MaryMeKpop

It’s here. We finally get to witness how things wrap up for our beautiful characters and their journeys. Things definitely weren’t easy and there were many challenges along the way, but there were also plenty of life lessons that our characters learned and will appreciate about life, family, love, relationships, and everything else in between. Despite all the rough losses, defeats, and moments, our characters are finally free and happy.

Note: Wow.. just wow. I can’t believe we’ve finally reached the ending to the wild roller coaster ride that is ‘Do You Like Brahms?’. I can’t say that I truly loved the entire drama the entire way through (because I didn’t), but I did enjoy and I do appreciate our amazing cast members who brought so much life into their characters. I also received lots of love and support with my recaps to this drama so I want to thank all of you who read my recaps and followed my blog. Whether a silent lurker or not, just know that I appreciate you all and I’m grateful for all the comments and views that I’ve gotten for my recaps for this drama. In the meantime, you can catch me in my recaps for other currently airing drama ‘Record of Youth‘ (it’s sad to think that I’m down to one drama to recap, but I’m potentially thinking of picking up another one to recap.. just gonna wait a little bit longer and choose wisely). Until then, please take care and stay safe out there, everyone!

Do You Like Brahms? Episode 16 & Final Recap: Crescendo, Gradually Louder

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Joon-young reveals his honest feelings to Song-Ah and wears his hearts on his sleeves. Playing the piano might not have made him happy, but Song-Ah did. Song-Ah has always made him happy and he wants another chance with her. Song-Ah is close to tears upon hearing Joon-young’s confession, but she also respects herself enough to set some boundaries. She’s hurt herself a lot in the process of being with Joon-young and balancing love and life and relationships. She’ll need some time to think everything over, but Joon-young is willing to wait. This time, he’ll wait for her. When Joon-young arrives home that night, he receives a visit from none other than Hyun-ho. He’s brought some of their favorite spicy tteokbokki with him, but that’s the last thing on their mind. Hyun-ho gives Joon-young an embracing hug upon entering the apartment. Aww.

Jung-kyung, Hyun-ho, and Joon-young put on a commemoration concert in honor of Director Na and perform together on stage for the concert. To Joon-young’s surprise, Song-Ah returns as his page turner and together, the trio collaborate on a beautiful performance. Team Leader Cha, Da-woon, and Yoo-jin watch back in the lobby and are also surprised to see Song-Ah on stage as Joon-young’s page turner. Team Leader Cha watches proudly. After the performance, Song-Ah and Joon-young stay behind to catch up with each other. Song-Ah apologizes for being late to the performance, but Joon-young doesn’t mind. He’s just happy and grateful that she showed up to assist him. Song-Ah also makes sure to return the sheet music that he used for the performance that has Jung-kyung’s name on it. Joon-young ensures that he’ll return it back to Jung-kyung. Speaking of Jung-kyung, she bids farewell with Hyun-ho, but has a hard time saying goodbye to him. She chases after him right as he waits at the elevator and is curious as to when he plans on returning to Korea. Hyun-ho himself isn’t too sure either, but he wishes for Jung-kyung to take care. He then enters the elevator and leaves, leaving Jung-kyung behind in tears. Oof, this scene was heartbreaking.

Song-Ah catches Jung-kyung alone at the Kyunghoo building and is reminded of the moment when she learned from Hae-na about the turmoil between Jung-kyung and Professor Song. The two ladies spend some time with each other and Jung-kyung admits that she hasn’t been the same since her mother’s passing. She feels as if she’s become less mature and more of a weak person, but Song-Ah reassures her that she’s not. Jung-kyung once told Song-Ah to be in control of the music that she plays which was an advice that Song-Ah took to heart. She reminds Jung-kyung of this statement which prompts Jung-kyung to think things over that night. She stares at the email that she submitted of her wanting to withdraw her application for the professor position at Seoryeong University. Song-Ah and Joon-young too do some reflecting that night.

