Bulgasal: Immortal Souls

Not a 100% perfect but 98% perfect

First of all I have to say that I LOVE THIS KDRAMA's OST, it's simply my favorite one among allll the others. Especially "Leave", this songs always hits me hard in the heart.
Anyway, now about the story. As I said, this kdrama isn't 100% perfect but I'd say it's 98% perfect. This 2% missing is about the "blank spaces" that weren't explained to us. To start with, the ending, I'm pretty happy with how the kdrama ended even though we all know that hwal wouldn't be able to be born again, but he did! And He and Yeon had met again, so why we gonna complain? Ahhaaha I won't, I'm really happy with the ending.
Btw the story itself is all good and beautiful, I love this kdrama. But I have to say now that I'm watching it a second time, now knowing the story I cannot stop laughing at Hwal's anger towards Yeon... I mean? Dude? You're the one who caused everything, you even tried to kill the people she loved and now you're complaining qnd arguing with her? ahahahaha I can't -
Also I love their relationship, while Hwal hates her at the beginning, from the very first moment she cared about him even tho he tried to harm her several times, she (even not remembering the past) deep inside she cared for him and want him the best. I mean, what a pure love ahahah. We can hate Hwal at the beginning but as the story goes and he starts to loving her again, we start to love even more this couple.
Anyway, I wouldn't blame everything on him since 1000 years ago it was also Yeon's fault, she promised she would be back for him once the children have grow but she never did, she basically abandoned him. As his partner and "wife" she should have talked to him. So... To me both of them are to blame.
She for not talked to him and Hwal for not tried to dialogued with her too. But, I understand that he was only trying to save his love. Anyway, deep inside I blame Yeon for everything hahahaha, I mean, I understand she was feeling alone with only both of them, she wanted children, but how can she left him alone like that? Nhe... I pity Hwal.

BTW! I recommend this kdrama to everyone who don't mind violence, bc this kdrama has a lot of it hahahaha. it's a pretty good story with amazing music and a couple that we can't avoid to love 💕

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✒⚔In Pursuit of the Cursed Soul☠ °6.1° °great elements, avg writing°

The short review: BIS has an all-world soundtrack, great acting, excellent artistry, and solid directing. It's the writing that fails to transform this monster into something worth protecting. The plot is a haphazard mess and the dialogue is nothing special. If you are a fantasy junkie, you'll probably tolerate it well, but for all others it's a mangled mess. If romance is your thing, you will be sorely disappointed.

We've got a 3 episode set up, folks. So let's gouge into it. BIS opens 600 years ago. We get a brief look at the life of a Bulgasal and move on for a peek at the regular folk who are terrified of such creatures. When Hwal is born, his mother insists that he's cursed and hangs herself. The shaman affirms that the Bulgasal has a grudge against this cursed child from a prior life. Since Bulgasals are immortal, it will pursue this baby forever. What in the crazy world is a Bulgasal? An immortal. A monster. A flesh eater.

Next we see that it's people that are the true monsters. Young Hwal is shunned by everyone and cruelly despised. Under the shaman's bidding, the village surrounds the boy and tries to kill him, but the military is passing by. A general intervenes and adopts the boy, raising him to be a warrior - A monster killer. When he's grown, he's the best of the best. Now people say that he is blessed by the Bulgasal.

The very last monster Hwal must eliminate is that Bulgasal. What happens instead, though, is that during their confrontation, the Bulgasal steals Hwal's soul and turns HIM into the Bulgasal. This begins Hwal's centuries long quest for revenge. Not merely revenge but a reversal; a quest to make things right - he wants his soul back! During the Japanese invasion of 1593 Hwal learns that the ‘Bug’ who stole his soul also stole his ill fate. All the monsters that Hwal killed are reborn and seeking revenge. They're all going after /her/ because she possesses his soul. This former Bug has been living life after reincarnated life of fear and misery while being relentlessly chased by gruesome monsters. A human soul has brought her no pleasure whatsoever.

Before ep2 is halfway over, we make it to 2006 where she has morphed into a set of twins and the show's logic morphs into them sharing a single soul with no plausible explanation. One twin is darker skinned, darker tempered, and remembers everything, while the other one, the sweet one who is the shade of a kleenex, is oblivious. She thinks her sister’s weird. Failure to heed her sister's warnings turns into another tragedy. And that'll bring us to present day. The chess pieces have been realigned with many of the same cast from the past reincarnated & together again at last.

