Hwayugi: Episode 11

The reason I’ve having trouble writing about Episodes 11/12 is because I keep seeing connections with the earlier episode 3. It’s hard to limit myself to three discussion points (maximum: five) per post, when I’m itching to have powerpoint presentation and go through each scene. So I’m warning you all. I’m overloading this post with pictures. If you’re bored with my ramblings or you have a slow internet, just feel free to exit this site. I won’t ~~wrist-grab~~ restrain you.

credit: addictingkdrama’s tumblr

For me, Episode 11 is a reboot of that time when the Geumganggo was first strapped on and activated.

1. Take for instance this whole talk about sleeping over at SunMi’s house in Episode 11. OG thought that, after their exchange of kiss, he was entitled to sleep over (Not so fast, Monkey!) because it’s been “decided” that they weren’t family or friends with benefits.

We can tell that he was referring to his earlier conversation with SunMi, back in Episode 9. According to him, an “ordinary” human relationship could end up with one of three different scenarios at the end of day spent together.

If the relationship was purely friendly, then the friend would stay and hang out.
If the relationship was familial, then the family member would stay to eat.
If the relationship was romantic, then the lover would would stay and sleep over.

This whole notion of relationships having three categories was in fact started by SunMi in Episode 2.

OG asked her what she wanted to do before he “ate” her up because she was SamJang. She answered that she wanted to eat with family, drink with a friend and date a boyfriend. Like a “nice” predator, he obliged her by eating in a family restaurant like an uncle and niece. Then, they went for drinks at a bar like coworkers who fancied each other. Finally, they attended a Christmas lights display as a couple.

In Episode 3, SunMi repeated her three groupings, when OG opened her fridge and found it lacking in edible food. Defensively, she explained OG that she ate out because she had no family, friend or lover.

Now, that we’re in Episode 11, it’s nice to know how far OG had come.

Before, SM was only a means to his goal (i.e., he must eat her up to gain immense power and defy the heavens). Now, he wanted to define himself in a relationship with her. Before, it didn’t matter if he was regarded as the uncle, the coworker or the boyfriend. The roles were all one and the same for him. Since his primary intent was to eat her up, it was irrelevant to him if he was a pretend relative, friend or lover. At one point, he was even considered a bodyguard because he offered himself as a “point man.” lol. His relationship with SunMi was vague and ambiguous because all he was to her was a person (or a pet dog) to call when she needed help.

All that’s missing is a dog whistle. He’ll come running when she whistles.

Honestly, he reminded me of Carly Rae Jepson and her one-hit wonder, Call Me Maybe.

Callllll meeeee, maybe, SunMi!

Joking aside, by Episode 11, defining who he was in her life mattered. It mattered to him where he stood with her. He didn’t want to be just a relative, a friend, a bodyguard, a dog, or Ms. Carly Rae Jepson. He wanted to be the lover. As a matter of fact, he insisted on being the lover.

2. Taking responsibility for the kiss.

In Episode 11, OhGong insisted that she took “responsibility” for the kiss. Personally, I don’t understand this fuss he was making over the kiss. Was that his first kiss ever? Was he never kissed before? Were his lips virginal? Why the outrage?

On a side note: I found it hilarious to discover in this episode that all three male DEMONS in Hwayugi were living the life of a MONK.

OG’s passion was just activated.
Hwayugi had been celibate for 1000 years.
PK avoided scandal successfully until the octopus arrived. And with the octopus, the pig couldn’t be a horny pig.

Geez-louise! These demons were monks after all. I thought that the Hong sisters were poking fun of them again and their “ascetism.”

To continue…

In Episode 11, OG made a big stink about SM taking responsibility for kissing him.

OG: Since you kissed me first, we are definitely not friends. (Notice that he put the blame on HER. Since “YOU” kissed me “first.”) Forget about being family, so what else would we be? Since a decision has been made, let’s go. (Meaning, let’s go to your house for the “sleep-over.”)
SM: Go where?

