Maestra: Strings of Fact: Episodes 5-6
by mistyisles
Our tenacious conductor engages in a battle of wits on a number of fronts, with nobody to show to besides herself — and with the specter of a horrible destiny hanging over her, she will’t even totally belief herself the entire time. However those that dare attempt to come between her and her music quickly discover her a pressure to be reckoned with.
EPISODES 5-6
Now that individuals are beginning to study extra about Remington’s illness, the situation that Se-eum’s mom (performed by Yeh Soo-jung) has, we study extra about what it’s able to. Together with reminiscence loss and gradual paralysis, it additionally causes hallucinations and violent outbursts — therefore, Se-eum’s mom attacked her years in the past, believing within the second that Se-eum was a monster. Each ladies have been devastated by the incident, and their relationship has by no means recovered.
There’s no identified treatment or prevention for Remington’s, so — as Se-eum explains to Jung-jae — the longer she goes not understanding whether or not she’s inherited it, the longer she has hope to carry onto. Jung-jae isn’t happy (not that it’s any of his enterprise), however he delights in dangling her secret over her head to coerce breakfast dates and stress her to experience to work with him. Solely after a number of third events touch upon his conduct does he appear to register that he’s making issues troublesome for Se-eum, and he’s so surprised by the conclusion that he goes about in a daze for a whole day or two.
A type of events is his ex-wife, GO YU-RA (Choi Yoon-so), a broadcast station director, who cooks up an concept for a documentary about Se-eum and Pil’s marriage {and professional} partnership. Pil, having determined he needs Se-eum (and her inventive genius) again, fortunately agrees. Se-eum, not a lot. After her well-meaning father invitations the couple out for dinner, their argument involves a head — and Pil turns downright ugly. He’s identified concerning the Remington’s for some time, and now he claims he solely stored quiet as a result of he was her husband. In different phrases, her choices are: 1) return to pretending every thing is ok with their marriage or 2) he spills her secret to the world.
He thinks he’s received her trapped, however Se-eum one-ups him. She asks Jung-jae for photograph proof of Pil’s affair and makes use of the pictures to get Pil fired from his professorship. “Should you wished forgiveness, you shouldn’t have crossed a line,” she tells him, just like the boss she is.
Whereas coping with all this, Se-eum has additionally been struggling nightmares wherein she begins displaying early indicators of Remington’s — together with hallucinations — in entrance of your entire orchestra. So when she feels water droplets on her face in the course of rehearsal, she freezes in terror. The opposite musicians don’t appear to see the droplets… till the fireplace sprinklers out of the blue activate in full pressure. Everybody scrambles to avoid wasting the devices whereas Se-eum breathes an enormous sigh of reduction.
There’s no fireplace, however the devices and follow room maintain important water injury. And Pil chooses that second of chaos to wheel Se-eum’s mom into the hallway. Se-eum has no likelihood to flee or cover, however her mom zeroes in on Ru-na and her dripping moist violin as a substitute. Distressed, Mother grabs the violin, which finally clatters to the ground in items. Mother then proceeds to wail, resist Se-eum’s makes an attempt to relocate her, and faint. Pil tries to look thoughtful and take Se-eum’s place for the ambulance experience again to the nursing facility, however Se-eum jumps in earlier than he can.
Once more, Jung-jae is there to select her up later that evening. In all equity, he presents a considerably official purpose this time (it’s too late at evening for taxis), however he nonetheless corners her into accepting the experience. When he asks how she’d like him to “deal with” Pil, she wearily asks him to not do something — she’ll deal with it. She notifies Pil that if he gained’t signal the papers, she’ll take him to court docket, after which fills her father and greatest buddy in on the approaching divorce.
The musicians who complained about Ru-na being appointed concertmaster now ridicule her for utilizing a rental instrument as a substitute of getting a model new substitute. Ru-na can’t afford a brand new violin, and may’t convey herself to ask for a mortgage from her soon-to-be-married older sister, so she tries her greatest to let the insults roll off her again. Then Se-eum presents Ru-na her personal violin — made particularly for her by her father — and he or she would possibly as properly have given Ru-na the moon itself. If Ru-na wasn’t already Se-eum’s greatest fan, she positive is now.
Then, out of the blue, information breaks about Se-eum’s risk of inheriting Remington’s. Pil insists he didn’t leak it, however Se-eum is aware of that already… as a result of she did. She’s used Pil’s trump card herself, robbing him of leverage. Plus, she will get to elucidate on her personal phrases that her well being will not at all intervene with the orchestra’s success — if she begins displaying signs, she’ll step down.
As the subsequent live performance attracts close to, Ru-na provides Se-eum a pen she discovered within the violin case. It belonged to Se-eum’s mom, who gave it to her in a second of readability following the hallucination-induced assault. The onslaught of reminiscences lastly emboldens Se-eum to go to her mom and confess that she was afraid of seeing her like this. Mother is in her proper thoughts for as soon as, they usually have a candy, tearful second of reconciliation earlier than Mother relapses into screaming about monsters and gasping for breath. She begs Se-eum to not name the nurse and to let her die as a substitute. Although we don’t see how lengthy Se-eum hesitates, nurses ultimately rush in to try resuscitation, and Se-eum proceeds to the live performance. As the ultimate notes fade, so does her mom’s life.
Pil is terrible when he’s beginning to look much more manipulative and controlling than Jung-jae. Or, not less than, he appears to wish to seem that highly effective. However the ease with which Se-eum repeatedly takes the wind out of his sails proves in any other case. And the identical goes for Ah-jin, who retains attempting to intimidate Se-eum, just for Se-eum to nonchalantly poke holes in her threats. It could virtually be comical if coping with the 2 of them weren’t inflicting Se-eum a lot emotional pressure on prime of her preexisting trauma.
As for Jung-jae himself, I’d prefer to assume he’s heading for a redemption arc the place he learns to hearken to what Se-eum needs as a substitute of bulldozing by way of with what he thinks is greatest for her. Realizing he’s bothering Se-eum was step one, and acknowledging that she did have issues dealt with with Pil was one other step ahead. However he’s nonetheless received a protracted solution to go. So for now, I simply need Se-eum to get distant from each males and freely dwell her personal life, Remington’s or no Remington’s.
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