What's abundantly clear by the end of ep4 is that our female lead thinks she knows something, but she knows virtually nothing. That goes double for her sister. Our male lead knows a whole lot more, but there are clearly players and motivations afoot of which he knows nothing. Thus, the viewer's gaze remains shrouded, and they never do give us a clear picture. I always felt like the show was a moving streetcar that I ran to catch but never successfully boarded. Just like Hwal and Bulgasals are outsiders, the audience is also left on the outside. If a person wants to own a horse, s/he will feed it, maintain it, care for it, and nurture it. BIS tries to skip all of that, go to the butcher shop, buy random parts, and sew them together. That ain't gonna work.

BIS is a 2021 release that is rated 92 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 16 60ish-minute episodes. Ep1 is depressing. That heavy feeling never lifts. Lee Jin Wook (Sweet Home-8.4) plays Dan Hwal/the Bulgasal. This dude was born to act in period pieces and wear ancient armor with his hair in a bun. It's not that he doesn't look good with short hair and a modern day look, but he looks right at home as an old time warrior. He believes he's the only Bulgasal left. He also believes immortality is a curse. Jung Jin Young is the general who adopts him when the village tries to kill him. Boy, is this actor different as the father in My Unfamiliar Family-7.9. The lovely Kwon Na Ra (My Mister-9.5, Itaewon Class) is Min Sang Un, the original Bulgasal that steals Hwal's soul. Lee Joon (My Father Is Strange) is Ok Eul Tae, the bad guy. He does a nice job. (It's possible that I think that because his voice is so mellifluous). Gong Seung Yeon (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency-7.4, My Only Love Song-8.7, Introverted Boss-6.5) portrays Min Shi Ho, who was Hwal's wife in the past and is Min Sang Un's little sister in the present. Lee A Ra (Kairos) is yet another fabulous Korean child actor. She plays the 2006 version of Min Shi Ho. The screenwriters are Seo Jae Won & Kwon So Ra who co-wrote The Guest, and the director is Jang Young Woo (Queen of Tears).

Let's munch on the good morsels and leave the substandard scraps for later. It is not the worst watch. Many things are done well and the characters are likable. There's gorgeous cinematography. The soundtrack is easily K-top-10 for me. Some of my shazams: Kim Kyung Hee's ‘Floating’, ‘Leave,’ by 4MEN, and ‘Beyond The Time,’ by Janet Suhh. Not only is this soundtrack a monster, but the sound in general is excellent. They come up with all kinds of unique delicacies for the ear, such as creepy scritching sounds.

The good is not enough to save us from the horror of Bulgasal, however. Their past, covered in the first couple episodes, is cruelly heartrending. It's really too much to process. It's more like an alternate timeline where everything is wrong and out of balance. They don't plant seeds or hint at another layer of backstory, early on. Therefore, in the final third of the show, when they spring a couple surprises, it is impossible to tell if developments were always intended or if they are making it up as they go. They do drop weak hints at something more, but it's feeble. That always feels sloppy. Killing off the kid is horrible. And they do it …twice… or do they? Ep13 gets alittle irritating and smells suspiciously like filler with the protags vacillating and having unexplained, out-of-character outbursts.

It starts to feel a bit incestuous. In the present, he encounters his father, his wife, his son, and his mortal enemies from that past. However, in the present, he seems to be attracted to his mortal enemy, his wife and his son seem like they could have a thing starting up, one of his former adversaries is now like a daughter to him, and his father is an outsider for much of the show. Perhaps everything was aligned wrong then and it'll be aligned correctly now? The questions and annoyances built up without enough positives to balance them out. The big reveals at the end were a bunch of hooey. Too little. Too late.

While they tack on a hopeful ending, BIS is dark, bleak and sad. There is very little romance and an overabundance of heart-stomping. They are loose with the rules that they laid down and the backstory, when finally revealed, is not convincing. Knowing what I now know, would I still watch it for the first time? My health has been such that I can't do very much but watch TV. Even given my ample time to spare, this is a tough question. I'll say “yes” with 50.00001% certainty. If your time is limited, there's so many better things to see. Don't be buggin over this one unless you have an unquenchable thirst for fantasy.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7 📝5 🎭7.5 💓3 🦋5 🎨6.5 🎵/🔊8.7 🔚7.9 ▪ 🌞3 ⚡5 😅2 😭5.3 😱4.3 😯3.5 🤢5.5 🤔2 💤0

Age 15+ for violence and gore. This would be too scary for younger children. It opens to a knife fight and then a body floating in the water. Monsters eating bodies. Hwal sets his own compound fx.

Re-📺?
This one's in the okay-to-pass-the-time category, but I refuse to pass this way again….


