“The Penthouse 2: War in Life” and More Makjang K-Dramas

By Jae-Ha Kim
Kocowa.com
Februrary 20, 2021

It should come as no surprise to Kim Soon-Ok fans that the “The Penthouse” is sooooooo very good. After all, the popular screenwriter also wrote the K-dramas “The Last Empress,” “Five Fingers,” “Band of Sisters” and “Jang Bori is Here” — all known for their melodramatic storylines.

It’s only a few more days until “The Penthouse 2” debuts. The first episode will  premiere in South Korea on February 19 and  KOCOWA members will get access to the series shortly thereafter  — with professionally subtitled English translations, of course. So what to do until then? Well, it’s the perfect time to cozy up to some other makjang K-dramas that have a similar feel to Soon-Ok’s best work.

Please note: There are some SPOILERS ahead, so please keep that in mind and don’t yell at me later, OK?

The Adoption Element

In the first season of “The Penthouse,” we learned that Seol-Ah (Jo Soo-Min) — who was horrendously bullied by the teens who live at Hera Palace — was the daughter of Su-Ryeon (Lee Ji-Ah), whose evil husband had purposely switched babies at birth and had sent Seol-Ah off to an orphanage. She was adopted by a wealthy Korean American couple, who later annulled her adoption and deported her, leaving her to fend for herself. Adoption is a recurring theme in K-dramas and the storyline for “I’m Sorry, I Love You” would fit right into “The Penthouse.” So Ji-Sub played a man who was adopted by horrible Australian parents and then thrown away (just like Seol-Ah). After returning to Korea, he plotted revenge on his birth mom, who had adopted a son many years ago. In “Five Fingers,” the family matriarch doted on the character portrayed by Ji Chang-Wook, while merely tolerating Ju Ji-Hoon, who is his father’s illegitimate child. Or is he? All these series touch on how cruel adults can be, using children as pawns for their own gain.

High School Bullies

In a lot of K-dramas, kids bully each other by beating each other up in school, but the teens in “The Penthouse” are hardcore. They literally try to set a girl they hate on fire! Dramatic tension between teen students is a big part of K-dramas. In “Extra-Ordinary You,” the popular kids are cold and cruel to the other students, except for the ones they want to date. This plot device also runs rampant in “The Heirs” and “School 2013.” But the over-the-top storyline of “Angry Mom” — which also addressed school dynamics — includes a middle-aged mom (!!) going undercover at a high school to deal with her daughter’s bullies. And no one is the wiser …

Um Ki Joon’s (erm) Face

Um Ki Joon plays Lee Ji-Ah’s lying and cheating husband in both seasons of “The Penthouse.” I mean no disrespect to the incredibly talented actor, but whenever I see that he’s going to be starring in a new series, I always hope he’s playing a horrible character — because no one portrays immoral people the way he does. Case in point: “Ghost.” In this 2012 series, Ki Joon portrayed a sociopath who killed his girlfriend, because he thought she was going to rat him out for all his wrongdoings. He thought he did such a great job, until he realized she was … dun dun dun! … pregnant with his baby! (If you need a palette cleanser after watching him in this, you can find him playing a much nicer character in “Dream High.”)