Cantabile Tomorrow: Episode 6

by girlfriday

It’s a great episode with big moments of heart from everyone — our once cold hero, our maturing heroine, and even the crazy maestro with a hidden agenda. The introduction of a new character also shakes up the story in a really fun way, by giving our hero a run for his money when it comes to his pride, his teacher, and yes… even his girl.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Ravel – “Jeux d’eau” (Water Games) [ Download ]

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LESSON 6 RECAP

After playfully pushing Yoo-jin into the pool, Nae-il and the boys watch curiously as he splashes around and then remains below the surface. They don’t know that he’s having a post-traumatic panic attack of some sort, and that he’s lying on the floor of the pool thinking he’s going to die.

Suddenly a boy standing nearby jumps in to rescue him, and drags Yoo-jin out of the pool and revives him. Without so much as a thank-you from the others, he gets pushed aside by Nae-il, who cries for Orabang to wake up.

Yoo-jin’s panic attack continues as he rests in the first-aid room, and when the memory of his plane crash in the ocean subsides, he gets up and sighs that there’s really no chance of him ever studying abroad.

The boy from the pool, LEE YOON-HOO (Park Bo-gum), gets chauffeured away, and when his mother calls to complain about his sudden detour to a waterpark, he answers pleasantly that it wasn’t much fun once he got there, but his aim was to try something not because he had to, but just because he wanted to.

Curiously, he takes his phone out and opens up a bucket list, and crosses off “Go to waterpark.” The other things on his list include going on a trip with his parents, and watching movies all day long. He starts to expand the list, but stops—perhaps he can’t think of anything he wants to do?

The three stooges sit outside Yoo-jin’s room at the resort, worried that he’s sleeping all day but too terrified to check on him in case he hates them. But Streseman comes downstairs dragging Yoo-jin by the ear like an errant puppy, and Nae-il cries that Yoo-jin is a recovering patient right now.

Streseman just gets distracted by how pretty she is and says he did well to invite her to the festival. The three stooges suddenly gape, “Did you nominate based on looks?” Yoo-jin tells them not to believe that, though he asks if Streseman nominated him to have a lackey handy.

Nae-il and Su-min take up their posts on either side of Yoo-jin, declaring that they’re going to protect him, and even Il-lac follows suit with a stranglehold. I sort of wish they would walk around this way.

They argue that Streseman has some very important voting to do (the tiebreaker for their orchestra battle), but he asks cryptically which orchestra they think benefited most when he abstained. That shuts them up, and Streseman yanks Yoo-jin away by the ear.

The music festival’s director Teacher Yoon walks around the grounds nagging the students to behave properly, and seems displeased with everyone until she comes across Yoon-hoo, who greets her warmly with a hug and calls her teacher.

He’s a total smooth-talker who lays on the compliments pretty thick, but he seems sincere when he says very sweetly that she has the most beautiful hands he’s ever known: “They make a person excited, enraptured, and sad.” He means her piano playing, of course, and she can’t help but smile.

She’s happy that he was able to make it back from a UNICEF concert in Europe in time, and says the quality of the performers is better now, complaining that Streseman brought some strange students with him. Yoon-hoo just perks up to hear that Streseman is here.

Streseman is busy poolside trying to acrobatically take a good selca to send to Dean Mina. She calls first and lets him know that she’s mad about his stunt, but already knows what he’s going to say—that it was just one piece of the big picture.

He agrees readily, but she sighs that she doesn’t know anymore whether he’s got a big picture plan, or just changes his mind on a whim. Yeah, join the club. She hangs up on him as her own tiny form of revenge, and the rejection throws him.

Yoon-hoo comes across Nae-il trying to climb a lamppost and catches her before she falls. She asks him to help her out and go tell Yoo-jin to sit closer by the window—she can’t see him this way, and she suffers from Orabang Withdrawal if she doesn’t see him every two hours. Ha. Or, you could just go in there?

She’s odd but Yoon-hoo is amused, and he remembers her now as the same girl who cried for Orabang back at the waterpark. She doesn’t remember him, but he says to himself that they’re meeting again.

At first he wonders why he should listen to her request, but when she’s like, Sure, whatever and starts climbing the lamppost again, he takes her by the wrist and agrees to help her see her Orabang.

Yoo-jin stares blankly when Yoon-hoo walks in and just introduces himself, and then sighs, “You followed me all the way here?” Yoon-hoo is taken aback, until he realizes that Yoo-jin isn’t even talking to him.

