Do You Like Brahms? (2020)

Do You Like Brahms is a beautiful and resonate story about dreams. Even love is a dream for some.

Steady, emotional, understated, reserved, refined and mature are just the beginning adulation I can throw at this series. Do You Like Brahms is a rare breed in the Kdrama world that surprised and thrilled me. You will not find characters made for nothing more than comic relief. There aren't villains that laugh into the night, raise their eyebrows, and plot nefariously. There isn't a cavalcade of overly dramatic scenarios or major plot twists. No one falls into someone else's arms accidentally in slow motion. Lovers do not stare endlessly into each other's eyes. Characters do NOT talk to themselves and tell their inner feelings and thoughts to thin air, and by God there is NOT a title card near the end that tells us we have jumped X years later.

If this is what you are looking for then DYLB is likely not going to satiate. It's 8.1 current rating, as I write this, and middling top front page reviews are evidence. This series isn't next in the production line spitting out the same story, tropes, plot points, and journey with only names, job titles, actors, and costumes changed. It isn't light and fluffy. It isn't plastic, manufactured, and fake.

This is a journey of the heart, much in line with stronger fare like this years Yumi's Cells (Minus the annoying animation), or Thailand's I Told Sunset About You (But older and hetero). This is a story of real people, their dreams, their trials, their loss, and most importantly their loves. It moves gradually and purposefully. The story flows outward from the characters blossoming, growing, and becoming more complicated. Like life, it causes pain and shows how we hurt equally to our joy and happiness.

Our female protagonist Song Ah can be summed up in one word, "Mousy." Park Eun Bin has a rather tough line to straddle in portraying Song Ah. It would be very easy NOT to like her as her main traits are being a pushover, never speaking her mind, and. well, generally losing at life. Song Ah shrinks like a violet at being noticed tucking her head down between her shoulders bowing and saying sorry. It is grating at times to watch, and the character will test your patience towards the end.

However, this is how it is supposed to be, and Park Eun Bin in most cases will keep you wanting more of Song Ah regardless. When our female lead finds some inner grit her portrayal delivers it humanly. When emotions threaten to overtake her, she delivers it without whaling theatrics. And when she swoons for our male lead succumbing to his looks and charms, we fully believe it and swoon along with her.

Kim Min Jae as Park Joon Young (our male protagonist) is nearly flawless. The character is given just as rich a tapestry to work with as our female lead. One could argue he is passive to a fault, silent to his detriment, and agreeable to a severity that becomes almost dishonest. To the world, he is a great pianist that is stoic, reserved, and sexy. To those in his life he is isolated, emotionless, and distant. Kim min Jae manages to give us all of this with ease while still bringing the character a warm, soft, and insecure well of inner struggle. When he smiles the world around him dissolves and you become powerless against him. When he hurts the pain seizes his face and burns behind his eyes. When he loves you love along with him and want him to find his peace and happiness.

The two leads are swimming in a sea of rich characters that make the story come alive with a push and pull that ebbs and flows. The story here, as the title eludes to a real life triangle of love and loss, is of people in love with their best friend's lovers. Both the leads are part of two separate trios which hide silent betrayals and masked emotions deep within them. We pick the story of these characters up here, because this is the time when what is beneath begins to ooze to the surface. Friends that have been separated by talent, study, and fame are brought together again and when they try to go back to the life they all had together previously, it simply no longer works and everything begins to break.

Park Ji Hyun as Lee Jung Kyung, is a powerhouse wrecking ball that cannot go unnoticed. She is severe and harsh as well as broken and lost and Park Ji Hyun brings this all to the screen in a subdued, realistic, and seething performance. The central female of our Male lead's friendship trio, she is loved by two men, in a relationship with one, and in lust with the other. Once a child violin prodigy she is now facing adulthood with her childhood sweetheart and a bevy of accolades from the top competitions and schools around the globe that seem to just let her know that her time is over and there is nothing left. At this crux she looks at those around her with jealousy and decides she wants more.

Han Hyun Ho played effortlessly by Kim Sung Chul is the third in this trio. He is the best friend to our male lead and in a ten year love with Jung Kyung that he is ready to move to marriage. When the underpinnings of this trio begin to buckle it is he that will be cut the most as it shatters. Kim Sung Chul shines in this role bringing raw emotion as his world is destroyed. He wants to hate but he loves too much. He wants to let go, but these people are his home and all he has ever known. It is unabashedly heartbreaking to watch and Sung Chul makes his screen time resonate within you.

