Cantabile Tomorrow: Episode 2

by girlfriday

Well I guess you can’t really blame a girl for falling in love this quickly when our hero is so swoony. He spends a good deal of time trying to convince her that what she’s feeling isn’t love, while she runs around trying to touch him as much as possible. Do I find her weird? Yes. But she’s an awfully cute cuddlemonster whose single-minded pursuit of skinship makes me want to root for her, even if it’s likely that there’s a restraining order in her future.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Beethoven – Violin Sonata No. 5, Opus 24, “Spring” [ Download ]

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LESSON 2 RECAP

As their duet comes to a close, Yoo-jin envisions Nae-il playing a piano in the middle of a field, drawing him out of his dark lost forest and making him smile again. Nae-il, on the other hand, can barely stop her heart from beating out of her chest, and starts seeing Yoo-jin bathed in a halo of angelic light.

She blubbers incoherently, half calling him “orabang” (a cutesy way of shortening oraboni), and Fantasy-Yoo-jin tells her to look at oppa. She can’t even look at the real Yoo-jin and just runs out of the room with her face covered, while he stares blankly.

Teacher Ahn is very impressed at their performance and asks Yoo-jin how it feels to have overcome a big wall—did he not have fun? Yoo-jin is taken aback to realize that this lesson was for him, not Nae-il, and Teacher Ahn says that he could tell right away from listening to one duet: “You want to conduct, don’t you?” Guess going with the unconventional teacher will do him some good after all.

Nae-il, meanwhile, runs all the way out to the grassy field to try and suss out this strange thumping in her heart. Fantasy Yoo-jin tells her, “It’s love. You’ve fallen in love with me,” and she lets out a high-pitched squeal of delight.

I could get used to Fantasy Yoo-jin, with his coffee-CF-silky-smooth-voice and backlit glory. She flails and leaps and twirls in the field, declaring her love.

Yoo-jin sneaks into the back of the auditorium to watch the orchestra rehearsing, and thinks about Teacher Ahn’s words that in order to be a good conductor, he must learn to work with musicians and can’t ever do it alone. His teacher’s last question echoes in his ears, “Don’t you want to conduct for real, not just in your head?”

He starts to imagine himself down on the stage as the conductor, directing every beat with vigorous energy. He returns to the present moment deeper in thought and more perplexed than ever.

Nae-il runs (or rather, flails) her way through campus screaming, “Orabang~!” until she finds Yoo-jin. He sighs when he hears her coming that she doesn’t even give him a moment’s rest to have an angsty thought, and braces himself.

She runs up to tell him that she was so happy playing their duet that her toes were wriggling the whole time and her heart was thumping. Her feet start to dance now, and she says that at the moment, she wants to leap right into his chest.

He backs up in alarm and tells her to hold it in, but she says, “I know what this is—it’s love!” He shouts right back that it is NOT love, but adrenaline. He puns at her not to have fluttery feet (he often uses her name Seol Nae-il to pun seol-le-im, or fluttery feelings, and calls her seollebal—fluttery feet), and has to physically hold her back from jumping his bones right then and there.

He tells her to go get checked out by a doctor (“and make sure to get your head checked too”), and she just says with crazy eyes that she’d get a faster diagnosis by hugging him. He finally has to hold her back by the forehead for a getaway, and she gives chase. And from around the corner, our rocker violinist Il-lac watches curiously.

Nae-il returns to the bench out of breath, even swooning at how Yoo-jin’s legs are so long that he can run away and ditch her. Il-lac approaches her with a drink and compliments, and butters her up to ask if she wants to play a duet with him.

Meanwhile Yoo-jin goes to the market to buy fish, and gets a text from Nae-il about eating dinner together. He realizes that she must’ve saved her number in his phone while he wasn’t looking, and ha—she saved her name as “seol-le-im.” He tells her no way, but in the end he buys a second fish for her.

Yoo-jin carries his load of groceries home in a good mood, but on his way he happens to pass by Nae-il and Il-lac, feeding each other over a table at a restaurant and looking mighty happy together.

He spies on them looking a lot like a jealous boyfriend, and it’s pretty hilarious that Yoo-jin is miffed about how she was so insistent that it was love, only to be spoon-fed by someone else so shortly after. He chucks her half of dinner groceries in the garbage and stalks off angrily.

Il-lac has brought Nae-il to his father’s restaurant, where Dad showers her with multiple courses to her heart’s content. Nae-il looks at all the delicious food and asks if she can wrap it up to take home instead, and leaves happily in anticipation of eating it with Yoo-jin.

