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briseis

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Posts posted by briseis

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    The sight of Son Oh Gong standing surrounded by the love lock is really symbolic on many different levels because the idea of those locks is that you throw away the key so your love would last forever. Such a human thing to do.  Futhermore most of those locks were put out there because it’s a cool thing to do, because it’s what others do and it’s trendy and most of these “loves” didn’t last a year; the difference between them and Oh Gong is that when he falls in love it really is literally forever. 

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    Although he isn’t a human, now Oh Gong has his own lock there - a lock, an another way, that binds him, a demon, with Seon Mi, a human. What strikes you most in this moment is that he has known all along that she placed it there, and when he defeated the hair-cutter he was aware that SM was there to remove it, to unlock their connection because he hurt her once again. He never tells her and she doesn’t know but the truth remains.

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    Oh Gong is already connected to her with their contract and the GGG but while his initial reaction with those two was to remove them but he couldn’t, here is a measly human love lock, which SM placed there without his consent and which he can remove with a mere flicker of his hand. Yet he does not. In the past he had on qualms pressuring or tricking SM into terminating the contract and removing the bracelet (the GGG’s power couldn’t make him actually like him wearing the bracelet which was original made to bring pain), yet here he is unwilling to break this little love lock that binds her to him. He is bound to Seon Mi for all eternity not because he must but because he chooses to be.

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    • Like 19

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    Sometimes I wonder whether the reason why Son Oh Gong fights his affection for Seon Mi tooth and nail isn’t because he is protecting himself the way Seon Mi is. She is afraid that Oh Gong’s will disappear with the bracelet but his fears come from a different source - that humans are transient. One way or another, Seon Mi will eventually die and he would be left behind for eternity because that’s the curse of his immortality - to be left behind forever. It won’t be his feelings that will disappear - it will be her.

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    At this point, Oh Gong’s feelings for SM are so strong that he wants to be with her constantly, every day, and he lives for the moment when she calls him. In the the supermarket lot, during a moment of complete and brutal honesty, he tells her, hell, he begs her not to leave him behind. Later he adds the fact of her leaving with a different man, but his plea’s originally much more general. He’s afraid to be left alone once more and after spending almost 1000 years in solitary confinement it makes a lot of sense where his fears come from. 

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    Oh Gong might be an all-powerful, virtually invicible deity, which makes you wonder what the limit of his powers is, but then you realize that he has already revealed it himself several times - IT’S DEATH. He often mentions that he hates losing and what is death if not the ultimate loss. It’s something even he is powerless to fight. And Seon Mi’s death, in one way or another, is inevitable and that’s a thought he can’t bear because as seen in Ma Wang’s case when demons fall in love with a woman, they love her for eternity.

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    • Like 18

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    His face says it all - he knows he has just messed up in an epic way. And it’s obvious from the moment he appears in front of SM, from the look of doom and inevitability in Oh Gong’s eyes, that he is aware that everything is going to go down the drain and that it’s all his fault. It’s kind of fitting that everytime Oh Gong starts plotting something against Seon Mi, he is always the one who gets hurt the most in the process and ends up regretting it all - because that’s what happens when you fight your own heart. Maybe it’s only apt then that all his grand plots fail because his heart isn’t really in them. When I say that he gets hurt the most, it’d be more precise to say that he gets hurt as much as Seon Mi does because here she standing before the man she loves who has just admitted to her he planned her murder only days after he had told her he wants her to disappear. That’s the kind of angst I dig and Lee Seung Gi and Oh Yeon Seon really know how to sell it with minimal dialogue; and I think that’s also one of the reasons why I obsess about their pairing so much - they can communicate and express so much with their eyes - the sadness, the hurt, the sorrows, the love they fight so hard against,…. - it’s all there.

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    And for all his clever plans and plots, Son Oh Gong is always is the one who thwarts them; he creates all these dangerous situations which endanger Seon Mi but he is always there to pacify them. He protects her from Ma Wang whom he himself set against her and he literally uses his body as a shield to save her from being stabbed (interestingly, it seems that while a stab to the heart can’t kill a powerful demon it can cause him a momentary pain).

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    I keep mentioning that Hwayugi is an atypical Hong Sisters drama and one of the aspects that really differ is that usually the angst in their shows starts in the final 3-4 episodes; however, in Hwayugi it is ever-present in almost every OTP interaction - there is a hint of bittersweetness, potential tragedy and heartbreak from the very beginning.

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    • Like 16

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, Cayu18 said:

    @briseis only thing is that son oh gong is not a demon. The monkey king was born from stone and gained his power through Taoist practice. He rebeled against heaven hence why he was thrown out. Being thrown out of heaven does not make him a demon. MW, PK, SM they are demons. MW is trying to reach deity status by Taoist practice. This just tells me that no matter your origin in the universe of this mythology deity status can be reach through Taoist practice. But before he rebeled monkey king must have learned the basics  and 3 treasures of Taoist practice which are compassion, frugality and humility.  He may not practice them now but to gain his power he must of practiced them and applied them to his every day living which is why I believe there is such a duality to him and why he finds seon mi so intriguing and in a way intoxicating. She is moving that old learning and instinct in him. I think he is relearning from her, also why he is fighting it tooth and nail no doubt.

