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

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ignacia eda suryadi said:

my friend say, TVN drama , the ending usually not like audience prediction ahahahaha, if we want watch happy ending its on KBS TV

i think hong sister still stick to the original story of chinese odyssey, chinese odyssey from 1-3 all is open ending, maybe because the genre is fantasy so the writer want us to have our own imagination with the ending 

 

 

but i realize, did all the WOMAN character in this drama DIE ?????

 

- princess fan

-buja

- alice

- summer fairy

-samjang

 

ahhahahaha hwayugi really make all woman die

 

So, it was the octopus immortal in Alice's body who died, and the octopus actually started as a male figure until he started taking on female characteristics from the host Alice. Alice herself did not die.

 

Also, Secretary Ma did not die. So, not quite all the females, just most of them.

[dvrels]

Still disappointed with the ending, but this thread is moving fast i can't not catch up, last time I super enjoy read each post but after the ending, i lost my interest to discuss about it *sigh* Done my morning shift without thinking about the ending of the drama but as soon as I got the notification for this thread, i got that very disappointed feeling last night comes again. I'm very enjoy every guessing we made in this thread and every discussion we have here, very enjoy this drama as well (except the last episode), so thank you guys for all the warm, friendly discuss for last a couple month. See you in another thread, please keep support OYS with her new movie, and LSG with his new movie. Love you all. Bye. Have a great day everyone. Gonna going for long hiatus after Hwayugi

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, philosophie said:

There was something I was curious about that I don’t know ever got answered. When SM came to that hidden place to free OG when she was a kid, why was he punished to stay in that mountain area in the first place? It was briefly mentioned he was once betrayed but that’s as last I learned. Was it a lover or a family member? What was that story?

 

They never actually talk about this in the drama. In the fables about the Monkey King, however, he's imprisoned by Buddha basically for going to war against the heavens and winning.

 

Here is a link to the Monkey King's wiki page anyway, even if our Son Oh Gong doesn't map entirely with the source material version.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

[annie1234]

27 minutes ago, stroppyse said:

 

They never actually talk about this in the drama. In the fables about the Monkey King, however, he's imprisoned by Buddha basically for going to war against the heavens and winning.

 

Here is a link to the Monkey King's wiki page anyway, even if our Son Oh Gong doesn't map entirely with the source material version.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong

 

@philosophie I think based on the recap I read yesterday, Mawang told some kids about SOG's punishment. He stole the fan we saw earlier to help the people in the mountain because the mountain was caught on fire. Heaven didn't like Oh Gong stole the fan and turns out he didn't actually want to help them. He just wanted to brag about it. When he was locked up in Five Elements mountain as punishment, the people started to forget about him. That's why he felt betrayed by people. I think I read that yesterday but I'm not sure 

[Lmangla]

if you are needing to recover from the disappointing ending (I just read the recaps but I was like "huh?"; can't imagine those who sat through so many hours felt), come play OTP bingo. we start tonight at 11PM KST. it is a game where were playing this week and you can win prizes too!

 

[YourHighness .]

I thought my disappoint would end after sleep but sadly it didn't and I am still feeling empty and unsatisfied. I need closure.

 

So I am just going to pretend that SOG always intended to bring back JSM's soul from the Land of Dead after she died in his arms but his plan was thwarted by him loosing his memory. Infact, I will even imagine that he magically preserved her body so he can bring back her soul once again in it(they never showed that he burned her or buried her. Even LHJ questioned why there was no body found of hers). After they promised to find each other, SOG left the next day itself to the Land of Dead. He found the Book of Life/Death and erased her name from it. He found her(No one would stop them since her name is no longer in the books) and he winked her soul to Sereumdong to let her enter her magically preserved body. Then he took her to the heavens to eat the immortality peach and the magic pill. Now she is an immortal and whether the skyland kicks them out again or not, they will live happily ever after, have a wonderful wedding with MW playing the piano and PK sing.They will have a baby who looks like SOG and maybe JSM could even come out of hiding in the real world since her body was never found and so she was never declared dead. With SOG being such a public figure, they will just pretend she lost her memories momentarily and she will let LHJ(maybe he will comment on how similar their baby looks to the one SOG brought to the office once) continue running her business while she lives as Mrs. CEO of the M group.

