Veterans of this blog know that I don’t do recaps. Instead, I dispense theories and criticisms in spades. If the contents on this blog trigger you to send nasty comments to my email because I hurt your feelings or your sacred cow, then it’s high time for you to walk away. Don’t hate-follow me or obsess about the things you read here. Move on.
By now, I’ve learned to dismiss the gore in this drama with Monty Python’s level of stoicism and understatement.
Monty Python and the Holy Grain (1975) 
Next time I see Hwal with another compound fracture or knife stabbed through his hand, I’ll just say, “Pshaw…tis just a scratch.”
Kidding aside, I’m still learning to distinguish between real information about Bulgasal and misinformation. I’ll share with you what I learned in these two episodes.
1. Hwal’s foster father, General Dan, is a Bulgasal denier.
lol.
a. Back in Episode 1, General Dan reassured Hwal that it’s just a figment of people’s fear.
Gen: We ought to indulge ourselves with some smiles today. The last Monster on this land is gone now.
Hwal: Not yet. There is one monster left.
Gen: Are you talking about Bulgasal? People say Bulgasal sucks human blood and destroys souls. But as it has no soul, it cannot be killed. However, it does not exist. Their fear of Monsters created a Monster that is far scarier than the rest. No one has seen it in person.
Hwal: That’s because… (looking at his wound on his hand)…anybody who sees the Bulgasal meets their fate.
And Hwal remembers the old hag’s warning, “The curse of the Bulgasal will note end until the boy dies.”
Gen: Hwal. (laying his hand on his) Bulgasal does not exist. We are done hunting Monsters as of today. You must let go of your past with Bulgasal. (gripping his hand) Alright?
b. Then, in Episode 5, when Hwal discovered there was another Bulgasal, he was reminded of that time 600 years ago when the General told him how the myth started.
Gen: Did you just ask how many Bulgasal there are? Don’t ask me a ridiculous question. Just keep your eyes on the water, before Teoreokson jumps out of the water and eats both of our heads.
Hwal: At the northernmost tip of the swamp, there’s a mountain where the Bulgasal supposedly lives.
Gen: You’re talking about Bulgasal again? You don’t even know if it exists.
Hwal: Stop saying it doesn’t exist –
Gen: Do you know when people first heard of Bulgasal? It was 400 years ago. There was a myth that a Bulgasal killed everyone in a mountain village. Ever since then no one has seen it again. There are only rumors. And the rumors said there was only one Bulgasal.
From this piece of information, Hwal could estimate that Dark Hole/Ok EunTae was around 1000 years old.
c. In Episode 2, Hwal proved to Gen Dan that the Bulgasal when he transformed into one. He met his foster father at the well.
Gen: I knew you would come to find me once I was alone. Is it true that you have become Bulgasal? (drawing his sword and pointing at Hwal’s neck) Answer me.
Note the similarity between the General’s question and Hwal demanding to know who SangUn really was.
Like father, like son. Before they meted out their punishment, they wanted to make sure that they were dealing with a true monster.
Gen: (continuing) Did you sacrifice your men and become an evil spirit? Did you really kill Sol and AChan with your own hands?
Hwal: (kneeling) Please kill me.
Gen: What?
Hwal: I cannot die. I jumped off a cliff and stabbed myself with a sword, but I did not die. I have truly become an immortal monster. I have become an evil spirit who feeds off human blood.
He’s wrong. His actions determine what he is. He becomes an evil spirit if and only if he starts doing evil things. He isn’t an evil spirit simply because he’s turned immortal.
Gen: So it is true.
He meant the “rumors” that Bulgasal exists.
Gen: The Royal Court wants you dead. If you cannot die, I will cut you into pieces and seal you shut at the bottom of a well.
This is where Hwal got the idea of sealing SangUn in a well.
Gen: (continuing) I will ask you one more time. (raising the sword) Did you really kill Sol and Achan with your own hands?
Hwal: I did. I dragged them into this, promising that I would break the curse so I led them to their deaths.
In other words, he’s taking full responsibility. He was blaming the Bulgasal.
Hwal: I was not able to forget how Bulgasal had saved me when I was little. So I let it go and that has led to their deaths.
Right? He had the Red Lady in his hand at the mountain, and his soldiers surrounded them. They could have captured her back then, but instead, he protected her by taking the arrow for her.
