Hotel del Luna (2019)

Beautiful Production Design

For some reason, this took almost two years for me to finish.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Hotel Del Luna - it's certainly a solidly constructed K-Drama. IU is a phenomenal casting decision, and is absolutely the star of every scene she is in. The additional casting is also good. This has some of the best production design, especially costuming, I've ever seen in a show.

Where this series loses me is both in the overall plot and the principal romance. I do not buy the main romance of the series, in any shape or form, and it does not drive the plot forward which is unfortunate since the final episode is about 3/4ths just that. On their own, each of these performances is fantastic - together they build towards a pile of nothing. I wish I was more engaged than I was.

The secondary plots were by far the strongest parts of this, and I honestly wish there was a sign that the Hotel del Luna sequel was coming, because I would love to see it.

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The staff was the best part.

It's an okay watch. I wasn't left with amazement, but the ending was nice; it was the reason I gave it a higher rating than I planned to in the first place.
I loved the 3 main staff members the most. Their struggles and stories.
Some things that bothered me:
1. It might be just me, but the romance was confusing. I don't understand how love developed, it felt out of place sometimes.
2. I had to take breaks after each episode because it was hard to watch. There were moments where people would just stand and say nothing for a couple of minutes straight. Started skipping them and in the end even watching the drama on 1.5x speed. I even stopped at episode 10, and went to watch a different drama, start to finish. Didn't want to drop this so I stuck through it.
3. The episodes had like 5 mins of something fun or cute and then it was just a story that felt draggy.

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hotel ? del luna

the first cupple of episodes I was not sure if I was going to Like it . however as far I go into it it's started to become good. I felt sorry for yeo jin woo who was forced to work in the hotel because of deal his father made. how he couldn't luve his normal life anymore. it's was sad that he was forced to work and help the dead . however it was good for him as he found his love. even though the story kinda dragged for me and was annoying at times. it was a good watch.i will reccemend to anyone who wants to watch it as it depends on the person if they like it or not.

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Worth to watch!

Omo! Omo! Honestly I don't really like fantasy drama except for Goblin but this one is exceptional. I like the storyline, I like all the characters, I even like the guest stars. I like all the soundtracks, I like the cinematography, I like all the set. Everything is 'thumbs up!'

It's just that I don't really understand about the ending. Are they meeting again or they just hoping to get a chance to meet again? Well, whatever. As long as I am happy watching it. At first I was just wondering, why the director choose this very young Yeo Jin Goo to be the lead hero in this such of drama. I have no confidence with him. 😬 But after watching it, now I know why. He is a very good actor. No doubt about it.

So now, after finished watching them, I had my conclusion. Among all of the main characters, supporting role or guest actors, in the end I think I've got a crush with this detective! Thank you for keeping him 'alive' since the 1st episode until the end. 😬

Anyway, for those who still not watching it, you better try this one. You will not regret. Worth to watch, entertaining, cool and steady.

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now this is it !

oh boy , this was good , i don't really give 9/10 to many shows but this one deserves it , i just didn't like the captain plot , i mean , they could have tried a bit better to make us like him more , but im glad they didn't lol , also wu could not even exist i would be fine with that , anyways , all the woman in this drama are gorgeous , everyone is an incredible actor and the asthetics and music are just on point , great show to watch after the witches diner , ill miss it and will probably watch again in the future , oh i almost forgot , no kiss in the final ep ? are you trolling right ? right ?????

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Moments of greatness in between a lot of filler

The premise of Hotel del Luna is interesting and original - but the show could've definitely trimmed the fat.

I found myself binging the series mainly because I wanted to understand what the hell happened to Manwol in her past life. Her past life was 1000 times more interesting than the present day scenes. In the back of my head, I'd be wondering when they would get back to the interesting part of the story - the scenes with Chung Myung.

And damn, was that story tragic. I am rarely a victim of the so-called second lead syndrome that I see people ranting about, but I honestly liked the broken, twisted, and destined-to-never-be pairing better than the main. Firefly guy had the saddest fate and didn't even get a hug goodbye.

Present day episodes sometimes played like an American procedural drama with some new ghost you didn't really care about. These separate ghost cases felt like filler and the story would have moved along faster and better with less. And yes, while Manwol's fashion was great, her whining and tantrums were not always cute and would have me rolling my eyes, like really? So in all, the series kept me engaged enough to see it through the end but it dragged more than it needed to.

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Love is the most powerful force in the universe!

I just finished this drama (I know I'm late to the party, 2 years later Lol)!! I've only been watching Asian dramas for a year now, so that's why. I just finished it, and it's difficult to say how I feel about it. It's not the best show I have ever seen and definitely not the worst. Watching this in 2021, after I've already seen Goblin and It's Ok to Not be Okay (hands down one of the best Korean dramas ever created), Hotel Del Luna fell a little short in comparison. Goblin and IOTNBO deal with very similar themes such as trauma, healing, letting go, forgiveness, reincarnation, etc., but I personally feel that those dramas did a better job with tackling these issues.

That said, I agree 100% with what every reviewer has commented about this show: the cinematography is spectacular! Everything from the directing, camera angles, color grading, locations, and costumes are STUNNING! This doesn't even look like a television series, it looks more like a movie. I can't even imagine what the budget was for this series, it must have been astronomical :)

What I like:
-IU single handedly carried this show, without a doubt!! Nothing against the other actors, but her story was the most compelling. Her acting was powerful, mature, multidimensional, and convincing. Her backstory was so fascinating to watch.
-I've read other reviews of this show stating, Hotel Del Luna has a very Buddhist central storyline and I couldn't agree more. The themes of forgiveness, suffering, attachments, and healing from trauma are incredibly powerful.
-Like I said before, huge props to the director and creators of this show. This is a visually pleasing drama. Episode 16 where Man Wol is crossing the afterlife bridge is a visual treat! Between the stunning color grading, instrumental music, and camera angles, I wish I could tattoo that scene on my body!!! It is THAT good!
-The music is pretty good. I'm not a fan of the official soundtrack (even though I know there are some big Korean stars singing), it just feels a little cheesy. I personally think the background/instrumental music fits this drama perfectly and I loved it.

What I didn't like:
-The ML actor. Nothing personal against him, I really didn't connect with his character and I did not see the chemistry between him and IU. I also feel like his character was very one dimensional. His character was very sweet, but I didn't see any depth with him (I'm not sure if it was because of the script or his acting).
-The episodes were way too long. 1 hour and 20 minutes per episode is crazy! This led to many episodes feeling dragged out. I would much have preferred this drama to have 30-40 min. episodes.
-Some of the side ghost stories were amazing and many of the other stories felt like "fillers". This led me to feeling very bored and wanting to go back to Man Wol's back story.
-I didn't fully "connect" to this drama like I have with others. I'm not sure why, I'm only led to believe that the poor script at times is why I feel this way?

Overall, this drama was good (maybe okay), definitely not the best drama I've ever seen. I actually think when I have some free time, I might come back to this drama and try to watch it fully again. I'm wondering if I just wasn't in the right head space to watch and appreciate it. There are truly some heartwarming and amazing scenes in this drama, the problem is that they're so few and far in between. I appreciate all of the hard work that went into making this drama. I just felt that by the end, it was still missing that "wow" factor to truly stand out and I couldn't connect with it fully.

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Lee Ji-Eun (IU) is amazing

I just finished watching LJE (IU) in My Mister and I was really impressed with her abilities. She really made that show. I thought the show was a little depressing, but based on the age difference and Dong Hoon's character I didn't see it turning out any other way.

I'd seen HDL advertised before, but it was the Hong Sister's drama, so I gave it a pass. I find their dramas to be a bit draggy with unsatisfying endings. When I saw that LJE was the lead I had to give it a shot and she did not disappoint.

I thought her acting was better in My Mister, as her range of expressions seemed a bit limited in HDL, I'm thinking of the patented eye roll. Although I can somewhat forgive this given the number of scenes, she is in. It makes me tired just watching her; I can't imagine the amount of work required to shoot 16 episodes of 90ish minute drama. The other thing that stood out to me was the number wardrobe changes, hairstyle changes, makeup looks, and false nail updates. I noticed the nail updates were less frequent as the show progressed, I assume this reflected her growth, but I can also see it just being a time factor. I'm usually all about the story, production quality and the OST, but the costume changes were outstanding.

I saw a lot of raving about the cinematography in other reviews, which I normally don't care about, but I must admit that the choice of locations and shots were awesome.

The supporting cast were a bit corny, but that seems to be a K-Drama thing in general. The performances were all quite good. I liked the young actress who played Yu-Na and the Magos were amusing. I also thought Yeo Jin-Goo was outstanding; I saw others say they thought he was a bad fit, but I thought he was a good romantic lead.

I enjoyed the main story, and I did not mind the episodic nature of the ghost of the week. Most of the sub plots were interesting enough on their own and there were only a few episodes that did not seem to advance the main story. The ending seemed a little rushed, as they spent time fleshing out the supporting characters departing. I would like to have seen more relationship development between the leads and a happier ending. Although this is a personal choice, and I might just be missing it already.

it's not lost on me what a beautiful woman IU is, although TBH I preferredd her basic look as the rebel.

