SwanSong1

IMO, Bulgasal has two main issues:

The main story arch is very difficult to follow for most viewers. It’s like the writers scattered pieces of a puzzle and the viewers have to work hard to put the puzzle pieces together to understand the story. I am incredibly into logical deduction type of work, so it’s very enjoyable for me to find clues and then test out my theories. But I can totally see more casual viewers would find it frustrating. Heck, I was pretty frustrated with a few episodes, and the writers are a bit stingy with clues.

The execution of the romance line has two flaws - the FL’s inconsistent acting and the directing, it’s either too clichéd, like piggy back riding scene, or too subtle. The subtle scenes are very difficult to spot, like Hawl’s farewell and indirect confession before his first battle with Ok Eul Tae, but once you get them, they are heart fluttering. The actress is fine in some scenes but a bit off in others. Sang Un is a carefree, optimistic person, but she shouldn’t be dole eyed like she is in a Disney movie. This is bulgasal, a dark, passionate story. Nevertheless, the romance line still works for me because the underlying logical foundation of the ML/FL romance makes sense – primordial/otherworldly connection, he needs warmth and care and she needs protection, and visually they look striking together. Since Hawl is a dark broody figure, he needs a partner to add sparkle, oomph, to the romance line, like Lee Joon’s Ok Eul Tae 😊.

But with Bulgasal, as in life, I remember the good parts (cinematography, amazing ost, Lee Joon and Lee Jin Wook's acting) and forget the bad… So I am still going to enjoy the last episode. 😊

Nah, I still ship Hawl and Sang Un... Ok Eul Tae is just for fun. Poor OET. lol.

After the sizzling fight between Hawl and Ok Eul Tae, this is my dream ending -- Sang Un and Ok Eul Tae have hair pulling cat fight over Hawl. Hawl continues to play hard to catch. Heart broken, Eul Tae defects to North Korea to join his true soul mate dear leader Kim Jung Eun. Hawl joins the South Korean special forces to better use his bulgasal skills. During a paragliding training session, a freak storm blows Hawl into North Korea and he is rescued by none other than Captain Ok Eul Tae. And they live happily ever after. The End. 😊

Ahh, I see, that's astute observation and good interpretation.

it was sizzling chemistry, so i vote for romantic TaeHawl :-)

This is my speculation of the backstory. Bulgasal Sang Un and Hawl are a pair of mythical creatures who do not have souls and who are one and the same, in that they are like ying yang, if one dies, the other will die too. BulgaHawl is possessive of BulgaSU, like what Hawl said in ep 15, she is his everything, while BulgaSU seems to have better handle of their relationship, like what SU said in ep 15, if he is gone, she feels her other half is gone.

BulgaSU has an encouter with Ok Eul Tae. After that encounter, she becomes increasingly fascinated by the human world. She somehow comes across the little girl and baby and became fascinated by them. BulgaHawl feels threatened. He feels like they should maintain separation from humans. Ok Eul Tae frames BulgaSU for killing his brother. As a result, humans began to hunt bulgasals. This caused BulgaHawl to be more distrustful and hateful of humans. Something happened, leading to BulgaHawl to slaughter humans, and humans (seemingly Detective Kwon, Si Ho and Doyoon's 1000 year ago lives) to stab BulgaHawl. BulgaSU, in an effort to end the blood shed, decides to stab herself in the heart, this way both bulgasals will die or be weakened and humans saved. I have feeling the little girl and baby BulgaSU saw were Si Ho and Doyoon and hence BulgaSU really wanted to save them. This is when BulgaHawl told BulgaSU that he hated her as he felt she chose humans over him.

Ok Eul Tae rescues BulgaHawl. In an effort to stay alive (to save BulgaSU as well?), or maybe he wants to know what it is like to be human, BulgaHawl snatches OET's soul and becomes human. BulgaSU slowly recovered from the stabbing to the heart, hence the first time we see her rescue boy Hawl, she looked sickly. Seemingly BulgaSU had been on the look out for OET, as there was a scene of her looking at bloody scratch marks on a tree. OET in the mean time, keeps going on bloody rampages as he is tormented by the hole in his chest and need for human blood.