Hwal: Their necks were torn. And as they lay dying with their eyes still open, I could not do anything. So I am the one who killed them.
He felt culpable. He was taking the blame.
Gen: (swung the sword and missed deliberately) Go. Flee from the humans and live in hiding. Do not harm them.
Hwal: Why are you doing this? I am Bulgasal who feeds off their blood.
Gen: You are not a Monster. You were born a human and lived as one. You have the heart of a human. So live no matter what. (dropping the sword and walking away)
d. Then, in Episode 5, Hwal discovered more about the nature of the Bulgasal from Ok EunTae/Dark Hole.
Hwal: Why are you trying so hard to kill her soul? You monsters used to live in the mountains and kill any humans you saw. She used to be your kind.
Dark Hole: My kind? (Tearing up) Humans also go after their own kind. They kill and steal from each other. We’re just like humans. Once something goes wrong, we can’t go back. Even if hundreds of years pass by and it’s just the two of us in the world.
Three things here:
One, it seems to me that the Bulgasal and the mortals didn’t mix. The mortals had their civilizations, e.g., cities and towns, while the Bulgasal claimed the mountains as their territory. The humans, like the ones displaced during the collapsed of the Goryeo Empire and the Japanese raiders in Episode 1, were considered fair game because they entered their “space.”
Two, my impression is that there used to be more than two Bulgasal. It wasn’t just Dark Hole and the Red Lady. Probably there was even a tribe of them. But their numbers dwindled to just the two of them, Dark Hole and Hwal, in the modern times.
I say this because, to me, it doesn’t make sense for just two Bulgasal to kill and steal from each other “like humans.” Stealing implies that a certain resource was scarce, e.g., not enough food, or not enough caves to live in. But if there were just the two of them, and there should be plenty of human victims to go around, and a whole mountain to divvy up. Just saying….
Three, I thought it was cute that beside the dark hole, he was wearing what looked like a heart locket. hahaha. She must have stabbed his heart.
2. SangUn’s has more superpowers.
We’ve been keeping tabs of her powers.
In Episode 2, we learned that she could sense the presence of monsters because her hand tingles. She also gets goosebumps.
In Episode 3 & 4, we learned that she had:
a. fighting ability, however, she didn’t appear to have zero recollection of beating up the Rain Monster
b. power to conjure up Hwal’s memory with a touch
c. power to make Ok Eul Tae feel excruciating pain by making his dark hole bleed
d. telekinesis, she made the sword stab Ok Eul Tae
In Episode 5, we learned that her Unnie SangYeon had the special power to deliver curses that come true.
Sangyeon: You will never be able to kill her. You won’t be able to touch her.
Dark Hole: What are you talking about?
Sangyeon: The dark hole won’t go away. She will put everything back in its place.
Also, during Hwal’s lunch meeting with Dark Hole, Dark Hole mentioned the curse.
Dark Hole: When you are as old as I am, you’ll get to know much more. Like the fact that there was a baby who was born with Bulgasal’s curse. And I know the reason why you were cursed by that woman too.
I say that’s another one of the Red Lady/SangYeon/SangUn’s superpowers: the ability to curse and heap bad luck on a person.
No, not this type of cursing.
And oh! She also has the ability to prick Hwal’s conscience. For instance, DoYoon was complaining that he was hungry. Once he mentioned that their imprisoned guest, SangUn, could also be hungry, Hwal instantly took money from his wallet to purchase food.
Also, she could argue with him.
Hwal: You said I could kill him right? Do you know how?
SangUn: I don’t know. She only said that you were the sword to kill Bulgasal.
Hwal: Where can I find the bastard?
SangUn: I don’t know that either.
Hwal: How come you don’t remember anything? All of your past lives.
SangUn: Because I’m an ordinary human being.
I believe that she isn’t fully aware of her powers. Like, she heard her sister said that Ok EunTae couldn’t kill her, yet she was still frightened by him.
SangUn: (continuing) Unlike my sister, I don’t —
Hwal: What are you plotting? Why did you split the soul and be born as twins?
No. The soul can’t be split. She has Hwal’s soul. Her Unnie didn’t. That’s why the Rain Monster went after her, not her Unnie, at the bus station. However, unnie possessed all their memories of their past life. That was the trade-off.
