K-Drama Reaction: Do You Like Brahms?

Untold Secrets

No secrets can be kept forever. And Kang Min-seong (Bae Da-bin) found out about Chae Song-ah’s (Park Eun-bin) secret in the worst (and very Kdrama-ish) way. Song-ah admitted to Yoon Dong-yoon (Lee You-jin) that she did like him in the past but it’s not the case anymore. It was good news for Park Joon-young (Kim Min-jae) but not with his company at that time, Min-seong. For her, it was a betrayal of trust. I expected this kind of reaction from Min-seong. I actually thought she’ll have a more immature argument but she seems to have a valid reason to be angry. Min-seong has two reasons for being disappointed in Song-ah: (1) she didn’t trust her enough to tell her about her feelings for her ex-boyfriend and (2) why did she let herself fall for Dong-yoon with a full knowledge that Min-seong is head over heels for him. I can totally back-up the first reason but I’m quite neutral with her second reason. I doubt there’s one person on Earth that can totally control her feelings and obviously Song-ah is the kind of person who could be easily swayed by little show of kindness.

Han Hyun-ho (Kim Sung-cheol) uses the same argument after Joon-young came clean with his past feelings for Lee Jung-kyung (Park Ji-hyun). Hyun-ho sounded a bit more selfish than Min-seong. I thought he is handling their break-up nicely but he is spiraling down. If I were him, I would just focus my energy on improving myself and letting Jung-kyung see what she let go. But right now, he is bordering on toxicity and is probably proving to Jung-kyung that her decision is right.

Parallels

Last week, I ranted about Professor Yoo Tae-jin (Joo Suk-tae) and Professor Lee Soo-kyung (Baek Ji-won). This week though, I now see them in a new light. In a flashback, we’ve seen that Professor Yoo was hired by Kyunghoo Foundation to hone the young piano prodigy, Joon-young, because he seems to genuinely care about his talent. I think Joon-young appreciate that about him too. It’s just that joining a competition was really dreading for him and that he and Professor Yoo see competitions differently. Professor Yoo also harbors insecurity about his talent because unlike his student, he’s not a gifted performer. That’s why their relationship seems strained but it looks like they’ll work it out soon.

Professor Lee and Song-ah, meanwhile, seem to be going in the opposite direction. Right now, they seem to have a good teacher-student rapport but I expect Song-ah to actually realize she’s being exploited. Song-ah needs to realize other opportunities await her. But I wonder how that will happen? She’s still insecure about herself. And I think that internal conflict will be explored in the next episodes.

Old Habits

Aside from her talent, Song-ah’s confidence in her relationship with Joon-young seems to have a weak foundation. When Joon-young told her about his decision to play for Jung-kyung’s recital, Song-ah said it was okay. I think she didn’t really think about it and so when she finally watched the two perform together, previous doubts came rushing back in. Can she beat what Joon-young and Jung-kyung have? I really felt sorry for her while she watches the two from afar. Sure, Joon-young can reassure her but it really all boils down to Song-ah and her self-esteem.

Maknae’s Week 5 Verdict

We’re in the middle of the second arc of the story and it feels like they are setting up traps and cages for our main characters. I’m enjoying the current narration phase and I doubt they’ll change it drastically and go all out dramatic on the third arc. What I wanted to see more though is Joon-young and Song-ah dealing with their own internal fears and worries. Because I really think that’ll truly solve every other struggle they have.

Afterthoughts

-I like Jung-kyung’s choices of songs for her recital. But it is too much to hope to see Joon-young and Song-ah play a Debussy on stage?

-This is such a cute interaction