 

Sigh..how I wish. So much potential this show had and how it disappointed me. BTW I agree with many here that it felt like they kept it open ended for potential Season 2 but I really doubt that will happen since the cast was so star studded. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if they just stuck with LSG and OYS in S2 and went ahead with different characters but I still doubt it will happen.

[Zelda]

1 hour ago, stroppyse said:

Spoiler

You're welcome. Hope the scene translations are enough to tide you over until subs are out.

 

The grandmother/peddler is a goddess. While they don't come out and specifically say it, it's inferred a number of times, including when the grandson asks Soo Bo Ri whether SB isn't just an errand boy for his grandmother to which SB responds in a defensive manner indicating that the grandmother is a higher ranked deity than SB.

 

And, technically, between SM and OG, they did change the fates. SM insisted that OG not be the one to kill her, circumventing both the death bell and heaven's intent of having the Sam Jang's protector be the one to also kill the Sam Jang at the critical moment. I think it was good that OG not be the one to kill SM, or the guilt may have never brought him back from being shattered.

 

And, with the open ending, OG is supposed to be able to find SM again, especially since he gave her one of his special eyes that can see through anything and everything.

 

But, yes, heaven does rather suck.

 

The source material for this drama, although the writers strayed really far from it, is a Buddhist/Taoist fable called Journey to the West. There are English translations of the fable, though it is really long.

 

And, the mythology is definitely not the Christian mythology with it's tradition of monotheism plus a heaven/hell which rewards/punishes penitents and sinners. It is closer to Greek mythology or even Norse mythology with their pantheons of fallible deities of various powers and classes, not the various immortal beings and near immortal demi-gods.

 

In terms of the translations of this drama, one of the hardest parts is to try to choose that doesn't serve as triggers for the monotheistic religious traditions, even if the words translate as such. For instance, Ma Wang which is the name Koreans use for the Devil as well as the use of Lucifer doesn't actually imply that MW is himself the fallen archangel Lucifer in the Christian tradition. In the same spirit, while Son Oh Gong is actually a deity already, albeit one who has been temporarily barred from entering heaven, Ma Wang, PK, Frosty, etc. are considered demons, but not necessarily evil or the minions of the Devil. Rather, they are immortal beings who don't really have an equivalent in the Christian tradition, and they may interact with humans, not necessarily to the benefit of the humans.

@Zelda posted a write up of the various kinds of spirit, both evil and non-evil who are characters in this drama that was good. Unfortunately, I'm not sure of which page that was on.

 

It's more similar to the world in Arang and the Magistrate, though that actually had more Animism and Folk Religion elements to it than JttW.

@stroppyse -You are a hero for all you've done here!- and @anyone who wants to read them, Here are the links to the four posts I have written so far (with sections) explaining the kinds of spirits and other supernatural terms: One, Two, Three, Four. Though I am actually working on compiling and revising that information into a new post with lots of other new info on symbolism, the objects used, references to Journey to the West, and other cultural/religious/folkloric background that was used in this show. Whenever a drama has a rich folkloric or historical background, I like to study and then create a nice little guidebook/glossary with all that info bundled together. I find it makes for a richer (re)viewing experience, and makes me better able to follow and appreciate new fantasy and/or historical dramas in the future. If anyone's interested in it, I hope to have it posted here sometime in the next couple of weeks.

