In the penultimate week, our leads start dating and the love quartet is sorted out. Just as things seem to be going peacefully for our leads, angst rears its ugly head with a shocking revelation regarding our heroine that causes her to make some extreme decisions and break our male lead’s heart yet again.
At this point, we are questioning whether it is right to root for our leads to be together or if their separation might be for the best.
Bunny S. watches Motel California on Viki
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 |
Motel California Episodes 9 and 10 Highlights
“Did something good happen?”
Now that our leads are happily dating, it is time to deal with the love quartet. To appease the angry villagers, Seok-kyeong spreads a rumor that he will marry Kang-hee. Throwing a fancy proposal event, Seok-kyeong has everyone in the village witness that special moment. Luckily, it works out, and the villagers stop complaining about Kang-hee, and the construction resumes again. Then, this arc concludes with Seok-kyeong bowing out gracefully after realizing he stands no chance against Yeon-soo.
Likewise, Nan-woo moves on from her short-lived crush on Yeon-soo. And except for having to explain to the nosy villagers that they haven’t been dating, she seems to be doing fine. Moreover, it looks like the drama has plans to hook up our second leads with other partners to give them a happy ending, though we have to say it feels a bit rushed and forced.
As for Yeon-soo’s mother, she goes off the grid for a few days and then comes back to the village with a new potential husband. Aside from her usual attempts to break our leads apart, she doesn’t cause much harm. Instead, it is Chun-pil who surprises us by being against our leads’ relationship. So far, Chun-pil maintained a neutral stance regarding our leads’ love life, but he doesn’t seem pleased to learn they are dating. At least, Chun-pil approaches that issue rationally and lists logical reasons why our leads can’t date instead of just bulldozing over them.
“Until I accept the apology, until I apologize, live long and healthily.”
Brushing off Chun-pil’s words, Yeon-soo suggests they go on a trip to Seoul. But on their way there, our leads get into an accident and Kang-hee is transported to the hospital after losing consciousness. (Thankfully, she opens her eyes soon and is unscathed.) Ironically, it is the same spot where Kang-hee’s mother and Yeon-soo’s father lost their lives. And as we revisit that accident, the drama reveals a shocking secret.
Back then, Chun-pil suggested they go on a trip to California to cheer Kang-hee’s mother up after the miscarriage. Excited, Kang-hee and her mother pack up and wait for Chun-pil all day until it gets dark, but he is a no-show. The next day, Kang-hee wakes up to find her mother gone. Not wanting to separate from her mother, Kang-hee stuck her teddy bear in the exhaust pipe of Yeon-soo’s father’s car, unwittingly causing the car accident that took the lives of Kang-hee’s mother and Yeon-soo’s father.
Shocked, young Kang-hee erased that memory from her mind. But unfortunately, the recent car accident gets Kang-hee to regain the memory of that day. Deeming it her fault that her mother and Yeon-soo’s father died, Kang-hee decides to break up with Yeon-soo. And she does it in the cruelest way ever. Telling Yeon-soo she loves him, Kang-hee declares her plans to leave his side, getting him heartbroken yet again.
미리 보는 모텔캘리 10회👀
서로를 보며 눈물을 흘리는 두 사람?
천지커플 웃을 일만 생기게 해 주세요😭#모텔캘리포니아
금토 밤 9시 50분 방송🏩#이세영 #나인우#최민수 #김태형 #최희진#mbcdrama #MBC금토드라마 #MBC #MotelCalifornia pic.twitter.com/aNMeF2yZGI— MBC DRAMA (@mbcdrama_pre) February 8, 2025
Motel California Episodes 9 and 10 Musings
The drama spent much time on the side plots this week as if it didn’t know what to do with its remaining time and then shoved in that ludicrous twist to tear our leads apart. Noble idiocy is frustrating enough, yet the drama takes it a step further with a terminal illness trope featuring Chun-pil. We were looking forward to Kang-hee’s reconciliation with her father. But instead of the two of them having an honest exchange with Chun-pil admitting that he regrets not being able to look out for them properly, the drama chooses the easy way out.
Okay, Chun-pil and Kang-hee chatted for a bit this week, but this is nowhere near enough to settle all those unresolved feelings. Chun-pil needs to tell Kang-hee the truth about that day. He couldn’t come because he was scammed out of his money and got arrested after he beat up the scammer.
With only one week left, we hope there is some pay-off so we won’t regret investing all these hours watching the drama. But as things stand, this seems unlikely. What a waste of potential!
Photos and Videos: MBC Drama
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