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Review: Hotel Del Luna (호텔 델루나) (2019)
This was a decent show. It made some odd choices as an overarching story and the romance didn’t appeal to me that much. However, I did enjoy the lore and the ghost stories, and I did find myself tearing up at the end. I would recommend this as a kdrama that has a bit of everything.
Spoilers.
Story
Ku Chanseong’s father had taken a flower from the tree of Hotel Del Luna. As such, he had contracted his son to work for Jang Manweol when he grew up. Upon adulthood and return to South Korea, Manweol tracked down Chanseong to work for her hotel, giving him the gift of being able to see ghosts.
One part of the story line involved the ghosts. The purpose of Hotel Del Luna was to give a place for ghosts to rest and perhaps fulfill any last wishes before they went to the afterlife. The cast would help such ghosts fulfill such wishes, or give them the assurance they would need to leave the living world.
The other part of the story line involved Manweol and her past. She had been betrayed by a man she loved, Go Chungmyung, and was presumably assigned ownership of the Hotel Del Luna because her lingering resentment was so large it prevented her from going to the afterlife safely. After Chanseong met Manweol he began to have dreams of Manweol’s past, but Manweol could feel that he wasn’t Chungmyung. I did appreciate that the writers took this option, that Chanseong wasn’t Chungmyung and that he and Manweol were not fated. They were simply two souls who fell in love because they enriched one another. At the end, the staff at the Hotel Del Luna finally had the peace to go to the afterlife, and Manweol did so as well. The remaining humans were Yuna and Chanseong. While Yuna took the medicine to remove her sight of ghosts, Chanseong retained it, though he did not explain why. The Hotel was reinstated by Mago, called Hotel Blue Moon, to be run by the reincarnation of Chungmyung.
The ghost of the week format worked well for this show. I was interested in the different types of stories and how our characters solved them. We had happy situations but we definitely also had sad situation. Some of the stories also personally involved our characters, making them higher stakes.
However, I felt that the writers made some puzzling decisions about the arrangement of such stories. For instance, it was very odd that Manweol and Chanseong’s mystery was solved in the penultimate and not the last episode. Instead, the began with solving Mr. Kim’s past. This definitely should have happened in the episode prior so that the show would have ended solving our main characters’ mysteries. As well, there were characters that should have been more important that were reduced to character of the week roles. Such examples were Chanseong’s mom and Sanchez’s girlfriend Victoria. Chanseong’s mom should have held much more weight than she did, and we barely got to understand their past. As for Victoria, though Sanchez was just a side character, Victoria was a constant. I do appreciate that she was mentioned more because Sanchez still grieved for her though.
The romance part of the story unfortunately did nothing for me. There was nothing wrong with it, but I just don’t really vibe well with shows that are explicitly the romantic genre because the building of the romance tends to feel a bit artificial. There was some tension between Chanseong and Manweol when they first met, and I am thankful that it was built slowly afterwards, but again it just didn’t check any boxes for me.
I did tear up at the end of the show, particularly when Hyunjoong and Mrs. Choi were leaving, as they were characters we had bonded with. I think Chanseong’s ending was a dream sequence, where he hoped that all of his friends would have a wonderful next life, and that he would find his way back to Manweol. He did decline for his thread of fate with Manweol to not be cut. Overall I think the ending was good, though it did leave on a cliffhanger. I don’t know if that was purposeful, if the writers were looking for a second season. But assigning the Hotel Blue Moon to Go Chungmyung was a bit random. More on Chungmyung later. But I thought that the new owner was going to be the Grim Reaper because he too kind of straddled that line between living and dead like Manweol did. Plus, he did not go to the afterlife/reincarnate so he would have still been around. He just would have had to hire another grim reaper to backfill him lol.
Production
Production was good overall. The hotel and Manweol were both very glamorous. Manweol especially had a lot of outfits and honestly that is why we watch kdramas lol. The acting was fine, no complaints. The music did get a bit repetitive but I think that was the point, as some OSTs would get stuck in my head.
Characters
Jang Manweol
Manweol was the main character, the owner of Hotel Del Luna. The moon was her motif and I appreciated the aesthetics surrounding her.
In her past, Manweol was a bit of a wonderer and a bandit, along with her best friend Yeonwoo. She had captured a captain, Go Chungmyung, and during their time together, they’d developed feelings. However, Chungmyung was being suspected for fraternizing with the enemy, so Princess Songhwa took the initiative to capture Manweol, Yeonwoo, and their friends. Chungmyung had no choice but to go with Songhwa’s actions in order to keep Manweol alive. However, Manweol maintained resentment over the betrayal. The Hotel Del Luna (then called the Guest House of the Full Moon in Joseon times) was assigned to Manweol by Mago.
In the present, Manweol was cold and ruthless, only caring about money because she wanted to support her lavish lifestyle. I think she was presented to be a kind of mean girl, because she was mean, but she also got excited about money and beautiful clothes and such. She was kind of like the female equivalent of the CEO male role in rom coms.
There was tension between Manweol and Chanseong from the beginning, perhaps because Chanseong so desperately did not want to work for Hotel Del Luna, and Manweol very much wanted him. At first, I think it was fun for Manweol to mess with him. However, she slowly grew soft for him. Even Chanseong started to notice that Manweol would protect him, and Manweol noticed the things that Chanseong did to make her happy, like getting the autograph of that foodie celebrity she loved.
