Hotel Del Luna

Hotel Del Luna (Available on Viki) 

Content Warning: Language, Frightening Imagery, Innuendo

My Rating: A-

Character Glossary:
Jang Man Wol: CEO of Hotel Del Luna
Gu Chan Sung: Manager of Hotel Del Luna

Scholar Kim: Bartender at Hotel DL 

Sanchez: Chan Sung's best friend

Choi Seo hee: Works at HDL
Ji Hyun joong: Works at HDL
Kim Yoo-na: Intern at HDL 
Grim Reaper: Grim Reaper---I know, shocking

Mago: They are god's of sorts

Hotel Del Luna follows a human named Gu Chan Sung who becomes the manager of a mysterious hotel that caters to a specific clientele: ghosts. Working closely with the closed off CEO Jang Man Wol he has to not only help the guests but help his coworkers find peace as well. But he might be getting more than he bargained for. 

Hotel Del Luna is a deep, thought provoking show. It is absolutely stunning. And now I have a new career path I want to pursue.... On a more serious note I really adored this show. It had a lot of depth to it and I loved how well it was written and portrayed. I watched this because I was in desperate need of a good show. And it definitely gave me everything I was looking for. If you want a show that makes you laugh, cry, and just sucks you right in--Hotel Del Luna is the way to go. 

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK 

OVERALL STORY: The plot and pacing of this show was perfect. This show was split into scenes from the past and present which, if not done right, can be jarring. This, however, did it masterfully. The story from the past enhanced and explained the present. I was able to enjoy both sides of them. I first want to talk about the plot line that takes place during the past. The purpose of looking into the past is to better understand what trapped Jang Man Wol as owner of the hotel. And the story itself is heartbreaking and just awful. To explain it simply: Man Wol was a thief and during one of her raids the captain of the guard came after her. And then they all (Man Wol, the captain, and Man Wol's friend) bascially became friends after a couple run ins. But then the captain of the guard betrays them and the friend dies and Man Wol is left with this hatred. She also kills the dude but that isn't important. We end up learning there was actually a lot more to what happened and I loved that. I loved how the story wasn't as black and white as we were lead to believe. Secondly I'd like to discuss the present day plot line. I liked this because of how unique and fleshed out it was. The story explored the over arching plot but it also had little stories throughout that I felt like added to it. As we explored the problems that happen with various ghosts what we learn from those applies to the main characters. Very well done by the writers. The plot was definitely well written. I would briefly like to talk about the ending because I think it deserves a little discussion. Is it a happy ending? Eh.... kind of? I think the word for me was "bittersweet." Basically by the end you see everyone who has been reincarnated and is living happy lives. The main couple got together but as reincarnated versions of themselves (don't worry they are the same actors/actress) as I understand it. Which was great because I wanted them to get together but then I have to think about how Chan Sung had to spend the rest of his life missing her and then I get incredibly depressed. It was a good ending for the show but I am left with mixed feelings. (Side note: I also want to mention how excited I was to see Lee Joong Gi make a cameo in this show. Other people did too but I loved this even more because of Scarlet Heart.....) 

MAIN ROMANCE: I absolutely loved the romance in this show. I felt like the chemistry between the two main leads was absolutely fantastic. Man Wol was a very bitter and hard core person which matched perfectly with Chan Sung's more calm demeanor. And their interactions were hilarious. Although I loved their more romantic based scenes I did love their witty banter equally as much. It definitely helped me better know these characters. While I loved how this relationship started and I am okay with how it ended I do have one problem that I felt like was glossed over with these two. There is this point in the show where Man Wol comes to think that Chan Sung is the reincarnated version of the guy she hates the most (which he isn't by the way). So she basically is all like "I won't kill you myself because I love you too much but I will give the power to this evil serial killer ghost to kill you because I need you dead because of who I think you are." Obviously everything is resolved with this but I felt like the show glossed over what she did. Even Chan Sung it all understanding about it which left me confused. I think he should have been a little more angry that she, ya know, TRIED TO HAVE HIM KILLED!? But despite how much this bothered me it really didn't impact what I thought of the couple as a whole. So if you are a little disgusted because of this, don't be. It really isn't that big of a deal during the actual show. 

SECONDARY ROMANCE: This couple legitimately broke my heart like whyyyy. This was between Yoo Na and Hyung Joong. A little background so you can understand: Hyung Joong is a ghost who

works at the hotel who is waiting for his little sister to die before moving onto the afterlife. Yoo Na is actually a ghost who possessed a girl named Yoo Na (see her section below for more explanation) and becomes a intern at the hotel because of this. They have the cutest relationship and I loved every single one of their moments. The sad part of their relationship is the fact that Hyun Joong did move on like he planned. MY COUPLE WAS SEPERATED. Which, I know, had to happen because she needed to move on with her life but I was devestated. The acting was perfect and their parting..... I was crying too. 

