'Navillera' Episode 2: Will Song Kang as Lee Chae-rok become a ballet teacher for a 70-year-old man?
At an age where he would attend more funerals than weddings, Shim Deok-chool, the 70-year-old man's passion for ballet is reignited. He comes across an almost empty ballet studio, on his way to buying kaoliang wine and that is where he sees a young man practicing his pirouettes, pliés, turnout and elevés.
He watches this young man work from one end of the floor to another and something in him is fascinated. However, when the young man catches Deok-chool watching him, he ends up turning around to leave. We meet this young man later, he is Lee Chae-rok (Song Kang) and he seems to be suffering from a setback. People at the studio wonder if it is a slump. Could it be? Especially just ahead of the audition for the national ballet troupe?
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The show draws on the emptiness that a young ballet dancer could feel and how similar that is to a 70-year-old's feeling of being isolated. The former is unable to move on from a tragic truth and the latter is unable to adapt to the reality of how his children and grandchildren lead lives of their own that he is not related to. Can the two of them work towards healing each other's feeling of desolation?
In episode 2, what we would be seeing is how Chae-rok will react to the news that he will now be teaching Deok-chool ballet. For the longest time, his ballet teacher had wanted him to quit his part-time job and concentrate on his art. However, Chae-rok had refused to do the same. He had even missed his audition because of his conflict over his father's release from prison. Something that his father had done in the past continues to haunt him and one of his friends from the past has turned into an enemy.
Yang Ho-beom (Kim Kwon) is a victim of his father's crime and all that happened in the past comes rushing back as his father is set to be released from prison. Initially, he even tries to act as if he did not have a father anymore. However, at the opportune moment when he is about to walk on stage to audition, he changes his mind. He runs to the correctional facility and ends up missing his father's release as he is late.
At this time, his teacher's assignment is not received well. Chae-rok also believes that the old man waits unnecessarily considering how he cannot even balance in a straight line. So instead of putting an effort into teaching this "weird" old man, he ends up giving Deok-chool an assignment of his own. To perfect the relevé in a week. Will Deok-chool be able to convince Chae-rok to continue teaching ballet to him?
'Navillera' episodes air on Mondays and Tuesdays on tvN and can be streamed on Netflix.