    That's his origin from the novel but the drama differs in many things including this one. He is a demon and demoted deity in Hwayugi. That's why there is so many ado and comments about him being a "predator" it's mentioned pretty much in every single episode. I don't want to sound passive aggressive in no way but I've noticed that there is a lot of people (even on tumblr), who either read the original book or went to the original novel character's page on Wikipedia, haven't noticed this difference between SOG in the drama and Sun Wukong from the original novel.

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    • Like 6

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    Hwayugi has been so often compared to Goblin and people say how similar both shows are but apart from some general similarities (aired on tvN, ghosts, fantasy, male lead connected with fire element, cohabiting bromance hijinks,…) they differ in the aspects that really matter. One of the biggest differences is the character of the main lead. It’s impossible to compare Kim Shin with Oh Gong because both Goblin and the Grim Reaper were humans once and no matter what they became their “humanity” was predominant; however, can you talk about “humanity” with a character who HAS NEVER BEEN HUMAN IN THE FIRST PLACE? 

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    Son Oh Gong is entirely inhuman entity and therefore normal human standards of behaviour will never fully apply to him. It’s not to say he is incapable of being good but he can never get rid off what he trully is, his inherent nature. You can never disregard him as the typical kdrama mortal jerk male lead because he is not; the normal rules don’t apply by him. He is no little mermaid or one of those supernatural beings who wish to become a human either. He is a full-fledged demon, a predator by nature, a real all-powerful deity; his immense powers give him his arrogance. So when people complain that he is a jerk it’s a huge injustice to his character because he was never good to begin with, he was never pictured to be good from the start when he betrayed Seon Mi. It’s not that OG is evil, he’s been just deeply flawed and, just like the original title suggests, there is a journey before him, his personal odyssey he must undertake.

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    Son Oh Gong is cocksure, caprilicious, petty, utterly unpredictable, uncontrollable; he is a loose cannon with mad-dog personality and devil-may-care-attitude but when he is with Seon Mi he just might the devil who cares.

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    • Like 12
    • Thanks 3

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    The Power of Promise VS The Heavenly Leash

    “Jin Seon Mi, as long as we’re both alive, our contract will always be valid.”

    This is purely my speculation and I’m curious whether the Hong Sisters will eventually address this issue in the drama but right now Son Oh Gong is bound to Seon Mi in two ways - BY THEIR CONTRACT AND BY GGG. They both work in similar way and have similar effect so it’s difficult to tell which one is working in certain situation or whether their powers are being combined. Therefore it’s interesting to look at the difference in similar situations which involve 2 different worlds. 

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    First, in the case of the film world, SM did not call SOG’s name, GGG works in such a way that he would come even if she didn’t call him and was simply in danger. During that time he could enter and exit the film world because the object/entrance still existed. However, when we look at the wedding photo world situation, THE ENTRANCE/EXIT WAS DESTROYED AND HE COULDN’T LEAVE THAT WORLD EVEN THOUGH HE WAS WEARING GGG, UNLESS SEON MI CALLED HIM. So it was NOT the effect of GGG but their contract which allowed him to escape that world. That’s why he had returned her the memory of his name because he knew only the power of their contract could get him out and also SAJ had realized that OG could get out because of the contract.

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    Which suggests that the power of their contract (a consensual agreement, a promise) should be more powerful, even more powerful than Heaven-made magic.It’d be interesting to watch what will happen if the owner of the GGG changed (which is likely what will happen in episode 9) - will the GGG prevail over Oh Gong’s promise to protect Seon Mi? Will it win over his heart?

    Another difference between GGG and their contract is that, as OG mentioned, it’s until death do them part and it can be terminated only if they both agree to do it, whereas Seon Mi can take GGG off on her own.

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    • Like 8

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    1 hour ago, haymochi said:

    i guess Oh Gong imprisonment has something to do with a human  or Sunmi past life.  This sounds like a major heartbreak... Sunmi said if she ever betrayed him, he can stab her heart and i also heard in the preview Oh Gong said "If you die, i die too"

    Gosh....

    Yes, it occured to me. We still haven't learned why Seon Mi could see ghost in the first place and why she could enter a house only humans could enter but one that they couldn't see. About the "I die, you die" quote he also said that in episode 7 when after he told her he can't stab her since he already told that she can't die  until he dies. Connecting OG's heart to SM means connecting his life to hers, it's the Heaven's way of making the undefeatable, immortal and indestructible Son Oh Gong, The Great Sage Equal of Heaven, finally mortal. They gave him a weakness, his very own Achilles' Heel - JIN SEON MI. The question is in what specific way will it influence him.