---

 

@ladysaotome If you would like to know more about the netherworld as it is portrayed in Journey to the West, then this chapter portrays Son Oh Gong's own trip into it, and these three chapters (chap10, 11, 12) follow other characters trip there and back. The reasons and rate at which characters come back to life in JTTW is rather incredible. I know of five characters so far, and I'm not near done with reading the whole story! (If you're like me and sometimes wonder at the mechanics and reasoning behind which characters in Chinese fantasy webnovels transmigrate into another body, I think JTTW chapters 11-12 were the inspiration for that.)

 

Most Korea fantasy drama that I have seen so far stick with a more Korean folk religion/shamanism world setting, which is also highly fascinating and influenced by Taoism (and vice versa). Still, if you want a better understanding of a Taoist-esque heavenly realm in a similar style/interpretation as the glimpses we were given in Hwayugi, then I think watching the Chinese drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms aka Eternal Love is a good one. TMPB is not Taoist, but its heavenly realm and deity pantheon is heavily inspired by Taoism -It's like Alternate Universe Taoism-. I basically have had characters like them pictured in my head the whole time I was watching Hwayugi. (Ironically, a black dragon is one of the good protagonists in TMPB.)

 

===

I just finished watching episodes 19-20, and am still processing. For now, I'll say: There are certainly some things I am dissatisfied about -what the heck was with the sword changing forms back and forth for no reason!? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ This ain't Night Watchmen's Journal! I expect better editing and directing from Hwayugi!- Cough. And, I find it irksome when product placement (the car, and that episode must have been sponsored by a sunglasses manufacturer) is a major part of the very ending scenes of a drama, but leaving all that aside I must admit I started grinning when it was revealed that Oh Gong was going to go get Sun Mi from the underworld. That is exactly what I would expect him to do, and since I know what he did in Journey to the West, I have every faith that he will succeed. What's more, I like this a lot better than Gu Family Book where the OTP only met again after the girl reincarnated. If Oh Gong goes to get Sun Mi, before reincarnation, then she will still remember her love for him.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, annie1234 said:

 

@philosophie I think based on the recap I read yesterday, Mawang told some kids about SOG's punishment. He stole the fan we saw earlier to help the people in the mountain because the mountain was caught on fire. Heaven didn't like Oh Gong stole the fan and turns out he didn't actually want to help them. He just wanted to brag about it. When he was locked up in Five Elements mountain as punishment, the people started to forget about him. That's why he felt betrayed by people. I think I read that yesterday but I'm not sure 

 

@philosophie, @annie1234 is totally right. For whatever reason, I had forgotten about the opening scene to episode 20. May I call it ending-distressed-induced memory loss? Anyway, to make up for it, here is a translation of the opening scene to episode 20.

 

(MW is eating ice cream with Han Byul, her little brother, and the boy who escaped the bookseller’s clutches from an earlier episode.)
MW: In the very distant past when humans trusted the heavens, and the heavens took care of the humans, in the hot, bubbling Mt. Dora, one monkey was born. He had such an amazing strength and his temper was so bad, he went here and there causing trouble where he went. The heavens having no choice, in order to appease him, made him a deity. The monkey who had become a god just created a name for himself as he pleased as the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.
Boy: Great Sage, Equal to Heaven?
MW: That’s right.
HB: Then, did that monkey live happily in heaven?
MW: No. He committed a crime, so he was punished.
Boy: Why?
MW: In Mt. Dora where he was born, the heavens had pierced a huge fire column, so each and every day, white smoke would come out. The humans who saw that were scared and frightened. So, they prayed to the stone monkey god. To block the hole that the heavens had pierced into Mt.Dora. The proud monkey stole a gigantic walking stick called Yeouido that was being used as a pillar in the dragon’s palace, and closed off the fire hole.
Boy: So there was no more smoke from Mt. Dora?
MW: That’s right. However, the heavens were very angry at the monkey who had taken it upon himself to block the firehole. The heavens caught the cranky, cursing monkey and imprisoned him in a jail called Five Element Mountains.
HB: Then didn’t the people help the monkey god?
MW: Afterwards, the people didn’t look for the god. They didn’t even remember him. He spent a long time forgotten and imprisoned.
HB: The people had no manners.
MW: People are usually different from when they go to poop to when they come back after pooping.
Boy: He was protecting the people, so why did it happen?
MW: Because he didn’t do it to protect the people. He didn’t love humans even a tiny bit. He was sneering at the heavens and he was pulling it off as a prank to spite them to show off how great he thought he was. That’s why the heavens were so angry.
Boy: Is he still imprisoned at the Five Elements Mountain Jail?
MW: He escaped from there. Afterwards, he actually received a punishment that caused him some very severe grief. And now he lives alone in loneliness.
HB: Where is he by himself?
MW: He lives in a house with a beautiful garden called Sureumdong. Speaking of which, don’t you all want to see that stone monkey? Huh?
(the children all nod, so MW puts them in the elevator to Sureumdong)
MW: Okay, children, go safely and then return. Toys. A lot of them.

