Cantabile Tomorrow: Episode 3

by javabeans

The orchestra is assembled, the conductor is chosen (…sort of), and the main plotline gets going in earnest, although it’s no easy victory for our hero. His curious relationship with the conductor continues to develop in interesting ways, and we meet more of our supporting cast as we are issued our first big challenge. There’s a lot of setup involved in this episode, but there’s a nice, breezy feel to the gradual build-up that I enjoy, even if I know how the story ends. Or maybe it’s because I know; with the ending already in existence (even if this series chooses to deviate a bit from the original), you really have to enjoy the journey.

SONG OF THE DAY

Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” 1st movement, Allegro con brio [ Download ]

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LESSON 3

As Yoo-jin listens to Mahler’s sweeping Symphony No. 2, he recalls wondering who was conducting such beautiful music.

At the gathering of the newly assembled S Orchestra, Maestro Streseman rips up Yoo-jin’s transfer request and refuses to let him into the conducting department. Yoo-jin’s melodious voice-over grows angrily shrill: “At the very least it shouldn’t have been an old fogey like him!”

Yoo-jin storms out of the auditorium, followed closely by his entourage of Nae-il and Il-lac. Trailing behind is the wistful timpanist Ma Su-min, who holds himself back with a sigh. A couple students who weren’t invited to join the S Orchestra wonder at its roster—Yoo-jin is the only noteworthy musician among them. How could Streseman have ignored the elite of the school in favor of those bottom-rung wannabes?

Streseman addresses the rest of his orchestra, building anticipation as he talks about creating music through harmony. Students sit up in excitement to hear what the first order of business is, which he announces to be… a dinner party? That takes everyone by surprise, even Dean Mina, even as she defends him to Teacher Do. She sounds uncertain herself but says that they ought to have a little faith in Streseman.

Yoo-jin is in a foul mood, and Nae-il chirps at him not to worry because she’s tight with the conductor (whom she still calls Milch—aka Milk—despite now knowing his real name)—she’ll persuade him. Il-lac points out that if Yoo-jin transfers, he won’t be able to play piano with her anymore, and just like that Nae-il changes her tune, suddenly begging him not to transfer.

Yoo-jin wants to be left alone, but Il-lac reminds him that they’re best friends united in soul now. Which, aw. Jealous Nae-il kicks him aside and spurs another round of fighting over Yoo-jin, who actually lets them feel him up for a while before shoving them aside. He so doesn’t hate this, does he?

They follow him home anyway, and Nae-il begs him to let her in. Il-lac wonders whether it’s better for Yoo-jin to transfer, because remaining in his current major would mean a quicker graduation—and someone like Yoo-jin would probably go abroad right away to pursue his music.

But they don’t know about his plane trauma, which Yoo-jin relives in another flashback. This time we see that once turbulence hit, the old man sitting behind him had lost his bottle of pills. Young Yoo-jin had darted into the aisle to retrieve it, but gotten knocked unconscious. He shakes the memory aside and thinks, “If only I could fly in airplanes, I wouldn’t have been subject to today’s humiliation. I can’t study abroad, I can’t transfer—how am I supposed to learn conducting?”

Il-lac gets a call from Streseman, and has to fend Nae-il off as she tries to get the phone and then resorts to bellowing towards it. Il-lac explains that he can’t go to the party, but one word is all it takes to change his tune: concertmaster. Hearing that he’ll occupy the orchestra’s top seat, Il-lac darts off with a quick “Sorry!”

The party is held at Il-lac’s father’s restaurant, and Chef Dad is just so happy on Il-lac’s behalf. While the S Orchestra drinks and makes merry, Yoo-jin watches a video of his old teacher, Maestro Viera, conducting. It fills him with longing and determination, and he gets out score books and starts to study intently.

While he does, Nae-il keeps her post outside his door, waiting for him to come out. She keeps herself amused with hand puppets, role-playing a scenario wherein Yoo-jin Rabbit is full of appreciation and love for Nae-il Rabbit. Heh.

Yoo-jin keeps studying until it occurs to him to check on Nae-il. He doesn’t expect her to still be there, but she’s curled up behind the door, cold and sleepy, and crawls to him saying, “Orabang… hug me.”

He brings her inside and gives her warm soup, chiding her for going overboard. He tells her to eat up and leave, turning down her pleas to stay with him. She busts out her puppets and enacts a scenario where the “wife” Nae-il Rabbit begs to be with her husband, while Yoo-jin Rabbit crankily roars at her to leave him alone.

It makes Yoo-jin smile to himself—at least until Nae-il narrates a rabbit reconciliation and a build-up to a kiss. He snatches his effigy away and finishes her story: “And then the two of them separated.”