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ here's a list of better time spent ventures:

Modern Day -
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Crash Landing On You 9.1,
Oh My Ghost 10, Descendants Of The Sun-8.3,
The Golden Spoon-8.1,
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
My Mister 9.5,

Historical/Period -
My Only Love Song 8.7 ~ excellent comedy,
Mr. Queen 8.5,
My Sassy Girl 8.5,
Saimdang 8.5,
The King's Affection 8.3,
Mr. Sunshine 9

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
Glitch-8, The school nurse files-7.6, Mystic Pop-up Bar-8.2, Uncanny counter season-1 only °S1-8.4 S2-4, K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1, Inspector Koo-8.4, When the Camellia Blooms-8,
Vagabond-8,
Sisyphus 8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6, Blood Free-8.5, D.P. -8.4,
The Cursed 8.3,
Flower of Evil 8.9, The Wailing-8.8,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9, Parasite-9,
Black 9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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Wasted potential

What not to expect:
-lotsa action and monster hunting
-revenge story

What to expect:
-Slice of life filler
-Monster of the week filler
-Endless flashback filler, sometimes repeating the same flashbacks or parts of earlier episodes
-Plotholes
-Plastic romance between a woman who can't act and a man who looks 15 years older than her(actually 600)
-Characters making dumb choices then crying about it
-A villain who keeps toying with the mc instead of winning when he had the advantage
-A big reveal, hyped up for 15 episodes, accounting to silly little nothing
-Mc who keeps brooding and reminiscing all the time, even when the situation is urgent
-Awesome music and insert songs
-Good CGI with overused stock groaning sound effect
-Actually good action scenes, too bad they are so few
-Melancholy and melodrama
-Poorly written ending that makes no sense lorewise

Overall, a show with a great premise and a good first episode that was brought down by poor writing and was far too long for its own good. The story could have been told in 4 episodes, didn't need 16.

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Bulgasal overated

The first few episodes seemed interesting, but even with the slashing, blood and gore, it wasn't enough to hold my attention. When the ML switches to more of a current time line, the flash backs become redundant. The writers seem to be madking it us as they go. The weird out of focus cinematography gave me a headache and didn't add to the drama at all. The monsters have really crappy makeup and you can even see the contacts for their eyes. Their nails are supposed to be able to slash, but when you get a closeup of those same fingernails, they aren't even sharp. Continuity issues as well.

The actors try their best, I kept watching because of Lee Joon's acting for his character. But the predictable plot and lack of wow moments, didn't help and trying to create romance between certain characters that had no chemistry, seemed just an add on. This drama-thriller seems to borrow concepts from other dramas, but not in a good way.

I dropped it after 7 episodes. Others rave about this new drama, but I'm just disappointed and feel let down by the writing. Overall 5.5/10

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Watched for the cast and interesting synopsis

About the plot:
This drama has quite a strong start, leaving you looking for answers and that's why I continued anyway. At some point, it just got... boring. I just want to know the history!!!! I was already expecting some deeply inter-woven history where the main cast already knew one another [which is true, as expected of a reincarnation kind of drama]. Over time, I honestly don't know what the scriptwriter was going for. :/ At this point, I just want to complete the drama and find out more about the history and why things are happening. Sometimes Sangun's actions are really ridiculous and questionable (if you think about it). But we know it's only possible/justified because it's a drama in the first place. This drama is action-packed, if you're into that, go ahead. Otherwise, the plot is not very interesting... It gets boring after a while before picking itself up again at the last few episodes.

About the cast:
I watched for the cast so hehe I obviously knew there was gonna be top-notch acting. However, the scriptwriting of each character... I'm not sure if it's just me but I feel like the characters are kinda dumb LOL. Especially Sangun...

About the music/OST:
Reallllyyyyyy beautiful music and cinematography.

Rewatch value:
Not high, honestly doubt I will rewatch this. It is interesting though.

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-_-

We focused on the "600 years ago" storyline for literally 80% of the series, when really the "1,000 years ago" story was all of the issue, which we crammed into the last two episodes. Also, I was *invested* in Sang Un and Hwal's relationship and it all amounted to a 30 second scene of reincarnated them some 50+ years later, where they have no memory of each other or the past 1,000 years that they just went through...-_- I understand that that was kinda their goal in the first place-- to break the chain of reincarnated agony and live as humans-- but BOI. I'm here for the fanservice...and I got nothing. :')

Also (and I literally complain about this every time I see it so I apologize in advance).....I have never seen an instance of time gap that I thought was necessary or even good. This was not an exception. I just feel so cheated after building up all this energy and emotion in a series and then having all that dissipate in one "50 years later" scene. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Romance aside, this is quite an enticing drama

Bulgasal has been on my to-watch list even before it aired and I finally finished watching it last week.

