Ever since Haunted Hotel was announced, the name Rick and Morty was thrown around as to why you should watch the new Netflix series.
For those not in the know, Haunted Hotel comes from the minds of many creatives that worked on Rick and Morty. Haunted Hotel creator Matt Roller wrote episodes for Rick and Morty. And Dan Harmon, who is one of the creators of Rick and Morty, is joining Haunted Hotel as executive producer.
But Haunted Hotel doesn’t need Rick and Morty to stand out on its own. That’s how good it is.
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At the heart of Haunted Hotel is a family trying to make do. You have the mother Katherine who is trying to take care of the hotel while also trying to raise her two children Esther and Ben, worry about her dead ghost brother Nathan, and try to keep in check the demon trapped in a child’s body from causing destruction aka Abaddon. There’s also the fact that the hotel that she is trying to run is haunted by all sorts of creatures. We’re not just talking about ghosts and demons here. We’re also talking about monsters that creep in the vents and sentient hotel rooms that fall in love with you.
This of course leads to a bunch of crazy hijinks and moments in Haunted Hotel. There’s a bit where these ghost hunters come to the hotel and get way more than they expected when it comes to readings. There’s also Katherine’s son Ben getting a ghost girlfriend. And then you have some general witchcraft with Esther and parasites that echo the labubu craze. But none of that actually compares to all of the heart that I saw and experienced in Haunted Hotel.
When it comes to heart on Haunted Hotel, Abaddon is a good example.
He’s a demon stuck in the body of a child. And instead of sending him away, he becomes a part of this family. He bonds with both of the entire family, his eccentric behavior is just seen as another part of him, and there are moments where Katherine is actually mothering him. Hesitantly mothering him. But she is. This leads to a pivotal moment with Abaddon where he has to choose between the darkness or this new home that he has been welcomed into. And I don’t want to spoil it, but the sacrifice that he makes completely shifted my perspective on him and made me love his character so much.
Then there’s Katherine, the sister who gained a hotel, and Nathan, the brother who died and still haunts this hotel.
It’s all fun and games watching this duo deal with the ghosts, demons, and monsters. But at the end of the day, he died. He died and that’s not a pain that just disappears. And there comes a moment in this show where it’s revealed how Nathan died. That revelation hurt. It hurt the two siblings to have to talk about it because he doesn’t remember and she’s had to carry that pain silently. And it also hurt the viewer, because it’s the most real moment of the entire series.
Haunted Hotel is about non-traditional family dynamics and choosing to brave the world together. And when it comes to TV, that’s my favorite kind of trope. Found family. Choice. Because blood is blood and I guess you’re supposed to respect that and put that above anything else. But it’s also obligation. There’s no choice there.
As a viewer, and as someone who chose found family over blood family, it’s so much more powerful when strangers are thrown into the mix and they choose each other or when strained relationships are mended because they choose to. And if Haunted Hotel is able to hook me with such strong emotional beats in one season, I really hope that Netflix gives me a second one. Because there’s so much more that can be done here. And hopefully Katherine and the hotel can make some money along the way.
Haunted Hotel is now available on Netflix.
