Cantabile Tomorrow: Episode 4

by girlfriday

Our hero learns the hard way that assembling an orchestra and being given a chance to conduct is just the beginning of his journey, and that there’s an entire component to leading an orchestra that never occurred to him before—the people playing the instruments, and all of their very human foibles and individual problems. For better or worse, being a leader means he has to figure out how to coax the best out of each of his members, even in the face of crippling self-doubt. Oz had Dorothy, and the S Orchestra has Yoo-jin, to show them that they always had what it takes inside them all along. First up: Il-lac the Lion, who needs an ounce of courage to let his fingers fly.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Vittorio Monti – Csárdás [ Download ]

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LESSON 4 RECAP

After demonstrating that he’s the maestro who can take the same orchestra and create a completely different sound, Streseman kicks Yoo-jin out. Nae-il looks like she’s going to burst into tears right then and there, but Yoo-jin holds his ground and says that he has until tomorrow to prove himself—until then, this is still his orchestra.

Streseman agrees to their original terms, so Yoo-jin picks up his baton for one final rehearsal for Beethoven’s 3rd. No one looks happy to play for Yoo-jin, and again he senses that something is off.

In his head, he picks out the individual instruments that have adjusted according to his notes, and as he thinks that the viola sounds depressing, he hits upon something—the whole melody sounds downright depressing.

In voiceover, he realizes, “I only tried to draw out the sounds. I ignored the feelings that are making the sounds.” This time his notes are kinder and focused on the emotions of the players, and he asks softly for a good performance tomorrow.

As he walks toward the door, the timpanist Su-min calls out, “I’m sorry we’re so bad!” Yoo-jin turns around and replies to the group, “No, it’s not you guys. The problem was me.” Il-lac stops Nae-il from following him out, knowing that Yoo-jin needs some time alone.

That night, Yoo-jin goes over his score sheets again and again, making final adjustments. And next door, Nae-il stays up late too, excitedly making something on her sewing machine.

Dean Mina asks Teachers Do and Ahn to advise the two orchestras as a special favor, and Teacher Do immediately refuses to take on the S Orchestra, while Teacher Ahn is used to being assigned the school’s flunkies and agrees readily to take them.

Mina is concerned about the orchestra battle at the end of the term, and says she wants the students to be kept unaware that the losing orchestra will get disbanded. Great, now Teacher Do has a personal stake in seeing the S Orchestra fail.

The problem is that the school’s main orchestra already heard the news from family connections to the board of directors. Shi-won, the concertmistress, declares that they’ll squeeze in extra practice even without their teacher.

It’s time for Yoo-jin’s final test at the end of his trial week, and he’s a bundle of nerves as he cues the orchestra to begin. But he flubs within seconds and drops his baton, bringing the whole room to a screeching halt. Streseman’s eyebrow goes up in silent dismay.

He picks up his baton and tries to steady his nerves before beginning again, when suddenly Nae-il pops up in a head-to-toe Dalmatian costume to cheer him on. She is so weird. His embarrassment is super cute, and the other kids laugh good-naturedly that she really is their mascot.

Yoo-jin turns to the orchestra to start over, but Streseman interrupts to say that he’s already failed his test—a conductor stooping down to pick up his baton in a real concert would’ve ended the performance then and there. Yoo-jin realizes his mistake and says he should’ve kept the piece going even if he had to conduct with his hand.

Streseman says he failed, but adds that if he really wants to be part of the orchestra, he’ll take Yoo-jin on as his assistant, especially since he’s a package deal with Nae-il. She’s already mad at Streseman and shouts at Yoo-jin not to accept the offer, but he says he’ll do it.

Nae-il trails after him like a puppy, made completely literal with her puppy costume, and Yoo-jin fends her off with the complaint that he’s allergic to fur… and also to her. He seems to realize belatedly that it hurts her feelings, so he stops with a sigh to wait for her to catch up.

She pinches a tiny corner of his sleeve and says she’ll just hold on here, and it’s so cute that he can’t help but smile. Of course it only takes three seconds for her to angle for another hug, which sends him running again.

Dean Mina stops by the coffee shop for a chat with Yoo-jin’s mom, and when Mina mentions that Yoo-jin is making friends at school and even playing piano duets, Mom is eager to know more about his duet partner, and decides to ask around.