Nae-il pokes her head out from behind Yoon-hoo, and Yoo-jin grabs her by the wrist to lead her out. But Yoon-hoo holds onto the wrist he’s already holding, and Nae-il gets stretched like Gumby between them.

They’re already annoying me with the double wrist-grabs, but then the boys start arguing. Yoon-hoo asks how Yoo-jin can treat a woman this way, and Yoo-jin just looks down at Nae-il, “This thing?” Did you eat your barbarian flakes this morning?

They stand there like that still holding Nae-il from both sides with animosity growing by the second, until Streseman interrupts and demands ice water. Yoon-hoo greets the maestro and asks if he remembers coming to a solo concert of his, and Nae-il even recognizes Yoon-hoo by name as a famous cellist.

Yoo-jin is obviously upset that this guy is a world-class talent, and it peeves him even more when Streseman praises his recital as memorable. Yoo-jin, on the other hand, just gets told to fetch ice water like a gofer. Yoon-hoo beats him to the punch with a glass and they get into another tiff over which water, ice or room temperature, he’s to drink, and Yoo-jin wins this round.

Streseman decides he’s going to drink massive amounts of liquor to soothe his broken heart, and Nae-il gleefully says she wants to come too. But before Streseman can lure her into a night of drunken partying, Yoo-jin snaps at her to practice for her performance and leads Streseman out. Nae-il just sighs after them that her real rival for Yoo-jin’s affections is the maestro.

Yoo-jin ends up piggybacking a drunk Streseman back to his room later that night, and mutters out loud that he came all this way to be the old fogey’s errand boy. Streseman slurs that he can hear him, and complains about him calling his teacher an old fogey. He asks if Yoo-jin really thinks these are pointless missions.

That gets Yoo-jin’s attention, and he listens carefully as Streseman asks how a guy who doesn’t even know his musicians’ faces can conduct. “Why is a conductor’s position in the center? To be seen well by his orchestra members. To see them well.”

Streseman falls asleep while murmuring that Yoo-jin is just now starting to resemble a real conductor, and Yoo-jin goes back to tuck him into bed. He sits outside studying the sheet music on the table, and Streseman peeks at him with a tiny hint of a smile. Aw, you ARE sneak-teaching him!

Teacher Do worries about how Streseman and his flunkies are doing at the music festival, and asks Teacher Ahn for an update, hoping that they’re not as terrible as he thinks they are.

Cut to: Il-lac getting kicked out of practice for sucking, and Su-min getting kicked out of practice for too much performance flair. Nae-il is their last hope, and she assures them that she practiced. The boys warn her that the piano instructor Teacher Yoon is famously strict and scary, and that suddenly puts Nae-il on edge.

By the time she gets to practice she’s worked herself into a nervous fright, and the sight of Teacher Yoon barking at her students with a giant stick in her hand isn’t helping any. Nae-il is barely able to make it to the piano for her turn, and when she flubs right away, Teacher Yoon snaps her in the back with her stick. Yikes.

At the teacher’s prompting, Nae-il tries to focus on the music and start again, but it triggers a memory of her shrill childhood piano teacher who used to beat her hands with a ruler and force her to play a song a thousand times over if she made mistakes. The teacher literally told her that playing piano isn’t for fun—it’s her future.

That song in her memory rings in her ears and she freezes up entirely. She finally runs out of the classroom in a terror and collapses on a bench outside, awash in tears. She had played through her tears as a child, and as she calms herself down now, she can only think of one thing: Orabang.

She grabs his hand and holds onto it for dear life, and he asks if she’s a puppy (in an endearing way), before pulling away. He doesn’t know how upset she is, and just asks about her class. But when she says she just wants to go home, he gets stern and tells her to go ahead then, and not half-ass an opportunity that someone else would kill for.

It’s a harsh thing that perhaps she needs to hear, but the timing is terrible and she wipes away fresh tears.

Back on campus, ex-girlfriend Do-kyung stops by the coffee shop to catch up with Yoo-jin’s mom, and Mini Min-hee calls Nae-il to ask why Yoo-jin’s girlfriend is visiting someone else’s mom and acting like a daughter-in-law. Oh right, they don’t know that Mom is his mom yet. Nae-il says that Do-kyung is an ex, and Min-hee seems relieved.

Streseman is so hungover that he spends the whole day crawling in and out of the bathroom, and when a festival coordinator asks what they’re supposed to do about the ensemble workshop he’s conducting today, Streseman points at Yoo-jin and says his pupil will take his place.

Yoo-jin gapes, while the coordinator beams to hear that he’s Streseman’s student and happily agrees to the last-minute change. So just like that, Yoo-jin conducts the ensemble workshop, and a crowd of onlookers begins to gather.