JANG MAN WOL: I wasn't sure what to think of her at first because of how abraisive she was but I grew to really love her as a character. She had a lot of crap happen to her and so she forced herself to

push down caring about others. She also worked hard at trying to make it seem like she wasn't that good of a person when in reality she was pretty great. I loved coming to better understand her and seeing the

different sides to her personality. I loved her interactions with other people and especially her interactions with other ghosts. Also her whole thing with that food celebrity.....classic. 

GU CHAN SUNG: THIS MAN IS A GIFT. Like seriously, who is this freaking nice? He is just one of those people who just wants the best for others and will do anything to give it to them. He is seriously like a mother hen to all of his friends both ghost and humans. It is funny how he didn't much like ghosts in the beginning but after accepting the manager position at the hotel he becomes very devoted to the ghosts. He will do anything he can to help them out and it is really very sweet. At first I felt like his character was a little...soft but as I came to understand him I realized it was quite the opposite. He is very kick butt when he needs to be. He is seriously one of my favorite parts of this whole show. 

SCHOLAR KIM: He is one of the ghosts who works at the hotel and like them he has a really sad backstory. He was thrown out of the scholarly circles because of writing stories which caused him to basically starve himself. Basically he just fell into a really deep depression he never got out of. But he found peace throughout his time at the hotel and I loved his witty yet naive commentary. Like that time where he tried to marry off Gu Chan Sung.....ahh this idiot. 

SANCHEZ: This poor guy. I loved his character so much but I felt like he deserved more than he got. His girlfriend died in the show which was super depressing and I kind of hoped he would find someone else. But he just overall was a great friend and I really liked how he was incorporated into the overall story. 

CHOI SEO HEE: She is also one of the ghosts who works at the hotel and her story, to me, is the most depressing. She was basically brushed aside by her husband because she couldn't give him a son but she did have a daughter. But her husband and his second wife got counseled by this bull crap person that if her daughter survived it would endanger their child. So they basically took the baby from her and left it to die. When she found out what they did she tried to save her daughter but they refused to help her. So her baby died. She went a little crazy so her husband got a group of people together and killed her. Even just writing this I'm getting depressed. How awful is her story? I bitterly hate her family who I haven't even met! What's even worse is later on her descendants desecrate her babies grave because they believe the same thing. But despite all of this depressing stuff she is actually like the nicest person. I am really glad she got her own version of a happy ending. 

JI HYUN JOONG:  The last and final ghost employee is this guy. He was one of my favorite characters but, like the others, he also has a really sad backstory. Basically he was a soldier during the Korean War (I want to say that is the war he was in so correct me if I'm wrong.) and there is this point where his family is killed but he saved his little sister who is blinded and injured during the accident. As they are making their way up to their uncle's house he runs into his friend who is a deserter. He basically tries to steal their stuff and Hyun Joong fights him which leads to his friend shooting him. It was an accident but I am still angry at the friend. Like the other's he makes peace with his past and gets a happy ending. He was one of the happiest ghosts though and I had no idea he had such a sad story. 

KIM YOO NA: She is an incredibly interesting character. I'll try to explain her backstory but I don't know if I'll be successful. Yoo Na isn't actually Yoo Na but a ghost who ends up inhabiting her body. This comes about because Yoo Na kills her and so obviously her ghost is out for revenge. This leads to the body possession. Then through a little (well deserved) trickery on the part of Man Wol Yoo Na's awful nature leads her to basically destroying herself leaving the ghost girl in her body. Man Wol let's her stay in that body to give her another chance at life. Normally I wouldn't be okay with this but the real Yoo Na was an absolutely awful person. And I loved the ghost girl who I am still going to call Yoo Na. She is sweet and I felt like I really connected with her on a personal level. I wish we could have seen more about what happens to her. 

GRIM REAPER: I am not going to say anything else except that he was awesome. 

MA GO: She reminded me of the gods in Goblin. Just as confusing and they do things that lead to depressing things. Now Ma Go is actually the name of a couple different characters but they are all the same...god? It is really hard to explain but if you watch the show it makes more sense. I liked her but at the same time it would be really nice if she could be less confusing. 

QUOTE:

"I don't care if this place is a prison or a fence to you. I will be here with you." 

SHIP VIDEO (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5vU0r5to7g