No Vacancy for the Living

Haunted Hotel is about Katherine Freeling and her kids, Ben and Esther, as they move into the Undervale Hotel in New York. The hotel is haunted by a variety of ghosts, including Katherine’s recently deceased brother Nathan. The family is joined by a demon named Abaddon, who is trapped inside the body of a child from the 1700s. The series follows them as they try to fix up the hotel and attract customers despite the interference of numerous ghosts.

One of the things that I like about the series is the family dynamics. Katherine tries to be the responsible person among a family of eccentrics. However, the ghost and her family do not necessarily agree with the changes she tries to make in the hotel. Nathan is eager to help his family, but can’t do much of the heavy lifting because he is a ghost. He tries to act as a mediator between the hotel's ghosts and Katherine, but it often backfires. Ben is a regular teen who tries to be responsible, but is often distracted by girls and other trends. Esther, surprisingly, is the most prepared to live in the haunted hotel. She has learned black magic to defend herself against the hotel's supernatural forces. Abaddon is an agent of chaos. He terrorizes the town and does weird things around the hotel, like eating lightbulbs and crawling through the vents, much to the chagrin of Katherine.

One of the things that surprised me about the series is how dark it could get for a comedy. In the show, we learn that most ghosts don’t know how they die, including Nathan. He originally thinks that he died accidentally, but Katherine knows it is so much worse and doesn’t want Nathan to know. It explores the heartbreak that families go through when a loved one dies and how the remaining family members wonder if they could have done things differently while the deceased was alive.

One storyline that surprised me was Abaddon. Even though he is an agent of chaos, he does have one goal: return to hell and gain back his powers. He does get that opportunity when a cult dedicated to him visits the hotel. It forces Abaddon to choose if having his powers back is worth losing the found family that he is a part of. It really shows growth on his part to see the struggle that he has with that decision.

Another character who surprised me is Esther. Usually, in these types of comedies, the characters are unaware of how to handle the supernatural. However, Esther thrives in this setting. She not only learns black magic but also becomes friends with the various ghosts that haunt the hotel. She also knows her way around traps and secret passageways that the hotel contains. Her family comes to rely on her a lot when things with the supernatural take a darker turn. Despite her expansive knowledge, she still has things that she struggles with, like making friends, being part of the in crowd at school, and having issues with connecting with her father. She is a character who has a lot of nuances, which I enjoyed seeing in a comedy.

Overall, I found the show enjoyable. Despite all the chaos with ghosts, demons, exorcists, cults, and monsters, the family always works together to fight the supernatural threats against them. The series has a bunch of laughs and is a good binge for a quiet weekend. In the spirit of the series, I ask the following question: Would you live in a haunted hotel?