A BINGE-WATCHER’S GUIDE TO HOTEL DEL LUNA [K-Drama Review]
HOTEL DEL LUNA! YES, a story about a hotel. But, not just any ordinary hotel…if you could just have a closer look at the above poster, you’d know…that extra hand holding onto Yeo Jin Goo and the spooky webs around the corners would definitely hint that this drama is a horror flick. Considering the fact that I had re-watched this drama thrice, I assure you Hotel Del Luna won’t scare you to the point of having nightmares for a week but keep some tissues handy as this could be an emotional roller-coaster with the ghosts.
So, first let’s begin with the main protagonist — HOTEL DEL LUNA!!!!
Situated in the busy downtown of Seoul, this magnificent Hotel Del Luna was originally called as Full Moon Inn or Full Moon House and caters to special guests — souls of the wandering dead. It is invisible to the mortal eye but could be behold by some people during extraordinary occasions. The inhabitants of the hotel, both the staff and the customers are all spirits who have unsettled business which stops them from going to the afterlife. Some of the souls hold grudges of their former lives which prevents them from moving forward towards the next life(reincarnation). The hotel owner and the staff help the spirits to let go of their past and thus, they move on to their next journey.
So, how this hotel came to exist in the first place? The answer lies in the below tree.
The Moon Spirit Tree reflects the spirit of the hotel’s owner. A most sinful person is chosen as the owner of the hotel and their spirit enters the tree after they had drunken a magical potion. They are bound to the tree and the hotel is raised mysteriously in the vicinity of this tree. They cannot escape from this fate as wherever they go, the tree spreads its roots firmly and produces the hotel right before their eyes. As a result, the owner is obliged to offer hospitality to the ghosts and could only find freedom when the successor of the hotel is chosen. Also, the timeline of the owner’s life abruptly stops which means they are neither alive nor dead…they just exist.
You must be wondering who chooses the owners of the hotel?
Confused all these old ladies look similar? Well, they are technically the same person — the Goddess Ma Go Shin who appears in different forms throughout the drama. Seo Yi Sook had done justice to the deity by playing the different personalities beautifully. It is revealed at the end of the series that there are supposed to be 12 deities(yes, all are siblings and look identical) and each resemble certain aspect. However, the Goddess of Life has more screen time than others as she is the one who lures the sinful humans to drink the potion and binds them to manage the hotel as well as approaches the dead souls with flowers indicating they must leave for their afterlife. The first episode starts with her offering the potion to Jang Man Wol(IU).
Isn’t she gorgeous? Well, CEO Jang Man Wol of Hotel Del Luna is said to be a 1300 year old spirit serving the ghosts who stay in her hotel to set their affairs. Ironically, her name also means Full Moon and maybe that’s why she was the most perfect candidate for managing the hotel. She is a bossy and indifferent woman who seeks happiness in materialistic things particularly expensive outfits, cars, jewels and champagne. Though she exhibits an extremely bad-tempered personality, deep inside she is just a pitiful soul who lacks love and affection and she doesn’t let her weakness surface. Was she the same when Goddess Ma Go Shin approached her with the magic potion?
Before Jang Man Wol met the deity, she was the leader of a group of rebellious bandits. Orphaned at an young age, she was nursed by Yeon Woo’s mother. Yeon Woo(Lee Tae Sun) was her brother and co-leader of their gang. The two were inseparable and happy siblings despite their poverty until Jang Man Wol was discovered by Go Chung-myung(Captain of Guards of Yeongju, starring Lee Do Hyun)…
Although their relationship started with an awkward hatred due to their professions, gradually the trio became closer and their friendship strengthened. Man Wol and Chung-myung started having feelings for one another but neither of them conveyed directly to the other. However, there were another pair of eyes who looked at Chung-myung with love…
Princess Song-hwa(Daughter of the King of Yeongju, played by Park Yoo Na) was in love with the captain, which both Chung-myung and Man Wol knew. Before Chung-myung could express his feelings to Man Wol, the princess cornered him as she had found out that he had been helping the bandits. She asked him to turn in the gang so as to win the king’s trust back. The bandits were caught and hanged to death, including Yeon Woo, and Man Wol helplessly witnessed all her comrades’ death as her life was spared on the orders of the princess. She swore to kill everybody who were involved in murdering her people. Chung-myung’s loyalty to the king earned him Song-hwa’s hand for marriage. But Song-hwa’s married life didn’t last long…
Jang Man Wol’s rage was so intense she slayed the princess as she waited for her husband on her wedding night. She dressed herself in the wedding clothes and waited for Chung-myung to appear. Chung-myung gave up his life willingly when he noticed that the woman under the veil was Man Wol. Even after this death, Man Wol didn’t calm down that she set alight the entire palace and slayed men after men who followed her to capture her. She took with her the only remnants of her people — their belongings in a cart, in the search of an inn where the dead people can rest peacefully. Her journey led her to the Goddess Ma Go Shin and thus, her curse for killing so many innocent lives brought her the fate of being an innkeeper of dead souls over a millennium. When can she free herself from this eternal curse???
