Post by northboundtrain on Jun 17, 2019 23:04:10 GMT -5
Hey everybody -- I just finished watching the pilot of the American remake of Gran Hotel, and I thought I would do a quick post about my impressions.
(Warning, I'm super tired, so this isn't the best written review, but I wanted to get it out there before I went to sleep and forgot everything, LOL.)
EPISODE 1
First, some basic plot stuff:
WHAT'S BASICALLY THE SAME:
The setting is a glamorous hotel that is family-owned and operated and currently having some management-related problems (to put it mildly). The hotel owner's daughter, Alicia, has just returned from school and is eager to get back to the family business. During the first episode, she meets a new waiter, thinks he's a guest, then finds out the truth. While they clearly have flirty chemistry, she doesn't want to take it any further because he's an employee.
Of course, the waiter, unbeknownst to everyone else, is here to investigate the disappearance of his sister, who used to work at the hotel and went missing a month ago under mysterious circumstances that are tied to her knowledge of a secret about the hotel's owners.
Meanwhile, Alicia's brother, Javier, is a playboy who doesn't have a job and sleeps with the hotel guests.
Also, one of the housekeepers has just discovered she is pregnant, and the father is the shady hotel manager (who also seems to have his eye on Alicia).
And the head housekeeper is a woman who has worked at the hotel her whole life, has a son who is a waiter, and is very strict and suspicious. Her son has romantic interest in the housekeeper who is pregnant.
So, for those keeping score, we have very clear American versions of Alicia, Julio, Andres, Dona Angela, Javier, Belen, and Diego.
MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
* In this version, the family patriarch, who is named Santiago is still alive -- and remarried (more on that in a bit) -- and the matriarch, Beatriz (played in flashbacks by Eva Longoria) is the one who passed away years ago. During the pilot, it is revealed that Santiago plans to sell the hotel. The plans fall through and it comes out that the only reason he wanted to sell was because he's badly in debt to a criminal organization. It also turns out that the shady hotel manager, named Mateo, is part of this organization and is working at the hotel in order to keep tabs on Santiago's finances.
* While Alicia does have step-sisters (more on that below), there does not appear to be a clear Sofia character or, for that matter, an Alfredo character. I also don't see a Don Benjamin or an Ayala (though it's still just the first episode, so an inspector could be showing up soon).
* After his wife's death, Santiago got married to Gigi, his wife's best friend. (Alicia and Javier hate Gigi, finding it distasteful that she "swooped in" to marry Santiago.) Gigi has brought two daughters of her own to the marriage: twin sisters Carolina and Yoli. Carolina is treated by everyone as the "prettier" twin; she also seems to be the more shallow and selfish of the two sisters. Yoli refers to herself as the "frumpy twin," clearly resents Carolina, and is more outspoken/brash. Both of them make snide comments to each other and to Alicia, so on that score they're about even.
* Javier lost one of his legs in an accident (no details on that part yet) and so he wears a prosthetic. Santiago tells Gigi that he is to blame for Javier's accident, and that's why he allows Javier to do whatever he wants at the hotel.
* The Belen-type character, the pregnant housekeeper, is named Ingrid in this version, and her plan for upward mobility, at least at the moment, is tricking Javier into thinking that he's the father of her baby.
* Alicia's got a big plan to bring the hotel back to its glory days -- this means hiring Miami singing sensation El Rey to be, like, a performer-in-residence at the hotel.
* Mrs. P (the Dona Angela of the show) already knows that Danny (the Julio of the show) lied on his resume, and she's deeply suspicious of him.
* Jason (the Andres of the show) seems a lot more confident and less likely to provide comic relief than Andres did.
MY THOUGHTS:
* It was fine...I didn't hate it or even dislike it, really...but I also had my expectations set very, very low based on the promo material.
* My major dislike right now is that, while there are a couple of good lines/exchanges, so much of the dialogue is too on-the-nose/clichéd.
* Alicia and Danny do have chemistry, and I found the actor playing Danny a lot of fun to watch. I didn't have any trouble separating either of them from AS and YG's versions of the characters, though there's a nice scene in the hotel pool where Danny rips off his shirt and Alicia finds herself staring at him that feels very much like the scene by the pond in the original show.
* I love Javier in the original, so I thought that this version would only annoy me, but he, too, was okay. I think the addition of the prosthetic leg and the fact that this character seems younger helps differentiate him from EA's take on the character.
* Ingrid on the other hand...yeah, I'm not feeling anything for the character. Not that Belen was immediately sympathetic (I know some viewers never find her sympathetic even in the later seasons), but from the very start of the original show, she's interesting to watch. There's just not much there, at least so far, with Ingrid.
* I thought Jason (the Andres of the show) was fine, but as I noted above there doesn't seem to be an element to the character that would lend itself to the more comical moments we got from Andres. Of course, that could change...this was just the pilot, after all.
* Finally, I was kind of hoping for more Easter eggs than we got -- like, some nods to the original show. I know that, technically, the characters and the plots are supposed to be the nods to the original, but I was hoping for more subtle touches that would just be there for original fans. More stuff like the Alicia/Danny pool scene.