Song-Ah and Joon-young meet up for some coffee in which Song-Ah delivers some good news. She’s been accepted to graduate school. However, Song-Ah doesn’t plan on enrolling since she’s changed her mind about pursuing music and playing the violin. Joon-young too has some good news for Song-Ah and he hands her a ticket to his graduation recital. She doesn’t have to attend if she doesn’t want to, but he would appreciate it if she was there. Thanks to Song-Ah, Joon-young’s learned just how precious playing his own music is and he’s decided to not enter the Tchaikovsky competition. The two casually stroll after their coffee date and things are awkward for a bit. Their hands slightly brush against each other and it’s as if the two want to hold hands, but neither Song-Ah or Joon-young act upon it. They continue to walk closely side by side.

Song-Ah heads over to the Kyunghoo office and first chats with Yoo-jin before meeting with Team Leader Cha. Yoo-jin advises that Song-Ah take her time in quitting the violin. She shouldn’t do it all at once and instead should reduce her playing time and break up with the violin as slowly as she can. Song-Ah gives Yoo-jin’s words some thought before transitioning to her meeting with Team Leader Cha. Team Leader Cha’s offered Song-Ah a part-time position at Kyunghoo, but Song-Ah isn’t so sure she’s fit for the position or will excel in it. She’s doubtful about her abilities, but Team Leader Cha utilizes the music term ‘crescendo’ to reassure Song-Ah’s second guessing. The term translates to gradually louder, but if you think of it in the opposite way, it means you’re at your smallest moment. Just like Director Na once told Team Leader Cha, Song-Ah might be at her smallest moment currently. However, this only means that this moment is when her crescendo will begin. Song-Ah can only go up from here. Song-Ah listens to Team Leader Cha’s words with thoughtfulness and gratitude. Team Leader Cha asks for Song-Ah to give the job offer another thought.

Jung-kyung prepares for her recital and she attempts to be as calm as possible with Professor Song in the audience. Song-Ah too is at the recital and she watches as Jung-kyung performs passionately on stage. The two catch up with each other backstage afterwards and Song-Ah reveals her gratitude for Jung-kyung. She’s learned many things from the violinist and it was thanks to Jung-kyung that she re-evaluated her love for the violin. Professor Song and Professor Lee too catch up with each other after the performance. Professor Song brings up Song-Ah and how smart and competent she was as Professor Lee’s assistant, but Professor Lee plays it off as if she was the one who fired Song-Ah. The rivalry between the two still goes on and strong. Joon-young prepares to text Song-Ah and he wants to ask her on how she’s doing, but he changes his mind at the last second and ends up not texting her at all.

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Mom and Song-Ah have some dinner together that night and they converse about Joon-young. Song-Ah breaks the news to Mom about her break-up with Joon-young which Mom is a bit surprised about. She was grateful for Joon-young after having watched him perform with Song-Ah for her graduate school entrance exam. Although Mom couldn’t do much for Song-Ah, it was reassuring to see Joon-young perform with Song-Ah and be there for her. Song-Ah agrees with Mom’s statement about Joon-young helping Song-Ah fulfill her dreams of pursuing music. He did provide her with so much comfort throughout her journey and pursuit in music. Song-Ah gives the CD that Joon-young signed for her another look and she decides on whether or not to attend Joon-young’s graduation recital.

The day finally arrives and Joon-young steps out onto the stage for his recital. His mom, Team Leader Cha, and Professor Yoo are among just some of the people in the audience, but Song-Ah isn’t there. Joon-young performs brilliantly and passionately and he’s off to a great start. During intermission, Song-Ah finally arrives at the building where the recital is taking place, but she can’t enter the venue since she’s late. She watches Joon-young perform from outside of the lobby and notices that pieces by Brahms is included as part of his recital. After performing his final piece and receiving a grand round of applause from the audience, Joon-young heads backstage to prepare himself for his encore performance. It’s then that Song-Ah sneaks into the venue to watch Joon-young perform. She can’t help but watch in awe and she compares Joon-young’s love for her to Schumann’s love for his wife Clara. On the night before their marriage, Schumann presented Clara with a collection of songs full of love and happiness. The person who has consoled Song-Ah with music and has spoken to her with music rather than words is the same person performing on stage to a wordless song: it’s none other than Joon-young. Song-Ah clutches at her heart as she watches Joon-young perform on stage and declare his love for her.

