[Drama 2021/2022] Immortality/ Bulgasal: Immortal Souls, 불가살

[sadthe1st]

32 minutes ago, Haeun said:

I saw that tvN released a special clip where they explained that they are using korean flower smybolism to convey the characters emotion and during that one it was reversed cherry blossoms meaning "lie" which I think gives reason to believe that they weren't truthful as to why they married each other. Watching the scenes itself gave me mixed signals.

(Other meanings during thier scenes were "Happiness", "you are the only one I love" "I love you more than anyone else" and "pure love" if that doesn't confirm his feelings then idk.)

it would really be so much nicer and heartwarming if Sol really liked Hwal.. i only remembered the dad feeling apologetic for making Hwal marry his special daughter.. and that Sol had attempted to attack Hwal a few times..

 

tbh, i’m very amazed with Lee Joon’s acting as Eul Tae.. hahaha i said a few times already but i look forward to his scenes a lot more.. oops.

[rocher22]

Yes, Eul Tae was smiling and cruel to Doyoon...

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.tumbral.com/blog/netflixdramas

[Haeun]

10 minutes ago, sadthe1st said:

it would really be so much nicer and heartwarming if Sol really liked Hwal.. i only remembered the dad feeling apologetic for making Hwal marry his special daughter.. and that Sol had attempted to attack Hwal a few times..

The thing is we don't really know much about Sol's side of feelings but looking at Hwal's memories they seemed to have times together where they were happy. We have to consider that Sol had just lost her daughter during the backstory scenes we saw so she really wasn't at her best state. It's interesting that she wanted to know why he married her and she looked concerned for a moment when he grabbed the sword cutting his hand, I think their relationship turned sour when they started having children that were suffering due to the curse and she clearly didn't feel loved by neither her husband or father when we know they both did.

46 minutes ago, sadthe1st said:

tbh, i’m very amazed with Lee Joon’s acting as Eul Tae.. hahaha i said a few times already but i look forward to his scenes a lot more.. oops.

He is what keeps the show alive right now and due to him being given the best material to work with he gets to show off more of his acting chops compared to the others where from whom we really don't get much because they either don't get screen time or suffer from bad writing coughSanguncough. Like Eultae has everything covered, he makes us laugh, makes us feel bad, makes us like and sympathise with him, fear him, hate him (not really I can't hate him lol). 

[ninaanin]

I love Siho!! And I hope with fervour that there won't be a twist to make her evil!

 

I love the dynamics and love between the sisters. I do think that, if ET didn't lie, in a previous life, SH had a more complicated role in the original entanglement than what we think, but I don’t think it would be evil, maybe ambiguous but not really evil.

 

SiHo isn't Hwal's wife! Sol was his wife, SH isn't! Even the old woman (shaman?) says "your former wife", so the drama is telling us what should be obvious: currently, they aren’t married. To SiHo he is just a bulgasal whom nobody should trust entirely. If Hwal has guilty or soft feelings for SiHo, it is his problem: she doesn’t trust him, she doesn’t love him, she was afraid of him and is now, at best, indifferent to him. If she could choose, she will be miles away from him. She is there only for his sister, because she trusts her sister. In his past SH was his wife, but now Hwal should just think and act as an ex-husband who hasn’t any right over his ex-wife: an ex-husband can’t claim anything from his ex-wife.

 

One more thought. IMO, Hwal liked Sol very much: it is within his personality at that time to like people who shows any kind of affection towards him, and it is clear that they were friends during their childhood. I think also, that he thought himself, in a way, grateful to get a chance – despite his curse – to have a family: this gave to him a kind of normality and happiness. And when he lost his family, in special his son, he lost his world. Yes, he liked her, but he didn’t love her in the way we expect to see in a love story. To me, it would be very very very wird (and bad writing) if Hwal didn’t feel anything when he saw SH: of course he should feel himself shocked, of course he should try with any means possible to protect her; of course he should still feel this affection and should like to see it reciprocated. So, to me, I think this is wonderfully done, by the writers, to make Hwal feels so much in the presence of SH. However, although he has these feelings for her (and should have), they are not the feelings of a true romantic love, imo. This romantic love, he feels towards SU. The development of their love story, to me, is also very nicely done: subtle, slow pace with this lovely and sweet chemistry.

 

This is what I see in the drama.

 

[sadthe1st]

50 minutes ago, Haeun said:

because they either don't get screen time or suffer from bad writing coughSanguncough.

