I started this drama because I liked the concept of ghost hotel showed in the trailers and of course i just love IU and i like Yeo Jin Goo. To be honest this drama didn't follow the concept I imagined after watching the trailer. But I still liked it a lot. This will definitely go to my favorites' list. I truly recommend this drama to everyone, because it is beautiful and I am sure you will love that. BUT people who don't like subplots might be bored.
I watched many of the Hong Sisters' dramas, and the Director's dramas and well, none of them were out of ordinary, they all had a great start but failed to keep being great later for me. However this one I can say may be considered as an exception and a success. Maybe that is because of IU's character, but overall ot was great :)
Shorter review at the end.
Story:
Tied destinies, tied fates. The red knot that is connecting all of them shows us a story of love friendship and atonement.
This drama is about a Korean legend, that somewhere around there, there is a place a hotel of the moon where the people who passed away can stay for few days, can rest before they go on to the journey to the afterlife.
The story centers around Man Wol (full moon) and the new manager at her hotel. It's a story that goes through time and space and is a really long one. However during this journey you also see a lot of others. Ghost's side stories that happen throughout a drama and take a lot of time. Well, I truly LOVE this kind of side stories. It's like the good old Japanese mystery dramas/animes I loved. Lots of sidestories all of them can be a story of their own but they still all connect the main story. There are people around there who don't enjoy these kind of things, so If you are so, you might not like the drama as much as I did, however I guarantee you will love the beauty of the drama and IU in it. So you might as well give it a try :)
I loved how this drama focused on the afterlife. Usually the ghost stories don't interest me. But I loved that they showed how people can be taken over by their feelings, almost eaten up and have to wait until that clears, so they can go forward to the afterlife world and then be born again. They showed how sometimes Man Wol helped them not to lose themselves, keep the consciousness and wait till their grudge calms down or disappears. They showed how everything in people's life is not simple and yet it is not so complicated after death. The whole concept of the hotel where ghosts can stay and rest before going to the after life was amazing. I also liked how it changed with time and looked suitable to the era it was in. I liked how they showed that those ghosts can be super scary and at the same time they are still those humans wanting or willing something, it can be something terrible though. It also showed that the grudge even if fulfilled can't be so satisfying as it seemed to be. I really loved it. I loved the concept of feeling of guilt too and how it can make people do unimaginable things even after death. I totally liked all the special services the hotel provided. Anyway it's a complex story about fates that are tied together even after death.
Characters:
Oh IU is marvelous as Man Wol! lol I think everyone heard of her amazing wardrobe, hairstyles and makeup. Well She changed her outfit like 7-10 times during an episode and i LOVED it. haha sometimes it was ridiculous but sometimes it was amazing. Beautiful! But Man Wol was not only pretty she was very strong. a perfect woman. She was feminine yet very strong and at the same time fragile. I loved how she felt confident even while not understanding the economic stuff. I find it also cute how she lived so many years but didn't spent them for learning (which i would LOL) but rather she was all about eating and dressing. haha I loved her character a lot. And I think it will not be wrong to say that this drama hold on to this character and is build around her. Gu Chan Song was also nice. He was an average boy who studied well, in prestige places. He wasn't a special character BUT he was very kind and sweet and smart. I loved him. Thanks to that simple yet warm personality Man Wol could have been moved. <3
I just loved all the main side characters! The three employees of the hotel were such a nice and cute team. I love that we saw more of them at the end. Each of the characters had their own complicated past but each of them still became new people working there and i loved their different personalities. I loved Sanchez(<3) and Mi Ra and the Detective. Sanchez i loved the most out of them. He was a funny friend of the male lead and i think he added a lot of comedy to the show as well as grief.