Il-lac wonders if befriending Nae-il will pan out the way he wants, but Dad assures him that with long fingers like hers, she’s bound to be a good pianist. Dad is sweet and encouraging, but it looks like Il-lac is a little concerned about Dad’s wish to hear the sound of his son’s violin fill an entire auditorium.

Yoo-jin goes home and makes himself pity ramyun and scoffs when the doorbell rings, grumbling that she follows anyone who will feed her. He opens the door still shouting, only to find his ex-girlfriend Do-kyung standing there.

He asks what she’s doing here and doesn’t invite her in right away, but then Nae-il arrives with bags of takeout, and he suddenly changes his tune. Nae-il watches in horror as Do-kyung walks into his apartment, and when Yoo-jin goes to close the door, he can’t help but look over at Nae-il to make this… face… this insanely petty neener-neener-face. HAHAHAHA. *Rewind*

Do-kyung is here because she needs a friend to vent to, and reminds Yoo-jin that before they dated, they were actually friends for ten years. He listens to her complain about losing the Carmen role to someone else (though she’s the prima donna of the vocal department), and when he tries to imply that he’s very busy, she says she has very important news.

Next door, Nae-il goes bonkers trying to listen through the wall and climb over the balcony to find out what’s going on in there. By morning she’s got dark circles down to her jawline, and she opens her door to watch as Yoo-jin walks out with Do-kyung, after having spent the night.

She’s still a lovesick zombie by midday, slumped over the piano and jabbering incoherently about love, while Il-lac desperately tries to get her to play. He finally realizes that she’s been dumped and declares that he’ll fix it for her, and asks cautiously who the guy is. He’s a little amazed that she thinks she has a shot with Cha Yoo-jin.

He brings up a photo of Do-kyung to ask if this is her rival, and tells her to give up. Nae-il asks in all seriousness, “Why? I’m better than her.” Pffft. He devolves into fits of laughter, and she attacks him with his own bow.

As Yoo-jin gets dragged into a coffee shop by Do-kyung, we meet timpanist MA SU-MIN (Jang Se-hyun), who watches them wistfully, wondering if they got back together.

His friend guesses that he has a crush on Do-kyung, and thanks to his exposition, we find out that on top of being the vocal department’s prima donna and the prettiest girl in school, she’s also the only daughter of an instrument company that supplies their entire school.

Yoo-jin has had enough of Do-kyung’s games and walks away, so she finally tells him the big secret that she knows: famous conductor Franz Streseman is coming to teach at their school. She’s right that it’s big news to Yoo-jin, who literally runs to school with a big smile on his face.

Teacher Do sees Yoo-jin leave the administrator’s office, and finds out that he requested a change of major form. Yoo-jin sits on his angst bench with form in hand, but the strident sounds of a violin start to grate on his nerves. It’s coming from Il-lac and Nae-il’s sad attempt to play through her pain, and Il-lac tries everything from lying that playing the piano well will bring Yoo-jin back to her, to offering to be her boyfriend instead—anything to get her to play.

She’s taken to shortening his name to Lac-gun, (hur, a “Rock Boy” pun for the rocker). She isn’t interested in Rock Boy as a replacement boyfriend though, and asks him for advice on how to get Yoo-jin back. Il-lac is surprised to hear that Yoo-jin cooks for her, and decides that she does have a shot—guys don’t cook for girls they aren’t interested in.

He advises her that skinship is the way to go, so when Yoo-jin walks in the room, she attacks him with a hug. She cries that since he’s come back to her, she forgives him for spending the night with Do-kyung. Il-lac’s eyes widen to hear that Do-kyung stayed over, and doesn’t believe him when Yoo-jin swears they were practicing for her second Carmen audition all night.

Yoo-jin says he came here because of the awful noise they were making, calling it two separate pieces rather than an accompaniment. Il-lac says this is all Yoo-jin’s fault anyway that he’s about to fail his test, while Yoo-jin counters that it’s obviously his terrible violin-playing that’s causing him to fail all on his own.

Il-lac says he’s the top of his class, and anyway, he’s going to ditch boring old classical music for an electric violin anyway once he graduates. Yoo-jin says it’s not classical music that’s boring; it’s his hapless playing. So Yoo-jin takes the violin out of Il-lac’s hand and begins to play, and the sound wipes the smirk right off of Il-lac’s face.

