Penthouse (2020)

Not for people who gets mad easily

What can I say? I binged watch the whole series for three days. The first thing I'll do in the morning is to get my phone and watch it for that whole day nonstop (I admit I've got no life🥹) but anyways, It's definitely worth it. I've never finished a series this fast consider that this has 3 seasons and 48 episodes with some episodes having an hour and a half of run time but if you try to watch it, you'll understand why I just can't stop. It's because of the never ending stress, anxiety and angst this show gives literally every episode. So angsty that whenever you finish an episode, you'll hit the next episode right away.

There's so many twists, some sprinkle of competition in classical singing which I thought this series is all about, deaths and resurrections. Although this series may have imperfections, you'll never actually thought of it that way because I believe that those imperfections that people are complaining about is what makes this series intriguing.

Casts are so well played especially the three mothers Yoon hee, Suryeon and of course, Seo jin. They all portrayed the parents that will do everything and I mean, EVERYTHING for the sake of their children. I actually believe that this show is all about that. All about what can parents do just for their children. Revenge, cheating, murder. These parents not just the moms but also the fathers are what completes this series. Also, the teen casts, the children of the parents. Now, this is where the opera singing plays its role in the series. Their children competing to be the best singer. Their performances are really what captivated me and the reason why I was convinced to watch this show. Well, It's quite annoying because literally every competition has cheating involved but it doesn't really make it boring. They all played their characters well. I'll have to give it to Seokyung for her great acting skills but I gotta admit that she's the most unlikable character. She's literally the worst Hera kid. My personal favorite is my Rona. She's the one who convinced me to watching Penthouse because she's always viral. She's not really the best character at the beginning but as the show progresses, you can't tell me that she's not the most decent kid in the series. (She's literally the only one who didn't bully anyone) I love her and her performances. She's the best singer amongst all the kids in the show (Well, there's someone who can potentially be the same level as her if she didn't...😉)

Anyway, I really recommend watching this. I love everything about it. The angst, stress, everything. It's a roller coaster of emotions. I love the friendships, the betrayals, the character development and the legendary deaths and resurrections that literally made this series iconic.

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A MUST WATCH KDRAMA WITH MANY TWIST

Watched all the seasons. This drama is my most fav drama cause it was so unpredictable unlike other dramas. All the twist and turns made me love this drama so much. But I cursed a lot while watching this because of the evil JU DAN TAE. Overall if you start watching the drama you can't wait to watch its next episode because in last part of every episode they leave a suspense situation. Its a little violet drama o if you like mainly romcoms then you may not like this drama. But this drama not only contains affairs, dirty truth about high class society but it also contains a little comedy in a sarcastic way.

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One of my top 3

This is one of my favorite KDramas. I went into this thinking it was going to be okay. I even thought I might drop it because the story seemed boring. But once I started it, I couldn't stop. It's SO amazing. I loved the actors and the plot twists were amazing.

!SPOILER
One of the few things I didn't like was that a couple of the deaths seemed downright "useless" or rather unnecessary to the plot. Another thing I didn't like was that the killer plot twist seemed a bit forced. Just to create another plot twist. But aside from that, it's just an outstanding drama that I recommend everyone to watch at least once

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eun byeol is a true legend.

i really love the way she does everything in heels.
but now talking serious, my impression is that this series is the riverdale of korea. the overacting, the comic characters, and other things makes it iconic but exaggerated. by the way, it holds you, and makes you create affection with characters even though they're not good people.
something that is by far excellent is the soundtrack. omg so many music classics that makes you want to search opera performances.
is a good choice of k-drama to watch, i guess you will like it, and i have sure this will turn a korean classic drama.

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Absolute Banger!