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Visually stunning, impeccable storyline and beautiful drama

Hotel del Luna was such a refreshing drama for me. I haven't seen many fantasy dramas but the plot of this one really got me interested. Besides the plot, the trailer itself was intriguing and visually stunning as well which is what led me to watch this drama. It definitely lives up to the hype and even exceeded my expectations of the fantasy drama genre.

WHAT I LIKED:
Plot/Storyline: I loved the main storyline of this drama and how it was written and portrayed throughout the episodes. The story was like I said very intriguing as you only get snippets of the main plot line which kept me guessing and curious for most of the episodes. Besides the main character (Man-Wol's) story, there were also little storylines on most of the episodes that featured the ghost guests and the supporting casts. I found these little stories beautifully written and meticulously intertwined with the main story. For most of the little storylines and of course the main plot, there were also lessons to be learned which the writer effortlessly taught the viewers.

Cinematography & Editing: Hotel del Luna is no doubt the most visually stunning drama I have watched to date. The visual effects, the camera work/angles, the stunning sets and locations and of course Man-Wol's unrivalled wardrobe all made for such an exquisite looking drama. We have to give it up to the make-up, wardrobe and editing team especially. The way they've edited and made the ghosts look, really made this drama even more fantasy-like and out of this world.

OSTs: The Original Soundtrack was just absolutely perfect in this drama. So many wonderful songs from K Drama OST legends like Punch, Heize, 10CM and more. Every time the songs came on during certain scenes, it just tugged at your heart even more. Some scenes towards the end were really heightened by the OSTs and definitely made them 10x more emotional which is exactly what an OST should do. Aside from the OSTs, the different sound effects were also very very well done in a lot of scenes. They added so much to the scenes like the comedy ones, the high tension ones and of course the scary scenes. Whoever did them deserves an applause for sure.

Acting & Characters: Ok, I'm most definitely late to the IU party but better late than never, right? I can now definitely see why IU gets so much love. Her acting is just so sensational and she makes it look so effortless too. It's just amazing how she showed so many sides of her acting/emotions in this drama from being serious, scary, comedic and of course all the heartfelt emotional acting too.
Of course, our lead guy Yeo Jin Goo is absolutely magnificent as well. It's hard to believe that he is only in his early twenties as his acting skills and career can rival many actors that are older than him. My favourite scene in this drama was a solo scene by Jin Goo at a bus stop. It was an emotional scene that tugged at my heart. This particular scene was so well done and so gut-wrenching and almost hard to watch because of how emotional it was. Jin Goo's performance in this particular scene was so so good that I won't be forgetting it for a while. Alongside his emotional scenes, there were his funny and scary scenes which were just so entertaining and great to watch too. The chemistry between the two main actors was just perfect and both of them really complimented each others acting.
I have to mention the supporting actors as well, they did such a great job with their own storylines too. They not only complimented the main characters but shined on their own as well. The casting director did a really splendid job with this drama.

WHAT I DISLIKED:
There's not much to dislike about this drama. The only things I probably didn't like is:
1.) 2nd lead guy/first love's story that sometimes outshined Chan-Sung/Jin Goo's love story with Man-Wol. I understand from the plot line why it's important and why it was written and portrayed the way it did but during the climax of the story it almost made me root for them more than Chan-Sung and Man-Wol, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But it just took away some of that highlight between the 2 main characters towards the end.
2.) Personally, I am a sucker for a good happy ending, that's just my personal preference. I totally understand why the ending happened the way it did. It was very important to the story line and it was something that had already been mentioned throughout the episodes leading to the ending but as I said, I am a 'they lived happily ever after' kinda person so that's what I would've hoped for. Although saying that, the last scenes were still beautiful and happy which I appreciate from the writers.

WOULD I RECOMMEND:
Absolutely, 100%. If you're into fantasy, romance, comedy or just want something different from the norm of KDramas, then this one is definitely one to watch. There's just so many good things about this drama that it would be amiss not to watch it.

WOULD I REWATCH:
Probably but not straight away. I feel like I could re-watch this drama after a few months/a year after finishing it as it will be a nice refreshing drama to watch compared to other KDramas I normally watch (romance/melodaramas/love triangles, etc). Plus I'd re-watch this just to see Man-Wol's incredible wardrobe again and gawk at the visuals of the whole drama.

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A beautiful, original and profound drama about forgiveness.

OK, I have a lot of words to say about this drama. But honestly your best choice is not to waste anymore time on reviews and just go watch it. I can’t possibly do it justice so just trust me when I say, it’s incredible and there’s no better use of your time. Go now!

