Rating: 2/5
What was teased as a banger murder mystery to the audience with two likeable and attractive actors, has ultimately turned out to be a bizarrely effortless slog in the misshape of ‘The Trunk’ – a dull and predictable Netflix series that wastes the time of those involved as well as ours. This would’ve been less egregious if there were more elements here to engage but the story is all so boringly pedestrian from start to finish.
The contract marriage, the smoldering husband, a strong female lead, a vile ex-wife, a stalker, all speak in cliches in rushed scenes that never allow any of them to make an impact or flourish the plotline. Gong Yoo plays Han Jeong-won, a filthy rich music producer with a devastating past. He is struggling to escape nightmares indulging in drugs prescribed by his ex-wife.
Seo Hyun-jin portrays Noh In-ji, an employee at NM (New Marriage), a contract marriage bureau running discreetly away from the public eyes. For her, getting married is just a job, nothing more, nothing less and her hate for the societal institution is rooted in the dramatic failure of her past wedding.
But faring the best is Jung Yung-ha as Lee Seo-yeon, a complex ex-wife who forces Jeong-won to sign up for the contract marriage but also doesn’t wish to let go of him. Her toxic nature adds emotional weight to the entire series, treating the material with a humanity that’s otherwise absent. She’s so convincing in her role that it’s difficult not to hate her. Only if Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin were not stuck in a repetitive cycle of subplots devoid of smart tricks and charm, ‘The Trunk’ would have worked better.
Depth isn’t one of the strong points as the mystery unravels with such a formulaic lack of surprise that we’re convinced something twistier and more unusual is being kept for the finale. But the trudge to get there is without reward, as if we’re being punished for being dumb enough for sticking with it, and the final reveal is quite predictable.
With unwanted nudity serving a shock element, the K-drama remains too loose for us to fully reinvest in the characters, however much residual fondness we may have for its stellar cast. The toxic affairs between the leading characters are badly underwritten and wholly unconvincing. I am not sure how from the creators’ point-of-view this was a balancing act.
Having said that, it doesn’t mean ‘The Trunk’ is completely unwatchable. When it works, the K-drama has the quality of a half-remembered dream, wafting us into a profoundly cinematic altered state. But get out of step with it and suddenly you’re left with the headache from understanding its furry freak timeline and heavy subjects.
The Netflix show definitely can’t really work as a whodunnit because the big reveal is obvious from the outset. And when the culprit is finally taken away to prison, it isn’t the winning point of the story, it’s quite dull.
Final thoughts:
Despite a star-spangled cast, ‘The Trunk’ fails to maintain the high of a head-scratching murder mystery. It is unconvincing and heavy-handed to be entertaining or to prove insightful to the story which consists of a forced romance arc. Aside from brief glimpses of beautiful scenery, this is as drably made, horribly constructed and creatively uninspired as a streaming K-drama.
It’s a terrible waste of a stellar cast, headed by the likes of Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin, although the simple aggregation of everyone’s acting talent does raise the show a bit.
‘The Trunk’ will not go down as the worst murder mystery K-drama out there but it will definitely be the most forgettable.
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