K-Drama 
A Drama With Great Potential Ruined by Its Writing
I started watching this drama because of the edits and the stir it caused on Twitter, so take my review with a grain of salt. It was so overhyped in my head that when I watched it, the disappointment was heavy. I gave this drama 5 stars mostly because of the acting and the Fandom. The only reason I didn't drop it was because I enjoyed the discussions the fans brought. This drama had great potential as a story but failed miserably.
The Good: Acting
Let's start with the good aspect of this drama, which is the acting. The acting was really good from almost every character. From main characters to side characters, they all rocked except those cringy foreigners that they must add in every K-drama now 🤣. But I must say, the actors surely shine brighter with the depressive side.
The Neutral: Music
The aspect I am neutral about is music. Usually, when I watch a musically themed drama, it makes me wish I learned music. In this case, I didn't. I also didn't like any of the pieces they played. I think I still don't understand or like European classical music 🤣. It's neutral because I cannot comment on something I do not understand.
The Bad: Writing
The aspect that ruined the show for me is the writing, and from here I will start ranting about my frustration.
I personally thought the story was about two boys (Pio and JY), but the story is very Pio-centric. The emotional focus is only on Pio. Every character moves in a way that serves Pio's plot line to advance, so I feel cheated.
The character writing is simply ATROCIOUS.
First, just because some characters are secondary doesn't mean you throw them around whenever. It ruins the show's plot. The grandpa is portrayed as a strict elitist, only to be changed into a tortured sad artist with no correlation at all. The grandma is portrayed as if she doesn't favor Pio, only to show very emotional toward Pio for no logical reason again. Pio is portrayed as prideful in his youth, jealous but prideful, only to easily accept a handout.
The characters in this drama don't change following the events but change to change the event itself, and to me personally, it creates a coherence issue.
JY's Writing
The second issue with the writing is JY's writing. At one point I wondered if the writer hated geniuses because of how badly he is written.
First, in his youth, he is written as a discovered genius. The plot brings up that he is a natural talent that needs refining. So I thought, oh, they'll use Pio's perfect playing technique to refine him and create a bromance.
WRONG!
It's never brought up again, and he is just treated as musically perfect naturally.
Then there was his stage fright trauma. The way it was approached made me laugh. Like, really, in 2026 we are still doing this bullshit? One minute Pio has to cover his eyes so he can play on stage, the next he is playing for the grandpa's guest. Like, come on.
Then his full disappearance era: how did he create Nemesis? Why did he choose conducting? How did he learn? And so on. So not even his creative side is explored. They just throw "he is musically perfect" in your face and hope you accept it.
The Bromance
Some events in this drama could've created some perfect bromance material. Instead, all we see is JY putting his all into helping Pio while Pio barely puts in an effort.
They could've utilized Pio's perfect technique to build more depth. They could've utilized Pio noticing JY wasn't okay to build emotional bonds. They could've utilized JY's disappearance to show longing instead of making it seem like guilt, because right after JY came back, all of Pio's efforts went out of the window.
The only decent writing they got for their bromance was the last episode.
The Useless Characters
Finally, the INFLUX of useless characters!
What was the purpose of Jaein's mom? What was the purpose of Jaein? What was the purpose of showing the gangster in the second half? What was the purpose of JY's father in the second half? What was the purpose of the teacher sticking around?
This show has an influx of useless characters, and they are given screen time for no apparent reason.
Overall
Overall, the show has potential, but the writing ruined it for me. Sadly, I am someone who is capable of watching ATROCIOUS acting for a good-written show, so this one really disappointed me.
The Good: Acting
Let's start with the good aspect of this drama, which is the acting. The acting was really good from almost every character. From main characters to side characters, they all rocked except those cringy foreigners that they must add in every K-drama now 🤣. But I must say, the actors surely shine brighter with the depressive side.
The Neutral: Music
The aspect I am neutral about is music. Usually, when I watch a musically themed drama, it makes me wish I learned music. In this case, I didn't. I also didn't like any of the pieces they played. I think I still don't understand or like European classical music 🤣. It's neutral because I cannot comment on something I do not understand.
The Bad: Writing
The aspect that ruined the show for me is the writing, and from here I will start ranting about my frustration.
I personally thought the story was about two boys (Pio and JY), but the story is very Pio-centric. The emotional focus is only on Pio. Every character moves in a way that serves Pio's plot line to advance, so I feel cheated.
The character writing is simply ATROCIOUS.
First, just because some characters are secondary doesn't mean you throw them around whenever. It ruins the show's plot. The grandpa is portrayed as a strict elitist, only to be changed into a tortured sad artist with no correlation at all. The grandma is portrayed as if she doesn't favor Pio, only to show very emotional toward Pio for no logical reason again. Pio is portrayed as prideful in his youth, jealous but prideful, only to easily accept a handout.
The characters in this drama don't change following the events but change to change the event itself, and to me personally, it creates a coherence issue.
JY's Writing
The second issue with the writing is JY's writing. At one point I wondered if the writer hated geniuses because of how badly he is written.
First, in his youth, he is written as a discovered genius. The plot brings up that he is a natural talent that needs refining. So I thought, oh, they'll use Pio's perfect playing technique to refine him and create a bromance.
WRONG!
It's never brought up again, and he is just treated as musically perfect naturally.
Then there was his stage fright trauma. The way it was approached made me laugh. Like, really, in 2026 we are still doing this bullshit? One minute Pio has to cover his eyes so he can play on stage, the next he is playing for the grandpa's guest. Like, come on.
Then his full disappearance era: how did he create Nemesis? Why did he choose conducting? How did he learn? And so on. So not even his creative side is explored. They just throw "he is musically perfect" in your face and hope you accept it.
The Bromance
Some events in this drama could've created some perfect bromance material. Instead, all we see is JY putting his all into helping Pio while Pio barely puts in an effort.
They could've utilized Pio's perfect technique to build more depth. They could've utilized Pio noticing JY wasn't okay to build emotional bonds. They could've utilized JY's disappearance to show longing instead of making it seem like guilt, because right after JY came back, all of Pio's efforts went out of the window.
The only decent writing they got for their bromance was the last episode.
The Useless Characters
Finally, the INFLUX of useless characters!
What was the purpose of Jaein's mom? What was the purpose of Jaein? What was the purpose of showing the gangster in the second half? What was the purpose of JY's father in the second half? What was the purpose of the teacher sticking around?
This show has an influx of useless characters, and they are given screen time for no apparent reason.
Overall
Overall, the show has potential, but the writing ruined it for me. Sadly, I am someone who is capable of watching ATROCIOUS acting for a good-written show, so this one really disappointed me.
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