializes. Hong Lim is curious as to why Se-won uses his left hand rather than his right. Se-won notes how he must try to part with the deceased. He also drinks coffee when he doesn’t like it. He notes all of these changes.

Dr. Brain Episode 1: Ending Explained

A few things happen to end a dramatic pilot episode. At work, Se-won sees a human figure in the distance, but he hallucinates. As the figure runs towards him, it disappears. His strange experiences continue; he keeps seeing different people, to the point where he has a hard time knowing what is real. Suddenly he has a headache. Se-won gets out of his car and sees lots of bugs on his clothes that aren’t there. It’s getting worse. In front of him, he sees a large alien-like organism forming in front of him. Se-won knows these are side effects – he has to decipher the memories properly. He then experiences a shocking truth; a young child appears in front of him and declares: “Doyoon is not dead”, referring to his son.

When Se-won returns home, he is confused – the girl repeated what his wife said – that her son is alive. Se-won walks to his basement. His wife is in a coma and tied to medical supplies; he takes care of her. He apologizes to her for not believing in her. He puts on the brain synchronization equipment. He asks her if she knows where their son is before starting the machine.