The End of a Soap Opera

(image taken from the web)

Since my return from Mexico in February I have been watching on Netflix a Spanish period drama called "Gran Hotel".  It is set in the early 20th century in a luxurious hotel in the fictitious town of Cantaloa, in northern Spain.  It centers around the owners of the hotel, the Alarcón family, and the hotel staff.  A former royal palace was used for the exterior shots of the hotel.  The settings and costumes are lavish, and the actors are all very good.  However, it is pure soap opera.  There are so many twists and turns that it is hard to keep track of them all, and much of the convoluted plot stretches the limits of believability.  Nevertheless, I stuck with the series.  Rotating with other shows that I was watching, every third night I would view another episode of "Gran Hotel" while eating dinner.  The series ran for three seasons on Spanish television, and had more than sixty episodes.  On Wednesday night I finally reached the conclusion.

SPOILER ALERT - If you are currently watching the series or plan to watch it, read no further!

The central characters are Alicia, the younger daughter of the Alarcón family, and Julio, a waiter at the hotel.  In spite of their differences in social standing, and in spite of the fact that Alicia is already married to the villainous, murderous Diego, the manager of the hotel, the two of them fall hopelessly in love.

During the course of the three seasons there are so many murders, that the little village of Cantaloa would have been the homicide capital of Spain.  Even Inspector Ayala, a police detective surely inspired by Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, has a hard time keeping track of all of them.

In the final episode evil Diego gets his comeuppance, and Alicia and Julio are free to make a new life together.  However, I found that final episode very unsatisfying leaving many loose ends.  It really isn't clear whether Diego dies from cholera (an epidemic has broken out at the hotel) or if he is shot by Samuel, a person who is seeking revenge for a murder that Diego had committed years before.  Two central characters who either committed or ordered murders get away scot-free for their crimes.  Doña Teresa, the scheming matriarch of the Alarcón family, had a woman killed when the later threatened the family's ownership of the hotel.  And Sofía, Alicia's older sister committed not one, but two murders.  It was as if at the end the writers had just forgotten about those earlier, unsolved crimes or had decided to ignore them.

In spite of that, the series was generally a pleasant form of escapist entertainment.  I am, however, glad to be finished with the machinations, infidelities, and homicides of the devious Alarcón family and their associates.