The Trunk

An adult drama with a misleading title and plot synopsis.

This drama features sexual scenes and nudity, which is why I classify it as an adult drama. With the inclusion of sexual content in Queen Woo and now The Trunk, perhaps the K-Drama industry is moving away from a puritanical approach, especially with the emergence of BL and GL genres.

The story centers on a contract marriage, while the mystery of the trunk serves merely as filler.

This is the first time, after finishing the second episode, that I had to rewatch the opening to familiarize myself with the key characters!

I liked the part where the ML asked, "Does the contract include sexual services?" The FL responded, "If both parties are willing."

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75% MELODRAMA, 25% THRILLER. Like Love squares, it's Marriage square :)

I have mixed impressions on this drama.

First of all, about the Summary:
There's an entire paragraph about the "Melodrama" in the summary but only "Mysterious Trunk" caught my eye n made me curious to know what is in the trunk, haha.
God, And so I'm stuck with this drama bcz of that curiosity (I prefer thriller to melodrama).

It's more of Melodrama (contract marriage drama) than a Thriller (murder mystery) -- 75% melodrama, 25% thriller.

So Thriller fans, like me, would be disappointed initially but later realise that only 25% of thriller is right to this plot and that mystery is good.

Good that I gave a try! :)

***
Now about Pacing of the drama:

Dropped this twice bcz of Sloth-Paced episode 1.
Couldn't pass through the first episode twice but bcz of my "Watching Tradition" of not to drop a drama/movie, once I start watching n for Gong Yoo, gave another try.

It got Very Interesting from ep 2.

Other than the Pacing, Everything else, is Very IMPRESSIVE about this drama.

*** STORY (Melodrama) :
Usually, I am not into melodramas much but this is Very Interesting to watch.
The Contract Wife/Husband for a year theme is New and different ;)

This melodrama concentrates more on how Love is developed between two complete strangers, who are emotionally hurt from previous relationships, unable to move on n yet due to the contract marriage, how these two met n started forming a deep bond.

Usually, U see Love Triangles or Squares, here it is "Marriage Square" haha (though not exactly).

*** CHARACTERS:
In Ji & Jeong Won healed together and they are made for each other.
Their rapport is Good n their chemistry is Sweet.

Jeong Won and his ex wife, Seon Yeon are not at all compatible.
Actually, she is not compatible with anyone, haha.

Poor guys, Jeong Won n Yun Ji (her second husband / contract husband)! :|

I feel sorry for Yun Ji more, Poor guy!
He is ready to accept that twisted lady :/

All the scenes of ML, FL, ex wife n her 2nd husband are Interesting, whereas stalker scenes are Irritating :o

FL n evil ex wife's conversations are like tug of war, a battle of words creating a tensed vibe n exhausting to everyone around them, including the viewers, haha.

Liked character In Ji a lot, especially the way she handles the evil ex wife, ruthlessly and the emotionally hurt Jeong Won with past trauma, smoothly, though herself, has a disturbance in her life.
She is Sassy with that Cold & Calm face :)
Her character impressed me n kept me interested to watch.
But Poor In Ji, her fiancee, her contract husbands including Jeong Won and her stalker, all guys are odd n crazy :|

The actress as ex wife with twisted personality, acted very well.
(BTW, she is pretty.
Also, There are a lot of handsome men in this drama, including the guest actors 🤭).

*** STORY (Mystery) :
Really loved the writing of how a mystery theme is included in this melodrama -- a compelling storyline overall.

First two eps are complete melodrama, the interesting murder mystery and the suspense start from ep 3.

The Mystery and the Suspense about the murder -- who is murdered and who murdered, is Well Maintained.

The Twists and Turns in this mystery part are many and good, making the viewer to suspect everyone to be the murderer, haha.
Also, at one point, I suspected the murder victim to be In Ji or ex wife, haha.

Even when the Mystery of who the actual murder victim is revealed, the suspense of who killed, is still maintained well.

Surprise Twist - The most unexpected Killer! Haha

Also, in Finale ep, that suspense whether ML & FL do get a Happy ending or no, killed me, haha God!

***
Direction, Plot, Story Writing, Story Narration, Cinematography and Production are Good.
Locations are Lovely.

8 episodes run time is Right (Good that they wrapped up in 8, not more, haha).