The orchestra party moves on to a noraebang, and timpanist Su-min staggers into the bathroom, totally wasted, and falls down drooling. Streseman is there to offer a handkerchief and a shoulder to cry on (in gratitude), and it turns into a whole group hug with more drunk orchestra members. Streseman seems sober, but enjoys the attention.

Nae-il falls asleep snoring on the couch, and Yoo-jin tucks her in and even smiles to himself, “She’s cute when she’s sleeping.” Immediately he’s horrified at his own thought, and hastens to assure himself, “Only when sleeping. Everyone’s cute when sleeping. Even frogs would be cute then.”

In the morning, Nae-il awakens in an empty apartment and finds a note ordering her to leave right away and not touch anything. Well now you’re just giving her ideas. She goes around kissing his pictures and lying on his bed, in raptures.

On the Haneum campus, we see a tiny contrabassist walk by lugging her instrument, which basically looks like a bass with feet. That’s when Nae-il arrives and—I kid you not—slips on a banana peel. Her sandwich goes flying (lol, Subway again, KBS?) and gets caught by the bassist, who eyes it so longingly that Nae-il offers it to her.

The bassist, CHOI MIN-HEE (Do-hee) eats ravenously while Nae-il checks on the other sandwich she got for Yoo-jin, and then Min-hee eyes that one hungrily too. Nae-il clocks the interest and waves the sandwich from side to side, and Min-hee’s eyes remain locked onto it, like a dog with a bone. So with utmost reluctance, Nae-il hands that one over too. Min-hee thanks her, then takes off running to make her class.

Out of nowhere, an arrow with a suction-cup end comes flying at Nae-il and lands squarely in the middle of her forehead. The little pranks have been increasing, and she’s convinced it’s because someone’s jealous of her and Yoo-jin. Il-lac isn’t buying it, but in the middle of his dismissal, he and Nae-il are attacked by a waterfall from above. Maybe she’s right, he concedes.

Yoo-jin presents Streseman with a box full of scores he has studied, asking him to reconsider his transfer. We’ve seen that Streseman’s dislike of Yoo-jin stems from his tutelage under the hated rival, Viera, and now we see more background. In a flashback, Streseman finds out that the limited-edition toy he’s ordered has been sold to another customer… aka Viera. Lol, are you so petty that you literally cannot share your toys?

Yoo-jin finds that reason silly, and refuses to leave until Streseman accepts his request. So the maestro offers him a chance, giving him the task to deliver lunch to all of the S Orchestra members within an hour. Yoo-jin takes off running, armed with a box of sandwiches. Omg, Subway, did you just sponsor this whole episode?

Nae-il and Il-lac watch him in confusion, wondering if he’s also being harassed. They duck for cover when he spots them, thinking he’ll be angry that they’re following him around, but instead he asks for their help in tracking down all the members.

The trio runs around campus, finding the majority of their members at the cafeteria. Already eating? No problem, eat a sandwich instead. They shove aside the students’ lunches and force sandwiches upon them until Yoo-jin ticks off all the names on his roster.

Without a second to spare, Yoo-jin presents the list to Streseman, who points out that he forgot the mascot, aka Nae-il. Aw, but is it his fault you didn’t have her on the list? Nae-il darts forward at that to protest and plead his case, but Yoo-jin stops her and merely tells Streseman he’ll be back to try again.

Nae-il huffs at Streseman that they’re no longer friends and stomps out, while the maestro just says it’s a misunderstanding. Nae-il insists that she needs to comfort Yoo-jin in a time like this, ignoring Il-lac’s insistence that Yoo-jin wants to be alone, and that it’s obvious the maestro’s just messing with him.

Teacher Do happens to overhear that bit, and takes it to Dean Mina, telling her that Streseman is pulling pranks on the kids now. He may dislike Yoo-jin for his headstrong ways, but he takes great issue with a teacher who plays with a student’s heart. Mina tries to argue for more patience, but this just ratchets up the tension between the two of them; Teacher Do suggests that his faith in her is at risk over Streseman.

Nae-il finds Yoo-jin, and is heavy-hearted from cutting off one friendship (Milch) for the sake of another. But he just notices the childish sign stuck on her back (“Stupid! Dummy”) and asks if she’s been tormented recently. She sighs that it’s God punishing her (for being in the orchestra without him), and doesn’t notice when Yoo-jin sticks the sign back on with a pat. HA.

She’s made a special lunch to cheer him up, but finds her lunch box full of rocks. Brimming with indignation, she calls Il-lac to begin preparing her revenge.

A short while later, that plan is in motion: Nae-il “naps” on a bench on campus, at which point a timid masked student approaches with a marker in hand, drawing nearer to her face…

It’s Su-min, and Il-lac comes running and grabs him just as he’s drawing a mustache on her face. Nae-il looks through his bag, and finds a whole stack of photographs, all featuring her and Yoo-jin. Since he must clearly be in love with her, she’s suddenly all sympathy and apologizes to Su-min for promising to marry another man.

