SKY Castle is JTBC’s legendary K-Drama, which was produced in 2018 and consists of 20 episodes directed by Jo Hyun Tak.
SKY Castle is essentially the name of a rich neighborhood. SKY Castle is named after three of Korea’s best and most prestigious universities: Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University. In SKY Castle, housing is available for doctors and other academics of Joo-nam University, which has the country’s leading hospital. The country’s most prominent doctors and academics live on this site. In summary, the subject of the series is that the most elite upper class of the people want their children to live a future like themselves, not only do they want it, but they can risk everything for their children’s education life. There is nothing families living in SKY Castle can’t do or can’t afford to have their children study at the best school in the country, especially in medical school. As the SKY CASTLE soundtrack says “Scream! What do you want from the world? Money, Honor, Beauty…Whatever you want! Wear a mask to hide the truth. People cheat on each other, right?”
The story in SKY Castle revolves around four families. In the first episode of the series, families live like royalty and their children seem very happy. Although there are images in a few scenes of the first episode that make you wonder if there is a problem, you say what is going on with the last scene of the series and the “We all lie…” soundtrack that you hear along with the scene, where am I, what kind of a show did you get… ok. Press “Next chapter immediately” key.
Let’s get to know the families of SKY Castle:
Han Seo Jin can be called the main protagonist of the drama. She is married to orthopedic surgeon Kang Joon Sang. They have two daughters. They want their eldest daughter to get into the SNU, i.e. the best medical school in the country and get the family’s third generation doctor. Her husband, Kang Joon Sang, has a very dominant and strong mother. Seo Jin is an ambitious mother who brings soul to the entire drama.
Lee Soo Im is the most innocent and ambitious character in the drama. She once wrote a children’s book. When she learned about the events in SKY Castle, she wanted to write the story that took place here. She is the mother of one of the school’s most successful students (U ju). She is quite natural and sincere compared to other mothers. She is married to she lee Soo Im and neurosurgeon Hwang Chi Young. Lee Soo Im and her family debut in the second episode. After the sad event in the first episode (you will get goosebumps), the doctor and his family left SKY Castle and settled in the vacated lodging.
No Seung Hye is a lovely redhead mother and married to Cha Min Hyuk, a law professor and perhaps the most ambitious father in the world. They have a daughter who is studying at Harvard and twin sons who are preparing for the university entrance exams this year. No Seung Hye is the daughter of an elite and noble family. Towards the end of the series, we learn that she is actually a mother with a doctorate and she has chosen to be a housewife just to raise her children better. Although she is not a very ambitious and distressing mother to her children, she cannot prevent the pressure her husband puts on children. In the drama, the professor’s wife, No Seung Hee, is a very noble and beautiful woman and a very compassionate mother to her twin sons. One of my favorite relationships in the series was the relationship between twin sons and their mother. You’ll feel the same when you watch it. By the way, the actors who played the married couple in the series later became lovers in their real lives!
Jin Jin Hee is a lively woman and the daughter of a very wealthy family. Jin Jin thinks that his wife should get along well with Seo Jin for her career. Jin Jin’s wife, Woo Yang Woo, is an orthopedic doctor, and he had a hernia problem in almost the first 7-8 episodes of the drama. She has a son who goes to middle school. It is a warm family connected to each other.
Below you can see the SKY Castle children.
Coach Kim: Kim Joo Young is a guidance counselor who manages to get both students into medical school by employing only two students a year, works only with families of her choice, and receives exorbitant wages for her work. We see the exorbitant fee in gold bars below:
Not only does he prepare a study plan for the student she works with, she works with the best tutors, who brings the student from school to additional lessons and home in a private vehicle. At certain times, she made her students to practice meditation in order to give the student perseverance and determination. However, Coach Kim has many secrets! If there were no spoilers, Coach Kim could be told for pages. Seo Jin’s eldest daughter, Kang Ye Seo, started working with Coach Kim. All events will shine bright with these interactions. You will witness Coach Kim’s facial expression in the photo below and your blood will freeze.
At SKY Castle, their children’s future isn’t the only reason why parents want their children to attend the best school in the country, and perhaps even the best students in the country. Families show a selfish approach and see their children’s success as their own honor. Coach Kim says in one scene: “Mother is the most selfish creature in the world to her offspring”. This may be one of the strangest comments I’ve ever heard about mothers.
There are a few fun issues that stand out in such a gloomy series. The first of these is “Pyramid”. Law professor Cha Min Hyuk comes from a poor family and has worked hard for success under impossibilities, his only goal is to try to be one of the few at the top of the social pyramid and force his children to do so. No matter what his wife and children do, Cha Min Hyuk does not give up on the pyramid and is so obsessed with the top of the pyramid that he put a giant cast-iron pyramid in the middle of his house. The beautiful and funny part of the job is that the professor comes one day and gives up his dreary house and pyramid and loses to his family. Another event that will make you smile in the series will be the fight scene of the families. I was sure that there would be such a head-to-head scene, I had a lot of fun watching it. We saw from the behind-the-scenes footage that the actors had as much fun as we did. The show also has sweet line of trainee doctors. The acting of the intern doctors, who are sometimes frank and sometimes obedient, will make you smile.
There are many scenes in the series that will fill your eyes. Based on the bitten apple and the dead dragonfly, follow the codes, then there is no scene where you will be astonished like us, and you will recover only 10 minutes after watching the scene! You may burst into tears. Another scene that I will mention without going into details so that there are no spoilers is the scene where the most ambitious mother (Seo Jin) and her husband kneel and apologize. In another tearful scene, the subject of “yellow color” is mentioned. It is very sincere, very meaningful… I wanted to watch this series for two days without getting up. It was so gripping and full of secrets!
Although the subject of SKY Castle criticizes the Korean education system, the series received great attention in the country and its ratings exceeded record-breaking 20 percent.
SKY Castle House Designs
There are four houses in total in SKY Castle that we can see inside. The houses are like in a forest at the top of the mountain. We can say that the architectural structure of the houses, which are detached villas, is Italian. We can also see columns reflecting Greek or Italian architecture inside the houses. Each house interior is designed according to the character of its owner. For example, Professor Cha’s house is black and official, while Seo Jin’s house is a mini palace. Apart from the home decorations, the mug sets where the lead mothers in the drama drank tea when they got together, Seo Jin’s secret sanctuary “dressing room” and luxury bags, and even the safe with a digital lock (with gold bars in it) were very good.
SKY Castle Women’s Dressing Style: Gorgeous! Every new day, I wondered what they would wear. I really liked the way women over 40 dress, walking around the house in mini-heeled slippers, the stylish coats they wear in the cold of winter, the turtleneck sweaters.
Selling ox blood or soup of ox blood, which are frequently mentioned in the series, may make your stomach churn as they are incompatible with local food culture. We researched that yes there is traditional ox blood soup available in Korea!
SKY CASTLE OST (Original Soundtrack) “We All Lie”:
Trailer of SKY CASTLE on Netflix:
