The Final Fight
Episode 15 of Bulgasal: Immortal Souls begins with Sang-Un and Hwal preparing for the final fight. Hwal’s eyes have recovered enough so he can have the bandages removed, replaced with an eyepatch instead. Hwal is surprised that his family have returned and with Sang-Un by his side, points out a spot by the mountains where he became Bulgasal. He’s brought Sang-Un there one last time to look over where he’s come from and has decided that this is the end now, he’s going to stop the Bugasal curse once and for all. The thing is, Sang-Un believes there’s more between them than that. She doesn’t want to lose him. Her feelings have grown and it appears that in the past lives they had, they were actually a family. As they talk, Hwal tells her to look after his family in his absence. However, Sang-Un encourages him to join them for food. So Hwal eventually does just that and afterwards, travels with Do-Yun as they head to the photo studio. He’s getting pictures of their earlier dinner together printed out (the one from midway through the season).The owner is actually someone Hwal knew from a past life. Only, this time the owner is far more friendlier and likable than in the past, given he was one of the ringleaders in driving Bulgasal away. Hwal doesn’t blame him though. He understands that their fear is what drove them to feel the way they did toward him. Seeing a bunch of schoolkids across the road, Hwal urges Do-Yun to go back to school and even suggests he come and stay with him for the time being. Seeing Hwal take such a beautiful turn with his character is going to make his sacrifice that much harder to take. The one member of their family missing from all of this though is Kwon .He’s still reeling over Eul-tae’s words last episode about Hwal being a killer. He refuses to pick up Hwal’s call and in fact, heads into the station to see Captain Ham. He demands to know where Eul-Tae is, but Ham refuses to give up that information, pointing out that his family’s lives are at stake too. Eventually though, he does tell him the truth. In secret, Ham speaks to Kwon and confirms that the Mayor is working with Eul-tae. Ham is worried for his life and especially that of his young daughter. Kwon promises to take out Eul-Tae once and for all, demanding to know where he is. Meanwhile, Sang-Un leads Hwal out to the woods and decides she’s going to become Bulgasal and kill Eul-Tae with her to save him the pain. The thing is, he refuses too let her go, admitting he’s been thinking of her all this time. If she disappears, then all of himself will be lost and he’ll become purposeless. When they head back to the house, and the truth about what Hwal is doing is unveiled, the attention soon turns to Kwon, who returns with news on exactly where Eul-Tae is located – he’s at the well. Hwal senses this is a trap, pointing out that he’s trying to lure them there. So naturally, the group suggest they should tip the scales in their favour and head there with a 3 on 1 advantage, complete with a gun from Captain Ham. Hwal lavishes praise on his family but Kwon’s look is one of concern and… a touch of guilt perhaps? When he drives off, with a picture of the family handed by Do-Yun just before, Hwal prepares for what’s to come. When he arrives at the well, Sang-Un tells Kwon the way to kill a Bulgasal and how he needs to make sure they’re both not shot in the heart. Kwon though is a man possessed. He mentions how this is his “lifelong mission” and shrugs off his strange behaviour as being nervous. Sang-Un buys it too but we know there’s more going on here than that. Hwal briefs Sang-Un and Kwon on their roles in the mission ahead. Hwal is going to go on first, tiring Eul-Tae out in a big ol’ grudge match. When he’s weakened, Kwon is to come in and shot Eul-tae. Next, Sang-Un will stab him with the Dueoksini poison. Easy right? Well, it would be but for Kwon’s real motive here. The fight begins and Hwal grabs his knife and slashes Eul-Tae across the cheek and that starts the fight between them. Eul-Tae gets the upper-hand and pierces Hwal, impaling him to the floor. Hwal though, stabs Eul-Tae in the neck. Unfortunately Eul-tae is too strong and he bites down on Hwal, drinking some of his blood. He promises to kill Sang-Un in front of him and hurries off. When Eul-Tae arrives, Kwon snaps and shoots him in the heart. Sang-Un is shocked and as he races out to find Hwal, Kwon is enraged and wants to kill Hwal and be done with the Bulgasal curse. Sang-Un jumps on top of Hwal and pleads with the detective to stop, pointing out that he’s Hwal and not the monstrous demon he’s been led to believe. Unfortunately, Kwon’s deliberation causes Eul-Tae to recover quickly. How? Well, drinking Hwal’s blood contributes to his fast recovery. With everything left hanging in the balance, Kwon sacrifices himself to buy Sang-Un some time to run away. Bleeding from the stomach, Kwon grabs a knife but it’s too late. Eul-Tae scoops up Hwal and tumbles him down the well. With Hwal bleeding out and Eul-Tae gone, Kwon opens up about what happened the night of the Monster and the way Hwal slaughtered his sister. The thing is, Kwon has grown compassionate for Hwal now and as a way of showing his loyalty, he suggests Kwon drink his blood in order to restore his strength and stop Eul-Tae before it’s too late. Kwon apologizes for messing everything up and urges him to make an exception to the human blood rule he has. As we cut to Eul-Tae, he doubles over and clutches his chest. The black has started to ooze again and as narration picks up, our shaman informs us that “The evil spirit that fed off its father’s blood will rise up from the dark hole.” Yep, that prophecy is referring to Hwal, who drinks Kwon’s blood and prepares for the final fight. As we jump back 1000 years, we see Kwon, Do-Yun and Si-Ho’s past life iterations stab an angry Bulgasal Hwal and Sang-Un, who is presumably the other half of the Bulgasal here. Hwal promises to exact revenge on everyone – especially Sang-Un.
The Episode Review
So the penultimate episode to Bulgasal bows out with the final fight not going entirely to plan. Of course, it was always going to come down to the final chapter and Bulgasal has done well to at least hold off until now. But then the flashbacks have just complicated matters further and I can’t help but feel it would have been more preferable to see some of this play out earlier in the season. These later episodes have really dragged out what otherwise feels like a 12 episode drama. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good scenes here but the latter half of this show has focused so heavily on the family dynamics that the flashback sequences – especially those for 1000 years back – feel like they should have been handled a little more elegantly and earlier in the run-time too. To throw in so many big plot reveals from 1000 years back- especially Hwal actually being a pretty psychopathic partner to Sang-Un – doesn’t make his current mood toward the family prior to this episode any more flattering. The way Hwal handled Hye-Seok’s death is a particular concern. However, the show has had some intriguing elements to it and the well fight at the end was really well shot and particularly tense too. With one final episode to go, Bulgasal seems to have taken its foot off the gas a little but it’s no less enjoyable all the same. Roll on tomorrow’s finale!