Su-min barks that he has no interest in her, and lets slip his nickname for Yoo-jin, “Cha-neu-nim,” which is a pun meaning Cha God. Realizing that he’s got a crush on Yoo-jin, she points out gently that he’s a guy, and Su-min sniffles, “So what? People’s feelings are all the same.”

Su-min runs off sobbing, and his violinist friend Shi-won sits with him while chiding him for ditching the existing school orchestra for the S Orchestra. Su-min makes the big announcement that he likes Yoo-jin, only to have Shi-won say, Duh. Surely everyone knows already just by looking at Su-min’s behavior.

He asks if she thinks he’s strange, and she replies, “I like Hyuna, and I love Kim Yuna. Do you find me strange?” She says that you can’t control where your heart goes, and at that, he finds a smile through his tears. That’s sweet.

Il-lac muses to Nae-il that love drove Su-min to such extremes, and vows that he won’t let love make an idiot of him. Instead, he’ll use all that passion for classical music. Nae-il just tsk-tsks in pity that he seems more foolish for not knowing the greatness of love.

So with that love driving her, Nae-il goes to beg Streseman to relent about the transfer, or to at least allow Yoo-jin to conduct once. He flatly refuses and walks out… but leaves his score on his desk. Nae-il sidles over and reads the score—Beethoven’s 3rd—and notes the conductor’s baton lying on top of it.

Without explaining, she grabs Yoo-jin right away and drags him to orchestra practice. To everyone’s shock including Yoo-jin’s, she announces that he’ll be conducting today, and that Streseman has allowed him to take over for the day, presenting him with the score and baton she swiped. Ha, did she lock the maestro up in a bathroom somewhere too?

His inner voice is full of excitement and nerves, but Yoo-jin keeps calm and assures the dubious orchestra that he knows how to read score. He takes up the conductor’s position and wonders how the orchestra will showcase this particular piece of music, named Eroica, or “heroic.”

Ha, and yes, Streseman was indeed locked up in a room barred with heavy furniture. He’s let out by staff, sees his missing items, and calmly says that she’s toast.

Yoo-jin begins the rehearsal, and right away knows that things are terribly awry. The sections are out of sync, notes are out of tune, and the students don’t even seem to notice how bad they are. His frustration mounts, and his anger turns to Streseman for setting up this orchestra to fail by collecting only the worst musicians.

Yoo-jin stops and catalogues everyone’s mistakes with cold efficiency, at first calmly, then increasingly frustrated at the continued mistakes. Nae-il marvels at how good he is at discerning the playing, but all too soon, Streseman joins the rehearsal.

Streseman assumes that Yoo-jin stole this chance for himself, so Nae-il jumps to his defense and takes the blame. Yoo-jin realizes that he wasn’t authorized to conduct after all, just as Streseman offers him a chance: For one week, he can be the assistant conductor. If he can’t make improvements within that time, he will give up his attempts to transfer departments. Yoo-jin grabs the offer and promises to show a completely different performance from today.

He leaves rehearsal feeling great, and Nae-il is quick to attack him for hugs. He dodges and runs off, as per their developing habit, evading every time she tries to sneak skinship.

He immerses himself into the work right away, ignoring Nae-il’s attempts to feed him, his eyes only on the score. Day and night, it’s either score study or orchestra rehearsal.

Meanwhile, bassist Min-hee shows up at Yoo-jin’s mother’s coffee shop regarding the job posting and takes the cashier opening.

Yoo-jin drops by the coffee shop on his way to school, and only now realizes that it’s his mother who runs it. Ha. Stealth-meddling moms, who can stop them? She notes how haggard he looks, and he sighs that he’s trying his best to draw out the detail and power of the work but that a week is too short.

On campus, Su-min’s friend Shi-won—the regular orchestra’s concertmistress—corners Streseman to ask a few questions about rehearsal, but he fobs her off onto Il-lac instead. She asks about Streseman’s style, but Il-lac answers that he wouldn’t know, as Yoo-jin has been conducting all week. She can’t believe that a piano major would be conducting, thinking him lying at first.

Mina approaches Streseman to ask about his intentions about the orchestra. But she backpedals right away when he asks if his presence is making things difficult for her; she has clear misgivings, but either she has faith in him or she’s scared to ruffle his feathers for whatever reason. Furthermore, when a stumble gets them in each other’s arms, it’s clear that whatever feelings they’re dancing around are still there. His face drops, however, when she makes a personal favor asking him to look after Yoo-jin.

Mina finds herself in the hot seat at a board meeting because of the S Orchestra, which some teachers (such as Teacher Do) find unnecessary. In the end, she’s told to have both orchestras perform at the end-of-term concert, after which it’ll be decided which orchestra gets disbanded. Because neither can live while the other survives.

