A Broken Chord
We begin episode 13 of Do You Like Brahms with Professor Lee dropping the bombshell reveal to Jung-Hee that Ji-Won has been tutored by Jung-Kyung. It turns out she still is, meeting secretly to hone her skills. This Soo-Kyung is a horrible person and her meddling causes massive problems for Jung-Kyung. She receives a call from Professor Song who’s absolutely furious. Panicked, Jung-Kyung decides to head up and see her – which is where the taxi moment from last episode comes into view. At her house, Professor Song and Jung-Kyung talk. She berates Jung-Kyung for stealing her pupil but admits it wasn’t anything malicious as she just wanted to help. “Ji-Won is not like you,” Jung-Hee bites back, as Jung-Kyung is left to feel overwhelming guilt. As she steps outside, Joon-Young convinces her to head home. There, they discuss what happened in New York. Specifically, Jung-Kyung apologises for kissing him and asks outright whether he has feelings for her or not. It’s a tough conversation, and one that Joon-Young eventually admits that he doesn’t. It turns out though Joon-Young’s father called her earlier in the day. He asked for money and she agreed to help him. Joon-Young is beside himself with anger though and collects up his stuff and leaves. When he does, Jung-Kyung and Director Na come to blows over the past. She reveals that Joon-Young was never happy playing the piano and leaves the woman to hang her head in guilt. Back home, Joon-Young confronts her Mother over the money. He finally opens up and admits that he’s not happy playing the piano as he starts sobbing. After Song-A spied both Joon-Young and Jung-Kyung in the car together, her greeting to Joon-Young is frosty – to say the least. She opens up and admits that it’s not right he was with Jung-Kyung and demands to know where he was. After the two talk about what happened, Joon-Young finally opens up and tells Song-A he’s not going to play with her anymore. At the university, Joon-Young speaks to Tae-Jin and tries to convince his teacher to play the way he wants to. Song-A meanwhile, puts on a brave face and attends a music lecture with Young-In. Afterwards, Soo-Kyung runs her mouth about how Song-A would make a great wife to a professional musician someday (honestly, this woman is just awful.) Out of all the people to stick up for her, Director Na says her piece and shuts the girl up. He takes Joon-Young aside and the two patch up their differences. As they say their peace – and she comes to terms with him not being with Jung-Kyung anymore – the Director hopes he’ll play Brahms for her one time. On the back of this, Joon-Young speaks to Song-A and admits he needs to give Jung-Kyung back her sheet music. This will be the last time he sees her though. Only, he’s not aware that Professor Song has completely disowned Jung-Kyung after what happened with Ji-Won. That evening, Joon-Young heads to the university to practice. While he does, Song-A goes out for food with Hyun-Ho. They discuss music and he admits that he’s happy Joon-Young is with someone like her. The next day, Song-A heads back into the university with renewed vigor. She quits the chamber orchestra and immediately messages Joon-Young, asking for help. He agrees to wait but while sitting with his drink, receives a damning message from Jung-Kyung. It turns out the Professor has taken his performance and passed it off as his own. Messaging Song-A, he tells her “something has come up” and heads over to his apartment to investigate further. Song-A follows though and spots Jung-Kyung outside. Song-A tells the girl her presence makes her uncomfortable and tells her to leave.
The Episode Review
The misunderstanding trope continues this week as Do You Like Brahms continues its final push toward the finale. I’ve said before that 16 episodes is too long for this drama and the story definitely feels like it’s dragging its heels a little. Also, why doesn’t Joon-Young just tell Song-A the truth about the stolen performance? Given she just saw Jung-Kyung has left his apartment it looks dodgy and all of this confusion could be resolved if the two actually talked. It’s a constant problem for this drama as the two leads have been reluctant to speak up about how they feel – which is annoying to say the least! The ending with Professor Yoo is intriguing though but Song-A’s journey between the will she/won’t she angle for playing the piano just doesn’t have the same excitement something like Record Of Youth manages to achieve, which is a shame. Still, perhaps this finale is just what this show needs to step it up a gear. We can hope!
