Veterans of this blog know that I don’t do recaps. Instead, I give my opinions and theories about the drama. If my posts push your buttons or tank your self-esteem, it’s time to exit my blog. Don’t obsess about me or hate-follow me. Your mental health is your own drama.
Here’s the list of new things I learned from these two episodes:
1. Dan Hwal’s new alias and contacts
We already knew that Hwal (meaning “rebirth”) wasn’t his true name. It was a name given to him by General Dan to celebrate his new life under General Dan’s wings. I thought that his name was apropos, considering that reincarnation is a major theme of this drama.
In Ep 3, we learned that he was living under the name of Park Hui-cheol, and his birthday was Sept 21, 1960. He should be 62 years old (63 in Korean age).
We also discovered that he’d been friends with the investigator Mr. Gu for 15 years. In his previous life, Mr. Gu was the kindly neighbor who took care of Hwal after his father abandoned him. Mr. Gu had been passing on information which he requested about serial murderers.
Hwal had been acting like a vigilante, killing the monsters who were reborn as humans but continued their bloodthirst as serial killers.
My Theory:
The reason the old Hag removed the license plate on the car Hwal drove into the levee was because the car belonged to one of the monsters-humans Hwal killed. Hwal probably didn’t want the car traced to its original owner. The car, like the other vehicles in Hwal’s yard, was mostly likely repossessed from the monsters after he killed them off.
Just like the Audi.
Aside from Mr. Gu, the old Hag made her appearance in Episode 4 as an Ahjumma who delivered his supply of animal blood. She seemed to be his trusted sidekick.
Ahjumma: Then I guess I won’t have to come all the way here anymore. This means I repaid you for saving my life when I was young.
Hwal: Don’t be absurd. What about the promise you made 50 years ago?
Ahjumma: Come on. Do you really expect me to do that?
Hwal: I should retrieve my soul and turn her back into Bulgasal. Then I’m going to lock her up in that abandoned well. Forever. And your job is to protect and manage that well.
Ahjumma: Until when.
Hwal: Until you die.
Ahjumma: What?
Hwal: Then your daughter and then your granddaughter will take over.
Hmph! Doesn’t this remind me you of “Goblin: The Lonely Guardian”? He expected his loyal retainer to provide the next generation of servant for him.
Judging from the dilapidated and dusty condition of his house, the Ahjumma was the only regular visitor allowed entrance to his home.
2. The old Hag is wrong again.
You should know me by now: I’m NOT the kind to complain about flashbacks. I thought the usage of flashbacks in “Memories of Alhambra” was clever, and the repetitive flashbacks in “Lovers of the Red Sky” was to amplify the feeling of nostalgia.
In this show, however, the flashbacks annoy me because they’re defeatist in nature. Over and over again, we’re told that he was cursed and there was nothing he could do about it.
Hwal: Why have they died when the curse of Bulgasal has befallen me?
Hag: It is because they have ties with you. They were dragged into your karma.
Pffffttt… We get it already. He’s doomed. This old Hag reminds me of the character “Glum” in cartoon “Gulliver’s Travels.” They’re both pessimistic.
It’s hopeless. We’ll never make it.
The way I see it however his bad karma was already transferred to SangUn when he became a Bulgasal and she a human. While her family met with a tragic end in each reincarnation, Hwal enjoyed relative peace. None of the people connected with him had suffered from his Bulgasal curse. Take for example, the ahjumma. She’d been with him for 50 years, but no harm had happened to her yet. Also, the inspector Mr. Gu. He’d been working with him for 15 years, but he was still alive.
I say it’s safer to hang around Hwal than with SangUn.
3. Sense of smell
Monsters have a keen sense of smell. They can detect SangUn’s presence because they can smell her soul. However, the monsters appear to have different reactions to the smell of SangUn/Hwal’s soul.
a. The Jomagu, or the corpse-eating, three-eyed monster
He was repulsed by the smell of SangUn’s soul. However, if we jog our memory, this monster also refused the sacrificial offering of Hwal’s mother. She offered the baby in her womb to the monster, but the monster scampered away.