Each ep starts with few scenes of the Past of In Ji, then followed by the actual Main story and in the end, few scenes of the present time period of the murder -- this Format is Cool.

Wrapped up the drama Good and Clean, without leaving any point unanswered.
Every character got a smooth ending n got whatever it deserves.

*** SPOILER ***
The ending for In Ji & Jeong Won is little disappointing.
Hmm, even my mom is frustrated with this Open Happy Ending for them. She expected an Exclusive Happy Ending, haha.

***
My RATING is 8.5 / 10
(9 or 9.5, if the Pacing is Right.
BTW, my Rating for ep 1 is 5 / 10).

Overall, One Time Watch!
(I watched it for Gong Yoo :) )

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Mind that MA rating on Netflix

I'm writing this for those who --like me-- have latched onto kdramas because they enjoy watching a well-crafted story without being subjected to the barrage of smut and morally "progressive" agendas that litter American shows. The Trunk was a suspenseful, interestingly-directed psychological drama with a healing story at its core... and a couple borderline pornographic scenes that were unnecessarily graphic... and yet another sexual minority character portrayed as a victim. I wish the streaming services now dabbling in kdrama productions would let the genre be itself, rather than remaking it in the image of American shows that use sensationalized content to make up for sloppy storytelling.

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Had its intriguing moments but it failed to balance between mysterious and confusing

My rating is 7.5/10

I went into The Trunk super excited because some of my favorite reviewers were raving about it, calling it a gripping psychological thriller with a unique contract marriage twist. As someone with a psychology degree, I was pumped for a deep dive into complex characters and mind games, and I do love a good K-drama that mixes romance with suspense. Did it deliver? Sort of, but it wasn't as great as I expected from other reviews.

The acting is amazing of course—Gong Yoo brings this raw, broken energy to a guy who’s a total mess, and Seo Hyun-jin nails the guarded, emotionally scarred vibe of her character. The visuals are stunning, with a cold, moody aesthetic that fits the psychological tone perfectly. The house was "creepy" just in how dark it was and with the unusual architectural features such as the staircase and huge chandelier.  The story revolves around a shady marriage agency called NM that sets up one-year contract marriages, and things get intriguing when a mysterious trunk shows up, hinting at dark secrets.

I guess if you’re into slow-burn dramas that unpack trauma, manipulation, and messy relationships, you might like this.  But fair warning—it moves slowly. Like, “I need another coffee to stay awake” slow at times. The mystery starts strong but fizzles out toward the end, and the resolution left me feeling meh. As an empath, I found it emotionally draining because every character is so damaged, and there’s no feel-good payoff to lift you up. The romance is there, but it’s not the swoony kind—it’s heavy, complicated, and sometimes frustrating.

I’d recommend The Trunk if you love psychological thrillers and don’t mind a heavy, introspective vibe with flawed characters. But if you’re looking for something light, romantic, or action-packed, you might want to skip this one. It’s not a show I’d rewatch—it was tedious in parts, and I had to push through to finish it. Still, it’s got enough intrigue and stellar performances to make it worth a shot for the right viewer. If you’re torn, maybe watch the first episode and see if the vibe hooks you. There are tons of other K-dramas out there, so it depends on whether you’re in the mood for something this intense.

Why a relatively low rating of 7.5/10 for me. You will see very few that I review that I rate that low simply because I research the shows I watch up front and try to only watch those that others have liked at least an 8 or above by most reviewers. But, occasionally one like this will slip through and my opnion will depart from my stand by sources.  The acting and aesthetics are fantastic, and the premise is intriguing, but the slow pace, unsatisfying ending, and lack of emotional payoff dock some points. It’s good, but not great in my opinion. There is a fine balance between making something mysterious and making it confusing. I felt like that balance was not well maintained and I was confused a lot and some of those confusing points were never resolved. 

Spoilers

As a psych grad, I was analyzing everyone’s behavior like crazy, and boy, did this show give me a lot to chew on.

The Ex-Wife’s Toxic Manipulation was a huge flag for a mental disorder. From the beginning, I clocked Lee Seo-yeon as bad news. To me, she screams borderline personality disorder with narcissistic tendencies. Her whole scheme—setting up her ex-husband, Han Jeong-won (Gong Yoo), in a contract marriage with Noh In-ji (Seo Hyun-jin) while she pairs up with a younger guy, Yun Ji-oh (Jo I-geon), supposedly to “test” Jeong-won so they can reunite—is straight-up psychological torture. She knew it would be emotionally painful for him and was getting great enjoyment out of his suffering. She thrives on control and attention, and it’s clear she’s stringing Jeong-won along because she can’t stand him moving on. Her character is chillingly manipulative, and Jung Yun-ha plays her with this unsettling mix of charm and menace. 

The reveal about Seo-yeon’s past further consolidated my thought that she was classic personality disorder. The fact that she walked into traffic while eight months pregnant, losing her unborn child, was a desperate bid to keep the spotlight on herself when Jeong-won’s attention shifted to the baby.  And she did it when she was supposed to meet him so she had to know he saw the full accident she created. Then she drugged him and installed cameras to spy on him, knowing his trauma would make that unbearable. Those types of actions are next-level cruel. Which was why I was so disappointed when Jeong-won apologized to her at the end—like, what? She murdered their baby and traumatized him, and he’s sorry? That told me he really did not get who she really was at all. Her suicide attempt when she realized he wasn’t coming back was textbook BPD—when control slips, you pull a drastic move to reclaim it. I wanted someone to call her out harder, and while In-ji had some great moments telling her off, it wasn’t enough when Jeon-won's apology pretty much reversed any censure of her behavior she received to that point by apologizing as if he had committed the greater wrongs. Wanted away from someone with BPD is not wrong. He was escaping with the drugs she pushed on him long before he lucked out and she pushed him away. 

The Main Couple’s romance was frustrating (Han Jeong-won and Noh In-ji).  I was rooting for Jeong-won and In-ji to heal each other, but their story left me conflicted. Gong Yoo’s Jeong-won in the begging of the series, is a drug-addicted, anxiety-riddled mess, haunted by his toxic marriage to Seo-yeon. His stockholm syndrome, where he is begging her to come back to him, is just a factor of the unhealthy co-dependence she had carefully fostered. As someone who was abused in the past, he was fertile ground for another abuser and his ex-wife more than fit that bill. He’s so broken that you can’t help but feel for him, and Gong Yoo’s performance is heartbreaking. In-ji, played by Seo Hyun-jin, is a contract wife at NM who’s supposed to be detached but starts catching feelings. Their chemistry is undeniable, and the slow-burn moments where they start to open up—like In-ji creating a cozy home for Jeong-won—are beautiful. But In-ji’s emotional walls drove me nuts. She’s giving and caring on the surface, but when it comes to truly opening up, she pulls back, which felt selfish to me. 

In-ji's backstory was such a letdown. We finally learn her fiancé, Seo Do-ha (Hong Woo-jin), left her five years ago, calling her selfish, but the show never explains why. What did she do that was so bad he vanished without a trace? She clings to his old apartment, which is weirdly obsessive, but the show doesn’t connect the dots. It’s like they wanted her to have this deep, tragic past to justify her contract marriage gig, but it didn’t land. The trauma of being abandoned didn’t seem intense enough to explain her emotional isolation or why she’d choose a job where she stays detached. I kept waiting for a bigger reveal, but it never came, and that vagueness made her arc feel incomplete. And it made her seem selfish, as her ex had accused her of. 

Their ending was the biggest disappointment. After all the drama, In-ji ends the marriage, saying it’s for the best, even though they clearly love each other. It hints that she does it to protect him from her stalker but since it doesn't really protect him anyway it is clear she does it for herself. Jeong-won suggests they give it another shot if they meet by chance twice—and the show ends with them having one random encounter. Really? After everything, you’re leaving it to some rom-com “fate” nonsense? It felt like a cop-out, especially since In-ji’s refusal to fully commit seemed rooted in her own insecurities rather than anything logical. I wanted her to be the heroine who saves Jeong-won emotionally, but her own damage held her back, and the fact that the damage didn't stem from something that made sense, made that frustrating. 

The side couple just added some pointless drama and slowed the plot down even further (Yun-a and Hyeon-cheol). Jeong-won’s friend and his wife could have been a cute heart warming story of a young couple struggling to raise their kids. But, what was wrong with her? She said several times she didn't want her husband or her kids. Post partum depression? I mean her kids were a little old for that but it is possible. But didn't we have enough mental illness to weed through already? Their subplot about her wanting a divorce because she “doesn’t want kids” and needs her “identity” felt so forced. It came off as this weird, stereotypical “modern woman” trope that didn’t add anything to the main story. Yun-a seemed selfish and disconnected, and their drama felt like filler. I kept wondering why this couple was even in the show—it didn’t tie into the trunk mystery or the main romance and just bogged down the pace.

