REVIEW: ‘Motel California’ Episodes 5-6

Viki’s Motel California Episodes 5-6 re-tread familiar territory regarding Ji Kang-hee (Lee Se-young) and Chun Yeon-soo’s (Na In-woo) relationship, proving more annoyingly painful than not. Flashbacks fill in the gaps in knowledge, explaining away Kang-hee’s past grievances, but it’s not all bad. There have been heartfelt moments as well. With Episode 6’s final moments, the series seems primed to move in a new direction shortly. If it doesn’t succeed, it risks a less-than-satisfactory ending.

Episode 5 opens by giving us context for the last episode‘s final moments. A misunderstanding occurs when Yeon-soo is originally waiting outside the ice cream shop and runs into his colleague. We go backward in time to 2010 when a high school-aged Kang-hee witnesses an altercation between a husband, wife, and mistress and her dad, Ji Chun-pil (Choi Min-soo), trying to break things up. She storms off to a bus stop, where Yeon-soo suggests they go into town to get ice cream.

It becomes a precious memory for them, a time when things were still innocent. “Don’t eat ice cream with anyone else,” Kang-hee tells him. Unfortunately, jumping back to the present day, this is yet another promise that Kang-hee thinks Yeon-soo has broken. This is how she comes to be alone in the park, crying and reflecting on things. And reflection is something that permeates Motel California Episodes 5-6, even if things take too long to set in.

Yeon-soo happens upon her in the park crying, and she realizes how much things have changed. That Yeon-soo is not hers to possess anymore. He, of course, hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s another example of Kang-hee misinterpreting things again. This becomes more clear as Yeon-soo follows her on her walk because he doesn’t want her to be alone. “First love, the end,” Kang-hee says to herself before kicking herself for pushing away her bestest friend. It’s nice to see her have some form of introspection, but it’s unsure if it’s fleeting.

Kang-hee is not alone as she thinks in Motel California Episodes 5-6. 

What is not fleeting is how those in her support group refuse to turn away from her fully. With help from Chun-pil, her hometown friends, including Yeon-soo, organize a welcome party for her on the rooftop. It’s adorable to see them all come together, and for a brief moment in time, they are like one big happy family. But memories haunt Kang-hee, dampening the evening but not their overall efforts in these episodes.

Yeon-soo and the gang really come into a clutch when Kang-hee realizes in Episode 5 that the Hana Town Annual Beef Festival will slow down construction. They campaign with the other villagers, doing whatever they can to make sure she can accomplish her goals. It’s incredibly sweet and adds another perspective to the kind of people who make up the town. Kang-hee isn’t alone, and her friends prove that to her in spades in this episode.

Across Motel California Episodes 5-6, Geum Seok-kyeong (Kim Tae-hyeong) tries his best to help Kang-hee t00 where he can. He’s throwing money left and right, trying to appease workers, earn the respect and affection of Kang-hee’s peers (who, frankly, don’t deserve anything because they are not great people), but also make Kang-hee happy. His crush is the size of Texas, and even though it likely won’t pay off later, he offers to be Kang-hee’s fake boyfriend until the construction project is complete. But he can’t stop being jealous of Yeon-soo.

On the flip side, Kang-hee can’t stop being jealous of Yoon Nan-woo (Choi Hee-jin), who everyone in the town loves. She continues to misconstrue the relationship between Nan-woo and Yeon-soo, and feels further isolated by how the town receives the young vet over her. Even though it’s clear Nan-woo doesn’t have a romantic relationship with Yeon-soo, Kang-hee can’t see beyond her own insecurities, and by the end of Episode 5, she pushes Yeon-soo away again. But Episode 6 provides clarity for both leads and provides some relief in a break from this now-annoying push-pull cycle.

Motel California Episodes 5-6 fills in the blanks on why Kang-hee is the way she is.

