Beethoven Virus: Episode 13

by Sevenses

Today in class we were asked to vote for Obama… I wonder if the student speaker realizes we’re in Canada? 😀

Screencap credit to Luv and sayroo.

Isn’t she cute?

SONG OF THE DAY

牛奶@咖啡 / Milk@Coffee – “蝶恋花” (The Flower that Loves a Butterfly), by a Chinese indie group. Someone recently reminded me of the song (discussing the repeat butterfly motif in Painter) and I thought it would be nice to put it up. [ Download ]

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Episode 13

We begin with that confrontation from last episode, with Junior asserting his own independence.

Gun Woo goes back inside, and this is one of the differences right here – instead of just ploughing ahead, he actually tells the orchestra what he intends to do, making them part of the decision-making process. He also changes the piece to Tchaikovsky’s 1st piano concerto. Kang listens in from the outside, conflicting emotions apparent just from the frozen way he stands. (In case you missed it the first ten times, I love KMM.)

Then again, this is Kang Mae we’re talking about, so he walks stiffly away in anger.

The next day, Ru Mi is late to practice.

She wakes up in bed, blissfully happy, and then realizes that she’s missed her alarm clock by several hours. As she dashes from her answering machine to her stereo system, Ru Mi realizes what we’ve known from the moment she’s picked up the clock – she’s lost her hearing.

It’s a bad day for almost everyone, as Kang torments his orchestra simply by being in a bad mood. During a break, Ru Mi requests to see him, but he’s busy. When Kang looks outside for her, she’s gone already.

Not wanting to use his own cell, Gun Woo asks Park to text (the very late) Ru Mi. She replies that she’s gone to see her mother, which Gun Woo realizes is false, as her mother went on a trip last week. The man has his own problems, as his daughter calls him, assuming that her father is at work.

At the clinic, Ru Mi receives a call from Gun Woo, though she doesn’t hear the ringtone and fumbles through the conversation. He knows something’s up just through her voice, but as the conductor, he has to start practice.

The check up reveals that the loss of hearing will become permanent in a while, even with the use of medication (anti-inflammatory, and thus only holds off the deafness temporarily). She wanders around and finds the children’s choir singing, and her hearing comes back for the moment. Ru Mi crumbles to the floor in relief, though there’s a fair bit of sadness mixed in there too.

When she gets home, Gun Woo is waiting outside her house, and tests her by making her repeat what he said. She reveals that the meds are doing their work at the moment, then lies about having told Kang Mae.

Comforted if not exactly reassured, Gun Woo comes home and does various chores for Kang, who intersperses terse criticisms about his conducting between barked demands for various things. As if he hasn’t heard anything, Junior asks Kang Mae to take good care of Ru Mi.

The next day, Gun Woo hands in the sample of Tchaikovsky’s 1st piano concerto.

This episode seems to be one for hospitals, as Yi Deun brings in grandpa Kim for a checkup. It’s ostensibly for his ongoing cold, but in fact the doctor is checking for dementia. Kim becomes angry when he realizes this, though Yi Deun chases after him and explains that this is the first time he’s been lucid in a week’s time.

We learn that his daughter Young Joo died in a traffic accident when she was Yi Deun’s age, and that she also played the flute. In fact, he’d forced her to play and register for the contest. Young Joo refused to participate and died after running away from home. Upon finding out that she’s very similar to his long-dead daughter, Yi Deun demands that he remember her name, a simple concession after so many months spent together.

They go back inside to continue the checkup.

A week later, every other member of the orchestra take turns calling at the office, and the registration personnel is always ‘out for coffee’. (Ru Mi is getting a hearing aid here.) The undersecretary, now Kang’s chauffeur, tells Kang that the selection committee probably doesn’t take the newbie Mouse Orchestra seriously. This is totally proven true when Kang visits and sees the demo CD in the trash bin as the cleaning lady rolls by.

Kang’s so cute! He’s at the music centre to see the reporter and a member of the selection committee, who’s also compiling pieces played by the city orchestra. When asked if he has a recording of any pieces, since Kang Mae is infamous for hating studios, he ‘accidentally’ gives the Mouse Orchestra CD instead. Both the listeners remark that the style is a refreshing departure of the traditional style Kang Mae favours.