He’s good, and Yoon-hoo looks a little shocked as he watches in the background. A reporter walks out gushing about the performance, and gasps to hear that Yoo-jin’s father is a famous pianist. Teacher Yoon comments that Streseman never takes on students, and others around her wonder where he’ll study overseas.

Nae-il walks up and her face falls to hear them talk about Yoo-jin going far away, and Il-lac admits that he’s jealous of Yoo-jin’s looks and skills. But Nae-il is wisful as she says, “That’s why I liked him… but now that’s what makes me nervous.”

Do-kyung goes to meet Dean Mina, who tries to comfort her about losing the lead role in her audition. Mina tries to tell her that with a little more effort next time… but Do-kyung cuts her off to say that effort has brought her this far, but in a place like this, effort can’t compete with the geniuses and their natural talent.

Do-kyung says it’s okay if she isn’t a genius, and that she’ll have to be satisfied with standing next to one instead. If you were talking about taking the second lead role in an opera, I’d say good for you. But I’m pretty sure you mean you’ll have Yoo-jin instead, and that makes me feel icky AND sorry for you.

A Orchestra’s concertmistress Shi-won calls Su-min to ask how the festival is going, and Il-lac suddenly buzzes around him excitedly, even cuddling just to try and hear what Shi-won is saying. Su-min pushes him away and calls him a pervert, and Il-lac’s main concern is that Shi-won overheard him.

The boys swoon as Yoo-jin gets dressed up for dinner with Teacher Yoon, and he wonders where Nae-il is but again doesn’t dwell on it for very long. At dinner, Yoo-jin apologizes for Streseman’s absence and tries to lie that he’s not feeling well, but Teacher Yoon is all too familiar with Streseman’s drinking habits (which by the way is four bottles of wine, holy moly).

Her colleagues say that Yoo-jin lives up to Streseman’s name as a pupil, and Teacher Yoon interjects to say that he’s the only one—the others, she says, “Are the worst!” She complains most about Nae-il, and it’s only now that Yoo-jin learns what happened in her class and why she was so spooked.

Yoo-jin defends them boldly, and says that they aren’t the worst: Il-lac is a violinist who enjoys emotional expression, Su-min is diligent and talented, and Nae-il isn’t thoughtless—she’s innocent and simply enjoys playing the piano.

He bows and takes his leave, and then runs all over the grounds looking for Nae-il. Awww.

Yoon-hoo finds Streseman and asks if he has time for a chat, and Streseman points out disapprovingly that Yoon-hoo seems to have all kinds of time on his hands since he stopped playing the cello. Hm.

Without even having to be prompted by the question, Streseman tells him, “Do what you want to do. Until you want to do it again.” He leaves Yoon-hoo with tears pooling in his eyes, and he wonders aloud what he’s supposed to do if he does that and still doesn’t want to do it.

He’s slowly drawn out of his reverie by the sound of a piano—it’s Nae-il, playing a beautiful rendition of Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau.” He follows the sound of the piano and lights up when he sees her, so engrossed in playing in the dark that she doesn’t notice him.

Yoon-hoo wonders to himself if such speed is even possible, but decides that the feeling isn’t because of speed alone. He turns around excitedly, thinking, “‘Water Games,’ I want to play it too.” She stops when she notices him, and he approaches to ask her why she’s playing alone and not getting evaluated at the festival.

Yoo-jin finally finds her, but happens to arrive just in time to see her smiling at Yoon-hoo. He turns to go with a frown, and Nae-il thankfully catches him leaving and runs after him. She tells Yoo-jin that she played her evaluation piece—she did it alone, but she worked really hard and she played it well.

When she tries to approach him, he coldly tells her to stop following him and shouts, “Why do you keep making me so concerned?!” He yells at her for following him and turning his insides out, as if it’s her fault that he cares.

Of course Nae-il doesn’t read between the lines, and only frets that she did something wrong to make him mad at her. She says she’s sorry even though she doesn’t know what she did. He sighs and sticks out his hand for her to hold: “C’mere.” Omg cute.

She inches her feet forward but is so nervous that she can’t even take his hand, so he just pulls her close and puts an arm around her. He pats her on the shoulder to comfort her, and then as they walk back like that, he tells her not to be too happy, ’cause he’s only doing it because it’s cold out and she might trip in the dark. UH-HUH.

Back in his room, Yoon-hoo looks over at his cello and down at his hand, and feels inspired to play again. He finally thinks of something to add to his bucket list and writes: “Play the cello as long as my fingers will allow.”

