“Hotel Del Luna” is a heart-tugging story that is comparable or even surpasses the legendary Goblin.
IU’s performance in the fantasy drama has shown me a side of her I simply didn’t know exist, I will look forward to her future career as an amazing actress. For this short review, I will leave a small summary of episode 1 so as to pique your interest in the drama so as to not spoil the story.
Hotel Del Luna is an epic story about love, betrayal & redemption spread across time with IU as Jang Man-wol, Man-wol has lived the past 1000 years running a hotel for dead spirits (The hotel is for spirits to fulfil any earthly desires before heading into the afterlife) due to her deep grudge on her first love Goo Chung-Myung (Lee Do-Hyun) who betrayed her & felt that she had wronged those who died due to her trusting Goo Chung-Myung, she killed him and sought after the Guest House of the Moon so she could repay her sins. She was given this duty by a deity named Mago (Seo Yi-sook) unexpectedly by drinking a special liquor while on the search for the guest house. As fate would have it due to her mastery of time, she would meet her past acquaintances, enemies & someone who will finally send her into the afterlife as her grudge & regret will finally be unravelled but not before making her heart open up for love again.
I just want to share with you guys all of the amazing OST in this drama. They are simply beautiful, poetic & romantic. Never have I cried this much watching k dramas.
The drama series starts off with the young Koo Chan-sung (Kim Kang-hoon) together with his father ( Oh Ji-ho ) by the Han river. His father seems loving of his son but he is unemployed & cashless, This is emphasized when a couple walks by & unaware that they dropped cash, the lead’s father quickly steps on the note but Chan-sung is honest, he immediately returns the cash to the couple. A short while later, mago appears as an old lady selling flowers, this meant that chan-sung was already meant to be part of the fate of being intertwined with man-wol. The scene ends with a woman body found in the river, emergency vehicles & divers were salvaging her body, but her soul/spirit? can be seen emerging from the river.
The next segment, we are being brought into the hotel del luna for the first time, it is a totally different beast than it was in the past, to humans it might look small but in reality its towering skyscraper for spirits. Man-wol can be seen with the hotel manager discussing whether to open the hotel for business as its the full moon. (Spirits can see the hotel better according to the hotel manager discussion with man-wol)
In the following scene, we can see chan-sung’s father running from the cops holding a bag. The scene transitions to him running away down a flight of stairs where he lost his footing and fell down the stairs. He got back up but unaware that his spirit/soul separated from his body due to his body being injured in a due to a head injury.
After walking around in his spirit form, he came across hotel del luna which he never saw before in that part of the neighbourhood, he sneaked in when the receptionist was busy sending a guest spirit up to the lobby, fast-forwarding the story so as to not spoil everything, he was not supposed to be there cause his body is not dead yet but he entered the hotel and was caught for trying to steal an item from the hotel, he pleaded with man-wol not to kill him & allow him to return to his body and he agreed to give his son to man-wol after he reaches 20 years old.
Years go by, chan-sung is now a dreamy young man just returning to Korea after heeding his father’s words not to return to Korea before reaching the age of 21.
All these action and story is packed in just the very first episode, words can’t simply give enough justice on how good this drama is, I highly recommend for you to watch it and be amazed on the roller coaster ride this drama will provide you. The costumes that fit into our nation’s little sister are simply gorgeous & elegant. The director did a good job with the heart-tugging scenes between Man-Wol & the main lead coupled with the songs which makes it a truly must-watch drama.
Ok, I admit this isn’t that much of a review compared to our album review section, but I believe this is the best way to review dramas. That is all for now or I will spoil the story for all you readers. Stay tuned for my future drama recommendations/reviews.
Source: KS Daily
