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The Penthouse: War in Life korean drama review
Completed
The Penthouse: War in Life
0 people found this review helpful
by Tenza0
Dec 23, 2022
21 of 21 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

Once you're in it's really difficult to get out

That headline could be also the synopsis of the drama. I'm writing this after finishing 3rd season.
This will be spoiler-free and probably since it's pretty late this won't help many people but here goes my opinion of this drama (especially the acting).

Rich families live in a luxury penthouse apartments with 100 floors. Heigh has meaning here because the higher they live more powerful and rich they are.
The story's quite simple. Revenge. Revenge because of the past, the present, and the future.
It shows not only the greed of human nature but also the world we're living in where rich people play and discard the rest of the world like they are not human beings.
Every character has his own reasoning that you can try to understand (whether you can relate to it or not).
Greed, love, pride. Name it, it will be in this series. But everything comes with a price and some things can't be hidden forever.

The music's great even though the OST is quite short on quantity.

Here comes my main thing about this drama. The acting was incredible. BUT you need to be aware, this is a makjang. This drama have 2 very different types of acting. The regular one and the makjang one. And they blend great.

I'm gonna start by separating them. This show has a lot of characters and I can't write about every one of them but I'll try to cover the most important ones.

On the makjang type, there is THE character with her daughter. Cheon Seo Jin and Ha Eun Byul.

- Kim So Yeon as Cheon Seo Jin: Previously to this, I had watched 2 dramas with her as FL. And her acting was something between average and chemistry less. I was expecting very little since having no chemistry with Jung Kyung Ho it's impossible but OH MY I was wrong.
Kim So Yeon was born to play makjang roles. As Cheon Seo Jin she's the craziest, baddest, exaggerated, relentless, prideful, and disrespectful character I've seen. Her facial expressions and reactions are so over the top and exaggerated but at the same time, you (I) feel them believable. She won a Daesang for this role and it was very well deserved (unlike the one in the show).

Choi Ye Bin as Ha Eun Byul: Holy Moly, if Cheon Seo Jin it's crazy what about her daughter Ha Eun Byul. She is more like a spoiled child with a crazy mother but her descent into madness it's awesome. She portrays well how his characters want to be loyal to his mother to the point of becoming completely insane. Her reactions like her mother's and her facial expressions are incredible too. And that crazy smile. I've never seen her in any drama and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. I'm curious about how she will play a regular character.

Also, the couple Lee Kyu Jin and Go Sang Ah were crazy along with all his family. Both were like a makjang comical relief.


On the regular type, there are some characters that stand out too, but one pops above all. Lee Ji Ah as Shim Soo Ryun is the pillar of this series.

Lee Ji Ah as Shim Soo Ryun: Throughout the series her character evolves in a very interesting way. She faces and plans everything and her acting is on point all the time. I think she has chemistry with all the characters she interacts with but her scenes with Dan Tae and Seo Jin especially are great. Also with both Seok Kyung and Seok Hoon.

Eugene as Oh Yoon Hee: The third mom and the one that probably did more for her child. Eugene portrays the desperation and the injustice that she faces because of other people in a very realistic and relatable way. Her interactions with Ro Na were great and her acting was on point too.

Uhm Ki Joon as Joo Dan Tae: I have only seen this actor play roles where he was very kind and good till the point he was the bullied one. Joo Dan Tae is like the supreme bastard. You need to watch the 3 seasons to understand how mad I am right now.
But his acting was good.

Ha Yoon Chul and Kang Ma Ri were good too. Nothing to point out.

THE KIDS

Here comes the other part of the series. A lot of the revenge in the series involves or it happens because of the kids.
Especially 4 of them had really great acting that really made me want to see them working on other projects.

Choi Ye Bin as Ha Eun Byul was covered before

Jo Soo Min as Min Seol Ah: Her acting was great. Her character was great. Everything that she does has a meaning and it's important and her acting and portrayal were just perfectly nailed. Her expressions were great too.

Han Ji Hyun as Joo Seok Kyung: I have to admit that I really like Han Ji Hyun so I may be biased. She portrays a spoiled child who always has things the way she wants but also she has to deal with abuses at his home. Abuses that will take you a long time to understand. Her acting and facial expression are great and even some people could think that it's exaggerated I think it's just her way to express it and I feel it is very realistic. For that reason, she's not in the makjang category, unlike Ha Eun Byul.

Kim Young Dae as Joo Seok Hoon: I'm amazed by how with that very little facial expression an actor can express so much. Portraying a cold character that only cares about her sister he still manages to be THE one child that you will probably want to keep watching. Also, his way of talking and his tone fit great.

Bae Ro Na and Yoo Je Ni and the rest of the children are okay, Ro Na has a bit more weight in the drama due to being the daughter of one of the main actresses and her portrayal was good but nothing to point out.

The rest of the supporting cast was great too. All the secretaries in the drama are good. I like the portrait of Gu Ho Dong and Logan and also I find kind of funny the Ma Doo Ki teacher.


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