#bulgasal immortal souls

[whumpetywhump]

Whumptober Day 25 - "They're Not Breathing"

Bulgasal: Immortal Souls - Ep. 6

First Responders - Ep. 7

Kokdu: Season Of Deity - Ep. 6

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble - Ep. 12

Til The End Of The Moon - Ep. 9

[stephz12]

Lee Jin-Wook and Song Kang both burned away from their other shows to be in Sweet Home

[cineflections]

Kdramas are all about the twist and turns and add to that ill-fated relationships across several lifetimes and blood galore, and you get a series that manages to engage the viewer for the full 16-episode count.

I'm, of course, talking about Bulgasal - immortal souls on Netflix.

This had been on my list on Netflix for ages it feels like. I love costume dramas, court intrigue and what not, and I truly thought this was going to be one such, the 2 first episodes fooled me enough that the first 5 minutes in modern time didn't put me off. But the switch to modern times was well done and served the plot well.

Having gotten a new hobby in embroidering, it was easy for me to get through the 16 hours without getting bored and itching to look up episode summaries that I often do with C- and K-dramas. Ofc, the plot itself is right up my alley.

Halfway done with this, first time cross stitching for like almost 20 years (damn, I feel old now) so I will accept any mistakes I make on this.

I was really impressed with the cinematography and costumes in the first 2 episodes (in particular, it was quite stellar throughout), it felt grounded and real, and having the monsters be "humans" (with modification) added to this grounded style. The series uses make-up and prosthetics rather than cgi (although i did notice some here ans there) for the monsters and "monsterfication" effects on our protagonist and I always appreciate when a show/movie does that.

The cast of characters are quite small and they are reused for the different times shown in the story - showing where each character ended up reincarnating. And the reason why they're connected each life is because like our Bulgasal Hwal has said a few times (paraphrasing heavily): ties of destiny are not easily broken, and will endure across time. We have two characters that start as siblings, become mother and son, to lastly be platonic roommates (happy surprise by this tbh, I thought for sure the show would make them lovers even to the last 5 minutes).

The beginning made it so easy to root for Hwal who has had to suffer throughout his whole life, and at the end of a particularly harrowing experienced left him with nothing except his life - which he, too, wanted to lose at that point - but immortality was forced upon him. Cursed to become Bulgasal - a monster that has no soul and drink human blood for sustenance.

The beginning of the show was so effective at making me like and sympathize with him and the people he loved, that the whiplash was quite hard when we are thrust into the POV of the woman who cursed him to become a monster, this time reincarnated as a young girl.

The girl in question living her life with her mom, twin sister, and younger sister, somewhere in Korea. The twin sister almost never leaving the apartment and forcing the girl, Sang-un, to wear a mask to cover her face "Because Bulgasal will come for them". It's a direct parallel to how Hwal grew up. Always afraid that Bulgasal would come and get him.

The viewer has followed Hwal on his quest for revenge, but then following the POV of the girl he hunted, I just couldn't get behind him killing them. I felt that him murdering the whole family would really sour him as a protagonist for me. I actually wondered how the show was going to justify him going through with it.

Spoilers: he didn't.

But we don't really find that out immediately. The show smartly continues the main POV of the girl Sang-un, now grown up, with some switches back to Hwal as we find him seemingly looking for the one who got away from his murder of Sang-un's twin sister and mother.

And when they finally meet, we find out that he was actually not responsible for their deaths. He was certainly aiming to kill the twin sisters and their entire family, but someone got there first.

The show at this point starts the classical enemies to lovers trope and starts bringing up the questions on how this apparent blood feud started. Why did Sang-un, as Bulgasal, kill his entire family and then curse him so she could become human? Why is Sang-un important when it was her (now dead) twin sister that remembered all of her past lives? And the eternal question: why is no one talking to each other about their issues.

Which is my main critique of this drama. It often hinges itself on characters acting from misunderstandings and ignorance. A character would not explain anything to another and then be surprised when that character doesn't listen to them. Again and again I felt like if they would just talk we wouldn't be in this situation. And then, in the last episode, we find out what started it all - and it's a misunderstanding! And it just escalates from there. It felt so cheap. The resolution to all the conflicts, I feel, was good enough to satisfy me. But when the show really tried hitting me with the "emotional damage", I guess I was partly checked out and didn't feel anything in particular. I would've loved a good cry.

The conflict resolution was bittersweet, but the ending montage made it just sweet. And while the "how" can be questions and critiqued, I find it was good it did end like that anyways. Makes its easier to let go.