* Final verdict...I'll keep watching a bit longer to see how things go.
(Warning, I'm super tired, so this isn't the best written review, but I wanted to get it out there before I went to sleep and forgot everything, LOL.)
EPISODE 1
First, some basic plot stuff:
WHAT'S BASICALLY THE SAME:
The setting is a glamorous hotel that is family-owned and operated and currently having some management-related problems (to put it mildly). The hotel owner's daughter, Alicia, has just returned from school and is eager to get back to the family business. During the first episode, she meets a new waiter, thinks he's a guest, then finds out the truth. While they clearly have flirty chemistry, she doesn't want to take it any further because he's an employee.
Of course, the waiter, unbeknownst to everyone else, is here to investigate the disappearance of his sister, who used to work at the hotel and went missing a month ago under mysterious circumstances that are tied to her knowledge of a secret about the hotel's owners.
Meanwhile, Alicia's brother, Javier, is a playboy who doesn't have a job and sleeps with the hotel guests.
Also, one of the housekeepers has just discovered she is pregnant, and the father is the shady hotel manager (who also seems to have his eye on Alicia).
And the head housekeeper is a woman who has worked at the hotel her whole life, has a son who is a waiter, and is very strict and suspicious. Her son has romantic interest in the housekeeper who is pregnant.
So, for those keeping score, we have very clear American versions of Alicia, Julio, Andres, Dona Angela, Javier, Belen, and Diego.
MAJOR DIFFERENCES:
* In this version, the family patriarch, who is named Santiago is still alive -- and remarried (more on that in a bit) -- and the matriarch, Beatriz (played in flashbacks by Eva Longoria) is the one who passed away years ago. During the pilot, it is revealed that Santiago plans to sell the hotel. The plans fall through and it comes out that the only reason he wanted to sell was because he's badly in debt to a criminal organization. It also turns out that the shady hotel manager, named Mateo, is part of this organization and is working at the hotel in order to keep tabs on Santiago's finances.
* While Alicia does have step-sisters (more on that below), there does not appear to be a clear Sofia character or, for that matter, an Alfredo character. I also don't see a Don Benjamin or an Ayala (though it's still just the first episode, so an inspector could be showing up soon).
* After his wife's death, Santiago got married to Gigi, his wife's best friend. (Alicia and Javier hate Gigi, finding it distasteful that she "swooped in" to marry Santiago.) Gigi has brought two daughters of her own to the marriage: twin sisters Carolina and Yoli. Carolina is treated by everyone as the "prettier" twin; she also seems to be the more shallow and selfish of the two sisters. Yoli refers to herself as the "frumpy twin," clearly resents Carolina, and is more outspoken/brash. Both of them make snide comments to each other and to Alicia, so on that score they're about even.
* Javier lost one of his legs in an accident (no details on that part yet) and so he wears a prosthetic. Santiago tells Gigi that he is to blame for Javier's accident, and that's why he allows Javier to do whatever he wants at the hotel.
* The Belen-type character, the pregnant housekeeper, is named Ingrid in this version, and her plan for upward mobility, at least at the moment, is tricking Javier into thinking that he's the father of her baby.
* Alicia's got a big plan to bring the hotel back to its glory days -- this means hiring Miami singing sensation El Rey to be, like, a performer-in-residence at the hotel.
* Mrs. P (the Dona Angela of the show) already knows that Danny (the Julio of the show) lied on his resume, and she's deeply suspicious of him.
* Jason (the Andres of the show) seems a lot more confident and less likely to provide comic relief than Andres did.
MY THOUGHTS:
* It was fine...I didn't hate it or even dislike it, really...but I also had my expectations set very, very low based on the promo material.
* My major dislike right now is that, while there are a couple of good lines/exchanges, so much of the dialogue is too on-the-nose/clichéd.
* Alicia and Danny do have chemistry, and I found the actor playing Danny a lot of fun to watch. I didn't have any trouble separating either of them from AS and YG's versions of the characters, though there's a nice scene in the hotel pool where Danny rips off his shirt and Alicia finds herself staring at him that feels very much like the scene by the pond in the original show.
* I love Javier in the original, so I thought that this version would only annoy me, but he, too, was okay. I think the addition of the prosthetic leg and the fact that this character seems younger helps differentiate him from EA's take on the character.
* Ingrid on the other hand...yeah, I'm not feeling anything for the character. Not that Belen was immediately sympathetic (I know some viewers never find her sympathetic even in the later seasons), but from the very start of the original show, she's interesting to watch. There's just not much there, at least so far, with Ingrid.
* I thought Jason (the Andres of the show) was fine, but as I noted above there doesn't seem to be an element to the character that would lend itself to the more comical moments we got from Andres. Of course, that could change...this was just the pilot, after all.
* Finally, I was kind of hoping for more Easter eggs than we got -- like, some nods to the original show. I know that, technically, the characters and the plots are supposed to be the nods to the original, but I was hoping for more subtle touches that would just be there for original fans. More stuff like the Alicia/Danny pool scene.
* Final verdict...I'll keep watching a bit longer to see how things go.
