Why is K-drama The Penthouse so addictive? From kimchi slap to strangling, all there is to know about ‘makjang’ dramas – Korean soap operas

Makjang is a Korean slang word that describes a terrible situation that couldn’t be any worse. The beauty of these soapy dramas? Characters can and do get worse
The infamous ‘kimchi slap’ is far from the only food attack in makjang dramas, with kimbab rolls, soybean paste and pork belly being whipped across faces

Explainers: Culture

Pierce Conran

Published: 3:45pm, 2 Jan 2021

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One of the most important jobs of writers for television is presenting characters and situations that viewers can relate to. However, another essential function of filmed entertainment is escapism – that act of transporting audiences away from the stress and drudgery of their daily lives.

It’s not always an easy thing to incorporate these seemingly contradictory requirements, but in the realm of Korean television, there is one genre that tackles both of these head-on: the makjang (soapy K-drama).

Featuring all your usual dramatic elements and emotions, but amped up to the nth degree, makjang dramas are often described as exaggerated and with outrageous elements.

Infidelity, betrayal and a never-ending barrage of shocking secrets keep viewers coming back time and again for these fast-moving stories that are never more than a scene or two away from the next shouting match or sharp slap to the face.

Many prime-time evening dramas on Korean television feature makjang elements, but pure makjang are generally considered to be daily daytime dramas, and in many ways resemble North American soap operas or Latin American telenovelas.

However, in the modern prime-time television landscape, bigger is always better. While lavishly produced genre shows have become de rigueur, we’re also witnessing the sudden rise of the glossy, prime-time makjang drama. Among these, SKY Castle was the sensation of 2018 and the current Korean ratings king is The Penthouse.

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Even people not too familiar with Korean television may have come across the infamous “kimchi slap”, a viral video of a middle-aged woman slapping a younger man with a full cabbage head of kimchi. The scene, from the 2014 daytime drama Everybody Say Kimchi, became an internet sensation for its flamboyant twist on the hand slap, the standard attack method of makjang dramas – with strangling by hand a close second – which tend to ring out several times an episode.

The kimchi slap is far from the only food attack that has appeared in makjang dramas, with kimbab rolls, deonjang (fermented soy bean paste) and even tranches of samkyeopsal (pork belly) being whipped across unsuspecting characters’ faces.

Other famous viral makjang moments include one in Princess Aurora, where a cancer patient decides not to receive treatment, because he is worried about the feelings of the cancer cells that are killing him.

A still from SKY Castle, a makjang drama.

Beyond these colourful, viral-ready scenes, the most common tropes of makjang dramas include obscenely wealthy families, secret identities and, of course, ever-present infidelity. Characters regularly survive near-death events and when they return from the dead with only the slightest of differences (a wig, or perhaps a small mole), they have somehow become unrecognisable to the people that used to be closest to them.

Makjang is a Korean slang word that typically describes a terrible situation that couldn’t be any worse. The beauty of makjang dramas is that characters repeatedly find themselves in these horrific and unimaginable circumstances, but they always can and generally do get worse.

It’s almost always the pure and innocent (and sometimes poor) characters who endure these terrible events, and one of the chief emotional highs of these shows is the intense feeling of victimisation that these displays of villainy evoke.

Lee Ji-ah (left) in a still from The Penthouse. Photo: Viu

There’s a strange but very compelling vicarious thrill in empathising with these hard-up characters as they endure the most inhumane treatment. Of course, the rules of makjang dictate that the arch-villains will always, eventually, receive their comeuppance. Even if your favourite character dies, they’ll probably come back to life somehow within a few episodes.

With bigger budgets and some impressive casts, this new breed of makjang drama exemplified by SKY Castle and The Penthouse push some of these tropes to their extremes. Both shows take place in uber luxurious high-rise buildings and focus on generally vain and villainous wealthy couples doing everything in their power to ensure that their children get into the best school or university, and making sure that the deserving outsiders don’t.

These characters maintain their power by framing victims for crimes, mostly committed by the rich antagonists to begin with. They also indulge in political corruption, shady property dealing, school bullying and school entrance fixing – anything relating to the abuse of wealth and power that tends to be big news in Korea.

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The Penthouse will end on January 5, but there’s always a new show around the corner – and, besides, two more seasons of The Penthouse have recently been greenlit. Makjang drama fans may also want to keep an eye out for Queen of Scene, a new Netflix show in development by How to Use Guys with Secret Tips director Lee Won-suk, about a top makjang drama writer who is magically sucked into the world she created and needs to get out.

The Penthouse is streaming on Viu.

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