By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
February 29, 2024
☆☆☆☆
Noh In-ji (played by Seo Hyun-jin)
Han Jeong-won (played by Gong Yoo)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
Jeong-won (Gong Yoo) grew up with an abusive father and an unstable mother who feared her husband. Yet as an adult, he chooses to continue to live in the stark home that his father had built. He hates it, but is emotionally tied to the house.
When his wife, Seo-yeon (Jung Yun-ha), divorces him, he is completely lost. When she weirdly tells him they will both enter into contract marriages with other people, he is distraught, going to night clubs, excessively drinking and taking drugs.
But, ultimately, he follows Seo-yeon’s orders.
In my review of the series that I wrote for Teen Vogue, I said:
Adding a twist to the contract marriage trope, The Trunk tackles the plot device from a film noir perspective. When his manipulative ex-wife Seo-yeon (Jung Yun-ha) orders Jeong-won (Gong Yoo) to enter into a one-year contract marriage, he marries In-ji (Seo Hyun-jin), who works for a high-end company that pairs up clients with suitable temporary spouses. Initially, all Jeong-won wants is Seo-yeon, who dangles the possibility of their getting back together after their respective contract marriages end. But as his relationship with In-ji becomes more real than fake, Seo-yeon’s unhinged behavior escalates. While the titular trunk is seldom seen, it works well as an allegory in this quiet thriller. We think we know who it belongs to, but what secrets does it hold? While the nudity and sex scenes may turn off some viewers who prefer their K-dramas cute and innocent, the stellar acting, gorgeous cinematography, and twisty plot will keep viewers engrossed. (Netflix)
Jeong-won is filled with guilt that he couldn’t save his mother. For him, the nutritionally-rich seaweed soup/미역국 — which Korean women eat after giving birth and cook for their children on their birthdays — doesn’t represent life, but death. His mother didn’t have a mom who made the soup for her after she was born. There was no one who cared enough about her to look out for her health.
So when In-ji makes it for him, he is flooded with emotions he can’t fully process. Gratitude. Embarrassment. Longing.
Throughout this series, life, death and birth are explored in a quiet way that leaves the character nonplussed. (Check out the Spoiler Alert below for more.)
Airdates: Eight episodes — ranging from 59- to 72-minutes each — dropped on Netflix on November 29, 2024.
Spoiler Alert: The trunk that starts off this thriller doesn’t hold a dead body, as viewers are led to believe. Both In-ji and Seo- yoon had identical trunks.
While pregnant with Jeong-won’s baby, Seo- yoon is hit by a car. She said it was an accident. But Jeong-won witnessed her deliberately walking into traffic. Did she try to kill herself? He thinks yes, but that’s not how she remembers it.
When the trunk is finally opened, we see that Seo-yoon had filled it with all the baby clothes she had for her unborn child. It’s not clear whether she did this out of love. But the fact that she didn’t throw the items away indicates that her baby’s death meant more to her than she was willing to let on to Jeong-won. Or herself.
© 2024 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved