My Secret Hotel episode 16: Well, It's Over

Upon finishing this week's two finale episodes, my initial thought was relief. Relief that I got to cover 16 and not 15. If I had had to take on 15, well, I just don't know what I would have done. Ten minutes in, I was texting Kmuse and screaming at the insanity of it all. I was frustrated. With a capital F. As in, "what the F...(Foghorn Leghorn - he sure was frustrating)"??  I had to stop watching it and wait for Kmuse's recap first before I could continue. I had wished I could do the same for 16 too, but, obviously that wasn't going to work. I guess I'm the "skip to the end of the book" kind of person. I am. There's no use denying it. I don't like spoilers, but there are times when they are necessary in order for me to continue on and/or save my sanity.
This was one of those times I would have loved to have a spoiler. Of course, by the time I actually got into 16, I don't know if I was just dead inside or what, but I had stopped caring. I had reached my limit of patience with these characters. I was ready for an end. Thankfully, an end was given. Episode 16 was refreshingly bland. To be honest, as I sit here right now and try to remember what happened, I can't. I mean, I know that Hae Young and Sang Hyo end up together. There was some scene at the airport with hugging and stuff. It was. It was what it was. The feels had long since moved on. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to see them happy and finally get all their stuff resolved. They finally had a conversation. It didn't take a whole lot to fix it all. I knew it wouldn't. We could have been saved a whole lot of hassle and about 15 episodes if they had just followed my "suggestion" and sat down to chat about their history in the beginning. I learned something definitive about myself through this process. Something I already knew, but that this drama really drove home. Like a sledgehammer to the face. I hate plot lines based on misunderstandings. I just do. They infuriate and frustrate me to no end. Dear writers, please take note and stop. Just stop. Stop. For the love of all that is good and drama, stop. Find another plot device to spur your stories along. Other dramas have successfully done it, so can you. Every story needs a conflict, but if your conflict can be resolved by one simple conversation in order to clear up misunderstandings, please look elsewhere. Consider something else. I beg of you. Please.

Okay, so, recap.

Sang Hyo is all bent out of shape because she thinks that Hae Young is steppin' out on her the same that she thinks he did back 7 years ago when she went to meet him in NY, unbeknownst to him. Alrighty, I have an issue here, and I know this is more of an episode 15 thing, but whatever. Just when, looking at the timeline, did she go to NY? I seem to remember her coming home, seeing him gone, and sitting on the floor for days without moving until she passed out. So, when was this sudden dash overseas? How does it fit in? I knew there had to be more to the story of their relationship demise, but is this really the way to spring it on us? Don't worry - I'll answer that. No. No it is not. That was a below-the-belt hit and uncalled for. Blah, blah, blah...she's all messed up, but at least she's pretty much figured out somewhere in all this mess that it is Hae Young that she wants and not sweet Director Jo. I'm glad he turned out to be a good guy after all. I knew it all along. I've been rooting for you D Jo! Go get yourself a honey that will appreciate your awesomeness. Where can I sign up?

Since history likes to repeat itself, we have another scene where Sang Hyo is so distraught over her relationship woes, that she passes out on her floor. This time, Hae Young is there to come to her rescue, after of course a dramatic U-Turn while driving. He said he was giving her up, but turns out that he couldn't. Lucky for her, since someone needed to peel her sorry self off the kitchen floor.

He nurses her back to health, Kdrama-style with washcloth and water. It's very cliche overdone unoriginal touching. Can I just skip all the back and forth involved in their relationship roller coaster and just say that, eventually, they talk. They finally get some things said. It all comes to a head when Sang Hyo shows up at his doorstep, and, history once again repeats itself (holy crap I sound like the broken record that this drama is), and Ms Buttinski is standing there wearing only his dress shirt as he calls to her from the shower. Sang Hyo tears up and walks away. Thankfully, unlike last time, this time she returns to ask him what the hell this bitch is doing answering his door. He opens the door, she asks her question, mentioning how the same scene had happened when she came to see him in NY. He gets all emo when he hears that she did indeed come after him, Buttinski gets yelled at and slinks away never to be seen from again (hallefreakinglujah), and relationship fixing starts happening. Finally.  See? See?!?! SEE?!?!?!   ONE CONVERSATION!!!!   Not even a full conversation - it was like ONE PHRASE and BOOM! Fixed. Why could we not do this 15 episodes ago????????  AGH!!!!!  I hate this particular plot device so very, very much.  Can you tell? I know I'm being subtle about it here, but yeah...I hate it.  a lot.