The maestro asks to change the CD, but the member of the selection committee is impressed at the skill of the unknown orchestra. The reporter knowingly asks, off to the side, whether this is the same group of people he was warning Kang Mae about, and receives a tirade on how useless and annoying they are. (But we see through you, Kang Mae, we totally do.)

Even when they know about the particular ‘faults’ of the musicians, both men still love the rough, unpolished sound for its energy and life. Kang’s face changes from peeved to satisfied during the course of their conversation, which shows that he still cares if people criticize his Irregulars.

Kang keeps insisting that the Irregular orchestra is useless, though the men think otherwise, especially after they hear that the conductor didn’t even go to music school. (The reporter dude looks suspicious, but he’s amused.)

During practice, everyone stares at Gun Woo’s phone. During their second run through a slow piece, Ru Mi stops playing and points at the phone. We can afford to sit back and relax when they’re so tense because we know that they’re in – Gun Woo pretends to be unhappy but then tells them that their orchestra qualified.

Celebrations all around, and the group goes for drinks after practice. Hee Yun is still annoyed at Ru Mi, but Gun Woo is friendly and gains the admiration of the others, who universally consider him a cool guy. Ru Mi sneaks out and texts Kang Mae, encouraging a reconciliation as well as telling him that they qualified. (Her mom is just being used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like sneaking out.)

After the celebration, which must have run pretty late, Gun Woo returns home, where Senior is doing a really bad job of trying to get him to talk. Fortunately, Gun Woo takes the first step and asks for a game of poker, for rather higher stakes than the two should. Oh well, they can take it.

In between adding more money and flipping the cards, they have a conversation. Kang doesn’t remember meeting Gun Woo ten years ago at all, though he does keep harping Junior about seeking perfection. Then he bets his conductor’s baton.

Gun Woo wins. (Being a poker n00b, I have no idea how a king, queen and a nine wins two aces and a four, but okay.) He also admits that he’s listened to and remembered every single word Kang’s said. Kang probably lost on purpose so he could give the conductor’s baton to Gun Woo (it’s the one he started out with, which makes it more significant).

Before going to bed, Gun Woo stops and asks the same question Ru Mi did earlier in the day – Did Kang help them out?

The next day everyone’s busy setting up the outdoor venue. Both Hee Yun and Park have trouble at home, with Hee Yun’s daughter angry at being neglected and Park’s wife not knowing he’s been laid off.

Park rushes to the concert hall, to at least appear to be part of the orchestra. Outside, during a squabble between Park’s daughter and another girl, the truth comes out. Kang appears at the last minute and apologizes for the situation, and tells Park’s dismayed wife that her husband’s performing with the city orchestra tonight. (That was nice of him.)

Of course, Park isn’t off the hook. She’s more angry about the not telling than the actual fact of his being laid off.

Up in the safety of his office, the mayor is freaking out about Mouse Orchestra’s qualification. He isn’t completely powerless to sabotage them, however, and sends construction workers to the area where Mouse is performing.

Right before the concert, Kim goes through another episode, and this time Yi Deun goes through with the charade of being his daughter, and smoothes things over. Things just don’t seem destined to go well, however, as the organizer of the music festival calls Gun Woo aside to joke about how supportive Kang Mae is.

None of the news sits well with Gun Woo, who goes to see Kang right before both of their concerts. Junior is disappointed, because he always thought that Kang Mae had their best interests at heart (he does, but Gun Woo’s just not hearing it). As Kang Mae goes on to say how useless they all are, Gun Woo asks him if he said this to Ru Mi too, if he was this harsh when Ru Mi lost her hearing.

Now it’s Kang’s turn to be puzzled and shocked. Gun Woo announces that he dislikes Ru Mi for choosing to like Kang, and decides to fight against Kang Mae for real this time. He also gives back the baton and walks away.

End episode.

Commentary/Rambling:

– LJA did well in this episode, especially during the scene when she realizes that she’s deaf. And I was all worried. 😀

– I get the feeling that i’ve seen this plot device before. It really seems like they’re manufacturing conflict, because to me, Kang helping them out wasn’t such a huge deal – they were going to be binned, okay? Also, wishing for a bit of subtlety, though all this shouting does have its upsides.

– People have wanted to know what Kang Mae’s ringtone was – it’s a violin version of the 3rd movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8, the Pathétique (thanks, Evange!). Gun Woo’s is a more modern version of the Winter motif from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Sevenses

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