 

 

 

It turns out that MW had promised the children that they could have all the toys they wanted if they would retrieve OG's geumganggo. MW had hit upon this as a desperation move in order to get either OG or at least his GGG out of Sureumdong, thinking that OG wouldn't harm children. However, the children did not succeed in their quest.

 

So, something else that occurred to me. The geumganggo was OG's punishment for breaking out of Five Elements Mountain according to MW"s story, and the grandmother peddler the god who administers the punishment to OG. The geumganggo which can only be be taken off by the wearer if he's learned true love and developed the willingness to do something for other's sake rather than his own.

 

[haymochi]

22 minutes ago, YourHighness . said:

I thought my disappoint would end after sleep but sadly it didn't and I am still feeling empty and unsatisfied. I need closure.

 

So I am just going to pretend that SOG always intended to bring back JSM's soul from the Land of Dead after she died in his arms but his plan was thwarted by him loosing his memory. Infact, I will even imagine that he magically preserved her body so he can bring back her soul once again in it(they never showed that he burned her or buried her. Even LHJ questioned why there was no body found of hers). After they promised to find each other, SOG left the next day itself to the Land of Dead. He found the Book of Life/Death and erased her name from it. He found her(No one would stop them since her name is no longer in the books) and he winked her soul to Sereumdong to let her enter her magically preserved body. Then he took her to the heavens to eat the immortality peach and the magic pill. Now she is an immortal and whether the skyland kicks them out again or not, they will live happily ever after, have a wonderful wedding with MW playing the piano and PK sing.They will have a baby who looks like SOG and maybe JSM could even come out of hiding in the real world since her body was never found and so she was never declared dead. With SOG being such a public figure, they will just pretend she lost her memories momentarily and she will let LHJ(maybe he will comment on how similar their baby looks to the one SOG brought to the office once) continue running her business while she lives as Mrs. CEO of the M group.

 

Sigh..how I wish. So much potential this show had and how it disappointed me. BTW I agree with many here that it felt like they kept it open ended for potential Season 2 but I really doubt that will happen since the cast was so star studded. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if they just stuck with LSG and OYS in S2 and went ahead with different characters but I still doubt it will happen.

Me too every time i woke up. The pain is still there

i will never understand Hong sisters choice. Is it that hard to make a satisfying ending like they usually do? This 

at least with a good ending, it will leave the viewers with fond memories of their work despite any loopholes or CG problems

 

Now not only people are upset but they absolutely left a bitter taste in every loyal viewers of this drama. 

 

The only comfort i get is OG is OG hahaha.  The hell with reincarnation, he gonna turn the underworld upside down and get his bride.  That gonna means Sunmi isn't a human being anymore.. she is an immortal esp with the eye that he gave her

 

[YourHighness .]

29 minutes ago, Zelda said:

I must admit I started grinning when it was revealed that Oh Gong was going to go get Sun Mi from the underworld. That is exactly what I would expect him to do, and since I know what he did in Journey to the West, I have every faith that he will succeed.

