neo

i don't buy the brothers theory personally. rather it's important as i see the theory that pio's mother's resentment towards jy starting a long time ago. her being the one to call the ambulance when jy's mother passed away was always sus to me that she possibly delayed getting medical attention.

plus her weird on/off situationship thing with do hyunsoo is still unclear as they clearly still have some sway on each other. if jy's mother was a romantic rival of hers and she suspected or knew jy to be do hyunsoo's bio son, this would further "justify" her hatred of him and his family in her twisted logic after finding out jy is pio's direct rival too. again, just a theory but i don't think those snippets of info were planted just for coincidence.

agreed, jeongyo is so valid in his feelings, especially with the misunderstandings shown from his side when pio was seeking him out. pio had the chance to tell him outright about his mother's involvement but backed out last minute and you could tell how much this angered jy. ironically the only time i feel he's ever had the courage to speak his mind fully was when he broke things off with jaein, it needed to be done.

you can't blame jy at all for pretending to have amnesia to seem less of a threat towards people who he thought were trying to kill him off for good again. he's been giving chance after chance even if he could have just exacted his revenge right there and then, after having the evidence and recording.

jun absolutely nailed it once again with his performance this ep. it makes me more and more intrigued for us to see jy's pov in all this, especially now that we know the true process of how he came to write "nemesis".

i'm glad they acknowledged just how one-sided the dynamic between pio and jaein was and that the relationship was pretty much doomed to begin with but oof... can't help but feel bad for her now. the tension and sheer amount of misunderstanding between jy and pio is insane. it's looking more and more unlikely now but i really do hope they get to reconcile somehow. the way the episode ended with mr kim lurking outside made me uneasy though. it could be anticlimactic and that he's just there to scope out but i almost wish he'd actually try and attack (and fail) jy with pio also present, just so he realises how much his mother is still actively trying to kill jy for good.

i still have so many questions about do hyunsoo and pio's mother now though - is he going to turn her in? is he going to help jeongyo? AND WHO ARE THE FATHERS?

agreed... like his visible disappointment/anger when pio didn't admit to his mother's involvement in his near-death and instead expressed his "remorse" for taking credit for his interpretation. he's had chances to make amends. it is the reality that jy only ended up participating in that competition to begin with, which led to jy's accident and pio's success, bc of pio convincing him to.

i feel that's where jaein comes in. she's like the one thread holding him together (and likely will be what brings pio and jy together again after their disagreements in the recent eps)

re: jaein, i feel my own negativity was less so to do with her specifically, even if i did question her maturity/mindset not changing from that of a teenager initially, and more how forced/unnecessary the romance (esp the timing of that kiss) was imo, paired with pio's emotional trauma/lack of ability to express his feelings openly.

in today's ep where the romance is practically non-existent and they're focused on how she's there to connect jy and pio again and being supportive in their endeavours, that's where she shines the most. they should have just kept it that way and kept all three of them platonic without crossing the romance line. that's my one gripe, but at least it seems to be heading in a better direction for sure. looking forward to next ep!

i suspect this too, which is why he's so critical and piling on the pressure as much as possible. also noticed the foreshadowing with grandpa kang comparing himself to pio and saying that he's the type to immerse himself in his art until it consumes him. perhaps there was also an incident in the past which made him switch from piano to conducting too, even if it may be less near-death than what happened to jy.

jun's acting continues to be so spot on... from his innocent, naive act to his anger finally being expressed, it really did look like he was turning into a mini-me of grandpa kang in terms of his strict, emotion-led conducting style (which suits him being set up as the successor art director, which i'm glad i was spot-on about). and titling the piece nemesis... while having pio in mind is crazy omg.

pio's issue continues to be that he's so emotionally constipated due to keeping everything bottled up all the time, which was why he couldn't face openly speaking the truth aloud when he went to visit jy and jy knew it. he's been subject to such neglect and conditioning from his evil mother all this time that he deep down can't bear to fully "turn" on her just yet. i'm still so puzzled re: whatever is the dynamic between her and do hyunsoo... i can't wrap my head around their weird past-situationship thing and if he truly is one of the boys' father (i still hope my theory is true abt him being jy's bio dad and fuelling her resentment though). i hope tomorrow's ep brings some more info to light re: that and the incident around jy's mother dying all those years ago.