After the recital, Joon-young is greeted by Mom and Team Leader Cha backstage. They gift him with some flowers and congratulate him on his performance. Before leaving, Mom notes how she teared up in particular towards the end of Joon-young’s encore performance. He played with all his heart and it was so moving for Mom. With that, she leaves Joon-young alone in the dressing room and it’s then that he receives a reminder from the staff to exit the building soon. However, it takes him a while longer to leave when Song-Ah suddenly makes a visit in the dressing room. She came late for the recital, but it was more than enough to help her make her decision on Joon-young’s confession. Joon-young admits that he was able to choose the pieces for his recital thanks to the conversation they had about Brahms back when they saw each other back at the airport (OMGGGG, don’t remind me! I’m gonna cry). Thanks to Song-Ah, he wants to perform more pieces by Brahms. But it doesn’t end there. Song-Ah too has learned so many things from Joon-young and she’s been consoled by him many times as friends. However, she doesn’t want to merely just be friends anymore. She wants to be lovers. She declares the words ‘I love you’ to Joon-young and he repeats the same words back to her three times.

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With that, Joon-young leans in to give Song-Ah a kiss and it’s as if they’ve returned to the happier times again. Song-Ah realizes that there were so many more moments of consolation and happiness with Joon-young than there were painful and that’s why she chose to be with him in the end (wait, what happened to needing to leave the room?! Lol). The day to graduate arrives and Song-Ah and Joon-young reunite in the practice room that they often frequented at school. Joon-young gives Song-Ah a back hug upon entering the room. Hehe. Min-sung, Dong-yoon, and Song-Ah all spend some time together with their friends at the restaurant located right under Dong-yoon’s workshop. He announces his plans to move since the building will be torn down so it’ll be their last time gathering at the restaurant. They proceed to congratulating Song-Ah and Min-sung on graduating and Dong-yoon on moving. Cheers to new beginnings! Joon-young and Mom spend some time together at a restaurant. While waiting for their food, Joon-young relays his wishes for Mom to divorce Dad. It’s okay if they get a divorce. It’s not so much the pain that Dad has caused Joon-young that triggered the decision, but more so Mom’s happiness. Mom too deserves to be happy. She too should start living her life for herself.

After dinner, Min-sung and Dong-yoon stay behind outside of the restaurant for a bit to chat. Dong-yoon suggests for Min-sung to stop by with her cello before she leaves to the U.S. to continue her studies. He’ll check out her instrument and make sure it’s good before she travels. Mom of young violinist Ji-won requests for Jung-kyung to teach Ji-won the violin. She’s already pulled Ji-won from being Professor Song’s student so she wants Jung-kyung to teach Ji-won. Ji-won’s happiness comes first. Jung-kyung agrees to teach Ji-won the violin and even wishes to give her violin to Ji-won to play with. Song-Ah and Joon-young go on a dinner date at the tteokbokki shop in the neighborhood and Song-Ah makes sure to tease her boyfriend who’s not so good at tolerating spicy food. They’re too cute.

Song-Ah brings her violin over to Dong-yoon’s workshop not to get it fixed but to sell it instead. She feels as if she’s ready to stop playing the violin and to give her instrument over to a new owner who will love it and cherish it more than she does at the moment. Dong-yoon is confident that the violin was happy with Song-Ah as its owner and that the two had great moments together. While Dong-yoon steps outside to pick up a phone call, Song-Ah takes one last good look at her violin. She cries as she bids farewell with the instrument one final time and she holds it closely to her heart as she lets out some tears. This is goodbye for now. With the violin gone, Song-Ah occupies her time with Joon-young. They go on many more dates and many more walks and many more calls and Joon-young gifts Song-Ah with another album. This time, he autographs the CD and addresses Song-Ah not as violinist Song-Ah but as ‘my love, Song-Ah’ (Omg.. this is too much for me.. I love the new album!).