Mina has been primping during their whole conversation, and now we see why, as she goes for a walk with Streseman. He smoothly compliments her as a pianist, and says that she still seems exactly the same as she did back then.

But the mood shatters when Yoo-jin suddenly pops up out of nowhere, here to do his duty as an assistant and take Streseman to his scheduled lesson with the orchestra. It’s pretty funny how obviously annoyed Streseman is that he’s being derailed in the romance department, while Yoo-jin is cluelessly eager to do a good job.

Streseman sends Yoo-jin to school ahead of him, and the other students plead with Yoo-jin to help them out because they’re practicing without any direction and the professor is nowhere to be found. So he gives them each notes on their parts, and Il-lac suggests a practice run so that they can find the problem areas as they play.

At their request, Yoo-jin gets ready to conduct, but of course that’s when Streseman enters the room. He takes one look at Yoo-jin standing on the podium and says that only the conductor can stand there, and fires Yoo-jin on the spot. Again? What job titles are left? Shoe-shiner?

Nae-il cries foul at Streseman’s flip-flopping ways, giving and taking jobs without rhyme or reason. So then Streseman turns to Yoo-jin and says, “You be the conductor then! As of this point, I withdraw from the S Orchestra.” What the? Is this a test, or are you really that petty?

He leaves everyone floored, and one by one, the students start packing away their instruments. Il-lac gets up and asks what they’re doing, and they say matter-of-factly that they were the S Orchestra after Streseman, so without him, they’ll obviously disband.

But Il-lac cries, “We’re S for Special!” That’s so corny, but he says it so earnestly, it’s adorable. He argues that other than Su-min, none of them has been in an orchestra before, and that they were all trying so hard because they’d never be asked to join an orchestra otherwise.

Nae-il joins in to say that they have nothing to worry about—they have Yoo-jin! Yoo-jin says he never agreed to anything, but the others murmur in agreement that honestly Yoo-jin is better than a maestro who doesn’t even bother with lessons or rehearsals, and he’s helped them improve a lot. Soon they’re all chanting, “Cha Yoo-jin! Cha Yoo-jin!” and Yoo-jin looks around, gobsmacked.

Teacher Do tells his orchestra that they’re not about to wait around for Streseman to show himself, and says that conducting student Han Seung-oh will lead them in rehearsal. Suddenly everyone’s phones go off with news about Streseman quitting the S Orchestra, and Yoo-jin taking over as their conductor.

Seung-oh is already pretty arrogant to begin with, but that news just makes him grin like he’s got this in the bag. Streseman finally saunters into rehearsal, and notes that this orchestra seems to already have a conductor as well. Are you just not planning to work?

Yoo-jin sits on his bench of angsty thoughts, and Nae-il creeps up behind him to pop a confetti cannon over his head and sing congratulations, not noticing that it’s not really the appropriate response to what he’s feeling right now.

She thinks it’s a happy occasion since he gets to conduct, while Yoo-jin sighs that he can’t figure out Streseman’s intentions. You’re not the only one. To make things even hairier, Streseman gets on the school’s PA system to announce that the school’s official orchestra—which he dubs the A Orchestra—and the S Orchestra will battle it out at the end of the term, the losing team will disband. So much for keeping it a secret.

Nae-il calls Streseman weird (you know you’re really weird if Nae-il thinks you’re weird), wondering if it’s because he’s a master, and Yoo-jin scoffs that he’s just an old fogey. He gets angry when he realizes that this is why Streseman let him conduct so easily, figuring that he just planned to let them fail from the start. That raises his hackles and he says with determination that he’s going to do this—someone else can’t make HIS orchestra disband. Nae-il swoons even more than usual.

Teacher Ahn finds them to ask what will happen with the orchestra in light of the announcement, and Yoo-jin declares with confidence that he’s the S Orchestra’s conductor. Teacher Ahn smiles proudly.

Both orchestras are in a state of panic following the announcement, and tensions flare up even among friends. The S Orchestra members worry that they’ll never measure up against the A Orchestra, and Il-lac says rather unconvincingly that of course they will, as long as they practice.

Yoo-jin comes in already yelling at them for not practicing enough, and cracks the whip with the reminder that they have an enormous amount to learn and they face disbandment if they fail.

Nae-il watches them practice with a sigh, wishing that she could join in. She goes to play piano on her own, and at first Teacher Do grimaces to hear the mistakes as he walks by, but something about the way she’s playing stops him in his tracks.

