K-drama midseason recap: The Penthouse season two – shifting allegiances and shocking death rock Hera Palace

Hera Palace remains full of deception and intrigue, while the Cheong-ah Arts Festival has students using any means possible to win the revered Grand Prize

A potential murder investigation sees allegiances change, and a new character is introduced that will no doubt have a huge effect on proceedings

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Kim So-yeon in a still from The Penthouse season two where shifting allegiances and a shocking death rock Hera Palace.

Published: 8:15pm, 18 Mar 2021Updated: 8:15pm, 18 Mar 2021

This article contains minor spoilers of the show.

Things have been moving very quickly this season on The Penthouse and an already charged fortnight of opening episodes led to an explosive midseason climax as another major death rocked the wicked souls of Hera Palace and the Cheong-ah Arts School.

It’s been less than five months since season one debuted, but the breathless twists and turns of this hit makjang drama have become second nature for viewers. For writers, this slaloming plot and its ping-ponging allegiances poses an immanent challenge: how to keep it all fresh and exciting?

The audience is expecting fortunes to soar to magnificent heights and swiftly crash down back to earth. The more characters gain, the more they stand to lose, and as we’ve progressed through the show the chasm between failure and success has gradually widened.

But raising the stakes can only get you so far. Part of The Penthouse’s success has been its judicious shifting of allegiances. Events and revelations are peppered along the path to shock us, but in spite of our surprise, they have generally been in keeping with the characters as we know them, and the partnerships that form and break have been thrilling and believable – admittedly relative to the heightened environment of a makjang drama.