The foursome leaves the festival in good spirits, which naturally drives Yoo-jin crazy the whole ride home. Back at the coffee shop, Min-hee spends the afternoon being “helped” by Oboe and Clarinet sunbaes, who discover that they had the same idea to win her over and run off bickering.

Min-hee is much happier when Nae-il arrives with food for her, and assures her that Do-kyung is definitely dating someone new now because she acted exactly like a daughter-in-law around their boss. Mom overhears Nae-il bragging that Yoo-jin praised her and patted her on the head, and she thinks to herself that the girl is little hapless but she’s kind and that’s what’s important.

Meanwhile, Yoon-hoo arrives in Seoul and his driver asks what’s gotten into him—he’s changing his plans even though his mother will be expecting him on a plane. Yoon-hoo just says with a smile that he’s found something he wants to do, and adds another thing to his bucket list: date a strange girl he’s never met before.

To that end, he arrives on Haneum’s campus and tells Dean Mina that he wants to be a student here. She already knows who he is and wonders why on earth a Juilliard student would want to transfer here. He lets his guard down a little and says that he’s wearied by the competition: “Just once I want to enjoy music with other kids my age.”

Il-lac goes googly-eyed while spying on Shi-won, and Chef Dad has the total opposite reaction, annoyed that she and her A Orchestra friends keep coming here. It’s cute that Dad is mad because she beat Il-lac in the violin battle, while Il-lac tries to talk her up because he has a secret crush.

He works up the nerve to sneak up to her table and says he has something to tell her. He whispers something into her ear and shrinks away, and she tells her friends that all he said was that he’s not a pervert. Haha. Yeah, but now she thinks you’re a weirdo.

The school’s board is up in arms over their students’ terrible showing in the music festival, and they gather to discuss punishment. Streseman says they should be punished if they did something wrong… but then adds that if he had known, he might not have sent Yoo-jin to an interview.

Yoo-jin is just as surprised, having gone to the meeting at Streseman’s request. When the journalist introduces herself, he says he isn’t interested in being interviewed about his father, but she explains that this is about him, and that Streseman suggested him for the piece in his place as his student.

The board chairwoman immediately rethinks her stance if Yoo-jin is willing to interview (he’s always turned down previous requests to do so to promote the school), and Streseman warns her to stop trying to take their music and sell it, adding the threat that if she continues, he’ll crush her.

Mina follows him out to thank him for saying the things she always wanted to but couldn’t, then asks for him to make a decision about the orchestras. But Streseman says that isn’t up to him—even if it takes time, it’s for the students to decide for themselves. The chairwoman has had enough of Streseman’s antics though, and tells Teacher Do to get rid of him after the school’s upcoming music festival.

At Yoo-jin’s interview, the reporter is the one to tell him that he’ll be playing piano with his orchestra at the school’s festival, and that Streseman himself will be conducting. It’s pretty funny how he’s the one asking the journalist questions about himself: What song will I be playing? When will I be playing this?

I don’t know how she found out, but Do-kyung comes by knowing that Yoo-jin has an interview, and the reporter is eager to get a beautiful campus couple on camera. But Nae-il stands between them and announces that Do-kyung is the ex, while she’s the present girlfriend. Yoo-jin doesn’t look happy, but he’s also not contradicting her, and he’s not pushing her away either.

The reporter asks Nae-il to get out of frame, but I like that she doesn’t back down. Do-kyung says she’s the one who should leave since they’re just friends, and Chef Dad watches her go sighing that she’d be perfect for Il-lac.

Streseman’s attitude towards Yoo-jin has changed immensely, and he even sits him down for a lesson on what’s important as a conductor. He says that good health is crucial in order to maintain tempo, and warns him against too much liquor. He can’t help himself and adds the petty advice not to be old and boring like (Yoo-jin’s idol) Viera.

Streseman makes sure that Yoo-jin doesn’t think the conductor’s podium is for looking down on his orchestra, and Yoo-jin says it’s so that he can best see his orchestra. Streseman jokes that he should learn humility first then, and they actually laugh together.

He asks Yoo-jin which orchestra he’d vote for—A or S—and asks him to think on it. Nae-il runs up to Yoo-jin in a panic over her impending test and begs for his help, but he’s still lost in thought over the question and wonders to himself which orchestra is right: “Or in music, is there such a thing as ‘right’?”

