Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

14 December 29, 2022December 29, 2022

by SugarSnow

The end is here, and with it we see a broken family become whole again with the help of our stage actor playing his part. And as the hotel struggle comes to a close, we look forward to the new relationships formed through the truth — rather than a lie.

EPISODES 15-16 WEECAP

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Picking up where we left off, we see Jae-heon notifying Se-yeon of the play he has put together, and inviting her and Geum-soon. After leaving Se-yeon, he meets Dong-je to knock some sense into him. Jae-heon, with a sense of freedom now that everyone knows about the lie, speaks up to Dong-je regarding his struggle with Se-yeon. Jae-heon acknowledges that Dong-je has had a perfect life and the only blemish is his failure with Se-yeon.

Jae-heon says that Dong-je failed to be honest with himself and his feelings, and thus took an aggressive and domineering approach to get Se-yeon to marry him to “fix” said blemish. Jae-heon remarks that Dong-je genuinely loves Se-yeon, but that needs to be his reason for wanting to marry her – opposed to seeing the marriage as a chance to fix an imperfection in his life.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

At the mansion, the family is notified that Geum-soon has woken up. They all visit the hospital together to see her. However, they bring Jae-heon instead of Moon-sung, since Geum-soon has yet to find out his true identity… so they think. Jae-heon, overcome with guilt, tells an exhausted Geum-soon the truth about who he is, what he’s done, and that he’s a professional actor. Geum-soon surprises Jae-heon when she tells him she already knew he wasn’t Moon-sung.

We all expected this. I guess she just was lying about Jae-heon looking like Se-yeon’s grandpa? I’m not surprised that Geum-soon knew already, but I will say I wasn’t expecting a big climax, considering how the rest of the drama has gone. Squandering tension is its specialty.

Geum-soon proceeds to tell Jae-heon that she acted as though she didn’t know the truth because they were all so caring and she could tell they had true concern for her. After apologizing a few times, Jae-heon asks Geum-soon if she would watch the play he has put together; she says yes.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Making his rounds to right his wrongs, Jae-heon asks to meet with Moon-sung. Jae-heon uses this opportunity to relay to Moon-sung all of the things Geum-soon had given him while he was there. After eating with him, showing him pictures that Geum-soon holds dear, and taking him on a Geum-soon related field trip, Jae-heon slowly breaks down the emotional steel wall Moon-sung has put up, allowing him to open up more be less on the defensive.

Over dinner, Moon-sung asks Jae-heon why he took the job to act as somebody else. Jae-heon, drunk, tells him that he didn’t only do it for Geum-soon’s sake; he did it for himself, as well, since he never was able to form a familial connection since his parents abandoned him when he was young. Gaining more of an understanding of Jae-heon and his sincerity, Moon-sung helps him get home and even offers to carry him on his back.

I love the Moon-sung we’re seeing in these last episodes. He is showing that he’s not the monster he has been made out to be and that he can care about the people around him. I just can’t help but wish we had more of this a few episodes ago, rather than right before the finish line. He could’ve been a character we grew to love.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

After Jae-heon has done his thing, it’s time for Se-gyu to do his. Bringing Moon-sung out for a drink, Se-gyu gets attacked by the same woman he was attacked by with Jae-heon before. Se-gyu runs away and Moon-sung comes over to ask what was up with the woman. Se-gyu tells him he doesn’t even know her and that she’s just crazy. After joking with each other back and forth, Se-gyu promises to help Moon-sung however and whenever he needs it.

Personally, I loved how Se-gyu’s character arc turned out. In the beginning, he was standoffish, selfish, and reluctant to help anyone. Now, he is willing to help others and is trying to better himself for the people around him. He is making an attempt to be more present for his friends and family and in watching him, we can see that he has grown a lot.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Finally, after waiting so long, we get to see the first real and sincere interaction between Moon-sung and Geum-soon on a level playing field. Now understanding how Geum-soon really felt during the time they were separated, Moon-sung lets his emotions out about how he resented her and thought she had forgotten about him as she failed to keep her promise to him. She understands and apologizes but also tells him that she missed him and is glad he came.

Moving into the living room after speaking with Moon-sung, Geum-soon meets with everyone, minus Se-gyu, to reinforce the notion that she loves them and thanks them all as she has very little time left. She tells them that there is one last thing she wants to do — and that is to see Jae-heon’s show.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Jae-heon puts on a sincere show for Geum-soon and he is able to project the exact message he wanted to send to her with it: who he truly is. His play was able to show the behind-the-scenes of everything, and shine a light on who Jae-heon and Yoon-hee are as people, rather than as the characters they played.

This play was a great idea by Jae-heon as it clarified everything for the family and gave Yoon-hee and him a way to portray themselves transparently. They even brought Geum-soon on stage for the curtain call, which was fun and sweet!

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

As Geum-soon’s passing is close, a meeting to discuss the inheritance is held with the family members in attendance. Everything is normal except for one added clause: before Moon-sung can receive his portion of the inheritance, he must naturalize as a South Korean citizen. His assets are placed under Secretary Jung’s trust until then.

With this development, Se-joon cannot receive Moon-sung’s shares for the sale of the hotel. On the other side, Se-yeon ends up receiving Dong-je’s shares as he allows her to purchase them from him. After his conversation with Jae-heon, he realized that the way he was handling things was wrong and irrational. He ends the marriage plans with Se-yeon and vows to regain her trust earnestly. And so, the whole drama-long hotel feud ends in an underwhelming fashion (what a surprise).

Then, to end the finale and wrap up our budding love line, Jae-heon asks Se-yeon out on a date. She accepts as she now sees him as Jae-heon – not Moon-sung or an imposter of Moon-sung.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

Personally, I liked the ending more than I didn’t. There were still some things I was curious about (Jin-sook… literally anything having to do with Jin-sook), and some character depth needed but overall, but I enjoyed the finale week. Albeit rushed and sudden, the turnaround for Dong-je was nice to see. On the other hand, Se-joon’s drop in aggression and stoicism felt jarring to me. For how hard he was pushing to sell the hotel, it seemed like he had a change of heart a little too easily.

My biggest disappointment was with the handling of Moon-sung’s character, as he blew me away in the last few episodes. I couldn’t help but think we got too little of him. The drama hinted at his humanity early on, and we saw it in the end, but I feel like he would have bounced off the already-established characters well if he was more involved throughout the earlier episodes.

For a drama that had everything going for it, Curtain Call seemed to lean towards the anti-climactic side more often than not. Many characters felt one-dimensional and could have been fleshed out more. Despite that, there were a handful of solid and fun character moments throughout the drama. Though the ending had its flaws, overall the drama’s wrap-up closed the curtains on this story in a way that could make us smile.

Curtain Call: Episodes 15-16 (Final)

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1 welh

December 29, 2022 at 1:22 PM

Jae Heon giving the Family members advice after he was booted out as a fraud was a bit much. I did not think he endeared himself enough to warrant that access or trust. The implication that Grandma knew about the scam from the very beginning should have blown away Jae Heon’s guilt/redemption play. Grandma was a better actor than he was LOL.

The pace, writing and style of Curtain Call should have been a 50 episode weekender. Every story thread had an ambiguous ending except for Se-Gyu finding his purpose as a theater director. The final episodes were a meandering clip show disbursed with untold meaningful issues (such as the family being told Grandma’s knowledge of the frauds; or Moon-seong’s sick wife in China) Major emotional moments not being scripted for character reaction and growth among the family members was a glaring mistake. There was no scene of grieving after Grandma passed. Everything went lazily ahead like nothing important happened. The lack of urgency of Moon-seong to reunite with his wife was so odd. Being stoic is different than being stupid. Dong-je tearing up his wedding invitation to admit he was a coward for not protecting Se-yeon from his family but vowing to court her right the next time was silly nonsense. Likewise, Jae Heon’s first dinner date with Se-yeon was awkward. I found no chemistry between them except as family members. She is totally out of his league and he knows it. I liked when Yoon-hee punched Jae-Heon when he failed to recognize her own unrequited love. I did not like Yoon-hee leaving alone for the US. The total feeling about the ending was meh.

I think there was a lot of wasted character action. Dong-je was in a better position to broker family peace than interloper Jae-Heon. Housekeeper Yoon would have been the grandchildren’s de facto mother figure to pull reason and common sense out of the grandchildren’s stubbornness. Se-Joon was a single note (sell the hotel) character. His marriage was an enigma since his wife is lovely, nice and positive while he was a grumpy slug. Overall, the story was there to tell but it was not told in a complete, unified and rational fashion. The emotional range of the cast was severely muted by the plot lines. I felt Ko-Du-Shim (Grandma), Sung Dong-il (Sec. Jung) and Noh Sang-Hyun (Real Ri) gave the best performances and Jung Ji-So (Yoon-hee), Cho Dae-Hoon (Se-Gyu) and Hwang Woo Seul Hye (Ji Won) were the most likable characters.

This was another show that could have/should have been better.

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jerrykuvira

December 29, 2022 at 1:57 PM

You're right about Housekeeper Yoon. I thought she would be the one to smack sense into Se-joon's head. Secretary Jung did well but her's would impact more cause I know Madam Yoon meant a lot to Se-joon. A waste of her character I must say. Did she have up to 200 words in Curtain Call. Whatever she wasn't allowed to say Bae Hae-sun made up for with her screen presence. I just wish Curtain Call gave her more to do.

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Babylilo

July 28, 2024 at 12:20 PM

I'm a bit late to the party, having watched the show only now. I love your insightful assessment of a drama that didn't live up to its potential.

I agree with you about Se-Yeon's relationships with Jae-heon and Dong-je. I felt zero chemistry between her and JH, which may have been due in part to the wide age gap (12 years) between the actors. I really wanted the show to end hinting at a possible future for her and DJ; he seemed to have taken JH's words to heart, and was sincere about wanting to earn her love and trust the right way. I think it would have worked if we'd seen slight hints along the way that SY had any feelings for him at all.

I had the impression that Grandma didn't realize Jae-heon was an imposter until her encounter with the real Moon-seong at the café. If there were indications she knew earlier—or even from the very start—I didn't detect them.

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2 jerrykuvira

December 29, 2022 at 1:52 PM

Se-joon's drop in aggression was jarring to me too. Like how did he grow from this to that. The eyeroll his character got from me is beyond count.

Moon-seong too. I didn't like that we weren't introduced to this facet of him sooner. I'll blame it on a few things though - mainly the fact that everyone out there was ready to use and/or cast him aside to their advantage. It is really important that the siblings said the right things to Moon-seong. Except it was Secretary Jung's point-blank bitter honesty and primarily Jae-hoon's sincere earnestness to transfer all the memories he made with Guem-seon back to the original owner. Why didn't the grandkids use this as a starting point?

So till the end of the series no one found out that Yoon-hee is the daughter of the lawyer who handled the M&A. What a waste. Or that she's a Harvard Law grad. I thought she'd tell that part of her life to Ji-won but alas! she never did. So much for their friendship.

Se-gyu playing Secretary Jung...🤭🤭🤭. I couldn't think of any other person.

Did the triangle end in an open ended fashion? I liked that Dong-je broke off the engagement and started right back the next second, with a clean slate. If I was Se-yoon, I'd tell Dong-je 'Lets do it. Marriage' right after he came to the realization and told her about what he realized. I guess I'm not the writer of Curtain Call cause that's what I'd use to follow up their conversation the very next minute.

The goodbye scene where Guem-seon tells each and every one she loves them, or is thankful to them, I fought back tears, yet, it fell. I just stopped fighting it. It was just raw emotions.

It is a wrap on Curtain Call. I'm satisfied and not satisfied. It could have been better. This drama wasted a lot of it's developing plots and just kinda forgot them or just didn't deem it fit to round up on those points.

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Blue (@mayhemf)

December 29, 2022 at 4:46 PM

Se-Joon was the weakest writing. I never felt strongly about his motivation to the sell the hotel. I get it that he was angry. But the way it fizzled out made no sense. Also I would have liked to see him be more human with his wife since the beginning.
I guess grandma saying she loved him healed him?? 😅

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welh

December 30, 2022 at 10:03 AM

If the major theme was finding lost family, what about Jae-Heon's mother who abandoned him at a park?

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3 Blue (@mayhemf)

December 29, 2022 at 2:07 PM

I really wished that Moon Sung had more time with the family and we had more of their interactions.

Inspite if it’s flaws and pacing, I did enjoy the drama. It was warm and it was nice to see good people all around. The drama definitely had more potential.