Motel California Episodes 5-6 break up the ebb and flow of its episodes with flashbacks focusing on Kang-hee’s experiences. The way they are woven into the fabric of the episodes is clumsy, more so in Episode 5 than 6, but the information they provide adds depth to the complicated character. As a child, we see how at peace she was with her group of friends, whereas among adults, she was exposed to cruel comments and unwarranted blame.

In Episode 6, the blame never leaves her. In a flashback with Yeon-soo’s grandfather, he all but says he doesn’t want Yeon-soo with her. He wants Yeon-soo to marry someone from a normal family, one that has both parents and not lacking. And that’s the thing that’s been apparent through Motel California up to this point. Kang-hee is the target of disdain from the community and their antiquated projections, and no one except her father has been able to understand the pain she’s carried.

It’s no wonder, then, that she’s caught in this cycle of pushing people away. Even if it’s continuously frustrating watching Kang-hee fall into this push-pull pattern with Yeon-soo and her friends, she’s at war with what she wants versus what she needs. She clearly has feelings for Yeon-soo, but her pain, trauma, and inferiority complex make it impossible for her to accept his kindness. He deserves better than her. That’s the message she’s heard her entire life, and so the only natural action is to push him towards something better.

This much is revealed when Kang-hee gifts Yeon-soo familial rings his grandfather gave to her for safekeeping. Thinking Yeon-soo is marrying Nan-woo, she reveals the things his grandfather told her and, in a moment of rare honesty, shares that this is part of why she keeps pushing Yeon-soo away. This opens up the floodgates of truth, with Yeon-soo admitting that he’s not actually marrying Nan-woo and Kang-hee admitting she’s not dating Seok-kyeong.

Heavy reliance on flashbacks makes certain revelations unearned.

Hwang Jung-woo’s (Woo Mi-hwa) arrival in Motel California Episode 6 continues the trend of sharing painful truths. What starts off as a humorous avalanche of small realizations evolves into a bomb, with Kang-hee revealing to Yeon-soo that she has never been able to forgive her father for focusing on Yeon-soo’s mom over hers. Because of her father’s absence, Kang-hee believes her brother’s death is her father’s fault, but she also can’t forgive Yeon-soo’s mom for her role in pulling her father’s attention away from them.

A trip back to Seoul gives us and Kang-hee a break from dwelling on the past, but she can’t stop thinking about Yeon-soo. A conversation with Esther Park (Seo Ye-hwa) sheds some clarity and drives Kang-hee back to Hana Town to have the “let’s be friends” conversation. This can only go one of two ways, and Yeon-soo takes the romantic plunge, kissing her before asking if they can really only stay as friends. Kang-hee responds with a kiss, throwing the question of a straightforward friendship out the window.

Motel California Episodes 5-6 dump a lot on its audience with these flashback revelation moments, leaving a lot to wade through. The acting does a lot of heavy lifting here, with both child actors and the adults adding layers to these flashback scenes. But to rely so heavily on flashbacks is a crutch, and I imagine there likely could have been a way to finesse these moments to make them less overwhelming to digest.

As is, the reliance on flashbacks in Motel California Episodes 5-6 reads like a speedrun. By getting a bunch of information out there, it leaves little room for doubt as to where characters stand but also addresses questions as to what characters have been dancing around so far. Unfortunately, certain revelations, like the mystery surrounding Kang-hee’s hatred towards her father, don’t feel earned. Instead, what emotional impact could have been had in the reveal is neutered through Kang-hee’s retelling.

With half the season done and the kiss at the end of Episode 6, Motel California repositions itself to enter the final half of its series with many questions left up in the air. Motel California Episodes 5-6 showcase the uncertainty that still lingers around Kang-hee and Yeon-soo’s relationship. Given how fragile the power dynamic is between the two, it remains to be seen how long they’ll last before something breaks them apart again.

Motel California Episodes 1-6 are streaming now, exclusively on Viki, with new episodes airing every Friday and Saturday through January and February.