Our female lead's trio is the opposite, two girls both in love with one guy. This trio takes a backseat to our other and isn't as well designed. Song Ah spends most of her screen time with Joon Young, dealing with the fallout of his group, and her daily struggles working while finishing her last year at university for the violin. Her female best friend Kang Min Sung (played by Bae Da Bin) gets the most screen time but is very much stuck in best friend territory. Her characters purpose is to be there just to serve as support for our female lead. When their trio cracks over revelations it is just as emotional as our other trio but not as impactful.

There are more characters on display, the side cast filling to the brim with talent and well drawn additions. Some will help us along this path. Some will hinder us greatly, and yes some more villainous characters do emerge. But, unfortunately taking the time to run through this gamut is too much. Just know there are some further treats in store if you decide to watch.

Now do not think this story is only about romance. The romance is its heart, the glue, and the driving force behind the scenes. But, DYLB is at its core about dreams. Dreams unfulfilled. Dreams put away. Dreams dissolved. Dreams rebuilt. Dreams born fresh. All of the main cast are at a precipice in their lives. Their next step of great weight in the trajectory of their forever and tomorrow. You watch, painstakingly, as they struggle to hold on to anything and everything. To simply not let go.

Love and romance are as much a dream as anything else. And like most dreams, more often than not, you must let it go. You will watch as characters who have worked hard at love lose it, just as characters who have worked hard at their craft give it up. You will see that, sadly, love picks us sometimes, just as talent chooses us and that is just the way the world works. The success of anything is never guaranteed and sadly, life owes us nothing and never promised us we would get what we want or be happy.

Writing this, I will not lie, I have tears. This aspect of the story broke me and made me so very connected to each and everyone on screen no matter how monstrous their actions became. Our female is a late-in-life violinist who sits last chair and is looked down upon by everyone. Our male lead is a piano prodigy that is sought after and respected. To watch how the story explores these two opposite ends of the spectrum is devastating. Everyone else is somewhere on the gradient between them in both skill and talent and the series moves steadily trying to explore how everyone has someone ahead of them as well as someone behind them.

My final words on this tale are simply watch it. It kept me in its grasp so tightly that I stayed up nearly 24 hours to binge all 16 episodes in a single sitting. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I made amends, I fell in love, I forgave, and my heart broke. I cared deeply for these characters and this world and allowed the story to carry me along in its song. While I wish someone would edit out all the love ballad background music (It destroyed certain scenes and is the only aspect that reminds you this is a product) there are just far too many. Everything else is nearly perfect. 9.5/A+/ 4 3/4th-stars. Exemplary and a must see especially if you are someone who hesitates when a job application asks you if a person gets where they are through hard work or luck.

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To be honest at first glance, I didn’t expect to take a liking to the story. The initial introduction to the plot was quite odd; like who'd think a story that somehow reference a relationship between two classical music composers had any relationship to these set of music student characters in the drama? But then I ended up watching the drama anyway and couldn't help becoming drawn towards the conflicts of the two main characters.

I wouldn't say that this is the best drama of the year that focused on the world of classical music, but the drama did give quite a heartwarming story about the struggles and hardships that could be faced by the characters in the drama. While there may be some parts that might be exaggerated too much or a bit cringy, the rest of the drama fared well enough that one may overlook the excessive parts.

For once I'm not bothered too much about the many references relating to the relationship between Brahms, Schumann and Clara, nor the many musical analogies that was present in this drama. I mean, considering the drama dealt with musical students, musical prodigies and people working behind the scenes of the classical music industry, it would've made sense for them to try relating their personal experiences to the past figures in classical music. Since the musicians in the drama would've spent most of their times practicing to become Ling Lings and wouldn't have a lot of exposure to things that didn't have much to do with classical music.

To wrap it up, I ended up growing fond of the characters in the drama. In a way, it's an interesting story about the lives of musical students who may feel insecure about their futures, as well as a (perhaps) one-sided relationship one may have with the things or people that they loved.

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Okay, so I just finished watching the show and came here to rate it, when I saw the other reviews.... and well then, I simply couldn't help but write another review.... because I totally LOVED the show.
Oh it wasn't perfect by any stretch, there were plenty of frustrating moments and less than desirable tropes.... and YET....I Loved it.
The beginning was that good... enough to sustain me through the lack luster episodes.
The things I absolutely loved about the show would include the cast, the amazing music and osts, the acting.... and of course.... the entire tone of the series. All the scenes have been shot in this cozy, comforting hue... it's sooooo aesthetically pleasing.
The cast... particularly Park Eun Bin and Kim Min Jae have done a spectacular job of portraying their characters,...so much so that they seem larger than life...

