Never Forget Your Enemy – Series Review

Hanuel is a 29-year-old language teacher. He's dating his childhood best friend, Saebyeok. Back in high school, Saebyeok already had a crush on Hanuel, but he was too scared to confess. Instead, he sabotaged Hanuel's relationships. Whenever Hanuel got a girlfriend, Saebyeok would swoop in and ask her out too. From Hanuel's perspective, his best friend kept stealing his girlfriends. From Saebyeok's perspective, he was just jealous and didn't want anyone near his crush.

Eventually, Saebyeok confessed his feelings. Hanuel felt the same way. It's official! Their childhood friendship turned into a long-term relationship. Hanuel and Saebyeok have been dating for many years. They even live together. Saebyeok has become a famous actor with many fans. Since he's a celebrity, their relationship stays hidden from the public. Of course, the tabloids still gossip about his love life anyway. They keep making up stories and linking him to random female celebrities.

Hanuel's life didn't turn out the way he once imagined. When he was younger, he dreamed of becoming a professional tennis player. Sadly, he got into a car accident. The injury ended that promising career. After giving up on his tennis dreams, he now works as an instructor at his friend's language school. It's a decent job, but this wasn't the grand future he had pictured for himself.

One night, Hanuel gets into an accident. He's hit by a car and falls into a coma for a week. When he wakes up, he has lost ten years of his memory. In his mind, Hanuel is still a nineteen-year-old high school student. Everything after that is blank. The biggest shock comes when Saebyeok tells him they're boyfriends. Hanuel is like, excuse me? You mean the guy who stole my girlfriend is now my lover!?

After leaving the hospital, Hanuel tries to return to his normal routine. The doctor believes his memory may come back once he adjusts to everyday life again. Hanuel is shocked to discover that he lives with his so-called boyfriend. Saebyeok keeps reminding him that they're a couple, but Hanuel still sees him as a high school friend. He feels intimidated by their intimacy and ends up sleeping in a separate bedroom. Rather than returning to teach at the language school, Hanuel starts working as a barista at his sister's cafe. He meets Jeonghan, his flirty coworker who has a crush on him.

Meanwhile, Saebyeok is trying to deal with the heartbreak of being forgotten. Imagine spending years in love with someone, only for him to wake up and treat you like a suspicious stranger. Humbling! Still, Saebyeok tries to be patient. He wants to relive their memories and help Hanuel return to their life together. He even asks his agent to reduce his workload, despite being at the peak of his fame with multiple acting projects lined up. For Saebyeok, Hanuel's recovery matters more than his career.

Never Forget Your Enemy annoyed me almost immediately. The first episode was all over the place. One second, we're in a high school flashback. The next second, someone has amnesia. Then suddenly, the childhood best friend announces, "Surprise, we're lovers!" Why is the storytelling so choppy!? This series presents information awkwardly, making the plot feel more disjointed than it needs to be. The main character might have problems with his memories, but the viewers shouldn't be as confused as he is.

The romance also feels disjointed. Some relationship scenes take place in the present timeline, while others are random memories from flashbacks. Can we pick one timeline and stick with it? In a love story, I want momentum. I want to follow a romantic arc and understand how the couple's feelings develop. I wanna pinpoint the exact moment they fall in love. That's the best part! Never Forget Your Enemy doesn't give us this journey. I never get that rush of excitement watching Hanuel & Saebyeok. Most of the time, their relationship feels annoyingly vague. Are they yearning for each other? Are they having another argument? I dunno!

Thankfully, the steamy scenes compensate for the lacklustre romance. Ooh boy, these two actors bring their A-game during the passionate moments! Their kisses are so damn smooth. Hanuel's lips are honey, while Saebyeok's lips are caramel. Put them together, and they'll create the most delicious BL content ever. The car sex scene in Episode 5 is another highlight. These guys are squeezed into the backseat, making out and stripping off their clothes. The camera knows where it needs to be. Every shot is perfectly framed to capture the heat between them. Wow, that's HOT!

Outside of the physical intimacy, both leads are awful actors. I'm sorry about the harsh critique, but I have to say the quiet part out loud. Hanuel's actor (Hwang Jun Su) can't emote to save his life. His expressions are never convincing, yet the series keeps giving him angsty scenes anyway. He fails to impress nine times out of ten. His co-star (Lee Ja Woon) isn't any better. This man is so stiff when delivering his lines, as if he were detached from his words. "We're in love," Saebyeok says like he's reading a grocery list. Where are your emotions? Why do you look like a block of wood?

Most of the series feels really boring. After losing his memory, Hanuel's life is shockingly uneventful. Nothing exciting happens to him. He faces no major challenges. Each episode consists of dull conversations with random flashbacks here and there. There are some minor subplots, but they're never interesting. For example, Hanual plays tennis again after quitting in his youth. Sounds like a meaningful character arc, right? Nope. We don't see him struggle. We don't see him grow. The scenes are so utterly unremarkable that I can't remember what happens after the episode ends.

In Episode 7, we finally learn how Hanuel lost his memory. His backstory was interesting, but only for half an episode. Then, I got bored again. It's so disappointing when even the most action-packed episode can't hold my attention. The finale drowns in needless angst and terrible acting. After all that misery, the couple gets back together anyway in an anticlimactic ending. By then, I was over this boring series. Ironically, Never Forget Your Enemy has such a forgettable story. The smutty scenes are the only thing worth remembering, but they aren't enough to redeem this drama.