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Thursday, September 3, 2020

"Do You Like Brahms?" drama:Episode's one and two recap....





 Air Dates: August 31st until October 20, 2020  Monday and Tuesdays at 10:00 pm on SBS
Ratings for these two episodes, 4.2 and 5.3%

Main Cast: The college referred to is Seoryeong University, a very prestigious music school though it does have many other programs.

Park Eun-Bin as Chae Song-Ah.... 'Chae' sounds quite a bit like the Korean word for sorry and she constantly has to tell others it's her real name. Song-Ah is 29 and graduated from the university at 22 with a business degree. However she hasn't had a steady job since then as her first love was playing the violin. After four attempts she was finally accepted in to the school's musical program, she's finished three years yet is still not a very accomplished player.

Kim Min-Jae as Park Joon-Young.... He's an award winning pianist and the same age as 
Song-Ah. He too graduated from Seoryeong University and for many years has been touring the world performing concerts. He's a very respected pianist yet has returned to the university for their graduate program but see no reason why.

Lee You-Jin as Yoon Dong-Yoon.... Friend of Song-Ah's and went out briefly with Min-Seong. We didn't see him in this first episode as he was in Italy where he was helping to build violins but has just returned as this show ended.

Bae Da-Bin as Kang Min-Seong.... Song-Ah's best friend who is going to the same college, she's getting her Masters in Chemistry.

Park Ji-Hyun as Lee Jung-Kyung.... Another character who didn't make an official appearance in this show but will in the next recap as she's returning to Korean from America.

Lee Ji-Won as Kim Ha-Nae....Also a violinist who is seven years younger than Song-Ah but both have just started at a Summer internship for the Kyunghoo Foundation.

Seo Jung-Yeon as Cha Young-In.... Manager of Song-Ah and Ha-Nae at the foundation.

 Whew, that's enough for now but will be adding on to it as time goes on as the above were the key players in these first two episodes. The first post of a drama recap is my hardest by far as it takes so long to write the above, after it's a snap as I can just copy and paste it into future recaps.

 Though Eun-Bin is my current top actress was a bit hesitant about viewing this drama which just began this week. As you can tell by the title it's about classical music, have nothing against it but don't much about the genre. But to my pleasant surprise these first two shows were just so enjoyable and it's nice to watch a down to earth series with likable and believable characters. However there's no way I can keep up with watching and recapping the shows on a weekly basis.
 So for today have the recaps for episodes one to four, next week may do them for shows five thought eight. But then will take a break until the series finishes as there's just too many other dramas and films I need to get to. But then again maybe I will attempt to keep up with the show, have done it on a few occasions but it's been a while. The main two characters are Song-Ah and Joon-Yeong who were in every scene though rarely together. Will concentrate on them for this first recap but you'll be hearing about the others in the cast during their segments.





 That's Song-Ah above, at 29 she's by far the oldest student in the prestigious Seoryeong University music program. She had gone to the college much earlier as she had graduated at the age of 22 with a business degree. However Song-Ah's first love is the violin and she never used her degree to get a regular office job. Song-Ah kept applying to reenter the school for their music program, on her fourth attempt she finally passed but by then she was 26 years old. She's just completed her third year and while a good violinist she's the second worst in the class. Starting her training so late has put her so far behind everyone else but seems no person practices harder though it hasn't helped enough.

 In that first screenshot there's a poster for the university's 60th anniversary, the school's orchestra will perform. Also in attendance will be the esteemed 29 year old pianist Joon-Young who graduated from the program many years prior and is famous around the world. The conductor was named Ahn and he felt there were too many violinists as they would drown out Joon-Young at the piano. So he asked Song-Ah and the girl next to her to leave and not play, they were told for they were ranked the two worst according to whatever system. The other girl left quietly but not Song-Ah who pleaded to stay as she's worked so hard yet that fell on deaf ears and in all honesty this Ahn was a complete jerk. Joon-Young thought so too as he dropped his music sheets on purpose to break the tension, at first the conductor relented about Song-Ah staying but then reversed that decision.

 Naturally Song-Ah was dejected to no end, her dream was to play with the orchestra but also her best friend Min-Seong would be in the audience, how could she explain her absence? Song-Ah didn't have to as the performance was sold out and her friend couldn't enter. But after the concert Min-Seong met up with her friend and gave Song-Ah a bouquet as a congratulations gift. Song-Ah kept her mouth shut about what had happened, observing the scene was Joon-Young who also kept mum on what really happened at the concert. He was impressed with Song-Ah's spunk and kind of felt for her, though such a famous pianist he seems like a decent chap. Joon-Young had gotten a ride home after with his agent(?) and he saw Song-Ah dashing home in the rain, he had wanted them to give her a lift but she ducked away before it could happen.






