The Penthouse: War in Life (Korean: 펜트하우스) is a South Korean television series starring Lee Ji-ah, Kim So-yeon, Eugene, Um Ki-joon, Yoon Jong-hoon, and Park Eun-seok. The series, directed by Joo Dong-min and written by Kim Soon-ok, spins the story of a real estate and education war, a desire to be number one. It depicts the solidarity and revenge of women who turned to evil to protect themselves and their children. It premiered on SBS TV on October 26, 2020.
At the end of the first season, the series was the 9th most viewed Korean television series, with 5.354 million viewers. The series achieved the number-one position in all-channel mini-series 21 times in a row from its first broadcast on October 26, 2020, to the last episode on January 5, 2021.
At the end of the second season, the series placed 8th among the most viewed Korean series, with 5.69 million viewers. The series achieved the number-one position in all-channel mini-series 13 times in a row from its first broadcast on February 19, 2021, to the last episode on April 2, 2021.
At the end of the third season on September 10, 2021, the series was the 18th most-viewed Korean series with 3.77 million viewers.
Contents
Plot summary
Season 1
Penthouse tells the story of wealthy families living in Hera Palace and their children at Cheong-ah Arts School.
Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) is an elegant, wealthy woman who has a tragic past. Her husband is Joo Dan-tae (Uhm Ki-joon), a successful businessman. She later learns that he is hiding a secret from her.
Oh Yoon-hee (Eugene) comes from a humble family background. She has had bad blood with Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon), a famous soprano whose father is the head of Cheong-ah Arts School, since high school. They get involved in a love triangle relationship with Ha Yoon-cheol (Yoon Jong-hoon).
All of them have grand ambitions and desires for their children and would do anything for them. However, their lives begin to crumble as a young mysterious girl named Min Seol-ah (Jo Soo-min) falls to her death during a party at Hera Palace. While the Hera Palace residents try to cover up the fact that she died on the premises, they cannot help but suspect each other in the murder.
Season 2
Penthouse 2 focuses on Shim Su-ryeon's secrets and the aftermath of her death, Oh Yoon-hee's revenge, Cheon Seo-jin's downfall, and the Hera Palace kids who want to be the best and win the grand award at the Cheong-ah Arts Festival.
After successfully framing Oh Yoon-hee for murder, Cheon Seo-jin and Joo Dan-tae decided to get married. Their engagement party is interrupted by Oh Yoon-hee and Ha Yoon-cheol, who have just come back from the United States. As the secrets unveil, the relationships among the people at Hera Palace are entangled, yet another mysterious figure appears and confronts them.
Season 3
Penthouse 3 focuses on the residents of Hera Palace after their trials and their kids who prepare themselves to take the college entrance examination.
Just when Shim Su-Ryeon, who faked her death in Season 1, thinks she can finally live happily, Logan Lee (Park Eun-seok) dies right before her eyes. Meanwhile, the Hera Palace residents get out of prison and attempt to get their lives back together. This starts the final lap of greed, corruption, injustice and redemption.
Cast
Main
Lee Ji-ah as Shim Su-ryeon / Na Ae-gyo
Shim Su-ryeon: A graceful, elegant woman who is kind and thoughtful, despite her immense wealth. She and her husband, Joo Dan-tae, live in the penthouse of Hera Palace, making her the queen of the building's social clique. Learning of her husband's affair with Cheon Seo-jin and his involvement in the death of her daughter Min Seol-ah, she is determined to take revenge against him. Later in the series, she is also revealed to be the biological mother of Joo Seok-kyung.
Na Ae-gyo: Business partner and mistress to Joo Dan-tae, lover to Jung Doo-man and the biological mother of Joo Seok-hoon. She bears a striking resemblance to Shim Su-ryeon and has a butterfly tattoo on her back.
Kim So-yeon as Cheon Seo-jin
One of the primary antagonists of the series. She is a wealthy woman who is the epitome of extravagant arrogance and harbors warped ambitions. She would do anything for power, money, and pride. She and Oh Yoon-hee have been bitter rivals since childhood. She pushes her daughter, Ha Eun-byeol, to sing in order to beat Oh Yoon-hee's daughter, Bae Ro-na, who is more talented than her.
Eugene as Oh Yoon-hee
A woman whose dreams have been stunted by her lack of money and power. With gritted teeth, she took on any job and humiliation to support her daughter's ambitions of becoming an opera singer. She and Cheon Seo-jin have been bitter rivals since childhood. She does everything in her power to move up socially and financially so that her daughter, Bae Ro-na, is able to enter the prestigious Cheong-ah Arts School.
Supporting
Kim Young-dae as Joo Seok-hoon (Baek Seok-hoon)
Joo Dan-tae (Baek Joon-ki) and Na Ae-gyo's son; Shim Su-ryeon's stepson; Ha Eun-byeol, Joo Seok-kyung and Min Seol-ah's step brother. He is a calm, self-contained, and observant piano student who protects his twin sister, Seok-kyung, from their abusive father. Because of his father's evil deeds, he slowly becomes resentful towards him as the series progresses. He falls in love with Bae Ro-na, despite Ha Eun-byeol's jealousy and his twin sister's vehement disapproval.
Han Ji-hyun as Joo Seok-kyung (Jo Seok-Kyung)
Shim Su-ryeon's biological twin daughter; Min Seol-Ah's younger fraternal twin sister and Joo Seok-hoon's step sister. Seok-kyung was abducted by Joo Dan-tae and ended up as Seok-hoon's twin sister at birth. As a result, this caused her to believe that her own mother is the stepmother. She is a cunning, selfish, and scheming soprano student. She has been physically and emotionally abused by Joo Dan-tae; therefore, she bullied her classmates mercilessly, took her stepmother Su-ryeon for granted, and manipulated Seok-hoon for her needs.
