HershE struggles with disbandment

The tenth episode of ‘Dream High 2‘ concentrated on the idol sphere, in which it brought out an issue in the entertainment world, group disbandment and its ramifications, and began Nana’s journey (SISTAR‘s Hyorin) to her dreams.

After Nana’s vocal problems worsen during the super idol audition, she visits the hospital and learns of heartbreaking news. Her vocal cords have deteriorated due to her neglect as Nana had brushed it aside as a minor cold. As she is diagnosed with vocal fold cyst, the doctor gives her the option of undergoing surgery. However, the side effects of the surgery include a shorter pitch range and a different vocal tone.

Pained by the possibility of not being able to retain her pure voice, her gift, Nana submits a withdrawal letter to her teacher and is hospitalized. After Rian (T-ara‘s Jiyeon) discovers that Nana is in the same hospital as her, she tries to comfort her thinking Nana only has a cold. However, Nana coldly shrugs off Rian’s helping hand, creating a fissure between their shaky friendship and teamwork. Nana’s journey in confronting her dreams is even more shaken by President Lee’s decision to possibly disband HershE.

With Nana and Rian both in the hospital and their relationships with HershE splintering, President Lee decides to disband them to place them as the super idol contestants, much to the outrage of Teacher Ji Soo (After School‘s Kahi) and JB. Although Rian and her mother are upset, Rian hurriedly runs out of her hospital room to search for Nana, only to find her missing. After Si Woo (Park Seo Joon) and Rian frantically look for her, they finally find her in the corner of the practice room.

As Nana begins to cry, “Singing was everything, the sound was everything. I lost it“, Rian responds angrily, “Why is singing everything? Why is [your] voice everything? What about me? Ailee? If HershE breaks up, is it the end for us? Aren’t we friends?” JB and Ailee also join in and encourage Nana to find her dream again, to have hope for her surgery. To embolden Nana, and to stand up against HershE’s disbandment, JB announces to the crowd that HershE will continue united and holds an impromptu performance of g.o.d‘s “One Candle” with the other idols.

Check out their performance below!

Comments

[Note: This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of allkpop.]

‘Dream High 2′ took a step backward in the board game of winning my love and adulation with this little arc. The conflict of Nana opens up its problems, themes of friendship and teamwork, and then… resolves it in about ten minutes. While I personally don’t want to compare the first ‘Dream High’ with the second production, as I strongly believe that each should stand on its own, Nana’s confrontation with having her dream annihilated corresponds very much with Sam Dong‘s realization of possibly being deaf, destroying his dream to sing. But again, ‘Dream High 2′ fails to bring us that emotional passion, that relationship with the character in wanting to see her succeed, hoping to open the light to her path.

Putting acting criticism aside, the storyline fails to fully compose the character of Nana. Yes, we saw her in the showcase episodes when Hong Joo gave up the stage for her and she had vocal problems, but she was too much of a one-dimensional character. The Nana who turns in her withdrawal letter contrasts too much from the optimistic character we had known. Most importantly though, the plot doesn’t emphasize Nana’s conflict with her dreams, the anguish and bitterness in attempting to search for a light of hope but only to become more dejected.

However, the integration of JB’s lesson of friendship and teamwork, when he had cast aside Si Woo so easily before, was very fitting to the Nana sequence. The true emotional part was when the idols remember their joyful and carefree past, their first meetings and the friendships they had instantly created, contrasting from their present cracked relationships. In addition, I loved the improptu g.o.d performance, paralleling the “We are the B” performance by Team B, as both JB and Hyesung demonstrated their transformation. Had the writers prolonged the HershE sequence and weaved it throughout various episodes, rather than clumping it in just one, the painting of the idol world would have been much more coherent.