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This drama had a really promising start and it hooked me right away. But unfortunately somewhere along the middle half of the series, it lost it's magic for me.

We can literally skip 8 episodes and feel like we didn't really miss much. This is probably just really bad writing. The female lead had little to no character growth for those episodes that are skippable. It felt like the writer just recycled a misunderstanding plot over and over again.

The side characters were also equally underdeveloped. I couldn't really connect or feel sympathetic to them. Again, probably due to messy writing.

Part of the reason I stuck with this until the end were the main actors. They were really great at their roles. Anybody with less than stellar performance and this series could be a drop for me. Park Eun Bin's interpretation of Song Ah is so realistic. She made me root for Song Ah's growth even if I don't personally relate to the character.

This had all the potential to be the best melo romance series but it kind of fell short.

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I'm honestly not sure if I truly liked it (to some extent) or was just bewitched by aesthetics and the overall concept/idea of this drama. It had a few moments of poetic depth, but majority of the plot ideas got sacrificed for mediocre, bland and uncreative script.

A bumpy road towards one's dreams is nothing new story-wise, but I like the fact that Brahms does not sugarcoat this theme. Alongside the inspirational one-liners we have a bittersweet message that talent doesn't mean anything or that you are nothing without a talent. That sometimes destroying your dream is a road to true happiness (or not?). Maybe there will be a moment when you start to detest what you once cherished the most. Dreams/happiness is not something that's given to you and it may not be a permanent thing. And that's okay. As a story about young adults and their struggles with the stress inducing combo of work-passion-identity trio, it does an okay job.

I was interested in complicated relationship between Jung Kyung and Joon Young. No, not the love triangle lol, that was horrible. I'm talking about their weird codependency fueled by Jung Kyung's money/power dominance and Joon Young's hopeless love caught my attention. How it affected Joon Young's relationship with music, as well as his personality and interpersonal relations. It was a crippling, toxic relationship created with good intentions and pure feeling. However, the whole love trangle thing when all three of them were just staring at each other, looking gloomy and depressed like the members of a shoegaze band, speaking....exactly... like... that... for....some...reason was so hard to watch. Clichéd and tedious, without any solid, emotional punch line. I guess it did its job and triggered further self-exploration of the characters, but on its own it was just boring and slightly annoying to watch. I did care about the future of each character, but their relationship as a troubled thouple didn't move any strings in my heart.

I also liked the FL. I've seen a lot of people complaining about her lack of development, but I actually appreciate the consistency in her character. We're talking about a girl who has no sense of self-worth. Always self-conscious and anxious. Ready to hide deep within the walls of her own mind when something bad happens again. Endure the pain and try again. Repeat. It's like she still, despite being a full grown adult, doesn't know who she is. I was happy that her falling in love didn't really change anything/fix her problems. but her getting hurt by love forced her to do a big reality check and reflect. Seem like not much, but that's what I expected from such deeply insecure person. They change slowly, step by step. Small growth is still a growth. I liked that.

What bothers me the most is that Brahms never pushed the button to the fullest. There were ups and a lot of flat lines. dull, repetitive scenes, dragged plotlines, episodes that mashed into one pulp of empty spaces that could have been filled with emotions. I love that specific mellow, slow paced, poetic atmosphere in movies/drams, but sometimes Brahms was a little too much, too pretentious for my taste.
And...did I mention... long....







pauses?

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Do You Like Brahms? was a really good but harsh drama to watch. Our two main characters that we follow Song Ah and Joon Young face a lot of hardships in their professional and personal lives. Family, friends, co-workers, classmates - it's a a series that gives a lot of resembelnce to real life struggles and how it doesn't always get better through sheer will. One of the stories Do You Like Brahms tells constantly is that effort doesn't always win over talent. No matter how nice you are, or how hard you work, you can still not accomplish what you want. That's what Song Ah is faced with a lot of the series. Joon Young faces similar realities but in a different way. He is talented unlike Song Ah but he is unable to enjoy it because of family debt and falling out of love with music. Some of our other characters can be fustrating and border on detestable but that's real life at times. Jung Kyung has a sad story and you can symathize with the reason but her actions are made out of spite. I do think it was a necessary arc for her character to go through and in the end it was for the better, even if her relationships aren't the same (or even better) after it. DYLB is not a drama to watch for a safe, fluffy feel. But you do get rewarded with good writing, good story telling and good chemistry between our cast.

