"Do You Like Brahms?" drama: Episode's 25 and 26 recap

 Air Dates: August 31st until October 20, 2020  Monday and Tuesdays at 10:00 pm on SBS

Ratings for these two episodes, 4.6 and 6.0%

Main Cast: The college referred to is Seoryeong University, a very prestigious music school though it does have many other programs. Haven't updated the bios in many posts so of course some things changed but discuss them in the recaps.

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 into 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-Yun.... 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 but has just returned in this show. He owns a violin shop though doesn't play much these days.

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.... She's just returned from America where she tried so hard to become a professor of music at some colleges but failed. She's a violinist whose mother died when she was fourteen, she had dated Hyun-Ho for ten years though she secretly wished to be with Joog-Young.

Kim Seong Cheol as Han Hyun-Ho.... He too has just returned from America and is a talented cello player. He's best friends with Joon-Young and has been dating Jung-Kyung but he's more serious about their relationship than she is.

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.

Choi Dae-Hoon as Park Sung-Jae.... Employee at the foundation. Until the 12th episode that is, he's now Joon-Young's Korean rep. for his American agency.

Ahn Sang-Ein as Jung Da-Woon..... Another foundation employee

Ye Soo-Young as Na Moon-Sook.... Director of the Kyunghoo Foundation and whose daughter died in 2005 who was the mother of Jung-Kyung.

Yoon Chan-Young as Seung Ji-Min.... Very talented younger popular pianist

Baek Ji-Won as Professor Lee.... Song-Ah's professor who is pushing her to enter the graduate program but is more interested in who she knows than Song-Ah's music.

Joo Suk-Tae as Yoo Tae-Jin.... Joon-Young's music teacher from the ages of 14 to 22. Their relationship was a bit rocky but the pair are now working together again.

  
  Have the last four recaps for this fine series today and hope you remember what's taken place up until now. Thanks for reading any of these posts and as I've said many times recaps/reviews aren't the most exciting of posts to read but I do often at other blogs, those are no more interesting than these. Finally an increase for the ratings, episode 26 was the first one to reach 6% which translates to about a million viewers. Let's get on with things and as mentioned have four recaps in a row which will finish this drama off, haven't viewed any of the shows after this one. By the time this gets published it'll be sixteen days since the last recap, if you're one of the few that have been following this drama here's the link to the last post to refresh your memory of what just took place: Recap for episodes 23 and 24

**** Just want to give a quick intro to these two half hour shows, as mentioned haven't viewed any past these. But for the next pair of shows the viewership dropped by 74,000 when usually it's the other way around when a drama is about to end. That drop could have been because these were two of the most depressing shows I've ever seen. No character died or has a terminal illness, nor did anyone become homeless or have some other tragedy in their life. But everyone was just so down in the dumps, they were too dour and depressing to have any sympathy for. Hope things change for the next pair of shows but if you think I'm being a bit too negative in this recap it's not me but the characters.

 That last recap ended up with Song-Ah standing outside a restaurant waiting for a bus home. She happened to see drive by in a taxi Joon-Young and Jung-Kyung, that's after he said he couldn't see Song-Ah that night for his mother was in town. That was true about his mother visiting him but the story actually began before that incident and it was a flashback mainly about Jung-Kyung. Will bring that flashback up though before we get into her will discuss Song-Ah briefly who was waiting outside the restaurant because she had just finished a dinner with her professor Lee's chamber orchestra. To Song-Ah's dismay Lee had told her she wasn't going to be a part of the orchestra and play at their huge year end show. Lee only wanted the best for their group and to her Song-Ah is far from being talented.... I'm really hating this Lee woman!

 Starting about the fifth episode Jung-Kyung had been going through the process of becoming a professor at Seoryeong University, also applying was her ex-boyfriend Hyun-Ho. Though he's had a major role in this series it's dwindled the past few episodes and we didn't see him until the 38 minute mark. Bring that professorship opening up as it hadn't been mentioned too often in recent shows and and it appears Jung-Kyung may not obtain that position which she really craves. She had been tutoring a young teen girl named Ji-Won whose main teacher was named Song, she's a professor retiring soon and it's her position that needs to be filled.

 Jung-Kyung did a major no-no which is that she helped out Ji-Won behind Song's back. She mainly did it because she felt sorry for the girl who was under so much pressure from her mother and Song, as a teen Jung-Kyung had to deal with the same issues. But even so Jung-Kyung shouldn't have been tutoring the girl in private, when Song learned of that she was ready to withdraw her support for the professorship position. When Song-Ah saw the pair in a taxi it was an innocent moment as Jung-Kyung was heading to Song's place to plead her case, Joon-Young had been rehearsing with her when the call came and felt he should be there to help out though he wasn't needed. So at Song's place she told

Jung-Kyung she was withdrawing her support for her application to be a professor, without it the odds are slim she'll get it. But will add in one thing that took place near the end which is that the witch Lee knew of what Song did, she's on the hiring committee and to spite Song said she would do everything in her power to get Jung-Kyung hired!