Overall, I liked this drama, it was not as bloated with unnecessarily long shots every scene (tho it certainly could've have trimmed the almost Naruto style flashbacks and One Piece style reaction shots), and so the pacing felt quick and each scene felt like they had purpose. The music was reminiscent of HBO's Westworld at times (especially the softer notes) and I really liked the drums that signified the arrival of Bulgasal. The acting felt mostly genuine and real, with some exceptions (I kinda dislike the excessive "whining" or "aggressiveness" characters sometimes act when talking to each other, which happens in every kdrama I've watched, is that how they act in reality or is it for "TV-drama"?).

I wouldn't recommend this one if you're looking for a romantic story, there is a romance, but it's very toned down and develops naturally over the course of the series, but the romance is not the point of the story and conflict.

But I do recommend this one if you like a good plot with reincarnation and recurring destiny. With some twist and turns that feel earned and not like bullshit.

[tifa-and-rinoa]

Dal Hwal x Sang Woon || I Wish You Well

“We've met before in your past life.” -  Dal Hwal

[andrewthedeadly]

thinking abt bulgasal!eultae going to find human!hwal to try and get revenge but ends up falling for him and cant bring himself to do it

[crookedfandomquill]

The pacing of LBFAD, especially episodes 29-36, is fucking diabolical.

Some dramas (looking at you, TTEOTM and Bulgasal) hit you with an unrelenting series of tragedies. The hits start coming in episode 1 and they don’t stop coming. You know from the first scene that this is going to be rough. You accept it. Eventually you build tolerance to the narrative traumas being inflicted upon these poor characters.

But LBFAD is deceptively soft and tropey and cute. The FL is a squeaky emotional flower fairy, how can bad things happen to her? Adventures, sure, but not tragedy! There’s comedy, there’s romance, there’s a traumatized ML who definitely won’t be further traumatized by the events of the story :D

But it’s such a mature story underneath it all, and you first see that properly when the show doesn’t find a quick, convenient solution for the fact that XLH and DFQC are from warring nations and have incompatible goals. There’s no tidy fated love helping them out; they’re actively working against fate to be together, and fate doesn’t make it easy for them.

The tragedies in LBFAD aren’t unrelenting; they pick up in pace very rapidly in the last arc, but after each hit you get this moment of thinking it might be okay before you get sucker punched again. The Bone Orchid is killing XLH? Maybe she’ll fall briefly out of love with DFQC and survive! But nope, she kills herself to save him. Oh wait, DFQC wakes up and she’s there safe and sound, maybe…? No, just a dream world he’s killing himself to sustain. Look, he can bring her back and everything will be okay! Sorry, she doesn’t remember him and she has to marry Changheng and sacrifice herself for the world. Wait, she does remember him and he can change her fate? Maybe they can be happy together after all! But no, one of them has to die regardless, and XLH has to wait 500 years for their reunion.

The straight-up-tragic dramas feel like stepping into a too-hot bath and making yourself adjust so you can relax into the heat. LBFAD is more like climbing into a cauldron of pleasantly-warm water that heats up gradually until suddenly it feels too hot to handle and you’re sobbing into a melted pint of Haagen Dazs.

[kayamark]

Bulgasal: Immortal Souls (2021)

Ep 10

[electricsoul-rpg]

fc: Kwon Nara (권나라)

ethnicity: Korean

[luminescenc1e]

wellfell asked: “Shhh, save your breath. I’ll take care of you” / u know for whomst .. 🥺 / this MEME - accepting.

It was the coldness that he did not recognize, a type of frigidity that settles in one's bones. Somewhere, between barely opened eyes he can make out shapes, and movement. There is a flickering light, casting a shadow that he can’t recognize. They had ventured further away from their village, managing to walk the kilometers until they exited the thickest of the forest and then the neighboring village. They had been unscathed, the wolves they had been hunting still somewhere in the forest, and except for the one night where they could hear their howls, that was the only sign they had of them.

But as they were welcomed into an older married couple's house, allowed to take a few days before going back home. Eultae had woken up freezing and then he couldn’t get up, it all happened fast, or maybe it had taken time. Most of it he had been unconscious. And now as he strained to see who was talking to him, he could recognize her, half of her face was in shadow and it was dark outside, he had no idea how long he slept. “ Are you alright? ” He had managed to move his hand and cup her face, but it felt too heavy to move.

[w1ng3dw01f]

Lost might just be my Roman Empire.

If it’s not Lost, it’s Star Wars.

If it’s not Star Wars, it’s Bleach (the anime).

If it’s not Bleach, it’s Alice in Borderland.

If it’s not Alice in Borderland, it’s Snowpiercer.

If it’s not Snowpiercer, it’s Westworld.

If it’s not Westworld, it’s Bulgasal: Immortal Souls.