What happened to Moon Sung’s sick wife! Hope someone offered to get her treated :)

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DancingEmma

December 29, 2022 at 3:25 PM

Blue: It really puzzled me too that Moonsung’s sick wife became irrelevant. It was such a narrative fail.
And, Jaeheon’s identical looks to first husband? Went down the narrative drain.
And on a different note, Goo Dooshim’s acting at times was so unnecessarily hammy but she also could be subtle and moving. This kind of inconsistency is something a director should regulate but I wonder whether that is a done thing with older actors?
Overall, I enjoyed the acting of most of the cast for most of the eps but the writing was kinda held by spit so no wonder so much of it seemed to cave in on itself.

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Blue (@mayhemf)

December 29, 2022 at 4:42 PM

Right? The whole resemblance part was pointless. Unless it is to emphasize the OTP end game or make us root for the OTP.
I was waiting for some plot twist as to why he resembles her late husband.

Yeah, the grandma scenes became repetitive after a point and her dialogues lost the gravitas.We could have easily watched 2/3 episodes of the family healing after grandma’s death and Moon Sung integrating into the family.

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4 amfalulawatching

December 29, 2022 at 4:48 PM

I liked the second half of the drama much more than the first half. I was entertained enough to stay with it, but so very disappointed because I thought a theme of uniting a lost grandson with his grandmother separated by war and politics should have been so much more dynamic. It stayed very safe with it’s focus on a grandmother that seemed almost a caricature of goodness just as the grandson was a caricature of evil at the start. Mostly, the characters were never fully fleshed out. The three rich grandchildren were shallow and uninteresting. Too many characters added very little to the story (the maid, sister-in-law, fake wife). The loveline felt forced. The fake grandson being the glue that allows for reconciliation didn’t quite work for me. Perhaps, I just wanted more from this drama given its very interesting premise and experienced cast. I thought the actor that played the North Korean grandson was a stand-out. I’m generally glad I decided to watch this drama albeit disappointed.

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5 Bunny Sonaki

December 29, 2022 at 7:42 PM

I felt like Moon-seung turning into a softer one and Dong-jae breaking off the engagement were only there to give Jae-heon's character more spotlight as the one who solved the family problems and brought everyone together and that explains why Se-joon had no redemption arc as there was barely any chance that Jae-heon's words could get through to Se-joon so they left things as it is and gave us 180 change out of the blue.
I thought Se-joon would be the antagonist and kept looking forward to getting more depth into his character until I realized he was only there to have the same boring conversations with Se-yeon and tell his wife to just go sleep.
The character who got through to me the most was Moon-seung A scarred child who grew up lonely and even after he met a loving wife. She turned out to be sick which made him take on whatever job to gather up money for her operation. It is such a shame we didn't get more of their moments together and that arc was completely discarded when it acted as the main motivation that drove Moon-seung's actions.
The show had a great recipe for a heart-warming slice of life but it threw everything down the drain and eventually got us to lose interest.

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6 antonio83

December 30, 2022 at 1:21 AM

It started out great, but I got really bored towards the middle and gave up.

I learn that ML preferred 44-year-old Ha Ji Won over 23-year-old Jung Ji So. This is perhaps the least believable thing I've seen in a drama this year!

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A. McG.

December 30, 2022 at 8:33 AM

The coupling of the Leads did seem forced. FYI, the original work (Spanish play 1949, adapted film Argentina 1951) the fake couple did end up together - they get to know each other better during the "play" and fall in love and leave together to go back "home". I think it's why, IMO, it felt like HJW's character (not in the original work) feels like a filler and the date with Jae-heon very much contrived.

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7 loveblossom🌸

December 31, 2022 at 12:40 PM

There were some parts that weren't written well and some slow ones, but I like how the finale wrapped up the show. The romance was not a major factor by the end and was left open which was appropriate.

Seeing how Moon Sung gradually softened was nice. His first smile when he was with Se Gyu! Their interaction was fun.

There were likable characters and really wonderful acting. The final performance and seeing the family's reactions were lovely and touching.

This drama felt like a weekender except it had no makjang moments. A lot of the characters were realistic, people who didn't resort to extreme, crazy methods.

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Curtain Call