[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Sound of Magic" Episode 3

When last we left off with "The Sound of Magic" Il-deung had offered to pay Ah-yi to take a fall on the math test so he would be number one in every subject. With Il-deung's own math score being an impressive ninety-seven, we can see how Ah-yi is just really good at math. It's also fairly obvious that Il-deung has a crush on Ah-yi. Apparently Ah-yi also knows this, remembering in internal monologue that Il-deung had asked her out on a date.

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It's unclear whether Ah-yi remembers that she gave such a bewildering non sequitur reaction to Il-deung's request for a date that he thought she didn't hear him. But then that's what makes both of these characters so genuinely charming in teenage fashion. While Il-deung's plan for getting close to Ah-yi may be stupid, he can't think of a better one. And while Ah-yi's evasiveness doesn't help that at all, it's hard to blame her for thinking that way what with how she's always being hounded by numbers.

That contrast comes courtesy of the local magician and alleged main character Ri-eul, who fades more into the background as an enigmatic figure here, surfacing mainly to inspire musical sequences about Ah-yi's inability to think proactively, mainly due to her financial problems. There's also another song about Il-deung's emotionally stunted competitiveness. Ri-eul's approach is that he's able to get both Ah-yi and Il-deung to forget about their problems. To this end he uses magic and misdirection, on multiple levels.

I liked how after all the mystical focus on Ri-eul last episode he's much more human here. He might or might not be married, and he also appears to be a person of interest in a police investigation. What matters the most about Ri-eul, though, is that he lives on the margins, in an abandoned amusement park. While this lifestyle might seem carefree to Ah-yi, that's really just a matter of perspective and attitude that suggests as much.

Ri-eul's enigmatic demeanor suggests a different kind of life than the ones prompted to our teenage characters by other adults, with Ah-yi dealing with constant transactionalism and Il-deung being stifled by the suffocating aura of his own perceived hypercompetence. For a musical, "The Sound of Magic" is surprisingly subtle with its themes of young adulthood. This even as the final cliffhanger of Il-deung and Ah-yi's dubious dealmaking being exposed was, perhaps, inevitable.

Review by William Schwartz

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"The Sound of Magic" is directed by Kim Seong-yoon, written by Kim Min-jeong-II, and features Ji Chang-wook, Hwang In-youp, Choi Sung-eun, Kim Bo-yoon, Yoo Jae-myung, Kim Hye-eun. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2022/05/06, Fri on Netflix.