I totally Loved the gods!! <3 All their personalities were so different and they all did different things <3
I would have liked to talk about all the side characters, even minor ones and even cameos, but I will stop here. :)
Cinematography:
As I said this drama is beautiful! I am going to make a list of beautiful dramas. It's amazing! I really love the cinematography here. And I love the wardrobe of the characters. <3
Acting:
Acting was a Top-Notch. Well I always wanted to say about acting in Characters as they go hand to hand but I saved it for here. IU is always great at acting, i love her in all of her dramas. After the Most amazing but dark and sad my mister role, here she was vivid, wonderful and outstanding. She made the outfit changing in the drama something to look forward to. Yeo Jin Goo is always great at acting but I think this is his BEST tole as a grown-up after Circle. I loved circle but all his other dramas were just meh after it. Finally he got a role where he could fully shine :) Other actors were also amazing! P.O did a great job!!! omg i never thought he will play so well lol xDDD I hope he gets more roles now :) And the Cameos were wonderful!!! So many people made cameos <3 And the last cameo was just soooo impressive!!!!!!!!!
I want to separately say about the Ma Go God. That actress is amazing, truly!! I am so happy she played here lol. The most memorable role of her that I saw was in Good Thief Bad Thief. Oh my she was crazy there. I hated her character with all my heart at first and at the end of the drama I couldn't wait to see her lol. Here she was amazing playing so many <3 I became a fan.
OST:
Well Ost was great :) nice songs, nice artists. what was left in my memory was mostly IU's song that was played only once lol. I just love IU's singing and her Flower Bookmark albums. Also her in MUDO festival with Park Myung Soo XD haha
IN SHORT!! :
What i liked:
-IU!! IU !! IU!!
-Yeo Jin Goo
-The three employees
-Outfits
-Beauty
-cameos
-some concepts
-somewhat ending
-ending super last scene!!!!
What I didn't like:
-some parts of the ending (well It was very logical and well done!! (minor Spoiler!!!!!!!!) - she had to leave and I agree with it yes, but overall they could have showed it much better)
- ending outfits and slowness ( LOL well this one is just something to say if I have to really say something i didn't like, because overall i liked it a lot lol, but during the last episode everything felt super slow, and her outfits were not so amazing. I understand it was necessary though so this can't be considered as something bad about the drama. I just have nothing else to say lol)
hmmmm i can't find anything else i didn't like lol. It was great! A bit not what I expected but It was great I loved it! <3
P.S. I don't usually re-watch dramas so the score i give there is random.
I watched many of the Hong Sisters' dramas, and the Director's dramas and well, none of them were out of ordinary, they all had a great start but failed to keep being great later for me. However this one I can say may be considered as an exception and a success. Maybe that is because of IU's character, but overall ot was great :)
Shorter review at the end.
Story:
Tied destinies, tied fates. The red knot that is connecting all of them shows us a story of love friendship and atonement.
This drama is about a Korean legend, that somewhere around there, there is a place a hotel of the moon where the people who passed away can stay for few days, can rest before they go on to the journey to the afterlife.
The story centers around Man Wol (full moon) and the new manager at her hotel. It's a story that goes through time and space and is a really long one. However during this journey you also see a lot of others. Ghost's side stories that happen throughout a drama and take a lot of time. Well, I truly LOVE this kind of side stories. It's like the good old Japanese mystery dramas/animes I loved. Lots of sidestories all of them can be a story of their own but they still all connect the main story. There are people around there who don't enjoy these kind of things, so If you are so, you might not like the drama as much as I did, however I guarantee you will love the beauty of the drama and IU in it. So you might as well give it a try :)
I loved how this drama focused on the afterlife. Usually the ghost stories don't interest me. But I loved that they showed how people can be taken over by their feelings, almost eaten up and have to wait until that clears, so they can go forward to the afterlife world and then be born again. They showed how sometimes Man Wol helped them not to lose themselves, keep the consciousness and wait till their grudge calms down or disappears. They showed how everything in people's life is not simple and yet it is not so complicated after death. The whole concept of the hotel where ghosts can stay and rest before going to the after life was amazing. I also liked how it changed with time and looked suitable to the era it was in. I liked how they showed that those ghosts can be super scary and at the same time they are still those humans wanting or willing something, it can be something terrible though. It also showed that the grudge even if fulfilled can't be so satisfying as it seemed to be. I really loved it. I loved the concept of feeling of guilt too and how it can make people do unimaginable things even after death. I totally liked all the special services the hotel provided. Anyway it's a complex story about fates that are tied together even after death.