The cinematography, soundtrack, screenplay and the handling of product placements are all fantastic. Then there’s IU, who has long been my favorite Kdrama actor. She’s always fabulous, with a dark intelligence that suggests hidden depths and an astonishing range. She chooses her roles well, but this is the part she was born to play - a complicated, twisted but charming supernatural who has the self awareness to see her situation clearly but lacks the humility to get herself out.

Astonishingly, the storyline bears no resemblance to a classic kdrama. There’s no male CEO, no stalker second female lead, or even a second male or female at all. It starts in the Josean era but rather than the usual “our story ended badly then but we’ll fix it this time around” it’s all a continuation. And then there’s this crazy plot structure where a seemingly minor character is actually the emotional heart of the story. And, it’s thematically consistent, with all the stories layering and adding clarity to the theme.

I used the word “profound” earlier and that’s a word I don’t think has ever occurred to me to apply to a kdrama, but damn if I didn’t learn something important from this one. In fact, I consider an alternate title for this drama could be “Forgiveness, You’re Doing It Wrong.”

OK, so now I’m going to go into literary analysis mode and talk about the story and the themes. I’ll try to do it without revealing any plot points but if you don’t want to know what the themes are -just go watch it now and avoid my boring rehash! (Seriously-go now!)

The first thing that needs to be said is, this is a thoroughly Buddhist storyline. And by that I don’t just mean in it’s use of traditional Korean cosmology (the goddess Mago, the grim reapers and other gods). The central message of Buddhism is that attachment is the root of all suffering and the premise of this drama - a hotel where the dead go to work through their attachments so they can pass peacefully to the next world is the perfect set up to explore all the myriad attachments that keep us humans stuck even when we know we need to let go. As they say multiple times in the drama, “it takes more strength to let go than to hold on.”

While the drama does take the time to explore other kinds of attachments, the main character’s story is about grudge holding and the inability to forgive. Ostensibly she’s waiting around to find the person who wronged her so she can destroy them and thus destroy herself. But, as she herself recognizes, “It’s not them that you hate. It’s yourself you loathe for not having been able to protect what matters most to you.”

Which brings me to what I think of as the “iceberg character.” There’s a seemingly minor character with very little screen time (the 10% of the iceberg you can see) whose story, when fully revealed, is the heartbreaking emotional center of the drama (the 90% you can’t see). At the end of episode 14, when you find yourself wrung out and damp beside an empty box of Kleenex, you’ll know you’ve hit it. Because the theme of this drama isn’t just that we need to forgive ourselves so we can let go and stop suffering, it’s that we need to forgive ourselves because we are at our most cruel and implacable when we’re projecting our self hate outwards onto others. Even though it isn’t really about them, the harm we cause is real.

And once again, I’m blown away by the psychological astuteness of kdrama writers. There’s one scene (slight spoiler ahead-sorry I can’t resist) where she takes the version of herself from the time of her trauma, the version of herself she most hates, (We see a heart broken young woman overwhelmed by circumstance, but we know she sees her as hatefully foolish and weak.) and turns her into a curse. It’s only when this cursed self is returned to her and she accepts it that she can begin to forgive This is literally the most perfect (and accurate) depiction of what traumatized people do with their memories and of what they have to do to heal.

And last of all, I want to say, I don’t watch dramas looking for the profound and life changing either, I’m looking for fun and entertainment. And this drama is a blast. Even though I was bawling all through episode 14, this isn’t the kind of devastating drama that’s practically a trauma to watch. (“the Smile Has Left Your Eyes”, I’m looking at you.) In fact, I turned right around and watched it again because it’s a perfect blend of fun, funny and deep.

Why are you still reading this? Go watch it now!

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Angsty Plot with Ambiguous Ending

Like other series in the past, I think I watched this show at the wrong time. I wanted a fun and fluffy romance, but got an angst filled plot and ambiguous ending.

❤ The highlight of the series is 100% IU as Jang Man Wol. When she was on the screen, you could not look away from her. She was a messy, emotional, and materialistic immortal with a touch of vulnerability giving her enough humanity to make her story (and redemption) plausible.

❤ The leads had tons of energy and chemistry. Unfortunately, Yeo Jin Goo as Goo Chan Sung was so one-dimensional as to be laughable. He was a character that could not stand on his own outside of the story. I'd also say the romance is not the driving force of this series, but more of a factor in Jang Man Wol's character development.

❤ The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking. It truly is a cinematic experience on the small screen. I can't think of one scene that didn't feel fully realized.

❤ While I enjoyed the side characters, few of their stories felt integral to the overarching plot as they were all crammed into the latter half of the series.

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