“Penthouse” Season 1 Ending Explained: Episode 21 Recap And Review

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SBS hit drama the “Penthouse” season 1 has wrapped up its run and said goodbye with the most epic and shocking cliffhanger of all time.

Today, I am here to discuss the “Penthouse” episode 21 ending through a quick recap highlighting the last episode. I’ll also discuss the direction for the “Penthouse” season 2 and what to expect.

Table of Contents:

  1. The quick recap
  2. Will Shim Su Ryeon [Lee Ji Ah] Survive? Or Is She Dead For Real?
  3. Is Oh Yoon Hee dead as well? Or will Logan save her?
  4. The “Penthouse” season 2- was it necessary?

Note: this is the highlighted recap of “Penthouse” episode 21, its not a recap of all the details but the most important and integral ones to the plot.

The quick recap

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Yoon Hee gets arrested by police for murdering Su Ryeon. And for a very shocking reason, she decides to admit to the charges. The police says she’s been stalking her, breaking into her place and the murder weapon has her fingerprints all over it.

During Su Ryeon’s funeral, the people from the penthouse talk about how the prices of the apartments are falling, but then Min Seol A’s case will be closed because her mother died and this is to their advantage.

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After the funeral, Dan Tae tells the kids he’ll clean up the place as if nothing has happened and tells them to go to the U.S. if they want for a year so they can clear their minds. The kids cry thinking about how no one cares about them ever.

The board of members of the hospital gather and bring up Director Ha’s malpractice case gets brought up, the patient wants to sue them, they also put him on display for being investigated regarding Min Seol A’s death. They ultimately decide to remove him from his post. this happens with his wife in place who reminds him he shouldn’t have been ‘greedy.’

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Later, Seo Jin visits her daughter who still refuses to talk to her. She is still resisting and refuses to eat.

Meanwhile, Logan is entrapped by Dan Tae’s men. He confronts him and talks about how he’s being going through hell because of him. He decides to let him live after talking to his father, James Lee.

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He details how his father adopted Min Seol A to save his poor son and how he reversed her adoption and deported her after staging her theft. He also talks about his father’s transactions with Congressman Cho Sang Heon.

After threatening his father with the secrets in his possession, he agrees to give the Myeongdong land back to Dan Tae, in return, Dan Tae lets his son live.

Dan Tae and Seo Jin meet at night later. Seo Jin remembers Dan Tae’s detailed plan to use Yoon Hee to get rid of all of his troubles.

*flashbacks start*



First, he met with a congressman and bribed him using Seo Jin’s money since his assets were frozen. The congressman covers up his case.

On the day of the murder, Yoon Hee is headed to the police to confess to murdering Min Seol A, on the way, she throws the knife in the trash. She is confronted by his secretary who tells her he needs to see her asap.

Dan Tae meets with the maid who fabricates evidence of Yoon Hee’s obsession with him as a motive for the murder he’s about to frame her for. The maid calls Su Ryeon and lies about her husband having the two kids in his room. She runs to the apartment.

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There, Dan Tae stabs her multiple times and leaves her to die. Yoon Hee arrives at the location and finds her body, she accidentally touches the knife as well as she cries. The maid comes inside and sees the body, she calls the police immediately. Dan Tae then fakes being angry and confronts her in front of the police for ‘killing’ his wife.

*flashbacks end*

Seo Jin is happy drinking wine as they discuss their evil plan and how it worked out but she’s surprised Yoon Hee confessed to the murders. She asks him who killed her and he lies saying he ‘can’t squash an ant’ let alone kill someone, he lies about telling her he hired someone to do it.

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Yoon Hee is given a public defendant when she did ask for her. Meanwhile, her daughter ends up leaving after she’s arrested because her mom wouldn’t see her. She comes back to the home where she finds all sorts of writings on their wall. Je Ni greets her and offers her food, she also tells her to lie down so no one knows she’s back.

