'Four Hands, Two Sonatas' Episode 5 Recap: Is Jeong-Yo Dead?

I’m genuinely surprised that an original K-drama on Netflix is actually good and keeps me excited week in and week out. We’re near the midpoint now, with tomorrow’s episode being the halfway mark, and what has gone down so far has been nothing less than delightfully exciting. There’s something arresting about artists and their ways, and this episode felt like if Andrew Neiman were split into two people. Okay, yes, truth be told, there’s very little in common between this show and Whiplash, yet I draw the connection because of how the scene that started it all plays out. This isn’t a spoiler, because it’s what the first episode of Four Hands, Two Sonatas started with. The way Pi-O is bleeding onto his keys and Jeong-Yo is running for his life, it all looks like something an Andrew would seemingly go through. But anyway, I’m getting too deep into it, so without further ado, let’s cover what happened in episode 5.

Spoiler Alert

Why Does Pi-O Join The Competition?

Episode 5 of Four Hands, Two Sonatas opens with the revelation that Pi-O has pneumonia, which is why he ended up fainting at home after the big fight with his grandfather. As soon as he’s awake in the hospital, he notices his mother taking his phone out of the hospital room. When she returns, he tells her that he knows it was Jeong-Yo she was talking to and needs her to call him because he needs to talk to him. She’s hesitant because, let’s face it, she’s the big villain of this show (apart from the grandfather for the time being, but he’s a virtuoso, so). But when Jeong-Yo arrives, Pi-O tells him that he wants to participate in the harmonie competition and wants him to join as well. Pi-O is desperate to prove to his grandfather that he actually loves music, and hearing what he tells Jeong-Yo makes his mother very happy. But Jeong-Yo is concerned for Pi-O’s well-being, yet he has no choice but to say yes, because this guy is his friend, and he’ll do anything for him.

It isn’t hard for either of them to get selected, it seems. Somehow, even when they’re in Prague, we get hit by the stereotype that Koreans are obsessed with practicing and whatnot, so they will obviously find all this stuff easy. But the truth is, it’s odd that two guys from the same school got in, and they’re the two big piano geniuses participating from Korea. Anyway, finally, after a lot of hassle, both of them make it into the competition with their piano teacher being the same, and Pi-O’s grandfather having his eyes on both of them.

What Happens at The Prague Harmonie International Competition?

Now, it seems like the whole school has moved to Prague for the course of this competition. That’s obviously not true, but the principal, Jae-In’s mother (acting as a guardian for Jeong-Yo), and Pi-O’s mum and grandfather are all at the competition. It starts with 24 participants who have to pass round one, after which 12 of them get to be in a residency, where their phones are taken away, and nobody gets to visit them. Of course, both of them get to the residency round, and they’re given sheet music that they’re not meant to lose. Each person gets to do a “free piece,” and one that they’re given, which is supposed to be very difficult. Immediately, Pi-O is hit with the pressure of wanting to win the competition, so that he can keep playing the piano. He practices day in and day out, making all the other chosen ones very angry. He then finds out that their teacher told Pi-O and Jeong-Yo to play the same piece, which is suspicious, because it pits them against each other even more than already being in the same competition.

Now, in the first round itself, Jeong-Yo had noticed something wrong with Pi-O’s pinky finger. It’s bleeding and shaking while he plays. But Pi-O is determined to keep going, so he doesn’t pay heed to anything that Jeong-Yo says. Later, Jeong-Yo has to stop him from pouncing on another guy for calling him a spy because he was watching his grandfather conduct Jeong-Yo during a special practice session, after he told Pi-O to choose a different guy to conduct him. I mean, who wouldn’t be upset in Pi-O’s place, though. However, while Jeong-Yo is trying to pacify Pi-O in his room, Pi-O’s sheet music disappears, and he freaks out enough to run into the forest while it’s raining, and even threatens Jeong-Yo, saying it was all his fault. He even picks up a rock to beat him with. Now, the truth is, a girl did steal his sheet music, but Pi-O realises after this incident that he’s doing more harm than good at this competition and decides to withdraw. This makes sense, considering his condition, not just physically but mentally too. However, now it’s Jeong-Yo who convinces him to continue and not feel disheartened by a missing booklet. He later gives Pi-O his own notes before Pi-O leaves, saying he’s memorized the whole thing. Pi-O now has Jeong-Yo’s notes to interpret the arrangement, which means he’ll be the best he’s ever been. But Jeong-Yo is totally fine with Pi-O winning the competition, right?

Is Jeong-Yo Dead?

At the end of episode 5, when Jeong-Yo is going to the competition hall (for some reason, every artist gets their own car), we’re taken back to the events of the first episode. Jeong-Yo gets shot by the man in the front seat while Pi-O is playing the best he’s ever played in his entire life. It’s then announced that Jeong-Yo, who was meant to be the last performance of the event, never showed up to the competition, and that the police have been informed that he’s gone missing. But 2 days pass, and nobody knows where the guy is. That’s because we’re made to believe he died after being shot and falling into a lake. He surely would’ve drowned. Pi-O spends nights crying in the hotel room, while his mum overhears him. Additionally, he also fears it was his own mum who made this happen, because she just didn’t believe he would win the competition. Conveniently, Jeong-Yo doesn’t have a family who cares for him either, so it doesn’t matter that he’s not back home or if never comes back. Episode 5’s ending jumps forward in time, taking us from 2017 to 2026, where Pi-O is a famous artist and is returning to Prague for a performance this time. However, in the trailer for the sixth episode, we can see that he’s going to get busy looking for his best friend after all these years, because he just really wants him to be alive still. To be honest, it would really be crazy if Four Hands, Two Sonatas killed off Jeong-Yo, though I have a feeling that he’s still alive, considering there are still 7 episodes left in the show.

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