He begins to move his hands and feet to the rhythm, and realizes that they aren’t mistakes—there’s something there that moves a person’s heart. He runs through the halls looking for the source of the music, but just as he’s about to reach Nae-il’s practice room, she runs out to catch a class and they just miss each other.

Yoo-jin leaves practice with the gruff announcement that they’ll meet an hour earlier tomorrow, and when everyone complains, he threatens to make that two hours earlier. Il-lac hurriedly tries to lift everyone’s spirits, and offers to feed everyone at Dad’s restaurant again.

Chef Dad happily feeds the gang, and when the others worry about going up against their school’s best musicians in the A Orchestra, Il-lac blusters that they’re not anything special—they’re just boring rule-followers who are stuck in their ways.

Of course the A Orchestra’s leaders happen to be standing right behind him as he says it, and the situation quickly devolves into an our-concertmaster-is-better-than-yours pissing contest between the two groups.

Il-lac tries not to look spooked when his friends challenge their concertmistress to a battle, but he’s not about to back down now, so he offers to let Shi-won pick the song, acting like he could win this in his sleep.

So they whip out their violins to the sound of cheers. Su-min worries for Il-lac, while Shi-won’s friend wonders what’s gotten into her. She says it’s worth showing them how different their levels really are.

Shi-won chooses Csárdás for the battle, and as Il-lac begins to play, Chef Dad narrates that the Hungarian folk dance is like the free and melancholy dance of a gypsy. Il-lac plays the tune with a mournful touch, and Dad is happy at the strong start.

Il-lac seems confident too, and at first he really does seem to be playing better, at least more expressively. But as they get into the faster and more difficult passes, Shi-won breezes through with ease, while Il-lac grows more and more panicked, until his finger eventually slips. Ack.

Shi-won is hands-down the better technician, and the A Orchestra enjoys its victory with smugness. Chef Dad struggles to hold back his tears, thinking to himself that Il-lac did a good job. Shi-won’s friends ask why she tried so hard, and she admits that for a guy who plays electric violin, Il-lac is pretty good.

Nae-il’s check card gets rejected when she tries to buy a sad instant dinner at the convenience store, but she discovers someone even hungrier standing nearby: the tiny bassist Min-hee (whom she calls Mini Min-hee). Nae-il brings Min-hee over to her place to make her dinner, only when she opens her fridge, it’s totally empty.

She manages to find two measly almonds, and I love that the running gag between these two is that Nae-il is always nice enough to offer all the food she has, but is always appalled when Min-hee takes her up on it.

Min-hee’s nose sniffs out something even better though, and they follow her nose all the way to Yoo-jin’s place, where he’s prepared with a lavish spread. Min-hee digs in eagerly, amazed that Nae-il gets to eat this way every day. Nae-il acts like this is nothing and she gets this kind of special treatment all the time, and Yoo-jin rolls his eyes.

He takes the chance to tell Min-hee to take orchestra practice seriously, and says that she’s always falling behind because she constantly misses rehearsal or shows up late. Min-hee says meekly that she can’t quit her part-time job because she needs it to pay tuition, while Yoo-jin argues rather blithely that she might as well drop out if she’s not going to bother putting in effort at the school she’s giving her hard-earned money to. It’s said rudely, but he has a point.

When Min-hee hems and haws defensively, Yoo-jin gripes, “Do you want a solution, or do you want pity?” Ouch, that’s going a bit too far, and Min-hee actually puts down her spoon and walks away before finishing her meal.

Nae-il follows her all the way to her part-time job (at Mom’s coffee shop), and Min-hee admits that Yoo-jin is probably right and she should quit the orchestra. Nae-il tries to lift her spirits with the loose change she scrounged up to buy kimbap, and tries really hard to stay mad at Yoo-jin, but one phone call sends her running back to help him find something. Hilariously, all Min-hee really cares about is that she leaves the loose change behind.

Yoo-jin opens his door expecting Nae-il, but Il-lac stumbles in drunkenly, accompanied by Su-min. Su-min is beyond thrilled to be in Yoo-jin’s apartment, and lets his nickname for him—Cha God—slip out. The fact that Yoo-jin even knows who he is makes his day, but he basically dies of happiness when Yoo-jin adds that he’s really the only person in their orchestra who plays decently. Nae-il arrives and immediately starts going at it with Su-min, who has officially become her stalker rival.