Manweol was puzzled about Chanseong because she could feel that he was not Chungmyung. It was revealed that Chungmyung was a firefly. I’m not sure what the trigger was to get him to appear to her, but they reconciled. I think at that point, Manweol had moved on. Whether she knew the truth behind his betrayal, it mattered not to her anymore, and she just remembered their good times. Instead, she focused on enjoying the reset of her life with Chanseong. It was a sweet ending for them, and Chanseong bid her a tearful farewell.
So Manweol’s story arc was about her overcoming her resentment and loving those around her. And with the reconciling of her feelings, the Hotel Del Luna closed.
Ku Chanseong
Chanseong was a normal human, as we would come to find out. As a child, he and his father struggled. His father had found his way to Hotel Del Luna and taken a flower, which was forbidden. Manweol gave him the choice of giving his life, or giving Chanseong’s in twenty years. Chanseong’s father chose the latter, presumably so that Chanseong would not grow up alone. Chanseong’s father warned him not to come back to South Korea for twenty years, so Chanseong thought he was in the clear after that, but that was not the case as Manweol did find him.
Chanseong was very freaked by being able to see ghosts at first. That was where part of the comedy came from. But as we went through the ghost stories, he saw that they were just humans with unfulfilled dreams, or humans who were wronged, and they simply needed help. Chanseong was always the more compassionate counterpart to Manweol’s mean girl. And because of his compassionate nature, he too saw the ways that Manweol would express her care.
Once he got a hold of the ghost business, I felt that Chanseong was very realistic about life and death. He never wished for forever, as he knew that ghosts always had to leave. He never tried to cheat the system. Even when it was time for Manweol to go, he accepted it, instead wanting to enjoy his time with her. He kept his sight of ghosts, maybe as a memory, maybe as a reminder that everyone needs help. I think Chanseong was a man full of hope and I can see why he could warm the heart of a cold Manweol.
Go Chungmyung
Chungmyung was a captain, security of Princess Songhwa. He was captured by Manweol, in past times, but they slowly grew close. Chungmyung was suspected by the king to be working with the enemy. To protect him, Princess Songhwa captured Manweol and her friends and had them executed. Chungmyung decided he had to play along, so that at least Manweol could stay alive.
On the night of Princess Songhwa and Chungmyung’s wedding, Manweol snuck in and killed Princess Songhwa, using her veil and clothes as a disguise. Then when Chungmyung came to the room, Manweol killed him. Chungmyung accepted his death without a fight. He’d always expected that Manweol would come for him, and he said that he was happy just to have been able to see her again. I think Manweol and Chungmyung were the kind of relationship that were “destined to meet but not fated to be together,” as the saying goes. Whereas Manweol and Chanseong had both the destiny to meet and the fate to be together even if for a short time.
Since Chanseong started dreaming of Manweol and her past, they suspected that he was Chungmyung’s reincarnation, but Manweol confirmed that that was not the case. Towards the end, Mago revealed that Chungmyung was the firefly in her jar, the first guest of the Guest Inn of the Full Moon. I thought this was a weird way to handle Chungmyung. If he was the first gust, why was he with Mago? The firefly did appear to Chanseong before though, so at least that part of the story tied.
Chungmyung and Manweol’s reconciliation was okay. They didn’t mention any of the bad times which is fine. I appreciated that they focused on the good times. Manweol walked with Chungmyung in the tunnel to go to the afterlife. The staff at the hotel were worried that Manweol would lose her memories and go with Chungmyung (and the hotel would cease to exist). But Manweol remembered enough to turn back, leaving Chungmyung to go on his own.
Chungmyung appeared at the very end as the new owner of the hotel, now called Hotel Blue Moon. I thought this was odd because wasn’t Chungmyung supposed to have reincarnated? How would he have been a full adult at that time? Maybe he didn’t make it to the end of the bridge and was intercepted by Mago. What was the purpose of him being the next owner though? Would it have been punishment for his betrayal? Would his story arc have been about handling his regret? I don’t think there’s been a sequel for this show so we will never know (for now).
Princess Songhwa/Lee Mira
Princess Songhwa was Manweol’s nemesis. In the past, she saw Princess Songhwa as the one who had killed her friends and family. On the wedding night between Princess Songhwa and Chungmyung, Manweol killed Princess Songhwa.
Songhwa reincarnated as Mira, Chanseong’s ex-girlfriend. Manweol carried a lot of resentment for her, not only for killing Yeonwoo and her friends, but also for being Chanseong’s ex, since at this time, Chanseong and Manweol were kindling their feelings. However, Mira soon gave up as she saw how much Chanseong cared for Manweol. There was also the story line about how Mira was really bad with money, and she owed tons of money to Chanseong, but that never went anywhere.
Meanwhile, Manweol maintained some resentment for Mira. When Mira was going to be hurt by the ghost of the serial killer, Manweol was going to let her get hurt. However, she was affected by the way Mrs. Choi got help for the woman who carried the child of her enemies. And so she informed Chanseong of Mira’s possible predicament. Manweol was shook when she saw Songhwa and Yeonwoo together. However, Chanseong reiterated to her that they were not Songhwa and Yeonwoo, but Mira and Yeongsu, and that she had to let them live as they were now and not as their lives before.
Mira and Yeongsu moved to the background as they dating, and started discussing marriage, meeting parents, and moving in together (Mira was living with Sanchez and Chanseong at that point lol).
I do appreciate Mira’s story line though it was mostly from Manweol’s point of view. Manweol had to let go of her resentment of Songhwa, and understand that whatever crimes she had committed in her last life would have already been dealt with by the gods, and that she was only Mira now.
Yeonwoo/Yeongsu
Yeonwoo was Manweol’s best friend, who was killed by Princess Songhwa in the capture. Manweol cared very much for Yeonwoo, as they grew up together. Yeonwoo’s mother had taken in Manweol, and Yeonwoo himself would mend clothes for Manweol.
In the present, he was reincarnated as Yeongsu, a cop. He did seem to recognize Manweol a bit, but he could never really put his finger on it. Manweol was proud that though he was a bandit in the past, he was now a cop. Yeongsu was involved in one of the cases, namely the one involving the serial killer. He had a run-in with Mago, who gave him a little trinket that she said would help him with his love life, and he ended up meeting Mira because of the trinket.
Like Manweol, I’m overall kind of proud that Yeongsu managed to find a good life for himself. Though he and Mira squabbled, it was clear that they got along.
Sanchez
Sanchez was Chanseong’s friend whom he was living with. They were classmates (along with Mira) when they studied abroad. Sanchez would get involved in the ghost stories from time to time, the first time being when he was roped into a ghost marriage that eventually Chanseong and team ended up solving. Sanchez, Chanseong, and Mira were classmates with the serial killer, and Sanchez got rancid vibes from him when they met up at a class reunion. Sanchez had also become friends with Manweol, and it was through Sanchez that Chanseong would find out about Manweol’s egregious purchases lol.
Sanchez had his own story when his long distance girlfriend died. Chanseong rushed him to the Hotel Del Luna so that he could see her one last time. He understood that it was a supernatural hotel, since his girlfriend had died abroad. There was a period of time where he grieved and Manweol took advantage of him, mocking his inability to let go. This upset Chanseong. Eventually, Manweol did apologize, though Sanchez admitted that he was probably going through the motions because he missed his girlfriend.
So Sanchez was indoctrinated into the world of the dead. After Hyunjoong’s graduation, all the hotel staff had a party at Sanchez’s pizza shop which surprised him. But Sanchez accepted it, understanding and trusting Chanseong. At one point, Mr. Kim needed to hide at Sanchez’s place, and the Grim Reaper came to accompany him. That freaked Sanchez out, but again, he accepted it.
Sanchez was a fun character! I liked him, especially towards the end.
Grim Reaper
I think the Grim Reaper was technically a guest at the Hotel Del Luna. His job, like most grim reapers, was to collect the souls of those who should have been dead. Sometimes he would ask for help from Manweol and vice versa. The Grim Reaper also sometimes saw people off, particularly since he was friends with the staff at the Hotel Del Luna. I kind of enjoyed his role in the drama. He was never really explained, much like Mago, but we kind of knew and understood his role.
It was unexplained what the Grim Reaper was. I didn’t think he was a human or a ghost, and that was why I thought he would be the next owner of the Hotel, as he was the only character who hadn’t gone to the afterlife (other than the living ones). That being said, he didn’t have any regret or resentment tying him down to this in between space. It was solely because of his job that he operated in this space, so I can also see why he wouldn’t make a compelling next owner.
Mago
Mago was the unexplained deity. She had several different forms, considering each other sisters, though they were all Mago. They were the highest active deity in this drama, responsible for the erection of the Hotel Del Luna, but also of justice, and also binding people’s fates. It was Mago who first offered a flower to Chanseong as a child. It was Mago who bonded people together. It was Mago who gave advice to Chanseong as an adult, it was Mago who kept Chungmyung in a jar by her work space. It was Mago who made the medicine for humans to get rid of their sight of the dead.
During the story about the ghost who sought revenge for those who shared her molka videos, Mago had to eradicate the ghost because she had hurt humans and I guess that violated a rule. But Mago also punished the man who had cause the ghost’s death.
When Manweol and Chanseong were unravelling their mystery, Mago was constantly at the side, giving advice and feeding hints. At one point, Mago had asked Chanseong to retrieve flowers from the past, where Chanseong saw the Guest House in the Joseon Dynasty. However, as Mago asked, he did not eat or drink anything so that he could come back and be with his Manweol of the present.
I appreciated that Mago was an unnamed and unexplained deity. Though she did have powers, I felt that there was still the higher power above her that governed the laws of the living and the dead. She could only do so much. She only gave our characters the wisdom to make their own choices. There was that story of the ghost bride who didn’t want to be married to any man because she still lived her fiancé who was in a coma. Mago had given that ghost the choice to cut her thread of fate. Mago had also given Chanseong the choice of whether to take the medicine to remove his sight of the dead, and we saw that while Yuna accepted it, Chanseong did not. Mago was overall a very interesting character.
Kim Seonbi/Kim Siik
Mr. Kim was the bartender at the Hotel Del Luna. He was kind of old fashioned and a bit unaware, as dads and uncles are wont to be sometimes. His story was that he was a well-studied scholar who had passed the civil service examinations. However, he had written stories about the common people in Hangul which was seen as sullying the names of scholars. In the present, his name was twisted so that people believed he’d written dirty stories. When this was revealed, Mr. Kim was so humiliated that he’d planned on leaving alone, but he Chanseong and Manweol helped him. I felt that Mr. Kim’s story of the three hotel staff was handled the least well. It was very insulated, about his own pride, but there just wasn’t a lot of time sunk into developing his story. Meanwhile, we knew about Hyunjoong’s sister and Mrs. Choi’s family history for several episodes before.
