Curtain Call: Episode 8

by SugarSnow

Curtain Call has finally stopped dragging its feet and is beginning to pick up into a jog. Family ties are at stake, while our stage actors are strengthening their own relationships with the members of the family. But is all their hard work about to come crashing down?

 
EPISODE 8 WEECAP

Back with Jae-heon at the art booth, Hyo-jin invites him out for coffee. Searching around the room for witnesses (Se-yeon in particular), he reluctantly says yes. After having been away for what was probably too long, Jae-heon hustles back to the booth running into Se-yeon when he gets there. Pulling out the ol’ bathroom excuse, he quickly gets the concerned Se-yeon off his back.

Jae-heon managed to make it out of this predicament unscathed, but I’m not sure how long he can keep this up. Over coffee, Hyo-jin asked Jae-heon to meet her again – he accepted her invitation, and in doing so, opened yet another opportunity to be caught. Probably not the smartest idea.

Se-gyu was someone who I believed would be in opposition of Jae-heon’s long-term stay and addition to the inheritance, but to my surprise, he asks Jae-heon to join him for a drink (Se-yeon mentions this is rare and means he trusts that person.) Considering his skeptical nature from the beginning, I thought he was up to more tricks, but instead, he opens up to Jae-heon and establishes his support for him as he sees the happiness Jae-heon has brought into their lives. He even brings up the estate situation, but in an attempt to reassure Jae-heon as he knows it is Geum-soon’s choice to make and he supports her. He sees Jae-heon as an ally and asks him to be there for Se-yeon as she will need someone at the end of it all.

Se-gyu has been one of the most, if not the most, interesting of the sibling trio thus far and I loved finally getting a chance to follow his train of thought. Taking on the appearance of the spoiled brat who wants nothing to do with the family, he is actually the opposite (sort of, he’s still spoiled.) He has taken the middle ground in the feud between Se-yeon and Se-joon, not wanting to lose either of them. He is more worried about his family than the hotel’s part in the family. Emotionally, he seems to be the one handling the loss of his parents the best.

Meanwhile, the real grandson is finally making his way to South Korea. Running off of his curiosity, Tae-joo sought out Moon-sung, paid for his passport, and boarded him on a ship to meet his relatives. Honestly, without Tae-joo, it would have been a long time before Moon-sung would have been able to make it to South Korea, if at all.

Moon-sung’s arrival and integration into the already established character dynamics excites me, but I’m sure it will have the opposite effect on Secretary Jung as he has sacrificed a lot to keep Jae-heon a secret. I’m curious to see how far he will go to maintain his lie and the wall Moon-sung will have to climb over to prove his legitimacy to the family members.

Despite being cut off relentlessly by Se-yeon, Dong-je watches over her back and uses everything at his disposal to help her. Meeting with Executive Director Kim, he asks him to help Se-yeon out rather than oppose her – sending him away with enough money to buy a golf membership and a limited edition club. Se-joon quickly tracks down the scent of deceit and confronts Executive Director Kim. Kim cowers down in front of Se-joon and begs for his forgiveness. Feeling betrayed by the partner he chose to burn bridges with, he fires Kim and gives him the Se-joon special: a frigid cold shoulder.

Executive Director Kim has been around the family members for a long time and has known them all since they were children. With the termination of his job at the hotel, will he plot revenge against Se-joon and work with Se-yeon? Either way, the war between our two siblings continues, as does the collateral damage.

With Grandma Geum-soon’s health declining, Jae-heon’s attachment to her is growing. He is slowly becoming a member of the family, albeit through a sham. He feels at home with them and they are beginning to feel at home with him. He doesn’t really have anybody to go back to once this is all over but his guilt is eating at him telling him that what he’s doing is wrong. Interestingly, we see the same concern expressed by Yoon-hee — she is guilt-ridden as well after receiving a family heirloom from Geum-soon (which also provides a flashback of the man she later wound up marrying).

Jae-heon’s affection towards Geum-soon is also reciprocal: she is feeling the same way about him. Just as she felt like she was finally ready to go, Jae-heon showed up and pulled her out of the dark. With him around, she finds herself asking for more time, but that’s one thing she can’t get.

As we end the week, Hyo-jin traverses the hotel lobby, hoping to see Jae-heon again, when she runs into Se-yeon. Asking where Jae-heon is, Se-yeon is confused as she doesn’t know anyone by that name. Hyo-jin says it was the person working the calligraphy booth, but Se-yeon says that was her cousin, Moon-Sung. To clear the confusion, Hyo-jin pulls up a picture of Jae-heon and shows Se-yeon, telling her that he is a stage actor and he’s from South Korea. Uh oh! Se-yeon puts all the pieces together in her head, making note of the small slip-ups he had and BOOM! It feels like it’s taken years to get to this point, but it has finally happened.

This week was the calm, and next week will surely be the storm, as Se-yeon now knows Jae-heon is a fraud and the real Moon-sung will be joining the picture. Honestly, I don’t know how the romantic aspect will be explored between Se-yeon and Jae-heon now – I thought a viable opportunity to open that relationship up would be that Se-yeon knew all along that he was a fake, but that doesn’t work now. Instead, I think she will start to see that the real Moon-sung is not a good guy and realize the redeeming qualities in Jae-heon despite the huge lie he was a part of.

Poor Geum-soon is going to be distraught when she finds all of this out – that is, if she does. Se-yeon might try to keep the secret for Geum-soon’s sake. She’s not doing well already, and this news would destroy her. Jae-heon has also just begun to get support from Se-gyu and that would all be for nothing. The one person he hasn’t been able to reach is Se-joon (who we see is still suspicious of them being fake through Yoon-hee’s mom’s notes.) The hardest part about all of this is that Jae-heon’s feelings have become genuine. He isn’t faking his feelings towards Geum-soon. He truly sees her as a grandmother and doesn’t want to let her go.

I’m awake. This drama has finally taken the turn that we all have been waiting for it to take – now we wait and see how it’s executed. I’m looking forward to the story next week — but not so much the recoil our beloved stage actors and Secretary Jung are about to feel.

 
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