Episode 5: Music

Continuing on the theme of music, one cannot watch an episode of Grand Hotel without being at least slightly distracted by the soundtrack. In this particular episode, the music was extremely prominent. It may have been because this episode was filled with the most suspense and mystery compared to the previous ones, or because it revealed the most about Cristina’s disappearance thus far. Whatever the reason, I found the amount and volume of music to be extremely frustrating at times.

For obvious reasons, the music was most apparent during the most suspenseful moments (such as when the henchman hiding behind the door almost stabs Julio) or anytime a new piece of evidence would emerge (the cufflink or mysterious door key). The music would instantly play, with a forceful introduction, signaling to the audience the importance of the moment. However, there were other noticeable factors regarding the soundtrack that concerned me. Most notably, was the volume of the actual music. For the majority of the episode, the music’s volume would play at the same level as characters themselves, even overpowering the dialogue of several key scenes.

The soundtrack also had very few breaks to signify a scene change. In fact, the music did not make a clean break or even cease after the suspenseful moment concluded. It simply continued into following scene— at the same pace and volume —as if musically connecting the entire episode together, even if the new scene continued with new characters.

While the music did differentiate between scene moods (happiness - when Andres is freed from being framed for Jimena’s murder or romance - when Alicia and Julio are alone), the majority of the episode produced high tempo anxiety-filled music. It is only when the episode reached its final climax, that the soundtrack took appropriate action; corresponding rising in both melody, tempo and volume with the rising suspense.It wasn’t until the perhaps the last 10 minutes of the episode, that the amount and volume of music slightly died down entirely.

In media, music is utilized to convey emotion of the characters and signal the audience. It can be a form of foreshadowing, a signifying terror or an eventual romance. I find that in the Grand Hotel, music is performed for similar themes, but to a different extent. While American movies and shows seem to be filled with a variety of songs, the Grand Hotel primarily uses the same few songs. Also in some of the dramatic series I watch, ambient sounds seemed to be preferred over music, to add to the suspense of the scene. Whereas the Grand Hotel (in this episode primarily), there were very few scenes when only ambient sounds were presented. In fact, it seemed as not just the episode, but rather the series as a whole, prefers to use an abundant amount of music over ambient or empty sound.

Overall, there was not much variety between each scenes’ music melodies, except through the use of particular instruments. Although I did not mind the extensive use of music in the previous episodes, I did find it unnecessary at times that such an amount of music needed to alert the viewer of upcoming dangers— which was already unfolding in front of my eyes. I think this episode needed to give more credit to the viewer to be able to uncover the secrets within the scenes on their own.

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