I LOVE YOUR ANALYSIS thank you so much for sharing your thoughts ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
LOVED this comment! Heejae’s next best thing after piano is self-sabotage! I like how you brought up his conservative upbringing and Asian cultural background as a way to understand his decisions.
And your analogies are spot on. Also the imagery of their final performance! I noticed it was different but now that you mentioned the lack of water lilies, I look back on those panels and I can palpably see how much Garam as removed himself from the performance. This is a bridge entirely torn! And the fact that Heejae ignored the intricacies of Garam’s performance! Or maybe he was too absorbed in their harmony to notice Garam’s cry!! Gosh WHAT A SEASON FINALE.
I am SOO invested in seeing how the Heejae redeemer arc goes. I have a feeling we’ll get 15 chapters of Heejae crashing out but acting like it’s fine. Like miss ma’am don’t freak out but everything thinks you’re undergoing some type of psychotic breakdown every since you got dumped but your young peng ting…Crazier if the author decides to make the crash out so intense it…changes how Heejae plays the piano…Now his ass can’t play Chopin without Garam AND his dead manager haunting his musical narrative.
To love is to know pain. In the Professor and Garam's relationship, the Professor was always pushing Garam and testing his limits--trying to see if Garam could handle him being a knife while Garam was always accepting it. He's like a child in that aspect--naive and does not actual realize how strong his grip can be. He's like those kids who love their puppy, but does not realize that you shouldn't hug one so tight...because you can suffocate them due to how small and fragile they are.
In reading these chapters, I see why the Professor refused to apologize and why he also chose to write another song displaying his devotion to Garam after everything he did. I don't agree with it, but I also understand it. He does have love for Garam, but it's a painful love? He doesn't know how to love? In my opinion, choosing to apologize means choosing to change/choosing to not be a knife. In Asian cultures, it's so hard to say, "I'm sorry," even when you are sorry and even when you are wrong. It's so hard to vocalize your emotions. For the Professor, who seems to be a traditional man, this is a definitely something he cannot fathom--especially since him and Garam also have a teacher-student/mentor-mentee relationship. He does not even apologize to people he's known for 10+ years. He's the parent who would tear his kids' butts apart and then cut up some fruit to apologize. He'd do everything and anything for them, BUT say what is needed to be said in that moment. There's honestly so much I am thinking about the Professor now. There's layers to ALL of this, but, essentially, he's a self- saboteur. He knows it, but he can't stop which is why he keeps saying, "you know how I am." He reminds me of those people who purposely choose to fight when good things are happening in their lives. They purposely choose to partake in destructive behaviors to protect themselves from what could be--emphasis on could be, better for them.
Overall, for a flower to grow, you must give it water and fertilizer. You must give it love and patience...love and kindness. You must accommodate and sacrifice...though a water lily (Han Garam) is strong and resilient, there's also only so much it can take before it dies. For Garam, I believed that he thought that as long as they had music, he could withstand anything. For them, pianists, music/playing is their love language, but when they played together...for each other like how they've always done...I don't think the Professor truly heard Garam's soul crying. As a viewer reading from the Professor's POV, I could not see Garam's' iconic water lilies. With Compton and Valter, it was blended. In this chapter, I could only see the Professor's playing. FOR ME, that what made me think, "Ah, they are done. It's over with. They are no longer playing the same song. Their hearts are out of sync in their duet."
I was genuinely not happy with the Professor's behaviors and decisions, but this chapter had me numb. I'M NOT GOING TO LIE--ALL THE HEEJAE HATE HAD ME FEEDING INTO IT, but this chapter made something click in my head.
I'm excited for the wife-chasing arc and the mastermind the author is. They are IMMEDIATELY hopping into season 6. For me, this shows that this truly was all thought out, and we are just following. They are driving this car, and we are in the trunk. I can't wait for the end!~