Trigger warning:Bullying
*Don't watch this if you are sensitive.It deals with sensitive issues and has this whole unsettling vibes.Penthouse can definitely make you angry easily so pls watch out for that as well*
This was a much needed binge marathon for me.I have been away from kdrama scene for a while now.Though,i have tried watching many other shows(leaving it in the middle) this one caught my attention and it did not disappoint me at all.My attention span doesn't allow me to watch anything for long hours but this was something else,something i absolutely needed.I started this on a whim.The first five episode was intense so much that I had to take a break.I dont know if any show made me hate so many characters at the same time.All the time i was like- rich people doing rich shit
The first five episode kinda set the tone for the whole series it's based on - in this case the death of a student and the mother trying to take revenge for the same.
The whole time I was screaming for these people to go to therapy(and then to jail🙂) . Everyone's mental health was going down the hill.
The acting was top notch! They did a fabulous job in this department, From kids to adults everyone did an awesome work. I was extensively reading articles to see whether Kim soyeon, Lee Ji ah and Eugene hate each other offscreen as well lmao, I can't help it looked so real(They are good friends in real life so it's okay)
Some of the things I won't lie was very exaggerating because see, as much as you try it's not easy to cover up so much. Though it was over the top- it still was better at executing the whole thing.
Overall I'll say if you don't like intense show with rich people doing rich shit, then don't watch it. Also it can mess up your mind a little because watching this you will definitely be annoyed with all the Dumbass thing (crime) they are doing. It literally made me so angry that I had to find something else to balance it out lol.
But, if you love watching a full length drama with crazy twist and turns and something that will keep you on your toes till the end, then you should watch this.
This was definitely different than a lot of kdramas I have watched so I'm happy with it.

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One Season Only

“Kill it before it dies.” This is one of the things I learned in story writing as a Communication Arts major.

I enjoyed The Penthouse because of the unexpected twists and turns along the series. The characters are sick to the core except for some rare ones; so if you cannot stand evil characters winning and partying until the last episode, stay away from this show.

Knowing this show still has two more seasons to go (S2: 12 + S3: 12 = 24 more episodes left at 1-hour-long each), I am not sure if I could still wait for that long before I get the closure I need. I am afraid that the next episodes will just repeat, recycle, the plot they used in Season 1 because I don’t see the point (narrative-wise) to drag the show further. I can foresee that the next seasons might just bore the viewers resulting to the ratings plummeting, unless the show makers still has something more explosive and shocking up on their sleeves.

If you decide to watch this and have no patience to wait for a couple of months or more, just a very strong warning that you won’t get a satisfying ending by the end of S1. Better stay away and wait for the airing of the final episode of S3 and review of folks before you dive in.

As for me, I’m done with S1 and will just wait for the whole show to finish and bingewatch if I find it worth my time. The end of S1 is totally geared up to do another season so don’t expect a satisfying ending, really just a cliffhanger. Anyway, there are a lot of more wonderful dramas coming up this year so I don’t think I’d miss so much if I skip the next two seasons.

Again I emphasize, The Penthouse should have killed it on a higher note because it has a very high potential of losing viewers out of boredom and redundancy for stretching it further.

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If the phrase "roller coaster of emotions" is a drama, this is it.

This drama series started with a bang! You're already roped in, you can't get out now. With a murder displayed with all its red-blood gory right in the first part, how can a viewer not watch further? Penthouse is a very good example of a makjang done right in recent years. With capable young and adult cast (except for the girl playing Ha Eun Byul, it took her quite a while to understand how to not overeact in an overdramatic scene) and a fabulous backdrop, Penthouse delivers a web of intrigue and plants numerous questions to be answered in the next season.

However, it doesn't just end there, we were also given a glimpse into the frailty of the human mind, something older popular soap operas failed to prioritize. After all, we are already in 2021, mental health discussions should be normalized. Though Penthouse injected it in during various moments throughout the drama, it only heightened the sense of normalcy despite it being in the makjang genre.

Like for example, you can enjoy at Joo Dan Tae's pure evilness because it's a caricature, he will never exist in real life. Then boom! Childhood trauma, physical reactions to repressed memory! He becomes someone real suddenly, we withheld total judgement, he's never 100% innocent of course, but we found ourselves waiting for the whole story first.

Then there's Cheon Seo Jin, another of our over-the-top ladies, very ambitious but obsessed at the same time. Then boom! Her world while growing up revolved around meeting the expectations set by her own family and by society. Now viewers don't lay total blame on her, we sympathize, we know why this monster was born.

It's all so fun. So much emotional investment, so much confusion, so much subversion of tropes in what is supposedly a trope-dependent genre. This is an incredible ride, I recommend it.

