Today we will review one of the most popular dramas of 2019. If you are into fantasy, spooky stuff and love stories this drama will be the one for you. Today we are talking about ‘Hotel del Luna’.
Hong Sisters
This drama was written by the very well known Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran (a.k.a. Hong Sisters) and directed by Oh Choong-hwan. If you aren’t familiar with the works by the two sisters, they are the creators of drama classics such as ‘You’re Beautiful’, ‘My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox’, ‘Big’ and one of my personal favourites ‘Master’s Sun’, among many other incredible and well known productions.
Just by having them as the writers this drama had already set high expectations in the public before it aired in 2019. But a factor that made its popularity even higher was having Lee Ji-eun (a.k.a. IU) as a female lead.
Curses, love and a spooky fate
Starring IU as Jang Man-wol and Yeo Jin-goo as Go Chan-sung ‘Hotel del Luna’ tells the story of Man-wol, a beautiful but scary woman who becomes the CEO of the hotel after having killed many people during her early life, and Chan-sung, a smart hotelier who becomes manager of Man-wol’s hotel due to a deal that his father made when he was a child.
Man-wol’s hotel is unlike any other, in this place the only clients are ghosts, and throughout the story Chan-sung has to deal with a lot of interesting and also quite scary situations whilst he becomes closer and softens IU’s character.
‘Hotel del Luna’ had some great supporting actors, among them Shin Jung-geun, Bae Hae-sun, Pyo Ji-hoon (Block B’s P.O.) and Kang Mi-na (Gugudan). These actors made the story very enjoyable and fun to watch, I was especially fond of P.O.’s character and his sweetness and innocence.
Past in the Present
Throughout the drama viewers get to know how Man-wol ended up being cursed and how she became the CEO of the hotel.
In this part of the storyline the relationships between the characters Goo Chung-myung (Lee Do-hyun) and Yeon-woo (Lee Tae-sun) with Man-wol are shown, and it was one of the aspects I enjoyed the most in the story as it also helps to understand the complexity of IU’s character.
Lee Do-hyun and Lee Tae-sun have a brief presence in the story, mostly just in flashbacks, but their acting was so good that it made them memorable, at least for me as a viewer and I would have loved seeing more of these two characters in the drama.
However, I also enjoyed the chemistry between Man-wol and Chan-sung. Their relationship was fun to watch, both characters had strong personalities which made it more interesting.
OST
‘Hotel del Luna’ has one of the best OSTs I have listened to, the songs were incredible and featured amazing artists including Heize, Red Velvet, Gummy, Chungha, Ben and of course IU, among others.
My favourite song is ‘Done For Me’ by Punch. Check out the full OST below because it is incredible.
Final thoughts and Fashion
This drama has one of the most expensive and stunning wardrobes I have seen, Man-wol was a fashion icon and I’m sure many loved the clothes she wore and even got some outfit inspiration from this character, because it was unique and beautiful.
Overall, I found ‘Hotel del Luna’ an enjoyable drama with a spooky twist. It was a light-hearted drama with great acting, lovable characters and great chemistry between them. You can check out the trailer below.
