Fermata, Hold, pause
Episode 11 of Do You Like Brahms slows the pace slightly as we approach the third act of this Korean drama. Song-A meets Joon-Young outside after the rehearsal and she tries to smile through her insecurities. Song-A’s concerned that she’s losing confidence and doesn’t know if she can master the songs she’s been given or not. After some words of encouragement, Song-A gets back to her chamber music act. Only, Soo-Kyung wants her to press on and kick Hyun-Ho out by making the phone call. She thinks they should keep him on but Soo-Kyung is defiant. She mentions “like-minded people” and how Hyun-Ho isn’t part of that. At the same time, Hyun-Ho heads to the bar where a deflated Jung-Kyung happens to be. After letting her stay the night to get over her drunkenness, he receives the dreaded call from Song-A. He understands she’s caught in the middle though but it’s still a tough pill for Hyun-Ho to swallow. When she hangs up, Song-A continues to experience confidence issues after seeing Jung-Kyung’s performance. With the Tchaikovsky competition coming up, Joon-Young sizes up the competition. He starts practicing but the Professor is not impressed. He wonders how Joon-Young will take it if he’s beaten and sows more seeds of doubt in his mind. This doubt spills across to Song-A too as she receives a call from Park Sung-Jae with a big offer. This job however, would mean she needs to give up the violin. She’s been playing for under 10 years and because of that, she’s forced to listen to Park criticize her choices and bemoan that she started too late in life. Manager Park continues to meddle, phoning Joon-Young and trying to encourage him to go on a reality show. After his visit to Joon-Young’s Mother, he mentions Song-A and worries what he may have said to his girlfriend. He heads straight out to see Song-A, who doesn’t outright admit what Park told her but it’s enough for her to call it “good advice.” She believes it’s impossible to catch up with better violinists and time is not on her side. Back at the university, Song-A is tasked with heading out and picking up a brooch for Soo-Kyung in Daejeon. Only, this happens to be where Joon-Young is from. Joon-Young makes a decision and cancels his practice with Jung-Kyung to head out with her to his home town. There, he shows her all the spots from his childhood including a piano shop he practiced in during his childhood. Meanwhile, Jung-Kyung receives a visit from Ji-Won. As we’ve seen across this episode, the violinist sees a lot of herself in this girl. She was pushed to play the violin from a very young age too and it caused fractures in her parents’ relationship. On the back of this, she confronts Soo-Kyung over her dismissing Hyun-Ho. Her choice to use him as leverage backfires as Jung-Kyung refuses to play her game. Back in Daejeon, Song-A meets Joon-Young’s Mother and introduces her as his girlfriend. He’s uncomfortable though but Song-A is determined to make a good impression and agrees to go and eat at his Mother’s restaurant. After meeting his Mum, Joon-Young and Song-A go for tea where he finally opens up and admits what’s been going on with his debts and Father. Song-A also opens up and admits why she’s really in Daejeon. Their trip is a pleasant one after all and as the pair get back on the bus home, they sit hand in hand together and fall asleep to the rhythmic rocking of the bus.
The Episode Review
Compared to what we’ve seen before, Do You Like Brahms delivers a pretty average episode that doesn’t advance the plot too much. Song-A is definitely going through the motions but I hope she doesn’t give up the violin. She should continue to follow her dreams regardless of age and ignore the haters and doubters. Meanwhile Joon-Young I’d imagine will take part in this competition but finally open up and play as if he’s enjoying it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up losing the competition as a result but be okay with the result. Still, there’s lots to look forward to with this one and the door is left wide open for the rest of the season.