And speaking of the titular trunk I thought it was going to be some huge deal. I mean it is in the title after all. And they way played it up as being expensive and rate. Gotta be something hugely profound about it right? Nope. It had me hooked at first—who owns it? What’s inside? But the mystery fizzles out. There are two trunks: In-ji’s, with her marriage contract and NM manual, and Seo-yeon’s, with baby clothes and toys for her lost child. A creepy ex-NM employee, Eom Tae-seong (Kim Dong-won), steals Seo-yeon’s trunk thinking it’s In-ji’s, hoping to expose NM and ruin In-ji’s marriage. Lots of suspense around him being able to open it or not and it was associated with the mysterious deceased body in the beginning. But it turns into a big nothing burger. They literally were using it like a mobile safe. That's it. No dead bodies. No huge secreats. Just some baby clothes and some paperwork. 

The big twist? The whole thing practically was built on a who dunnit with the trunk, the police taped off scene, the water (and she kayaks) and the viewer spends a lot of the series wondering who the body is and who committed the cirime. Finding out who did it and who the body even was is revealed in quick succession. Tae-seong is killed by Yun Ji-oh, Seo-yeon’s contract husband, who does it because NM asked and because he was the witness to a fellow security guard being murdered by Tae-seong. It’s dramatic but feels rushed and unsatisfying. I mean why him? Our only association with him to that point was just another man who had some weird fixation with BPD woman. 

The nonlinear timeline, jumping between the contract marriage’s start, sometimes into the future, sometimes into the past is cool for suspense but made the story drag. I got bored in parts, especially when the show lingered on everyone’s misery without moving the plot forward. And I got lost in the sauce a lot of times, get bored and blink and you missed that you just time traveled.

I didn't hate it. Not even sorry I watched it. At least now I know. Because it is talked about quite a bit in drama circles. The harsh, cold visuals and the music set the mood perfectly, reflecting the characters’ trauma. The acting, especially Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin, carries the show—their chemistry is the heart of it. I loved when In-ji confronted Seo-yeon; those scenes were electric, and someone needed to put that woman in her place. But the weak mystery resolution, vague backstories, and lack of a feel-good ending killed the vibe for me. At the end of the series, I felt drained by how broken everyone was—Jeong-won’s pill-popping, In-ji’s emotional withdrawal, Seo-yeon’s manipulation. Jeong-won did predictably get better when he got away from toxic Seo-yeon and In-ji was definitely instrumental in him having the strength to break her stranglehold on him.  But there is no catharsis, no moment where you feel like these people are going to be okay. Better? Some of them were. But okay and ready to move onto happy lives? Is that what the cats and dog were supposed to represent? The tearing down of the house? Well, you appear pretty happy on your own.  Lonely? Maybe. But happy. But there is never an "I miss you moment" with In-ji. She goes and sees his show. I guess that was supposed to be an indicator she was missing him. But don't make us guess. We are at the end. Tell us. Let her cold emotional shell finally crack. I was tired of it at that point.

I wouldn’t rewatch it, and I’d only recommend it to folks who enjoy dissecting damaged characters. There are better K-dramas out there if you want something that is tied together a lot better and is still thrilling but ends on a more uplifting and well wrapped up note

Synopsis

The Trunk is a 2024 South Korean drama with 8, 63 minute episodes. It combines elements of mystery, romance, thriller and with psychological aspects. It’s based on a novel by Kim Ryeo-ryeong.

The story follows Noh In-ji (Seo Hyun-jin), who works for a shady company called NM (New Marriage) that sets up one-year contract marriages. Basically, people pay to have a temporary spouse for whatever reason—maybe they need a partner for show, but sometimes the reason is something weirder. In-ji’s latest “husband” is Han Jeong-won (Gong Yoo), a music producer who’s super depressed and stuck on his ex-wife, Lee Seo-yeon (Jung Yun-ha). Their fake marriage gets messy when a creepy trunk shows up in a lake, hinting at some dark secrets tied to NM. As In-ji and Jeong-won play house, they start to actually care about each other, but their pasts and NM’s sketchy business keep things complicated.

