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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Uhm Ki-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Lee Joon
Latest Nielsen rating: 3.2 per cent
Four months after the culmination of The Escape of the Seven, the evil Matthew Lee and his vile servants are back in sequel series The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection.
The first series focuses on the aftermath of the disappearance of Bang Da-mi, a poor young girl who was used by several people around her.


Seven people from different walks of life are implicated in the case, which is eventually revealed to be a murder, and the killer turns out to be the white-haired Matthew Lee (Uhm Ki-joon), who gets away with the crime.
Not only that, Matthew was previously Shim Joon-seok, the adoptive heir of the conglomerate Sungchan Group, before getting plastic surgery and turning into a mysterious entrepreneur with twisted ambitions.
The Escape of the Seven: high-society K-drama from The Penthouse team
As season two begins, he has the greedy “seven” all twisted around his little finger. He hands them each an envelope with five billion won (US$3.7 million) and reminds them that he expects them to appear before him within 30 minutes any time he calls.
The reason Matthew is a free man is that he has framed Min Do-hyuk (Lee Joon), who was revealed in the first series as the biological heir to the Sungchan Group, for the murder of Dang-mi.
While Matthew believes he is free to carry out his evil plans, there are a few surprises in store for him. Do-hyuk may be on the run, but, fuelled by a desire for vengeance and with the help of former gangster Kang Ki-tak (Yoon Tae-young) and his hacking skills, he is finding his way back to Matthew.

Other members of the seven are steadily breaking ranks with Matthew, unbeknown to him. These include his right-hand woman, Geum La-hui (Hwang Jung-eum), who, in classic melodramatic fashion, has a big change of heart and now bitterly regrets her past actions.
She tracks down Do-hyuk and Ki-tak but helps them to get away when Matthew’s men also descend on their hideout. During her own escape, she is caught in a hunting trap while traipsing in the snow and later has her leg amputated.
Wanting to feel the weight of her guilt, she endures the operation without any anaesthetic.
La-hui then learns to walk normally again within two weeks and returns to Matthew’s side, plotting to take him down, with him none the wiser.

Meanwhile, Matthew forces Go Myung-ji (Jo Yoon-hee) and Yang Jin-mo (Yoon Jong-hoon) into a sham marriage so that Jin-mo can become deputy mayor, and actress Han Mo-nee (Lee Yoo-bi) tries to foil the production of a documentary about the death of Dang-mi, which she fears could reveal the terrible things she did to her.
Although it is made by the writer-director team of The Penthouse and features many of the same stars, including Uhm, Yoon and Shin Eun-kyung – as “seven” member Cha Ju-ran, whose role this season has not been well defined yet – The Escape of the Seven’s ratings are much lower than those of that prime-time soap opera.
The formula is very similar here, with the death of a young woman triggering a Byzantine tale of deceit and about-faces playing out in the corrupt upper echelons of society.
The pacing is deliriously fast, the set pieces and twists are outrageous, and logic is gleefully thrown out of the window in favour of quick and dirty entertainment.
7 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in April 2024
The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection has begun with even lower ratings than its already disappointing predecessor – season two was in production before the first season even aired. Why is that?
The main viewer complaint about season one was that the story and its twists were absurd. While it is certainly true that the series was absurd, this kind of reaction shows how fine a tightrope writers must tread when audiences expect them to replicate their success.
Following the disappointing third season of The Penthouse, novel elements were added to freshen up Kim’s melodrama formula in The Escape of the Seven – such as AI and deepfake technology. This led to people complaining about contrived scenarios, which seems ironic given that The Penthouse was a hit precisely because of its outrageously contrived twists.

Viewers who felt let down by The Escape of the Seven are unlikely to feel that The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection is a return to form, as it offers more of the same. Yet while the characters are not as compelling as those in The Penthouse, this is still a highly watchable prime time soap opera.
The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection is streaming on Viu.


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Korean drama reviews

K-drama The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection – prime time soap returns with more outrageous twists

Uhm Ki-joon as mastermind Matthew Lee in a still from The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection. The K-drama sequel, created by the writer and director of The Penthouse and featuring many of the same stars, is a highly watchable prime time soap opera despite its absurdity.

Lee Joon as Min Do-hyuk, the biological heir of Sungchan, in a still from The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection.

Hwang Jung-eum as Geum La-hui in a still from The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection.

Yoon Jong-hoon (left) as Yang Jin-mo and Jo Yoon-hee as Go Myung-ji in a still from The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection. 

