Motel California K-Drama review: Lee Se-young and Na In-woo's sweet yet messy romance tests your patience

It’s nothing you haven’t seen before: Two old friends have a ‘moment’, before one leaves the town and they are reunited, years later. And they navigate a tumultuous friendship, owing to the existence of unresolved and messy feelings. And oh, the feelings are so messy, but not as much as the people harbouring them.

That’s Motel California in a nutshell: A show, that can really test your patience, and yet leaving you saying, “Okay, I’m invested. What’s next for these two?”

Our female lead is Kang-hee, who is quite unlikeable at times. Regardless, kudos to Lee Se-young, who does such a wonderful job of bringing out the very real and tangled frustrations of Kang-hee who has deeply repressed trauma. It's compounded further when she meets Na In-woo’s Cheon Yeon-soo, a close friend and both try to resolve their feelings after a complicated past that they did not address. They're drawn to each other, but their issues keep them apart, or rather at least, for the most that responsibility lies with Kang-hee.

Moreover, Yeon-seo is quite the pushover, though, that has been slowly changing for the past few episodes. That was a relief to uncover, because otherwise, you aren’t quite sure what’s weighing him down. There’s far more nuance in him, by the middle of the show, than there was before.

Together, the characters do weave a compelling, complicated romance, bringing out raw, hidden emotions, and the greys in their characters. It embodies the saying, never did the course of true love run smooth, while cranking up the difficulty level by several notches. There are misunderstandings by the dozen, some a little contrived. The show would probably just end in five episodes if our leads just had a day or two to talk properly and sort their feelings, but it wouldn’t be a K-drama now, would it? Hold on to your patience, there.

However, there's a lot that happens, including contrived subplots, where people make trouble and create rifts, combined with malicious rumours that start swirling around the leads. Not just this, there’s a rather bizarre turn that the show takes, regarding the parents on either’s side. With a couple of episodes left to go, it remains to be seen how the show handles it: Do we just forget about it…to be honest, we should, else it becomes a very, very strange show.

Nevertheless, Motel California, isn’t spectacular and isn’t one of the best romances, but it’s breezy, enjoyable and has several sweet moments that make it a fun watch for a die-hard romantic. It does hit hard at points, courtesy the acting of the leads. The comic scenes and timing are commendable and the acting by the leads as well as the supporting cast, add flavour to the story, making it a little different from the regular small-town story of boy meets girl.

If you like a bit, or a lot of messy emotions, mixed with some true romantic moments, then swipe left for Motel California.

Our female lead is Kang-hee, who is quite unlikeable at parts. Regardless, kudos to Lee Se-young, who does such a wonderful job of bringing out the very real, raw frustrations of Kang-hee who has a lot of repressed trauma, that she hasn't been able to tackle. It's compounded further when she meets Na In-woo’s Cheon Yeon-soo, a close friend and both try to resolve their feelings after a complicated past that they did not address. They're drawn to each other, but their issues keep them apart, or rather at least, for the most that responsibility lies with Kang-hee.

Moreover, Yeon-seo is quite the pushover, though, that has been slowly changing for the past few episodes. That was a relief to uncover, because otherwise, you aren’t quite sure what’s weighing him down. There’s far more nuance in him, by the middle of the show, than there was before.

Together, the characters do weave a compelling, complicated romance, bringing out raw, hidden emotions. It embodies the saying, never did the course of true love run smooth, while cranking up the difficulty level by several notches. There are misunderstandings by the dozen, some a little contrived. The show would probably just end in five episodes if our leads just had a day or two to talk properly and sort their feelings, but it wouldn’t be a K-drama now, would it? Hold on to your patience, there.

However, there's a lot that happens, including contrived subplots, where people make trouble and create rifts, combined with malicious rumours that start swirling around the leads. Not just this, there’s a rather bizarre turn that the show takes, regarding the parents on either’s side. With a couple of episodes left to go, it remains to be seen how the show handles it: Do we just forget about it…to be honest, we should, else it becomes a very, very strange show.

Nevertheless, Motel California, isn’t spectacular and isn’t one of the best romances, but it’s breezy, enjoyable and has several sweet moments that make it a fun watch for a die-hard romantic. It does hit hard at points as it delivers lessons on body image, and self-love, and the acting of the cast drives the point further. The comic scenes and timing are commendable and the acting by the leads as well as the supporting cast, add flavour to the story, making it a little different from the regular small-town story of boy meets girl.

If you like a bit, or a lot of messy emotions, mixed with some true romantic moments, then swipe left for Motel California.