Na In-woo reunites with Lee Se-young at Motel California

22 November 12, 2024November 12, 2024

Na In-woo reunites with Lee Se-young at Motel California

by tccolb

Looking ahead in the distance to 2025, MBC makes an early start in promos to welcome us to Motel California, reuniting Lee Se-young (What Comes After Love) with ~~another~~ past love Na In-woo (Marry My Husband) in the first script reading stills.

With the story adapted from the popular novel Home, Bitter Home by Shim Yoon-seo, the drama takes us to a rustic countryside where our title’s motel is also home for our interior designer heroine Ji Kang-hee (Lee Se-young). This is where Kang-hee was born and raised, but her childhood was inflicted by emotional struggles due to her unconventional upbringing as well as her mixed heritage. Kang-hee thus ran away once she became an adult and now 12 years later, for reasons yet unknown, she’s back in her hometown.

Kang-hee’s return is, of course, big news for her old friend and first love Chun Yeon-soo (Na In-woo), the town’s local veterinarian. As our stalwart, noble, and shining knight who has always cherished Kang-hee, the romance will be following our main pair as love sparks between them once again.

I imagine, though, that reconciliation with Kang-hee’s dad Choi Min-soo (Numbers) will be an important story arc too. The life-long romanticist and free-spirited Ji Choon-pil (Choi Min-soo) once dreamed of making a Hotel California (cue the Eagles), but ended up settling for a small motel. As a bit of a busybody, Choon-pil likes to involve himself to help with all the villagers’ affairs. However, he’s oddly cautious with his family and couldn’t bring himself to protest when his daughter left town.

Filling out the drama’s love square, fancy hotel heir Kim Tae-hyung (a.k.a. Goo-won)(Bait) takes up one corner, while Choi Hee-jin (The Impossible Heir) sits on the other as a fellow veterinarian and Yeon-soo’s college hoobae.

The supporting cast lineup also includes Woo Mi-hwa (Jeongnyeon – The Star is Born), Jung Yong-joo (Knight Flower), Gu Ja-sung (Sponsor), and Lee So-yi (The Matchmakers) among others.

Directed by PD Kim Hyung-min with writing by Lee Seo-yoon (365 – Repeat the Year), the check-in time for MBC’s Motel California is set to begin in January 2025.

Via MBC

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1 🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 12, 2024 at 9:49 PM

Lee Se-young is one busy lady who I am happy to see. 😊
Starting another new year with Na In-woo. Okay but also wae, mwo. 😐
Looks like I will be cheering for our 2FL. It would be nice if she has a separate loveline.
Just wondering if Choi Min-soo will be riding any elevators in his motel. 🤭

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2 panshel

November 12, 2024 at 11:02 PM

Another female lead returning to her hometown and reuniting with her childhood first love?

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vienibenmio

November 13, 2024 at 8:42 AM

And he's loved her all along, hasn't he? So tired of this dynamic

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3 Isa is always time travelling

November 12, 2024 at 11:08 PM

Rural settings, a veterinarian, Lee Se Young and an interesting support cast.
Count me in.

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4 Kurama

November 12, 2024 at 11:40 PM

Hum... I don't think Na In-woo has screen presence/charisma, in front of Choi Min-soo, he will disappear.

But I'm really curious about Choi Min-soo and Lee Se-young's father-daugther relationship!

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bong-soo

November 13, 2024 at 6:18 AM

It really is early days but to be on the safe side perhaps I should give Na In-woo what I should call my ‘Lee Joon-gi/LAWLESS LAWYER Warning:
Na In-woo, watch out! Choi Min-soo is a shameless scene stealer! Consider yourself forwarned.
(O/T note. What Choi Min-soo did (to pro) Lee Joon-gi in LAWLESS LAWYER (2018) (Viki US) wasn’t scene ‘stealing’ but highway ‘robbery’. It was fun to watch. Then there was the famous fight (but that might be getting into sp0iling. A thing of beauty.)

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 14, 2024 at 12:56 AM

High Five. 🖐 Our tastes do match quite closely. 😂 I may be amongst the handful of Beanies who saw and loved this drama. 😭

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 14, 2024 at 1:40 AM

Ah! Guess the drama did get lots of love even without being recapped or getting a Hangout. A news thread is as good a place to comment as any to chat about our dramas. 😊❤ Beanies are the best. 🫰🏻

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bong-soo

November 14, 2024 at 7:05 AM

@seeker, You brought me down memory lane. LL aired during what I refer to the time of “the troubles” so folks resorted to hijacking a news post to make comments in lieu of a proper recap. Thankfully those days are behind us but it is bittersweet to reread some of the comments and note how many folks are no longer active.

🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 14, 2024 at 7:27 AM

🥰 Absolutely my first thought too!! It was like I had stepped into a time machine which transported me to the past. 😂

5 Unaspirated

November 13, 2024 at 4:42 AM

Sounds like Once Upon a Small Town but with the roles swapped? Hopefully they keep The Eagles to a minimum (read: absent), otherwise I’ll be finished before we even get started 😅

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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain

November 13, 2024 at 8:39 AM

😂 You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Really, Hotel California? Would anyone be inspired by a song about a creepy haunted hotel? I hope it's just a coincidence and that amount of Eagles is zero.

I'm most excited by Choi Min-soo and least by Lee Se-young. I found her so irritating in Park's Marriage and What Comes After Love that I dropped both shows.

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hacja

November 13, 2024 at 12:56 PM

Maybe in this show, Na In Young will put Lee Se-young back on the highway, and show her a sign. Otherwise you'll be pushed to your limit, one more time.

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6 Dylan [Suffering from Judge from Hell brainrot]

November 13, 2024 at 7:46 AM

One day Choi Hee-jin will be the FL of her own drama or movie. One day, she won't just be the SFL nursing an impossible crush. All the true Heejinheads out there, our day will come...

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7 Kafiyah Bello

November 13, 2024 at 8:45 AM

I will try for CMS. I adore him.

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8 Diana Hansen

November 13, 2024 at 9:26 AM

Sounds good. Will keep tabs on it!

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9 Ahjummaaa

November 13, 2024 at 10:36 AM

I'm kinda lukewarm on Lee Se-young, wasn't completely won over by her in What Comes After Love. I don't know but watching her stressed me out for some reason? I mean, I know she's very pretty. Beautiful, even. She lights up on the screen. But her sad facial expressions stresses me out. That probably makes little sense, right? Looking forward to the ML and his future father in law haha.

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 14, 2024 at 12:52 AM

Okay this was a light bulb💡moment. I 💯 get you when you say her sad expressions stress you out. I felt it but perhaps could never have been able to put my finger on it or express it so well. Gomawo!! 🙏🏻

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Ahjummaaa

November 15, 2024 at 11:19 AM

oh I was totally preparing for hate rants so was really touched by your comment! there's a group of actresses and actors I have in the back of my mind that are "stress me out" types. It might be something completely out of their control, some facial features just tend to look sad or happy or chill or the famous RBF. But as an actor, the job is to understand how one's facial expressions tend to lean towards and work with what we got. Someone who unconsciously stresses viewers out is someone who has not completely mastered self-awareness on the screen. Anyways, that's just my wanna-be director side slipping out! And some actors just seem to be born with a certain on-screen ease. They are natural on the screen and watching them has the effect of calming people down. They have it easier, for sure.

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🌸 Seeker 🌸

November 15, 2024 at 12:19 PM

Absolutely!! It is their job to make is believe in the characters they are playing but some actors just play themselves. 😅 Now that is a real stressor.