The Trunk

The storyline was interesting, kept me binge watching the whole series in 2 days.

However, the main actress had a pokerface throughout the whole series. I think, I only saw her making a facial expression 3 times, in the whole 8 episodes. I get she had to be stoic and serious but d*mn..... I feel like anyone could've played that role. I mean, you'd just have to stand there with no expression on your face.

The other actors were amazing though. The main actor did a wonderful job.

It's got a lot of twists and turns, and it keeps you on your toes, but the main actress lack of, well... acting, just threw me off.

Suspense dramas are not my favorite but I watched this one because it was also tagged as being a romance drama. It didn't really hit the mark for either genre for me. I thought the editing was rather poor. The first episode does not provide a very good foundation for what is going on an it took the next couple episodes for me to really get the gist of things. Also, while the flashbacks usually indicated how far back in time they were going, the flash forwards were generally not tagged and you had to glean from the context that the scene was happening in the future.

I also found the ending to be very unsatisfying...both the ending of the romance thread as well as the suspense thread...for the latter, some of the earlier flash-forward scenes provides misleading information about the fate of the villain that was intended to point you in the wrong direction as to who ultimately deals with the villain. That is just lazy/sloppy writing.

But on the bright side, I thought the acting was great. Seo Hyeon-jin and Jung Yun-Ha completely sold the animosity toward one another that their characters felt. And Gong Yoo brought to life how broken and submissive Han Jeong-won started and then how he was slowly rebuilt with the help of No In-ja.

Overall, I am glad I watched it but was also very glad it was only 8 episodes.

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.

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.

I usually vote a series down for one of three reasons: 1) the ending isn't convincing and satisfying 2) the plot isn't logical and believable 3) one of the main characters is evil or just plain annoying andI lose all interest in him or her. The majority of K-dramas, lately, have fallen into one of these categories.

This time it's door no. 2.

I guess THE TRUNK works as a sophisticated, understated thriller, but I couldn't warm to the FL, played by Seo Hyun-Jin. She's an enigma, wrapped in a mystery - a reserved, cryptic presence, who seldom smiles and never laughs. Mistress of the blank stare, she gives herself away by small gestures, or the way her face freezes, mask-like, when she's guarded or frightened. Han Jeong-won, played by Gong Yoo, is like a needy puppy, blurting out his thoughts and emotions from time to time.

The details are what makes this series remarkable-the haunting, beauty of Han Jeong-won's opulent, but glacial, residence, the unusual score, and the terse, nuanced dialogues that insinuate more than they elucidate.

If you have the patience to unwrap each exquisitely conceived puzzle piece, you'll eventually suss out the situation. But by episode 3, I realized that I just didn't care. Why? Because the premise is so ridiculous. While the characters are well-delineated, the plot is contrived and unconvincing-especially the ending.