Recap Korean Drama "Curtain Call (2022)" Episode 3-4

The big moment finally happened! Jae-heon meets Geum-soon along with all of the grandchildren — who all feel differently regarding the reunion. After moving inside, everyone sits down to talk and get to know Jae-heon and Yoon-hee. To clear the air for the grandchildren, Jae-heon prefaces by saying he and Yoon-hee are only going to stay until Geum-soon passes as he is only there to be with her in her final moments. Se-yeon shocks the room when she offers to let them stay and live there without having discussed it with her siblings first.

As Jae-heon and Yoon-hee meet all of the grandchildren and people in the house, we learn via flashback that Secretary Jung has already given them the rundown on the grandchildren and their personalities. He’s advised them on who might help them if they get in trouble (Se-yeon), who to steer clear of (Se-gyu), and who to be cautious of (Se-joon).

Given how calculated Se-joon is, he is already skeptical about Jae-heon given the timing of his miraculous appearance. Approaching Secretary Jung, Se-joon expresses his concern with Jae-heon being a fraud. Secretary Jung tells him that it’s not his problem to worry about.

Here, we see more of Se-joon’s story as he responds by saying that ever since he was a child, he felt like Geum-soon was always more preoccupied with her North Korean family than the family she already had in her presence. This is a great example of how well the drama is drawing its characters — specifically the grandchildren – and slowing peeling back the layers of their relationships with each other as well.

After a long first day in their “roles,” Yoon-hee and Jae-heon settle into their suite and breath a sigh of relief. Secretary Jung joins them to tell them they did a good job, especially Jae-heon. His convincing and emotional performance sold his authenticity to (almost) everyone. We see that it was so effective because he was pulling the emotions from the supposed reunification meeting to his own memories of being abandoned by his mother as a child.

While Se-joon is suspicious of Jae-heon, Se-yeon sees him as someone she can get close to — eventually hoping he will take her side in the battle with Se-joon over the sale of the hotel. Even though she has a reason to get close to her new “cousin,” Se-yeon is so caring towards him, and seeing their informal language and comfortability with each other is quite sweet (as is her insisting he calls her noona!)

 

Se-yeon takes Jae-heon out for a day in Myeongdong in an attempt to give him a taste of South Korea. For lunch, the two grab fried chicken and as Se-yeon is about to take a bite, Jae-heon stops her and calls for some sauces to mix together as he wants Se-yeon to dip her chicken in the mixture. She tries it and is surprised as it tastes good. Jae-heon bluffs that this is a trend in the North and everybody eats their chicken like this.

Cutting to a past strategy meeting between Jae-heon and Yoon-hee, they worry that they know nothing about life in the North. But, Yoon-hee shrewdly explains to Jae-heon that they technically just came from the North and they should use the lack of knowledge the South has to their advantage: basically, whatever they say, people will have to believe. The dipping sauces were the first example of this, but these bluffs will only carry their mistakes so far. Hopefully, the two don’t go overboard with this…

The next day, Se-yeon is attempting to work with another company that owns enough shares in Nakwon to possibly vote with her in favor of not selling the hotel. She makes a phone call to the company, only to realize that it’s Dong-je pulling the strings. She pays him a visit in another attempt to push him out as he is using his shares to strong-arm her into marrying him. He even intervenes on a conversation between Se-yeon and Jae-heon just to let Jae-heon know he’s going to marry Se-yeon. Someone can’t take no for an answer.

Regarding this relationship, I am interested to see if Se-yeon wanted to strictly focus on the hotel so she left him, or if it has turned sour for more reasons than just that. Knowing dramas, I’m guessing it’ll be the latter. And is Dong-je still wanting to marry out of feelings for her, or is he just being petty or possessive?