 After that short meeting with Song Jung-Kyung along with Joon-Young headed back to her residence and will it be the last time they see each other? According to Joon-Young it will be as he's just learned that once again Jung-Kyung has sent money to his father to bail him out, Joon-Young was more furious than he ever has been but he's not the type to rant and rave. During their heated discussion many old feelings came out and quite a few were of why Jung-Kyung and her grandmother Na had been helping his family. Seems they've been trying to 'buy' Joon-Young through the years and get him to the point of being so in debt to them but not money wise. As Na told Joon-Young later on in the show the pair did have a dream that one day the two would have got hitched and Na was hoping her 'son in-law' would become the new director of the Kyunghoo Foundation when Na retired.

 That will never happen now and at least Na was sincere with her apology, Joon-Young still respects the woman but not her granddaughter Jung-Kyung. Joon-Young told her he won't be playing the piano at the recital she needs to pass for the professor's position, not a happy first twenty or so minutes. As you can see above even Song-Ah and Joon-Young's relationship is hitting a rocky patch, she confessed to seeing him with Jung-Kyung the previous night. Joon-Young explained that it was for a good reason which it was in a way but that still didn't satisfy Song-Ah, she was a bit more pleased when he announced he wouldn't play at Jung-Kyung's recital. Of all people to count on for a rosy outlook it was Song-Ah for the first 24 shows but not in these two.

 She may be the most down of any of the major characters. especially after Lee told Song-Ah she wouldn't be playing in her chamber orchestra. Was wondering during the last twenty minutes if her heart is still set on attending graduate school, didn't see Song-Ah practice her violin once nor has she rehearsed once with Joon-Young who will be her pianist at the graduate school test recital. A life of music doesn't seem to be in Song-Ah's future, it's something she began contemplating along with her relationship with Joon-Young. It wasn't too surprising but towards the end Song-Ah did march into Lee's office with all intentions of quitting being her 'assistant', maybe a assistant but Song-Ah does all of her professor's work regarding the orchestra. In a nice scene Song-Ah didn't chicken out and thought she would, she announced to Lee she would longer be working with her which did shock Lee and she she have left much earlier.

 Right above is a pair we've seen less and less with each episode. The two had about a three minute scene together and that was the only time we saw one of them. On the left is Dong-Yun who has been friends with Song-Ah for over ten years but these days they're a bit estranged, he didn't mention what he's been up to but his main profession is repairing and restoring instruments as you can see on his wall. On the right is Hyun-Ho and what a major character he was and perhaps will be again. He was 

Jung-Kyung's boyfriend for many years plus had been Joon-Young's best friend since they were fourteen, he's broken of ties with both and have no clue how his professorship application is going. To me Hyun-Ho's character is one of the more likable ones so it's a shame we haven't been seeing more of him. After that above scene he did bump into Song-Ah and the pair went out for a quick meal. However nothing important was discussed, bit surprised Hyun-Ho didn't ask how Joon-Young was doing.

 How he's doing is not well, especially after learning that Jung-Kyung once again bailed his family out and though it wasn't mentioned think the total may have been around $50,000. Joon-Young has been on a sabbatical from concerts to finish his Major's degree at the university so has no income, he asked his new manager Park to set up some concerts for he needs the cash but so far nothing has worked out. 

Joon-Young did see Jung-Kyung once more but just to give her sheet music back, at that encounter he told Jung-Kyung he didn't want to see her ever again.... for about the tenth time! She accepted that but the promise only lasted one day but it was for a good reason. Joon-Young really wanted to smooth out his relationship with Song-Ah and the pair were to meet at a coffee shop after her lecture ended. However it ran a bit over so she was late arriving, while Joon-Young had been waiting he received a text from Jung-Kyung.

 Joon-Young refused to view the message but with nothing to do but wait for Song-Ah he became a bit curious. On the text was a link to a new audio recording featuring Joon-Young's professor Yoo playing a solo piano piece. Jung-Kyung knew Joon-Young's playing well enough to realize it was him and not Yoo, Joon-Young knew she was right. What happened was that Joon-Young had been practicing in Yoo's office for an upcoming competition, looks like what took place was that Yoo had secretly recorded the practice and is passing off Joon-Young's playing as his own. Joon-Young then dashed out of the coffee shop and met briefly with Jung-Kyung at his place though it's unknown for now what was discussed. Seeing that Joon-Young had left the cafe Song-Ah dejectedly began her trek home but went via the apartment building of Joon-Young. To her surprise and anger who should be coming out of the building but Jung-Kyung! That scene ended off these two episodes, not much was said but Song-Ah ordered her to stop visiting Joon-Young and the next show should start from this scene.

 Whew, talk about a moody bunch of characters, just viewed the next two shows and the situation didn't become any rosier. But that above incident with Yoo secretly recording Joon-Young at the piano was fully explained and there don't seem to be any likable characters left, well perhaps there are but none whose life is going well.