In 1998, Goo Hyun Mo(Oh Ji Ho), a robber by profession, meets with a mishap that sends him to a state in between life and death. He enters Hotel Del Luna with utter curiosity and explores the strangeness of the hotel. The Moon Spirit Tree which used to be bare till date had a branch of flowers and Hyun Mo remembers that his son Goo Chan Sung wanted flowers for his birthday. Jang Man Wol labelled him as a culprit when he was found trespassing and was on the verge of destroying him. The dad promised that he would live a righteous life from now onwards if his life could be spared since his son needs him. Man Wol let go of the robber under one condition — she would claim his son after 20 years(Vibes of The Beauty and the Beast, huh?). Left with no other option, Hyun Mo agrees and he comes back to life. Desperate to save his son from Man Wol’s clutches, he goes abroad with his son.
In 2019, Goo Chan Sung(Yeo Jin Goo), an Harvard MBA graduate, returns to Korea to pursue his career as a hotel manager in one of the most renowned hotels. However, he becomes skeptical when he receives flowers from Jang Man Wol along with an invitation asking him to be the hotel manager. He had always been receiving these flowers on his birthday ever since his dad encountered Man Wol. He recalls his father’s final words before his death and decides to ignore the invitation. But, Man Wol approached him and put a spell on his eyes — he is able to see the ghosts now! Being a very sensitive person, Goo Chan Sung was terrified by the turn of events and pleaded to Man Wol to make him normal again. Yet his compassionate heart decided to forgo the opportunity of working in a multinational hotel and he eventually, became the hotel manager of Hotel Del Luna.
Hey, why does the hotel need a human manager when all the staff, clients and even the owner are ghosts?
The work of the hotel manager is to deal both with the living and the dead. Other responsibilities are pay taxes, register their work at district offices and undergo sanitary inspections. Manager Noh(Jung Dong Hwan), the predecessor of Chan Sung, was saved by Man Wol when he was about to end his life. He had served the hotel for the longest period — 30 years and had been waiting for Chan Sung to take up his position as he wants to retire. If not for his efficient management of finances, Man Wol wouldn’t have had the luck of enjoying a lavish lifestyle. To be precise, Goo Chan Sung is the 99th hotel manager of Hotel Del Luna, and probably the last. As foretold by Goddess Ma Go Shin, he would be the one to escort Man Wol to the afterlife.
Jang Man Wol, as cold as she was, never had sentimental attachments to the hoteliers so far. The only traces of these human managers are on the walls of Man Wol’s room — portraits of herself either drawn or captured by the managers. But, the disappearance of Manager Noh after Chan Sung takes up the job and his sudden arrival at the hotel as a guest shook her composure a little bit.
Goo Chan Sung might be weak at heart, but he becomes determined to help the dead souls when he gets an inexpressible job satisfaction, so much to the extent that he gambles his own life many times to save others, especially Man Wol herself. Due to the deity’s meddling, Chan Sung dreams of Man Wol’s past life bits by bits. He conveys the same to Man Wol who ignores it first, but then suspects that he might be the reincarnation of Chung-myung. To add to her woes, the once dried Moon Spirit Tree, starts sprouting leaves and buds start to appear, hinting that she must get ready for her afterlife. But, as a sinful soul, it’s not easy for her to move on into afterlife. If she commits a sinful deed now, she might become extinct for all eternity…her mere existence itself would be destroyed. Goo Chan Sung’s worst fear is her turning into ashes and he is very cautious not to let that happen…though destiny seems to have other plans…
Chan Sung’s ex-girlfriend Lee Mi Ra(Park Yoo Na) returns from aboard to visit Chan Sung and accidentally walks into Man Wol. The CEO recognizes at the first glance that Lee Mi Ra is the reincarnation of the princess for whom she still had undying hatred. Despite several warnings from Ma Go Shin to let Mi Ra alone as she is not aware of her past and intervening with her might result in Man Wol’s extinction, the adamant CEO tries to put a curse on her for a lifetime. Her efforts goes in vain as Chan Sung takes the curse instead to protect Mi Ra as well as prevent the extinction of Man Wol.
