Akage Girl
Northern New England
I know I should wait a little longer to let me pulse settle down before reviewing this show, but I just can’t help it. Hotel Del Luna, right now, is the best show I’ve ever watched. I realize that my taste is not the same as others, so I’ll explain why I think this is so fabulous.
Story:
This is a morality play with people portraying virtues or as in this case the faces of God. In episode 1 we are introduced to Jang Man Wol (portrayed perfectly by IU) who is revenge happy and is killing everyone she comes in contact with. With an interesting altercation with the grandmother persona of Ma Go Shin (stunning performance by Seo Yi Sook), she thrusts her angry sword into a tree and becomes the owner of a hotel for ghosts remaining on earth to deal with unresolved issues before moving on to the next step.
Flashforward 1300 years and the Hotel Del Luna is a gorgeous hotel with the anti-hero Jang Man Wol and her interesting employees still helping or not the dead. The hotel requires a human manager to deal with the mortal world and Goo Chan Sung (sigh….Yeo Jin Goo) gets the job (through some interesting back and forth between him and Jang Man Wol). Each episode deals with different guests and their afterlife needs. This show has it all, horror, romance, bromance, suspense, comedy, fantasy, and more. It does tackle the serious subject of holding grudges beautifully
Characters:
There wasn’t one actor that didn’t do a “kick butt” job in this show from IU’s performance as Jang Man Wol to Lee Do Hyun’s insane second male lead story line to the cameo performances from such greats like Candidate #1 and #2 played by Lee Shi Un and Lee Joon Gi (both were amusing). I wrote a couple of articles on the show, so I won’t go into detail nor will I give any spoilers just to say, every character was well written and acted….although I would have loved a little more screen time and lines for the grim reaper because he was just delightful. And the cameo of Kim Soo Hyun at the end…..well worth it just for that scene alone!
Music:
Wow…the music was just exceptionally good, so good I even downloaded a few songs. The Done for Me and Can You See My Heart songs are used in key scenes that just made me cry or shiver in dread. They were my favorite, but the rest were wonderful as well.
Re-watch-ability:
Needless to say, I have already re-watched this all the way through once and picked up a few more key insights that I missed the first time thru. I recommend it because it is just as good, if not better, the second time thru.
Overall:
I JUST LOVED THE MORALITY PLAY! There is something about symbolism and stories of right and wrong that I just adore…I can’t get enough of. HDL really hits it out of the park with the what is good and what is bad question. Hotel Del Luna blends the morality play and the other genre’s beautifully…if you didn’t like it as much as I did…sorry. All I can say is this show speaks to my sensibilities. The writers obviously had me in mind when creating such an awesome show. (Ok not really but it felt like it!)
Story:
This is a morality play with people portraying virtues or as in this case the faces of God. In episode 1 we are introduced to Jang Man Wol (portrayed perfectly by IU) who is revenge happy and is killing everyone she comes in contact with. With an interesting altercation with the grandmother persona of Ma Go Shin (stunning performance by Seo Yi Sook), she thrusts her angry sword into a tree and becomes the owner of a hotel for ghosts remaining on earth to deal with unresolved issues before moving on to the next step.
Flashforward 1300 years and the Hotel Del Luna is a gorgeous hotel with the anti-hero Jang Man Wol and her interesting employees still helping or not the dead. The hotel requires a human manager to deal with the mortal world and Goo Chan Sung (sigh….Yeo Jin Goo) gets the job (through some interesting back and forth between him and Jang Man Wol). Each episode deals with different guests and their afterlife needs. This show has it all, horror, romance, bromance, suspense, comedy, fantasy, and more. It does tackle the serious subject of holding grudges beautifully
Characters:
There wasn’t one actor that didn’t do a “kick butt” job in this show from IU’s performance as Jang Man Wol to Lee Do Hyun’s insane second male lead story line to the cameo performances from such greats like Candidate #1 and #2 played by Lee Shi Un and Lee Joon Gi (both were amusing). I wrote a couple of articles on the show, so I won’t go into detail nor will I give any spoilers just to say, every character was well written and acted….although I would have loved a little more screen time and lines for the grim reaper because he was just delightful. And the cameo of Kim Soo Hyun at the end…..well worth it just for that scene alone!
Music:
Wow…the music was just exceptionally good, so good I even downloaded a few songs. The Done for Me and Can You See My Heart songs are used in key scenes that just made me cry or shiver in dread. They were my favorite, but the rest were wonderful as well.
Re-watch-ability:
Needless to say, I have already re-watched this all the way through once and picked up a few more key insights that I missed the first time thru. I recommend it because it is just as good, if not better, the second time thru.
Overall:
I JUST LOVED THE MORALITY PLAY! There is something about symbolism and stories of right and wrong that I just adore…I can’t get enough of. HDL really hits it out of the park with the what is good and what is bad question. Hotel Del Luna blends the morality play and the other genre’s beautifully…if you didn’t like it as much as I did…sorry. All I can say is this show speaks to my sensibilities. The writers obviously had me in mind when creating such an awesome show. (Ok not really but it felt like it!)
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