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 eyepatch replaced with a bandages instead. ..
Hwal is surprised that his family has 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 came from and has decided that this is the end now, so he’s going to stop the Bugasal curse once and for all. ..
Sang-Un and Hwal are talking and she tells him that she wants to keep him with her. He tells her that he wants to too, but he has to go on a mission. Sang-Un asks him what the mission is and he tells her it’s important. She asks him if it’s dangerous and he says no, but she needs to be careful.
Do-Yun and Hwal go to the photo studio to take pictures of their earlier dinner together. The owner is actually someone they knew from a past life, but this time he’s much more friendly and likable than in the past. 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. ..
Kwon is still waiting for word from his brother, Hwal. He’s refused to pick up Hwal’s call and is now at the station with Captain Ham. Ham refuses to give up information about Eul-Tae, pointing out that his family’s lives are at stake too. Eventually though, Kwon 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.
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 group soon turns their attention to Kwon, who returns with news on exactly where Eul-Tae is located – he’s at the well. Hwal senses this could be a trap, pointing out that he’s trying to lure them there. ..
The group suggests 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 Hwal drives away from the well, he is prepared for what is 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 are not shot in the heart. Kwon though is a man possessed. He mentions how this is his “lifelong mission” and shrugs off his strange behavior as being nervous. Sang-Un buys it too but we know there’s more going on here than that. ..
Kwon and Sang-Un are going to stab Eul-tae with the Dueoksini poison. Kwon is going to do this because he has a grudge against Eul-tae. Sang-Un is going to do this because he wants to kill Eul-tae.
The fight between Hwal and Eul-Tae begins with Hwal grabbing his knife and slashing Eul-Tae across the cheek. This starts the fight, and Eul-Tae gets the upper hand. He pierces Hwal, impaling him to the floor. However, Hwal stabs Eul-Tae in the neck with his knife, drinking some of his blood. He then promises to kill Sang-Un in front of him and hurries off.
Kwon snaps and shoots Eul-Tae 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.
Kwon opens up about what happened the night of the Monster and how he 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.
In a previous life, Kwon, Do-Yun and Si-Ho were all stabbed by an angry Bulgasal Hwal. In this life, they are all reincarnated as creatures on the planet Bulgasal III. Hwal promises to exact revenge on Sang-Un, who is presumably the other half of the Bulgasal here. ..
The Episode Review
The penultimate episode of Bulgasal ends with the final fight not going entirely as planned. 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. ..
The flashbacks in this episode feel like they should have been handled a little more elegantly and earlier in the run-time too.
This episode of “The Good Place” was a bit of a letdown. The reveal that Hwal is a psychopathic partner to Sang-Un and the way he handled Hye-Seok’s death made it seem like he was still grieving for her.
The show had some interesting elements to it, but the well fight at the end was really well shot and particularly tense.
The final episode of Bulgasal is coming soon and it’s still as enjoyable as ever. Tune in tomorrow for the finale! ..