The deeds of Chan Sung slowly starts to crumble the walls that Jang Man Wol had built for herself. Through him, she got to see Yeon Woo, who is a detective called Park Young Soo in his present life(yes, once a thief, now a police!). Ironically, due to the intervention of Goddess of Love, Lee Mi Ra and Park Young Soo get involved in a relationship. This fate haunts Man Wol and she doubts whether Chan Sung is her ex-lover or will he be the one who would introduce that man to her just like he brought back her past ties. She was extremely terrified that Chan Sung’s life would be at stake if she kept him her by side and tried to get rid of him, but all in vain. She also failed to realize that Go Chung-myung had always been her side ever since she had been bounded to the hotel by the curse…
Because of the promise Go Chung-myung had made to Man Wol that he would keep her company forever, he becomes a firefly after his death and didn’t move on to the afterlife. He had been silently watching over her throughout the different periods of her life. When Man Wol was on the verge of killing Chan Sung as she thought he was Chung-myung’s reincarnated version, the firefly takes the human form and the truth is revealed…
Man Wol had been perceiving the story from her side alone. The deity reminds her that she needs to the hear the story from their point of view too. The lovebirds Mi Ra and Young Soo are brought to the hotel and under the influence of magical drinks, we get to witness the flashbacks where Yeon Woo aka Young Soo made Chung-myung promise to spare the life of Man Wol in exchange of bringing him and the other bandits to their custody. This would mean that Chung-myung must live the rest of his life as a betrayer in the eyes of Man Wol, but he promises to do so. On his request, Song-hwa/Mi Ra keeps Man Wol alive since she was the source for Chung-myung’s victory of arresting their gang. This frustrates Man Wol as she believed that Chung-myung had been planning treachery behind her back since the beginning and his love for her was just a trap. Man Wol finally lets go off her grudge on Chung-myung after knowing that he had been always loyal to her for so many years even though he had a choice to move on to his afterlife.
As a final punishment to all her sins, she accompanies Chung-myung on the afterlife bridge. The dead souls walking on this bridge would forget their memories of their past life and Chan Sung makes Man Wol promise that she must not forget her memories of him on the bridge and must return to the hotel again, as he would be waiting for her arrival. Halfway across the bridge, Chung-myung holds out his hand implying Man Wol to come with him. Meanwhile, Chan Sung becomes anxious since Man Wol hasn’t returned yet. The time runs different in the afterlife bridge…months passes by in the real world but on the bridge they are only few minutes. Man Wol remembers her promise and returns to the hotel even though she had the choice of going with Chung-myung.
The Moon Spirit Tree which was once in full bloom when Man Wol warmed up to Chan Sung had become barren, indicating that Man Wol’s tenure has come to an end. Ma Go Shin starts to prepare the magical potion for the successor of the hotel. The thought of continuing to live as the hotel owner with Chan Sung by her side if she drinks the magical potion again crosses Man Wol’s mind, but Chan Sung stops her from doing so and she agrees to leave for the afterlife. One by one, all the guests and the hotel staff leave for their afterlife and Chan Sung sends them off till only the last guest he needs to send off remains — Man Wol.
As they spend their last moments together, they have one final dream about Jang Man Wol’s past life. Young Chan Sung and his dad(played by the same actors) did come across the young Man Wol when she was barely alive while her parents were dead. It was Chan Sung himself who told her about the inn where the dead souls go after their death and Man Wol drew her own unique symbol of identity on Chan Sung’s palm, a resemblance that they are fated to meet and love each other.
Jang Man Wol finally bids adieu to Chan Sung, assuring that she would keep his memories even after she crosses the bridge, no matter what happens. Chan Sung doesn’t take the medicine offered by the deity which would seal his power to see ghosts; and continues living as an hotelier in another hotel. The final scene shows him dreaming about a possible future with Man Wol…
Wait, its not yet over! Six of the deities gather to discuss the arrival of the new owner of the Full Moon Inn and with great aesthetics, we get to see Kim Soo Hyun making his cameo as the CEO of Hotel Blue Moon. This iconic scene cannot be explained by mere words…so here is the ending of Hotel Del Luna…enjoy the visual treat!!! (Please watch the video in high resolution for better experience!)