Il-lac has brought steaks over as payment for private lessons, and begs Yoo-jin to teach him, blubbering, “Best friend, no, Master! You’re all I have! You’re better than Jung Shi-won, right?”

While Yoo-jin tries to get Il-lac to stop drinking, Nae-il and Su-min start cooking in the kitchen, which turns into another petty competition. Eventually they’re just butting heads, literally, and Yoo-jin does his best to stay five feet away from the crazy.

Il-lac is totally down in the dumps now, and says he won’t need lessons because he’s not good enough to be a concertmaster anyway. Yoo-jin can see that he needs words of encouragement, but it’s pretty funny how the discomfort is visible while he searches for nice things to say.

He says that Il-lac is “not bad” as a concertmaster, and when Il-lac prods for more compliments, he comes up with: “You have a good personality.” HA. He keeps saying things about how Il-lac puts the rest of the orchestra at ease, but Il-lac whines that those things aren’t skill-related, and he doesn’t have the right to be a concertmaster.

Yoo-jin tells him to give it up then if he’s so sure, but Il-lac doesn’t hesitate a moment to argue, “No! It’s my first time being in an orchestra. I can’t quit! I won’t quit! I’m the concertmaster. It’s my orchestra and I want to do well.”

Those words sound familiar to Yoo-jin, and he agrees to lessons after all. Il-lac beams, but then slurs that they’ll start tomorrow and dozes off on the couch, while the others chase Yoo-jin around the room with their competing dishes.

At practice the next day, Il-lac shows off the new S Orchestra shirts that he wants everyone to wear, and Yoo-jin has to yell at him to focus on the music instead of the flair. He sighs when he sees Min-hee’s empty seat, but begins without her.

Dean Mina looks in on them and admits to Streseman that she’s worried about the students, though she understands that they’re learning things this way. Streseman just says that when she gave up piano back in the day, he always regretted not protecting her music that he loved so dearly, and tells her to use him in any way that she needs.

Nae-il asks Chef Dad if he’d choose love or friendship, and Dad says he’d choose love because love is how you get a son and that’s the best thing in the world. Aw, Dad. Il-lac comes down and asks Nae-il if she knows how to find Min-hee, and Nae-il catches on that he’s asking for Yoo-jin.

She finds Yoo-jin mid-search and offers to take him to the convenience store where Min-hee works on weekends, and they find her in the middle of being fired by her terrible boss, who tries to take away her contrabass as recompense for the stuff she broke while stocking. Yoo-jin jumps in to defend her and scares the boss by asking if Min-hee kept good records of all her hours and pay, and the cheapskate boss backs off.

Min-hee shows up to orchestra practice on Monday, and tells Nae-il happily that she got a random call from someone wanting private lessons, so she was able to quit all her other jobs except for the coffee shop, and now she has time for orchestra.

Nae-il can tell right away that the private lesson was Yoo-jin’s doing, and she sidles up to him to say that he’s got a good brain, but his heart is even better. She sneaks in a quick hug before he pries her off gruffly to begin practice, though he smiles a tiny smile to himself when she isn’t looking.

Two of the A Orchestra boys try to sneak a peek at the S Orchestra’s rehearsal, and happen to overhear Su-min calming down two members who are fed up with Yoo-jin’s arrogance. One screams that Yoo-jin seems to hate only him, and Su-min counters, “No, no, he hates all of us equally!” Hahahaha.

The entire orchestra spills out of practice in an uproar over Yoo-jin, leaving Il-lac calling after them pitifully. The A Orchestra boys observe with a satisfied air.

Yoo-jin resumes practice, and finds that everyone has improved drastically, and they’re actually playing the way he wants them to… only to realize that he’s not actually conducting them. I mean, he’s standing there waving his baton, but no one is looking at him.

It takes a while before anyone even realizes he’s just standing there closing his eyes, and they apologize for paying too much attention to the score that they forgot to look at him.

That night, Nae-il tries to cheer him up, but Yoo-jin is dejected at the latest turn—he got the orchestra to play proficiently, but doesn’t know what’s missing. Nae-il plays the piano to encourage him to figure it out, and he laughs that she’s playing all wrong as usual, but it reminds him of the things he learned from playing with her and with Il-lac. It finally dawns on him why Streseman chose them: “idiosyncrasies without calculations.”

