My expectations were not very high as I thought it would be fairly superficial and glamorous (read silly) but the series was excellent. Lots of clever plot twists, some somewhat unbelievable but it never got boring. The two leads were very good, Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da-hae, they had lots of raw emotional acting to do, and they really developed as characters along the way. Right to the end, it was hard to predict how the plot was going to play out, and i was glued to the screen for all 33 hours. A pleasure.
5 Reviews
Should have been shorter
phd_travel14 February 2023
Makjang drama in a mountain resort hotel complex. For Lee Dong Wook fans this over the top Makjang series provides lots of him giving brooding stares and facing all sorts of challenges. He is cast with the winsome Lee Da Hae again many years after My Girl and their chemistry is still strong. She plays a hotel heiress and he is the manager with lots of birth secrets. The premise of this soapy story is quite good with lots of emotion and some unexpected twists but it is too dragged out. If only it was 20 instead of 32 episodes. For a 2014 show it feels old fashioned. Many scenes of useless back and forth and angst and some frustrating and unnecessary twists. The painful hotel staff comic scenes could have been trimmed. The villain is the vice chairman and he is pretty funny. Should have been more flashbacks. But in the end there are some good parts mixed with the boring moments that make this worth watching. The home stretch even has a totally unexpected development which I found hilarious. Everyone's favorite mother Kim Hae Sook plays director Baek and she has an unexpectedly interesting role. Everyone's favorite secondary lead antagonist Wang Ji Hye is quite good in her role.
Pretty enough bucolic mountain setting in the Pyeongchang Resort complex. A good advertisement for it.
Bottom line is this is an soapy series with some exciting and emotional moments just too many episodes for the story.
Pretty enough bucolic mountain setting in the Pyeongchang Resort complex. A good advertisement for it.
Bottom line is this is an soapy series with some exciting and emotional moments just too many episodes for the story.
Absolutely Love This Contemporary Drama
Geeta3528 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I am so glad that I got a chance to view the entire Hotel King Series before Rakuten pulled it off , making it inaccessible for viewers in the United States. I am a die-hard Lee Dong Wook fan.; especially after watching him play the Grim Reaper in Goblin, so I regretted their decision.
Hotel King is a hard-hitting well- acted drama about the modern day hotel industry in Korea. It was a realistic portrayal of the business end of the industry. The drama was one of the best contemporary Korean pieces I have viewed in a long time. Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae were outstanding in their lead roles. The supporting cast is to be commended for their convincing, yet sensitive performances too. This series will make you cry and it will make you laugh too, but most of all it will make you think about Ethics and the role of ethical behavior in the service industry, regardless of where you live.
I too stay riveted to my screen , watching all 33 hours of the series and then I purchased it from Amazon - its just that good. I highly recommend that you watch it. It's a great show!
Hotel King is a hard-hitting well- acted drama about the modern day hotel industry in Korea. It was a realistic portrayal of the business end of the industry. The drama was one of the best contemporary Korean pieces I have viewed in a long time. Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae were outstanding in their lead roles. The supporting cast is to be commended for their convincing, yet sensitive performances too. This series will make you cry and it will make you laugh too, but most of all it will make you think about Ethics and the role of ethical behavior in the service industry, regardless of where you live.
I too stay riveted to my screen , watching all 33 hours of the series and then I purchased it from Amazon - its just that good. I highly recommend that you watch it. It's a great show!
