This review may contain spoilers
Analysis and Attempt to Answer the Many Questions
This is more an analysis than a review and an attempt to answer several questions and ambiguous points.This story is at bottom a thousand year long lovers' quarrel, an originally small misunderstanding between two 'monsters' called Bulgasals. It's a quarrel with curses thrown around that gets escalated piling one misunderstanding on another and dragging the humans around them into a destiny trap generation after generation of reincarnations. The focus of the present day story is how that tangled mess gets unraveled, and the curses ended.
Bulgasals are the most powerful of the many ‘monsters’ walking the Earth.
There can only be two at one time and these two are one entity. They are immortal, and cannot be killed except by the simultaneous destruction of their hearts. They live on blood. They are at their strongest when they drink human blood, but can survive on animal blood.
A thousand years ago the female Bulgasal tried but failed to kill both Bulgasals
Min Sang Un (MSU)’s dual suicide attempt should have ended the Bulgasals’ time on Earth. Dan Hwal (DH)’s last second Hail Mary Pass kept them alive but created an unstable unbalanced situation dominated by strong dark emotions among the three Bulgasal demigods and human souls entangled in their karma. DH 1,000 years ago was motivated by love which turned to great anger at her betrayal (in his eyes) which gave rise to mutual curses and DH’s creation of the sub Bulgasal Ok Eel Tae (OET) to evade MSU’s dual suicide attempt. This imbalance generated by hatred remained festering for the 1,000 years until at the end, DH rediscovered his love for MSU, and realizing the harm he had caused in his angry reactions a millennium ago, sacrificed himself to prevent any more harm to his human family. The DH that sacrificed himself for the same humans he had cursed so many years before was a different character from the angry Bulgasal at the beginning. And the loss of memories in her last reincarnation allowed MSU to let go of her dark emotions generated by the past events and become willing to sacrifice herself to save DH, another major character arc growth.
DH accused MSU of trickery in having herself reborn as twins and he didn’t believe, at first, that she couldn’t remember prior life events. OET made the same accusation and also, at first, did not believe MSU could not remember. From the story we know that in fact she could not. The messy bickering continued over 1,000 years until some higher power perhaps decided the suffering punishment for DH and MSU had gone on long enough and motivated by the desire to have them find their original love intervened by having MSU reborn as twins, one with the bitter revenge filled memories against DH and OET, and the second containing the hidden power (see below) but no memories. The first twin is killed as expected as normal, but the second survives to be discovered by DH who keeps her alive to uncover the mystery hidden by her lost memories. The struggle between them eventually turns from adversarial to one of friendship and finally a rediscovered love from when their immortal relationship ended 1,000 years before.
At the end why did MSU die?
She was shown twice to have special non human powers (further below) reflecting an echo of her original Bulgasal form. But she was very much a part of the original web of mutual curses that bound the three’s existence together, and when the two Bulgasals died her emanated special power ended and she was also fated to pass over from her wound (similar to Do Yoon who survived). That she would die was hinted at in the shaman Lee Hy Suk(LHS)’s prophecy that spooked OET to kill the shaman when she said, “The soul will go back to its owner.” In other words OET’s soul would be returned to him from MSU or i.e. she will die.
Do these demigods have souls?
Probably not human souls but perhaps something else. And whatever higher deity intervened to bring about the end of the Bulgasal feud, when DH sacrificed himself for the human family he cursed 1,000 years before, when MSU returned to confront OET and sacrificed herself, that triggered the final stage. They all three died, and the original two demigods were allowed to be reborn into human reincarnations, find each other, and hopefully make better choices.
Among the Three Bulgasals there is one soul originally belonging to Ok Eel Tae (OET)
Humans who used to be Bulgasal have special powers. We see this three times in the story.
1)The first example is that of the human DH who 600 years before seemed to have super human abilities to kill monsters beyond anything displayed by his peers. In the womb he scared off the corpse eating monsters and then survived a birth from a dead mother. His childhood was difficult. As an adult the soldiers first said he was cursed by Bulgasal then that he was blessed by Bulgasal and that the other monsters feared him as much as they fear the Bulgasal itself.