    "You are the only one in this world with the power to kill me."

    Edit: But who knows, perhaps the preview is misleading as preview often tend to be.

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    • Like 10

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    The relationship between Seon Mi and Son Oh Gong is becoming more and more intimate and it’s him who initiates the intimacy it despite being the one who is resisting this relationship and his own feelings more. First, he takes SM to his home, his sanctuary, and she is probably the first human who ever stepped her foot there; and you can notice that the outside garden of his home is where he took her already in episode 1. Later he even pours and gives her the glass of his favourite alcohol and finally he gives her his fur coat which is much more personal than giving her normal coat because the fur is connected to his true nature. 

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    Until now, the reason for OG’S imprisonment was barely mentioned but after the reveal in episode 7 and seeing how evasive he is about it the circumstances must have been traumatic and it must also be important for the present.

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    GGG or no GGG, Son Oh Gong has been consistent in his treatment of Seon Mi and has been hot and cold with her ever since the first episode: one moment offering a talisman to her, the next being a richard simmons and telling her to age slowly, one moment wanting to eat her and the next personally repairing her umbrella,… and now once again he is so viciously cruel to her, unable to resist the need to hurt her for hurting him, only to offer so much kindness later which he masks under the guise of the bracelet’s magic. If the bracelet allows him to tell such hurtful things to her, its power over SOG must be extremely limited (as Ma Wang said in episode 3  - it makes him protect SM but it can’t erase OG’S “devilishness” which is a synonym for his inherent nature). What makes him to linger his hands on SM’s shoulders and and later on her arms and to take her bare hand into his in order to place the bottle in in, isn’t GGG’s magic either - it’s his need to touch her and be close to her. Her kind words and sympathy before about his punishment clearly affecting him. Whenever Oh Gong says something terrible to SM, he always betrays his words only moments later with his actions, body language and facial expression - it’s as if his body already knew what his brain still can’t accept.

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    • Like 11

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    You have to give it to the Hong Sisters for creating such an intriguing character like Son Oh Gong. Each episode reveals a new fascinating puzzle piece to the mystery that is the Monkey King. 

    He wasn’t always a complete cynic, he used to be friends with humans, he trusted once. But once bitten, twice shy and it’s only apt and logical that he would end up like this and protect himself behind an armour of cynicism since it was a human who betrayed him and who caused him all the pain of being roasted alive for 49 days and robbed of his freedom for hundreds of years as a punishment. It explains why he betrayed SM all those years ago - because rather than to be betrayed once again he betrayed her before she could betray him. It explains why he holds humans in comtempt and looks at them with so much cynicism. It sheds a new light on what he told BJ about getting revenge and also why he decided to help the mermaid punish her killer even if it meant hurting a human, why he tells SM that he has no reason to care what happens to the human. And I truly admire the Hong Sisters for letting the mermaid to mete out her punishment instead of the usual trope of forgiving the person and letting the human justice take over - death is too quick and too merciful for some crimes. Which leaves the question, did Oh Gong get his revenge? 

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    The betrayal was a lifechanging moment in Oh Gong’s life and it’s what shaped his personality - why he possesses the hint of darkness and full-blown cynicism about humans and love you don’t see in the other demons like Ma Wang and PK - AS IF THERE WAS SOMETHING BROKEN DEEP INSIDE HIM - and it also explains WHY HE FIGHTS TOOTH AND NAIL AGAINST CARING FOR A HUMAN.

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    Finally, it explains why he took such interest in Seon Mi from the beginning - it was a human who betrayed and hurt him and now there is this human girl who saved him, who trusts him and who also cares about him and protects him when he has only known hurt and betrayal from humans. However, on the other hand, he did the same thing to SM that was done to him - he betrayed her and then let her bear the consequences and punishment.

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    • Like 17
    • Thanks 1

    [Drama 2017-2018] A Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi 화유기

    in k-dramas & movies

    Posted

    You know this is completely my subjective musing but while watching the show I’ve always felt that Son Oh Gong reminded me vaguely of another character and then when he said that he’s done so much for Seon Mi I realized Oh Gong reminded me of Jareth, the Goblin King from Labyrinth. 

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    They are not similar per se - Oh Gong has much more depth and complexity, he isn’t such a sinister character either and Lee Seung Gi has more acting prowess in his litte finger than David Bowie ever did - but there is a similiar vibe about them. The sense of danger, the immense power and abilities which allow them to do pretty much everything, including reshaping time and space; there is that hint of darkness in Oh Gong, he is capricious and seductive and just like Jareth he’s trying to manipulate the female lead into giving up in their game, and there is also the hidden longing and admiration for her. Plus they are both kings in their own right - one of goblins, the other of monkeys. And the way Oh Gong looks at SM like he would really want her to be his and for her to like him for real, reminds me of that famous quote:

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    “Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave!” 

    And also:

    “Everything that you wanted I have done… I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me. Isn’t that generous?” 

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    • Like 8
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