Early Access: Do You Like Brahms? E1 (Patreon)

E1. There's an underdog quality to this story that appeals to me.

Song Ah is a latecomer to violin compared to her schoolmates, and that already puts the odds against her, before we even get to family pressure for her to do something successful with her life already. The way people view Song Ah seems to be a mix of curiosity and pity, because she's older than the rest of her course mates and last in class, to boot. I can see why there's a contrast between her joyful smile at being accepted as a freshman, and her more muted and reserved vibe in her senior year. It feels like all that hopeful joy has been worn down over the years, by all the judgment by other people, intentional or not. I don't know if it's realistic to root for Song Ah to achieve her violin dreams, but I do want her to find her mojo and stop feeling like she doesn't have the right to be where she is.

I get why everyone says Kim Min Jae is appealing in this. He is admittedly the most attractive I've seen him. He kinda reminds me of Yoo Seung Ho in this, in that they're both not the towering sort of male leads that Dramaland tends to favor. He possesses a clean-cut charm about him, and I do enjoy his low voice very nicely. I'm also impressed that he plays the piano himself, for the role. Those aren't easy piano pieces, so it couldn't have been easy, even though he's learned piano before, in middle school.

I rather like that both of our leads are shy awkward types, even though they are on very different places on the musician spectrum, with him being a superstar pianist, and her being a struggling rookie musician who gets dismissed from the room because she's last in class. I'm curious to see how these two characters connect, and how they help each other, across that huge divide.

So far, Show seems in tune with the struggle of the average musician. The calluses from long hours of practice; the question of whether they'll be able to make a career out of music; the doubts from family; it all feels true to life. Song Ah being casually (though likely unintentionally) marginalized, because she's older than her course mates, also feels true to life.

I'm not sure how I feel about our story mirroring the love triangle involving Brahms, Schumann and Clara. It looks like there may be not one, but two love triangles in our story, and that feels like one love triangle too many.

So far, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll enjoy this one, though it's too early to tell if I'll love it.