Lee Kyu Jin and Go Sang A are being punished by his mom, who talks about hiring all sorts of lawyers to get him out of his trouble. Eventually, she makes up with her son and tells him his father wants to get him into politics, she asks he stays out of trouble.

Seo Jin gets greeted by her foundation yes-men and they talk about how she’s been acquitted of the charges and how she’s innocent of everything. During the night when she brings back her daughter, she finally speaks to her.

Turns out, Eun Byeol saw her mother kill her grandpa and she didn’t call the police because she wanted to protect her mom. She tells her mom, she wanted to meet her grandpa and this is why she took the pills. Seo Jin starts suspecting her daughter knows something. Eun Byeol is going crazy.

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Dan Tae then talks on the phone to Seo Jin about how the charges were dropped because they ended up pinning everything on Logan and Yoon Hee claiming they conspired to commit embezzlement. He talks about holding a party to celebrate everything coming to an end.

Later, Dan Tae bribes the maid and his son happens to see it.

On the day of the trial, reporter Kim shows up to talk to Yoon Hee saying Su Ryeon has something important for her.

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Turns out, Su Ryeon handed the reporter a letter asking the judge for leniency knowing she was going to admit to killing Min Seol A. Yoon Hee cries a lot after finding this out, she remembers how she looked out for her even while taking her last breath telling her to ‘run away.’

Yoon Hee gets sentenced to life in prison for her crime, but she has an epiphany and decides to proclaim her innocence, she is dragged out of court to be transported to the prison.

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Meanwhile, the residents of the apartment complex are celebrating their time. Its been revealed that Seo Jin’s son and daughter are leaving to the U.S, while director Ha is leaving as well to study a bit more in the U.S.

On the way, Logan shows up and causes an accident; he takes Yoon Hee back to his place. There, he confronts her about killing Min Seol A, his little sister. Yoon Hee continues to say she is innocent and hasn’t killed Su Ryeon, he doesn’t believe her and says he wants to kill her with his hands.

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After some back and forth, Logan points a sharp statue at Yoon Hee, since she failed to convince him she didn’t kill Su Ryeon, she helps him by stabbing herself with the statue while it’s in his hands. She falls and starts bleeding. Logan leaves the place.

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The last memory of Yoon Hee is the time when she went with Su Ryeon on a boat and enjoyed their time.

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The end.

Will Shim Su Ryeon [Lee Ji Ah] Survive? Or Is She Dead For Real?

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Lee Ji Ah is the focal point of the drama so her death has fans scratching their heads and for a very good reason. I wouldn’t have personally expected them to kill off her character mainly because I she’s the center of all of this, not unless, somehow the production wasn’t able to properly negotiate her appearance on the second season.

Rumors on twitter allege that Lee Ji Ah is coming back for the “Penthouse” season 2, some rumors state she’s coming back with her character, others allege she has a twin, and there are some who allege she’s coming back as a different character altogether.

I haven’t personally seen any confirmation regarding this from SBS or the production company, so hold off your judgment for now. These are only rumors and nothing has been confirmed thus far.

It’d be very interesting if she’s dead as a character for real, especially since they have two more seasons to go.

I believe they will address this point since her character death is the top trending news on Naver as of this writing.

Is Oh Yoon Hee dead as well? Or will Logan save her?

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With this one since it was left so open-ended, I think Imma go with my hunch… that Logan will end up saving Oh Yoon Hee’s life. If he gets her to the hospital in time or gets help, she can be saved. It could be that she punctured a vein but it’s not the main one and thus she lives.

It could be that Logan will use her to get revenge over the death of his younger sister and Su Ryeon as well, since Yoon Hee wants to desperately avenge her knowing just how much she cared for her until the very last moment.

The remaining characters in the drama don’t warrant a second or third season since who created the obstacles for the antagonists is gone.

You know what would be utterly ridiculous? If the screenwriter brings back both Su Ryeon and Yoon Hee to life. I think a lot of people will be extremely angry if this happens because it’ll make the time fans invested in the plot feels so futile, if they’ll kill off characters and resuscitate them again, death loses its meaning.