Overall an entertaining watch with layers of mysteries that are worth the wait, some might consider the pacing a tad slow. I enjoy the pacing, as it gives time for the world building and the writers in my opinion are great at saving mysteries as the week goes which helped create anticipation for the next episodes. With a lot of breathtaking cinematography, attention to details for multiple timelines and great introduction to monsters, the drama is pleasing to the eyes and quite insightful into the folklore of Korea.

The romance, however, is not really my cup of tea. While watching, I believe the drama will do equally as well, if not better, had they removed the forced romantic air between Hwal and Sang-un but it was later revealed that it was an important aspect of the final plot, which could have been a better motive. I also think that Sang-un's character seems a little airhead-ish as the story progresses when she was actually depicted as a more independent and strong character in the beginning, most probably to push for her dependent towards Hwal.

The main issue of the drama, later revealed in the last episode, was a bit anticlimactic for me. It feels a little lack of depth considering how well the anticipation was kept.

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OVERALL I LIKED THE DRAMA BECAUSE I WAS CURIOUS AND THE MYSTERY KEPT ME GOING.

Acting, Cinematography, production I liked everything except the script. It was lacking.

But I was really hooked from the 1st episode because I wanted to know what happened.
It would've been more interesting if they showed us the past lives more.
I really liked the last episode. In the last episode I saw leads chemistry and felt their pain. If only 16th episode was the 1st episode this drama could've been one of the biggest hit of the year but poor writing made it somewhat average drama.
In the end I wanted to see more of them together, it was just 5 minutes of the ending. We got a happy ending and that's all I'm happy about.

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Delicate and Raw

When I randomly started this, I didn't think I would finish it so fast. But here I am two weeks later, giving this one a full 10.

If I had to describe this drama with one word, it would probably be: ~"delicate"... and every other attribute you would associate with it. While watching I always felt like intruding some kind of intimate privacy. I know that sounds weird but I just don't know how to describe it otherwise. The music fits so well and adds enough sorrow and longing to the story, to make it even more perfect.

The cast did a fantastic job in portraying their different roles, be it in the past or the present. They did well in showing that even though some of them were reincarneted, they still got different personalities and therefore acted to their experiences, not their past selves. As for the immortal main lead, he went through some dreadful ordeals that explain his 600 years lasting urge for revenge. Even more remarkable was how he faced the new trials that arose after circumstances changed. Lee Jin Wook did an unbelievably awesome job in displaying the subliminal evolution and growth of his character during and after overcoming those challenges and still keeping them locked up to the very last minute until they finally erupted.

The "other" villain was a fascinating individual himself. He was multi-layered and yet he always seemed as if something was missing. Considering his body condition that part was quite accurate and well played. He managed to make me care for him enough to feel somewhat sad at how it all played out in the end.

I'm impressed how well the writers managed to keep me in the dark about the overall story. Whenever I thought I knew what was going on, they added another angle to the story and threw me back to the start. They sit through that way till the end without losing its original tension which many other dramas fail to accomplish, and I'm so glad about that because it gave the story some constancy.

Every part of this drama interwines so well with the other ones, whether it be the cinematography, the music, the cast or the script. Putting everything together creates a great watch, I didn't expect to love so much. And I'm so glad that there's no cheesy "I love you" line. That would have ruined the whole thing.

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A great watch

Overall, I think this drama is a must watch. The story is intriguing, there are plenty of twists and layers in the characters. The pacing sometimes felt a bit slow for my liking, but I still enjoyed the drama on the whole anyway.

Now, some elements of the show felt repetitive, like the monster of the week kind of feel. I personally like the framing of the story, and how the twist came into play. Though gotta say there were quite a few twists and by the end of it you're sort of expecting more twists are just going to come into play.

Anyway, I think the drama is well presented and it was definitely worth watching if you like the genre, though I personally wish there are more action.

My personal favourite is Eul Tae, there are so many layers to this character, which brings me to my next point...

***SPOILER***

I wish there are more build to Eul Tae's backstory, because it felt underplayed and that he didn't get enough build up on why he became the way he was, and why he was so obsessed with Hwal.

The ending was heartwarming, and it ties the big plot points, but I do question why they met again when it was established that Bulgasals don't reincarnate. I know it's nice to have a happy ending, but I feel this invalidate Hwal's sacrifice, and that why this happens requires an explanation. Also, if Hwal reincarnates, does that mean Eul Tae did too? It was Eul Tae's soul to begin with anyway.

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