Can you explain in brief what he did? I know you posted the chapter links but I clicked on it and they are long and a bit confusing since I am not well versed with the story from the books. The Monkey God in the books and the Monkey God in the show seems very different.

 

Is it also true that in the books the monk died and Monkey God brought him back? Is that what the writer hinted at with the ending?

 

9 minutes ago, haymochi said:

Me too every time i woke up. The pain is still there

i will never understand Hong sisters choice. Is it that hard to make a satisfying ending like they usually do? This 

at least with a good ending, it will leave the viewers with fond memories of their work despite any loopholes or CG problems

 

Now not only people are upset but they absolutely left a bitter taste in every loyal viewers of this drama. 

 

The only comfort i get is OG is OG hahaha.  The hell with reincarnation, he gonna turn the underworld upside down and get his bride.  That gonna means Sunmi isn't a human being anymore.. she is an immortal esp with the eye that he gave her

 

 Same. He's too impatient to wait for her reincarnation, he's going to break her out ASAP. Which reminds me..how important is the eye for him to find JSM? Without it, would SOG have had a hard time finding her in the Land of Dead? And will the eye change anything in terms of what she "turns into"?

[annie1234]

Are they going to make dvd for this? For whatever reasons, I'm still interested of buying the dvd if they promised to include bts scenes of OTP and deleted scenes. I know they cut the karaoke scene and date scene from ep 2 so I'm looking forward for it if they decided to release the dvd. Any news for that?

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Zelda said:

I must admit I started grinning when it was revealed that Oh Gong was going to go get Sun Mi from the underworld. That is exactly what I would expect him to do, and since I know what he did in Journey to the West, I have every faith that he will succeed. What's more, I like this a lot better than Gu Family Book where the OTP only met again after the girl reincarnated. If Oh Gong goes to get Sun Mi, before reincarnation, then she will still remember her love for him.

 

I have to say that I take comfort from you and all the other people who commented that Sam Jang and the Monkey King actually had to make their way back from the Land of the Dead, and ultimately, they were both awarded divinity as their rewards. So, I'm going to just assume that in another world beyond this drama, that OG and SM are happily together forever, and that they meet the baby who looks just like OG who is their son born to them in his rightful time.

 

And, i agree that this ending is still better than the Gu Family Book ending, without any doubts. SM will remember wherever she is, and OG will go and get her.

 

Also, thanks for posting links to your spirits and the supernatural posts.   I thought they were well written and helpful to trying to understand some of the nuances in terms of the various spirits and the way they are depicted in this drama. Please tag me when you post the revised version(s). I'll be interested to read them.

[haymochi]

How wonderful if the amnesia plot is taken  out . 

OG gave Sunmi his eyes when she was dying in his arms, then Og start his crazy  plot to kidnap Sunmi away from the underworld with MW's help  lol

He successfully erased her name from the book and she is an immortal now. 

 

Hong Sisters ??? Wth are you doing when you wrote the script for ep 20? You are two persons righr?? Both of your brain think the same way?

 

 

[dramaalpaca]

Alright, I've gone past the first four stages- denial, anger, bargaining and depression to finally arrive at acceptance. 

Actually watched the final episode with 50% subs and still cried at all the appropriate points. PK's grief at being the only one left and knowing that Buja liked him, Han Joon mourning JSM, SOG *finally* being able to tell JSM that his love is real. Still wished that they had done some CGI to show SOG driving into the underworld to at least make that meh ending slightly less meh, but watcha gotta do right? 

