Hotel del Luna (2019)
Review and Summary of Hotel del Luna / 호텔 델루나 (2019)
I first watched this drama when I was beginning to enter my Korean drama phase, which has lasted the majority of this year. And it was with this drama my Yeo Jin-goo obsession began, which would then inspired me to watch Beyond Evil, which is now one of my all-time favorite Korean shows.
Beyond Evil is insanely good writing and the acting adds candles onto that cake. But that’s not the focus of this review, so let’s get back on track. This was the first drama I’d seen with both IU and Yeo Jin-goo.
I thought IU was the stronger actor in this one, but that’s something I’ll go into later. I first watched this on Viki, but when they added it on Netflix, I knew I had to rewatch it. I vaguely remembered the plot, but wasn’t too sure of everything that went down, so it was a nice refresher. But man do I have some thoughts, so let’s dive into this review.
Content
The premise behind this show revolves the Hotel del Luna. Run by IU’s character, Jang Man-wol, it is a supernatural place that humans can only come across if they’re involved with the supernatural or have recently passed on.
The entirety of the hotel’s staff are souls who are unable to move on to the afterlife, as they have business left to do on the mortal realm, and we begin to learn each of their stories as we go through this show’s narrative arcs—we’re given the chance to smile as they find their peace and are able to move on peacefully.
Jung Man-wol is stuck in this hotel, as it’s tied to her soul. She once committed a great sin, which means that she is damned to run this supernatural hotel until she, too, is able to move on to the next life.
Insert Gu Chan-sung. His father made a deal with Jung Man-wol when he was a kid, one in which he promised that in twenty years, when Chan-sung is all grown up, he’s able to come to the hotel, despite being human, and can work there.
The story starts when Jung Man-wol seeks Chan-sung out because it’s time for him to come to the hotel, and the journey of Chan-sung being the young new manager at this weird hotel. It is there that he manages to thaw the cold heart of Man-wol, creating a strange almost-there romance, but we all know it’s kind of doomed because of the way spirits pass on. When they leave the mortal realm, they forget everything that happened during their lives.
The drama is largely kept together by a bunch of subplots, since the two main characters have to be capable of leading the others to solve the problem.
We have a badass woman lead, one who seems cold and callous, but then needs to save our puny mortal male lead, Chan-sung, from all the big bad scary threats that are thrown at them. I love that, we don’t need women to be rescued really in this world.
But Chan-sung’s job is simple: he needs to change her heart from her cruel ways in order to allow her the final salvation that she both deserves and needs.
That’s the simple romance plot, but then we sprinkle in the employees’ pasts and them confronting what’s allowing them on this mortal plane, and then the story begins to empty of these characters as they move on to the afterlife.
I think the premise behind the romance is fine, like cool let’s thaw out this supernatural woman’s heart, but the chemistry just isn’t there for me. It’s Man-wol’s story at the end of the day, and this is just a guy who appears at the very end of her post-living life.
IU really steals the show as Man-wol with her bright red lips and snarky attitude. I found Man-wol to be a better character, probably because we’re completely focused on her tale.
Something about Chan-sung just isn’t right for me. I don’t think we get enough time with him outside of being in the hotel to understand him more as a character; he’s just too simple and static.
There’s also a triangle here, but it’s also not really here because Chung Myung doesn’t have an actual physical form, per say. The flashbacks with him in it are cute, I found myself shipping that relationship more than the one with Chan-sung because they had better chemistry.
In my humble opinion, the best part of this drama that made it worth rewatching was simply IU’s character’s outfits. They went above and beyond for her attire and decor tastes, which made this drama absolutely stunning to watch on the screen.
I usually love the fashion in these kinds of dramas, but this one took it to an entire new level. Everything about this woman is immaculate and I want to be her when I grow up.
I totally would be chill without the romance aspect of it, making it completely platonic, but, alas, Korean drama fans demand their romance.
Overall Thoughts
If you’re going to watch this, I recommend watching it for the production values. If you’re willing to suspend disbelief and just go with the flow, then you might enjoy this drama more than I did. It was totally worth it for the outfits—I wish I could dress like Man-wol on a daily basis.
Ah, what a dream. Maybe one day with thrifted garments. Anyways, the romance is lackluster between the female and male lead and the male lead also is pretty flat as a character.
Yeo Jin-goo is an insanely good actor and I think they could’ve utilized that more. IU ends up stealing the show because of that as we see her character gradually change over the course of the show. I don’t think I’ll be rewatching this again, to be honest.