Nae-il swoons even more than usual, and Il-lac is simultaneously amazed and wounded. He storms out without a word, leaving Yoo-jin sighing that he knows what Nae-il is about to say. She calls him obnoxious and rude… but then goes in for another loving hug. Heh.

Il-lac practices at home, but can’t shake the memory of Yoo-jin’s short performance, still pricking at his pride. Dad leaves a snack and sneaks away not to disturb him, and Il-lac thinks to himself with a heavy sigh that Dad still thinks he’s going to join a classical arts foundation someday.

Dean Mina is still on Streseman’s trail, but doesn’t realize that her lost conductor is already on campus checking out his future students. Today he approaches Nae-il, pouring on the compliments before asking her to dinner.

She hesitates, but when he lays it on thick about how he’s been so lonely eating all alone, she invites him to a place that she frequents. Cut to: Yoo-jin gaping suspiciously at the man Nae-il dragged into his house.

Yoo-jin asks who the hell this strange man is, and Nae-il gets to introductions… only to realize she doesn’t know either. Streseman invents a name, but Yoo-jin knows German and asks skeptically if his name is really Milk Cow.

Dean Mina goes to see her longtime friend, who happens to be Yoo-jin’s mom. Mom owns the coffee shop near school, having recently returned to Korea after running an arts foundation in New York. She and Mina tease each other cutely, especially when Mom notices Mina preening in front of Teacher Do.

Back at Yoo-jin’s place, Streseman picks up the photo of young Yoo-jin with Teacher Viera and scowls to hear Yoo-jin call him his conducting teacher. Streseman mutters that he knew he didn’t like Yoo-jin, and now he sees why—he’s the student of his second-most hated person in the world.

Streseman calls Nae-il “baby” and suggests they go have lobster at his hotel instead, and invites her up to see his room, all night long. Yoo-jin’s eyes widen and he warns her not to go anywhere with the suspicious old man, and the argument between the two men turns into this really petty competition to see who gets Nae-il.

Yoo-jin says she can stay over tonight; Streseman says he has the penthouse suite; Yoo-jin says she can sleep in his bed; Streseman says his is a waterbed. She goes back and forth like a yo-yo, until Yoo-jin finally blurts, “You can sleep on my arm as a pillow!” Ding, ding, ding, winner! He smirks at the loser, while Nae-il just hugs him in delight.

I don’t know how she changes into her pajamas that fast, but when Yoo-jin opens his bedroom door, she’s already lying in his bed, striking her most suggestive pose. He drags her out, screaming that he lied, and she clings for dear life but ends up out in the hallway. He drowns out her cries by playing one of Streseman’s orchestral pieces, not realizing that the man was just in his apartment.

Streseman goes through the snapshots he took of the students who interested him, and tries to rip the one of Nae-il and Yoo-jin playing their duet. It won’t rip, much to his dismay, so he just folds it in half so he can smile at Nae-il without having to look at Yoo-jin.

In the morning, Yoo-jin struggles to get his door open and finds Nae-il still sleeping right where he left her. He doesn’t even feel bad at first, but then finds that she’s caught a cold and is shivering with a fever.

Dean Mina is reluctant to tell her staff that she technically lost Streseman, and just admits that he already arrived in country quietly, as is his custom to avoid being photographed. Teacher Do leaves the meeting in a hurry when he gets a call that the campus pervert has returned, and catches Streseman in the act of snapping pictures of female students.

He gets security guards to escort him away, but Dean Mina finds them just in time to rescue Streseman and embarrass Teacher Do for the misunderstanding. Teacher Do sits awkwardly on the sidelines as Mina and Streseman greet each other warmly, with just enough unspoken romantic tension to stir the waters.

Meanwhile, Yoo-jin piggybacks a sick Nae-il all the way through campus, increasingly peeved that she seems to be enjoying the piggyback more than anything. He complains that they should’ve gone to the hospital first, but she insists on showing up for Il-lac’s test because he’ll fail otherwise.

So Yoo-jin brings her all the way to Il-lac in the auditorium, and hands her over. Il-lac asks if she can move her fingers, and she stops trembling long enough to whisper in his ear that if someone were to kiss her, she might feel better.

Instead, Yoo-jin says this is partly his fault, so he’ll play piano for Il-lac’s test. Nae-il laughs weakly and says that Il-lac scored the jackpot, which he totally knows but refuses to admit.

The rumor spreads throughout campus that Yoo-jin is actually going to play an accompaniment, and Teacher Do follows the stream of onlookers into the auditorium. There’s quite a crowd starting to gather, considering that it’s just one student’s test. Teacher Do notes Streseman’s presence and puts the pieces together to conclude that he must be here to check out Yoo-jin’s skills as a possible student.