He says that classical music is most beautiful when that perfect, calculated beauty that’s promised on the page is delivered. But then as he thinks about the S Orchestra, he wonders if music that doesn’t communicate to audiences has any worth. Classical music may eschew freestyle expression, but wasn’t that music made following the trends of the time?

He’s so engrossed in thought that he doesn’t hear anything that Nae-il is saying, and she pouts that he’s always thinking these days and never plays with her anymore. He’s not done thinking though, and pushes her aside gruffly, not even noticing that she’s fallen to the ground.

She’s upset, but calls after him to say that if he comes back by the count of three, she’ll forgive him. Aw, you really are sweeter than he deserves. She starts to count, but gets nervous when she gets to two-and-three-quarters…

Suddenly Yoon-hoo appears by her side and says that she and Yoo-jin are the same as always. He stretches out his hand and helps her up like a gentleman, and Yoo-jin turns around, suddenly very interested in what Nae-il is up to.

Yoon-hoo says that surely Yoo-jin didn’t miss him, then turns to Nae-il: “But what about you—didn’t you miss me?” At that, Yoo-jin marches over to them and pulls Nae-il right into his chest, and stares Yoon-hoo down.

 
COMMENTS

Eeee! I know he’s just jealous, but I still love it anyway. Frankly, Yoo-jin could use a good kick in the pants from a handsome rival who actually treats Nae-il well. The thing is, I think Yoo-jin does treat her well when it counts and especially when no one else is around, but he’s still got a lot to learn about basic courtesy and taking her adoration for granted. That’s the part I’d like to see him lose a little, so that he learns to appreciate it more. By now he isn’t actively pushing her away, and sometimes even seeks her out on purpose, which is a pretty big step forward. The moment that really got me excited in this episode was when he took off running to go find Nae-il after hearing that she was scolded in class. It was so earnest and sweet, and it didn’t matter that the moment of pain had passed for her; he still had to comfort her.

I really like the addition of Yoon-hoo, who’s an interesting character right off the bat. I find his crisis compelling (whether or not there’s a mystery ailment attached), that music has become entirely rote and just a form of competition to him. It’s believable that he’s mesmerized by Nae-il’s piano performance and inspired by it to enjoy music again, because that’s exactly who she is, and what she did to Yoo-jin. I love that her music inspires others, which is maybe the best compliment there could be from one musician to another. When Yoon-hoo finds the desire to play again after listening to her play, it feels genuinely uplifting.

I’m looking forward to what the addition of a rival will do for the story, because this is a drama that could use a little more conflict. A love triangle will probably do wonders to advance the romance angle—there’s already loads of progress in one episode since Yoon-hoo’s arrival, and I honestly don’t count Do-kyung as anything useful to the story because I’m petty like that. There’s a huge difference between a boy who’s sincere about his feelings for Nae-il, and a girl who wants to use Yoo-jin to be her spotlight because she can’t get one on her own.

I know that right now Yoo-jin is mostly reacting out of jealousy, but I love love jealous antics in dramas, because they force people like Yoo-jin out of denial. He’s fiiiiiine to let Nae-il pine and pout when he’s the only one in her orbit, but now he’s clearly not going to stand by and let Yoon-hoo swoop in on his not-a-girlfriend, maybe-girlfriend. I know she won’t jump ship or even make him work for it, but I kinda hope he has to anyway.

It’s especially good to switch gears and get some conflict on the romance front, because in exchange we finally see some semblance of a teacher in Streseman, and Yoo-jin gets to begin a true teacher-disciple relationship with him. I was honestly confused and annoyed by the character until today, when I was relieved to see that he wasn’t totally thoughtless. In this light, his bizarre backwards lessons for Yoo-jin make sense, and even his delinquent avoidance of all teaching duties seems to have been for Yoo-jin’s benefit. I’m just glad we’re getting this change in him sooner rather than later, because now I have a chance to start caring about him as a character. And now that we know there are moments of true learning and connection between them, their bickering relationship becomes cute.

Nae-il has had a great trajectory over the last two episodes, and she’s become so much more interesting now that we’ve explored her trauma and even touched upon her fears in loving someone like Yoo-jin. I found her personal moment of triumph in this episode to be very moving. She can’t manage to play in front of a teacher who berates her, but she takes Yoo-jin’s admonishment to heart—I know that she isn’t playing for a formal evaluation, but it’s even more meaningful that she puts the same effort into playing the piece for herself. She’s the extreme in that she’s so far outside the system that she can’t even play within the confines of the festival’s rules, but that’s exactly why she inspires someone like Yoon-hoo, who forgot entirely what it was like to play because your fingers are itching to, and because the music moves you.

 
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