Back home, Se-joon has plagued Se-gyu with the same doubt in Jae-heon that he has, so Se-gyu takes it upon himself to search Jae-heon’s room. Getting caught by Jae-heon in the process, Se-gyu plays it off and takes him out to a bar in the wee hours. At the bar, it seems like Se-gyu is trying to bond with Jae-heon (even though it’s easy to see through his fake demeanor) until he brings up a DNA test. Both he and Se-joon want to use Jae-heon’s hair for a DNA test to clarify whether he is the real grandson or not. Just to clear the air, you know.

While Se-gyu reaches for Jae-heon’s hair, Jae-heon stands up and turns on the drama, lecturing Se-gyu for not trusting him. Se-gyu scrambles while a woman at the bar recognizes him. It turns out he’s on her bad side. She starts to fight with him and Jae-heon tries to split them up, but in doing so, gets stuck in the middle of it. The woman grabs both of them by their hair and we see later that Jae-heon takes this chance to pull out some of Se-gyu’s own hair for the DNA test. Jae-heon’s quick on his feet!

After the test results come back as a match, Se-joon reads over them, surprised to see that Jae-heon is “actually” related to them — although I still think he doesn’t believe it completely. He doesn’t seem like one to give up this easily, even with definitive proof staring right at him.

Meanwhile, Secretary Jung visits the orphanage that he grew up in. As he talks to one of the nuns, we learn that Jae-heon lived in the same orphanage! The woman asks about Jae-heon and if Secretary Jung remembers him (which means he already knew who he was?!). She also shares that Jae-heon landed a big acting gig and donated money to them generously. (Secretary Jung mutters to himself when he sees how little of the full amount he actually donated.)

Back at the hotel, Yoon-hee and Jae-heon tell Geum-soon that they want to travel as they haven’t gotten to sight-see around South Korea yet. She realizes that they have been stuck at and around the hotel so she gives them money and sends them off. They pretend to go off on vacation all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but they really go home individually to their old lives for a breather.

Here we learn a little more about Yoon-hee. At home, we see that she has a poster of Jae-heon in her room. She holds a frustrated look on her face while looking up at the poster. Her crush on Jae-heon is made very apparent — to everyone but Jae-heon. He is either completely uninterested, or he is so caught up in everything around him that he fails to recognize her affection towards him. I can’t imagine this is a newfound crush for her.

Also, when Yoon-hee catches up with her mom, we learn that she’s working on a case: the potential sale of Nakwon Hotel and the battle for its future. This is just another hint that there are a lot of holes in Yoon-hee and Jae-heon’s cover, and sooner or later their real and fake lives will collide…

We next catch up with Jae-heon on “vacation” — he’s ogling over his bank account as there’s a few more digits than usual. He meets his friend, PARK NO-KWANG (cameo by Lee Yi-kyung), who works at a luxury car dealership. He boasts to No-kwang about his money and decides to splurge on a fancy car and a night out at a club, only to wake up the next day and regret it. (He’s also nearly caught on-scene by Se-gyu who is also partying there.)

That same night, Se-yeon wakes up randomly worried for her grandmother. Searching for her, she fails to find her in her room or anywhere else around the house. In the sink is the blood and pills that Geum-soon has coughed up. The episode closes with a distressed Se-yeon frantically searching all over for Geum-soon, who’s nowhere to be found.

This week was a blast! We’re slowly but surely learning about each of the characters — although, I’m left with more questions this week about backstories and motivations. I like the dynamic between Jae-heon and all of the grandchildren and am looking forward to seeing how Jae-heon and Se-yeon’s relationship develops specifically. Regarding their future romance, I honestly have no idea how that will fit into things given the current situation, especially with the impending betrayal Se-yeon will experience.

Curtain Call does a great job of making each of its character interesting and layered — for instance, this week has brought Jae-heon’s backstory into focus a little more, and I’m looking forward to seeing why he wanted to act, and Secretary Jung’s prior knowledge of him. Also interesting is the real Moon-sung, who we’ve only seen in short snippets so far. This week we saw him find an article about Geum-soon and the hotel — so get ready for the impending doom of his arrival! And then there’s Geum-soon herself. She’s the trunk of this tree and everyone else is the branches. I don’t even want to imagine how things will go after she passes.