Mr. Kim did get his peaceful goodbye, where the ghost writers (literally) wrote a story that was more complimentary to Mr. Kim. He left on good terms with his fellow staff.
Choi Seohee
Mrs. Choi was once the first wife of a noble family. She didn’t have a child for a while, so her husband took on a younger concubine. Mrs. Choi eventually gave birth to a daughter. However, the family determined that her daughter would grow up to be a curse so they starved the baby to death. Mrs. Choi went mad and was killed. Thus, she lived with resentment, hoping to see the bloodline of the family die.
Mrs. Choi’s story came into action when she saw the eldest son of the family come to the hotel as a guest. However, when she went to his funeral, she found out that he had a pregnant ex-girlfriend. They had broken up because the man’s parents didn’t approve of their relationship. So Mrs. Choi wasn’t ready to go just yet.
At one point, the pregnant lady had fallen and there was risk she would lose her baby. Mrs. Choi was determined not to help, so that she could see the end of the bloodline. However, she was moved by the lady’s desperation to protect her baby, and did ask Chanseong to help the pregnant woman.
In the end, Mrs. Choi gave the pregnant woman a visit (as a living person). The woman told Mrs. Choi that no matter what happened, the baby would be hers and not of the family that wronged them both. That made Mrs. Choi realize that her daughter also had always been hers, and did not belong to the family that killed her.
I think it was a good ending for Mrs. Choi, for her to come to terms with the past and to see her daughter as the love of her life and not the daughter of the cruel family. She also came to terms with not wishing for death upon others. Her departure was the one that had me tearing up. Manweol had said that she trusted Mrs. Choi the most, and I could feel that there was a special connection between the two women. Manweol asked to hug Mrs. Choi, perhaps the most affection that Manweol had ever expressed up to that point. And so I think Mrs. Choi, apart from leaving with peace, also felt appreciated and loved by Manweol.
Ji Hyunjoong
Hyunjoong was the youngest of the three staff. He had died in the Korean war, and was waiting to leave together with his beloved younger sister Hyunmi who was now an old and sickly woman. When Hyunjoong and Yuna saw Hyunmi at the hospital, they saw her call another man older brother, which was odd.
It was revealed that during the Korean war, Hyunjoong was taking a back road to take his sister to a relative’s place, as Hyunmi was not well. Her eyes were bandaged so presumably her eyes were hurt. Hyunjoong was accosted by his classmate who ended up being on the other side. Hyunjoong agreed to exchange clothes, so that his classmate could leave (he was also pointing a gun at Hyunjoong). Hyunjoong however would not let his classmate take the bag with Hyunmi’s medicine, and in the scuffle Hyunjoong was shot dead. Hyunmi woke up, and as Ji Hyunjoong, the classmate took her to their relatives’ home. He lived as Ji Hyunjoong until the present. Not knowing of this history, Yuna took the old man to see Ji Hyunjoong, who ran away upset. The old man was regretful, and he wanted to return Ji Hyunjoong’s uniform to him. Hyunmi passed away, and Hyunjoong reunited with her, and they went to the afterlife together.
There was also a story line between Hyunjoong and Yuna. After Yuna had first resumed her body, Hyunjoong kept in contact with her, and would sometimes protect. They started hanging out together and they soon struck up a romance. Yuna was upset about Hyunjoong having to leave. However, she came to see him off, hoping he would go off happily.
I did think Hyunjoong was a fun and cute character, a contrast to the more serious Mr. Kim and Mrs. Choi. But he wasn’t without his tragic past of betrayal and longing. I appreciated that Manweol consoled him a bit when his traitor friend came to apologize to him.
Kim Yuna
Yuna was originally a rich girl and a bully. She would bully Sujung, going so far as to push her off a bridge and killing her. However, when Yuna pushed Sujung, she was holding Sujung’s necklace, which was tied to Sujung’s soul. When Sujung died, the soul in the necklace possessed Yuna’s body and Yuna was pushed out as a ghost.
Yuna approached Chanseong for help, hiding her past as a bully, but Manweol saw right through it. Manweol and Chanseong approached Yuna’s parents, though Manweol was totally taking advantage of the situation. She explained that Yuna had killed a girl and that the dead girl was not settled. I don’t quite remember the technical details of what had happened but the parents had burned the necklace and when they did, they also eradicated the soul of the original Yuna because the resentment for her from Sujung was so strong.
At school, Yuna became the pariah. She was once the main bully but now the other students thought she was weird, especially at how she responded when they called for Sujung, or when she’d trip but not fall (because Hyunjoong as a ghost would catch her). They suspected that she was not really Yuna, but Hyunjoong helped her. At one point, Yuna was fearful of ghosts and Hyunjoong also came to calm her down. So that was how they struck up a relationship. Then, Yuna was training to be an intern at the hotel. She would do work for Manweol but she and Hyunjoong would also go on retcon missions which kind of doubled as dates.
It was through Yuna that we learned more about Hyunjoong’s story. She was upset about Hyunjoong leaving but I think particularly as a ghost she understood that he had to go. She sent him flowers as he departed with Hyunmi.
In the living world, Yuna was sent abroad to study. She took the medicine so that she wouldn’t see ghosts again, in order to focus on her studies. She planned to study Hotel Management so she could also be a hotelier.
Themes
Death is definitely a big one, the idea of a peaceful rest. All of the undead in this show had not gone on to the afterlife because they had problems they had not solved yet. For some of them, it was resentment, and they had to come to terms with what had happened. For some, it was revenge, as they had been wronged. For some, it was unfulfilled dreams, and while some could fulfill them as ghost, some had to accept to let go of them.
