I was initially going to give the upcoming tvN drama My Secret Hotel a pass since there wasn’t any one element that hooked me good. I really like male leads Jin Yi Han who is getting a well-deserved career uptick after Empress Ki and A New Leaf and Namg Goong Min who is happily ensconced in cable dramas lately with I Need Romance 3 and Unemployed Romance, but leading lady Yoo In Na is soooooo hit and miss for me. She was adorable and perfectly cast in Queen In Hyun’s Man due to the character and the great chemistry she has with Ji Hyun Woo. But a consistently good actress she’s not, and when she’s not playing an endearing character then she’s wholly insufferable. Cast in point the bitchy star types in Best Love and You From Another Star or the self absorbed sister in The Best Lee Soon Shin. With that said, the first poster and teasers are out for MSH and consider me finally intrigued enough to watch episode 1 when it premieres August 18th after High School King of Savvy wraps up.
The tagline is the kicker “My Secret Hotel, A Killing Romance”, and the production means it literally. Yoo In Na plays the capable hotel wedding manager who finds herself planning her ex-husband played by Jin Yi Han’s wedding at her hotel. Nam Goong Min is Yoo In Na’s boss as the hotel manager while Lee Young Eun rounds out the strange love square as the hotel PR director with a crush on Nam Goong Min’s character. The plot is centered around a murder that happens at the hotel that interrupts the wedding and leads the ex-couple to spend time together trying to solve the case and thereby rekindle their romance. It sounds weird and the teaser was equally weird, but in a stylish way that makes me curious to see if the production can pull off this fresh concept of using murder to pave the way for a rom-com. Yoo In Na returns to playing a warm hardworking type who is hurt by a whirlwind crash-and-burn quickie marriage to her ex-husband but hasn’t soured on finding love again.
First teasers for My Secret Hotel:
After seeing Jin Yi Han’s performance in EK, I went to watch some of his dramas and felt that he does look extra good in EK. This new plot just sounds so much alike with one of his drama specials titled, Another Wedding, with an ex planning his wedding but this time with a murder plot.
I loved Tal Tal in Empress Ki. His characterisation was great, and with his one of a kind voice, who could resist?
I just hope tvN produces another hit with Yoo Inna, just like QIHM.
Thanks for the news!
I know this is really off topic, but do you have faith in Joseon Gunman’s 2 episode extension? (now confirmed by various media outlets)
What? Really?
Hey…are you watching High School King Of Savvy…it’s really good 🙂
I’m totally looking forward to this strange blend of romcom and thrills..
Yayy I love yoo in na despite the character she played in ywcfs and best love!!
This drama reminds me of Wes Anderson newest film Grand Budapest Hotel! And the fact they used one of his movies soundtrack doesn’t help either
This drama reminds me of Wes Anderson newest film Grand Budapest Hotel especially the fact they used one of his movies soundtrack
I like Yoo In na. She was so good in QIHM and her character was not supposed to be likable in YFAS. But the idea of guys falling through the ceiling is such a shock to the system. If the show is going to be quirky like that I’m for it.
Sounds strangely similar to “Honjitsu wa Taian Nari”…
Yes I was thinking the same thing. This is pretty much the Korean remake of “Honitsu wa taian Nari” but they changed the storyline a bit making it into a murder mystery instead.
I’m not the biggest Yoo Inna fan but even I have to defend her on her You Came From the Stars stint. I think she was completely wasted in that drama, her character had great potential but it ended up being a useless bystander.
TvN has been hitting out the park lately.
I completely disagree about Yoo In Na, I find that even when she played annoying characters that I would normally hate (like those you pointed out) she always managed to make me care for them still. She has a vulnerability to her that translates even when the characters are bitchy, especially in Best Love and YFAS. In YFAS her character was more complex in the begining. I think mainly thanks to her acting it wasn’t clear if she was going to be a jealous insecure bitch all the way through, if she truly never considered the other as a friend or if she was just reacting and acting out of pent up frustration. Then the drama got crazy popular and it became all about the OTP and YIN’s character suffered because of that. And yet still managed to make me care for her in the end, I think that was all YIN’s acting.