Nae-il tries to hobble out of the dressing room, and Yoo-jin tells her she’ll be able to hear the recital fine from in here. But she says that she wants to see Yoo-jin playing piano up close. This time he sighs and calls her Fluttery Feet with all the annoyance gone from his voice, and wraps her up in the blanket with care.

Il-lac is all nerves and goes to the bathroom, still muttering to himself about Yoo-jin’s arrogance. Teacher Do is there and gets an idea, and compliments Il-lac on his expressive and colorful playing. He asks if he’ll get to hear that kind of performance today, adding that it’s too bad Yoo-jin is his partner, since that means the piano will outshine the violin today. Oh, you nasty little bugger.

Teacher Do even admits to himself that it’s a low move, and leaves Il-lac with the lingering idea that he ought to outshine the piano since he’s the star.

When the boys come out on the stage, they’re surprised to see people in the audience. Yoo-jin tells Il-lac to forget technique and just focus on his piano playing. But that just strikes Il-lac’s already sensitive nerve, and he stares at Yoo-jin contentiously.

They begin to play together, and in voiceover Yoo-jin introduces Beethoven’s Violin Sonata in F major, Opus 24—he says that people have given it the name “Spring” because it’s the brightest and warmest of violin sonatas, and reminds people of springtime.

But Il-lac starts to turn spring into a typhoon, and Teacher Do smirks to see his powers of suggestion in action, thinking to himself that there’s no way that Yoo-jin will ever learn to conduct others and veer away from his self-centered ways.

Yoo-jin keeps trying to send Il-lac telepathic messages to calm down and play together, but he’s not listening. Finally Yoo-jin decides to match Il-lac in hopes that he’ll listen to the sound of the piano.

In a vision, we see Il-lac playing furiously in a field, with the wind circling around him. Yoo-jin flicks his wand and moves with the wind, and the two are finally in sync.

Il-lac thinks in amazement, “Yoo-jin is conducting me. He arrives when I want him to… Cha Yoo-jin understands what I’m feeling. We’re playing together!”

The audience softens, and Nae-il thinks to herself that it’s a relief—Yoo-jin brought spring back. He even cracks a little smile as he plays.

The boys return to the dressing room after the performance (with Yoo-jin carrying Nae-il all the way back, aw) and Il-lac says begrudgingly that it must be nice to be the best at everything—piano, violin, whatever he wants.

Yoo-jin: “Of course.” Pfft. He says matter-of-factly that he started both instruments when he was three, and used to practice violin until his fingers bled. He tells Il-lac not to belittle other people’s effort, making it clear that he’s no lazy savant who didn’t put in the same painstaking time and effort that anyone else did.

Il-lac suddenly grabs him in a bear-hug and shouts, “Thank you! From now on, I will acknowledge you as my best friend!” Aghast, Yoo-jin declines, but Il-lac has already decided that they’re going to be bestest buds. This is so awesome.

He tries repeatedly to force Yoo-jin into a hug, and the whole time Nae-il is running around them in circles, jealous that someone else might love Yoo-jin. She wedges herself in between them until they’re all wriggling around together, and Yoo-jin has to pry them off like barnacles.

In the auditorium, Teacher Do is still stunned in the wake of the test, and he admits to Teacher Ahn that Yoo-jin has changed. He clearly doesn’t want to acknowledge it but he does: “It was a good performance.”

Il-lac runs home to Dad to tell him that he had the best performance of his life today, and declares with newfound passion that he’s going to really play violin from now on, and throw his soul into his dream.

Streseman tells Mina that his plan is to create a special orchestra, not just teach the orchestra that currently exists at the school. He’s already handpicked his members, and shows her the photographs he’s taken over the last few days. He says that he wants to create an orchestra that moves the heart—isn’t that what she wants?

Mina is surprised to see Nae-il’s picture among the students, and Streseman says that she’ll be the orchestra’s mascot. It’s all very unconventional, but Mina is moved by Streseman recognizing her dream, and agrees to help him get started.

The students in the school’s existing orchestra are excited to hear that Streseman is choosing students, though they wonder if that means their group will be fragmented. The conducting student who was planning to go abroad decided to stay because of Streseman, and says confidently that he expects to be notified shortly.

But invitations start going out via text message, and the conducting student frowns to see that others are being called but he isn’t. Yoo-jin is feeling just as left out, especially when he sees that Nae-il got a text when she plays piano.

