My Obsession with Penthouse Seasons 1-2

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Penthouse series but I haven’t been feeling Korean dramas in a long time. Eugene is one of my favorite Korean actresses so I normally would have been excited to see her return to the screen except that Penthouse, which is a mix of mystery, thriller, and some romance isn’t exactly the type of genres I’d normally watch. But on Friday evening while I was browsing YouTube as a way to unwind after a long work week, I stumbled across multiple FMVs of Seok-hoon and Ro-na. I really enjoyed their story and it got me interested in the series. I’m a sucker for the rich boy, poor girl, hero saves the beauty trope.

However, I knew that Seok-hoon and Ro-na’s story is only a small part of the series and didn’t want to binge watch the series just for them. Especially as I get bored pretty quick and didn’t want to spend all weekend on nothing but this drama. So I did what I normally would do, I found recaps and read through them. I did ended up watching the last few episodes (S2E10-12). While Season 1 had 21 episodes, Season 2 only has 13. Next week would be the season finale with Episode 13. It’s already been confirmed that there will be a Season 3 so it’s not over yet. There are a lot of reviews and recaps for this series so I’m not going to write much except a few of my thoughts.

The series does give me a lot of soap opera vibes except soap operas go on forever which is why I prefer to watch Asian dramas as we normally only get one season. But the twists and turns, all the strategic planning that goes into this drama is awesome and thrilling to watch. For me, the whole premise of Penthouse is about parents doing whatever it takes to protect their children. Penthouse revolves around the affluent and rich residents of Hera Palace (Hera, being the wife of the god Zeus from Greek mythology). Some of the younger residents of Hera Palace goes to a music academy and must compete for positions in performances, etc. This is where the parents go above and beyond to ensure their children’s positions even if it involves murder and mayhem. Despite this, the parents are also very strict on their children and abused them both mentally and physically. This lead to the children bullying other children in school. It’s a vicious cycle.

Bullying is a big problem in a lot of Asian countries especially with the custom of respecting others based on seniority and birth order. The show was so influential that this started a movement in Korea where celebrities with a history of bullying were called out and got canceled. I’m unsure how I feel about cancel culture but I don’t want to delve into it in this post.

The acting is superb. It goes to show how amazing the 3 main actresses are. The 3 of them all won the top excellence award for this drama from SBS. Whoever did the casting for this show did a fantastic job. I really cannot imagine anyone else for any of the roles.

At the end of the day, I’m mainly here for Seok-hoon and Ro-na. For those who have not seen the show yet, here is your spoiler alert before I proceed. At the beginning of Season 2, which takes place 2 years after Season 1, we see a dead girl in a while dress on a stone stairway. We don’t know who it is as the story goes back a few months prior to this incident. We eventually will find out that it’s Ro-Na. She is harmed by her love rival Eun-byeol but is ultimately killed by Joo Dan-tae. However she is saved by Su-ryeom. Seok-hoon and Ro-na reunites in Episode 11. Seok-hoon is my favorite actor in this whole series. He’s very cunning, he plays hero to Ro-na often, and you can tell he cares a lot for her so I really hope he stays this way until the very end.

I can’t wait to watch the season finale!

For some reasons, I always thought that Eugene’s husband Ki Tae-young looked similar to Lee Sang Woo. So when they got married, I thought she had actually married Lee Sang Woo. A few years later, Lee Sang Woo married Kim So-yeon which is how I found out that Lee Sang Woo and Ki Tae-young were 2 different people. And of course, Eugene being Yoon-hee and Kim So-yeon being Seo Jin in this drama.

I actually didn’t think Kim So-yeon was really pretty but this drama totally change how I see her. She’s so gorgeous here.