She wasn’t prepared for this. When she said to “activate,” she only meant to RESET their relationship BACK to where it was previously. She wasn’t planning on leveling up or moving onto the next stage. Beside she gave him a chaste kiss, he was the one who intensified it because he said the kiss wasn’t “enough.” So, why was he blaming her?? See that? Smooth player….

OG: Look at you! If you activated it, you have to take responsibility!

By “it” he didn’t mean JUST the Geumganggo. He meant the physical relationship. “She activated” is euphemism for SHE aroused him and he now felt desire (lol. I’m half-tempted to look at how romance books describe the physical aspect of lust and “bulging manhood” ). According to OG, after SM kissed him and woke up his physical urges, SHE should do something about it (or “quench the thirst”).

SM: (Blubbering) Responsibility? Take responsibility for what? I’m going home. (She’s retreating but she shouldn’t have mentioned home.)
OG: One moment. Then I’ll go first and wait. Come quickly as well.

lol. Why would he go first and wait for her at her home?? Was he planning on putting candles around the bedroom, turning on some cheesy music like “Kiss me, Darling” or did he intend to take a shower first? He seems to take showers before going to bed, remember this?

At least, he’s a hygienic.

SM: What do you mean by coming over? Just you try coming over. Don’t ever come until I call for you. Never!
OG: Hey! Call me! Make sure you call me! … I can’t understand her.

Call me maybe??? Please??

Back in their respective homes:
SM: What should I do? Now I’ve done it. (See? She knew she started it.)
OG: She’s not calling me. What does she expect me to do after activating it?

Later on he tells Mawang that he doesn’t need love from others.
OG: I don’t need such things. Respect and love. I just need to receive them from SamJang. (She chokes on wine.)
Mawang: Sam Jang, by chance? (Meaning, is there something going on that you’re hiding from us?)
SM: No! It’s definitely not.
OG: (Taking offense because she rejected him in front of everybody) What do you mean by no? If you keep acting this way (meaning, in denial about their relationship), I’m not going to activate. (Lol. He wasn’t going feel a physical urge or sexual longing for her).
SM: What?
OG: I’m talking about activation. Activate. (He was trying to jog her memory, thinking that she’d forgotten about their kiss.)

And he put his fingers to his lips then touched her lips with his fingers.

SM: Get up! Today let’s have you die too along with Mawang.

An aside: I thought that SunMi’s remark here was foreshadowing. She didn’t like it that OG did that indirect finger-kiss with her. But you know, those very same same two fingers that touched her lips would later on touch the blood on HIS LIPS… blood that came out of his lips because of the words that came out of HER lips.

So, that’s the scene from Episode 11.

Now, for me, it’s a loopback to Episode 3. Back then, he returned from that alternate virtual world with the horny demon, and realized that, HEY!!! he escaped one fake reality but he was now trapped in an even BIGGER and fake-r virtual reality where he was in love with her. Like, jumping out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

Back in Episode 3, he also wanted her to claim responsibility because the GGG was all her fault. She activated it.

And he sought confirmation that she indeed activated it by demanding another kiss. Just like he needed another kiss in Episode 11 to “activate” because the first one wasn’t enough. lol. That GREEDY monkey, always asking for one more!

See their similarity? They’re both “minions.” Get it???

Also in Episode 3, he found it insulting to be at her beck-and-call. It was all about him and his feelings.

Now, he tries to figure HER out and understand what she actually wanted when she didn’t call him.

Lastly, back then, when she told him that she didn’t care that he had feelings because she didn’t care for him anyway, he doubled up in pain.

Back then, he was too sensitive to her words because he didn’t know her at all. Now, she could tell him to go die with Mawang and scold him in front of others and he survived the “pain.”

Do you see the change in our monkey?

In the past, “taking responsibility” for OhGong meant blaming somebody else so he himself could get a free pass and be absolved of HIS responsibility. He was foisting the burden solely on her.

Now, “taking responsibility” meant sharing the responsibility. Read their dialogue again. According to him, SM activated “it,” right? So, he said, “Let’s go” because the decision had been made that they were a couple. He further said, “I’ll go first and wait. Come quickly as well.” Then, when she didn’t summon him, wondered, “What does she expect ME to do after activating it?”