These two here also helped clear the misunderstandings, and so I will give credit where credit is due. Soo Ah tells Sang Hyo that when they got engaged, he warned her that he would never love her, that he only loved one woman. Then she tells the story how he had come back to Las Vegas and her landlord (the weird blonde lady) told him that she had left with another man. *eye roll* At that moment, ROK Ranger comes waltzing in and collaborates the tale Soo Ah is telling, citing the picture of Sang Hyo that Hae Young was carrying in his wallet even on his wedding day. 

Oh goody! Look - he didn't end up burning it after all. Singed maybe, but still intact.

Now, let's wrap up our mystery. Even though Head Security Guy is arrested and confesses, he's not the murderer. He is covering up for someone and that someone is none other than Cancer Lady. She accidentally murdered them though. And the death of Director Jo's dad 30 years ago was also kind of an accident and his mother was the culprit. It was a heat-of-the-moment "accident". Turns out that the guy was a real jerk. Momma Jo and General Manager had a little "thing" between them. GM was in love with her and she was married to this nasty piece of work that got drunk and got physically abusive with her. One fateful night, Drunk Dad was being a prick and things got heated between the three players. He went to attack GM and mom rushed in to protect him, knocking DD off his feet and over the side where he plummeted to his arguably deserved demise. GM then spent the next 30 years protecting his lady love from her "crime". Mr Creeper Ice Pick guy, who it turns out is of course Sang Hyo's bio dad, witnessed the "accident" and lorded it over GM's head for 30 years, making his life miserable. Enter Cancer Lady. She was in love with GM. When Ice Picky got all nasty and threatened GM, she witnessed their exchange. Already kinda in a bad mood because she had found out about the cancer thing that day, stabbed him and left, only learning of his death on the day of Hae Young's wedding when he fell from the ceiling. See, so she didn't mean to kill him, just you know, stabbed him with his favorite ice pick. Then when the Blackmailing Princess started in on all her shenanigans, Cancer Lady went after her to get her to stop, and apparently was a little too threatening because BP fell into the tub and died. Two accidental deaths on your dying conscience? What else to do but write it all in a suicide note and then slit your wrists.

The necklace. It was given to Momma Jo by GM. When the incident happened, her husband had grabbed it and ripped it off her neck as he was plummeting to his death. Ice Picky pried it from his lifeless hands. And used it as leverage against GM. And that's how that whole thing started.

With the murderer dead and the truth all come to light, we thus end our mystery. It was all done for love. And all kind of unintentional. Makes one wonder if offing someone is so simple that it can be done with so little intent. According to this drama, yeah, pretty easy stuff. So, we really don't have any evil serial killer lurking in our Secret Hotel. Just some flawed people in love and with really bad luck. And everyone involved kinda sorta got what they had coming to them. And I'm left shrugging my shoulders and saying, "whatever".

The drama ends with one final shot given to and dealt our main couple. They are back together. Aww. Except that Hae Young had already made the choice to go back to NY in order to get away from the heartache that was Sang Hyo. This time as they are at the airport, they show us how they have matured. She's agreed to wait for him and he doesn't pressure her to leave the job she loves. He goes through the gate, she sits and cries, and the plane takes off. Only, shocker, he's not on it. No, instead he stands there in front of her, they embrace and make out and the ride finally comes to an end. And I really don't have much else to say on the matter. Potential was there, execution was not. By the end, I was just relieved that it was behind me.

Secret Hotel's secret?

Don't even bother.



 



P.S. Now that we are at the end, I must ask one more obnoxious question. Why is it called Secret Hotel? What kind of lame name is that for a hotel? I could understand if it was some quaint little cottage tucked away in some woods or something, but no, no, it is a giant looming behemoth towering over the neighborhood. Nothing secret about it. Other than the secrets inside, but is that something you really want to advertise? Why is it called Secret Hotel??? I kept hoping that some reason would be given, but no. Just the dumbest name for a hotel ever used by the drama to drive home the point that there were secrets within these walls.