It’s the morning of the orchestra battle, and Nae-il tiptoes in to wake Yoo-jin. She sees him lying on the couch and whispers that if he doesn’t wake up, she’ll jump his bones, and then she actually does.

Only when she ends up within kissing distance, she’s the one who freaks out from sudden nerves. She jumps back and sits there awkwardly, and scares the daylights out of him when he stirs awake.

Dean Mina asks the judges to be fair when evaluating the orchestras today, and Teacher Do argues that Teacher Ahn can’t be a member of the judging panel when he’s the S Orchestra advisor. That’s when Streseman struts in, and offers his services as the final judge.

Yoo-jin walks to school dressed in a snazzy black suit and tie (don’t mind me while I swoon), and joins his orchestra in their rehearsal room. They’re all dressed up too, but the mood is heavy in the room, as they listen to a recording of the very impressive A Orchestra’s rehearsal.

Yoo-jin shuts the recording down and tells them not to listen to that, but Il-lac is basically shrinking with every note. He says dejectedly that he didn’t know they where that good, and Yoo-jin asks if they weren’t prepared for that level of skill in their opponents.

The others sigh, feeling the pressure, and wonder if they’ll have to disband. When Nae-il shouts that they can win, Il-lac lets out a defeated sigh and starts flipping through his sheet music rabidly.

Suddenly Yoo-jin walks over, grabs the music out of his hands, and rips it in half. Omo.

He throws the torn paper aside and his voice echoes throughout the tense room: “Everyone, rip up your sheet music!”

 
COMMENTS

Whoo, I’ve been waiting for some kind of revelation from Yoo-jin, who seemed to have forgotten all about the things he learned in playing his duets. Perhaps it’s not such an easily adaptable lesson when it comes to a full orchestra—you can’t expect the room to be full of musicians like Yoo-jin who can adapt to the others in the room. But he seems to have figured out that the key was in communicating with the person he’s playing with, and in this case he figured out that the sheet music was the thing standing in their way—without it, they’ll be forced to rely upon him completely, which means that he can mold their performances to match one another. I’m sure it’s only the first real hurdle that he’s barely figured out how to jump, but it feels nicely earned.

There’s a nice sense of building momentum where Yoo-jin is concerned (perhaps at the expense of all the other characters who essentially weave in and out of his story), because we witness his gradual development in layers—first his desire to conduct, his ownership of the orchestra, his frustration at them, at himself, and finally his moment of clarity. It’s an important lesson for his character, in that he could make them better musicians all day long, but that means very little if they aren’t communicating and playing together.

I don’t know what Streseman’s motivations are, but I suppose that’s the point since he’s capricious by nature, and at least his fickle attitude towards Yoo-jin and the orchestra gives Yoo-jin a chance to figure these things out on his own, instead of always being told he’s a terrible failure. I really like the dynamic that emerges when Yoo-jin takes ownership of his orchestra and begins to fix everyone above and beyond the call of duty. It’s the kind of stuff that I like about ensemble high school dramas, where it’s often the teacher who runs around helping students with their personal problems, building a sense of trust and creating a very real bond. That they’re a bunch of misfits is just icing on the cake.

I really love the way Il-lac is coming into his own as a character, and it’s nice to see that he’s actually a good leader who struggles with how best to play the middleman between fussy Yoo-jin and the downtrodden orchestra members. I think I’ll enjoy his journey as a musician most of all, because he plays beautifully but stands in his own way, always tripping over his feet and believing the worst about himself, when he should just drown out the noise. His bromance with Yoo-jin is already my favorite relationship (though Nae-il and Su-min’s hilarious rivalry comes in second), and I’m anticipating all the adorable ways in which Yoo-jin will build his confidence and make him great.

The first time I felt anything real for Nae-il’s romance with Yoo-jin was in this episode when she pulled away from him for the first time ever. She’s so overly affectionate that it’s often hard to take her seriously, but it was a nice touch to have her feel so much that she actually shied away from skinship. I actually felt her fluttery feelings as resembling real emotions for the first time, when she suddenly couldn’t even look at him or touch him. I hope there’s more of that in store, because the doggie costumes are cute and all, but I’ll take a solid beat of romantic tension over goofy antics any day of the week.

 
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