Keoteunkol (2022) User Reviews

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 6/10 · 15 February 2023]

Korean Drama " Curtain Call " is a family melodrama with a sweet and emotional story.

The drama does a great job of presenting the relationship between the grandmother who is trying to heal her old wounds, and her fake grandson, who discovers that he is yearning for a family as well.

On the other hand, there were some things that the drama handled awkwardly. The romance, for instance. It was unnecessary and shifted the focus from the family drama to the couple, who were cute together, yes, but most of the time the female lead thought that the male lead was A) her cousin, and B) a married man. The love triangle was, moreover, doomed from the start.

Also, the situation with the real grandson was oddly managed. For some reason, and even though the drama kept pointing out that he wasn't really a bad person, they also wanted the audience to love the male lead more than him. At least, they gave an almost proper ending for everyone in the end.

The performances, finally, were all great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six out of ten.

Touching and involving

[phd_travel · 8/10 · 3 January 2023]

The premise of this series is so good that it makes the viewer involved to the end. There are some complicated and fascinating situations and relationships that emerge. And there are some touching and emotional scenes that have been hard to find in recent dramas. The writer does a good job of not going down too predictable a path. Even if you know where things are headed the way you get there is surprising and well done. Now and then really laugh out loud moments take you by surprise. No makjang twists or villains here. There are some flaws. There are some dragged out parts that could have been cut out in between. And more could have been done with the flashbacks of pre and post war Korea which were too short. But things are redeemed by a good last few episodes that ties most things up in a feel good way. There are a few unanswered questions but they are minor ones.

The acting and casting here is pretty good. Kang Ha Neul does his goofy charm thing well as he did in Camelia Blooms, Ha Ji Won looks elegant and young in this show. Kwon Sang Woo is well preserved too. Noh Sang Hyun as the real grandson is quite intense and effective and his scenes are more interesting.

This is one of the better series of it's kind and I hope they make more like this with a more recent historical sweep, not the costume drama type but one dealing with more recent history.

A Heartfelt Drama

[vijhocalalo · 10/10 · 14 September 2023]

This drama made me love my family more and miss them even more. The actors are good and the plot and story is really something. They portrayed the importance of family in this drama. Each of every member of the family in the drama was well portayed by the actor very well. I like Ha Jiwon's acting as usual is superb and the two brothers are really good. The story from the past was also clearly shown that you will want to know more about what happened and how it happened. If you are looking for a drama that will touch you heart this is a must see. Recommended indeed! Well done for all the actors, Ha Jiwon and Kang Hanuel.

Wannabe Aspiring Actor

[Park_Min · 5/10 · 10 March 2024]

A lot of names were thrown around in the beginning with not a lot of context, so you had to make a mental note to connect them later on-a really annoying practice, to say the least. Supposedly, the male lead was in China before coming to SK, but the drama made it a running joke for a couple of episodes that he was a caveman. This made the whole family meeting and living together a bit too cringe. There were many ways to approach such a scenario, but it seems the writer took the lazy route. Some scenes were stretched really thin and became too awkward to continue, like that one scene of both leads and Sang Chul talking about the old hotel staff photo. The drama would've benefited from having more grandchildren and better interconnected stories between them. Although there were three grandchildren, the middle one was an insignificant sidekick and didn't contribute to the dynamic as much as I hoped. The ending brought a change of heart to all of the opposing characters, but some of them didn't seem genuine in the slightest.