Full time entertainment ,story full with many great Twist & Turn
jsaleem-8970520 April 2020
This my second Lee Dong- Wok KDrama
His first mindblowing thriller( Strangers from hell) inspied me a lot & then i gave chance to watched Hotel king ,Direction was good,Story was Awesome with Soo many mindblowing Twist & Turn ( yes i not liked few side Actors acting & have some Flaws but Overall was Drama sooo good with full time Entertainment ,& yes This old drama now in 2019 Lee Dong-wok Acting improved a lot
I really didn't expect it to be so good
lisa-3982311 March 2024
I'm fairly new to K-dramas. I started this series not knowing anything about it but that it's a love story. I mainly started it because I watched Goblin and was so disappointed at what they did to Lee Dong Wooks character there (the Grim Reaper) and couldn't get over all his suffering. So I wanted to watch another drama with Lee Dong Wook where he gets a happy ending. Well, Hotel King was not a good choice for that. This series is dark and heartbreaking. It is just as much about love as it is about revenge, murder, corruption, secrets, family, manipulation and most of all - trauma and abuse. In fact I would go so far as to say that this show is about an outstanding man trying desperately to get away from his abuser. And I really didn't expect that when I started watching the show. There is a lot of suspense, mystery, tons of secrets, character development, heartbreak but also happiness in this series. Literally no one is who you think they are, not even the side characters, and nothing is as it seems initially. There is a huge amount of plot twists, none of which I saw coming, and almost every episode kept me thrilled and wanting for more. I don't know what I would have done if there was not an equal amount of love, reconciliation and happiness in this drama to balance all the horrible stuff that's happening.
I was very touched especially by Lee Dong Wooks acting here. He did so well portraying this terribly tormented character who is trying to keep it together with a huge amount of self discipline and control over his emotions. Then slowly we get to see the other, real side of this character and a glimpse of who he could have become had he not been so traumatized as well as hope for who he could become if some healing took place. I think I have hardly ever seen a performance that touched me this much. Lee Dong Wook really is an excellent actor, as he is good at portraying very complex emotions without even speaking much. Sometimes, it was as if you could almost hear the character screaming his thoughts that he doesn't dare to speak in his head by just looking at his facial expression. I must say, at times it was almost too intense for me, and the amount of suffering that Lee Dong Wooks character is going through here by far surpasses that of his character in the Goblin. It took me a long time to overcome this drama really and I think I will take a break from K-dramas for a while now.
I would still whole-heartedly recommend this drama. It is absolutely thrilling, exciting, different, a perfect mix of mystery, thriller, romance, revenge and action. It never gets boring and has lots of very touching moments. Also, the lead couple has crazy chemistry and are just so handsome and beautiful. It's a pleasure just to look at them.
The reason I only gave 9 instead of 10 stars is that I didn't like the soundtrack. I felt like often it didn't fit the scenes and was overly dramatic and fast. I felt like the soundtrack often disturbed the emotional scenes rather than support them. Also, I was not a big fan of the last few episodes, but that's just me, after more than 28 episodes I just could no longer take all the suffering and angst and was too desperate for a happy ending. Which I got in the end so it was good.
I was very touched especially by Lee Dong Wooks acting here. He did so well portraying this terribly tormented character who is trying to keep it together with a huge amount of self discipline and control over his emotions. Then slowly we get to see the other, real side of this character and a glimpse of who he could have become had he not been so traumatized as well as hope for who he could become if some healing took place. I think I have hardly ever seen a performance that touched me this much. Lee Dong Wook really is an excellent actor, as he is good at portraying very complex emotions without even speaking much. Sometimes, it was as if you could almost hear the character screaming his thoughts that he doesn't dare to speak in his head by just looking at his facial expression. I must say, at times it was almost too intense for me, and the amount of suffering that Lee Dong Wooks character is going through here by far surpasses that of his character in the Goblin. It took me a long time to overcome this drama really and I think I will take a break from K-dramas for a while now.
I would still whole-heartedly recommend this drama. It is absolutely thrilling, exciting, different, a perfect mix of mystery, thriller, romance, revenge and action. It never gets boring and has lots of very touching moments. Also, the lead couple has crazy chemistry and are just so handsome and beautiful. It's a pleasure just to look at them.
The reason I only gave 9 instead of 10 stars is that I didn't like the soundtrack. I felt like often it didn't fit the scenes and was overly dramatic and fast. I felt like the soundtrack often disturbed the emotional scenes rather than support them. Also, I was not a big fan of the last few episodes, but that's just me, after more than 28 episodes I just could no longer take all the suffering and angst and was too desperate for a happy ending. Which I got in the end so it was good.
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