Released Year: 2018-2019
No of Episodes: 20
Main Leads: Yum Jung-ah, Lee Tae-ran, Yoon Se-ah, Oh Na-ra and Kim Seo-hyung
Genre: Satire, Drama, Black Comedy

The story starts with the introduction of four couples who lives at SKY Castle, a luxurious communal area where the residents are highly professionals. Through generations, they go to only prestigious schools and colleges. It was difficult for me to remember the characters in the beginning as around more than 10 characters were introduced in the first 10 minutes.

A lady organizes a party for someone’s son who got a seat at Seoul National University. She organized it just to get in to the good book of her friend so that she would share his son’s portfolio. At any cost she (the woman who organised the party) would wanted her daughter to get seat at the same prestigious university. 

Now forced by her husband,  Seung-hye(another lady at SKY Castle) wanted the same information, young-jae’s portfolio. Jae’s mother  does not want to share information as it involves his personal information. But still, she guide them the route to get the best coach to train towards admission at Seoul National University. That is not a simple process though! 

All I understood is they live at SKY Castle at free of cost which not only astonishes those music troop girls but also me. And like  every other couples, those 4 ladies have misunderstandings with their husbands. After seeing the first episode, it is obvious that those 4 housewives are the bosses in this drama, i. e, the main characters!and hope after a drama like mistress(2018),im watching another women centric drama with a fresh Storyline. 

There is a scene where one kid says ‘I wanted to be a coffee mug as it don’t study or go to class, but still loved by my mom’! That’s the sad notion in this drama! parents’ ultimate goal is push her son/daughter as per their own determination . For some children, it becomes an ambition(as they were trained from their childhood) , but to some, its a compulsion.

So far, the drama does not exaggerate anything. That is the fact and most of the children are forced to follow their parents ambition. You can see a frustration when a child says ‘my mom won’t even burge when I disappeared’.

When I thought all the story is only about that medical school enrolment, suddenly it takes a twist when one of the housewives (….)! 

And when I thought story goes about that housewife, story takes different path when one  middle class family comes to reside at SKY Castle. Unlike other mom’s, this mom is too casual with her son’s academics and never mind about getting into any prestigious university. She even criticize the so-called group discussion where children at too young age were forced to read and discuss about complex books which doesn’t even suitable for their age. This causes a huge blow with other housewives and professor Cha, who organizes that terrible group discussions. 

But, my doubt was, is such community like SKY Castle really exists in Korea? Is this based on real story?, my search says NO! Not sure about the fact!

All parents are seemed to care their children but still education is their first priority. Sometimes, their mind changes inbetween but somehow again they fall for the same concept. A parent, Doctor Kang who was once not happy about his wife’s ambition on her children becomes happy and feels winning the game once he come to know that his daughter got higher grades than his rival’s son. No other is an exception here except  woo Joo family. 

I loved the character of Seung-hye, the mom of two sons who even confronted with her husband when he torments them in the name of education and career. However, at some point of time she even wants to hire the coach for their sons. So everyone looks to be fickle minded. 

The coach Kim, is a another notable Portrayal. She would do anything to get her students into the prestigious universities. It was a surprising strategy that she did collect all information about other top students of the class where her students into. She even brainwash children by targeting their weaknesses without minding about what their futures would be. But, it seems she has a terrible flashback and she seemed to be doing this for revenge. 

Till episode 6, with inbetween funny scenes and unpredictable Storyline, sky castle is a binge watch!! 

By episode 9, story becomes quite predictable but still don’t know how far the prediction works. Sky castle is a pure family drama with zero percent romance till now! 

Episode 12 digs into the personal identity of that centralized character and few of the leads (housewives) started to find about who Kim joo-young actually is. And so far the drama portrays the fictional lives of the upper society and if you watch only romantic dramas, then this drama will be a disappointment to you!

The  drama pictures not only the sufferings and frustrations of children but also shows the other side of children misusing their parents trust. When her parents thought she goes to a renowned university in the United States, she cheated them totally by pretending as a student. 

The final episodes extends to find the mystery that involves these four families.

If you want to see a nice Women-centric Family Thriller, then Skycastle is a Good One!

Interesting Facts:

Sky Castle is the second-highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history(As per 2020).

 The drama has received positive reviews from critics and won multiple awards, including four at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards.

First, Kim Jung-eun (Lovers in Paris fame ) was offered one of the lead roles but she declined the offer.

Ratings:

This is just a personal rating from Allsorts Kdrama and not upon any channel or user ratings.

4.5/5

(A Pure Family Thriller)