Characters:
Oh IU is marvelous as Man Wol! lol I think everyone heard of her amazing wardrobe, hairstyles and makeup. Well She changed her outfit like 7-10 times during an episode and i LOVED it. haha sometimes it was ridiculous but sometimes it was amazing. Beautiful! But Man Wol was not only pretty she was very strong. a perfect woman. She was feminine yet very strong and at the same time fragile. I loved how she felt confident even while not understanding the economic stuff. I find it also cute how she lived so many years but didn't spent them for learning (which i would LOL) but rather she was all about eating and dressing. haha I loved her character a lot. And I think it will not be wrong to say that this drama hold on to this character and is build around her. Gu Chan Song was also nice. He was an average boy who studied well, in prestige places. He wasn't a special character BUT he was very kind and sweet and smart. I loved him. Thanks to that simple yet warm personality Man Wol could have been moved. <3
I just loved all the main side characters! The three employees of the hotel were such a nice and cute team. I love that we saw more of them at the end. Each of the characters had their own complicated past but each of them still became new people working there and i loved their different personalities. I loved Sanchez(<3) and Mi Ra and the Detective. Sanchez i loved the most out of them. He was a funny friend of the male lead and i think he added a lot of comedy to the show as well as grief.
I totally Loved the gods!! <3 All their personalities were so different and they all did different things <3
I would have liked to talk about all the side characters, even minor ones and even cameos, but I will stop here. :)
Cinematography:
As I said this drama is beautiful! I am going to make a list of beautiful dramas. It's amazing! I really love the cinematography here. And I love the wardrobe of the characters. <3
Acting:
Acting was a Top-Notch. Well I always wanted to say about acting in Characters as they go hand to hand but I saved it for here. IU is always great at acting, i love her in all of her dramas. After the Most amazing but dark and sad my mister role, here she was vivid, wonderful and outstanding. She made the outfit changing in the drama something to look forward to. Yeo Jin Goo is always great at acting but I think this is his BEST tole as a grown-up after Circle. I loved circle but all his other dramas were just meh after it. Finally he got a role where he could fully shine :) Other actors were also amazing! P.O did a great job!!! omg i never thought he will play so well lol xDDD I hope he gets more roles now :) And the Cameos were wonderful!!! So many people made cameos <3 And the last cameo was just soooo impressive!!!!!!!!!
I want to separately say about the Ma Go God. That actress is amazing, truly!! I am so happy she played here lol. The most memorable role of her that I saw was in Good Thief Bad Thief. Oh my she was crazy there. I hated her character with all my heart at first and at the end of the drama I couldn't wait to see her lol. Here she was amazing playing so many <3 I became a fan.
OST:
Well Ost was great :) nice songs, nice artists. what was left in my memory was mostly IU's song that was played only once lol. I just love IU's singing and her Flower Bookmark albums. Also her in MUDO festival with Park Myung Soo XD haha
IN SHORT!! :
What i liked:
-IU!! IU !! IU!!
-Yeo Jin Goo
-The three employees
-Outfits
-Beauty
-cameos
-some concepts
-somewhat ending
-ending super last scene!!!!
What I didn't like:
-some parts of the ending (well It was very logical and well done!! (minor Spoiler!!!!!!!!) - she had to leave and I agree with it yes, but overall they could have showed it much better)
- ending outfits and slowness ( LOL well this one is just something to say if I have to really say something i didn't like, because overall i liked it a lot lol, but during the last episode everything felt super slow, and her outfits were not so amazing. I understand it was necessary though so this can't be considered as something bad about the drama. I just have nothing else to say lol)
hmmmm i can't find anything else i didn't like lol. It was great! A bit not what I expected but It was great I loved it! <3
P.S. I don't usually re-watch dramas so the score i give there is random.
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