The Trunk (2024)

This show is like experiencing all 4 seasons

It started as a little bud that bloomed beautifully. You’ll experience all 4 seasons of emotions throughout the entire show. The coldness, the rain (tears), the spring (the closeness and warmth) and summer (the blooming of affection). Just going to list a bunch of stuff I loved about this show:
- Portraying the depth of each person’s affliction and imperfection.
- The role of boundaries in relationships and things you just can’t cross.
- Self worth in relationships and knowing when to let go of people that don’t deserve you.
- The obsession in relationships and how some ppl just don’t see you the way you see them.
- Mental health awareness and escapism through drugs when in reality you need others to help you and you can’t do it alone.
- relationships that help to heal wounds
- NM serving as a metaphor for modern day marriages and how easily disposable marriages can be with money and paper
- assigning gender roles in women that need to be stay at home moms and wives aren’t for everyone
- many different aspects of marriage and children from multiple views

Overall, it was a very thought out show I really enjoyed the depth of the themes it was like peeling back layers of onions the more I watched. Great acting I actually liked her stone cold character it created a contrast of when she bloomed beautifully at the end you know she healed and is in a much better time in her life.

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THE DARK ALLURE OF "THE TRUNK" OR "THE CHANDELIER" LIKE SOMEONE SAID IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NAMED. ?

After watching The Trunk, I went online to read a post/article on it. I don't know if it was a coincidence, but the first half of the comments were about how boring and terrible the drama was and how they were all waiting for “When the Phone Rings.” (I genuinely don't know why people compare two unrelated dramas with completely different vibes. If you don't like a drama, then you don't. Period. I'm still going to watch When the Phone Rings, though. I hear it's really good. 😂) The second half were people who appreciated the beauty of the drama just like I did. I get it. It's not for everyone, just like every other drama out there. But me? I was hooked from start to finish. So, here's what I liked and didn't like about it (nothing major on this part).

What I Liked:

Character Development: The transformation of both Noh In Ji and Han Jeong Won was incredible. In Ji’s resilience and Jeong Won’s evolution from a damaged man to the man he grew to become. Their chemistry was palpable too.

The Themes: The drama delves into some serious themes like emotional trauma, toxic relationships, manipulation, healing, identity, and love. It tackled how people can be scarred by their pasts and how these scars affect their present.

Suspense and Pacing: The twists, especially surrounding the trunk and Eom Tae Seong, were good suspense. The tension between In Ji and Seo Yeon was great too.

Soundtrack: I have to give a shout-out to the soundtrack. They were great, and I’m already adding some tracks to my playlist.

What I Didn’t Like:

I wanted more surprises in how Seo Yeon’s character developed. Tbh, I don't think she really changed 🤷🏽‍♀️.

That accident that happened when Seo Yeon walked into traffic. I don't know. When is the kdrama industry going to get their accident scenes right?

So, yeah. That's it. I talked too much. LOL. But I highly recommend The Trunk for anyone who enjoys a mix of suspense, romance, and psychological drama.

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The soul in the trunk

I apologize for my English

It is not easy to “define” the genre of this series. And it is not easy to put into words the emotionality it left behind.
Because “The Trunk” is figurative, it represents the soul and the journey, arrival and departure. It represents short-term and long-term memory. It represents the expertise developed in the perilous ways of life. “The Trunk” is everyone's black hole into which we throw, voluntarily and involuntarily, what we call “junk” for our psyche. At the same time, it is the place where we store the “scents” and “sensations” that define being “alive.”
Few times do trailers deflect expectations so profoundly, and even fewer times is the product so memorable to the point of countering those unmet expectations.
However, viewing the series requires a fair amount of mental stability so that one does not passively endure the tidal wave of emotionalism, which is brutal, raw, cynical, and intimate for long stretches.
Once again, Korean scriptwriters, actors, and actresses are extremely skillful in portraying the dark side of the human soul. Depictions that are never grotesque but almost always “disturbing” because they are extremely real or realizable. The negative in the series is not utopian but sadly anchored in reality.
From the first moments, the rhythms are deep, psychically tribal, flanked by music and settings that support the “dark” and “noir” framework of the plot. High praise to the music, it enters directly into assonance with 21 grams and leads the mind to live the optical experience firsthand. Special mention to the architecture of the protagonist's house, initially I interpreted it as the bony cavities of birds. Large spaces of emptiness encompassed in “slender” but strong structures. This impression changed as the plot progressed. After the first few episodes, with the knowledge of the protagonist's “illusions,” the house's architecture became a representation of the encephalon, with its bright places and cramped spaces in which memories lurk. To then become, until the end of the series, the soul, the “the trunk” of the protagonists, but also the curse that each one hides inside. And it is on this last development that the architecture and interiors reach the pinnacle of visual representation. From the “hallucinogenic” chandelier to the spiral ramp/slide in the “Archimedes screw” imagery of the involution and evolution of the soul. Even the materiality of the walls, rough, and porous, marry the essence of beauty to perfection. The unpolished, the need to come to appreciate the essence only through consciously experiencing suffering.
And this catharsis, emblematic but not sensational, again, not utopian but realistic, envelops the protagonists, whom I identify in four characters. The main couple consists of Seo Hyun Jin (the wife, No In Ji) and Gong Yoo (the husband, Han Jeong Won). The second couple was composed of Jung Yun Ha (the first wife, Lee Seo Yeon, of Gong Yoo) and Jo Yi-geon (the husband, Yoon Ji-o, of Gong Yoo's first wife).
A masterful performance by Seo Hyun Jin, a soul troubled by the most intimate betrayal and the perpetuation of the most visceral social bullying. Wife by “contract,” detached, seemingly emptied of feelings and emotions. Polished beauty that unfolds becoming pure roughness, pure emotion, warm.
Gong Yoo confirms the acting prowess already appreciated on the big and small screen over the years. Here we find him in a mature, complete, confident acting guise. He enacts the “lost” and “hallucinated” soul of a son “psychologically raped” by his father, family, life, and everyone but especially himself. Fascinating his “chase” to rebirth, nothing superhuman, everything rough, harsh, bitter, true, and alive.
Special mention to Jung Yun Ha, the charming first wife of Han Jeong Won, intelligent, cunning, bewitching, a mantis in the body of a "Medusa". This chimerical image formed in my mind as the episodes passed. And as a "Medusa", she is the cause of her demise, her pain. It does not retreat in its treachery, its viciousness, its brutality of control and domination over everything and everyone.
Jo Yi-geon, victim and perpetrator, accomplice and protagonist, fits perfectly into this trio of characters. In the space, marginal to the trio, she best expresses her acting characteristics in staging the brutality of being used while experiencing the darkest love.
Interspersed with them is the avowed “villain,” Kim Dong Won (No In Ji's stalker Um Tae Seong), who cynical viciousness does not let on but portrays it without physical reins and with extreme reasoning. Ratiocination disarms the viewer because its brutality is not embellished but is naked, unadorned, and internal to those who perform adorable pastry gems.
“The Trunk” represents a psycho-social journey of destruction and rebirth, with this phoenix-like soul leading us in questioning ourselves about being protagonists of our own lives, with mercy and compassion for ourselves.
Finally, as sleet, hope and “forgiveness” appear.

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Y’all crazy. This show was soooo good tf

I don’t understand why ppl are talking so much trash about the show. I will admit it started slow but I’m a person who likes watching a slow burn show. The build was soooo good. The ML was so damaged and his ex wife keeping him drugged up just to need him is some nasty work.ML not liking the FL at the beginning made the story so much better as you watch both of them win damage(in different ways ) slowly start to comfort each other and start to like each other was really amazing to watch. The FL was so detached from the world and was basically on autopilot all the time even with the stalker she barely flinch and then you slowly started to watch her come alive. The first fight scene between FL and the ex wife had me shook and that was the real first time you saw FL start to care and I felt myself become excited ….. and then second fight scene between FL and ex wife had me shocked because she was really pissed .

The ending was my least fav part because it is such a Korean drama thing to do and I was hoping for something more original and fresh/new but I’m not mad at them finding each other again after everything and I was even rooting for the ex wife and her fake husband because they both crazy and deserved each other .

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The acting and chemistry were the only things I watched for

The Trunk was a mind-blowing, heart-pounding thriller that left me speechless. The twists and turns were expertly woven, and the performances by Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin were phenomenal. But...It's not your typical cute K-drama. The plot revolves around a mysterious trunk that holds dark secrets. It's definitely not for the faint-hearted, with some disturbing elements. But if you enjoy psychological thrillers, it can be a watch!
The plot twists were a little predictable. Also, while the mystery was engaging, the resolution felt a bit rushed and underwhelming. Plus, the side characters were quite underdeveloped.

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Didn’t want it to end.

Didn’t watch a kdrama for months but binged watched this during exam week (one of those things your brain does when you’er stressed AF). It was a claustrophobic watch, but I genuinely devoured it!

On a personal note, while it’s nothing new (especially in recent years), and I know not many people like this aspect, but I love when k-dramas drop all the facade on sex and physical affection. Especially with older characters. I know it’s partly due to it being a Netflix production but I didn’t find the sex scenes in this distasteful at all.

I haven’t watched a handful of k-drama’s this year due to life getting in the way, and while there was some usual fictional world loopholes, it’s probably my fav so far.

And just based on the cinematography alone, I can’t recommend enough.

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When your trunk get heavy, let it go

My overall positive verdict is that it's no masterpiece. I feel like it falls a bit victim to its glossy cinematography - you sort of expect the story to be just as polished. Unfortunately every character apart apart of fl, ml and 2fl feels undercooked, especially 2fl's husband - frankly a noticeably weaker actor, and him being the killer in a tackled on mystery which feels like was just thrown in to hook the viewers in what is a pretty thin in plot drama wasn't really satisfying with his 2d past trauma motive . I think focusing on the underexplored wealth disparity between the nm employees and Jeong Won and Seo Yeon could have been more interesting - it only really came up during the leads' argument in episode 7 - or entirely centering on the leads' emotional development as a couple. Speaking of their relationship - while I did find it very interesting with all the contradictions and nuances, I was a bit lukewarm on the chemistry. It made sense in the first half, but by the ending episodes I would have liked to see less poised therapy speak and more relaxed body language (hats off to Seo Hyun Jin for portraying her character's aloofness while maintaining a very caring facade as a wife, but her stiff body language by the time she has fallen in love felt odd ).
For a more "mature" product (ugh don't care for that word, since here in mdl there is a mini civil war going on in the comments about any people daring to criticize the show obviously not having enough of a high iq or precious life experiences lol) I actually really liked how some of the recent trendy kdrama tropes were mixed in. We've seen a lot of childhood love and and reconnection romantic stories the past year, and having Seo Yeon be his childhood sweetheart made her all the more twisted and pitiful. In Ji and Jeong Won's previous meetings were also quite realistic, without any of that "they were actually really close as children but simultaneously forgot about it yet remembered enough to think of each other as long lost loves" nonsense. I think a lot of us had some brief moments were we really felt a connection to a stranger, so I found the flashbacks oddly moving. Frankly would have liked for them to actually discuss their brief encounters in length and earlier - "are we kind-of sort-of fated to be together?" worked here yet really came up in the end to make things ~poetic~ .
On a separate note, the series should've either went easier with the 2fl's nudity or made the sex scenes before the leads more explicit (or at least not have them be so vanilla, Jeong Won expressing his attraction to In Ji felt like he was reciting a legal document). Her getting the passionate slightly "edgier" scenes felt like the evil = intense sex trope.
Overall, the series was advertised as a mystery melodrama, but seemed to be too scared to indulge in its pulpiness and too dour to justify its length. Still, it's been on my mind for a bit after finishing, which is always a positive. I'm also blaming my heightened expectations.

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In Response To Negative Comments...

I've been seeing a lot of negative comments about this show saying that it's americanized etc. so I wanted to write a review in response to this.

I disagree that this kdrama is trying to be more Americanized. I genuinely like that they tried to make something more suited for adult viewers with the dark themes, intricate plot, and some nudity. It's refreshing to see such an amazing cast take on a much more daring role and it really shows how talented they are.

I will say that the plot was a bit confusing at points. The jumps between present day, the past, and the future were done well for the most part but there were times where I wasn't sure where we were. Another negative is that I hate when shows split the main couple up after they've been through a lot because they need to "heal". I personally think it's a bad choice and unnecessary.

I will also say that the show could have used a bit more depth on the relationships between the characters, there was limited dialogue when the leads were on screen together and instead we just see them trauma dumping all the time. Maybe if the show had been slightly longer to accommodate some more character building, I would have liked this aspect more. Or even if they just got rid of the friend's plot line - this felt so unnecessary... like okay she doesn't want to just be a mom, she wants to work blah blah blah but like where did this story actually go? What was the point? They either needed to develop this WAYYYY more or take it out IMO. I wanted to see his ex-wife's downfall, I wanted to see the leads accepting this new love, I wanted to see more healing in the characters... What I really mean to say by all this is that I think this show could have been a solid 10/10 if they had a more solid focus on the emotional/psychological themes rather than throwing in some of the other side plots.

Onto the positives - I really like the relationship between the leads. Their chemistry was amazing and I felt compelled by their stories. It was heartbreaking at times too when you see how unsure the leads are about what love is meant to feel like and how they should be treated by their loved ones. I like to crochet whilst I watch kdramas and this was a show where I would just constantly stop and just watch because I was so hooked on what was happening. I know my paragraph on the negatives is so much longer but that's just because there were a few key positives that really make this entire show so worth watching.

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