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Song-Ah continues with work at the Kyunghoo office as Joon-young’s liaison. She talks on the phone with Chris (Joon-young’s management CEO) about his travel plans and they work some details out. While packing Joon-young’s belongings before he hits the road, Joon-young surprises Song-Ah with a pair of rings (EEEEEK!). He puts her ring on her finger and she does the same to him. They mutter the words ‘ I love you’ to each other once again before going in for a kiss and some smiles. It’s a happy and great day for our two lovebirds (and for me too!). Hyun-ho and Jung-kyung reunite at last for a performance that they put on with Joon-young. They resume with their trio resembling the Schumann, Clara, and Brahms trio with the best part being that the event was planned by Song-Ah. After the show, Song-Ah catches up with Joon-young and the two hold hands and walk down the hallway. In a voice over, Song-Ah notes,

That day of my birthday, I don’t remember what my wish was. But at the time, I already knew. Because of this man, even if I get hurt over and over again, I will go on loving. That’s why I’ll go on dreaming. Even if I get hurt again, with all my heart, I will love again and walk straight ahead.

Song-Ah glances at the stage inside of the venue that once held her dreams as a violinist. With Joon-young standing right behind her, Song-Ah gathers the courage to walk out onto the stage by herself. She’s confident and she’s bold and most importantly of all, Song-Ah is free and happy. She will dream and dream. This isn’t the end for Song-Ah. This is just merely the beginning.

My Thoughts:

*sigh* It’s overrr. It’s finally overrrrr. I had to take a break from the recap so I could gather my thoughts and emotions as best as possible. Doing this commentary immediately after finishing the episode would be too much so I had to wait and take a small break (update: I ended up sleeping so now I’m finalizing this recap in the morning, lol). Now that I’m back.. I don’t even know where to start with this drama.

I guess we can start off by talking about the finale episode itself and how I felt about episode 16. I knew this final episode was going to feel rushed coming into it because of how poor the pacing had been. Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise that the drama quickly tied up loose ends and wrapped everything up. I do appreciate that we did get updates and progress on almost everything — from Joon-young’s parents to Ji-won’s career as a violinist under Jung-kyung to Jung-kyung and Hyun-ho to Dong-yoon and Min-sung’s relationship to (obviously) Song-Ah and Joon-young’s relationship and so much more. There were a few moments in this episode that hit me really hard and definitely made me sort of tear up and then there were other scenes that were a bit too much for me. Jung-kyung and Song-Ah weren’t completely enemies, but they weren’t on good terms either at one point because of Joon-young. To see them interact so kindly to each other and in such an encouraging manner did seem a bit off for me. The same goes for Hyun-ho and Joon-young’s friendship which was a friendship that I definitely rooted for and wanted to see more of. It was nice to see them be on good terms in this episode, but I wished we got to witness the two befriend each other again (kind of like how Song-Ah and Min-sung did!). Despite all of this, the few scenes that I found memorable and impactful definitely outweighed the rest of the moments in the episode that didn’t do anything for me so I want to think that this final episode wasn’t all that bad.

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The first scene in this episode that really hit me was when Song-Ah bid farewell with her violin. Park Eunbin is a phenomenal and amazing actress so her acting definitely made me feel for her, but it was also heartbreaking because of all that we witnessed in Song-Ah’s journey as a violinist. She bid farewell with the instrument that provided her with both so much joy and pain and even though she definitely was put to the test because of this instrument, it was also her violin. The violin held all of Song-Ah’s dreams and goals and passion at one point in her life and it was what she loved growing up. Song-Ah found happiness and love in her violin and to say bye to her violin not only meant she bid farewell to the bad and negative and hurtful memories but also to the delightful and wonderful and precious ones as well. I could totally feel the mixed emotions that she faced as she gave her violin over to Dong-yoon to sell and I definitely wanted to cry with her when she held her violin one last time in her arms and cried. We witnessed just how much she went through as a violinist so it was so bittersweet to see her let go of her violin. Joon-young and Song-Ah’s break-up might have been sad, but Song-Ah’s break-up with her violin definitely took the cake for me.