Then, the Jomagu was reincarnated as the old man who drew the Red Lady as a deity. He said that he spotted her and could never forget the sight of her. He relished killing her, saying that he never felt like that when killing others. Based on his enthusiasm, I don’t think he was nauseated by her scent.
But after he was reincarnated as the child abductor and killer, the smell of SangUn/Hwal’s soul stank. It made him sick.
b. Next, SangUn’s stalker = the bus driver = rain monster
To this monster, her soul was fragrant. But after he took a beating from her, he changed his tune.
Monster: Who the hell are you? (grabbing the knife) The smell of your soul…it makes me sick. The smell of your soul makes me sick! (attacking her)
So why do these monsters have different reactions to her scent?
My Theory: I’m guessing that SangUn’s soul – as is – smells divine to a monster.
But when the monster remembers his death by the hands of Hwal in a previous lifetime, SangUn’s soul acquires the smell of death.
They can smell the stench of death in her soul because the soul was previously owned by Hwal, the monster-slayer.
c. Hwal
Hwal couldn’t smell his own soul, so he couldn’t smell his soul inside of SangUn.
This doesn’t mean that Hwal has a malfunctioning olfactory system. It just means that her soul is his “blind” spot.
For other things, he has a sensitive nose.
He didn’t like the smell of alcohol on the detective. He didn’t like the smell of animal blood. And he was able to identify the odors on detergent on SangUn’s hair tie.
Note: it seems however that he and SangUn can sense each other by another way.
Like here:
Note: he knew somebody entered the room because a pile of books was leaned against the door. When the door was opened, the pile of books was moved. He also knew the person was still inside the room because the door was locked from the inside.
And here:
I liked how the director juxtaposed these two characters. They were both looking at the distance as if they were aware that the other person was just on the other side of the streetlight. But while Hwal just had plain greenery, SangUn was looking through flowery bushes.
Here, the director was being obvious. She was framed by the window; he was framed by the doorway. They looked like they were standing still for their portraits. She was surrounded by flowers, hinting at her beauty and fragility. He was standing in front of steel: car, truck, and fence. And steel as we all know means strength and toughness.
I’m aware that the writer tried to make their first meeting cute and spunky — as opposed to terrifying and grisly.
But because of all the bloody scenes, I couldn’t buy into their romance.
4. DoYoon
Yes, like many of you, I believe he’s the reincarnation of AChan, blind son of Hwal and Dan Sol.
The hints:
a. The way he stabbed Hwal blindly when Hwal released him from the trunk. He had his arms outstretched like a blind person. This reminded me of AChan walking in the forest.
b. His red pupil
c. He was supposedly an orphan. Hwal was an absentee father and his mother Dan Sol died.
d. He bonded easily with Hwal. AChan wished for this sort of bonding with his father. DoYoon’s unexpected piggy-back on Hwal was something the child AChan would have done had he been close to his father.
Note: in the tunnel, when Hwal “activated” and was on his Bulgasal mode, DoYoon had a nosebleed.
The rain monster also had a nosebleed right after his encounter with Hwal.
The rain monster hanged Hwal and released the rope too early, thinking that Hwal was already deady. But Hwal revived. He turned into a Bulgasal after hearing the monster boasting that SangUn’s soul would be “ours.”
From these two scenes, we can see that Hwal has a similar effect on people as Lee Joon’s Bulgasal (name: Ok Eul Tae). He can make their nose bleed when he’s on Bulgasal mode.
Note: For now, SangUn doesn’t show any signs of nose-bleeding while in his company.
5. SangUn’s special powers
In addition to her ability to detect monsters, SangUn’s seems to have more untapped supernatural powers. I count four in these two episodes.
a. fighting ability
She beat up the rain monster. She experienced a blackout (or a whiteout because there was a flash of white light).
Then, she looked confused that she was holding the knife and the monster was cowering in fright.
To me, she possesses fighting skills which are activated during a “fight-or-flight” episode…kinda like mild-mannered Bruce Banner turns into The Hulk when triggered. 🙂
Even the monster couldn’t believe that she thrashed him.
b. power to awaken Hwal’s memory
In Episode 3, when she touched the cut on his cheek, images of her walking in the field of barley flashed in his mind.
