THE TRUNK on Netflix is a K-Drama mystery series starring Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin. By episode one, you’ll be hooked. I know I certainly was. Not least thanks to the character-driven plot and crazy twists. Read our full The Trunk series review here!
THE TRUNK is a new Netflix series from South Korea (org. title: Teureongkeu), so you can call it a K-Drama, but I assure you it’s so much more. Based on a novel, this is mostly referred to as a mystery and psychological drama series. The storyline also involves a bloody mystery and a strange marriage service.
With Gong Yoo (Train to Busan, Squid Game) leading the cast, we have a very familiar face front and center. Well, to people who enjoy excellent South Korean productions anyway. The series has just 8 episodes, so it doesn’t drag on for too long. Fair warning: You’ll be a bit in the dark at first.
Continue reading our The Trunk series review below. Find all episodes on Netflix from November 29, 2024.
The mystery of the trunk
In the new South Korean Netflix series The Trunk (org. title: Teureongkeu), we meet a music producer (Gong Yoo). He has so much money that he can buy whatever he wants. However, as the Beatles’ song goes “Can’t buy me love”.
That’s why, when we meet him, he’s busy drowning his sorrows in sleeping pills. His wife has left him and already married someone new. However, there’s a strange twist in the tale; She wants him to marry someone else as well.
Even teasing that after they’ve both been married to someone else for a year, they could get back together again.
The title element of a trunk refers to the trunk carried around by the woman he is supposed to marry. And how do you find a wife for a year? Well, you use a marriage service that specializes in that sort of thing, of course.
Psychological mystery with a wonderful cast
As The Trunk follows a very depressed and impossible Jeong-won (Gong Yoo), we also become familiar with several other characters. Especially the woman he reluctantly agrees to marry. Her name is In-ji (Seo Hyeon-jin) and she’s a professional “wife-for-hire”.
There is a lot happening in the details in The Trunk and you’ll slowly realize what hides in those details as the layers of each character are revealed.
We see Jeong-won battle his jealousy towards his ex’s new husband, while also slowly forging a strong bond with his new (temporary) wife, In-ji. And we see In-ji as a tough woman, used to working with new husbands and struggling with strange and shadowy figures from her past.
Gong Yoo (Squid Game, The Silent Sea) is perfect as the music producer Han Jeong-won. At first, he is absolutely impossible, but fairly quickly, we get an idea of how he became this person. Seo Hyun-jin (Another Miss Oh) is mysterious and fascinating as his “contract-wife” Noh In-ji.
Also delivering a fascinating portrayal is Jung Yun-ha (Exhuma) as his first wife, Lee Seo-yeon.
Finally, we have Kim Dong-won (Squid Game) as a man from In-ji’s past, Jo I-geon as Seo-yeon’s “contract husband”, plus Hong Woo-jin (Goodbye Earth) and Choi Young-joon (GyeongSeong Creature).
Watch The Trunk series on Netflix now!
The Trunk is directed by Kim Kyu-tae (Our Blues) and written by Park Eun-young (Hwarang)The series is based on the novel of the same name by Kim Ryeo-ryeong.
On the surface, it’s the simple story of a secretive marriage service accompanied by a mysterious trunk. However, as I’m sure you’ll notice from the first episode, there’s a lot more to this story. Then again, isn’t that always the case with these wonderful South Korean character-driven stories?
NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH…
Personally, I was hooked by the middle of episode 1. If you’ve enjoyed other Netflix series from South Korea, then I would definitely recommend that you give it a shot. Maybe you’ll be just as hooked and have 8 hour-long episodes to enjoy.
The Trunk premieres on Netflix globally on November 29, 2024.
Details
Director: Kim Gyu-tae
Writer: Park Eun-young
Cast: Gong Yoo, Seo Hyun-jin, Jung Yun-ha, Kim Dong-won, Jo I-geon, Lee Ki-woo
Plot
A secret marriage service is uncovered when a trunk washes up on the shore, revealing the strange marriage between a couple in the thick of it all.
- Black Doves: Season 1 – Review | Netflix - December 5, 2024
- Devils Stay – Movie Review (2/5) - December 4, 2024
- Tomorrow and I – Review | Netflix - December 4, 2024