Overall
A decent kdrama.
Spoilers.
Story
Ku Chanseong’s father had taken a flower from the tree of Hotel Del Luna. As such, he had contracted his son to work for Jang Manweol when he grew up. Upon adulthood and return to South Korea, Manweol tracked down Chanseong to work for her hotel, giving him the gift of being able to see ghosts.
One part of the story line involved the ghosts. The purpose of Hotel Del Luna was to give a place for ghosts to rest and perhaps fulfill any last wishes before they went to the afterlife. The cast would help such ghosts fulfill such wishes, or give them the assurance they would need to leave the living world.
The other part of the story line involved Manweol and her past. She had been betrayed by a man she loved, Go Chungmyung, and was presumably assigned ownership of the Hotel Del Luna because her lingering resentment was so large it prevented her from going to the afterlife safely. After Chanseong met Manweol he began to have dreams of Manweol’s past, but Manweol could feel that he wasn’t Chungmyung. I did appreciate that the writers took this option, that Chanseong wasn’t Chungmyung and that he and Manweol were not fated. They were simply two souls who fell in love because they enriched one another. At the end, the staff at the Hotel Del Luna finally had the peace to go to the afterlife, and Manweol did so as well. The remaining humans were Yuna and Chanseong. While Yuna took the medicine to remove her sight of ghosts, Chanseong retained it, though he did not explain why. The Hotel was reinstated by Mago, called Hotel Blue Moon, to be run by the reincarnation of Chungmyung.
The ghost of the week format worked well for this show. I was interested in the different types of stories and how our characters solved them. We had happy situations but we definitely also had sad situation. Some of the stories also personally involved our characters, making them higher stakes.
However, I felt that the writers made some puzzling decisions about the arrangement of such stories. For instance, it was very odd that Manweol and Chanseong’s mystery was solved in the penultimate and not the last episode. Instead, the began with solving Mr. Kim’s past. This definitely should have happened in the episode prior so that the show would have ended solving our main characters’ mysteries. As well, there were characters that should have been more important that were reduced to character of the week roles. Such examples were Chanseong’s mom and Sanchez’s girlfriend Victoria. Chanseong’s mom should have held much more weight than she did, and we barely got to understand their past. As for Victoria, though Sanchez was just a side character, Victoria was a constant. I do appreciate that she was mentioned more because Sanchez still grieved for her though.
The romance part of the story unfortunately did nothing for me. There was nothing wrong with it, but I just don’t really vibe well with shows that are explicitly the romantic genre because the building of the romance tends to feel a bit artificial. There was some tension between Chanseong and Manweol when they first met, and I am thankful that it was built slowly afterwards, but again it just didn’t check any boxes for me.
I did tear up at the end of the show, particularly when Hyunjoong and Mrs. Choi were leaving, as they were characters we had bonded with. I think Chanseong’s ending was a dream sequence, where he hoped that all of his friends would have a wonderful next life, and that he would find his way back to Manweol. He did decline for his thread of fate with Manweol to not be cut. Overall I think the ending was good, though it did leave on a cliffhanger. I don’t know if that was purposeful, if the writers were looking for a second season. But assigning the Hotel Blue Moon to Go Chungmyung was a bit random. More on Chungmyung later. But I thought that the new owner was going to be the Grim Reaper because he too kind of straddled that line between living and dead like Manweol did. Plus, he did not go to the afterlife/reincarnate so he would have still been around. He just would have had to hire another grim reaper to backfill him lol.
Production
Production was good overall. The hotel and Manweol were both very glamorous. Manweol especially had a lot of outfits and honestly that is why we watch kdramas lol. The acting was fine, no complaints. The music did get a bit repetitive but I think that was the point, as some OSTs would get stuck in my head.
Characters
Jang Manweol
Manweol was the main character, the owner of Hotel Del Luna. The moon was her motif and I appreciated the aesthetics surrounding her.
In her past, Manweol was a bit of a wonderer and a bandit, along with her best friend Yeonwoo. She had captured a captain, Go Chungmyung, and during their time together, they’d developed feelings. However, Chungmyung was being suspected for fraternizing with the enemy, so Princess Songhwa took the initiative to capture Manweol, Yeonwoo, and their friends. Chungmyung had no choice but to go with Songhwa’s actions in order to keep Manweol alive. However, Manweol maintained resentment over the betrayal. The Hotel Del Luna (then called the Guest House of the Full Moon in Joseon times) was assigned to Manweol by Mago.
In the present, Manweol was cold and ruthless, only caring about money because she wanted to support her lavish lifestyle. I think she was presented to be a kind of mean girl, because she was mean, but she also got excited about money and beautiful clothes and such. She was kind of like the female equivalent of the CEO male role in rom coms.
There was tension between Manweol and Chanseong from the beginning, perhaps because Chanseong so desperately did not want to work for Hotel Del Luna, and Manweol very much wanted him. At first, I think it was fun for Manweol to mess with him. However, she slowly grew soft for him. Even Chanseong started to notice that Manweol would protect him, and Manweol noticed the things that Chanseong did to make her happy, like getting the autograph of that foodie celebrity she loved.
Manweol was puzzled about Chanseong because she could feel that he was not Chungmyung. It was revealed that Chungmyung was a firefly. I’m not sure what the trigger was to get him to appear to her, but they reconciled. I think at that point, Manweol had moved on. Whether she knew the truth behind his betrayal, it mattered not to her anymore, and she just remembered their good times. Instead, she focused on enjoying the reset of her life with Chanseong. It was a sweet ending for them, and Chanseong bid her a tearful farewell.
So Manweol’s story arc was about her overcoming her resentment and loving those around her. And with the reconciling of her feelings, the Hotel Del Luna closed.
Ku Chanseong
Chanseong was a normal human, as we would come to find out. As a child, he and his father struggled. His father had found his way to Hotel Del Luna and taken a flower, which was forbidden. Manweol gave him the choice of giving his life, or giving Chanseong’s in twenty years. Chanseong’s father chose the latter, presumably so that Chanseong would not grow up alone. Chanseong’s father warned him not to come back to South Korea for twenty years, so Chanseong thought he was in the clear after that, but that was not the case as Manweol did find him.
Chanseong was very freaked by being able to see ghosts at first. That was where part of the comedy came from. But as we went through the ghost stories, he saw that they were just humans with unfulfilled dreams, or humans who were wronged, and they simply needed help. Chanseong was always the more compassionate counterpart to Manweol’s mean girl. And because of his compassionate nature, he too saw the ways that Manweol would express her care.
Once he got a hold of the ghost business, I felt that Chanseong was very realistic about life and death. He never wished for forever, as he knew that ghosts always had to leave. He never tried to cheat the system. Even when it was time for Manweol to go, he accepted it, instead wanting to enjoy his time with her. He kept his sight of ghosts, maybe as a memory, maybe as a reminder that everyone needs help. I think Chanseong was a man full of hope and I can see why he could warm the heart of a cold Manweol.
Go Chungmyung
Chungmyung was a captain, security of Princess Songhwa. He was captured by Manweol, in past times, but they slowly grew close. Chungmyung was suspected by the king to be working with the enemy. To protect him, Princess Songhwa captured Manweol and her friends and had them executed. Chungmyung decided he had to play along, so that at least Manweol could stay alive.
On the night of Princess Songhwa and Chungmyung’s wedding, Manweol snuck in and killed Princess Songhwa, using her veil and clothes as a disguise. Then when Chungmyung came to the room, Manweol killed him. Chungmyung accepted his death without a fight. He’d always expected that Manweol would come for him, and he said that he was happy just to have been able to see her again. I think Manweol and Chungmyung were the kind of relationship that were “destined to meet but not fated to be together,” as the saying goes. Whereas Manweol and Chanseong had both the destiny to meet and the fate to be together even if for a short time.
Since Chanseong started dreaming of Manweol and her past, they suspected that he was Chungmyung’s reincarnation, but Manweol confirmed that that was not the case. Towards the end, Mago revealed that Chungmyung was the firefly in her jar, the first guest of the Guest Inn of the Full Moon. I thought this was a weird way to handle Chungmyung. If he was the first gust, why was he with Mago? The firefly did appear to Chanseong before though, so at least that part of the story tied.
Chungmyung and Manweol’s reconciliation was okay. They didn’t mention any of the bad times which is fine. I appreciated that they focused on the good times. Manweol walked with Chungmyung in the tunnel to go to the afterlife. The staff at the hotel were worried that Manweol would lose her memories and go with Chungmyung (and the hotel would cease to exist). But Manweol remembered enough to turn back, leaving Chungmyung to go on his own.
Chungmyung appeared at the very end as the new owner of the hotel, now called Hotel Blue Moon. I thought this was odd because wasn’t Chungmyung supposed to have reincarnated? How would he have been a full adult at that time? Maybe he didn’t make it to the end of the bridge and was intercepted by Mago. What was the purpose of him being the next owner though? Would it have been punishment for his betrayal? Would his story arc have been about handling his regret? I don’t think there’s been a sequel for this show so we will never know (for now).
Princess Songhwa/Lee Mira
Princess Songhwa was Manweol’s nemesis. In the past, she saw Princess Songhwa as the one who had killed her friends and family. On the wedding night between Princess Songhwa and Chungmyung, Manweol killed Princess Songhwa.
Songhwa reincarnated as Mira, Chanseong’s ex-girlfriend. Manweol carried a lot of resentment for her, not only for killing Yeonwoo and her friends, but also for being Chanseong’s ex, since at this time, Chanseong and Manweol were kindling their feelings. However, Mira soon gave up as she saw how much Chanseong cared for Manweol. There was also the story line about how Mira was really bad with money, and she owed tons of money to Chanseong, but that never went anywhere.
Meanwhile, Manweol maintained some resentment for Mira. When Mira was going to be hurt by the ghost of the serial killer, Manweol was going to let her get hurt. However, she was affected by the way Mrs. Choi got help for the woman who carried the child of her enemies. And so she informed Chanseong of Mira’s possible predicament. Manweol was shook when she saw Songhwa and Yeonwoo together. However, Chanseong reiterated to her that they were not Songhwa and Yeonwoo, but Mira and Yeongsu, and that she had to let them live as they were now and not as their lives before.
Mira and Yeongsu moved to the background as they dating, and started discussing marriage, meeting parents, and moving in together (Mira was living with Sanchez and Chanseong at that point lol).
I do appreciate Mira’s story line though it was mostly from Manweol’s point of view. Manweol had to let go of her resentment of Songhwa, and understand that whatever crimes she had committed in her last life would have already been dealt with by the gods, and that she was only Mira now.