just pio. but to keep it vague and spoiler-free, most of this occurs post-timeskip and just feels very forced / onesided (on her part) and out of place at times.

don't give up lmao i believe it'll happen eventually... saying this as a longtime wi hajoon fan watching his projects and bro was always ending up alone, suffering or dead for the longest time until they finally gave him a romcom project as the main lead LMAO

no wonder grandpa turned out like that tbh she doomed that poor boy from the start with that line LMAO

i don't think jy's mother was directly killed by pio's mother since it was a medical emergency (only thing i could think of is maybe she tampered with her drinks/food somehow as a kdrama staple lmao). but as pio's mother tells jy in ep8 that she was the one to call the ambulance at the time, i believe she noticed the medical emergency as it happened and saw this as her chance to finally get rid of her, so purposely delayed her from getting medical help, which led to her dying ultimately it'd be far too late to save her.

when jy returns to the room where he and pio used to play piano together as kids and pio's mother walks in. he's looking at something on the wall / behind the curtain that we don't see

i hope not. she's the reason he's suffered all this time too and why he's so used to bottling up his emotions / never got a proper childhood. he had all the material things he wanted but no genuine love from his mother and grandfather. she only ever saw him as a way to project her own insecurities and earn the approval of grandpa kang so if it doesn't involve piano, she doesn't care. his emotional struggles when he tried to open up to her back in the school days would only ever be shut down or dismissed, so eventually he stopped trying. it's only when he's with jy that he's able to smile and express himself freely

the scenes this week with pio's evil mother and do hyunsoo really got me. especially the latter, where you could tell he was struggling to hold back tears in the end. it further solidified my theory that he's jy's biological dad too (and the reason why pio's mother resents jy so much / was behind his mother's death too)

oh you're right... i had my own theories which i posted earlier (mostly about evil mother's motive) and that i have a feeling that jy's revenge will end with him eventually taking grandpa's spot as the most esteemed conductor since the kang family have been the source of his pain and his almost-death (plus his mother's most likely) all along.

so i was correct all along, it had to be pio's mother. jy being mr do's biological son would explain everything behind her actions. i suspect she's behind his mother's death (and jy's subsequent ptsd) too due to her own jealousy and insecurity (also wondering what was behind that curtain too). jy later going on to be a "direct threat" to pio's success as a pianist (in her eyes) is just the surface reason she uses to justify her actions. she has behind this weirdly irrational hatred of jy.

the hints have been there all along. both boys' biological dads are unknown and it's clear pio's mother has this weird (former?) thing / largely one-sided affection with the professor, mr do who clearly wants nothing to do with her beyond a professional setting anymore. aside from him being direct competition for pio, if jy is also do hyunsoo's son it would only fuel her crazy jealousy. though why do hyunwoo abandoned / left baby jy or he just doesn't know despite pio's mother somehow finding this info out, i have no clue... this is the only part that confuses me tbh bc he doesn't seem irresponsible enough to abandon his child like that. the scene of them together in this episode and jy allowing him the hug (vs him denying pio in ep 7, oof) only solidifies this.

when jy's mother dies, her direct romantic "threat" is gone and she also doesn't have to hear from her kid again... which is why she thinks she's off the hook for years (only for jy to show up at the same school) and then again, when he "dies" but turns out to be alive. and now, even if he can no longer play piano and be a "threat" to pio that way in her eyes, the (irrational) hatred is still there bc of the fact that grandpa kang is still fond of him and the fact that he's mr do's bio son doesn't change either.

i think that jy's plan is to take over as grandpa's successor as the new conductor and therefore inherit all the power and wealth that way to get his ultimate revenge on the family who wronged him. i just hope he and pio can reconcile in the end, next week can't come quick enough.

after ep 8 i'm more and more convinced that my earlier theories were correct (gonna repost in the comments with a spoiler tag)

i'd be interested in a list like this too! i would do it myself but i am incredibly unversed in classical music

does the pace at least pick up a bit (no spoilers) after the first ep...? was really looking forward to this bc jcw and nana are both two favs of mine but idk... i thought it'd be more dramatic / high stakes and thriller-esque (esp considering the no of episodes) but it just feels like something is missing that makes me feel underwhelmed / slightly bored. or maybe i just don't click with adaptations of this novel as a whole lmao as i had my gripes with tempted too despite wdh also being one of my fav actors