What I still do not understand is why BulgaSU stabbed Hawl after Dan Sol and AChan were killed. Maybe to turn Hawl back to bulgasal? But unbeknownst to her, Hawl had snatched OET's soul, so the soul went to her, hence starting another cycle of vengeful karma with Sang Un as human and Hawl as bulgasal.

another funny subtitle tidbit, after seeing bulgasal Sang Un with the baby and little girl, bulgasal Hawl said to SU "you are infatuated with those children". But the Chinese subtitle had him saying "you are bewitched by those tiny tiny humans." So basically bulgasal Hawl did not seem to understand the concept of children, and he also clearly drew the line between bulgasal and humans, we are our kind and they are their kind.

I am hoping for a satisfying ending. But I am keeping my expectations low. I haven't watched kdramas much lately because I find they tend to have strong starts and then taper off at the end.

I wonder if the difference in understanding this drama is partly due to translation. I noticed some key differences between English and Chinese subtitles. Below is an example.

For the Hawl/Sol fight scene 600 years ago, after they exchanged angry words, Hawl clutched Sol's hand so that she could see his memory. She sees lady bulgasal. Per the English translation, Sol then said "It's the woman who saved you. The woman you keep remembering." The Chinese translation is "It's the woman who saved you. The woman you have longed for all your life." So the implication per the Chinese translation is very different - even Sol knew that Hawl's heart had another woman.

I am total believer of people should enjoy drama however they like. But thought I'd point out that translations may not be accurate and may distort our understanding. Who knows, maybe the English subtitle more accurately reflects the original Korean dialogue.

I am sorry your birth mother said that to you; she should not have. But Hawl’s situation is different in that he was horrifically abused as a child. The villagers and Dan Sol did the same thing to him, they blamed him for the death of their family member, they told him to die. If the only scene between husband and wife is that of a vicious fight, the natural inference is they did not have a good marriage. We are not going to be like – oh the filmmaker showed us 1 out of 365 days that they fought, they must be lovey dovey the other 364 days.

As for Dan Sol’s pov, I don't care. For husband/wife relationship, as long as one party is no longer vested, in this case Hawl, it’s pretty much over, we don’t need confirmation from second party. Even if she loved Hawl, her action destroyed whatever love Hawl had for her.

Hawl thought Sang Un was the killer of his family so of course he was going to be nasty. Sang Un liked Hawl because she had faith in her sister’s words that Hawl was going to help her kill Ok Eul Tae. She was desperate as she had no one to lean on and bunch of monsters after her. She understood Hawl was not nice to her because he thought she killed his family. Sang Un immediately tried to exonerate herself right? She went to nursing home grandma to gather evidence. Once it was confirmed Sang Un was innocent, Hawl immediately became nice to her, cooking for her, dressing her wounds, acting boyfriendy, etc.

Of course, you are free to interpret however you’d like.

The fight scene between Hawl and Dan Sol 600 years ago was visually stunning. Because of the scene, many felt the romance line should be between Hawl and Si Ho and not Sang Un.

Hawl and Sol’s daughter died shortly after birth. Sol puts the blame on Hawl’s bulgasal curse. She goes after him with a sword, to try to stab him, telling him: “you are the one who caused my child to be sick, you caused her to die, you killed her. If it weren’t for my father, I would have never married someone like you.” Upon hearing all that, Hawl twists his hand on the sword blade, her words made him feel so bad that he turned to self-harm. Hawl tells her what she said echoed the villagers’ horrific treatment of him, his father’s abandonment, and that he had wanted to kill himself. Sol then says to him – “why don’t you kill yourself.”

My immediate reaction to the scene was that Sol was not nice to Hawl and it was not a happy marriage. I totally did not get any vibe that they would be the OTP because certain things should never be said between husband and wife and Sol said all of them. Yes, she was distraught, but he also lost a child, he was also in pain. And then to be blamed for the death of his own child for something he had no control over. How do you think he felt? Sol’s words hurt him more than any sword wound. After his horrific childhood, the man needed someone nurturing, warm and understanding, someone who would accept his bulgasal curse and all. Sol was the exact opposite. Hawl himself later confirmed that “even my wife despised me”. So I think it’s safe to say when Hawl sees Si Ho, his first reaction is not – oh the love of my life, let’s give it another try. Being an honorable man, his thinking will be – I failed to protect my family, in this life, I will see that you are all safe. He will understand both Si Ho and Doyoon are different people now, he would understand boundaries and not try to recreate a (unhappy) life 600 years ago.

While the drama is not perfect, since I am invested in it, I have decided to overlook the shortcomings, and focus on the parts that work... And ep 14's last scene was def the stand out to me...hehe, you can prob tell from my posts. The craft and artistry... the production team clearly put lots of thought and effort into it. Looking forward to the grand finale next week. I want an all out bulgasal battle lol.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

Seems like they got first aid at home. If you look at them waiting for Sang Un to pick up Hawl in the car, Do Yoon's head wound was properly dressed, Si Ho seemed comfortable and content. If it was so urgent, they would not have gone home, rest on bed, have heart to heart chat, reminisce about Ms Lee, right? But your concern is fine too since Si Ho was pregnant and DY had a wound... but I don't think Sang Un is to blame since the only reason they left home was because Hawl kicked them out, not because they needed urgent medical care.

Haha, it's a monster drama, where everyone is getting injured left and right... Sang Un got stabbed on the chest, in her hand, and did not go to the hospital... if you look at Si Ho and DoYoon in the car, they seemed pretty much fine to me. Do Yoon got his head wound dressed up, Si Ho sitting comfortably. So Sang Un was driving them somewhere, but she decides to turn around to pick up Hawl, prob thought she would just do a quick detour... maybe then head to the hospital..

Si Ho is not the mother of his child; Dan Sol, Si Ho's prior life 600 years ago, was the mother of his child. They are technically two different people . Si Ho calls Hawl - Uncle Hawl - pretty much puts him in a generation closer to her dad than to herself. Yes, it would be a little awkward if she remembers her prior life, but I sort of sense even if they remember things, there is still some type of detachment, separation of lives.

To the point why Sang Un worried about Ms. Lee's dead body, well, she wasn't just any dead body, she was a mother figure to them all. In East Asian culture, it is important to respect elders, dead or alive. The point of the scene was to accentuate how "cold" and emotionally detached Hawl was. Sang Un just raised the concern for a few seconds, it wasn't like she continued to scream and yell I won't go rescue my sister unless you guys properly dispose of Ms. Lee's body. Besides Sang Un was the one who distracted the monster from carrying Si Ho away, and bought time for Hawl to come over and kill the monster. She pretty much put her life on the line for her sister.

As for why Si Ho and Do Yoon did not go to hospital. They did not have a fracture like Detective Kwon, it seems they mostly have superficial injuries. If it was really bad, they needed hospital care, they would not have gone home, went to bed, even have sisterly heart to heart chat. By then, both Si Ho and Do Yoon seem mostly fine. The only reason the three of them left home was because Hawl kicked them out, not because they needed urgent medical care.

The more I think about the last scene, the more I appreciate the symbolism behind it. The staircase leading to the cold concrete area represent the state of Hawl’s heart. He is going down into the deep recess of his heart to face up to what Ms. Lee really meant to him. At the end, we see a little girl, she was like a daughter to him. The realization broke him and brought him down to his knees. He is alone in a cold place, in agony. He doesn’t know how to deal with the pain, except to inflict more pain on himself.

Sang Un rushes in, stops him. She literally puts her hand on his heart, to lessen the pain and to stop Hawl from inflicting more harm on himself. At that point, Hawl lays his wounded heart bare in front of Sang Un. Sang Un hugs him, telling him that he is not alone, she will help him heal. Hawl slowly hugs Sang Un back, letting her into his heart.

right? when he said to Siho - do you know what Sang Un did to you? I was like, why don't you tell her you brutally murdered her and her son 600 years ago. he is a master at driving a wedge between people.

It would seem so. When they are immortals, they don't need kids since they live forever, at least that's my interpretation.

The last scene was so beautifully staged. It retraces the entire relationship between Hawl and Ms. Lee in just a few minutes. Deep down inside, she is like his daughter, his little girl. Kudos to Lee Jin Wook for the wonderful acting. His eyes were covered so he had to rely on body language and diction alone to convey Hawl's pain and agony and we can really feel it.

The scene also mirrors and contrasts the scene from 600 years ago when both Hawl and Sang Un were full of rage and hatred, killing each other. Now they are full of love for each other, aww. So final show down next week. We will see if their love can withstand evil Ok Eul Tae's trickery.