Hwal: How come you survived instead of your sister who remembered everything?
SangUn: I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Hwal: Why are you acting innocent? What are you trying to do? (Eyes turning red) Why are you asking me for help?
Notice that despite being on his Bulgasal mode, neither her ears or nose was bleeding. It seemed as if she was immune to him.
SangUn: You’re hurting me.
Hwal: You don’t remember?
SangUn: It hurts.
Hwal: What are you really trying to do?
SangUn: Then what about you?
Touche! He calmed down because she got a point. He was accusing her of having a secret motive for claiming that she couldn’t remember anything from the past. He thought that she was scheming something.
Actually, he was the one who plotting something against her. He had a secret motive for wanting her to remember all the details about the Bulgasal Ok Eul Tae, like how to kill it and where it lived. He wanted to get the information so he could eliminate it first. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to carry on with his plan to reclaim his soul from SangUn and lock her up in the well.
To me, SangUn’s utmost concern was to get rid of the Bulgasal so she, her sister, and her sister’s baby could live free.
Last, and not the least, I think her “best” superpower in display this Episode 6 was her ability to transform Hwal. This is a trope, of course. The heroine in any romance plot is supposed to transform the brooding hero into a man open to mystery and wonders of life again after suffering a trauma.
Towards the end of Episode 6, we saw SangUn do that. She tripped (rolling my eyes here) and landed in Hwal’s arms. He saw the ugly bruise on her ankle and asked her “Why didn’t you tell me you got hurt?”
SangUn: It’s nothing.
Hwal: Don’t get up.
SangUn: I just sprained it.
Hwal: Didn’t Teoreokson do this to you? Do you want to be a cripple? If Ok EulTae comes after you, do I need to carry you? Don’t be an inconvenience.
SangUn: That won’t happen. (he got the bandage) It’s okay. Let me do it.
Hwal: It’s quicker if I do it. I’ve done it many times.
SangUn: (sadly remembering when he had her in a chokehold) You don’t need to do this. It’s confusing whenever you help me since I know you want to kill me. So don’t bother being nice to me.
Sigh. If it was Gong Yoo or Lee MinHo or even Park HyungSik delivering these lines, I’m sure my heart would have fluttered. This moment marked the first time that the hero showed concern for the welfare of the girl but he was disguising it in his gruff tone and manner. This was supposed to be a sweet moment. But with this actor…? His delivery needs more oomph.
3. What was SiHo’s vision?
What did she see when she touched Hwal’s hand?
I have three theories.
a. She saw the same image that she did 600 years ago. She saw Hwal being saved in the water by the Lady in Red, and the Lady in Red standing in front of him.
b. she saw Hwal’s quest for vengeance and in it, SangUn’s face appeared.
c. she saw herself in the past married to Hwal. Lol. This can explain why she hid herself from his sight, and behaved awkwardly with him. The photograph of him with the Ahjumma as a little girl, disturbed her, too because it would confirm her “vision” that Hwal wasn’t an ordinary human being.
4. Eating Korean pork barbecue is a must in kdramas.
There was nothing to eat inside the house, so SangUn offered to go out and buy her sister and DoYoon food. Hwal arrived and asked her where she was going. She said she was going to the grocery store.
He looked at SiHo who avoided his glance and hid behind Doyoon. He then answered SangUn that it was too dangerous to go out and proceeded to call the Ahjumma. I couldn’t tell if he was quick to get them food out of concern for his previous wife SiHo or SangUn.
This must have been a heart-warming scene if Hwal could feel emotions. It was probably the first time he had people gathered at his house.
He didn’t join them though, and he grumbled about buying meat. Of course, he wouldn’t like the meat. But I thought it was interesting that SangUn, too, didn’t have an appetite for meat. Her excuse was it was the wrong time of the day. I’m taking this as a sign that when she was a Bulgasal, she avoided eating human flesh, like Hwal.
5. The CPR
I thought it was weird that she administered CPR hours after she rescued him from the pool. But it made sense. She thought he would have revived naturally because he was an immortal and when he seemed to be unconscious for a long period of time, she started CPR.
However, what was weirder to me was that she was able to save him when she almost drowned in the swamp the previous night. Did she forget how to swim that time because of mental fatigue?
I’ve no comment about that other bed scene. hahaha.
6. The painting
I’m leaving this out here for reference later.
That’s it for me.
“Hwal’s foster father, General Dan, is a Bulgasal denier.”
This gets me in stitches 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 … ok 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️continue reading!
😂 I’m glad you got the joke.
Thanks @pkml3. Perhaps one day, when the weather is bad, when the weather is good, when the weather is so-so, I’ll watch Episode 6. LOL.
Hahaha. Where have I heard of those lines? From what kdrama?
Don’t worry, @GB. You have so many dramas on your plate right now. Just pace yourself. I don’t want you burning out mid-year.
@pkml3 The words are more or less from Goblin. His sentimental way of planning when he’d tell ET that she was his first love or when he’d propose to her. Why do I find them so romantic? LOLOL.
@GB Sorry for the off topic comment but your comment stirred a response in me. 😂
See…it’s what’s unsaid but inferred that makes it all the more beautiful? I keep reading in the other Forum how disappointed many were when DI didn’t declare her undying love to San (like he did to her multiple times)? Many felt he was hard done by. That he kept pressing (imploring) her to tell him but she kept dodging and never did? But honestly did she need to? It was all there? In her choices? In her actions? That speaks so much louder than a spoken, “I love you too”? Words are cheap. 🙄.
PS I don’t think I can stomach another horror flick. After Happiness and then Silent Sea I wanted a break. I might start Tracer after I shake off the last remnants of Omicron from my system 🦠. How much gore can a taxation specialist (?) get involved in? 😂
@nrllee, You are referring to my saying that Goblin’s words to Eun Tak were romantic because of what can be inferred? Yes, that’s true.
I agree with you that there was no need for Deok Im to say that she loved Yi San in The Red Sleeve Cuff. She reserved the right to tell him only by her body language LOL. She liked to exercise her right of choice, and so that’s what she did. Of course, San’s love language seems to be to say things in words. But anyway, as she said, if she didn’t love him, she’d have done anything/everything to get away, but she’d chosen to stay.
Are you watching Bulgasal? I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
😂 I think they’re right to be disappointed, @nrllee.
I dropped the show (or I haven’t started, depends on how you look at my arrested development) but if you look at the particulars and not the personalities, what happened to the San and DI can be seen happening to a modern couple.
1. Boy and girl meet.
2. Boy can’t marry her but begs her to be his mistress.
3. She declines his pleas/inducements/offers several times.
Reasonable people can assume a number of this, like:
a. Her pride is hurt.
b. She’s playing hard to get to force him to reconsider.
c. She doesn’t want an intimate relationship with him as wife or mistress, anyway. She’s friend-zoned him.
d. She’s an all-or-nothing, my-way-or-the-highway, take-it-or-leave-it mental attitude.
e. She doesn’t love him enough.
4. She changes her mind and settles to become his mistress.
5. She’s a loyal and dutiful mistress but she *refuses* to tell him “I love you” even when he begs her.
6. She dies without him ever hearing the three words.
I say it’s a power trip. 🙂
It’s NOT that those three little words are cheap, but it’s exactly the opposite, @nrllee. She knows the value of those words. They’re priceless. He can have her body, her mind, her allegiance. But she refuses to give him the satisfaction of ever hearing those words because the words represent her last vestige of independence, power, and self-determination.
In essence, she’s asserting her self-worth.
Sure, it can be argued that she already “told” him “I love you” in countless, immeasurable ways. Body language opposed to words.
But the fact remains that she is holding something back. The deliberate repression of the words — when she knows full well the words can give him reassurance — is her taking a last stand. In withholding the words, even at her deathbed, she effectively places a limit to his demands on her. “Until here and no further.” She insists on claiming a little bit of herself. She intends him to have it all…except those three little words. He can’t have his cake and eat it. He can’t have everything. He got her to agree to become his mistress, but he ain’t gonna make her say those three little words.
🤐🤐🤐
And THAT is not love at all, @nrllee.
Look: the screenwriter can definitely tug at our heartstrings. But he/she doesn’t seem to understand how commitment works. And I heartily disagree with this portrayal of true, sublime, sincere, pure, divine, noble and perfect love. Love is “totus tuus” or “totally yours.”