Onto Joon-young’s side, I definitely enjoyed the scene in this episode when he was on his dinner date with his mom and basically gave her his green light on getting a divorce. I think Mom only hung onto her marriage with Joon-young’s dad for so long because of Joon-young and she felt obligated to stay together because she was afraid of hurting Joon-young. It was clear from the beginning that Mom struggled in her marriage with Dad’s horrible and hurtful financial spending and she even stayed with Joon-young for a few days to take a break from Dad. It was just so impactful of a scene for Joon-young to let his mom know that he’s fine and that they don’t need Dad in order to survive and thrive. They will be just fine without him and they can let go of all the toxicity, pain, negativity, and stress that he’s brought into both of their lives. Joon-young was able to seek his version of happiness and he wants the same for Mom as well. Mom was there for Joon-young when she was able to, but if she couldn’t do all that she wanted to do for him as his mom, it because she was busy making a living back in their hometown. She didn’t have the time to be a mom to Joon-young because of his dad and other priorities or commitments. Therefore, the scene where Joon-young pitched forth the idea of Mom divorcing Dad stood out to me because it not only showcased Joon-young’s growth and maturity as a character, but also proved just how much he loved his Mom. Their relationship might not have been all rainbows and unicorns and sunshine, but Joon-young knew and could tell just how much his mom loved him and wanted to be there for him. Now it’s his turn to be there for his mom and to let her know that she can live a life for herself. It’s never too late like how it wasn’t for Joon-young.

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Despite all the adorable scenes between Joon-young and Song-Ah, I’ll admit that I did find this episode to be too fanservice-y to my liking. It also doesn’t help that the episode felt rushed to me in terms of piecing back together Joon-young and Song-Ah’s relationship. We started this episode with Joon-young doing the waiting for Song-Ah (which was definitely an interesting and nice twist considering that she was the one who waited for him for what felt like 1,000 years) so they weren’t even together in the beginning of the episode. Then we saw the two make up in the middle of the episode so the drama quickly rushed into giving us more Song-Ah and Joon-young scenes afterwards. In a way, I felt like episode 16 was more focused on quantity over quality. Yes, I do love all the scenes between our main couple, but I also appreciate it when there’s intent and purpose behind it.

That’s why I think I enjoyed the two scenes in the dressing room between Joon-young and Song-Ah because they were being honest with each other and declaring their love for each other after suffering through a confusing and challenging break-up. That’s why I enjoyed the scene when Song-Ah watched Joon-young perform on stage for his recital because although there were no interactions between the two, the drama went full circle and proved to us again how Joon-young has always used music to console Song-Ah. Just like he did on the night of Song-Ah’s birthday where he played the piano before giving her a hug, Joon-young played a piece at his recital that moved Song-Ah’s heart and proved to her just how much he missed her. Scenes like the couple ring or of our couple walking down the hallway in the building or even just the many cuts that the episode showed of the two going on dates and whatnot felt forced. It honestly didn’t really make any sense either in the grand scheme of things, but I just went along with it because I knew the drama was only feeding the audience with what we wanted to see. Again, I rather have less scenes of Song-Ah and Joon-young with much more impact and cohesiveness than more scenes that are shorter and less effective.

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Now that I think about it, the drama did a wonderful job of really building and highlighting Song-Ah and Joon-young’s relationship in the beginning that I think fizzled out by the middle half of the drama. I almost teared up when Joon-young mentioned the airport scene between him and Song-Ah in this episode because I so vividly remember that airport scene that he was referring to and just how good the two had it back then (LOL). I mean, no one knew that Song-Ah and Joon-young were going to go through so much miscommunication and hurt and jealousy in their relationship much later on down the line, but I mean, they both really had it so good at the start of the drama. From the airport scene to the scene outside of the restaurant for Kyunghoo’s first gathering where Song-Ah and Joon-young exchanged numbers to Joon-young attending Song-Ah’s birthday party which she at first didn’t even want to go to — I mean, there were so many beautiful moments that our main couple shared as they got to know each other (and there were definitely many more amazing moments afterwards).

I definitely enjoyed the phase of Song-Ah and Joon-young befriending each other and sort of developing feelings for each other better than the actual phase where the two were in a relationship with each other. It wasn’t as fun anymore when Song-Ah and Joon-young got together because things got too dramatic and messy and confusing and then narratively, things got redundant and repetitive and we were just going around in circles. I sort of wished the drama dedicated more time to awkward Song-Ah and Joon-young getting to know each other more than to the dramatic and frustrating couple Song-Ah and Joon-young. I mean, I clearly know which side of the couple I enjoyed more and it’s unfortunate that things didn’t last like that for long.