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My perfect drama

Honestly, this drama is everything to me. I didn't expect to find series that I will love more than Healer, my ultimate fav, but then Do you like Brahms? appear, and I was instantly hooked. The storyline is evend out perfectly, one may say it's boring, beacuse there are no sudden plot twist, but I think it's one of it's charms. I love that the story shows more of the grow of the main leads and their struggles with their musicians careers rather than focusing only on their relationship. And I think it's first when I saw in dramaland that the main female lead is stepping out of the relation because she recognised that she's not happy and thus prioritise herself and her heppines more than then toxic (at that time) relation. That how it should be in real world! What's more, every side story is beautifully closed, there are no understatement. Main leads are perfect for each others, their kissing scenes... just wowowowow! And the music and OST are just

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Driest music-themed drama ever...

Do I Like Brahms? No. While the scarce music bits sprinkled throughout the drama were great, yet, this is one of the worst music themed drama. The relationships, despite being the main focus here, proved to be detrimental, leading to a catastrophic downfall of the entire drama. The amount of brain worms these characters were ingesting was unprecedented. This is a 16 episodes drama that was purely driven by the characters self-sabotaging themselves constantly in the most pitiful and mind-boggling manner imaginable. Even trashy soap operas can be more fun. Going back to the music, I couldn't feel the cast's passion while performing, under-delivering on the music part again. You better off close your eyes and imagine. Even then, I believe there was a total of 5 very short performances for a drama themed around music!! Honestly, you're better off to go watch some classical music on YouTube. This is the writer's first full feature drama and I'm not looking forward to see more of her works at all.

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Endless layers of constrained suffering

This is the drama to watch when you are in the mood to sit quietly and observe slight glances, small gestures, and single words that embody entire storms of meaning and emotion. It's the slowest, brightest burn I've ever watched.

Director Jo Young Min and screenwriter Ryu Bo Ri steer the ship upon which a close-knit group of characters is trapped beneath endless layers of complex external and internal struggles. Through the characters, we feel the heavy weight of people in authority, debts owed, family expectations, and circumstances beyond any one person's control. The result is relationships that are forever changed because of the pull of a single thread. Every character is suffering in silence that they cannot break through, which would normally make for annoying levels of angst. But the talented directing helps us to never lose empathy for anyone, even those that constantly hurt others. The consistency of direction is reflected in the clean palette of black, white, and cream that we see in the wardrobe and set backgrounds throughout the show.

As the struggling musician Song Ah, Park Eun Bin is masterful at revealing raw emotions underneath an overly disciplined exterior. As usual, her acting is deft, crisp, and poised, and she shows Song Ah's palpable suffocation and powerlessness alongside her quiet strength. Kim Min Jae as Joon Young the anguished pianist, embodies anxiety and struggle through every measured breath. As the two grow their awkward, overly considerate relationship, they share insightful thoughts with us as viewers, along with glimmers of sweet moments. Unfortunately, they don't share enough with each other, especially in the second half of the show. Their transformations are too understated and slow, and reveal too little too late, which cause the show to get stuck in circles, stumbling toward a rushed, unsatisfactory conclusion.

The show features high relational chemistry between all the characters, with subtext woven through every interaction. Part of what makes it amazing is the casting of the elegant Park Ji Hyun as our heroine's formidable rival, and Kim Sung Chul as her supportive but burdened lover. Every interaction between the four characters is multi-faceted. I appreciate that the most power-hungry manipulator is the lone man from the cultural agency, and that women take center stage throughout the show. And special mention goes to Seo Jung Yeon who plays Young In, manager of Kyung Hoo Cultural Center. Her subtle but pointed intelligence and care echo the maturity displayed by Song Ah. There is a special energy in their scenes together.

This is the only kdrama I've seen that features a love triangle that comes off as mature (even if it isn't), and not only that, but it's actually a double love triangle. I picture it as a bowtie with the leads caught in the middle. It's unusual to think that this would work, but it does, except for the way Jung Kyung's role as the angsty antagonist is overdone in the latter half. Like the leads, she misses out on key opportunities to show her personal growth.

Like many viewers, I wished for a more dynamic plot, and to see greater character transformations where the characters share deeper revelations with each other. However, the show delivers a highly intimate and engaging account of the daily lives of people suffering alone and together. Despite the issues near the end, the masterful acting and subtle detail make it a powerful experience.

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Amazing cast with no plot.

I tried so hard to love this drama. I really did, I love a good bit of classical music and I enjoyed those segments, and for what the cast had to deal with they did an amazing job. A drama without a plot, or maybe a very unknown one is very hard to do.

