samantha
STORY:
I've seen many complaints of the fact that Hotel del Luna was heavily filled with filler arcs and did not focus on the main story enough. However, I disagree, the filler arcs were not pointless, in fact, without them the story wouldn't make sense. I thought that the filler arcs served the important purpose of showing the character growth of Man Weol as well as the side characters throughout the story. After each arc, Man Weol learned another lesson and changed to become the person she is by the end of the drama. And for someone who's not a fan of filler arcs I didn't feel bored by them at all. I thought that the story was well paced and not slow despite the filler arcs. There were suspenseful and unexpected moments that made the drama interesting watch, and there was a good balance between the horror, romance, and comedy aspects of the show.
ACTING/CAST:
Man Weol definitely was the star of the show with a refreshing personality and complex backstory that made her character so appealing. She was hilarious and badass, but still had flaws and scars like any normal person. However, the other characters were just as good. The employees of the hotel also had their own backstories and character growth. I enjoyed the banter and interactions between them, and they definitely added to the enjoyment of this drama. I thought that the chemistry between the entire cast was great.
There were also complaints that compared to Man Weol, Chan Seong's character was lackluster. To some extent I agree, his personality and traits were nothing unique, but he didn't need to be, I thought that his normalness compared to crazy ghost world was his charm that separated him and made him a lead character. He was a good balance to the extravagance of Man Weol, and his loyalty and ability to sacrifice for others was admirable.
MUSIC/CINEMATOGRAPHY/ETC:
The cinematography was beautiful and the music was just as amazing, but one random thing that just happened to catch my eye was the fact that Man Weol literally changed her outfit like 5 times in an episode. Her outfits has to be one of my favorite things because they were beautiful and just perfectly matched the extravagant nature of her character.
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This review may contain spoilers
I think that my main problem with this drama was the abusive relationship depicted in the drama. Many of the scenes seemed very illegal and bordered sexual harassment. However, the drama made no effort to point out that the scenes were wrong and extremely hurtful. Instead, they continued on showcasing similar scenes and labeling them as romantic. There seemed to be almost no character development as Tharn would continue harassing and taking advantage of Type, and Type continued being short tempered and physically aggressive. My second major problem with this drama is the main antagonist of the story, Lhong. Throughout the drama, he showcased no signs of ever having ill intentions towards the protagonist of the story. When the truth comes out in the last couple episodes, it comes as a surprise, but not a very good one. Furthermore, when the conflict comes to a conclusion, his punishment is laughable. All of the characters seemed to completely forget the fact that he hired people to rape someone. You would think that he would at least be sent to jail for the severity of his crimes, however, it is written off with the excuse that he wasn't loved enough. I disliked the fact that they tried to get the viewers to pity Lhong. They failed to show that there is no excuse for rape.
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