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Craziest makjang

As much as I am into this kind of drama, similar to Sky Castle which I genuinely enjoyed, I expected a bit too much on this. I feel like it was a bit over the top, draggy, repetitive, and I felt frustrated most of the time. I hardly could go on an episode because I cannot feel calm as everything just seems messed up, that's why I must say it's the craziest makjang I ever encountered. When I say it was draggy, I mean it was unnecessary for the writers to drag the story within a span of 21 episodes, that alone is such a pain. There's so much unnecessary things going on, characters with no depth whatsoever, get their fair amount of screen time just to annoy the viewers. That's why, it's really not for the faint hearted and easily get angered people. I think a 20-episode drama could have been nice if everything that is needed to be unfolded has already happened and the build up of the story could have ended with a glorious justifiable ending, but NO. We were given an ending with a main lead, that is supposed to be the nice person, turned out to be the killer, plus death of a significant character, plus flushing into the drain all of Shim Suryeon's plans to avenge her daughter's death, PLUS, can we just talk about how the villain was able to enjoy their moment despite the whole lot of shits they've thrown to the heroin? This then urges us to check the next season since justice was not served and all the great plans we've seen were all wasted at the end. The reason why I continued this drama was because there are also times where the leads were compensated of their hard work however, I felt frustrated when it ended like that so I had to see the next season. The only thing that stood out to me was the acting, everyone was so absorbed in their role and they killed it. The visuals also were stunning, which is expected to portray the story and setting more. This drama could've been better. I feel like 3 seasons were too long and really draggy that the story just keeps on being repeated and each time, it loses its charm.

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Once you're in it's really difficult to get out

That headline could be also the synopsis of the drama. I'm writing this after finishing 3rd season.
This will be spoiler-free and probably since it's pretty late this won't help many people but here goes my opinion of this drama (especially the acting).

Rich families live in a luxury penthouse apartments with 100 floors. Heigh has meaning here because the higher they live more powerful and rich they are.
The story's quite simple. Revenge. Revenge because of the past, the present, and the future.
It shows not only the greed of human nature but also the world we're living in where rich people play and discard the rest of the world like they are not human beings.
Every character has his own reasoning that you can try to understand (whether you can relate to it or not).
Greed, love, pride. Name it, it will be in this series. But everything comes with a price and some things can't be hidden forever.

The music's great even though the OST is quite short on quantity.

Here comes my main thing about this drama. The acting was incredible. BUT you need to be aware, this is a makjang. This drama have 2 very different types of acting. The regular one and the makjang one. And they blend great.

I'm gonna start by separating them. This show has a lot of characters and I can't write about every one of them but I'll try to cover the most important ones.

On the makjang type, there is THE character with her daughter. Cheon Seo Jin and Ha Eun Byul.

- Kim So Yeon as Cheon Seo Jin: Previously to this, I had watched 2 dramas with her as FL. And her acting was something between average and chemistry less. I was expecting very little since having no chemistry with Jung Kyung Ho it's impossible but OH MY I was wrong.
Kim So Yeon was born to play makjang roles. As Cheon Seo Jin she's the craziest, baddest, exaggerated, relentless, prideful, and disrespectful character I've seen. Her facial expressions and reactions are so over the top and exaggerated but at the same time, you (I) feel them believable. She won a Daesang for this role and it was very well deserved (unlike the one in the show).

Choi Ye Bin as Ha Eun Byul: Holy Moly, if Cheon Seo Jin it's crazy what about her daughter Ha Eun Byul. She is more like a spoiled child with a crazy mother but her descent into madness it's awesome. She portrays well how his characters want to be loyal to his mother to the point of becoming completely insane. Her reactions like her mother's and her facial expressions are incredible too. And that crazy smile. I've never seen her in any drama and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. I'm curious about how she will play a regular character.

Also, the couple Lee Kyu Jin and Go Sang Ah were crazy along with all his family. Both were like a makjang comical relief.


On the regular type, there are some characters that stand out too, but one pops above all. Lee Ji Ah as Shim Soo Ryun is the pillar of this series.

Lee Ji Ah as Shim Soo Ryun: Throughout the series her character evolves in a very interesting way. She faces and plans everything and her acting is on point all the time. I think she has chemistry with all the characters she interacts with but her scenes with Dan Tae and Seo Jin especially are great. Also with both Seok Kyung and Seok Hoon.

Eugene as Oh Yoon Hee: The third mom and the one that probably did more for her child. Eugene portrays the desperation and the injustice that she faces because of other people in a very realistic and relatable way. Her interactions with Ro Na were great and her acting was on point too.

Uhm Ki Joon as Joo Dan Tae: I have only seen this actor play roles where he was very kind and good till the point he was the bullied one. Joo Dan Tae is like the supreme bastard. You need to watch the 3 seasons to understand how mad I am right now.
But his acting was good.

Ha Yoon Chul and Kang Ma Ri were good too. Nothing to point out.

THE KIDS

Here comes the other part of the series. A lot of the revenge in the series involves or it happens because of the kids.
Especially 4 of them had really great acting that really made me want to see them working on other projects.

Choi Ye Bin as Ha Eun Byul was covered before

Jo Soo Min as Min Seol Ah: Her acting was great. Her character was great. Everything that she does has a meaning and it's important and her acting and portrayal were just perfectly nailed. Her expressions were great too.

Han Ji Hyun as Joo Seok Kyung: I have to admit that I really like Han Ji Hyun so I may be biased. She portrays a spoiled child who always has things the way she wants but also she has to deal with abuses at his home. Abuses that will take you a long time to understand. Her acting and facial expression are great and even some people could think that it's exaggerated I think it's just her way to express it and I feel it is very realistic. For that reason, she's not in the makjang category, unlike Ha Eun Byul.

Kim Young Dae as Joo Seok Hoon: I'm amazed by how with that very little facial expression an actor can express so much. Portraying a cold character that only cares about her sister he still manages to be THE one child that you will probably want to keep watching. Also, his way of talking and his tone fit great.

Bae Ro Na and Yoo Je Ni and the rest of the children are okay, Ro Na has a bit more weight in the drama due to being the daughter of one of the main actresses and her portrayal was good but nothing to point out.

The rest of the supporting cast was great too. All the secretaries in the drama are good. I like the portrait of Gu Ho Dong and Logan and also I find kind of funny the Ma Doo Ki teacher.

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I will be explaining what i thought about this drama

Honestly, this drama is amazing. I really love the actors acting and how there are so many plot twists!. There are 3 season’s but i recommend watching all 3 season’s because this drama is amazing!. If i had to say which actor did the best acting it was joo dan tae/Um Ki-joon his acting was really good. People always say if someone annoys you in a drama they were in then they good at acting. That’s what i mean by his acting is really good. I like all the actors acting though its like as if its happening in real life and not just in a drama. If you are looking for a drama with plot twists and great acting then watch this drama its an amazing drama and i 100% recommend it.

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A very exciting and addictive tragicomic Thriller.

I'm doing this review after I've watched all three seasons of the series, but I'll forget the other two to focus on how I felt watching season 1. Honestly, I think it's one of the most exciting and addictive Korean dramas I've ever seen. The story hooks you almost from the first minute and keeps you desperately impatient to see what happens in the next episode, which is its best virtue. Obviously, it is an ensemble story, where all the characters are very important within the story and almost all the subplots are very interesting. It is a perfect mix of comedy, drama, action, and suspense, an intense, convoluted, and funny tragicomic thriller. The main characters are very charismatic, both the heroes and the villains, especially the three leading women (Shim Su-ryeon, Oh Yoon-hee, and Cheon Seo-jin), and the leading male villain (Joo Dan-tae). The story of the character Min Seol-ah, whose murder is the cause of all the action this season, is quite moving, I empathized with her a lot. The characters of the rich, both the adults and the young, are so despicable that it is impossible not to hate them and want them to suffer the worst revenge (although at least the adults are charismatic and funny). In general, the plot is well constructed, to be exciting and fun, although it is evident that it has a lot of melodrama, in the style of a soap opera (which is normally something negative but here it is forgivable). Although there are little things about the plot that I don't like, watching the entire season is such an enjoyable and exciting experience that in the end, the rating has to be a 10. The ending would be disappointing if it weren't for the fact that it is an open ending to allow a second season. In conclusion, it is a fun story of intrigue and suspense with a good dose of action and drama. The opening credits sequence deserves high praise.

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keep my tense up

now I understand why people said its sky castle, class of lies and the world of married all in 1 drama and I understand the hype. the storyline was great, keeping my tense up every single episode and curious on what will happen next. it is full of twists, when you thought one thing is going to be over there's always another thing stopping that to happen. Same goes to the characters, you thought you will like this person but then it turns out to be another evil character. just keep in mind that this is a very dramatic drama or so called makjang for you to make sense of everything. The acting was top notch, love every character especially Lee Ji Ah. Can't wait for season 2, and I hope in the next season there will be more about the kids (well i need more of kim young dae).

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