'Four Hands, Two Sonatas' Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Do Pi-O And Jeong-Yo Reunite?

The final episode of Four Hands, Two Sonatas, has left me questioning if I genuinely enjoyed the show or not. The beginning of this K-drama was deeply moving because of how well it depicted the innocent friendship between the two boys. However, it’s when the split happened that I genuinely stopped liking the show and it became rather predictable. What I do appreciate is that the fault lands on the adults by the end, which makes it clear that Pi-O’s demeanor is a result of consequences. Some that he sees easily, and others that he doesn’t notice, but he’s always wondering if he wants to do the right thing or if he’s feeling the urge to do something just to impress his grandfather. Overall, the show had me rooting for its characters, but the end result had me wondering why? Because nothing is happening for me to feel intrigued by this show. It just got frustrating until it didn’t anymore. But these are just my overall thoughts about Four Hands, Two Sonatas. Let me know how you felt about the show.

Spoiler Alert

Episode 12 begins with Pi-O going into a press conference to tell everybody that even though his mother was the one who had Jeong-Yo kidnapped, he too felt remorse towards him and stole his sheet music, which led to his winning the competition. While Jeong-Yo doesn’t actually believe Pi-O stole his stuff, Pi-O has been very guilty about what’s gone down since he went missing, and he tells the media that he’s going to retire from playing the piano. When the media starts to ask questions, Pi-O is overwhelmed by what is going on, but before he can process it all, he gets a message from Jae-In about his granddad. He’s collapsed and is in the hospital. It’s already too late for anything, and the doctors warn the family to expect the worst, but Pi-O rushes there to see his grandad. Mr. Kang’s wife tells Pi-O that his grandfather wants to see him and Jeong-Yo together. Interestingly, Jeong-Yo has already shown up near the hospital, he’s just not gone in yet when he gets the call from Pi-O.

Now’s when the emotional depth of the show comes out because both Pi-O and Jeong-Yo are very dependent on Mr. Kang as musicians. Sure, his family did Jeong-Yo bad, but they were also the ones who gave him all his opportunities. It’s a lot more than his own family did for him. Mr. Kang finally apologises to his grandson for making his life miserable and calling him second best. He thought Pi-O would spend his entire life in the shadow of Jeong-Yo, which is why he wanted to keep him away from the music, but the truth is, music is in his soul, and nothing would’ve changed that. Then, the old man apologises to Jeong-Yo for his daughter’s actions. Jeong-Yo may forgive easily. This is a man’s world after all. Somehow, after everything everyone has gone through in this show, to make this scene more hard-hitting, the old man had to be near death. Really though, there was no need. It’s true that Mr. Kang was responsible for everything that happened to any of the main characters on the show, because had he not behaved like the world revolves around him alone, Jeong-Yo and Pi-O might’ve become a duo to reckon with. I don’t see how apologising is doing anything, but at least he has the brain capacity to think of doing it, so that’s a good thing.

Mr. Kang dies listening to a melody played by Pi-O, his grandson. Before leaving the room as requested by his grandfather, Pi-O told him that when he got out of the hospital, he would play the sonata even better, but unfortunately, the old man will never get to see it. After his death, Pi-O doesn’t go back on his word about resigning. He even sells his piano, which Jeong-Yo finds out about one evening, when he overhears other players discuss Pi-O’s nepotism. It’s strange, no matter how hard you work, or how much you don’t work, you will always be judged. So the truth is, just do what you want to do.

Jeong-Yo goes to Pi-O’s house and waits hours before Pi-O shows up because his phone has been turned off. Earlier, when he heard the apology, he tried to go back home and have a drink, but dropped the glass from his hand because of the wound in his shoulder. Now, he invites Pi-O to their old hangout spot, and Pi-O is shocked to see his sold piano in the room. Jeong-Yo bought it back for him and wants him to continue playing. Pi-O isn’t interested in doing anything until he hears Jeong-Yo actually play the instrument. It comes as a big shocker, but Jeong-Yo sounds so natural that you’d never know about his injury. But we’ve seen how he’s been struggling with his hand all this time.

Pi-O gets emotional and happy to know that he didn’t do that much damage to his friend. Now, Jeong-Yo encourages Pi-O to get back to the music, just like him, and I suppose it’s like a promise between the two of them. In the meantime, Jeong-Yo visits his father after many years in a nursing home, it seems like. His old man tells him not to spend more money on him because he’s finally guilty about what he did to him. Guess this is the episode of apologies. Again, you don’t feel any sort of sympathy towards the guy, and Jeong-Yo saying that he’s doing this because his father was once kind to him in his childhood makes no sense in this day and age. Why should one care for someone who constantly belittled and othered you and then now also admits to ruining the life of his wife, i.e. Jeong-Yo’s mother, saying he killed her? But I think it wouldn’t make sense for Jeong-Yo to stop paying now. Before disappearing, once and for all, Jeong-Yo writes a letter to Pi-O, telling him to continue playing, essentially encouraging him to do it for the both of them. A flood of memories of them playing together makes you feel melancholic in the situation, but there’s nothing you can do.

In Four Hands, Two Sonatas’ ending, Pi-O is devastated to learn, after a month or so of Jeong-Yo disappearing from his life a second time, that he has a brachial plexus injury. That’s likely why he decided to leave the country and follow a new path. To try to connect to his old friends, Pi-O decides to play the sonatas and record it on video. He posts it online in the hope that his friend responds. Lucky for him, he does respond to the video, many months later, through a postcard. Pi-O uses his sleuthing skills to find out where the card is from and finds out he’s in the Czech Republic. The show ends with the two men meeting again for the first time in years in the church. It seems Jeong-Yo chose the godly way after everything that went down. I guess it is a way to redeem himself from all the negative feelings of revenge. The show ends on the hope that now that the boys have met again, they will do music together and become like they used to be in school. They’re the same young, hopeful boys again. Hence the school uniforms. While this show is not a romance, there is something romantic about two passionate people connected together by their art. What did you think of Four Hands, Two Sonatas?