 

 

 

[illay]

Regardless previous life relationship, Doesn't it obvious that SiHo not have any feeling toward Hwal on current time? She addresses him as "Ajussi" which kind giving hint about it. We also don't see any scenes which giving clue that She has affection toward him. On relationship, it needs mutual feeling from both of sides to make it work. Just saying..

 

Now talking about the preview, there will be a new revelation which If we look at SU's response it's not a good one about Hwal. Hwal probably did something bad on his previous life but if it's the case I wonder why The lady bulgasal still protected him when Hwal was young? That's kind contradict. It also raises a question  whether it's just a misunderstanding between both sides. Probably ET  has contribution in making the misunderstanding?

 

[Haeun]

2 hours ago, ninaanin said:

SiHo isn't Hwal's wife! Sol was his wife, SH isn't! Even the old woman (shaman?) says "your former wife", so the drama is telling us what should be obvious: currently, they aren’t married.

See my issue with this is that in this case we shouldn't care so much about Doyoon and Hwal's relationship either because Doyoon is not his son but the show obviously wants me to. They can't expect me to care for one relationship of the past and not for the other. Same thing with Siho and Doyoon, he isn't her son in this life so what's the use of wanting them to be happy together in this life when their connection from the past shouldn't matter. Sometimes it feels like the writers themselves don't know with what they want to go. The conections from their past is what pretty much drives the emotional aspect of the story though.

 

2 hours ago, illay said:

She addresses him as "Ajussi" which kind giving hint about it.

Ji Euntak would beg to differ lol.

2 hours ago, illay said:

Hwal probably did something bad on his previous life but if it's the case I wonder why The lady bulgasal still protected him when Hwal was young? That's kind contradict. It also raises a question  whether it's just a misunderstanding between both sides. Probably ET  has contribution in making the misunderstanding?

Maybe she is just against killing against children who knows lol, what I'm curious about is what Bulgalady said when Hwal stabbed her about how he planned this, how he created even more karma and how she despises him, I was wondering if those words weren't actually directed at Hwal and they were just trying to mislead us. On one hand she seemed to look at him and really mean him on the other hand I'm wondering how he was supposed to plan anything if he doesn't remember anything from his previous life unless his plan took over from his previous life and he himself had something to do with the curse, here we go again with the endless possibilities. I'd like it if it turned out that Hwal did a bad thing in his previous life, let anyone other than Eultae be a baddie but seeing how everyone who is reincarnated seems to keep the same core idk.

[rocher22]

it was somehow a dreamy first encounter until ET bowed and greeted her...     

 

 

 

Eul Tae - ''You're smart''...that was sexy..  

 

 

 

https://www.tumbral.com/blog/netflixdramas

 

[ninaanin]

51 minutes ago, Haeun said:

See my issue with this is that in this case we shouldn't care so much about Doyoon and Hwal's relationship either because Doyoon is not his son but the show obviously wants me to. They can't expect me to care for one relationship of the past and not for the other. Same thing with Siho and Doyoon, he isn't her son in this life so what's the use of wanting them to be happy together in this life when their connection from the past shouldn't matter. Sometimes it feels like the writers themselves don't know with what they want to go. The conections from their past it was pretty much drives the emotional aspect of the story though.

 

 

 

Sorry to cut your post .

 

I have no issue at all. Because I don't expect or wish that Siho and DY will have a relationship or feelings of mother and son towards each other: they are very cute and very connected as, say, brother and sister. Strong connection yes, mother and son relationship no: the beauty of this whole thing to me is that the connection-karma thing let room for freewill, agency, and “creativeness” to build new kinds of relationships. The same goes to Hwal and DY. Diversity, please, diversity .

 

Maybe the difference is axed in the fact that, when I look to the characters, I see and relate to them from the point of view of their present: the present for Hwal begun more than sixteen years ago (and to me, then, he liked Sol very much, but wasn’t in love with her). The present of DY and Sol begun around 20 years ago.

 

I don't think, either, that everything revolves around Hwal. I think every character has right to its own agency and own present-past. So, in the present, SiHo is family of SU (and only SiHo), and has a cute relationship like brother and sister with DY, and don’t like very much Hwal: she is almost indifferent to him.

 

Yes, me too, I’m rooting for every one of those character to be happy at the end, and possibly with a strong bond between them. But I don’t think that they would think the any way they will have to be happy would be if they re-enact their past relationships in the present.