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
- THE VISUALS: Honestly the aesthetics of this whole drama is mind-blowing. Everything was so vibrant and colourful. The hotel itself is a eye-candy and its interiors were just beyond imagination. A hotel which has inexhaustible supply of all basic and luxurious resources, a sky bar and a lovely beach with adjustable time…what else we need?
- THE WARDROBE COLLECTION: A picture speaks more than thousand words. Just look at the vast collection of outfits owned by Man Wol with all the exquisite accessories. I was totally blinded by her gorgeous costumes, which contributes mores to the already splendid visuals.
- HEART-WRENCHING BACKSTORIES OF DEAD SOULS: Each soul had a different story and different grudges. I personally liked the story of a dead bride who wishes to take her would-be partner who is in coma with her to the afterlife but lets go of him on the deity’s advice. Another one of my favourite is about a elderly couple who had been extending their dying young kid’s lifespan by cutting off their own lifeline and of the willing people who visit their medical center and adding them to their son’s lifespan, but in the end the kid agrees to die after Man Wol confronts him. There’s a ghost story about a girl whose naked pictures from an hidden camera went viral online, leading her to commit suicide and when her vengeful spirit tries to destroy the lives of those guys who led her to her fate; she was extinguished by the Death deity though Goo Chan Sung tried to prevent it…the sight of her turning into ashes was painful for my heart.
- AWESOME SOUNDTRACK: Believe me, the songs and music in this drama is just amazing. I literally had goosebumps all over me listening to the songs. Music lovers can check all the OSTs of Hotel Del Luna here: https://youtu.be/fgZq_rnT18Q
- LOVELY SIDE CHARACTERS: A 500-year-old Josean era scholar who was misjudged by the society for his literary works is now the hotel bartender. The housekeeping manager of the hotel is a 200-year-old ghost who is awaiting to see her husband’s family tree die left with no heirs as she and her daughter was killed because of her in-laws superstition towards her giving birth to a girl instead of a boy. The receptionist is a 70-year-old ghost who was a soldier and was killed by his best friend during Korean War. He’s waiting for his blind sister’s death to move on to the afterlife with her. And there is a high school girl who was killed by her classmate and in a revengeful act she possesses the classmate’s body while the classmate’s soul turns into ashes. The girl being a dead spirit in a body could see ghosts and hence becomes an intern at the hotel and a possible successor to Goo Chan Sung if at all he backs out from his position. Goo Chan Sung’s friend Sanchez, who owns a chain of restaurants, is Chan Sung’s flatmate as well. He is an innocent person who shares a deep bond with his friend. He happens to know about Hotel Del Luna and its secrets when his girlfriend Veronica dies when he had planned to propose her for their marriage and he ends up seeing her ghost form in the hotel. Oh and not to mention, we have the Grim Reaper who looks super cool though he doesn’t say much. He had been with the deities at all periods and his appearance haven’t changed a bit.
OVERALL RATING: 9.5/10
The above rating is my personal one; I did come across various comments that said the male lead’s acting was not so good and that it could have had a better ending. But maybe this was my first K-Drama, I liked it a lot which is why I watched it thrice and would re-watch again in future as well.
DRAMAGEEKS CORNER:
Drama: Hotel del Luna
Native Title: 호텔 델루나
Country: South Korea
Episodes: 16
Aired: Jul 13, 2019 — Sep 1, 2019
Aired On: Saturday, Sunday
Original Network: tvN
Duration: 1 hr. 20 min.
Content Rating: 15+ — Teens 15 or older
Director: Oh Choong Hwan
Screenwriter: Hong Jung Eun, Hong Mi Ran
Genres: Horror, Comedy, Romance, Fantasy(Details sourced from MyDramalist: Hotel Del Luna)
Watch Hotel Del Luna official trailer here: Official Trailer — Hotel Del Luna
If you are not satisfied by the above trailer, then watch the below show promo.
Hotel Del Luna is available with Eng Subtitles on Viki, WeTV, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Kissasian and other similar websites.
I recommend watching in Kissasian as it is absolutely free and it has got an active comment section then the rest of the streaming platforms.
Watch Hotel Del Luna on Kissasian
I hope you enjoyed this review. Let me know your thoughts on this post and your opinions about Hotel Del Luna. See you all next time on a different review. Stay safe and happy, drama addicts!