Yeonwoo/Yeongsu
Yeonwoo was Manweol’s best friend, who was killed by Princess Songhwa in the capture. Manweol cared very much for Yeonwoo, as they grew up together. Yeonwoo’s mother had taken in Manweol, and Yeonwoo himself would mend clothes for Manweol.
In the present, he was reincarnated as Yeongsu, a cop. He did seem to recognize Manweol a bit, but he could never really put his finger on it. Manweol was proud that though he was a bandit in the past, he was now a cop. Yeongsu was involved in one of the cases, namely the one involving the serial killer. He had a run-in with Mago, who gave him a little trinket that she said would help him with his love life, and he ended up meeting Mira because of the trinket.
Like Manweol, I’m overall kind of proud that Yeongsu managed to find a good life for himself. Though he and Mira squabbled, it was clear that they got along.
Sanchez
Sanchez was Chanseong’s friend whom he was living with. They were classmates (along with Mira) when they studied abroad. Sanchez would get involved in the ghost stories from time to time, the first time being when he was roped into a ghost marriage that eventually Chanseong and team ended up solving. Sanchez, Chanseong, and Mira were classmates with the serial killer, and Sanchez got rancid vibes from him when they met up at a class reunion. Sanchez had also become friends with Manweol, and it was through Sanchez that Chanseong would find out about Manweol’s egregious purchases lol.
Sanchez had his own story when his long distance girlfriend died. Chanseong rushed him to the Hotel Del Luna so that he could see her one last time. He understood that it was a supernatural hotel, since his girlfriend had died abroad. There was a period of time where he grieved and Manweol took advantage of him, mocking his inability to let go. This upset Chanseong. Eventually, Manweol did apologize, though Sanchez admitted that he was probably going through the motions because he missed his girlfriend.
So Sanchez was indoctrinated into the world of the dead. After Hyunjoong’s graduation, all the hotel staff had a party at Sanchez’s pizza shop which surprised him. But Sanchez accepted it, understanding and trusting Chanseong. At one point, Mr. Kim needed to hide at Sanchez’s place, and the Grim Reaper came to accompany him. That freaked Sanchez out, but again, he accepted it.
Sanchez was a fun character! I liked him, especially towards the end.
Grim Reaper
I think the Grim Reaper was technically a guest at the Hotel Del Luna. His job, like most grim reapers, was to collect the souls of those who should have been dead. Sometimes he would ask for help from Manweol and vice versa. The Grim Reaper also sometimes saw people off, particularly since he was friends with the staff at the Hotel Del Luna. I kind of enjoyed his role in the drama. He was never really explained, much like Mago, but we kind of knew and understood his role.
It was unexplained what the Grim Reaper was. I didn’t think he was a human or a ghost, and that was why I thought he would be the next owner of the Hotel, as he was the only character who hadn’t gone to the afterlife (other than the living ones). That being said, he didn’t have any regret or resentment tying him down to this in between space. It was solely because of his job that he operated in this space, so I can also see why he wouldn’t make a compelling next owner.
Mago
Mago was the unexplained deity. She had several different forms, considering each other sisters, though they were all Mago. They were the highest active deity in this drama, responsible for the erection of the Hotel Del Luna, but also of justice, and also binding people’s fates. It was Mago who first offered a flower to Chanseong as a child. It was Mago who bonded people together. It was Mago who gave advice to Chanseong as an adult, it was Mago who kept Chungmyung in a jar by her work space. It was Mago who made the medicine for humans to get rid of their sight of the dead.
During the story about the ghost who sought revenge for those who shared her molka videos, Mago had to eradicate the ghost because she had hurt humans and I guess that violated a rule. But Mago also punished the man who had cause the ghost’s death.
When Manweol and Chanseong were unravelling their mystery, Mago was constantly at the side, giving advice and feeding hints. At one point, Mago had asked Chanseong to retrieve flowers from the past, where Chanseong saw the Guest House in the Joseon Dynasty. However, as Mago asked, he did not eat or drink anything so that he could come back and be with his Manweol of the present.
I appreciated that Mago was an unnamed and unexplained deity. Though she did have powers, I felt that there was still the higher power above her that governed the laws of the living and the dead. She could only do so much. She only gave our characters the wisdom to make their own choices. There was that story of the ghost bride who didn’t want to be married to any man because she still lived her fiancé who was in a coma. Mago had given that ghost the choice to cut her thread of fate. Mago had also given Chanseong the choice of whether to take the medicine to remove his sight of the dead, and we saw that while Yuna accepted it, Chanseong did not. Mago was overall a very interesting character.
Kim Seonbi/Kim Siik
Mr. Kim was the bartender at the Hotel Del Luna. He was kind of old fashioned and a bit unaware, as dads and uncles are wont to be sometimes. His story was that he was a well-studied scholar who had passed the civil service examinations. However, he had written stories about the common people in Hangul which was seen as sullying the names of scholars. In the present, his name was twisted so that people believed he’d written dirty stories. When this was revealed, Mr. Kim was so humiliated that he’d planned on leaving alone, but he Chanseong and Manweol helped him. I felt that Mr. Kim’s story of the three hotel staff was handled the least well. It was very insulated, about his own pride, but there just wasn’t a lot of time sunk into developing his story. Meanwhile, we knew about Hyunjoong’s sister and Mrs. Choi’s family history for several episodes before.
Mr. Kim did get his peaceful goodbye, where the ghost writers (literally) wrote a story that was more complimentary to Mr. Kim. He left on good terms with his fellow staff.
