The Penthouse
2020
Original language: Korean
- drama
- mystery
The story
Three women who live at Seoul's most luxurious penthouse apartment will stop at nothing to protect their status and their children's futures. But a murder at Hera leaves one mom questioning her place in this elite society and puts her on the road for revenge.
What it’s like
Glossy, saturated interiors do most of the work here: marble floors, floor-to-ceiling glass over a night-lit Seoul skyline, gold-trimmed rooms lit by warm chandeliers that turn cold and clinical the moment someone's mask slips. Camera work leans on tight two-shots and slow push-ins during confrontations, with plenty of reaction close-ups and rapid cuts to a door opening or a glass set down too hard. The score swells with melodramatic strings and piano stings at every reveal, and the dialogue is loud, quick and often shrill. The vibe is lurid, bitter and addictive, a soap of status anxiety where every dinner party is a battlefield. It suits a binge-watch on the couch with a snack, or a reliably dramatic weeknight when you want to stay hooked. Pacing is fast and serialized, with cliffhangers every episode and escalating betrayals that keep stacking. The emotional register is high: envy, cruelty between friends and rivals, desperate mothering, and revenge that curdles into obsession, with characters who are harder and more brittle than they first appear. Intensity is substantial: frequent verbal cruelty, bullying of children, adult sexual content and affairs, and some violence including a murder and physical fights, with moderate gore and a steady undercurrent of threat. It is not gentle. It is for viewers who enjoy unrepentant, high-gloss melodrama and don't mind watching unlikable people scheme.
More TV shows like The Penthouse
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The Penthouseand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