Rehearsals are getting worse, however, and Yoo-jin’s temper is getting shorter. Two members in particular, Oboe and Clarinet, are fed up with his haranguing and jealous at the girls’ admiration for him. They come up with a plot to stick it to him—they’ll swap parts so that things sound strange, but in a difficult portion to discern, thus embarrassing Yoo-jin when he fails to fix it.

Yoo-jin and Streseman hear the oddity right away, and Yoo-jin halts the playing and scorns the orchestra for playing pranks. But that’s when Streseman finally steps in and orders him down from the podium; now it’s the maestro’s turn.

Streseman takes over and issues instructions with milder, encouraging words. His style is comfortable and has everyone in smiles as he explains the origins of Eroica, which was initially dedicated to Napoleon. Upon hearing that Napoleon had declared himself emperor (thus showing greed rather than wisdom), he’d stricken that dedication and retitled it “Heroic.”

With a gentle hand, Streseman begins the Eroica, and Yoo-jin is struck immediately at the difference. There are still mistakes as usual, yet things sound completely different. “This man… is a true master,” he thinks.

After they finish the run-through, Streseman turns to Yoo-jin and declares the game over: “You’re disqualified.” He instructs him to leave.

Yoo-jin recognizes that Streseman was better, but to everyone’s surprise, stands firm, saying clearly that he won’t leave. Streseman had agreed to give him until tomorrow: “Until tomorrow, it’s my orchestra.”

 
COMMENTS

You know, as an adaptation I think Cantabile Tomorrow is making some interesting choices, and mostly I welcome them. Aside from deviating in little ways purely for the sake of not making a carbon-copy replica (and that would be justification enough, I think), this drama does have a different feel from the other projects (and the J-drama also felt different from the anime, so this isn’t a cultural argument), so it follows that you can’t quite reproduce the same beats and expect the same results because the tone is such a large component.

Judging from initial reviews, Korean audiences aren’t fully onboard this remake just yet, which is interesting because Nodame Cantabile was such a hit in Korea. I wonder if it’s to not (as was the worry) with the Japanese-ness of the original, but the Korean-ness of the remake. I’m still working this out in my head so it’s not a complete thought yet, but it does feel like you can love something that feels very foreign, but then when that foreignness is made familiar, it may feel off. I’m quite loving Cantabile Tomorrow, but I’m reading reviews and comments about how the heroine is unrelatable and her motives unclear—despite audiences loving Nodame. And the motives are pretty much the same from version to version.

In any case, I do like how they’re building the Streseman/Yoo-jin relationship, which is antagonistic in a way that mixes really silly reasons with more logical, reasonable ones. And even if I hadn’t known the original story (and I’ll stop talking about that now, I promise), I would expect this conductor-versus-conductor relationship to burgeon into something of a maestro-student one, and I’m keen to see how that draws out.

When I first heard of this story, before I’d seen any version of it, I was expecting it to be all about the heroine and the ways in which she changes the people around her with her oddball, lovable ways. And while that happens to an extent, really this is more of a story about the hero’s quiet development—spurred, yes, by the heroine. But she’s a catalyst more than she is the center of the story, and I like Joo-won’s take on this character—quiet, thoughtful, intense.

He has a temper, but he isn’t raging at everyone comically, and you see right away that he’s not a genius. He’s gifted, but he’s really more of a hard worker with immense drive, and that makes me root for him so much more than if he were just a genius who needs to tap into his gift.

It helps that I find Joo-won surprisingly convincing in his conducting skills, and I don’t see the actor in the role; I just see this character, and the emotions I’m feeling are for Yoo-jin, not for Joo-won. I don’t think the same is true for Nae-il, unfortunately, though I do think she’s settling in, slowly. Her over-the-top-ness isn’t what bothers me, because some of Nae-il’s exaggerated comedic moments make me laugh out loud.

The issue for me is more of the balance between Nae-il’s quirks and her more realistic emotional moments, because right now they feel like they belong to two different dramas. Su-min, on the other hand, is a great example of a successful blending of those two sides, because he is an over-the-top absurd character and yet I always believe his emotions.

For instance, he’s funny, though not because he’s trying to be funny—instead, he’s going for earnest and sweet, and in the right context, the humor shines through without any overt comedic “work.” So kudos to Jang Se-hyun, who I don’t remember from his bit parts in Sungkyunkwan Scandal or Boys Over Flowers, but who I’ll surely remember now.

Not to take away from Shim Eun-kyung, because the elements are all there. They just need to gel. C’mon, you can dooooo eeeet. With all those hugs from Joo-won, surely it won’t be a trial to try?

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• Cantabile Tomorrow: Episode 1
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• Cantabile Tomorrow’s light, sentimental first teaser
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