“Curtain Call” ~ A Grandmother’s Dying Wish

“Curtain Call” is a Korean drama series released in 2022, has 16 episodes, and can be categorized as Mystery, Historical Fiction, Romance, and Family Drama.

♦ We Must Get on the American Ship!

In “Curtain Call”, it is the 1950s, and Ja Geum Soon, along with her husband and baby, are racing desperately to get on a ship. They are fleeing the area now known as North Korea. With her husband’s help, she was able to climb onboard the ship. However, her husband stopped to help a single mother get her young son onboard. When the ship started to leave, he and their baby son were unable to get onboard. Ja Geum Soon ended up in South Korea alone and on her own. Separated from her husband and son, she decided to push forward with her life. Everything she accomplished was because she had one goal in mind: to reunite with the husband son she left behind and if possible bring them to live with her. She married, had children and grandchildren, and established a successful Nakwon hotel chain.

She is now 92 years old. The husband and son she left behind in North Korea have both passed away. She only knows of her grandson and would love to see him before she dies. Her doctor told her she has about 3 months to live. Jung Sang Cheol is her assistant who has been with her for a long time. Their relationship is so much more than employer and employee. He knows what her dying wish is and tries to find the grandson she wants to see so desperately. But he learned that her grandson is not the type of person she had hoped he would be. Some described him as a “walking piece of trash”. He lived a dangerous life, was involved in all sorts of criminal mischief, and who knows what he would do to his grandmother and other relatives if he was brought to South Korea.

Jung Sang Cheol came up with a plan. He hired an actor to pretend to be Ja Geum Soon’s grandson. He attended a stage play and watched Yoo Jae Heon play a North Korean soldier in the theater performance. His North Korean accent was excellent and sounded so realistic. Jung Sang Cheol made him an offer. He explained that Ja Geum Soon had only a few months to live and he wanted to send his dear friend off in peace. Yoo Jae Heon’s acting job was to pose as the grandson who was a North Korean defector and visit the old woman. OK! Sure! He acts as a North Korean on stage all the time. This job didn’t seem too hard and plus, it was for a good cause.

But sometimes simple plans get complicated. He was pretending to be a grandson. I mean … he’s an actor and the job will only last for 3 months. Initially, the thought probably didn’t occur to him that he would meet the woman’s real grandchildren and the acting job wouldn’t be so simple. How could he have not thought of that? Also, it was agreed that a fellow actor would act as his wife (but the actress may have had other ideas about their real relationship). They’re trying to make their acting believable enough so that grandmother can go to her grave in peace. How could he not have thought that he might fall in love with the real granddaughter, Park Se Yeon … when he supposedly has a wife?

Main Characters:

• Ja Geum Soon (played by Go Doo Shim, “The Atypical Family”, “Island 1 and 2”)
• Yoo Jae Heon (played by Kang Ha Neul, “Forgotten”, “River Where The Moon Rises”, “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo”)
• Park Se Yeon (played by Ha Ji Won, “Damo: The Legendary Police Woman”, “Empress Ki”)
• Jung Sang Cheol (played by Sung Dong Il, “Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days”, “RV: Resurrected Victims”, “The Grand Heist”, “Han River Police”, “Ghost Doctor”, “Sisyphus: The Myth”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.3 out of 10 stars
• MyDramaList: 7.7 out of 10 stars
• Dramabeans: 7.1 out of 10 stars
• NME: 4 out of 5 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 9.3 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is 8 out of 10 stars.

This is an awesome summary of “Curtain Call” shared via a review published via Kdrama Love: “A powerful and poignant family-themed Korean drama with an exceptional cast, destined to be a classic, Curtain Call (2022) spanned the years 1950 (the beginning of the Korean War) to the modern era in 2022, and covered some tensions typical to both South and North Korean populations.”

The cast is excellent and the Kdrama Love summary is very succinct. But the storyline kind of upsets me. It is just fiction, but it made me think of a “What If” scenario. What if ~ in real life ~ a well-meaning friend with good intentions, decided to deceive you before you die? Personally, I would have a problem with that. If you really are my true friend, don’t let me go to my grave believing a lie. It ain’t right!

This is me, thinking way too seriously and superimposing a real life problem over a fictional script. I did notice that other reviewers were not pleased with this series for various reasons, such as outdated plot, subpar and obscure, and one scene looked just like a similar scene in another Kdrama … Ouch! However, overall there seemed to be more viewers and reviewers who liked “Curtain Call”. I think my personal rating is reasonable.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Curtain Call – Korean Drama Fan Review – Kang Ha Neul, Ha Ji Won | Kdrama Love

K-drama midseason recap: Curtain Call – hotel family drama starring Kang Ha-neul and Ha Ji-won struggles with clichés | South China Morning Post

‘Curtain Call’ review: a compelling pauper-turned-prince tale | NME

What you need to know about Ha Ji-won’s latest drama Curtain Call |YAHOO! Life

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

KDramaforyou. “CURTAIN CALL Trailer (October 2022 KDrama) | Kang Ha Neul, Ha Ji Won Korean Drama.” YouTube Video. YouTube, October 9, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoZp50lnD1o.‌