‘The Trunk’ Netflix Series Review - A Plodding Drama That Tests Your Patience

The employees of NM (New Marriage) have an unusual job. They are required to be "contract wives" or "contract husbands" for their customers. What this means is that they act like their client's spouse for a year, and if the client wants, they can extend this agreement for another year (basically, for as long as they want). One of these employees is Noh In-ji (Seo Hyun-jin), who is assigned to be the contract wife of Han Jeong-won (Gong Yoo), a rich music producer. This is a very bizarre arrangement because it's Jeong-won's ex-wife, Lee Seo-yeon (Jung Yun-ha), who hires In-ji's services to fix her relationship with Jeong-won. What is there to fix between this (ex)couple? Jeong-won desperately wants to be with Seo-yeon. It's she who continues to push him away from her and even hires a contract husband for herself. The more time Jeong-won spends without Seo-yeon, the more he craves for her. Seo-yeon enjoys seeing this needy side of her ex-husband - she is turned on. In-ji is supposed to exacerbate Jeong-won's situation because, according to Seo-yeon, these two are incredibly incompatible. But when Jeong-won and In-ji become close to each other, Seo-yeon's plan begins to crumble. Jeong-won even starts ignoring her calls. On the other hand, two police officers investigate a murder. Who has been killed? How is the corpse related to the three main characters?

I have given you these details regarding The Trunk to tell you that it contains interesting elements. One can, from the show, derive thoughts like, "Not all matches are made in heaven. Some of them are formed through corporate ventures." There is a character here who struggles to run her house and is exhausted by her children. The Trunk says that it's a cliché, almost a crime, to consider all women as maternal figures. Not all of them want to be mothers, and that's perfectly acceptable. However, it also pretty soon becomes evident that The Trunk's substance is insufficient. Once again, you emerge tired and wonder, "Did the show really need eight long episodes?" The plodding drama tests your patience.

Seo-yeon's schemes can only be described as "pure evil," but their depiction is unadorned, which merely highlights director Kim Kyu-tae's lack of imagination. For "creativity," he gives us a visual of a chandelier that wants to swallow Jeong-won like Dune's sandworm. The scene exists for a reason, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a show that's devoid of more such crazy, though obvious, images. Even the themes of marriage and loneliness eventually feel like shiny objects hanged on a story that's sorely dull.

There is a suggestion regarding the intolerance towards homosexuals, which, alas, remains undeveloped. In-ji talks about the deal the freedom fighters made to kill each other's parents (if they turned out to be traitors) and extends an offer to Jeong-won involving the murder of their own parents. This dark notion, however, becomes a footnote in an overlong and undercooked show. Kyu-tae is a literal-minded director. He painfully, prosaically brings the script's pages to the visual medium. Hyun-jin and Yun-ha infuse some energy into the screen with their catfights and determination. Their actions, however, reek of male fantasy because what they reveal is two women fighting for a man's love and attention. And this man, Jeong-won, is lazy and uninteresting and bland but he is rich and has a lot of trauma. Such characters, such elements are found in cheesy material, and one part of The Trunk attempts to capture your interest through sex. Eventually, it also becomes clear that the investigative portions are feebly inserted to just maintain your basic curiosity about what happened and how the story will end.

Nonetheless, The Trunk is so slow, so unremarkable that on multiple occasions I wanted to give up. In my mind, I went down on my knees and begged the show to quickly wrap itself up. The Trunk's solemn appearance is uninviting, unexciting, and lusterless. In the end, one can do nothing more than just point toward Jeong-won and whisper, "Money can't buy happiness." You can also say that children can make your life a living hell - they suck. All that's fine, but for such banal remarks, one should never sit through a show that itself sucks.

Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times