Netflix’s latest presentation from Southeast Asia is an Indonesian drama series titled Losmen Bu Broto, which is an expansion of the film by the same name, which itself was adapted from a popular TV show from the 1980s. The series, the title of which can be directly translated to ‘Mrs. Broto’s Guesthouse,’ is centered around the Broto family, who run a guesthouse for visitors in the Javanese city of Yogyakarta. Overall, Losmen Bu Broto: The Series might be too melodramatic and silly for some viewers but can still be interesting for those particularly interested in Southeast Asian stories.
Spoiler Alert
What is the Netflix series about?
Losmen Bu Broto opens at a modest homestay in Yogyakarta that is run by a family of loving and hardworking individuals, all of whom are invested in trying to run the establishment more effectively. The youngest son of the family, Tarjo, is very enthusiastic about making use of technology to run the place better, as he has been learning such practices at his graduation program. According to him, the system still followed to take new bookings and keep tabs on the reservations that had been put into practice by his elder sister, Sri, is too outdated, and therefore he has come up with a new digital system that can be easily accessed on a phone or tablet. He also wants to promote the guesthouse on social media, and so asks his other sister, Pur, to present the most popular food items in an eye-catching manner so that he can take photos and upload them.
Since Pur does not have much experience regarding the internet, as she handles the responsibilities of the establishment’s kitchen, and Sri is no longer associated with the business, as she wants to pursue a career in music, Tarjo is given free rein over the operations. His father, Mr. Broto, is not particularly confident in relying on technology too much, and his concerns are proved valid when Tarjo’s software ends up booking the same rooms for two sets of guests. While offering the guests their own rooms and a genuine show of apology are enough to solve the crisis in this instance, Tarjo loses his family’s confidence, much to his dismay, as he already feels rather underappreciated.
Around this time, two new guests arrive at the guesthouse, and as one of them is a dear friend of Mr. Broto named Jody, he wants to ensure that they have a very pleasant stay. Although Jody has to soon return to Jakarta to handle some professional matters, his wife, Anna, decides to stay on and explore Javanese culture by herself, for she wants to write a novel with Java as its backdrop. As Tarjo does not have any direct responsibilities to handle at the guesthouse, Mrs. Broto tells her son to accompany Anna and show her around. Tarjo and Anna soon start to explore the city together, and they develop a strong bond of friendship very quickly. However, much to the surprise of the staff at the guesthouse as well as to their own surprise, their friendship soon turns into a romantic attraction, despite the difference in their age.
Does Tarjo act irresponsibly in life?
Tarjo feels that he is wrongly underestimated and misunderstood by his family members, especially his father, and this belief becomes one of the most integral parts of his character in the beginning. Along with this feeling of not being appreciated enough, Tarjo is also of the opinion that he has not yet been able to find a purpose in his life, because of which he has been left looking for inspiration. His elder sisters, Pur and Sri, have found their respective passions in cooking and singing, respectively, because of which they have already figured out the purpose of their lives. Tarjo misses this sense of passion, and it almost seems like his only purpose at the moment is to become the first Broto family member to graduate from college. But his young age also plays a factor in him feeling this way, for as time passes, he starts to realize that his father might have had a point, after all.
Tarjo’s software to handle the reservations at the guesthouse messes things up massively, which goes to show how he has not yet fully grasped the use of technology in matters that are still mostly manually handled in his country. While this problem is sorted, the young man is given the responsibility of driving a team of kids who are in town to participate in an archery competition to the stadium, since the designated driver is busy. He takes up the responsibility and confidently drives the team to the wrong stadium, since he never thought to check the location before setting out. The manager is extremely irked by this lack of seriousness, as he blames this incident for his team not being able to win the competition. While the manager is quite dislikable, and he also did not directly tell Tarjo where he was supposed to drive to, it is also irresponsible on his part to commit such a mistake. This incident becomes the second reason for Mr. Broto to be upset with his son in a short span of time, and this further makes Tarjo feel distanced from his family. When he then starts to go around with Anna and develop feelings for her, he also slacks on his college work and stays away from his friends. It is revealed quite early in the film that Tarjo is not a brilliant student, and if he is unable to submit his thesis in time, then he will even be expelled from the course. Thus, it is arguably irresponsible of him to not care about his education at this time and to make changes to the presentation by himself, without consulting with his class partner.
Why does Anna refuse to become the sponsor?
As part of the college thesis, Tarjo comes up with the idea of a tourism company called Travel with Strangers, with which he wants to focus on catering to individuals who want to experience cultural exchange through their travel. His basic idea of bringing solo travelers together and taking them around Indonesia is appreciated by his teacher, but she is also adamant about the need to be profitable in business, and therefore, she asks Tarjo to prove how he will be bringing funds to his company. Tarjo has to bring on board a sponsor who will agree to invest in his business, and after he befriends and grows close to Anna, he decides to ask her to be this sponsor.
Anna initially agrees, and she is open to meeting with the two founders of this business proposal, Tarjo and his class partner, Sekar. But although she attends this meeting to essentially talk business, the whole conversation takes a very different turn. By this time, Anna and Tarjo have kissed multiple times and have also started acting like lovers in secret, and this is when Anna expresses her genuine interest in being together with the young man. She had pretended to have been very casual about her relationship with Tarjo, often saying how she did not take the usual expressions of attraction or desire too seriously. However, Anna is evidently very disturbed, and she genuinely feels jealous when she finds out about Sekar.
