The Penthouse. One episode a day keeps nightmares away.

It's been a long time since I've seen a series that would make me to shiver so much. What can (enormous amount of) money do to people!? Unbelivable 😱.... I cannot deny it, The Penthouse was hell out of a drama and most likely I won't ever forget it ❤ 

To be honest, I finished the drama several days ago and all this time I was thinking how to summarize 3 seasons in one post. Like in Love ft. Marriage and Divorce, there are many main characters whose lives are strongly interconnected, but unlike to that drama, I watched this one in one go. So get ready for a rather long post 🙈 I will try not to reveal too many secrets but at the same time give some details that will interest you to start watching The Penthouse. What convinced me to watch this drama? Dozens of positive comments from all over the world under one of the posts on Instagram 😍The post featured snippets from the show that looked very enticing.... And not so long later I'm writing a review about it 😁

In short what is the drama about:

The story revolves around Hera Palace - a newly built skyscraper full of luxury apartments. Hera's residents are a very rich people who have many secrets and hidden ambitions. Their lives start to get complicated when 3 low-level women enter the game.

The main characters of the series are:

• Sim Su Ryeon (bottom left in the top picture) and her husband Joo Dan Tae with teenage twins Joo Seok Hoon and Joo Seok Kyung. She is a heir to her father's a fortune and he is a self-made successful investor. Their kids are spoilt and follow the rule of their father to act like they are better and above everyone else.
• Cheon Seo Jin (bottom right in the top picture) is a prima donna with gigant ambition while her husband Ha Yoon Chul is neurosurgeon coming from very poor family. Their daughter Ha Eun Byul, learns to sing like her mother but the talent is a bit missing.
• Lee Gyu Jin is an lawyer and later assemblyman. Together Yoon-Chul they invest Dan-Tae's project and earn enormous amounts of money. He lives with his stay-at-home wife Go Sang Ah, teenage son Lee Min Hyuk and mother who everyone is scared of. 
• The last family is a nouveau riche, Kang Ma Ri and her daughter Yoo Je Ni live on the 47th floor while husband Yoo Dong-Pil works in Dubai. In the second season, we find out that he is in prison, but no one, including his daughter, knows about it. 

All the children of the rich go to Cheong-A Arts High School and are incredibly spoiled by their parents. They don't know what punishment, gratitude or an apology are. Their lives change too when Min Seol Ah, Oh Yoon Hee and her daughter Bae Ro Na enter school with beautiful opera voices. And that without training with expensive renowned singing teachers.

  

On MyDramaList The Penthouse is rated 8.7/10 and if it wasn't for the length of the series (and you know I don't like long ones) and a lot of dragged-out scenes, I would even give it 9/10. BUT! due to 48 episodes (21+13+14), which could be shortened by a good 8, I can't go beyond 8/10 ❤ The series has a brilliant script! I have never seen so many twists and turns in an Asian drama. The twistwa I could only  compare to Desperate Housewives but the number of murders is only alike to the Spanish Elite. I haven't found any other series that has it all like The Penthouse who with all that is not allowing you to leave it. From the horrific murder of Min Seol Ah to the final atoning death of responsible one and the collapse of Hera Palace, the series never ceases to amaze 👌

Let's break the action into 3 seasons. In the first season, we learn the stories of the residents of Hera Palace and those who contribute to their downfall. We meet Min Seol Ah, who is an ultra smart teenager who works as a tutor and lives with a cute dog. She is an orphan, so she earns for herself and for medicine for a sick furry. The realities of Korea are cruel and those without family are socially marginalized. I hate this approach because personally I would be afraid of such people even more love. Hate would never have crossed my mind. The girl is harassed, treated like trash and eventually murdered. The entire first season focuses on finding out who killed her and why 🙀

The second season is focused on the revenge of Min Seol Ah's biological mother for the death and humiliation of her child. Earlier, it turned out that her mother was closer to her than she thought. The problem is that none of them knew of their existence thanks to one resident of the Palace. Revenge began already in season 1, but in the second it gained momentum and more secrets came to light😨

The last third season is a slow closure of the story and the penance of many characters. A few paid with their lives for what they had done, and the rest served their time in prison and lost their life's possessions. Many adults responded to what happened to Min Seol Ah, and the children learned from their actions. Of course, they also suffered their punishments, but not as severe as their parents 😐

The series has many good characters, except for Ma-Ri, who I hated at the beginning, I don't think I have a favorite adult. She changed quickly, as did her daughter, and for the last 2 seasons I was hoping for both of them to get a happy ending. 

I must say that the children of the Hera Palace, were much more interesting with being torn between what is book-good and what their parents did. They are constantly trying to re-define themselves and their families 🙊🙉🙈 I love the twins, Ro-na and Je-Ni. They are brilliant characters who go through a big transformation and it's a pleasure to watch them. I don't know how I would feel about Seol-Ah if she hadn't died as the character was great and I would love to see this actress in another, more cheerful production 😍😇

Meanwhile parents are joinin the end-game 😈😇 Su-Ryeon is the complete opposite of her husband. We have here a loose connection between an angel and the devil. Why loose? Because I don't agree with every move she's made, and Dan-Tae wasn't born evil, but other people's decisions made him that way. The series perfectly shows how people define for themselves what is bad and what is good and decide which way they will go. Dan-Tae, which you will only learn in season 3, could have gone in a different direction. But he opted for the dark side with a noble idea behind it. At the beginning of the series, the difference between the two was huge, but the more they went on, the more similar they became.

The prima donna of the Palace has been following a dark path for a long time, possibly longer than Dan-Tae. Her life-long enemy Oh Yoon Hee is back in the picture and again wants to take everything she worked on. So does the prima donna thinks. With this in mind, Seo Jin begins to make mistake after mistake that will affect her future and destroy her family. Along with Dan-Tae, her character is one of the more complex and thus very interesting. I would definitely add the previously mentioned Yoon Hee to the group of interesting characters. It's amazing how each of them can come up with a revenge plan 😱

The evil characters and their insanity make this show unpredictable, crazy and extremely addicting. I doubt if there is anyone not hooked to The Penthouse. This drama is an intense and over-exaggerated that makes it one of the most dramatic shows you'll get to watch.

The characters I disliked the most were the couple of Lee Gyu Jin and Go Sang Ah. Both greedy for money, they would only sneer at others, earn on them and kiss the ass of the richest to earn more. As a lawyer, Gyu Jin is disgusting and undermines the justice system. His end should be harsher 😤

Now the controversial element - the person I didn't like from the beginning to the end was Logan Lee. I know a lot of viewers like him, but I don't. His reason to come to Korea was noble and the first moves were also good but he and Su-Ryeon for me made the revange a bigger issue that it suppose to be 😐

Quick summary:

1. Acting & cast - fantastic, perfectly chosen. Can't say a bad word about the actors as the emotions, good and bad, were so visable and feelable that I am just amazed. 
2. Music - nothing outstanding but they did a pretty good job as song suited the scenes perfectly and helped to set the dramatic mood.
3. Scenery & clothing - those who decorated these apartments had a field to show off. Who wouldn't want to live like this? I liked the contrast between the worlds above and below and how at the end of season 3 a few changed their clothes and how their lives changed.

If you get to the moment of Min Seol Ah's death, The Penthouse will become your nightmare or addiction. It fully depends on what sort of viewer you are. If you like me want a break from lovey-dovey dramas, you gonna embrace the insanity of this show. But if you are searching for a love story?You will not be able to tolerate it more than the first 2-3 episodes. Like people to me before, now I recommend this drama with my whole heart 💜

 Thank you for reading this excessive and hopefully spoiler free review. Enjoy! 💜

When I started The Penthouse, I briefly wondered if the pace of this series would be like Do you like Brahms? Couldn't be more wrong 😅😂