By Episode 11, then, taking responsibility has now become a JOINT affair for OG. He’s involved now.

3. Then there’s the scarf. The picture is self-explanatory.

Before, in Episode 3.

Now:

He noticed right away that she wasn’t properly dressed for winter, and he fixed her clothes for her.

4. Next, his fatal words.

In Episode 3, he asked Mawang the favor of killing SunMi if SunMi didn’t release him from the Geumganggo. Remember that?

Weeeeell, he COULD still ask Mawang to kill her for him. But if he did, Mawang wouldn’t be able to become a god because Mawang didn’t want to earn points by killing a human. lol. But these words spoken in Episode 3 are considered fatal words, in the literal sense, that he was talking about fatally harming SunMi, to kill her.

Now, in Episode 11, he couldn’t contemplate killing her even if she tried to kill him first.

Frankly, I found his next words ominous…and stupid. About 98% stupid and 2% ominous. There was SunMi walking towards him. He knew that SunMi had the Death Bell. My moniker for her was “His Death Foretold.” Yet, what did he say?

He said,“I’ll never die.”

Sigh. When I read the subs, I wanted to tell him, “Shut up, Monkey!!!”

Now, THAT remark of his is definitely “fatal words.” On so many levels. Let me explain.

Fatal words are those things people say that they end up regretting. At first, they may think that the words are harmless but the words will soon prove to be the death of them — perhaps literal death, but definitely figurative death. Like OG’s “I’ll never die.” The words easily tripped off his tongue, like a boast. But no one, not even him, could have foreseen the great power SunMi possessed. When he started vomiting blood without SunMi raising a magical stick or witch-y incantation, he understood then that he could end up dead with one simple command from SunMi.

Secondly, they’re fatal words in the sense that fate had indeed ruled that he was not going to die. Death wasn’t in his fate because he was the Great Sage, Equal to the Heavens, Song OhGong, and he’d eaten the apples of immortality. But if immortality was his lot, then the prophecy of the death bell was meant for SunMi. She would be the one fated to die, and OG would be the fated to kill her. Would he really want to live in perpetuity knowing that she died because of him?

Really, Monkey?!! Stop saying things like this when you don’t know what the future will hold for you and SM. Grrrr….

Lastly, those are fatal words because they’ll cause OG’s ruin and downfall… without him being aware of it until it’s too late. It’s similar to a president saying, “I’m not a crook.” Or a queen declaring, “Let them eat cake.” Words like these often have a negative impact and they spur other people to try to disprove, challenge or eliminate the speaker.

In OG’s case, it was the gods he was provoking with his words. They were already mad at him for stealing the apples of immortality so they could easily strike back at his cockiness here to teach him a lesson he’d never forget. His words would have a devastating impact on him. Sure, the gods might not be able to kill him with a thunderbolt, but he could be tortured by unbearable pain for the rest of his life. He would have wished for death instead.

Fatal words are usually connected with hubris. Hubris means excessive pride and confidence in one’s self. In Greek tragedies, hubris is a flawed presumption that one can escape a prophesy simply by willing a change or an altering the course of life.

But in Hong sisters’ romcoms, hubris is treated more lightly. I find that, in the handful of kdramas I’ve watched, their heroes are all initially insufferable with their conceit and egotism. But the Hong sisters excel in creating these male characters who, despite their selfish ways, are still sympathetic and likable — and redeemable. I doubt that OG will be punished forever. What the gods want from him is to feel pain at least once to be forgiven.

The olive branch is already extended to him, he should just go do it. Feel the pain, dude!

5. Lastly, the plant.

Remember the plant that was under the boulder that he crushed in Episode 3?

He later bragged about it to SunMi.

Well, I think it was there in Episode 11. He was growing it.

Seeing that he rescued and was tending to the plant made me look at him more favorably. I really can’t think badly of a plant person when I can’t grow a cactus myself.

I know what fate’s in store for him, and I know what the gods want of him. But do you know what I want him to do?

Personally, I want OG to defy both fate and gods. I’m a bitch and I firmly believe in creating one’s own destiny. Therefore, should the gods join together to warn him about his fate, I want him to say, “IDGaF.”