The Trunk

"The Trunk," a Korean TV series featuring veteran actor Gong Yoo and actress Seo Hyun Jin, had me hooked right from its announcement. The electrifying chemistry between the leads was something I didn't expect. Although they both have quiet personalities, they understood each other remarkably well. Netflix did a fantastic job by releasing all eight episodes at once. The series had a gloomy vibe, but to my surprise, it was very comforting. The screenwriting was top-notch, and I binge-watched the entire series in one go. This is one of those standout series that Netflix releases every year. It felt like a perfect year-end K-drama. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you have a great day!

Trunk is a story that doesn't have much to do with the highlighted, painted so misteriously trunk but it's basically a "manual" for couples to make their lives as miserable as possible. These people really love to torture themselves unnecessarily.

A couple can't use the most effective method called "communicating", instead resort to bizzare ways to test how much they still love each other by the service of a shady matchmaking company. And a matchmaking company that is surprised the couples they match may actually fall for one another and breach a contract? Who knew?

Throw in a psycho with not so clear relation to the protagonists but somehow knows everyone and dips his nose into everyone's business very conveniently.

Not sure about the story but 6 stars for hiring the still fresh in memory Squid Game recruiter Gong Yoo and some good acting by him given the nonsense he has to work with. The main beatch totally gets on people's nerves, she did well.

Seo Hyun Jin isn't ready to be a serious mean girl yet. Visuals are good, ending just meh. Again, happy ending could be us but let's wait until second chance encounter to be together because we haven't depressed ourselves enough.

I liked the kind of harsh aesthetics of this show and the cold characters, as it depicts the trauma of the protagonists very well. For me, the chemistry between the lead couple worked and the slow building mystery as well. I would have liked to know more about the marriage agency and how it works, as it is an important plot device but not explained very well.

Unfortunately, after a capturing beginning, the mystery plot is resolved in a boring and lazy way. The build-up to the Whodunnit and the ending in general is very weak and unsatisfying. More focus on the plot to complement the great visuals better would have helped a lot.

Gave this an 8 rating because the basic concept of a "marriage service" agency and a FL who plays the wife is not new. Saw another one of these K-Dramas with the same concept, albeit a different script, that was much better. This script was very slow going but if you can stick with it, the ML gives off a strangely calming appeal when he warms up to the FL who is also usually a quiet type person. He is calming amongst all his emotional problems, turmoil with his x-wife and drug problems. He makes you wish you could just handle your own problems so calming as he begins to rely and fell comfortable with the FL and finally begins to realize what a trap he was in with his x-wife (thanks to the FL new contract wife). The music is nice which helps set the mood in the background for the love story. Ending just Ok, not all that satisfying IMO.

Based on a novel, this is a dark psychological drama/thriller exploring complex themes of relationships, marriage and love. It also centers on themes of past traumas, psychological manipulations and complexities of different relationships. It's a powerful well-acted storyline that unwraps slowly but ever so steadily.

Thankfully, It's not a typical "Kdrama" series that you can find plenty of on Netflix and other streaming platforms lately but you wouldn't find Gong Yoo on one of those anyways.

The acting is quite solid especially from the main characters portraying their past emotional traumas and the slow healing they both go through finding each other again (as this was not their first encounter) and possibly lasting love from something that started as an unwanted, bizarre and disturbing contract marriage. But most marriages are contracts is one of themes the show explores and what binds two people together.

I haven't read the novel and I am sure this is not completely true to the book as others before it haven't been but on its own merit, this is a beautifully and well crafted production including the music scores and absolutely worth the watch.