He was disturbed by the images so he asked her, “What did you just show me? What exactly are you?”
Judging by the strips of rags wrapped around the wrist (just like what the child Hyal used to wear), I say this isn’t a premonition of the future, but a remembrance of the past.
c. power cause pain to the Lee Joon’s Bulgasal
At the same time that Hwal was pulling the sword out of his chest, Lee Joon’s Bulgasal was choking in pain. The hole in his chest was bleeding.
Lee Joon: Again? What have you done? Your sister! What has she done? If I can’t crush your soul this time, you might as well die. I’ll crush it the next time you are reincarnated.
Lee Joon’s Bulgasal was confounded by this unexpected turn of events. In previous reincarnations, he had no problems killing her.
For instance, he killed the Grandma’s Unnie and disguised it in the fire. The Grandma thought her Unnie had run away from the Bulgasal.
Grandma: (confusing SangUn with her Unnie) You shouldn’t have run away like that. Bulgasal came after you left. The house was engulfed in flames. It was because you left us to look for it. How could you leave us like that?
To me, her unnie actually died in the fire, too. She left no trace of her body because her soul disintegrated into embers. (Remember how she died in the forest?)
My Theory: After the Unnie died in the fire, her soul was reborn as the young sister of Detective Kwon HoYeol aka General Dan. The Bulgasal easily killed the defenseless young sister, but oddly enough, left the young HoYeol to live.
Then, after this young girl died, the soul was reborn as SangUn. (edited 1/6/22).
Note: The body of SangYeon, the twin Unnie, remained intact because the soul was dwelling in SangUn. 🙂
d. telekinesis or the power to move objects with her mind
She made that sword appear out of nowhere and stab Lee Joon’s Bulgasal. Hwal couldn’t have done it because he was still groggily emerging out of the bushes.
6. Hwal’s attempted suicide
I wasn’t too happy with the scene when Hwal tried to commit suicide. He intended to cause a traffic accident by ramming his car into a truck. But he knew he was an immortal, and the truck driver was human. He could have maimed or killed the driver, so why did he make such a selfish move like that?
If he wanted to commit suicide, he shouldn’t drag others with him.
7. SiHo’s pregnancy and “history repeats itself”
SangUn is repeating Hwal’s actions.
600 years ago, Dan Sol was enraged with Hwal for tainting her children with his curse.
Sol: I am saving my children from your curse. My children are ill because of you and you killed one at birth. You killed her. Had it not been for my father, I would not have married a man who has been cursed by Bulgasal. (seeing his blood on the sword) What are you doing?
Hwal: The curse of Bulgasal. I heard that all my life. It was the first thing I learned to say. I heard it when I was abandoned and when the villagers showed hatred for me. I wish I’d never been born. I always wanted to die.
Sol: Then you should have. Why did you drag my children into your curse?
That’s when Hwal resolved to go after the Bulgasal.
Hwal: We are both cursed. However, I will break my own curse. I will go after Bulgasal and I will end this curse.
Sol: You will die before that happens. Do as you please.
Hwal: I will take Achan with me. Only then can I break the curse of Bulgasal.
For Hwal, the future of his and Sol’s son and future children was the impetus he needed to for face Bulgasal and put an end to the curse of Bulgasal.
In the present time, Min Si Ho (the reincarnation of Dan Sol) was angry with her sister SangUn for the kind of life they were living. It was no way to raise her child, she said.
SiHo: I’m fed up with living in hiding over something that ridiculous. Okay? I use a fake name, a phone under a borrowed name, have no bank account or credit cards, and have no friends. Is this living?
SangUn: Do you want to stay here because of your boyfriend?
SiHo: No. We broke up today. I’m just tired of this life. I refuse to live like this any longer. Because…I’m pregnant.
SangUn: What did your boyfriend say? What does he want to do?
SiHo: He wants no part in this. It has nothing to do with him. It’s my baby. I’ll raise it on my own. That’s why I can’t do this anymore. First, I need a stable job. So I can’t –
SangUn: (hugging her) Don’t worry. I’ll help you. I’ll look for a way. Okay. I’ll fix this.
