Four Hands, Two Sonatas started a strong and promising note. These days, it’s difficult to write a script that makes viewers keep their phones aside. In the first few episodes, this Korean drama managed to do that.
Now, does my title suggest that Four Hands, Two Sonatas is not about friendship? It is! It is all about friendship, but after a point, the friendship narrative is pushed aside, and that is where it gets frustrating to watch, as we feel that the writer has lost the plot.
Firstly, I missed the detailing that should have gone into making the audience not just see but feel the bond of friendship, love, and compatibility develop and grow over time between Kang Pi-o and Choi Jeong-yo. The director and actors followed the script, and some moments between these two young men were truly good, but they were in such a hurry to shift the plot towards competition, the pressure to succeed, rivalry and revenge, that they forgot that all of these elements are the side heroes of the story. The main hero is the unconditional love and mutual admiration these two friends and piano companions carry deep in their hearts for each other. Jealousy wasn’t between these two but something that was enforced on the characters by the mishandling of their own lives and by the emotions of the adults around them. The two, even when they absolutely loathed each other, asked for nothing but the well-being of others. This central plot was “supposed to be” the heart of the story.
For those who are yet to watch Four Hands, Two Sonatas, here is a brief idea of the core of the story for you. Two young men, Kang Pi-o and Choi Jeong-yo, are pianists. While Kang Pi-o is born into the family of a piano maestro, Kang Seung-woon, Choi Jeong-yo is a gifted pianist. The problem is that Kang Pi-o, who is born out of wedlock, is not accepted by his grandfather, who he admires and from whom he dreams of being appreciated and accepted. Though Kang Pi-o has won many awards at such a young age, he is rejected by every musician and teacher surrounding him, who say his music lacks soul. Unfortunately, no one wants to offer him a solution or tell him how to master what he is lacking. That rejection and constant pressure to be a winner from his mother breaks him down mentally, emotionally and at times, even physically. On the other side, the same people see potential in Choi Jeong-yo and want to polish him further while giving him opportunities to shine.
Away from the competition, the two boys enjoy each other’s company and develop such a beautiful bond that they start helping each other deal with their trauma and mental blocks, which also starts reflecting in the music they play together. But this doesn’t go down well with Pi-o’s mother, and then come unwanted twists in the plot where Jeong-yo gets attacked, which leads to his disappearance for a long time.
Till here, the story was interesting, but later, even when Jeong-yo comes back, the script has managed to show us that the two friends still care for each other just the way they did while they were in the Arts school. Unfortunately, that doesn’t show on the screen. The performances also started to fall flat here. Also, the focus shifted to revenge and vengeance, and it took a filmy twist. The drama, from here, was stretched so much that you start wishing that it ends.
All in all, it is still a worthwhile show for what they attempted here, but I would say that they could have done a better job if they had focused on one single plot and developed it well, and then peeled the layers slowly, yet kept them in the background to support the story… like the roots of a tree. A huge tree never stands on a single root. There are structural roots underneath which help the tree stand on its feet. Similarly, the sub-plots were there to support the main story, but the writer tried to give equal importance to even the small branches of the tree, and that is where it all got messed up.
Language: Korean
Where to Watch? Netflix
