This show is my new crack. I am talking straight to jail, no passing go, no stopping to collect my $200. It has me hook line and sinker. So of course we are going to dedicate a lot of posts to it. *In Gladiator voice* Send us your Alhambra translations! We will try and get to as many as we can. Patreon’s will get first dibs on translation, but all translation requests for Alhambra are welcome!
Now let’s talk about that first episode because it was a sugar rush. I loved every minute of it, did not want to look away from my screen for any of it, and immediately wanted to dive right into episode two. If I was binging this, then this entire series would be done by now and I would be googling the mess out of the drama until my eyes dried up. Is it the weekend yet?
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Caution: Be wary of typos
Shorthand Chart: Memories of Alhambra Character Chart
How we do this: We update the post around every 10 minutes. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on the scene. There will be typos which we have fantasies of fixing once the episode finishes airing. Also, there might be lovely updates at the bottom, so check back in!
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KOREAN DRAMA MEMORIES OF ALHAMBRA RECAP EPISODE 2
OPENING
Brief recap of what happened last time.
VO – the story starts right here, he is looking for me and I am looking for him in Granada.
We see all the problems that Jin-woo had in the hotel. Then we see our first introduction to the Memories of Alhambra game. Jin-woo’s team created the smart lens, but they wonder if it is enough for the game. Jin-woo levels up (it takes all night) and gets to the hostel tired and frustrated.
He ends up yelling at the owner.
JW – Why are I angry at you? Because you are the owner of this F’ing house! I am a business man, I hate non professionals like you. You are lazy and relaxed. You should offer something, anything if you rent this place out. But what do you offer? Just one ramen? I have to use the plunger every time I use the bathroom and the window does not open and why are the stairs so high? there are no buildings without elevators, why don’t you have an electric outlet? I have to come all the way downstairs!
HJ- I told you to go somewhere else.
JW – Listen to me, I was talking on a trillion won project, the charger does not work and the fire alarm went off when there is no fire. What if I don’t get the deal? It is all your fault.
HJ – How is it my……I am sorry but you went too far. You also don’t have manners.
JW – This is funny how the hostel with no manners looks for manners from the customers.
He walks out and starts to talk to A again. A continues and tells him that the creator is underage and needs the guardian to sign for him. The sister is the owner. Her name is Jung Hee-joo, she runs a hostel in Granada called Bonita. I will text you the address. If you are there then go to that hostel first. That will be quicker.
He looks at Hee-joo trying to not cry.
A – I checked his mail with his sister, but she does not know anything.
Hee-joo looks at Jin-woo like he is the devil.
JW – Is that so…
He tells him that he will call him again. The random guest comes out and sees that his food is burned. He tells ajusshi that he told him to look at the ramen. Jin-woo turns on his nice face and says, oh, what happened here? Was I the one that did this? Am I the one that made a temper tantrum because of the noise? Are you the one that is cry because of me? Ah, I should nto have done this. If I did that then I am not a human being . I actually have short term memory loss.
He looks around to see if anyone bought that lie, Ther didn’t.
JW – Well, that was a joke.
He leaves. The guest is all like, what did that guy just say?
JW goes outside and talks about his problems to himself
JW – If this is his house then he should have told me to meet at his house.
He looks back and sees that the hostel name is Bonita and then sighs.
WORLD I.T. CONFERENCE IN BARCELONA
(flashback?) There are over a hunderd countries and many more companies at this conference, it is huge. The Korean company Jone’s smart contact lens was the biggest product and had the most attention. It has the highest resolution and feels like it is not there. It is evaluated as the best device for AR.
Cut to another place. It looks like this is SJ’s hideout? SJ is watching TV and checking the conference out. He has character designs all over this room as well as food everywhere and his computers all over the place. It looks like a teanagers room but with techy things and drawings everywhere and like it has never been cleaned ever.
VO – His name is Jung Sae-joo , he just grduated high school. His birthday is 2 months away.
