Korean dramas have been a saving grace for me during this pandemic as they gave me the ability to escape reality. Earlier this year I started a new drama that has been receiving praises from the Korean audience and drama watchers. Needless to say, the reviews did not prepare me for what I was about to start.
The drama’s name is Penthouse: War in Life and tells the story of wealthy families who live in a building called Hera Palace and their children who all go to Cheong-ah Art School. Three of the main characters are Shim Su Ryeon who lives in the penthouse on the 100th floor, whose born into wealth, and is married to Joo Dan Tae a successful businessman; Oh Yoon Hee who comes from a humble background and used to be a soprano before an accident changed that. Finally, there is Cheon Seo Jin a famous soprano who is the daughter of the head of Cheong Ah Art School. She is married to Ha Yoon Chul, the ex-boyfriend of Oh Yoon Hee. Needless to say, there is a lot of bad blood between Oh Yoon Hee and Cheon Seo Jin who went to Cheong Ah Art school together.
I know that my description might not make people want to watch the show, but I can’t give more details without spoiling the show. I promise the show is so much better than my description and each episode will give you a plot twist you could’ve never expected. This drama is so good that even my cousin who does watch Korean dramas got hooked on it.
When I first read the synopsis, it reminded me of a drama I watched in 2019, SKY Castle, but Penthouse could not be more different.
The reason why I say that this drama drives me crazy in the first place is the characters. The antagonists (and there are A LOT of them) are so evil, there are no redeeming qualities about them. They are so evil that when something bad happens to them it makes me so happy because it’s what they deserve. The second reason is the plot twists, when you think an antagonist has finally gotten what they deserve another plot twist gets thrown in your face. So many characters died and then came back to life, now I’m not even sad when a character dies, I just think “I’ll see you later”. Even though I am now kind of numb to what happens in Penthouse, I still find myself getting angry at the end of some episodes because of how some of the characters act.
The drama is currently on the second season and the third season is rumoured to come out in June. I 100% recommend you to watch this drama if you want to hop on a crazy adventure. The drama is not on Netflix but I am sure it will be there as soon as it’s done airing on Korean television, right now I think it’s available on the app Viki.