SiHo: How? You only know how to run away. Even now, and back then, too. When we lost Mom and Sangyeon, you couldn’t do anything. No. You didn’t do anything. Sure. We were very young. But still…you should have done something.
Because of this confrontation, SangUn went to pay their Grandma a visit at the senior’s retirement home the following day.
Note: SiHo was mistaken. SangUn didn’t do anything to hunt Bulgasal because their “Grandma” commanded them to go hiding and forget about killing Bulgasal. Being an obedient child, and feeling guilty that she caused the death of her mom and Unnie, she complied.
Note: SangUn wasn’t aware that she was also mimicking Hwal’s action 600 years ago. His adopted father, General Dan, insisted that the Bulgasal didn’t exist. 🙂
At the nursing home, SangUn pleaded with their Grandma.
SangUn: I listened to you and lived in hiding. But I can’t do that any longer. We’ll be welcoming a new family member. So please help us find a way to break free from Bulgasal.
Do you see that?
It was about Dan Sol’s child all over again. History repeats itself. 🙂
For the sake of the welfare of Dan Sol’s child — and Min SiHo’s unborn child — both Hwal and SangUn wanted to break the curse. If it was just up to them, they would have passively lived a cursed existence. But because of the children, they felt it was their duty to challenge the curse.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
There! I believe I covered most of Eps 3 & 4. I’ll start watching Eps 5 & 6. I’m giving you all heads-up that I’m seriously considering locking my future posts on “Bulgasal” with a password. If I do so, I’ll give the password to the regulars on the “Bulgasal” thread.
@packmule3: Thank you for this analysis. The scenes make much more sense to me now. I had missed some of SandUn’s special powers that you have listed.
She also has another special power to add to the list:
Power to sense when a demon is near –
The fingers of her hand twitch whenever a demon is near, and that’s how she has the premonition that she is in danger.
I had two questions though on DoYoon and the flashback Hwal had when SangUn touched him. Do let me know if you have any theories on this.
1) Hwal has the ability to recognize reincarnated souls and see through their facades in this lifetime – just like he recognized the shaman ahjumma, the villafe neighbour turned detective, and also the different demons. If DoYoon is really his reborn son, why can’t he recognize his soul? Is that also a curse that he won’t be able to recognize his own son because of how Hwal had neglected him in his original life?
2) When SangUn touched Hwal, he had a flashback of her walking happily in a field. Do you think they were doomed lovers in a lifetime before the Joseon era (even before our drama’s timelime supposedly starts)? Is there a possibility of a backstory to the backstory which we haven’t been told so far, which will show their original love story, how the red lady became a Bulgasal and why she defended Hwal in the first place? That is still a mystery to me.
By the way, thank you for changing the blog settings. I am getting notifications of new posts again😊😊
🙂 @Phoenix,
Is it becoming clearer now? As @GB said, the cinematography overwhelmed the plot, and distracted viewers from understanding and connecting with the story.
I edited my post for clarification.
Now, let me see if I can answer your questions.
1. I think Hwal recognized the reincarnated monsters and humans, not by their souls, but by their faces. Remember the file on the child abductor that he received from his investigator, Mr Gu? He recognized the Jumago when he saw the photo ID. He hadn’t seen the Jumago’s soul yet but by appearance alone, he knew the man in the photograph was the monster. 🙂
And that’s the reason he can’t tell that DoYoon is the reincarnation of his son Achan. He never knew his son’s face because Achan had a big bandage covering like a half of his face. 😂 Also, Hwal was expecting to see a young boy.
But the soul is ageless. The body can age but the soul inside of DoYoon is still the young child that he was in his previous lifetime.
2. Yes. I believe they were doomed lovers before their meeting in the Joseon period.
a. I mentioned this in my First Impression. I said in the montage in the opening scene, there was a brief image of drawing of a Lady in Red and a Man in Blue with their backs facing each other. They had halos. I took a screenshot of that image and “theorized” 😂 that both of them were previously immortals till they had a “falling-out” and separated.