SJ heads out from his room at the hostel. His mother asks if he is leaving now? She tells him to have a good time with his friends and call them often. SJ takes off. Grandmother wonders why SJ never talks.
VO – He is the second among 3 siblings and has a grandmother.
JH tells her brother to be careful and to send a text every once in a while. Okay? But he just leaves.
VO – He left home to see his friends in Barcelona, but is not coming back yet.
JW – How long has he been gone?
VO – A week
JW – The family does not worry about him?
VO – Well, he is a guy and according to his email it seems like the family has just given up on him.
JW is outside sitting at a cafe and sees the sister. he asks what kind of person the sister is.
A – I don’t know the details, but after the parents died the she took over the hostel.
JW tells her sibling to hurry and go to school and serves all the food.
A – She is a busy person.
JW is also a tour guide and shows people around.
A – she is a tour guide and she translates.
She also shows a guitar to a maestro.
A – And she works at a handmade guitar studio.
JW – So many jobs.
A – Well, maybe they don’t have enough money, she is the only one that can make money in the house because she only has halmoni and two underaged kids.
JW – Is Hyung-seok contacted the family members yet?
A – He does not even know that Sejoo is underage.
JW – Yeah, he did not even tell me becuase if we knew that we would not take him seriously. Do you know anything else?
A – I will contact you when I get more information.
JW – Okay, I will see what is going on inside.
JW goes back to the front of the hostel (he was sitting outside) and peeps inside. Hee-joo is cooking with her halmoni. He tries to think of what to say and then heads in. he tells them all good morning with a bright smile, they say good morning but Hee-joo just gives him the side eye and ignores him.
Halmoni asks who he is so Jin-woo introduces himslef as the 6thfloor guy. She tells him to sit. He asks the menu. Grandmother tells him that there is no menu, you just eat what we cook. JW is all like, yeah, good, that is so nice, I have a hard time choosing things, hahahaha.
Hee-joo gives him clam miyukgu. Halmoni says it is her grandmothers specialty. JW tries to smile at Hee-joo, but she is not having it.
The other two people at the table think that JW looks familiar and wonder if they have seen him before. He says he does not think so, but he tries to say it in as nice a way as possible. He is definitely on his P’s and Q’s with everyone.
The Grndmother tells Hee-joo to sit and eat. JW pulls out the chair and tells him to sit here, it is empty. Hee-joo just rolls her eyes and sits next to her grandmother. The other guests ask how Barcelona was, maybe they can take the train. They all start to talk about there trip but then the family starts to talk about Sejoo. However they sit on the other side of the table so JW tries to lean way in over the food to listen.
HJ says that SJ’s train is supposed to arrive at 8am. JW looks at the clock and sees that it is almost eight so he tells them that he has to leave. He leaves 3 coins (6 Euros?) andheads out quickly. Hee-joo is still annoyed and looks at the money as if she doe snot want to take it.
JW starts to walk up the street and runs into the waiter from the restaurant, he tells him he can use the restroom again tonight. But Jin-woo says he does not have to because he is not that level anymore.
He continues walking and runs into his secretary who is straight from the airport and is driving a car. JW tells the secretary to go to the hostel and unpack everything and then order a bouquet to the owner of the hostel. The secretary thinks he understands why he came here now. You are going through your divorce, you are not divorced yet, you can pause your women relationships now. You should not do anything that is bad for your trial, okay? there are a lot of Koreans here.
JW – She can be an important part of our business. I need to use the handsome man tactic.
JH- I can do it then.
JW – Are you better?
They both laugh.
JW – Think about it, who do you think works better, you or me?
JH – Think about it, you are a legally married man now. I am single and I am younger than you. My mother said I am the flower boy of Sunggae.
JW – Hey, throughtout history, regardless of race, someone like you will never ever bea handsome man in the history of humanity. Tell your mother that she can not deny history.
JH – That is why you have a lot of enemies.
