Penthouse: War in Life is about a down-on-her-luck woman’s (Eugene) ambitious goal to rise into high society and live in the prestigious luxury apartment Hera Palace where the residents battle for wealth and power. She will do anything to succeed, even if she becomes a monster along the way.
Eugene plays Oh Yoon Hee who comes from a poor background and lost her dreams of being a singer. But when her daughter want to become a singer too, Yoon Hee will do anything to maker her dreams come true.
Lee Ji Ah is Shim Soo Ryun. She lives a life of luxury in the penthouse apartment at Hera Palace. She does her best to be kind and be there for her family, but she soon finds out dark secrets are hiding behind the perfect facade.
Then we have Kim So Yeon as Cheon Seo Jin who also lives at Hera Palace and has a bad history with her rival Yoon Hee. She too will do anything to make her own daughter succeed.
Finally, there is Uhm Ki Joon as Joo Dan Tae. He is Soo Ryun’s husband and is a man of wealth and power who hides a very dark side.
I’ve been waiting to check out season 1 of the drama Penthouse for a long time now, and I’m glad I finally did! I’m a huge fan of makjang, and this show is pure makjang at its finest. Everything is dramatic and over-the-top from start to finish with plenty of outlandish plot developments. And that’s what makes it so much fun!
This is not a drama that will be everyone’s cup to tea. It’s all kinds of crazy with revenge, scheming, affairs, murder, and so much more. You will find some cliches, loopholes, and convenient plot devices along the way, but if you can just roll with it all and not think about it too deeply, it’s incredibly engaging and thrilling.
The pacing of Penthouse is fast with constant plot developments and no down time. The characters are always facing some new problem and creating more problems for themselves. So much angsty goodness, and I was there for all of it!
Now, this is the kind of show where the majority of the characters are morally grey with most of them being pretty villainous. You really can’t trust anyone. In any other genre, so many unlikable characters would be a huge negative for me, but in a makjang, they are a lot of fun because of their over-the-top quirks and the dramatics surrounding them.
It’s an interesting situation where sometimes I found myself routing for one villain over another since they were frequently the only person who could one up another villain. But then next thing you know, they’re off doing more bad things. It’s quite something! There are a couple of “good” characters, but they definitely are willing to do bad things in the name of revenge.
Our main cast delivered wonderful performances as they get entangled in a web of lies, deceit, and revenge. You never know what’s going to happen next with this group! Watching them go at each other was always a good time.
The drama features a fantastic cast of supporting characters too including Seo Jin’s deeply conflicted husband Yoon Chul (Yoon Jong Hoon), the gossip mother Ma Ri (Shim Eun Kyung), the momma’s boy lawyer Gyu Jin (Bong Tae Gyu) and his wife Sang Ah (Yoon Joo Hee), and the mysterious Ho Dong (Park Eun Seok).
We also have a teenage cast who delivered lots of drama themselves that includes Yoon Hee’s daughter Ro Na (Kim Hyun Soo), Yoon Chul and Seo Jin’s daughter Eun Byul (Choi Ye Bin), Dan Tae and Soo Ryun’s twins Seok Hoon (Kim Young Dae) and Seok Kyung (Han Ji Hyun), and Gyu Jin and Sang Ah’s son Min Hyuk (Lee Tae Vin).
Penthouse left me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. It delivers over-the-top, angsty goodness at a breakneck pace with constant plot developments. It’s far from perfect, but it’s so much fun that it really doesn’t matter. If you’re a lover of pure makjang, then this is the drama for you. Just enjoy the crazy!
My Rating: 9/10
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