I can’t believe I hesitated to watch this show. I’ve heard things about it but the plot seemed too much like Sky Castle to me. Or at least I thought it did. Oh my god this show was probably the craziest emotional roller coaster I’ve ever been on from a show. And it only shares some of the same themes Sky Castle had, but this show is in a league of its own. It had so many twists and turns and each episode didn’t give you a break. Each episode was shocking and revealed something that furthered the plot. I ended up binge watching the entire first season within three days. This show legit gave me anxiety during certain scenes, but the intrigue of the characters was so easy to get caught up in. Absolutely addicting.

I really have to give it up for all the actors involved-including the teen actors(they took what was given to them and really made an impact every time they were on screen.) But the standouts for me were Lee Ji-Ah, Kim Young-Dae, and Park Eun-Seok. Lee Ji-Ah was able to bring so much passion and emotion to her role, and Park Eun-Seok masterfully pulled off the personas of Gu Ho Dong and Logan Lee. Kim Young-Dae was the cold but handsome Nam-Joo in Extraordinary You, but in this he was unrecognizable to me. Out of all the kids in the Penthouse, he impressed me the most. I am biased because he is so good-looking, but his acting in this impressed me. He doesn’t have to say much when he’s on screen because his gaze is powerful and his eyes are so expressive. Even if he has no lines during a scene his eyes tell you what he really wants to say and that is a great skill to have as an actor. An honorable mention goes to Kim So Yeon. She played the hell out of her role. But in all honesty all the actors involved did an amazing job with their characters.

I’m surprised that the first season ended with the bad guys winning. It was an interesting choice of writing and it subverted my expectations for the finale. It was reported that it was planned at the beginning for Penthouse to have 3 seasons, so I’m really looking forward to how the characters will develop. I hope the writing keeps its quality. 10/10