The secretary gets his luggage out of the car but JH wonders about it, why is it so big? He chuckles and then drives off. The secretary wonders why he is chuckling, But then we cut directly to the steps that he has to walk up at Bonita hostel.
He asks the woman cleaning where the elevator is. She is all like, there is no elevator. What?? No elevator?? He looks at his luggage again.
Jin-woo talks to his office and tells them that SJ used a public telephone and called him right before he took the train. But his cell phone is broken so that is why I cannot contact him anymore.
Sun-ho thinks that is good, he thought he went back to CEO Cha. This is good.
JW says that he is driving to the train station to talk to him, he does not want to talk to him in the hostel, his sister hates me.
SH – why does she hate you? You did not even spend enough time with er.
JW – Well, I gave her some good advice that will help her life. But she was crying and mad.
SH – Advie? You just said everything in front of her face and stuff! Augh, you did that! You are that great (sarcastically).
YJ – Didn’t he level up for 2 today?
SH – It is not the time to level up!
JW – Was I that cool?
JY – No, it was fun to watch you get beaten, It gave me catharsis.
JW – DOn’t look down on me, I am level two now.
Yj – You have to find your new sword
JW – Wait, I will take care of Jung Sae-joo first. i want to hear why he did not take the 10 million dollar deal from Hyung-seok.
On the train, Sejoo wakes up. The overhead says that the next stop is Ganada station. Sejoo tells the other passenger that they are almost in Granada. The passenger nods. But then the storm starts to come, it starts to rain. Sejoo looks scared, his heart starts to pound and he starts to breath hard as he looks around.
TRAIN STATION
Jin-woo drives to the train station and stops right in front of it. He gets out and goes inside, it is morning so there are plenty of other people around. He takes a look at the train schedule and takes a breath. Then we see a train pull up outside. Several people get off.
Jin-woo is waiting inside. He looks at all the people get off. Then he sees someone that looks Korean so he gives that person a closer look. But it does not look like it is the guy he is looking for, so he still waites. But it looks like everyone has already come off of the train. he asks one of the guards if there are any other exits then he goes to the train to see if anyone is still getting off.
The forign passenger passes him as he keeps walking. But the person he is looking for is nowhere to be seen.
he calls his person and says that the guy did not show up. He does not feel good about this, in fact, he feel svery very bad about it.
HOSTEL
The secretary has made it to Bonita hostel. He looks so uncomfortable but he politely and pleasantly introduces himself to Hee-joo as he looks around the attic room. Hee-joo tells him that Jin-woo has his last day to stay today, he is checking out, he knows why. She gives him the money back.
Jin-woo calls and tells the secretary that the guy was not at the train station. The secretary is pretty confused with what is going on and tells JW that Hee Joo gave him teh money back. The secretary ives the phone to Hee-joo for JW to talk to her.
Jin-woo and Hee-joo end up arguing politely. Jin-woo basically tells her that he is sorry for what happened.
Hee-joo lays it all into him, she tells him that his specialty is talking, he has no manners, she is not that kind of bad person, I told you to go somewhere else! The 6th floor is dirty! I did not clean it! Just go somewhere else! But you said okay! Why are you making me into a conman! I am not lazy! I am at least a person that works harder than anyone ele! How can you just talk about my life! You don’t know anything! Just take this money! You don’t need this money! You have all the fake things and talk about scratches on your luggage and 100 trillion won projects! That makes you even poorer! It seems like you have age, but that makes you more childish!
The secretary is all like, damn.
Jin-woo is still smiling and says that he did not know she was this goood at talking and she is happy that it is shocking to him. She tells him that she is good at talking and check out is at 11 and then gives the phone back to the secretary.
The secretary tell him that his handsome plan to seduce her will not work. JW tells he secretary to go downstairs and find the younger sister, she seemed cooler. The secretary does and finds Min-joo. Then he tells Jin-woo what happened. Her oppa did not contact them yet, but he will come back today or tomorrow.
Jin-woo is surprised that no one cares about the son. Why are they interested in him less than me. The secretary says that happens all teh time. He comes back or does not come back and sometimes does not contact them. Do you want me to leave? JW says no, he will be right back.
But then Lee Soo-kyung shows up and tells someon hello, how come I see you here? This turns Jin-woo’s head, then he sees Lee Soo-jin in the background. The world stops as he looks at her.
Jin-woo talks to Lee Soo-Kyung and then Lee Soo-jin comes up, she is pregnant. This is his ex. He says that he did not know that seh was pregnant, when is the baby due? She tells him and it is a bit awkward. He tells her congratulations but it does not look like he is that happy for her. the sister tells him that she told him not to take the train and to take a plane, but SOo-jin wanted to take a train.
This trip is unplanned, we wanted to stay in barcelona but we decided to come to Granada. It looks like she is talking about Cha Hyung-seok? Maybe she left Jin-woo and went to Cha. JW tells her that the first divorce was difficult but the second divorce was easy. Ar eyou tired of married life?
The ladies end up wrapping up this conversation and heading out. Jin-woo takes a deep breath when they leave as if he was putting on a front in front of them.
Inside, the women say that they are so surprised to see him after all these years.
Outside, Jin-woo puts in the contact lens and logs in.
In the office, the office team notices that he is logged in, why is he playing the game now? He didn’t even find Jung Sejoo yet, what is going on?
Jin-woo pulls out his sword and looks around. He is level two now. The screen tells him that he needs to get the new weapon with the key of the warrior and look around the time There is a new user.
Office – New uses? Someone else is connected to the server? Who?
Jin woo takes off walking and puts his sword back in his backpack. Then he hops into his car to follow the new user. The map updates to show everything he needs to do to get to the new user. He is 5.5 Kilometers from there.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
JW drives to the destination as the map shows him exactly how to get there. The office team think this should be Jung Sejoo, maybe he is in Grandada testing everything out. you know, finding new ideas and checking everything out.
Jin-woo starts to get closer. His navigation updates with how far away he is as he continues to drive closer and closer to the destination. He finallygets to the location, it lookslike a tiny village. There is midevil dead body there. An Aragon soldier.
the office team geeks out about it. Wow, this is so surprising, what is going on?
Jin-woo keeps driving and sees more dead soldiers. They look like there were in a battle. He stops the car at the mission church and then hears fighting. Sword fighting. there are four people fighting in the distance. It looks like CEO Cha Hyung-seok is one of the people fighting?
Jin-woo walks over to them, he takes his sword out. HS is level 4 and is able to take out those three soldiers. These soldiers are the ones you send before you send the big army. HS breathes hard as he looks around. Then he turns around and sees JW.
VO – This ass*** used to be my friend. We opened our company together, but now we are not friends.
they start to talk to each other. HS says he thought he was the only one that new about it. JW tells him that there are no secrets in this field. HS chuckles and says not to step into this project, it is a done deal. But JW tells him that someone called him, he knows this is not a done deal. i will tell you what will happen. Even if you are lucky and get the deal, you still need to work with us because the lens is ours. But you will not be able to use this smart lens forever because I will oppose it. So even if you spen a million dollars, it is all a waste of money. Just in case you are thinking that we wil work together…..
you do not own your company…..
But if I want, I can block it.
The CEO does not think about the companies profit?
There are more important things that profit, you know that. You are the exception in my life until you die. SO stop thinking abou all that unneccessary hope. Just go and take care of your wife, she is pregnant. You are letting her take the train by herself?
VO – I fought him six times in my life. We are three and three. The worst defeat was when he took my wife.
On the screen it says they can be allies or enemies. What would you like?
HS says that he wants to be an enemy. If they are enemies then hey can always fight and increase their ability. HS says this is the first time he will fight against the user, it is nice to have this chance.
The office team thinks that HS’s sword is better, is he going to fight him? Is he mad right now? Will his temper come out?