Choi Seohee
Mrs. Choi was once the first wife of a noble family. She didn’t have a child for a while, so her husband took on a younger concubine. Mrs. Choi eventually gave birth to a daughter. However, the family determined that her daughter would grow up to be a curse so they starved the baby to death. Mrs. Choi went mad and was killed. Thus, she lived with resentment, hoping to see the bloodline of the family die.
Mrs. Choi’s story came into action when she saw the eldest son of the family come to the hotel as a guest. However, when she went to his funeral, she found out that he had a pregnant ex-girlfriend. They had broken up because the man’s parents didn’t approve of their relationship. So Mrs. Choi wasn’t ready to go just yet.
At one point, the pregnant lady had fallen and there was risk she would lose her baby. Mrs. Choi was determined not to help, so that she could see the end of the bloodline. However, she was moved by the lady’s desperation to protect her baby, and did ask Chanseong to help the pregnant woman.
In the end, Mrs. Choi gave the pregnant woman a visit (as a living person). The woman told Mrs. Choi that no matter what happened, the baby would be hers and not of the family that wronged them both. That made Mrs. Choi realize that her daughter also had always been hers, and did not belong to the family that killed her.
I think it was a good ending for Mrs. Choi, for her to come to terms with the past and to see her daughter as the love of her life and not the daughter of the cruel family. She also came to terms with not wishing for death upon others. Her departure was the one that had me tearing up. Manweol had said that she trusted Mrs. Choi the most, and I could feel that there was a special connection between the two women. Manweol asked to hug Mrs. Choi, perhaps the most affection that Manweol had ever expressed up to that point. And so I think Mrs. Choi, apart from leaving with peace, also felt appreciated and loved by Manweol.
Ji Hyunjoong
Hyunjoong was the youngest of the three staff. He had died in the Korean war, and was waiting to leave together with his beloved younger sister Hyunmi who was now an old and sickly woman. When Hyunjoong and Yuna saw Hyunmi at the hospital, they saw her call another man older brother, which was odd.
It was revealed that during the Korean war, Hyunjoong was taking a back road to take his sister to a relative’s place, as Hyunmi was not well. Her eyes were bandaged so presumably her eyes were hurt. Hyunjoong was accosted by his classmate who ended up being on the other side. Hyunjoong agreed to exchange clothes, so that his classmate could leave (he was also pointing a gun at Hyunjoong). Hyunjoong however would not let his classmate take the bag with Hyunmi’s medicine, and in the scuffle Hyunjoong was shot dead. Hyunmi woke up, and as Ji Hyunjoong, the classmate took her to their relatives’ home. He lived as Ji Hyunjoong until the present. Not knowing of this history, Yuna took the old man to see Ji Hyunjoong, who ran away upset. The old man was regretful, and he wanted to return Ji Hyunjoong’s uniform to him. Hyunmi passed away, and Hyunjoong reunited with her, and they went to the afterlife together.
There was also a story line between Hyunjoong and Yuna. After Yuna had first resumed her body, Hyunjoong kept in contact with her, and would sometimes protect. They started hanging out together and they soon struck up a romance. Yuna was upset about Hyunjoong having to leave. However, she came to see him off, hoping he would go off happily.
I did think Hyunjoong was a fun and cute character, a contrast to the more serious Mr. Kim and Mrs. Choi. But he wasn’t without his tragic past of betrayal and longing. I appreciated that Manweol consoled him a bit when his traitor friend came to apologize to him.
Kim Yuna
Yuna was originally a rich girl and a bully. She would bully Sujung, going so far as to push her off a bridge and killing her. However, when Yuna pushed Sujung, she was holding Sujung’s necklace, which was tied to Sujung’s soul. When Sujung died, the soul in the necklace possessed Yuna’s body and Yuna was pushed out as a ghost.
Yuna approached Chanseong for help, hiding her past as a bully, but Manweol saw right through it. Manweol and Chanseong approached Yuna’s parents, though Manweol was totally taking advantage of the situation. She explained that Yuna had killed a girl and that the dead girl was not settled. I don’t quite remember the technical details of what had happened but the parents had burned the necklace and when they did, they also eradicated the soul of the original Yuna because the resentment for her from Sujung was so strong.
At school, Yuna became the pariah. She was once the main bully but now the other students thought she was weird, especially at how she responded when they called for Sujung, or when she’d trip but not fall (because Hyunjoong as a ghost would catch her). They suspected that she was not really Yuna, but Hyunjoong helped her. At one point, Yuna was fearful of ghosts and Hyunjoong also came to calm her down. So that was how they struck up a relationship. Then, Yuna was training to be an intern at the hotel. She would do work for Manweol but she and Hyunjoong would also go on retcon missions which kind of doubled as dates.
It was through Yuna that we learned more about Hyunjoong’s story. She was upset about Hyunjoong leaving but I think particularly as a ghost she understood that he had to go. She sent him flowers as he departed with Hyunmi.
In the living world, Yuna was sent abroad to study. She took the medicine so that she wouldn’t see ghosts again, in order to focus on her studies. She planned to study Hotel Management so she could also be a hotelier.
Themes
Death is definitely a big one, the idea of a peaceful rest. All of the undead in this show had not gone on to the afterlife because they had problems they had not solved yet. For some of them, it was resentment, and they had to come to terms with what had happened. For some, it was revenge, as they had been wronged. For some, it was unfulfilled dreams, and while some could fulfill them as ghost, some had to accept to let go of them.
Overall
A decent kdrama.