 That's Song-Ah's family above, though 29 she still lives in an apartment with them but it appears to be a very nice one. Song-Ah's father is supportive of her desire to be a violinist but not her mother who works in a law office. Also against Song-Ah's dream was her sister who is going to law school, though younger she looks down on her sister and it was their only scene in the two episodes. The middle screenshot shows her talking with another violinist named Hae-Ne who I think we should be seeing quite a bit of and she is very attractive. She was asking Song-Ah about her application to the 'Kyunghoo Cultural Foundation' Summer internship program, it was the last day to say yes or no to it. Song-Ah was a bit torn about whether to accept, it would mean less time to practice but she also realized at 29 in age she needs to get serious about working and finally accepted the unpaid position.

**** Needed a break so watched the next two shows. Both were also quite enjoyable and did learn much more about the characters so will update the cast list for the next recap.

 That foundation is currently run by an elderly woman named Na who seems to be a decent person though we didn't meet her until the next two shows. The foundation helps out struggling artists and musicians, they can send them to school if they come from a needy family. That was the case for Joon-Young as they gave him a scholarship to Seoryeong University. Song-Ah will be working on scheduling concerts, rehearsals and such other activities, she'll be the assistant to Im who is pregnant which I didn't know until the next episode. It is a good opportunity for Song-Ah as it doesn't seem she may have a future playing in an orchestra and her business degree should come in handy.

 As I mentioned in the beginning almost every scene featured either Song-Ah or Joon-Young so we didn't get to see too much of the other characters. That'll change in the next recap and it did help out immensely meeting them as all will play an important part in the storylines. One person who we met for about five seconds at the end was Dong-Yun and am skipping ahead with him. He's arriving back in Korea and Song-Ah went to the Incehon airport to greet her long time friend though the reunion doesn't take place until the beginning of the third episode. But briefly Dong-Yun has been in Italy and he too is a violinist though these days he's concentrating more on making and repairing them. He runs his own small company but seems to be the only employee. At one time Dong-Yun dated Min-Seong but the pair broke up, they have remained close friends though and she would love to reunite with him. However deep down Dong-Yun eyes are focused on Song-Ah and they have been for a while, as a matter of fact she was the only person he contacted about his return to Korea.





 Final segment and think I'll be able to keep these recaps at a reasonable length. Now that Song-Ah is doing an internship it's left her less time to practice her violin playing and practice is what she needs, then again is it? Ask that because she has practiced so often over the previous seven years but just can't get over that certain level. Song-Ah has arranged to spend her lunch hour in the foundation's rehearsal hall which doesn't get used too often during the day. But to Song-Ah's shock who should be in the hall one lunch break but Joon-Young. Though a master pianist he too needs to practice often to remain sharp, Song-Ah is still a bit embarrassed about what happened at the concert where she was told to leave in front of him so she quickly fled from the rehearsal hall.

 The pair meet up once again and it's for a 'welcome back' party for Joon-Young. He's going to be in the graduate program at the university but still can't understand why someone who is such a star would need to return to school? Joon-Young is a very quiet person and though he has so much screen time he didn't say all that much in these two shows but that'll be changing in the next recap. Every now and again he thinks of a woman his own age named Jung-Kyung who we only saw in a few brief flashbacks. But it appears Joon-Young has a crush on her and also the she may have the same feelings. There is a person standing in the way who is Joon-Young's best friend Hyun-Ho, he's a person who we also didn't meet until the very end and only for a few seconds.

 That was at the Incehon airport as Hyun-Ho was returning from America and Joon-Young went to meet his pal. That happened to be at the exact time Song-Ah was meeting her friend Dong-Yun returning from Italy, the pair stood side by side waiting for their comrades. Both are still a bit uncomfortable with each other, Song-Ah more so because of the concert but Joon-Young seems to have taken a slight interest in her as they've run into each other so often recently. As the second episode came to it's close Song-Ah tried to start a conversation with him, she asked Joon-Young 'Do You Like Brahms?' which is where the show's title came from. Joon-Young's response you can see below and with that this recap comes to it's conclusion.




 Sure there's some reasons for him not liking Brahms but that wasn't revealed in the next two shows. Often feel these recaps are a tad too long and to be honest they probably haven't been, seems that way at times for it can take a while to write them up. To me this post was close to perfection or for me it was. At three medium sized segments the length was what I've been aiming for plus was able to explain all of the major details. Sometimes I can explain too much and have been realizing not every little thing needs to be discussed and for the most part anything that may have been left out is always in the many screenshots I include for every recap.












































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