Maestra: Strings of Truth Season 1 Review – Underrated musical mystery that keeps you on your toes

Episode Guide

Episode 1 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 2 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 3 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 4 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 5 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 6 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 7 – | Review Score – 4.5/5
Episode 8 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 9 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 10 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 11 – | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 12 – | Review Score – 4/5

Are you tired of high school teenagers running around in circles over misunderstandings and petty revenge? Love triangles boring you between idol-filled visuals and zero-substance plot? Well, then Maestra: Strings of Truth is for you. It has everything from betrayal to heartbreak and affairs and revenge. All led by the no-nonsense Cha Se-eum who is a renowned conductor. But beneath it all, her facade starts to break as her past seems to be catching up to her. 

Maestra: Strings of Truth snuck in in the last half of 2023 and gave us an underdog to root for with its showstopping cast, melancholic soundtracks including the classics such as Beethoven, Handel and Don Giovanni, shocking reveals and stressful love triangles. It also breaks the ageist mindset of the K-drama world by giving us older, experienced actors in the lead who embody their roles to the fullest.

With a large ensemble cast, Lee Young-ae of Lady Vengeance fame leads the K-drama as Cha Se-eum. Alongside her, Lee Moo-saeng who recently caught everyone’s eye as the psychopath in The Glory is the manic ex, Yoo Jeong-jae with Kim Young-jae as Kim Phil, Se-eum’s mysterious husband.

Based on the 2019 French show Philharmonia, Maestra: Strings of Truth Season 1 is a musical thriller that starts out as a melodrama. But as the story unfolds it goes from your usual makjang (Korean soaps) to a shocking whodunnit. 

Cha Se-eum is a ruthless but extremely talented violinist turned conductor who is much sought after. She returns to South Korea after 20 years and takes over the Hangang Philharmonic much to its members’ chagrin. But their revolt is not the only obstacle she faces as there are mysterious occurrences surrounding Hanphil including Se-eum’s husband and deranged ex making her life difficult.

There is no beating around the bush in this K-drama, it gives us exposition, explains everyone’s role in the larger scale of things and gets right to the story. Season 1 is a bite-sized version of Penthouse or Sky Castle with career, jealousy and love pulling the strings of the characters. And there is no one large overarching mystery which can sometimes feel dragged out with the usual K-drama format.

Maestra: Strings of Truth Season 1 is almost episodic in nature with a different conflict arising every couple of episodes. And this constant barrage of conflict starts chipping away at the shell of the cold exterior of Se-eum to show us someone who is a disaster, kind, messy, loving, self-pitying and flawed human being. But even then, the show predicts right when the audience is about to get bored and switches it up by dropping a murder mystery by connecting all the conflicts together. 

If there is one gripe with the story then it is that there are too few secondary characters to keep the suspense alive. Once the investigation begins, we can more or less guess the main culprit. If the show had invested in minor characters like Se-eum’s childhood friend, Ru-na’s bully, the union leader, Tae-ho and more, maybe the suspense could have been fleshed out better.

Even then, Maestra: Strings of Truth Season 1 is an underrated musical mystery that keeps you on your toes. The minor flaws don’t take away from the entertaining experience at all. It keeps the viewers engaged and is an intriguing mini-drama that explores the thin line between loyalty and obsession that leaves one with a satisfying ending.

Feel Free To Check Out More Of Our TV Show Reviews Here!