I could not find a plot is this whole drama. I did not understand where it was going, all it seemed it was about was 2 groups of friends falling out with each other due to some silly reason, be it randomly falling in love with someone or sometimes for no reason what so ever. As the episodes dragged on it became harder and harder to watch, It seemed like it was just set in a music school rather than actually about the music or progression at all. This really frustrated me as I was hoping for some kind of ups and downs of an aspiring musician kind of plot, and instead got something I would expect from secondary school children, not a bunch of almost 30 year olds.

For what the cast was given to work with, they did a very good job of portraying their characters, it is just a shame that nothing came out of their good acting and instead it all bundled into a big mess.

I cannot fault this for its music choices, they did pick good pieces when you did hear them. Not as often as I would have liked though.

Except from maybe the 1/2hr of hearing them play music, I found this drama a waste of my time. I would not recommend this to anyone unless for the music pieces.

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Romance meets Realism in an Optimistic Perspective.

Do you like Brahms? No. lol
The story sets around the lives of 6 people who are primarily in the classical music industry with different advantages and disadvantages as they try to navigate their careers, friendships, and love.

To start off, I commend the writer oh so dearly. It's been a while since I met characters who were so willing to adapt to the changes of life and learn from their past mistakes without any unfazed wild situation in their laps. The performances were superb. I don't think I've hated a second lead this much in a long time and Park Ji Hyun definitely nailed the role; she heightened my kill drive. As a first-timer experiencing Park Eun Bin's work, I can definitely say she absolutely played this role to the best of her ability. Kim Min Jae also brought his best to the table, I think his best work yet.

The script was not as progressive as the general crown would like, although I did not think any plotline needed to be revised, I do see from the perspective of people who thought it was lacking. A huge chunk of the first few episodes viewed wasted after the end and a lot of it was more monologue and music-themed. However, that does not distract from the amazing leads in this piece. I would say it's the first time seeing such a strong female lead mentally, someone whose decisions were rationalized with every ounce of moral conviction. Chae Song Ah (Park Eun Bin) was someone who understood the truth, she was patient yet she didn't allow herself to suffer in a prolonged manner. She knew her worth and she worked hard as well, and she knew how to pick her battles. A female lead with such queenly characteristics really wowed me. In a lot of dramas, soft female leads are considered weak, pushovers, and people who are overly swept in their emotions. She definitely broke that stereotype in my opinion and allowed the audience to navigate the different traits within a somewhat calm persona. The characters in general not just Chae Song Ah were really well thought off and planned intricately with the picture of the story. Our male lead was a soft male lead as well so it was a slow-paced heartwarming buildup to their romance. Although in some aspects I would have loved to change his thoughts and reactions to things, in the end, it all came out beautifully.

The cinematography was subtle. I loved the use of warm filters and toned lighting. As well as the costume's color set, it matched out the visual representation of the characters. The music as you expect is wonderful, not just the piano pieces played within the drama but the OST's and the scores were very talented from artists like Chen and Punch.

The drama definitely embodied so many lessons. It talks about passion for one's art and how difficult it can be to be in a career where you are bounded by the levels of talent or influence. It also shows how hard it is to give up something you love so dearly and the importance of mental health in every workforce in order to avoid burnout or even worse health issues. The drama was a smooth watch, I loved the interactions between the leads. They had really good chemistry in an awkward yet pure fashion. If you are looking for a heartwarming romance with music from the greats this is definitely a drama to check out. WATCH IT!

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Beyond Expectation! Dont give it a second thought just watch and enjoy!

I stumbled upon this gem of a drama by sheer chance. I found this drama to be beautifully directed and all the actors played their roles to perfection. I became such a huge fan of this drama that even while the drama was airing I was also re-watching past episodes. I usually never watch currently airing dramas but after having exhausted most of my 'to watch list' thanks to the pandemic I went with the flow for this one. The wait every week was sheer agony but it also gave me enough time to get over the pain the actors were displaying in the episodes which was probably why I felt even more deeply for this drama. Both the main leads played their roles beautifully. Some may find this drama a bit slow but I loved the pace of this drama and the 1 star that I deducted from overall rating was coz I wanted to see a bit more of the fun part of Song Ah and Park Joon's relationship. Their relationship was more fraught with sadness while their happy moments lasted for a short while. I was glad to have stumbled upon this drama as it helped me get over my disappointment with Record of Youth. Although I thought that once ROY starts I would lose interest in DYLB as I had been reading about Record of Youth for quite a while. I couldn't finish watching RoY !!! And that says a lot about the beauty of DYLB. All things said and done this is a lovely drama with great actors, acting, story and OST. In fact I also enjoyed watching the BTS of each episode. Oh and I fell in love with the piano pieces and especially Traumerei <3 <3

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