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The Penthouse
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Story Synopsis

Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) is a wealthy and elegant woman and her husband is Joo Dan-tae (Uhm Ki-joon), a successful businessman who works in real estate.

Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon) is an arrogant woman who was born into a rich and powerful family. Her husband is Ha Yoon-cheol (Yoon Jong-hoon), a chief surgeon at a general hospital and an ambitious man.
Oh Yoon-hee (Eugene) comes from a poor family background. She works hard and wants to belong to the upper class for her child’s success

The residents of Hera Palace, a luxury penthouse apartment with 100 floors, have many secrets and hidden ambitions. Sim Su Ryeon, who was born into wealth, is the queen of the penthouse apartment. Cheon Seo Jin, the prima donna of the residence, does all she can to give everything to her daughter. Oh Yoon Hee comes from a poor family background, but she strives to enter high society by becoming the queen of the penthouse, the pinnacle of success in her eyes. A battle for wealth, power, and prestige at Seoul’s most coveted penthouse begins.

The penthouse is a crazy, dramatic, beautiful mess. Leaning heavily into overly dramatized elements (makjang), Penthouse is a 21 episode rollercoaster ride of emotion. Blending elements of a murder mystery, slice of life drama, and thriller together, SBS’s latest melodrama is a thoroughly enjoyable romp and despite its obvious flaws, makes for some unforgettable TV.

The story here predominantly revolves around a 100-floor luxury apartment block known as Hera Palace. The residents that live there though are absolutely awful. At the hierarchical peak is Chairman Joo and his two bratty kids, Seok-Hoon and Seok-Kyung. Together they stifle and berate step-Mum Su-Ryeon whom Joo is married to.

Setting her predatory eyes on their family however is Seo-Jin, the Director of Cheong-A Art School. After assuming dominance over the school, rigging exam results and making it so the elite few succeed, she casts her eyes on Joo and engages in a sordid affair with him.

On the fringes of this though lies Yoon-Hee and her daughter Ro-Na. Playing up the poor side of the hierarchical ladder, Ro-Na attends school and immediately finds herself bullied, berated and belittled by teachers and students alike. Still, she presses on and remains determined to make her music career a success. Yoon-Hee however, finds herself struggling in the wake of the venomous ladies inside Hera Palace and looks like she could crack at any moment.

Everything changes though when Seol-A arrives on the scene. Recruited as a tutor to help Seok-Hoon and Seok-Kyung, she immediately finds herself out of her depth and bullied thanks to her upbringing and poor background. This eventually spills over into devastation one night at Hera Palace when someone throws her over the balcony and to her death.

What ensues from here is a compelling whodunit, blended in with school slice-of-life material. There’s a lot of big fights, slaps, screaming and action set-pieces throughout and Penthouse is not afraid to throw in a big plot twist or two. In fact, it throws in so many twists and turns that at times it has a hard time staying upright.

The characters do have compelling arcs though and across the season many of them go through a number of transformative moments. Seok-Hoon, for example, develops an affection for Ro-Na that softens his character slightly while Su-Ryeon quickly becomes the focal point of the entire show and becomes a protagonist that’s very easy to root for.

Then there’s both Logan and Ho-Dong who show up on the scene midway through and have their own vendetta and secrets (no spoilers here!)

With a cliffhanger ending and 2 more seasons already confirmed, this certainly isn’t the last we’ll see of Penthouse. Given the first season cleaned house at the SBS Awards and brought home a number of acting accolades, this is undoubtedly going to turn a lot of heads toward this drama that otherwise wouldn’t.

Penthouse is not perfect, it has some conventional “soap opera” turns and the character development is poor at times. What it sacrifices in characterisation it makes up for with an irresistible storyline that’s hard to turn away from once you’re hooked. It won’t be for everyone but for those who are sucked into the drama of this one, Penthouse is makjang at its gloriously trashy best.