2)MSU provides two other present day significant examples. One occurred in an early episode (E3 1:05) when DH was rushing back to the laundry factory to stop a human monster from killing MSU with a knife. He was too late. The monster knocked MSU to the ground and we see the monster prep for his attack, only hesitating to gloat. The scene abruptly shifts from her prone on the ground to the monster sitting on the ground bloodied, battered and cut up with MSU standing over him holding his knife. She abruptly returns to her meeker self and drops the knife which the monster picks up for another try. Only then does DH intervene. MSU doesn’t seem aware of what she did.
3)The second is much later (E12 minute 43) when MSU is waiting alone in a car in a remote woods for DH to find OET and return. OET managed to phone one of his police henchmen who shows up and attacks MSU stabbing her in the exact place of her twin’s birth scar on her shoulder. (This initiates incremental memory recalls.) DH shows up but again he’s too late. MSU has been stabbed but she fought off the policemen and stabbed him badly. The henchman later says to OET, “She suddenly became strong. She wasn’t herself.”
These three examples point to humans who used to be Bulgasal having unusual latent powers.
The incidents involving MSU could have been written around easily. In MSU’s first incident DH could have arrived early enough to intervene. In the second DH could have arrived again soon enough to save her after the first stab wound. This aspect implies that although MSU isn’t Bulgasal now that she once was leaves her more than an ordinary human and very much a part of the Bulgasal triad.
A review of key events at 1,000 years and again at 600 years before.
The first key event occurs 1,000 years ago when a series of misunderstandings between the two Bulgasals - DH and MSU - result in both near death with wounds to their hearts. MSU’s was self inflicted and DH’s brought about by three humans. DH curses all three humans - one to be reborn and suffer the loss of his arm, the woman to never be able to give birth to healthy children, and the boy to always be reborn into blindness. OET, whose machinations brought about the violent clash, the deaths of many people and the looming end of the two Bulgasals, shows up and leads the dying DH away. A desperate DH takes OET’s soul making OET a Bulgasal (whose heart is unwounded). Before DH dies he orders OET to find him when DH is reborn as a human and make him a Bulgasal again, and to ensure he complies he puts a curse on him leaving him with the dark bleeding hole in his chest and in constant pain.
Another 400 years goes by. We do not know how many times DH is reborn during these four centuries. However, rewatching the events in Episode 1 with the knowledge gained in the Episode 16’s flashbacks an ongoing 400 year struggle between MSU and OET is hinted at. DH was reborn repeatedly.
While OET probably did not dare attempt to directly kill DH at any age because he feared triggering another switch back into his original mortal form, he seems to have searched for, found, and then begun murdering the people around the young DH to induce the humans to kill him.
MSU, as reluctant to kill humans as she was 1,000 years before, acted to protect DH when she could up to taking a knife in the back and feigning death. This repeated cycle probably angered MSU. She would likely direct her anger at OET for all the killing of humans and at DH for the starting the whole mess to begin with.
During DH’s last human life MSU saves him at least twice until this cycle (repeated reincarnations in that village) is broken and he is rescued by a passing general (one of three cursed by DH 400 years prior) and removed to where OET cannot reach him. DH grows up and marries the general’s daughter (the second human cursed by DH) and she bears a son who is blind (the third cursed).
The adult DH, as the adopted son of the general, undertakes a campaign to kill any and all monsters around. Initially his men see him as an evil spirit cursed by Bulgasal and then as he kills many monsters they see him as an evil spirit blessed by Bulgasal. For reasons unclear all of these monsters will only be reborn as humans (and lean toward serial murdering) and hold a grudge to kill anyone carrying DH’s soul (i.e. MSU).
(See below 1st comment for continuation)
Was this review helpful to you?
A Comedy Mystery Thriller + Fantasy
Park Eun Bin does it again.I hesitated to watch at first given the description but gave it a try. Park's role here is unusual but she plays it well and keeps it fun throughout.