K-drama Beauty and Mr. Romantic: Im Soo-hyang-led melodrama warms up with unrequited love and secret identities

Im Soo-hyang as Park Do-ra in a still from Beauty and Mr. Romantic. The 50-episode Korean drama series stars Im and Ji Hyun-woo – but begins during the childhoods of the characters they portray.

Lee Seol-ah as the younger Do-ra in a still from Beauty and Mr. Romantic.

Moon Seung-hyun as the younger Pil-seung in a still from Beauty and Mr. Romantic.

Ji Hyun-woo as Pil-seung in a still from Beauty and Mr. Romantic.

Lee Seol-ah (left) and Moon Seung-hyun as the younger Do-ra and Pil-seung in a still from Beauty and Mr. Romantic.

Disney+ K-drama midseason recap: Wonderful World – Kim Nam-woo, Cha Eun-woo go head to head in tale of grief and revenge

Cha Eun-woo (left) and Kim Nam-joo as the mysterious Kwon Seon-yul and author Eun Soo-hyun in a still from Wonderful World. At midseason the pieces are falling into place for a satisfying conclusion to the Disney+ K-drama.

Im Se-mi as manager Han Yoo-ri in a still from Wonderful World.

Kim Kang-woo as television anchor husband Kang Soo-ho in a still from Wonderful World.

Park Hyuk-kwon as congressman Kim Joon in a still from Wonderful World.

Cha Eun-woo as Seon-yul in a still from Wonderful World.

Disney+ K-drama review: Flex X Cop – Ahn Bo-hyun, Park Ji-hyun lead fun series that concludes on a disappointing note

Ahn Bo-hyun as Jin I-soo in a still from Flex X Cop.

Flex X Cop follows two police officers, Jin I-soo (played by Ahn Bo-hyun, above) and Lee Gang-hyun (Park Ji-hyun), who infiltrate a cult, and investigate a death at Jin’s corporate family compound.

Park Ji-hyun as Detective Lee Gang-hyun in a still from Flex X Cop.

Kwak Si-yang as Jin Seong-ju, I-soo’s older brother, in a still from Flex X Cop.

Ahn Bo-hyun as corporate heir turned police officer Jin I-soo in a still from Flex X Cop.

Park Ji-hyun as detective Lee Jang-hyun in a still from Flex X Cop.

Netflix K-drama Parasyte: The Grey – Train to Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho adapts Japanese alien invasion manga

Jeon So-nee as Jeong Su-in in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. Photo: Cho Wonjin/Netflix

Jeon So-nee (centre) as Jeong Su-in in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. The K-drama series, directed by Train to Busan’s Yeon Sang-ho and co-starring Koo Kyo-hwan, Lee Jung-hyun and Kwon Hae-hyo, reimagines Hitoshi Iwaaki’s classic Japanese alien-invasion manga. Photo: Cho Wonjin/Netflix

Koo Kyo-hwan as Seol Kang-woo in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. Photo: Cho Wonjin/Netflix

Kwon Hae-hyo as detective Kim Cheol-min in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. Photo: Cho Wonjin/Netflix

Lee Jung-hyun as Choi Jun-kyung in a still from Parasyte: The Grey. Photo: Cho Wonjin/Netflix

Disney+ K-drama midseason recap: The Impossible Heir – Kim Jae-wook, Lee Jun-young struggle with weak script

Kim Jae-wook as Tae-oh in a still from The Impossible Heir. Kim, Lee Jun-young and Hong Su-zu have struggled through the weakly scripted Disney+ K-drama showing on Disney+.

Kim Jae-wook (left) as the ambitious Tae-oh and Hong Su-zu as neighbour Hye-won in a still from The Impossible Heir.

Lee Jun-young (left) as illegitimate heir In-ha and Choi Jin-ho as Chairman Kang Joong-mo in a still from The Impossible Heir.

Hong Su-zu (left) as Hye-won and Lee Jun-young as In-ha in a still from The Impossible Heir.

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While Uhm Ki-joon’s Matthew believes he is free to carry out his evil plans in this sequel from The Penthouse K-drama team, there are some surprises in store
While the characters are not as compelling as those in The Penthouse, and the story is absurd, this is still a highly watchable prime time soap opera


The Escape of the Seven: Resurrection, created by the writer and director behind Korean drama series The Penthouse and featuring many of the same stars, is highly watchable despite its absurdity.