He worries that his phone must be broken, so she oh-so-helpfully sends him a text to prove that it’s working just fine. He does get a second text, and it must be to join the orchestra, because he files in along with the other students.

Streseman hands over Yoo-jin’s form to change majors into the conducting department, and directs Teacher Do to file the transfer. But when he hears Teacher Do call Yoo-jin Cha Dong-woo’s son, Streseman stops in his tracks.

The students wait anxiously in the auditorium, and Il-lac is extra excited because Streseman happens to be his father’s favorite maestro. The timpanist Su-min is there too, and earlier I thought he had a crush on Do-kyung, but judging from his reaction every time Nae-il leans into him, I think he swings Yoo-jin’s way instead.

Dean Mina introduces Maestro Streseman to the group, and Nae-il is happy to recognize the ajusshi from the other night, while Yoo-jin is properly floored. Streseman says that he’ll be heading up the conducting department and creating a special orchestra: “From now on you are the S orchestra.”

He then takes Yoo-jin’s department transfer form out of his pocket and announces what it is to the whole group… before ripping it up and tossing the shreds of paper into the air. Yoo-jin stands up and everyone stirs in shock. After a long pause, Streseman says, “I, Franz Streseman, swear on my own name—as long as I am running it, Cha Yoo-jin can never enter this school’s conducting department.”

 
COMMENTS

Well that’s harsh. Wonder what Daddy did to piss off Streseman. I think I would’ve preferred it if Yoo-jin had failed the selection based on his own merits—say, he’s too proud or still doesn’t play well enough with others to fit Streseman’s standards—but it’s less of a thing he can fix if his father wronged his teacher in the past or something. Still, the hurdle itself is interesting, since now Yoo-jin has a goal to work towards and he’s finally in a position where he’s not the golden boy to whom success is a given. I’m glad that his arc won’t just be Cold Perfect Hero to Warm Perfect Hero—failure makes him so much more interesting, especially when he’s already figured out how to play with others in the first two episodes (at least musically, if not socially).

I’m sure his classmates will enjoy Yoo-jin’s comeuppance a little; Teacher Do is already feeling vindicated, though he really ought to be more mature as his teacher, for crying out loud. That stunt with Il-lac was enormously petty, but I’m glad that it spurred a moment of growth for Yoo-jin—he actually isn’t so prideful as to ruin a piece of music by sticking to what’s right. Teacher Do thought Yoo-jin would remain too rigid and focused on perfection, but he proved that he could mold himself to Il-lac’s imperfection, the same way he did with Nae-il. It was more stressful this time around—bigger stakes, more tenuous friendship—but ultimately the scarier challenge provided a bigger reward. And he even gained a new best friend out of the deal, albeit against his wishes. I really hope they stay reluctant bros forever.

I was actually expecting the narrative to be more meandering, so I’m pleasantly surprised that there’s a nice basic lesson/growth/conflict structure for each episode. I also appreciate that we’re not meeting twenty new faces all at once, and that we can organically introduce each new friend to Yoo-jin as his very tiny and insular social circle starts to expand. While Nae-il’s trajectory is still a little one-dimensional (she loves Yoo-jin, she loves him more), what’s satisfying about their relationship is how it changes Yoo-jin bit by bit. He acts cold and outwardly rebuffs her, but he quietly plans his meals around her, is keenly aware of where she is at all times, and feels responsible even when she’s the one who chose to sleep in the hallway.

And the jealousy is probably my favorite development, since he seems most affected by the fact that she would eat meals with another man or naively follow Streseman to his hotel room. I know he’s fueled by his competitive nature in all those moments, but he’s also not going to stand idly by while she shacks up with an old man; what I love is the way he looks way too pleased with himself when he wins (also the way he just resigns himself to the hugs now).

Right now Nae-il still feels a little over-the-top because she isn’t given as much depth, whereas Yoo-jin’s broad comedy gets balanced by his weightier storylines and thoughtful voiceovers. I really hope they tap into Shim Eun-kyung’s ability to get you in the heart, because she’s fully capable of that balancing act and too talented to be wasted on a character who’s only fluffy. I’m fine with her being weird and even a little dumb (just not too dumb!), as long as she’s not going to always remain strictly comedic fodder or a foil for Yoo-jin. Because a journey where they grow up together and express that growth through music would be a joy to watch.

[The show’s song list will be updated with the music used in each episode, so that’s the thread to follow if you’re dying to know what songs were played.]

 
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