This show’s not your usual fluffy K-drama. It’s intense, with a lot of mind games and emotional baggage, digging into stuff like toxic relationships and figuring out what love even means. The first few episodes can be confusing because it doesn’t explain much upfront—like, why is Jeong-won so hung up on his ex? What’s NM really about? But if you hang in there, it starts to come together and gets super addictive. I’m watching it with my daughter, and it’s been a bit much for her because it’s so twisty, but I think it’s worth sticking with for the romance and the mystery. If you like shows that make you think and keep you guessing, give The Trunk a shot. Just know it’s got some heavy themes and a couple of steamy scenes, so maybe not the best for those that like Asian content because it tends to shy away from overtly sexual scenes.

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psychological drama

This series has decidedly strange and particular Plot. It makes us reflect on how toxic relationships exist and shows the perspective of those who see marriage as a pure employment contract.
With slow scenes, nude scenes and many strange situations. Half the time you ask yourself "why"... and you find yourself at high sea.
There is this obsessed control freak woman (no words) who claims to have everyone at her feet and treats them like slaves and pulls strings as if they were puppets.
She will find bread for her teeth with the new bride.
I honestly didn't understand the end. Both sad but divided? With everything they have experienced...

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A Hollow Shell

“The Trunk” is a drama that presents itself as a story about fake marriages, manipulation, control, love, inner trauma, and more — but often remains at the level of superficial conflict and underdeveloped ideas.

The characters are the show's biggest weakness. The male lead is a weary man with post-traumatic experiences who never had a healthy model of love and therefore can’t recognize toxicity. His ex-wife controls and belittles him, but lacking his own identity, he continues clinging to the past. Sounds intriguing, but this dynamic never evolves. He doesn't have a breakthrough, doesn’t change — he just passively exists. The female lead, who could have been a turning point — cold, reserved, but deeply wounded — also receives no proper development. Her emotions and tragedies are presented as mere background. We don’t see how these events shape her caution or determination. She essentially remains a secondary character in her own story.
The toxic ex — a vivid image, but one-dimensional. We get no hint of her vulnerability or backstory. She exists just so the viewer can hate her and sympathize with the male lead. It’s convenient, but not honest — and definitely not deep. The same applies to the side characters: the stalker is just a stalker with no logic, the female lead’s husband is merely a shadow of a tragedy, thrown in for drama and left undeveloped. All the supporting characters feel like functions rather than real people — they fulfill roles but have no personal stories that affect the plot.

Narratively, the show hints at many things but completes none. There are sexual scenes but unspoken traumas; a major theme of control that is never properly explored; fake marriages that carry neither emotional nor plot significance. Atmospherically, this could’ve been a tense, deep, dark exploration of human loneliness and the inability to form connections — but instead, it became a half-baked romantic melodrama with psychological ambitions it never dared to pursue.

Conclusion — pretty visuals, interesting concept, strong cast, but the script is a mess. No climax, no transformation, no resolution. The characters don’t grow, conflicts don’t escalate, important themes hang in the air. Everything feels like it’s on the verge of something deeper, but it never becomes more than just a pretty wrapper. The potential was there — for a psychological drama, for a subtle emotional thriller — but instead, we got a collection of ideas with no development.

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Slow Paced, Dragged Out

I was really looking forward to this drama as it was Gong Yoo’s comeback drama (save his minimal parts in Squid Game), and I literally didn’t know anyone else in the cast and it seemed like it would be kind of a psychological thriller given the title and the description of the drama.

However, I think it’s a little misleading because where they do find this trunk, it took them a long time to get to it and even when they did they like didn’t care about it lol and I think that’s saying something bc they found the trunk and the body and were trying to piece together this crime alongside all of this backstory and lore with the characters, but it was kind of confusing because is it happening in real time are we watching a flashback, idk I just don’t think they did that good of a job differentiating the timelines as well as not making the trunk the focus of this story as the title would have you think.

The drama’s production was outstanding tho, the production quality and the angles that they shot at were so good and the color saturation was very dark and dull-toned which really gave like an indie-feeling to it and not your typical kdrama production.