Jo Soo-min as Anna Lee / Min Seol-ah (Jo Seol-ah)
Shim Su-ryeon's biological twin daughter; Joo Seok-kyung's older fraternal twin sister; and Joo Seok-hoon's step sister; Alex and Logan Lee's adopted sister. Seol-ah was switched out with Hye-in at birth, and abandoned as an orphan. She is intelligent, humane, compassionate, hard-working, and has the talent of a gifted soprano singer. She disguises herself as Anna Lee, a math tutor who graduated from UCLA, and tutors the Hera Palace children as she is in desperate need of money. She later enters the Cheong-ah Art School but is bullied and ostracized by her classmates including her twin sister. She dies under mysterious circumstances at the Hera Palace after attempting to expose the bullying and admission manipulation at the school.
Na So-ye as Joo Hye-in (Kim Hye-in)
Kim Mi-sook's biological daughter; raised by Shim Su-ryeon. She was switched out with Seol-ah at birth. As she was born sickly, Joo Dan-tae tried to kill her in order to obtain her land and properties but Su-ryeon saves her and sends her to safety to America where she currently resides.
Others
Park Eun-seok as Gu Ho-dong/Logan Lee/Alex Lee
Gu Ho-dong: A strict but nice P.E teacher at Cheong-ah Arts School. He does the right thing and punishes students at Cheong-ah Arts School for bullying Bae Ro-na and Min Seol-ah even though the parents and faculty were unhappy and against it. His true identity was later revealed as Logan Lee, an American billionaire of ethnic Korean descent.
Logan Lee: He is a Korean-American successful billionaire, Alex Lee's younger brother, and Min Seol-ah's older adoptive brother who grew up with a bone marrow illness and a sense of justice. He was very close with his adopted sister and was extremely upset when his parents used her as his donor. He overheard the entire incident when Seol-ah was bullied by Hera Palace kids while he was on the phone with her, and is determined to punish them. He teamed up with Su-ryeon in taking down the Hera Palace residents responsible for Seol-ah's death, Su-ryeon after understanding her pain and hardship. He is willing to risk his life to protect her from danger.
Alex Lee: He is Logan's older brother. He came to the Penthouse to find out more about Logan's alleged death and shows bitterness towards Su-ryeon. Unlike Logan, Alex is hot-tempered and shows a tough love for his brother.
Ha Do-kwon as Ma Doo-ki
Music teacher at Cheong-ah Arts School. He is a man who would do anything for money. In season 3, he was dismissed in all positions of Cheong-ah Arts School because of his wrongdoings.
Lee Cheol-min as Yoon Tae-joo
Joo Dan-tae's previous secretary, he betrayed Dan-tae and was later killed in a car accident.
Kim Dong-kyu as Secretary Jo
The current secretary of Joo Dan-tae.
Kim Do-hyun as Secretary Do
Production
Development
The production cost of this series is 32.7 billion won, 670 million won per episode (approximate). The series started its planning and preparation in September 2019.
The first season was extended by one episode to enable the series to end on a Tuesday.
On November 24, 2020, the series was officially renewed for a second and third season of twelve episodes each. It was also announced that the final seasons would air on the Friday–Saturday time slot compared to the first season previously aired on Monday–Tuesday time slot.
On July 22, 2021, it was announced that the third season was extended by two episode with the final episode of the series planned for September 10, 2021.
Casting
Eugene was cast in one of the lead roles, consequently returning to the small screen after a five-year hiatus. Casting for the series started in December 2019, and finalized in January 2020. Due to scheduling conflicts, Shin Sung-rok left the cast in February. Originally scheduled to take place in February 2020, the first script reading was pushed back to March due to COVID-19 pandemic. Um Ki-joon joined the cast in April.
Filming
Filming was halted on November 24, 2020, as one of the supporting actors was tested positive for COVID-19. The next day, it was reported that Um Ki-joon, Park Eun-seok and Bong Tae-gyu tested negative for COVID-19.
Release
The prelude teaser was released by Seoul Broadcasting System on September 22, 2020. The teaser was termed as "[Mood teaser] a brilliant bloody prelude". The first season premiered on October 26, 2020, on SBS TV and aired every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 KST.
The teaser for season two was released on January 12, 2021. The second season premiered on February 19, 2021, and aired every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 KST.
The teaser for season three was released on May 27, 2021. The third season premiered on June 4, 2021, and aired every Friday at 22:00 KST.
Original soundtrack
Reception
Commercial performance
Season 1
According to the Good Data Corporation which measures drama popularity according to media trends, The Penthouse: War in Life topped the list with 27.82% surge in media mention in the second week of December. In the following week it led with a 35% surge in media mentions.
Season 2
In the last week of February 2021, The Penthouse: War in Life season 2 was placed first with 46.24% overall mention in media, as per Good Data Corporation.
Specials
The Penthouse broadcaster SBS TV, aired a special episode on January 12, 2021, featuring the main cast. Broadcast in talk show format, it was hosted by entertainers Shin Dong-yup and Jang Do-yeon, while MC Jaejae talked with the six actors that played the teenage characters. Aired as Penthouse Hidden Room - Hidden Story the special recorded an average 9.3% nationwide audience share according to Nielsen for its two parts. The special also drew attention due to the trailer release for second season. The special episode for second season was aired on April 3, 2021, with the episode recording an average 8.1% nationwide audience sharing according to Nielsen for its two parts.
Criticism
The Penthouse series was ranked the second worst of 2021 with 43 votes from 200 industry experts due to the ridiculous ending of Season 3 and criticized for its scattered storyline and inconsequential events, while being praised for the actors performances.