Unfortunately, neither one could remember that time. Hwal’s memories only go 600 years. And the twin SangYeon who remembered everything, even way past 600 years, was already dead.
I believed SangYeon knew Hwal even before Hwal’s current reincarnation. Hence, she was tearing up when SangUn told her that she met a stranger, a perverted stranger, who asked about a scar on her shoulder. If you remember, SangYeon was shedding tears as she listened to SangUn.
To me, she was crying because of mixed feelings: he found her again and he was going to take his revenge and kill her (that’s FEAR). But he still couldn’t remember who she really was and what she really meant to him because his memories of his previous lifetime was erased (that’s HEARTACHE).
🙂
May I pls hv the password if you are going to lock your future posts on Bulgasal? Or Beloved Summer? I love the discussions on BOD 👌🏻
Okay, @Ping.
@packmule3 Thank you so much for sharing your explanations. This is becoming much clearer to me now.
I missed that opening montage image which you have pasted here, which shows they were immortal beings in a past lifetime. Maybe that’s why the show sub-title is also called Immortal Souls.
It also makes a lot of sense that Hwal recognizes reincarnated people by their faces because other than thr son, all the other reincarnated people have the same faces.
Now that the fog in my brain is a bot clearer thanks to your posts, I can go to watch episode 6😊 You are right, I do think it’s the director’s fault for overindexing on the cinematography and not editing the storyline logically.
If you decide to password protect this, please do share it with me too, because I don’t think I’ll be able to watch this obscure drama without your posts😊 I will be tempted to drop it again 🙈
@Phoenix,
I think it has something to do with the lead actors, too. I think he’s handsomer than Gong Yoo, but Gong Yoo has more charisma. More swagger. More oomph. It’s what I expect of an immortal who has lived for centuries. (Plus the Hwal actor combs back his hair. 😂 The tic is distracting and doesn’t fit the character.)
Same thing with Kwon Nara. She’s prettier than Kim GoEun. But Kim GoEun is more charming and personable.
Put together, I’m more invested in what happened to Gong Yoo and Kim GoEun’s characters in “Goblin” than the protagonists here.
I was planning to lock the “Bulgasal” threads to teach a few lurkers and wannabe-Bitches a lesson. They don’t get to dictate who I let in to my blog and what I want to write about. They’re obstructing my free use of my own property, and interfering with my enjoyment of my own blog. They’re a nuisance. 🙄
@packmule3
I’m totally with you on the ML’s hair (I thought it was only me who finds it irritating 😝). I find his haircut and that middle parting that he keeps flicking distracting and his stare wooden. Instead if should have been smouldering glare or even a scary one, but it makes me feel nothing.
To be honest, because I have a shallow heart (🙈), I watch my dramas because of the MLs who are hot, brooding or aspirational boyfriend material😜 But if the ML is none of those and makes me feel nothing, the drama loses its hook for me.
But I will still persevere if the story is intriguing enough and it has enough twists to trigger analysis on this blog🤞
Oh I didn’t know the lurking fangirls/wannabe bitches are descending on BoD and bothering you on this drama too. I know it happened for dramas like Startup, MoA or HP before, where you had to do a lot of gatekeeping and pruning out weeds to keep the spirit of the blog clean.
There must be so much backend work that you do for this blog (which we take for granted) to keep this the warm and welcoming place for us it always is😊 Thank you so much for this – I’ve been here since 2018 MoA days and I’ve never once regretted it. I think I continue to watch kdramas just because of this blog 🤩
Thank you for thus post @pm3!❤❤❤
Oh, so we have lurkers on Bulgasal?? I wonder what their displeases are🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have watched LJW in Goodbye Mr Black…gosh if not for Moon Chae Won I would have dumped that drama in my drop list.😂 he is very good looking but I don’t get heart flutters … weird lol… whatever he did I just stared blankly waiting for more clarification on the mystery instead of swooning over him… 😂
Back to bulgasal, since pm3 wrote about repeated events… I wonder if in his past past life pre Hwal, his wife/siho existed as well. They were somehow connected. Similar to this dark hole bulgasal. Just like Hwal was reborn as Hwal with a scar from the past and power/ability to fight off monsters, his wife was reborn with her power too time and time again. Was she and the dark hole bulgasal the reason of that bad fate between lady bulgasal and pre-hwal? 🤔🤔
@Miracle23 Totally with you on the ML causing no heart flutters whatsoever 🙄
On the topic of Dark Hole/Other Bulgasal (original Bulgasal?), I think the backstory/pre-Joseon love story between Hwal-Red lady may have ended because of him. He is tied to that story somehow (as in how did the red lady give him the hole in the heart).
I am a lurker here, but I have nothing but respect for the content and its authors! I find your blog to be a great help is clarifying what is happening in this particular drama, and I have enjoyed the content for many other dramas as well. I am reticent in life, and so commenting is also difficult for me. I worry that my comments will not truly add anything. But I do have something that has been worrying at my thoughts regarding this drama. Why does the portrait of the red lady/lady bulgasal look so European? It reminds me of images from older vampire movies in her dress and appearance, and does not (to me at least) appear Korean at all. I hesitate to post this as it seems trivial, but I also didn’t want to be swept into the category of malevolent lurker! Thank you for your thoughtful content and deep discussions.
@Jane M, she looked like a princess from somewhere, right? I wonder how old was that drawing… if Lee Joon has it, could it be her original self… way before bulgasal?🤔
@Phoenix, right? Like all of these players are in there from the very beginning… their reincarnations are just another wheel of fate which will eventually put them in one frame/circle again, and again.
Thanks for your explanations @pkml3. I’ll come and go and try not to snark. Perhaps show will improve so that there’s nothing to snark about! 🙂
Hi! I guess I’m a lurker? Nothing malevolent intended, I just found your blog yesterday while looking for explanations of mythological, religious, and cultural things in K-dramas that have confused me. I love what you have to say! I just started Bulgasal. Hotel Del Luna was great, and makes so much more sense to me after reading what you and the regular contributors had to say. Hi Mama Bye Mama made me cry. Vincenzo was amazing, but I closed my eyes during the vengeance scenes. I didn’t like Squid Games at all. Habaek is my favorite, I’ve re-watched it a lot. I’m an old Gramma who discovered the fun and fascinating world of k-dramas during the boring isolation of the pandemic, and now I’m hooked!
Welcome to BoD, @K-Drama Gramma.
I’ll let you and @OldAmericanLady (OAL) figure out who’s older. I “self-identify” as a teenager. My sons (and their long-time sweethearts) have no intentions of making me a proud grandma anytime soon, anyway. 😔
Now that 8 episodes have aired, I re-watched some scenes from earlier episodes for clarification, and here are my thoughts.
Episode 1: The first scene of the episode. I think DH is fighting Lee Joon’s Bulgasal, with MSU somewhere on the sidelines. DH floats down the river, but returns to the bridge area and MSU is there waiting for him?
I think Red Lady was protective of young Hwal and didn’t hold any grudge against him. She saved young DH from the angry mob. Perhaps she killed him at the end of Ep 1 out of sympathy?
Episode 2, around the 3:20 time stamp. The camera photography is different from all the other scenes. It’s gray, with focus in the center of DH and Red Lady, and blurs out on the concentric circle, as if a predator is watching. Perhaps this is Lee Joon’s Bulgasal?
Episode 3: Great observations from @pkml3 on MSU’s super powers. Around 1:06:19 time stamp, when MSU blanks out, the audience is shown a male walking along passage(s) of a cave. Perhaps this was a shared living space?
Around 1:10:30 time stamp, when MSU is touching DH’s cheek with the knife cut, I think those images are of the future. Her hair style if similar to the current hair style, a little wavy, whereas 600 years ago, her hair was much longer and straighter.
Packmule3, thanks for the welcome! I hear you; my daughters made me a Gramma long ago, but my son isn’t in any hurry, sigh. My girls (oldest and youngest children) have been married over 20 and 15 years, my son (the middle child) FINALLY married his long-time girlfriend last year. We all love her and told him, “it’s about time”, haha!
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