The office team calls him so JW stops to talk to them. The office team tells him not to play, he will lose! You need to get items in games, if that sword makes a tiny scratch on you then you will die. It is a bad choice!
JW hangs up, HS asks him if he should go first? He starts to swing his sword at JW, but JW logs off and tells him that he has a different level then him, so they should not fight. He heads out. HS yells that they should fight, he will give him a break! But JW does not listen.
HS calls someone and asks them what happened, Yoo Jin-woo is in the game. You should ask me! Maybe that guy contacted Jinwoo also, find out how far their deal went.
In the car headed out, Jin-woo coives over that the goal of his life has chaged in the last 3 years. What he wants, I take it.
Flashbck to Sejoo talking to JW on the phone. As soon as he talked about HS, it was already decided, I had to take this game.
JW gets another call from A, this person brings up the patent.
VO – This is our 7th fight, this time I will win, whatever it takes.
HOSTEL
The secretary is still in the hostel waiting. Hee-joo is int he kitchen. Her friend Sang-beom talks to talk to her about that bad customer who is doing this only because the owner is a woman. What did you do? She tells him that she said everything that came out of her mouth, she was so angry and gave him back his money.(what did he say) he was just listening. (that is why you should do the same with those guys, dont be timid) surprisingly he was just smiling. (do the same next time, don’t cry like you do all the time).
the secretary knocks and comes intothe kitchen. he hands over his business card but she bows instead of taking it. He asks her to take it, please and then tells her that his company is #1 in thta field of investments. Sang-beom knows this but Hee-joo wants to know why he is telling them this. the secretary say that his CEo wanted to give it to her. She asks who his boss is. JH says it is the 6th floor guy, Yoo Jin-woo.
Sang-beom is all like, the real Yoo Jin-woo? That guy is Yoo Jin-woo????
Hee-joo does not knowo who this person is. Cut to the two friends going to a cafe to talk about this. Hee-joo thinks that she knew he was wearing all expensive brands! it is all halmoni’s fault. SB tells him to read the Korean news every now and again. they check the news and see that JW is getting another divorce. he is in the midde of his second divorce.
Hee-joo wants to know why he wants to meet with her, to sue her? This can be bad….ahguh. Then they see him driving up in a lexus.
He smiles at them
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Jin-woo smiles and waves at them and then walk up. The friend says that is does not seem as if he will sue her. JW gets to the table and puts out his hand to shake it with hers. So that they can get back on familiar terms. He apologizes for the morning and tells her not to be angry. It is something that she should be angry about. he did not keep his manners.
She tells him that she did not keep her manners also, she did not know he was a famous person so she told him a lot of nonsense.
he keeps holding her hand and tells her that his watch is not fake. She says it looks different close up.
They keep holding hands, he tells her to forget about the morning
lets forget about it
it is a bad memory for both of us,
lets take it as temporary memory loss.
Lets forget what happened this morning.
What happened this morning?
They both smile and sit. JW asks who the guy is, she tells him that he is her oppa guy. Sang-beom says he is there to help HJ. But JW says that is not about to happen. SB says he is like family, but JW tells him that he is not family yet. I never trust people who say “I am like” something. You already know me so you probably already saw that I married twice and failed twice. In my first marriage my best friend and my wife betrayed me. In my second marriage, I only lived with her for one year but she wants half of my money.
I am crazy about money, I think the divorce courts will take more than the marriage time. It sounds bad but that is the reality. I do not trust family life or friends whom are like my second body. Hee-joo, it is the same for you, do not trust it. I will tell you something that will change your life .When you situation changes, you relationships will change. I will talk to her privately.
SB says he will go to the studio.
JW and HJ sit to talk. She asks what he is there to tell her. JW says that it will sound like he is skipping steps so he is cutting to the chase. He is there to Granada because it will be famous for something else besides Alhambra Palace.
What?
For magic. Granada will be famous with the magic of the city. A lot of people will come. It will not be a short trip, it will be a long trip. A lot of people with money and time will come here, not Jeju island. those people will be crazy for fun and spend all their money. SO I am giving you a tip, you should put an elevator in your building. Don’t just fix a rat hole or a roof. Change everything from top to bottom. You can buy a hotel, sell the Hostel.
What?
This city will not have enough rooms. I am professional, you can trust me. You can have a butler and a manager and live your life happily. DOn’t you have anything with money?
Wait, how can I buy a hotel? I don’t even have enough money to fix the hostel.
You will have money soon.
Who will give it to me?
Who do you think?
They both look at each other for a moment.
VO – This is what happened the first day I came to Granada.
Cut to the train on the way out. JW looks pretty tired and messed up. He looks ragged. This is a one year flashback. JW is on the train and hears that the next stop is Granada station. He gets his bag and starts limping out of the train. He can barely walk and does not look like his tailored self at all.
He stops next to the bathroom and then sees a thunderstorm. the thunderstorm starts to overtake the train. A little boy goes into the bathroom so JW goes inside quickly. It looks the the outside is bright though?
In the bathroom JW has a gun, he pull sit out and then goes to the door. He opens it and we see shots. But the outside is bright and happy. The inside of the train looks gloomy. JW killed two people and then takes a deep breath.
He goes back inside the cart and starts shooting so many people. They are all terrorist looking people He shoots them all like he is Cho Young Fat. This is like the same action from A Better Tomorrow. Hyun Bin keeps shooting and firing at the terrorists, but he is taking a lot of shots.
But he has a bullet proof vest on. he crashes into one of the seats and the train goes through a tunnel. there is one assassin left.
VO – One year ago, the future I told Hee-joo. What is it like now? (of, so is this one year into the future?)
JW gets out of the chair and tries to shoot the last assassin, but he gets shot instead and falls to the floor. the assassin comes out and pulls his gun. It looks like they are wearing their contact lenses? They both pull their guns on each other.
VO – Half was right, half was completely wrong.
Fade Out
PREVIEW
JW – I did not mean to do it all in the begining, I changed my mind this morning. Wait i will give you an interesting proposal.
HJ – You want to buy our hostel?
JW – Yes. We have to buy it, the money does not matter. If you don’t like the deal, you can just leave now.
A – I did not find it with Jung Sae-joo’s name. I searched and found this.
HS – You met Jin-woo yesterday?
LSJ – How did you know?
HS – What did he say?
JW – We should fight, I am ready now.
VO – Jung Hee-joo, Jung Hee-joo.
JW – Do you play the classical guitar? You are good at it right? I told you this city will be a magical city.
I got really confused at the end of this episode (but not in a bad way)….was that scene in a game or real? If its real, what happened to him? Did he became poor or something? And that thunder and lightning again, made me wonder if they programer of the game is still alive they better not prolong my agony and have the answers next episode 😅
Thanks again V! 😊
Author
Same. I am confused about that ending but I think they want us to be confused right now. There are so many guesses, is it like The Matrix where you can send your mind into a game? Or is it like Tron where you literally get sucked into the game?
I’m pretty sure that it is only the game. There are parts, in between the shooting, where you can see that the other passengers are just sitting there like…normal passengers–which should be the tell between game and RL. But I do think that we are supposed to be be realizing that something sinister has hacked the game.
Gosh this is a good drama! During the first episode I had this realization near the end that I had not moved at all during the AR scenes. I hope that the whole drama sustains the quality and intrigue of the first weekend.
Author
Sometimes I had to remember if I was breathing.
I love what you said about someone hacking the game. I wonder if it is the brothers friend? I think he is also a programmer from the character descriptions.
I believe the end scene is the game. Every time the announcement comes on the intercom “Welcome to Granada” the game starts because it’s set there. That’s what happened in the beginning and end. Soooo excited, this show has my pulse racing.
Author
OMG, that is a great catch!
Thats right, TRON. what if his game evolved like Tron? 😯
Author
That would be insane.
So many possibilities 😁