Firstly, I want to point out that the synopsis here is a bit misleading. Reading it, I first thought Yoon Hee tries to become the queen of penthouse and battles with Soo Ryun. So, I'd like to add a not so spoiler-free synopsis before actual review. 

Soo Ryun is deceived by her husband for years and her aim is to get revenge upon it. It's more appropriate to say Yoon Hee is the one who can do everything for her daughter despite her poverty while Seo Jin is quite self-oriented that she wants her daughter to succeed for her sake (to gain favor from her father). Currently Yoon Hee's aim is just to live in the Hera Palace (in a high society) so that no one will look down on her daughter. She may turn out to have desire on becoming the queen of penthouse (the top- floor unit of Hera Palace where Soo Ryun lives) in the later episodes (or not) but she is teamed up with Soo Ryun so far. Even if it happens in the future, I think it's not appropriate to add the very far plot in the synopsis. And even though the drama is titled 'Penthouse', I don't really see the plot is focus on it.

Normally I am not a fan of makjang dramas as it's so frustrating to watch for the first half of the whole drama. But here, the pace is so fast that the revenge things happened since ep 4 or 5. (I don't remember exactly). So, I want to say this drama gives you a balance of frustration and satisfaction alternatively.  Warning: the level of both feeling would be very high, as this drama is on another level. Every character is insane indeed. But the writer inserts hilarious (yet insane) side characters and ridiculous scenes here and there for the viewers not to burn up all the time.

Beside this, (from my past experience of makjang dramas), the main character falls into one of the two stereotypes: the ones who are pure, kindhearted but hopelessly naive so always hurt by the villains and the ones who are just too brave, stubborn, and fight powerful villians in a silly way without realising the situations. The later is worse that they have to pay the price and suffer twice. It's more frustrating to watch them than to watch how evil are the villians, right? What makes this drama unique is that Soo Ryun uses her brain very well to give lesson on the evils. She is the type of heroine I'd love to see in the future dramas. Yoon Hee, Bae Rona and Min Seol Ah also fit the later stereotype I mentioned. That's why Seol Ah had to give her life in my opinion. But I foresee Yoon Hee and Rona will have character development and smart enough to fight against the villians.

The main heroine is such a gem like I said. The storyline is pretty solid, sophisticated and not boring at all. The casts are so good that you will hate the evils with full of your heart. (I am fangirling over them on IG) I highly highly recommend this drama to you for above reasons plus the Hera Palace, interior designs, fashions, cinematic shots: all these costy things are worth watching. The only thing what a shame is that there's no OST in this Opera musical drama. (Or did I miss? I only heard instrumental BGM in some scenes.) And don't get me wrong with the rewatch value because I rarely rewatch any dramas as I have to catch up new ones.