 

So, I see no contradiction at all if, at the end of the drama,  SiHO and Hwal becomes good in-laws . They will stay happy together, only in a different kind of relationship.

 

[aria26]

Do Yoon and Si Ho can have that brother-sister relationship because they dont remember anything, but Hwal could not help but think of them as family because he connects them to their souls. Once Si Ho sees their past, wouldn't she be affected too? Would she think, oh, Do Yoon is just a stranger I met and became close with? I think she will also think of him as her son and maybe hate Hwal once again.

same thing with eul tae, why would he care about the detective? he does because he remembers him.

sang woon had been running from hwal all her past lives because she remembers that he is hunting her, it is only now without her memories that she tries to get closer to him

I think that while the curse is at work, they are all imprisoned by all their past lives, once it is lifted, they can all die and forget and be different from what they were before. Without the curse, they will no longer have to be born around each other again, maybe they can be born in other countries and never cross paths again. But now, they cannot avoid their pasts yet.

at the same time, their present lives matter too as it creates new connections. let us say si ho turns out to be the all evil from 1000 years ago, her love for sang woon in this lifetime would prevent her from hurting her.

[orion00]

Hahaha you are right

3 hours ago, Haeun said:

Ji Euntak would beg to differ lol.

 

@aria26 you are right about the situation.

 

Feeling funny because now SangUn attracted to Hwal because now she has no memory. If she is sincere to Hwal, I'm curious why she keep running from Hwal from the previous 7 lives? Something is wrong or the writer just want to make us more confused. 

[RobinM]

He would not have given her a chance to get to know him let alone believed her whatever she told him . If had caught her he was not going to want a chat about the good ole days over lunch.

[rocher22]

Just when I think Eul Tae cant surprise me anymore he walked into Hwal's room and

found a precious thing there.

ET held Hwal's jacket just like that and then he neatly folded the jacket.    

It was a little weird...   

 

 

Im not sure if this necklace has any meaning...

 

[andy78]

1 hour ago, orion00 said:

Something is wrong or the writer just want to make us more confused. 

i think it was ET the one she was running from ...she was looking for her SWORD that is HWAL...Also she knew Hwal belived she was his wife and son killer...both HWAL and lady bulgasal were trying to find each other

[rocher22]

Eul Tae disguised himself as lady Bulgasal and then he killed Hwal's family.

After so many years he talks about it in the dreams. Hmm...

 

El Tae hasnt changed in those thousand years and he still uses cheap tricks.

Im a little disappointed that he persistently believes that he will be able to deceive Hwal.

 

 

that was so hilarious..  

 

 

Eul Tae - ''Lovely chat... sounds good''

[mysticmango]

Also has anyone noticed how a lot of Hwal and Sang Un's scenes have a lot of light? A lot of lens flare, sunlight, light bulbs, etc, especially between them and when they're facing each other. Originally I thought it was just something the director likes (and it was annoying me lol) but with how often I've noticed it it seems very deliberate. Maybe all that light alludes to their past, like the painting where they're both in halos? Deities and all that. Curiouser and curiouser...

 

Case in point:

 

Also how Sang Un wears a lot of flowers/plants in her jackets, perhaps hinting at a "flowery path"/hopeful future, as opposed to Hwal's all black wardrobe. However in the preview for ep 11 he's wearing a white shirt for the first time ever--a sign that something has shifted? He was burning Bulgalady's picture after all, perhaps he's finally on his road to peace/acceptance/redemption? Hmmm.

 

This concludes today's film lit class! 

[illay]

@mysticmango Interesting point about the light.

 

It's also what I think when seeing Hwal with white T-shirt in the preview. I've seen on some dramas, the actor/actress will have a new hair cut or new fashion to indicate the new chapter on his/her life. We need to see if He will wear  dark T-shirt again after this to see if it's just coincidence or not. It will be nice if He also throws that blazer. I am sick seeing him wear it on almost each episodes. 

Anyway, I like the blue Shirt that Sang Woon wore on above screenshot.

 

 

[backstreetboysfan]

@mysticmango I noticed that about the light as well, you could be right.

[andy78]

7 hours ago, mysticmango said:

Maybe all that light alludes to their past, like the painting where they're both in halos? Deities and all that. Curiouser and curiouser...

 

you could be right...interesting theory...Hwal belives the soul is his but was ET soul all the time...

[rocher22]

I wanted Doyoon  to come up with a story  but he was honest and his voice

was so sad when he said- ''She said you killed my mom and me 600 years ago''.