Nothing is held back.
Can you imagine Jesus Christ dying on the cross (because God so loves the world) saying, “Okay, folks, I love you all and stuff, but please don’t ask me to give up my last slice of decadently rich, death-by-chocolate cake for you. That’s asking for a teeny wee bit too much after all I’m doing here for you.”
🙂As blasphemous as that sounds, I hope you understand what I mean. In the grand scale of things, it’s absolutely petty, incongruous AND unloving to make a big fuss over the last slice of chocolate cake, and three little words.
@packmule3 thanks for unpacking it for me. I stopped Red Sleeve Cuff at Ep3? I didn’t want to ring in the NY with tragedy. The story didn’t sound like it would end well. So I have just been reading comments and posts. But you have a point. I stand corrected. She was exerting her “free will” in not giving him the very thing he wanted to hear. So if you look at it that way, it was rather petty of her. So yes she didn’t “love him”. Not like he loved her. It seemed to be her last stubborn stand. I can see why she would do it though. So much of her life is controlled and restrictive. It was the one thing she could control.
@GB no I can’t watch another horror flick like Bulgasal. Not after Happiness and the Silent Sea. I need to watch something tame like Tracer (with no gore). Where is a romcom the likes of True Beauty when you need it? 😂
🙂 I’m watching Bulgasal out of curiosity, @nrllee. I want to know the female lead really was, back in time.
When I want something soothing, I watched “Forever and Ever.” I’m liking the steady, calming, marital companionship of the two. The guy is a boring, nerdy, slow-reacting Chemist but when he gets it, he’s faster than Speedy Gonzales at getting the task done. To her everlasting surprise.
You’re so lucky you know Chinese! This drama should be an easy watch.
I’m not watching Bulgasal – but enjoy reading the comments and posts. I couldn’t pass up the reference to Forever and Ever though which ended being my favorite drama (tied with You Are My Hero) of 2021. I have a watched a few of the episodes more than once and there is always something new to pick up. Both the actors do a beautiful job – like the scene in the bathtub when he is grieving his sister – 💔. I also really love the brilliant premise that a warrior would be reincarnated as introverted chemist. I’m done threadjacking. Thanks for the blog space @PM3
Yes. Same here, @Good Twin.
“Forever and Ever” was my favorite Cdrama. “You Are My Hero” was great, too. What do my cdrama faves tell about my general disposition in 2021? I need calm, soothing dramas where couples can have a mature relationship without the misunderstandings and hyper-emotional responses. I like couples with a healthy work-life balance (lol. That’s why “Forever and Ever” rated higher than “You Are My Hero”) and sane approach to problem-solving. (I also like “Love Me If You Dare” but the hero is insane. 😂 The “Sherlock Holmes” men are borderline insane, anyway.)
@packmule3 yes to mature relationships with no histrionics. I need calm right now as we ride the Omicron wave. I think that’s why I enjoyed You Are My Spring so much (I binged it in Dec2021). The serial killer story faded into the background and was swallowed up by the very tempered/composed nature of the OTP. I might give Forever and Ever a go – but O man…why 30 eps? 😂.
@nrllee,
The 30 episodes of “Forever and Ever” went quickly for me. 😂 I can’t recall much filler maybe bec the episodes revolved around the lead characters OR maybe bec I was just fast-forwarding??
The beginning is a bit confusing bec of the passage of time and difference of locations. We weren’t told that after they met at the airport, they began communicating by email for months, and that he went back to Germany. I had thought she was emailing another guy, but nope it was the professor Zhousheng Cheng.
One thing I like about the show is the actor.
Not because of his appearance. I’ve seen handsomer Chinese actors. And I remember skipping one of his historical dramas bec I thought he looked ugly (yes. I’m shallow).
But because I was amused by his acting. I heard about his “No Kissing/Minimal Kissing/Chaste Kissing stipulation so I wondered how he could pull off a romantic lead without the usual physical affection. I was very skeptical.
I was wrong. He did it.