I feel the screenwriter is just winging it as this stage, wrapping up almost everything that could get the bad guys in trouble as if it never happened to prepare for what’s to come. It makes sense from a writing perspective since the drama wasn’t made with seasons in mind.

The “Penthouse” season 2- was it necessary?

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Just for the record, The “Penthouse” wasn’t made with multiple seasons in mind. The first reports about a likely second season came out in mid-December if my memory serves me right.

They had to check in with the actors because they weren’t planning on making multiple seasons of this series. We all know it’s been a massive success with over 20% in ratings, something that we almost never hear of for mid-length dramas on public channels anymore.

The original idea was to make a second season of The “Penthouse” and make it 20 episodes, later, that changed to two more seasons, each one of them has 12 episodes.

Since it wasn’t planned from the get-go, it’s not unnatural to see such discrepancies in the plot since the writer likely had to change things to accommodate a second and third season.

I would’ve understood a second season but wonder whether a third is necessary if at all. At this point, it feels like they’re trying to capitalize on its success as much as possible which is sad to see because I loved kdramas for the lack of seasons.

This reminds me of the way American series operate, they always end with a terrible cliffhanger with hopes of a second season renewal, only if the series is a hit can it be renewed.

I feel that this method stifles creativity and dilutes whatever is the plot, this is why I generally don’t like it.

Time will only tell if this is a good or a bad move on SBS part.

For now, what we know is that The “Penthouse” season 2 is rumored to air in February and that it will be moved from its current timeslot to Friday-Saturday, the second and third season will stick to the new timeslot.

From what I’ve seen, I don’t understand how the screenwriter will ever be able to come up with 24 more hours of episodes for the series. I am just legitimately curious, what I’ve seen happen in the series and the finale, nothing looks like it needs 24 more episodes to get wrapped up. They could it in 6 episodes.

So this was The “Penthouse” season 1 for you, have you seen the final episode of The “Penthouse”? how do you feel about the ending?

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11 Comments

  1. i don’t like the ending… it’s not what i expect… i though everything was revealed about ru yeon death… but its not… I think there will be a part 2… and I hope it revealed the truth.

  2. At this point they are just milking the success. I don’t even want to watch the upcoming seasons anymore. They could have wrapped it up properly but did all this sht for the new seasons. Like dude, it’s back to square one. All those 21 eps for nothing

  3. Bruh I was hyping up the drama sm, won’t recommend it to anyone anymore because of the ending. The whole point was to catch the killers and everyone that was involved but more ppl get killed and everyone in Hera palace lives happily ever after??? what’s the point of watching this then

  4. I’m watching seasons 2 & 3 regardless. In the beginning, many people wrote this drama off as being “too much”, now everyone loves it. I say let’s reserve judgment until we see a few episodes of the new season.

  5. I didn’t know there were going to be more seasons. That makes me feel better, because that last episode ruined the whole series for me. I felt legitimately icky after watching it, seeing all of the awful people win.

  6. I also really love kdramas because of its lack of seasons. I feel there is no need for a season 3, a season 2 maybe, but no season 3. I really love this drama so much, I just hope they don’t ruin it for me by making it drag on.

  7. Su ryeon is the only likable character and logan lee. The only thing good about the ending is that yoon hee died maybe the series will get better without her overacting and stupidity.

  8. I’m a Scot who happened.on this drama, that enjoying it so much, I couldn’t put it down… What REALLY pissed me off was the ending with episode21..
    I’ve experienced these with various western type films/dramas and, quite frankly, as far as I’m concerned, a story has a beginning, middle and an end??!!!… if your gonna have a drama this way, pre-warn the viewer to save their disappointment. Because
    If anything, one thing I hate is unfinished stories?!!!……

  9. I am so disappointed in the movie I hope in season 2 su ryeon and oh yeon hee would come back to take their revenge if not I would not even blink my eye to watch the movie anymore

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