‘Penthouse’ Season 1 ended with 28.8% viewer rating… The villain confrontation winner

SBS Monday and Tuesday drama’Penthouse’ Season 1 (21 episodes) ended with an audience rating of 28.8% (based on Nielsen Korea) on the 5th. From the first week of the new year, it has surpassed the’Romantic Doctor Kim Master 2′(27.1%), which recorded the highest ratings of last year’s SBS drama, and decorated a spectacular finale. It is expected to be the best box office this year, as it is preparing to appear until Season 2 (12 episodes), which is scheduled to air next month, and Season 3 (12 episodes), which is scheduled for production within this year. It is a success far exceeding the previous work “The Dignity of the Empress” (2018~2019, 17.9%) by writer Kim Soon-ok and PD Joo Dong-min.

‘Penthouse’ is different from the existing works of Kim Soon-ok. The protagonist, Penthouse hostess Shim Su-ryun (Lee Ji-ah) dies in the 20th episode, and the unfolding unfortunately unfolds still, but the power of each character has increased. Beyond the clearly divided composition of good and evil in the past, everyone has survived in three dimensions by gradually revealing their evil aspects. Thanks to this, it is also fun to watch an acting confrontation, with six people (Yujin, Ji-ah, Kim So-yeon, Um Gi-jun, Jo Soo-min, and Park Eun-seok) in the top 10 as a result of the topical survey of the Good Data Corporation drama performers.

Particularly, the villains’ activities are dazzling. In the early part of the drama, Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon), the director of the Arts Department at Cheong-A Ye High School, took over the baton from Shim Su-ryun and Oh Yun-hee in the mid-to-late half of the drama, while in the mid-to-late half of the drama, Seo-jin Cheon (Kim So-yeon) made all kinds of bad deeds toward his rival Oh Yoon-hee (Yujin) in school. This is because the anger he had toward the people of Hera Palace was transferred as the killer who killed Shim Su-Ryun’s real daughter Min Seol-ah (Jo Su-min) was revealed as Oh Yoon-hee. When he urges embroidery and comes to prison, Oh Yoon-hee plans to live with Shim Su-ryun’s husband and Chairman Joo Dan-tae (Um Gi-jun), the son of Cheon Seo-jin. It’s a situation that no one can believe, biting and biting each other.

Popular culture critic Chung Deok-hyun pointed out that “a new conflict structure is inevitable in order to go to the season system.” It is said that the betrayal of Oh Yoon-hee, the most trusted person, raised the tension dramatically because the stimulation of Cheon Seo-jin’s evil deeds repeatedly gets bored. “Oh Yoon-hee was even tried for the murder of Shim Su-Ryun, but as if the true criminal was separate, there was no evidence other than his incomplete memory.” He said, “The character holding the key of reversal as a unique character that causes another mistake due to excessive guilt It will be” he predicted.

SBS also opted for a joint award to see which side couldn’t take. Eom Ki-jun, Lee Ji-ah, Kim So-yeon, and Yu-jin both won trophies for the male and female awards in the mid-length drama category. The male and female excellence awards Bong Tae-gyu, Yoon Jong-hoon and Shin Eun-kyung, the supporting actor Park Eun-seok, and the Youth Acting Award Kim Hyun-soo amount to 6 crowns and 9 people. Kim So-yeon, who newly wrote in the villain’s genealogy with’Everything about Eve’ (2000), received the grand prize for the MBC soap opera’Gahwa Mansaseong’ (2016), but debuted as a girl group SES in 1997 and turned into an actor in 2007. Lee Jia, who made her debut with’Taewangsasingi’ in 2011, is the first to win the Grand Prize.

Gong Hee-jeong, a drama critic, commented, “It has become like a plaque of appreciation because he overbuses the trophy, but in this work, Kim So-yeon’s acting is absolutely overwhelming.” “After my father’s death, not only in the extreme scenes of playing the piano with bloody hands, but also in the daily scenes heading to the hospital room, various emotions such as anger, fear, and composure rise and change at a glance. The interview that he completed the character of Cheon Seo-jin by referring to Angelina Jolie in the movie’Maleficent’, the witch in’Rapunzel’, and JK Simmons in’Weflash’ became a hot topic.

On the other hand, there are opinions that, except for Cheon Seo-jin, the grounds for evil behavior are not clear. Professor Yoon Seok-jin of Chungnam National University said, “If we find the source of evil behavior in deficiency, Seo-jin Chun experiences emotional deprivation from his parents from the process of growing up, and this also appears to his daughter, Eun-byul Ha (Ye-bin Choi). But Shim Su-ryun and Oh Yun-hee are not.” Although the mechanisms of revenge for their daughter Min Seol-ah and protection for Bae Lo-na (Kim Hyun-soo) work, it is difficult to buy empathy due to lack of consistency in behavior. “Since Season 1 is over with all the events at its peak, convincing them will be a challenge for Season 2,” he added.

There are also many fans who express their anticipation for’Kim Soon-Ok World’ beyond imagination. There are many people who believe that Shim Su-ryun or Min Seol-ah will come back alive, just like’The Temptation of a Wife’ (2008~2009), who came back as a different person after taking a dot. There is even an unwritten rule that says, “You are not dead until autopsy.” Until the official announcement that Yoonhee Oh’s chromosome was incorrectly marked as XY was a mistake by the production crew, various hypotheses such as transgender theory were also floating around. Critic Deok-Hyun Jeong said, “It is a phenomenon that occurs because the artist can do whatever he wants in a world where the probability disappears and there are no rules.”

There is a possibility that children such as Ha Eun-byul, who witnessed the death of his grandfather, and Bae Ro-na, who cannot admit the murder of his mother, will appear in the foreground. If the identity of the mother with a butterfly tattoo is revealed, the twins Tin Hoon (Kim Young-dae) and the Sun Kyung-Kyung (Han Ji-hyun) may blacken and hold a proxy war for Shim Su-ryun. However, a delicate approach is required as it has received’attention’ from the Korea Communications Standards Commission by broadcasting the scenes of excessive violence by youths at the level of 15 years or older. Critic Gong Hee-jung said, “There are many people who have room to tell more stories, such as lyrics assistant Yang Mi-ok (Kim Rosa). Everyone is addicted to’maramat’, but we need to maintain a critical perspective.”

Reporter Min Kyung-won [email protected]