That he performed in a gentleman-like manner (even Mr Darcy would approve) was itself swoon-worthy. 👍👍
@packmule3 okay my interest is definitely piqued. To pull off swoon worthy without the usual physical affection and maintain all that sexual tension through the series is no mean feat. Been trying (in vain) to find somewhere to watch SiWan’s Tracer subbed. It has been frustrating so I have just been watching the movies he’s been in instead. The Attorney was an eye opening watch. I can understand better why Netizens are so incensed about SnowDrop. It was a horrible regime to live under.
@packmule3 I like ‘Love Me If You Dare’ C-drama too (agree that the ML was borderline insane in a I’m-so-intelligent-that-I’m-beyond-puny-human brain-comprehension kind of way :P). I need to watch ‘Forever and Ever’, but first I need to finish ‘You are My Glory’ for you-know-who’s sake 🙂
Good morning, @nrllee. I’ll open a thread for SiWan’s Tracer. I guess we’ll have to watch it on dramacool.
Yes. The lead in “Forever and Ever” was a surprise to me. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I skipped over one of his dramas because I couldn’t believe that such an average-looking man could be hero material. (I like Wallace Huo.)
Then, I was ready to drop “Forever and Ever” because I didn’t get the fuss about a this slow-moving, timid, boring, not flashy, celibate chemistry professor. But he grew on me.
I like the marital set-up, too. He was upfront with her that he wasn’t an easy person to live with (because he’s a dull man, a stickler for rules, and a total newbie at dating) but if she agreed to marry him, he’d do his best to do right by her.
Easier said than done. He had a messy family.
Or maybe that was the type of hero I was in the mood for.
Ask @Good Twin and @lovebangwon why they loved that Cdrama.
@Phoenix,
Wallace Huo was such a manly man in “Love Me If You Dare.” Psycho but…manly. (You know what my priorities are.)
I’ve being very good with self-control this year. My problem with Cdramas is I can’t stop at just one episode. I must binge-watch it or I’ll forget the storyline. However, I can’t carve out time for any 30 episode drama right now. lol.
I usually find time when I’m traveling. But I’m back to doing zoom, instead of face-to-face meetings, because of omicron.
Okay. Let me get back to work here.
@packmule3 and @nrllee – since you asked . . . First I agree that that Ren Jialun is not that handsome in historical drama. I tried to watch the prequel and he just doesn’t do the bun and robes well. But I thought he was pretty darn cute in this drama – I liked his voice, his smile, the cute way he said “oh” before he would say something to Shi-yi, and the way he wore his suits. (I liked that the tailors were part of the plot). There was also a great soundtrack and the settings were gorgeous. His family estate was stunning, but the whole drama could have been sponsored by Tourism China – it was so beautiful. I like that he was so shy (and the juxtaposition with his former life as a warrior) and that she was the instigator but then he took over. And it wasn’t like he fell for the first pretty woman who showed some interest – otherwise he would have ended up with his brother’s wife or another of the women his mother introduced him to. It was Shi-yi who drew him in. So it was a combination of beautiful leads, beautiful settings, great soundtrack, and watching two shy people fall in love that got me.
@packmule3 don’t bother opening one for Tracer. Dramacool still hasn’t got subbed eps. And honestly I am not sure they will. They did this with another drama I was trying to watch as well. If the drama isn’t sold to a platform like Viu or Viki I find that sometimes it just doesn’t get subbed? Just wait till one of us can find somewhere to watch it subbed before opening it.
@packmule3 @GoodTwin. Okay, watched 10min and I am in love with the actor 😂. He reminds me of Do KyungSoo. Diminutive. Soft spoken. Reserved. Deliberate. Unflappable. 😂. At least that’s his character anyway.
@nrllee, I think I should open a thread just for “Forever and Ever.” I intend to continue my analysis but I’m doing “Bulgasal” and “Our Beloved Summer” right now.
Wait a moment.
@nrllee @packmule3 here is the trailer to Forever and Ever – it really distills what is so charming about this drama and the leads. https://youtu.be/4r-peSaJ2ts
Rats! I lost the new thread I was writing, @Good Twin. Sigh. I don’t know where it went. lol.
@nrlee, I think there are Chinese subs for Tracer. You can try searching for them if you can read Chinese.
@FeiFei thanks. I may give it a go. But it’s been a while since I read Chinese. Especially if it flies past in subs. Not sure I can keep up 😂. At the moment sticking with Forever and Ever. The 30Apr should keep me busy for a while.