Till the very end, JSM acted with grace. She didn't do this come back for a day thing for the heavens but for SOG. Similarly, she chose to save the world not for the heavens but for the sake of ordinary people and for SOG. So in that respect, I still think she's a kickass character (as kickass as you can be when written to be so passive). But mann, I really felt for OYS as an actress in this episode. How much can you do with lines like "Time's up", "I have to go", "I will wait" in the final scene that you appear in the drama?? I get it that she's supposed to be the paragon of virtue in the drama but that's really stretching out her character's significance into practically nothing. Even her dying in episode 19 resonated more- in episode 20 all she could was try to get the GGG off (& still not be able to do it!) for one whole hour. The only saving grace is she was able to remind Mawang to put her stuff in order, give her company to Han Joo and that her icky relatives didn't get their hands on her fortune?!

Still loving the characters and the acting, the story.. not so much. On the upside, I don't think this drama would traumatized LSG as much as Big traumatized Gong Yoo- I actually think LSG came out of this pretty well given that he WAS SOG and people still loved the character. I feel much worse for OYS and really hope that she finds a project that really allows her to shine. I'm sure she knew that she was taking a chance with this character and did her best, but mann she really did deserve a better character arc. Thanks much to @stroppyse, @briseis, @haymochi et al for keeping this thread interesting. Till the next (non Hong Sisters) drama!

[haymochi]

Yes. Sunmi is a character with virtue, passion, and elegance hence i love her so much but the ending is such a joke for her  lol

still cried at the Namsan tower scene though. Both actors crying acting are top notch

i notice these two have super sexy voice. The scene  when they spent the night together with Sunmi's whispering "i love you i love you" and OG answering "um". Even though the camera is not on them but hearing their narration made my heart  flutters so much

 

nah this drama is diff from Big. It's s successful. A cable drama hitting 5-6.9% is very successful already and they receive lots of love if not for the ending 

 

@dramaalpaca another Hong sisters drama??? Noooo.. i will pass. The trauma is too big. I put my  heart and soul into this otp drama and they did this 

 

[annie1234]

35 minutes ago, stroppyse said:

 

I have to say that I take comfort from you and all the other people who commented that Sam Jang and the Monkey King actually had to make their way back from the Land of the Dead, and ultimately, they were both awarded divinity as their rewards. So, I'm going to just assume that in another world beyond this drama, that OG and SM are happily together forever, and that they meet the baby who looks just like OG who is their son born to them in his rightful time.

 

 

In the original story, Sam Jang and OG awarded of divinity as their reward in the end for accomplishing their mission. But, since we know that the Gods of Heaven in this drama were so... hmm.. I can't even describe them. haha.. no wonder OG doesn't want to come back to Heaven. Anyway, in this story, if OG helped SM escaped from Land Of The Dead, even though they accomplished their mission saving the world, I guarantee the Heaven in this drama won't award them with divinity. They probably will be locked up together in Five Element Mountain.  I guess OG will be super happy to be alone with SM forever. 

[haymochi]

15 minutes ago, annie1234 said:

 

In the original story, Sam Jang and OG awarded of divinity as their reward in the end for accomplishing their mission. But, since we know that the Gods of Heaven in this drama were so... hmm.. I can't even describe them. haha.. no wonder OG doesn't want to come back to Heaven. Anyway, in this story, if OG helped SM escaped from Land Of The Dead, even though they accomplished their mission saving the world, I guarantee the Heaven in this drama won't award them with divinity. They probably will be locked up together in Five Element Mountain.  I guess OG will be super happy to be alone with SM forever. 

Lmao being locked together in five element mountain with sunmi?

he will never want to go out lol. He gonna stick to Sunmi like an annoying glue 

[Vincent Polo]

A photo of OYS and LSG eating together at the latter's  birthday celebration. I Remember a bts of this when they greet him while filming on set. I Love this OTP too much.

 

CTTO

[haymochi]

I'm just gonna depend on those shippers hawk eyes lol

i'm afraid of shippers and i don't want to become one but this drama unleashed the crazy demon shippers inside of me.

esp after that ending, i may need a real life happy end.

 

first of all mianhae, gonna follow that shipper account and   live in my delulu land to ease my pain a bit 

 

 

[madinked]

That doesn’t look lik OYS though.