This could have been made without comedy and played as a serious fantasy sci-fi thriller, but the interesting choice was made to lean into heavy comedy. In the first half the jokes dominant but as the plot unfolds and the mystery points are revealed the thriller begins to take over.
It works, very entertaining.
Was this review helpful to you?
Turned Into an Anti Gun Rant
This an odd duck of a series that posits what would happen if oppressed and wronged people suddenly received guns in the mail. The show doesn't withhold suspense with violent retribution by people with grudges against the guilty and innocent alike. In other words the writers in this fantasy world see lots and lots of random mindless gun violence breaking out.I suspected the between the lines and sometimes obvious anti-gun messaging creeping up but enjoyed the action and story nonetheless. However at the end the messaging becomes obvious and heavy handed.
Living in a US state where obtaining guns is extremely easy IF you haven't committed any crimes I find the message just plain wrong headed. Criminals generally can only get guns illegally here. The odd truth about guns is that they go far to protecting people from violence from people who don't respect the law. A researcher, John Lott, decades ago wrote a book that captured this effect called "More Guns Less Crime" in which he analyzed county by county crime statistics comparing states and counties where guns are restricted vs less restricted and discovered the causal correlation between people having more legal guns and there being less crime.
Was this review helpful to you?
AARO: All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office
3 people found this review helpful
Clumsy at Best
I pushed through two episodes of this one, so it's possible there might be, however unlikely, something redeeming showing up later. The awkward directing, acting, script, and ersatz music at times don't bode well and can't be fixed by some later plot twist because they are the problem.The marketing spin and basic elements promise something interesting, but the execution is amateurish and clumsy.
When the lead character was introduced with three different angled shots I got a really bad feeling that the director is to put it politely, full of himself, and most all that followed confirmed that.
Was this review helpful to you?
Structural Editing Issue
Anything in the 1st episode is not considered a spoiler.I watched the first and about 1/3 of the second before dropping. I watched that much because of my appreciation of Seol In Ah's character. The actors are fine. The problem lies elsewhere.
Two issues. The first is the editing / plotting. The intro to the series would be hugely improved if the supernatural element hinted at in the beginning (and by the inclusion of Ghost in the title) had brought forward the events shown at about 55 minutes into that first episode when there's a deep dive into the supernatural side of the story. Those events should have been at the beginning and then we could have been treated to the flashback explaining how complications led to the ghost affliction.
Second the ghost interactions and review of their story felt off.
The editing misstep does not bode well for the rest. For me it killed it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Major Problem First Episode
I dropped this after one episode because of an unforgivable plot twist in the first episode.The basic story and characters were OK if not spectacular but what killed it for me was how the writer handled the story resolution.
This of course is a medical drama. This episode's sick patient, the puzzle, and the challenge for the main character doctor to solve is a woman with debilitating pain that the medical system is unable to diagnose. Reminds me of a weak version of a typical House MD plot. This is what I found unforgivable. The doctor on cue towards the end figures out her problem i.e. solves the medical puzzle. But totally fails to explain how he arrived at that conclusion or if he was able to cure her of the disease or ease her symptoms. The woman expresses gratitude that she now knows what her malady is but the story doesn't advance to fixing her problem or letting the viewer in on how the puzzle was solved.
Was this review helpful to you?
One Good; Two Bad
There might be a worth while story/show here. I ran into two obstacles and dropped it, but there's a strong positive.Obstacle one is that the lead actor, Ko Chen Tung, does not have the on screen presence needed to carry the series. He's playing a character in a Constantine mold which forces a comparison with Keanu Reeves of the Constantine movie, and with Matt Ryan of the Constantine TV series and he suffers badly lacking the charisma needed. The second obstacle, for me, is that the production is lacking the smooth plotting and directing of a typical average Korean production.
On the positive side is the sidekick character, played by Buffy Chen, does have a lot of on screen charisma and she steals every scene. She's playing a quirky little odd tag-a-long with the lead. She's almost enough to make it worth watching, but unfortunately, for me, not enough to overcome the lead's flaws.
If you like Chinese dramas and or like the lead then I recommend giving it try.
Was this review helpful to you?