This drama is VERY slow paced and I have to admit I did doze off quite a few times throughout it. It definitely felt long but I’m so glad it was only 8 episodes because any longer and I probably wouldn’t have finished it lol. There really wasn’t any action which I feel like is what made it seem slower than it was. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it being a contract marriage and why, and I felt very confused for at least half of the drama because there was just so much going on and not enough elaboration really on any of it. Although I do like how you find Jeongwon and Inji slowly open up to each other about their trauma and you can tell that very quickly into their fake marriage that this one was different for Inji.

The psycho ex-wife was a little over the top, every time she came on she pissed me off and I’m like WHAT NOW!? Jeongwon and Inji really had such great chemistry with each other and I honestly liked how they went about with the ending. It’s not your typical love story BY FAR, I love that they were able to open about their trauma, work through it and just learned how to be and live by themselves after getting out such toxic relationships instead of just jumping into the next one. If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be and I loved the idea of if they met by chance at least twice, then it was meant to be and I love how the color of the drama became so bright and fun once they started living their own lives, it was really refreshing compared to the dark and slow ominous feeling of the rest of the drama.

Where this drama has its downsides, it has some equally good upsides. I was a little disappointed but I think the acting really made up for it, I mean have you ever seen a bad Gong Yoo drama? I don’t think I would recommend it, unless you like Gong Yoo lol and I definitely wouldn’t rewatch it. It really had nothing to do with the trunk and everything to do about psychological/verbal abuse which I don’t think is something you normally see in kdramas. Soyeon hiding the cameras in that fucking chandelier just like his father did with his mother was absolutely diabolical. What a psycho.

But overall, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. It would be a good drama to watch if you’re feeling a little lowkey/mellow.

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Even those who commit the most despicable acts are worthy of love.

When I first started watching, I was really confused. I couldn't understand why a wife would force her husband to enter into a contract marriage with someone else just so they could get back together. It seemed convoluted and almost diabolical. As the story unfolded, I realized that it truly was twisted and diabolical. The wife wasn't the only one with issues; many of the characters were emotionally damaged or traumatized, suffering lasting negative effects. And I think this is what humanized them and drew me in to the story.

One key takeaway from this drama is that a broken person can easily break you. However, it also highlighted the importance of genuine human connection and empathy—like a kind word, a comforting hug, or simply being present for someone; these can help heal a broken spirit if not completely change a person's life. But I think the most important message was that even those who commit the most despicable acts are still worthy of love.

Behind every great drama is a talented writer and director, and that is so true in Seo Hyun Jin (my favorite actress of all time), Gong Yoo, Jung Yun H and all the other cast member's great performances. Well done!

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Beautiful Portrayal

Ever since I heard of a Gong Yoo-Seo Hyun Jin pair up, I have been looking forward to The Trunk. I was cautious since most dramas I have watched this year have been mediocre, to say the least. But the K-drama gods came through this time around and I was not in the slightest disappointed. After watching, the first episode, I considered not going to work to watch the whole show in one sitting which I didn't do, but wished I had done so I could have finished this faster.

Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun Jin's portrayals of two very broken people was heartbreakingly and miserably beautiful. I loved the acting, their chemistry, the main support character's roles and the OST. While watching , I did not cry, but I felt like I was holding my breath, anxiously awaiting where the journey would take, not only the main leads, but also me. However, in the last 30 minutes or so, I began to crack me and in the last 5 or so minutes, my tears would not stop.

My main complaint would be that the flashbacks were a bit confusing in the beginning. Although once you got used to these, it was easier to discern at what point they were by noting which characters and locations appeared on the screen, I also wonder if this almost seamless, confusing element was done in this way on purpose to drive the point home. As the past merges with the present to show how the events that took place in the past have an impact on the present and even the future if this issues are not addressed properly. My second complaint is that Yoon Ah and Hyeon Cheol's parts felt unnecessary.

Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this and hope GY and SHJ meet again in another beautiful drama. 9.5/10

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Ok but isn't that a bit of a drastic decision to make over a cancelled wedding?!

I would love to have a conversation with the scriptwriter of this show. I would love to know how they read THAT book and came to the conclusion to write...this show! lol
It's like if someone read Jane Eyre and ended up adapting it as a musical about learning the alphabet.☉_☉ That said, this is not a bad show or anything, it's just that the similarities to the source material are very slim, including the genre and I also wonder if this was meant to be this dark and elegant and highbrow from the start or if the show just changed themes as the high profile names started to get attached to it...you see, this show has every single cliche element of an average rom-com kdrama!
If I told you a show has:
1. Fake, contract marirage
2. Childhood connection
3. A crazy evil second female lead
4. A stalker with evil superpowers following the Fl around
5. A gloomy male lead with a tragic and sad backstory
6. A romance with a murder mystery subplot
7. Meddling auntie neighbour
8. Quirky tomboy best friend and baby-crazy, secret investigator friend
9. A small event in the FL's past leads her to some drastic career choices
What show would come to your mind?! 'Cause I think so many average Kdramas can come to mind...and the answer here is actually The Trunk. But then this show couldn't be further from your typical kdrama! It's so atmospheric, dark, and the production quality is off the chart!
...but I would say the plot is not as great as the rest of the show. For one, it's slightly melodramatic. If you squint, there are so many plotholes and a lot of choices and actions make no sense. And while I think the creators worked hard to preserve the essence of the novel's message, I think they lost a bit of its nuance in favor of adding flashy plotpoints like abusive parents and homophobia and actual love stories. That said, I like some of these additions and overall, the whole thing works and these details aren't really the main attraction of this show anyway. Because the main point is...
The Chemistry. Holy meow! First of, I think dramaland citizens generally over exaggerate the chemistry connection of actors on popular kdramas. Two actors will do the bare minimum but because the trope is a popular one, people will see natural chemistry where there is none! So many times, I see people just say two actors have chemistry because they're both the two most attractive people on screen in a show. That's not chemistry...that's buying into the show promotion bs, dearies! Actual chemistry means the actors seem to have this magnetic field between them, that even when there are so many others in a scene with them, it's like the two of them are swaying to the same wavelength. Their eye contact seems to hold secret conversations btween just the two and the actors just naturally play off of each other's acting choices. And that's the thing! You have to first be a good actor, to then make actual choices about your acting and then have an equally good actor play against you with their equally dynamic and responsive acting choices! It's...it's a big deal! Not everyone can do it! but my god...Gong Yoo and Seo Hyung Jin sure can! The best thing about this show was how the two of them managed to make the bare minimum plot work! You know a show is good when it gives you the illusion that you have just witnessed two soul mates reunite when the characters just barely had two positive interactions! That's sorcery! That's skill! That's admirable. And this show manages to do that so it's worth a watch for only just that if literally for nothing else.
Which, of course, it's not the only attraction of this show. Jung Yun Ha's acting is another part of this show that adds to its worth. I hope she wins some awards for this. She deserves the recognition. She was so good, she brought Seo Yeon to life and what an interesting character because she was so unhinged and disturbing in some ways but she was equally valid in other ways and I was so conflicted if I hated her for some of her actions or wanted to defend her for some of the other actions. To manage to capture both empathy and disgust, she sure showed some great skills. Granted, the character is very well-written too. Overall, the whole cast is really good but the four main ones stand out. This was my very first Gong Yoo show and guys...I get it. I GET IT! Who is this man?! How is he this charming?! How can someone so unconventionally attractive capture the viewers so quickly? He's too good! A bit dangerous! I wanna see more! lol
In addition to an amazing cast, the production, set design, lighting and special effects in this show were so good. This looks like a drama one would like to watch because it's a feast for the eyes...though in a drab way! There's no explosion of colors or textures. The whole thing is in earth tones and everything and everyone is so subdued but that's sort of the point here. So it's like...having a fancy dinner made of one ingredient! Well, maybe three ingredients.
Also this show is going to get the rare honor of having THE BEST soundtrack of any kdrama ever. It was so good, that 10/10 stars is actually for the music. I loved the music so much I sat through the credits just to listen to it more. Well-played, for a show with a music producer as a main character.
Rewatch: Yeah, no...
Negative: Why do Kdramas have weird pauses when they wanna make high quality dramas?! It doesn't make any sense why people pause so much in their conversations. Also...so many plotholes, so many unnecessary baits that lead nowhere, so many character moments that were abandoned halfway through...lol the script could have been better. hehe
Overall: This is a rare case of me enjying a show with a subpar plot as I usually care the most about plot but this show was too good in other aspects that the weaknesses of the plot are almost forgivable. This would have been a perfect 10 if the plot was a bit better. Highly recommend it though.

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