The Penthouse: War in Life

October 26, 2020

The residents of Hera Palace — a luxury 100-floor penthouse complex represented by the Lotte World Tower exterior — are introduced. Shim Su-ryeon (Lee Ji-ah) appears to have it all. The Cheongdam-dong social world establishes the elite arts school that drives the competition.

October 26, 2020

Cheong A Arts High School — the elite institution where the residents' children compete — is the drama's engine. Every parental ambition is channelled through it.

November 2, 2020

Oh Yoon-hee (Eugene), who grew up poor and fought her way into Hera Palace, is shown in full contrast to Su-ryeon's inherited position. Both are performing; both are desperate.

November 2, 2020

The central rivalry between Su-ryeon, Yoon-hee, and Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So-yeon) — each fighting for different versions of the same thing — is fully operational.

November 9, 2020

A death in Hera Palace. The drama's thriller dimension — alongside its melodrama — is activated.

November 9, 2020

The secret of what actually happened is known to different characters differently. The drama's multiple unreliable narrators.

November 16, 2020

The children of Hera Palace — who carry their parents' ambitions and are damaged by them — are the drama's most honest characters.

November 16, 2020

The complex, shifting alliances between the three central women — enemies, occasional allies, never friends.

November 23, 2020

The Lotte World Tower exterior used for the most dramatic confrontation sequences — the drama making full use of its most spectacular location.

November 23, 2020

Su-ryeon's origin story — who she was before Hera Palace — reframes the drama's first nine episodes.

November 30, 2020

The Cheongdam-dong luxury streets at night. The drama's visual register at its most stylised.

November 30, 2020

The full truth of the Hera Palace death is revealed. Every alliance reshuffles.

December 7, 2020

Yoon-hee's fight — for her daughter, for her position, for herself — at its most determined.

December 7, 2020

Cheon Seo-jin's most ruthless move of Season 1.

December 14, 2020

The arts school competition sequence — the drama's central arena — at its most spectacular.

December 14, 2020

The Season 1 finale's setup. Every alliance has a crack; every crack is being exploited simultaneously.

December 21, 2020

The drama's first major climax — the death and reversal that sent audiences into Season 2.

December 21, 2020

The full account of Hera Palace's central crime.

December 28, 2020

A confession that changes every relationship in the building.

December 28, 2020

The setup for the double finale.

January 4, 2021

The complete Season 1 conclusion. One of SBS's most-watched dramas of 2020-2021 — a maximalist melodrama that committed fully to every excess and was exactly as entertaining as that commitment implies.