I know the drama tried to end the relationship between Jung-kyung and Joon-young a while back, but I did find it a bit odd (and frustrating) how their relationship just suddenly disappeared in this episode as if it was nonexistent in the first place. It’s especially odd considering that Jung-kyung and Joon-young’s relationship and connection with each other was the root and cause of evil issues in Joon-young and Song-Ah’s relationship. I didn’t expect the two to maintain that level of friendship that they had prior to all the mess and controversy and confusion, but I also didn’t like how the drama just completely got rid of it as if it wasn’t a thing. You’re going to pretty much center your drama around Joon-young’s complicated relationship with Jung-kyung that caused such a huge strain on our main couple’s relationship and then pretend as if it wasn’t a thing in the final episode? It’s basically the drama’s way of telling me that I suffered for 15 episodes for basically.. pretty much.. nothing. I went through so much pain and frustration and annoyance because of Jung-kyung and Joon-young’s relationship and then the drama gave us no update on them in the final episode. Then what was all that we saw of them in the 15 episodes prior for and why did we go through all of that torture and suffering then?!

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My frustration with the drama stems primarily with how sudden and quick of a turn things changed for our characters. I’m genuinely confused at how the drama went from having a great and lovely first half of the drama to suddenly declining to what was a dreadful and awful second half. Where did we go wrong with this drama? You got awkward Song-Ah and Joon-young getting to know each other and the drama being so subtle but detailed and wonderful in feeding us adorable scenes between the two to suddenly throwing Jung-kyung into the mix and making her play a much bigger role than she should have. It’s as if the drama switched writers or something because the contrast between the first half of the drama compared to the second half changed drastically and I don’t even know how or why such a thing happened. It seemed as if the drama was doing just fine at first and then it sort of went downhill and I didn’t want to acknowledge it at first. I held onto the hope that maybe things would get better, but it clearly didn’t show any signs of improvement when we kept on seeing the same things over and over again. Professor Lee, Professor Song, and Professor Yoo’s characters weren’t that great (or useful really). Joon-young and his parent’s financial situation was definitely something brought up quite a few times over the drama and Jung-kyung utilizing that as a way to manipulate Joon-young into maintaining contact with her was definitely not cool.

And then of course, my biggest concern and issue was Jung-kyung’s involvement in Song-Ah and Joon-young’s relationship. I cannot emphasize just how frustrating and irritating it was watching Song-Ah and Joon-young not be honest with each other about Jung-kyung and how much she was interrupting their relationship. I get that Joon-young somewhat still had ties to her that he couldn’t cut off right away, but he shouldn’t have interacted with Jung-kyung the way that he did considering that he was in a relationship with Song-Ah. I know some people will caution Song-Ah for being insecure and jealous and having low self-esteem, but I don’t blame her. I don’t think there’d be any issues in the first place if Joon-young just didn’t do what he said he wouldn’t do. There wouldn’t be these issues in the first place if he put in some work to earn Song-Ah’s trust so that she wouldn’t feel so insecure in her relationship with him. Instead, he continued to do things and say things and make excuses that only made Song-Ah feel worse. He says one thing (or nothing) and then does something else and there’s just no consistency at all. It’s a good thing that the two took a break from each other to think things over and to focus on their own lives, but I feel as if the problems in their relationship could have easily just been avoided if they learned to communicate with each other.

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And to be quite honest, did Song-Ah and Joon-young learn to communicate with each other after making up? I’m not quite sure because we didn’t see much of how their relationship changed after getting back together. Jung-kyung definitely played a huge role in causing that rift between our couple, but there were also underlying issues underneath all of that that our couple needed to address and work on. Did Song-Ah and Joon-young learn to communicate with each other with Jung-kyung out of the picture or have they simply returned back to being the couple they were with Jung-kyung out of the picture? There’s some unknowns that we’ll never have the answer for because the drama chose to do other things instead and it’s unfortunate that we won’t get to see the growth of our couple and how they’ve changed after their first break-up.

Other than the issue of Jung-kyung’s involvement in Song-Ah and Joon-young’s relationship, my other biggest irk about this drama was the pacing of it all. Here’s the thing: the drama had all the pieces to make it an even greater drama but didn’t have the pieces in order. Instead, the drama got confused and quickly threw the pieces together in a random order and threw stuff at us without really making any sense. The content of the episodes wasn’t what I was so frustrated about, but rather the sequence that they were shown in. Why did we spend so long going back and forth on Joon-young and Jung-kyung’s relationship? Why did we watch so many scenes of Song-Ah putting up with Professor Lee’s crap? Why did we watch so many scenes of Song-Ah being heartbroken and suffocated with Joon-young’s inability to cut off Jung-kyung from his life? This drama was supposed to be about the lives and journeys of our leads and their pursuit after music and while the drama did focus on this to an extent, I’d like to argue that this was neglected at times for other stuff instead. Even after watching the entire drama, episode 13 still stands out to me because of how frustrating of an episode it was. Again, the episode itself wasn’t bad, but the writer threw everything into that one episode when it should have instead been sprinkled in little bits into the episodes prior. You can’t just give us one episode with tons of updates and progress and details and then call it a day.

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It’s such a shame that the drama fizzled out by the second half because it truly was such a joy to watch in the beginning. I still stand by what I say when I say that this drama was probably one of the best at developing our main couple’s relationship. We literally saw how Song-Ah and Joon-young became friends and got to know each other better and eventually became lovers. We were there every single step of the way and that’s what I loved. We got to see them be awkward at first and then eventually get closer and become more comfortable as time passed. I really did love watching the two on the path to becoming lovers. I’m thinking back to the first half of this drama and even the scene where Song-Ah reunites with Joon-young at the restaurant and asks if she can join him and they sit together and just talk all night that night makes my heart flutter. Or the scene where Joon-young hands Song-Ah his album and addresses her as ‘violinist Song-Ah’ on the album or when Joon-young attended Song-Ah’s birthday party and she mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to him.. I mean, there were so many moments between our couple in the first half of this drama that definitely made me so giddy and happy. Then we got into all the relationship stuff and things just sort of went downhill from there and began to drag. The second half wasn’t terrible to the point where I couldn’t recap the drama anymore, but it’s such a shame when you think about it because the first half was so good and had so much potential to grow into something even bigger and better. There was such a huge disconnect between the first half and second half of the drama and I know we can’t go back to change things now, but it’s saddening to just think about the potential that was there.

I think the drama is trying to tell me something because as I was typing out my commentary for this episode, Schumann’s ‘Träumerei’ suddenly started playing in the music playlist that I’m currently listening to (which is insane given that this is just a random playlist that I found on Spotify, lol). This drama could have been perfect for me and even if it wasn’t, there were still great things about this drama that is rare to come by in K-dramaland. Even through it all, the directing was beautiful in the way that it managed to captured little details and moments. I also loved our cast. Park Eunbin is always great in whatever she’s in and her chemistry with Kim Minjae (both on and off screen) was also another highlight in this drama for me. I’ve voiced my love and support for Kim Sung-cheol prior to the drama since I really enjoyed watching him in ‘To. Jenny.‘ It’s such a shame that his acting and his character went to waste in this drama because he’s so good and yet, he was underutilized.

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I also appreciated the little life lessons that the drama showed us through our characters and I liked that Song-Ah and Joon-young were finally able to feel free and happy by the end of the drama. Although a part of me still wished that we would have gotten to see violinist Song-Ah (or at least get to witness her break up with her violin at a more intimate and detailed level.. like how could the drama make Song-Ah quit playing the violin, but then show her get accepted into graduate school.. like ??? That’s not fair nor does it really make any sense..), I also understand the drama’s decision to have her go the other route. That doesn’t mean that she can’t start over and as we saw in this episode, things weren’t over for Song-Ah. She was able to still come out on top and work with her boyfriend (tell me that isn’t the best job ever?!). She can still work in jobs and positions centered around music and musicians and maybe that’s enough for her. She can walk out onto stages where musicians perform — something she wasn’t able to do in the past or struggled to do during her early years of playing the violin. Song-Ah might not play the violin anymore, but she’s still found her version of being happy and free and that’s all she wants. Maybe that’s all there is to life and life is as simple as that. Through each other, Song-Ah and Joon-young were able to be consoled. Through each other, Song-Ah and Joon-young were able to be free and happy. Through each other, Song-Ah and Joon-young were able to be freed from being the Brahms in their respective lives. I think it’s safe to say that while they do both like Brahms, they love each other even more.

Extra screenshots from the episode~

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