Grand Hotel - The Complete Second Season - DVD

Content: The Grand Hotel opens its doors for the second round: four months have passed since the dramatic events of the first season. Actually, after the love of his life Alicia Alarcón (Amaia Salamanca) married Don Diego (Pedro Alonso), Julio (Yon González) wanted to leave the hotel and return to his mother. But after his best friend Andrés (Llorenc González) is in a coma since the electrocution that turns out to be an attempt on his life, Julio just won't leave his side. When he wakes up again, his mother and the pregnant Belén (Marta Larralde) are delighted. But Doña Teresa (Adriana Ozores) and Don Diego would have preferred the demise of their servant, as they both know a secret that they want to keep at all costs. When Alicia returns from her honeymoon, it doesn't take long for the old feelings between her and Julio to flare up again. But there's no time for heartbreak. Because the two get on the trail of a secret that seems to be directly connected to the death of Alicia's father a year ago. But who is actually after Andres? What will become of Belén's child? Did Alicia's father really die of natural causes? And will Julio and Alicia find their way back together after all?

The second season of Grand Hotel, again shot against the picturesque backdrop of the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander, Cantabria, continues the series' dramatic style consistently. With a great set and beautiful images, a story of love, intrigue, murder and jealousy is told here in the best telenovela tradition. In direct comparison to the first season, however, there are also some changes. While the dramatic part of the story is told more and more pointedly and thus sometimes threatens to drift into unintentional comedy, the makers also allow the viewers significantly more intentional humorous moments than in the first episodes. These are primarily on the account of the police duo, with the demotion of the dedicated commissioner after the events of the last season and thus the rise of his rather dorky assistant to his superior providing plenty of comic potential.

There are a few things that are used a bit too often. There is, for instance, the fact that the employees in the hotel, where there is supposedly always so much to do that there is no time for leisure, can nevertheless always be found loitering in the hotel corridors long enough to observe, purely by chance of course, any suspicious activities, discover forbidden flirtations or eavesdrop on conspiratorial conversations. Or that even in the most dicey of situations, Julio still has time for a suffering glance in Alicia's direction. That's quite effective for once, but in the long run it's almost a bit ridiculous. It is also not very believable that a baby can be permanently hidden in a chest without screaming loudly or even suffocating.

However, weaknesses of this kind should not be judged too harshly. After all, the series shows especially in the second season again and again something like self-irony and also does not try to be more than it is. The makers are well aware that they offer nothing more than a classic soap with all the usual ingredients, which have only been slightly improved by equipment, costumes and locations. And the scriptwriters know very well how to deal with these ingredients, because in the end they have given the series, despite its weaknesses, an enormously high addiction factor, which does not diminish even when the action comes across a little too overdone.

So if you have already fevered and pined along with the first season, you will devour this box again with relish. Because visiting the Grand Hotel is just fun, even if the series may not be a highly intellectual masterpiece. And therefore there is also for this box again a very clear: worth seeing!

Picture + sound: Compared to the first season, nothing has changed here. The image of the DVD convinces in most scenes with a pleasantly high image sharpness and a powerful, very warm color scheme. Some small details sometimes seem a little washed out, but overall prevails a quite positive overall impression for a TV production. The sound, which is presented as a stereo mix, focuses primarily on the dialogue and music, but every now and then small sound effects and ambient noises provide some dynamics on the sound carpet. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has only a few program tips to offer.

Conclusion:Grand Hotel offers again in the second season entertaining soap entertainment in an impressive setting, beautiful costumes and a lavish set. The scripts, however, sometimes take on unintentionally comical features, but this does little to change the still highly addictive nature of the series. Besides some clichés and a lot of kitsch, there are also some really exciting, thrilling and beautiful moments that make these new episodes absolutely worth watching again for fans of the first season. The DVD presents the series in good picture and sound quality, but viewers will have to do without bonus material this time as well. All in all, if you already have the first box set on your DVD shelf, you shouldn't leave season 2 in the store either. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp