Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) occupies the penthouse with her shady investment firm director husband Joo Dan-tae (Um Ki-joon). Cheon Seo-jin (Kim Seo-yeon) is a ruthless opera singer who also teaches at Cheong-ah Arts School.
Meanwhile, Oh Yoon-hee (Eugene) is a poor single mother who does not live in Hera, but whose life was ruined by Seo-jin at Cheong-ah many years ago. Their paths cross again as she tries to send her own daughter there.
The show begins with the residents of Hera Palace donning their finery and heading downstairs for a swanky party.
However, as Su-ryeon descends in the glass elevator, she sees a young girl fall from the 47th floor, their eyes connecting in mid-flight before the poor girl crashes through a stain-glassed skylight and into the arms of a statue down below in one of the series’ many memorably dramatic moments.
The girl is Min Seol-a (Jo Soo-min), an orphan and gifted singer whose mysterious death occurs after having placed first in the -ntrance exam for Cheong-ah and being mercilessly bullied by the children of members of the “Hera Club”, the high-rise elite who will do everything to keep themselves in power and everyone else out.
The Penthouse is the latest creation of veteran writer Kim Soon-ok, who is known for penning some of Korea’s most popular makjang-style dramas, include 2008’s Temptation of a Wife. Much like her previous work, her new show is teeming with salacious subplots and wicked betrayals, stitched together with more shocking revelations in an episode than some series can manage during their entire runs.
Innocent characters are abused by those who wield power, but it’s not enough for them to merely be beaten, they have to be thoroughly humiliated. This sends waves of empathy pulsing through viewers, as we watch on helplessly.
Yet for every major fall, it does not take long for the downtrodden to rise anew, such as when Yoon-hee and her daughter miraculously find themselves living in Hera Palace.
Breathless in its plotting and aggressive in its staging, the show dazzles with its fancy costumes and sumptuous sets, and tightens the screws with a relentless score that blares over the many twists and turns.
Central to the show’s appeal are the performances, with Lee as the graceful and calm-under-fire Su-ryeon, while Eugene gets to show off a range of emotions as the desperate mother Yoon-hee. Yet the face that viewers will surely recall first when thinking back on the show is that of Kim, whose wild-eyed, cheek-twitching performance as the icy villainess Seo-jin simmers with trembling rage.
The show also boasts some vivid supporting turns, especially from Bong Tae-gyu as a greasy momma’s boy lawyer in the Hera Club, who is clearly enjoying hamming it up. Ha Do-kwon is a scream as Seo-jin’s sycophantic stooge, and Park Eun-seok’s colourful performance is the catalyst for some of the show’s biggest reveals.
The plot thickens halfway through, maintaining the early energy of the show, if not reaching quite the same dramatic highs.
But as it enters its final stretch The Penthouse does become a victim of its own success. The characters have gone through so many ups and downs by this point that new revelations start to lose their impact. There’s also less interplay between the children, which had been an enjoyable counterpoint to the main action earlier on.
Since the show has already been renewed for two more seasons (it will return for season two later this year), this week’s finale lacks the pay-off that we’ve been hoping for, as the fates of several characters remain unclear – even if death is seldom the end of the line. Yet this is only a small blemish on a show that has made for compulsive viewing these past few months.
The Penthouse season one is streaming on Viu.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZLhuvM6pZqRllKeurq2OmqmtoZOhsnB%2FkGptb2tnZLhusNGapJploprDqrHWZqeepqSdvLa%2FxGabnqSZmLawwdKlsGanppq%2Fo7jOsKVmpZWhvKW%2BwKaY