Although Tarjo apparently has no idea about it, Sekar is very romantically interested in the young man, despite not having made direct approaches ever. She is the first to rush to Tarjo’s help in any given scenario, and Anna also takes notice of this. Therefore, when the meeting to discuss the terms of the sponsorship takes place, both the women end up questioning each other’s presence in Tarjo’s life, and they both take sly digs at one another, since neither of them is officially with the young man. While Anna initially makes some excuses to back out of sponsoring the company, she eventually states that she does not want to be associated with such irresponsible people anymore.
Anna had obviously wanted Tarjo to defend her in the altercation with his friend, and when he does not do so, because he does not want to show that they’re together in public, the woman feels disturbed. This is also when things start taking a different turn, and Anna almost tries to claim Tarjo for herself, no longer caring about whether they are in public and if the guesthouse staff notice their romance. Eventually, Anna also decides to file for divorce from her husband, with the sole intention of getting together with Tarjo.
Why does Anna ultimately return to her husband?
The very reason why Anna grows extremely distant from her husband and then close to Tarjo is that Jody does not treat her well. Jody always keeps himself busy with his professional duties, to the extent that he literally abandons Anna on the very first day of their trip to Yogyakarta, despite the trip itself being meant to mend their broken relationship. Jody revealed his true colors as an emotionally neglectful husband very shortly after their marriage, and although Anna tried numerous ways repeatedly to make things better between them, nothing worked, since Jody was never interested. The fact that they are quarreling, or at least are not on the same page, is evident from the very time that they arrive at the guesthouse.
Just like every previous instance, Jody immediately changes his mind and his schedule when he receives the call from his office or business partners, and he does not even care when Anna decides to stay back by herself. He makes the effort of asking Mr. Broto to arrange a party on Anna’s birthday, but then fails to show up for the event, making it seem like he had never planned to visit in the first place. From a neutral perspective, Jody does give his wife enough reason to be distant from him and come to the decision of leaving him, but his fragile male ego kicks in when he is informed about this decision by her. He learns about Tarjo and then files a police complaint against his close friend, making it very apparent that nothing can make him take back the complaint.
However, when Mrs. Broto finds Anna’s manuscript and takes it over to Jody, he suddenly realizes his mistake and not only begs for his wife’s forgiveness but also ensures that Mr. Broto is released from the police station. This makes it seem like Anna had been expressing her concerns wrongly, or perhaps not expressing them at all, because of which her husband was unable to understand her state of mind. But since she is far better with her words, especially when it comes to projecting her own feelings and internal turmoil through the fictional story of her created characters, Jody is able to finally get what she has been trying to say for so long. Since being misunderstood was the main reason behind her marriage failing and her somewhat hasty decision to file for divorce, Anna decides to change her mind and give her husband one more chance. Anna ultimately returns to her husband, firstly because she has been disrespected and almost forced out of the Broto Guesthouse, and secondly also because she hopes that he will be able to mend his ways and finally give her the love and attention that she has been craving.
What made Ji Hae come to Indonesia?
Ji Hae, the woman from South Korea who suddenly appears to Atmo at the laundry store and then becomes his friend and eventually lover, initially seems like a tourist who is lost on the streets of Yogyakarta. When she is later joined by a Korean man, Atmo is extremely sad as she calls her company ‘oppa,’ which he understands to be an endearing term for a lover. However, Ji Hae later clarifies that she does not have any lover currently, and in fact, it is essentially to avoid having to have a lover that she has come to Indonesia. The man who joins her on the trip happens to be an old friend with whom she is still very close, and therefore she refers to him by the endearment ‘oppa.’
Ji Hae has intentionally left Korea for a very specific reason, as her mother wants her to get married to the groom of her choice, even though the young woman does not want to marry just yet, and especially not to the man selected by her family, whom she does not even know properly. It is not possible for her to completely disregard her parents’ wishes, out of love and respect for her mother, who is terminally ill and has been getting sicker with time. Stuck in a very difficult situation, she had come to Indonesia for a long vacation that would also help her avoid the inevitable marriage. However, Ji Hae has to return home when her mother’s condition worsens, and she also confesses to her about how she does not want to marry the groom they have picked for her, but wants to live with her beloved Atmo. Ji Hae’s mother seemingly accepts her daughter’s decision, which is why she asks Atmo to visit Korea during the upcoming festivities.
Do Tarjo and Sekar become a couple?
At the end of Losmen Bu Broto: The Series, Tarjo is completely cut off from Anna, both because of his parents’ wishes and also by his own will, and as he completes his college thesis and finally becomes a graduate, he turns his attention to Sekar. As a class partner and a close friend, Sekar has genuinely been by Tarjo’s side at all times, choosing to help him even when she felt frustrated and let down by his actions. Looking at the story in its entirety, without questioning its choices, Sekar seems to have identified Anna as not good for Tarjo, and so she tried to warn her against the woman multiple times. Her efforts are finally acknowledged by Tarjo at the very end of the series, when he also thanks her for all the support at his graduation party. It is suggested that Tarjo also now identifies, or rather acknowledges, the romantic gestures that Sekar had been making towards him throughout this time. Although we are not directly shown, Tarjo and Sekar are most possibly about to become a couple, and this pairing is going to be supported by Tarjo’s parents and his family as well.
