What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:

*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*

TV

Hotel Del Luna (2019)

With a craving for a supernatural/fantasy drama, I turned this week to Hotel Del Luna. While I was fully expecting the Hong Sisters’ campy style and procedural format (having watched A Korean Odyssey a while back), what I wasn’t expecting was for it to be accompanied by genuinely breathtaking scenery and heartwarming character arcs.

I’m not a huge fan of procedural shows in general, but wanting to learn the individual stories of the long-term residents of Hotel del Luna was what brought me back each episode, from it’s prickly CEO Jang Man-wol (IU), to it’s newest manager Goo Chan-sung (Yeo Jin-goo, who’s incredible voice still caught me off guard despite hearing it in Start-Up), and everyone in between.

Man-wol has the longest and most complex history, her reasons for still remaining in the living world unraveled slowly as the story progresses. It’s also one of the most tragic, and as the mystery of her past is revealed, I felt more and more drawn to her character. Add to that IU’s engaging performance, and you get a beautifully rounded-out character that could have easily been cliché, but instead is infinitely endearing.

I enjoyed watching the scenes from Man-wol’s past in particular, and Lee Do-hyun’s appearance in the show is by far one of the most memorable cameos I’ve seen. Lee’s Go Chung-myeong would be an intriguing character on his own, but there’s a sparkle in Lee’s eyes that draws you in to the character like none other. Add to that Lee Tae-sun’s boyish charm as Man-wol’s closest friend Yeon-woo and you have a perfect trio to make a show in and of itself. Their tragic entanglement is so rich for exploration, and I could watch these three interact all day.

The three oldest residents of the Hotel – Kim Sun-bi (Shin Jung-Keun), Choi Seo-hui (Bae Hae-Sun) and Ji Hyun-joong (Pyo Ji-Hoon) – have a similarly appealing vibe, and as much as they bicker and outwardly disagree with one another, you can tell that they also rely greatly on one another to keep the hotel running smoothly and to navigate the modern world.

That being said, I was never fully invested in the loveline that was set up between Man-wol and Chan-sung. For a romance that was set up as fated, that was over a millennium in the making, it never truly hit home for me. It felt a little too standard to be a romance for the ages, and while there isn’t anything in particular that I could pinpoint to say didn’t work – the writing, the performances, and the directing were all fine by themselves – the combination of those elements just didn’t produce the desired effect for me.

That would probably be my only major complaint about the show, but Hotel Del Luna has lot going for it besides that. The Hong Sisters know how to deliver fantasy in all its glory and the ride was fun, heartfelt and overall engaging. And of course, a cameo by Kim Soo-hyun never hurts anyone. 😉