If it’s not Bulgasal: Immortal Souls, it’s Lord of the Rings.

If it’s not any visual media, it’s the music composed by Max Richter.

[korelist]

BULGASAL: IMMORTAL SOUL // KDRAMA DİZİ YORUMU

UYARI : Yazılar genel olarak spoiler içerebilir. İçermeyedebilir.

İmdb puanı : 7,4 Benim puanım: 8

Drama: Bulgasal: Immortal Souls (English title) / Immortality (literal title)

Hangul: 불가살

Director: Jang Young-Woo

Writer: Kwon So-Ra, Seo Jae-Won

Date: 2021

Language: Korean

Country: South Korea

Cast: Lee Jin-Uk, Kwon Na-Ra, Gong Seung-Yeon, Kim Woo-Seok, Jung Jin-Young, Park Myung-Shin, Lee Joon

"Bu topraklarda 600 yıl önce insan olmayan canlılar yaşıyordu. İnsan yiyen sayısız canavar. Ama artık, tüm canavarlar yok oldu. Ben hariç..." diyerek başlıyor. Dizi size hiçbir bilgi vermeden ilerliyor. Kim kimdir, ne nedir, ne zaman başlıyor, neden başlıyor hiçbir şey yok.  

Özet olarak, sayısız hayat boyunca onu canavar yapan canavarı bulup öldürmek için peşinden koşan bir canavarın hikayesini izliyoruz. Dizi bunu en başta söylemiyor ben söylemiş olayım. En azından bunu bilerek izlerseniz bir nebze içine girmeniz daha kolay olabilir. Üstelik inanmazsınız spoiler sayılmaz. Bu yaratığımızın ismi Bulgasal ya da cinsi mi diyeyim günümüzde kullandığı isim Dan Hwal (Lee Jin-Uk). Ona da bir miktar üzülüyorsunuz. Doğduğu andan itibaren lanetleniş, insanlar tarafından dışlanmış, hırpalanmış. Onu lanetleyen canavarı öldürüp, laneti ortadan kalmak istiyor. Canavar olmak istemeyen bu canavarımızın öldürmeye çalıştığı canavar ise günümüzde reenkarne olmuş normal bir insan.

Bu insan önceki hayatlarından bölük pörçük anılar hatırladığı için daha önce peşinde olan canavarı biliyor ama kendisinin canavar olduğunu yani ilk hayatlarını ikisi de hatırlamıyor. Her yaşantısında çok küçük yaşta önceki hayatlarına dair bilincini geri kazanıyor. Bizim izlediğimiz hikayede ise Min Sang-Un(Kwon Na-Ra) olarak karşımıza çıkıyor.

Hikaye ilerledikçe bütün kuyruklar birbirine dolanmaya başlıyor. Etraflarındaki herkes geçmiş hayatlarından onların yanında yöresinde olan insanlarmış meğerse gibi alt hikayeler çıkıyor. Aslında bu hikayeleri beğendim. Dizi her ne kadar kör kuyularda dolansa da, yan karakterlerin diziye dahil olma çizgileri güzeldi. Oyuncular oldukça başarılıydı. Hikayedeki saçmalıklar ya da anlamsızlıklar çok göze batmıyordu. Yalnızca benim için bir tık kasvetli bir diziydi.

Özetle; iyinin kötünün birbirinin kıllığına girdiği, iç içe geçtiği ketum bir diziydi diyebilirim. İzlenmeyecek kadar kötü değildi, bir sürü daha güzel dizi varken sıra gelirse izlenebilir.

OST:

4MEN - Leave

Raven Melus

BAŞKA NELER VAR ?

FOTOĞRAFLAR

[whumpetywhump]

Whumptober Day 12 (Alt) - Broken

Adamas - Ep. 14

Bulgasal: Immortal Souls - Ep. 6

Pipeline (2021)

Stranger 2 - Ep. 11

White Christmas - Ep. 7

[eviltiddyproductions]

#nw bulgasal the immortal and I’m on the second episode so the lore is still building but the woman who was bulgasal before hwal might’ve had her body stolen too? 😭 like he’s mad at her for making him immortal but maybe this is a cycle or something? maybe the last bulgasal made her immortal, she’s made hwal immortal and now he wants to make her immortal again?!

idk 💀 spiraling

[khuantru]

song: OST || 03. KimYeji (김예지) - Tunnel (터널) (With KARDI)

K drama: Bulgasal: Immortal Souls

[andrewthedeadly]

lord bless me with more eultae x hwal fics i beg

[crookedfandomquill]

I’m rewatching Bulgasal: Immortal Souls so have some handcrafted memes: