Dark Hole
Episode 4 of Bulgasal: Immortal Souls begins with Si-Ho and Sang-Un hurrying away from Hwal, worried that he’s going to strike. They head back to the apartment together and talk about the sword, the same sword that Sang-Un wants to try and find in order to kill Bulgasal. However, Si-Ho suddenly springs big news on her – she’s pregnant! Si-Ho is pregnant! This news shocks Sang-Un who doesn’t know how to react. They discuss what this means for their future and whether they should tell Hwal or not. ..
Hwal is still reeling from the revelation that Si-Ho was a shaman. He’s still haunted by the past and the old shaman’s words, telling Hwal that as long as she has his grudge and mission, his friends and enemies will be reincarnated to the next life and beyond. They will once again be dragged into his karma, which has wickedly twisted against him. ..
Hwal wakes up after crashing his car and finds himself driving away by the reincarnated shaman. She’s much younger now but somehow she knows that he’s centuries old. It appears that in this world there are different levels of reincarnation, with some people able to remember everything and those completely clueless. It would appear that Si-Ho falls into the latter category.
Hwal decides to strike quickly, killing the monster after Sang-Un and Si-Ho before locking up the former and turning her into bulgasal. That’s the plan anyway, and he deduces that in turning back human again, he can just die.
Hwal, the protagonist of the novel, is fighting the urge to sleep when he hears a noise coming from upstairs. He investigates and finds a young boy, Do-Yun, who has been living on his own for some time. Do-Yun is scared and Hwal feels sorry for him so he agrees to take him in. However, when Hwal goes to leave, Do-Yun clings onto him and begs for help. Hwal can’t resist and decides to keep Do-Yun hostage until he can figure out what to do with him. ..
Kwon Ho-Yeol, a detective working on Sang-Un’s case, drops a package off to Do-Yun at his address. Do-Yun is grateful and thanks Kwon for his help.
When he heads inside, Ho-Yeol begins looking around and finds an address scribbled on a piece of paper. He also finds the pictures of Sang-Un too. When he realizes Do-Yun has seen Hwal’s face, he takes him along for the ride.
Hwal, who coincidentally is at Sang-Un’s house, saves Si-Ho’s life when the maniacal bus driver monster shows up. In doing so, Hwal recalls some of her old memories. ..
Sang-Un calls Hwal and tells him that she feels like he’s not human. Hwal tells her to hurry off and stay at a motel. ..
Hwal chases after this monster, eventually fighting it in a warehouse. When Hwal is choked out and left in a heap on the ground, the monster laughs and claims that “her soul will be ours.”
Ho-Yeol, who had been lurking in the shadows, suddenly intervenes when he senses that Hwal is about to kill his friend. Hwal immediately releases his grip on the monster and falls to the ground, defeated. ..
Hwal is shocked when he learns that his father, Ho-Yeol, is the reincarnated version of him. He realizes that this could be a bad thing because the monster seems to believe that Hwal is the bad guy. They hurry off together to find out what’s going on.
Do-Yun and the others join forces as they drive together to try and figure out what’s going on with the bus driver. However, the erratic driver is acting very strange, so Do-Yun quickly points out that it must be Ho-Yeol who is behind all of this. The monsters soon reveal that Ho-Yeol is the Bulgasal.
Sang-Un confronts Hwal about the past and why he killed her family.
Sang-Un is inconsolable after stabbing her husband with a sword. She looks him dead in the eyes and tells him, “I don’t kill the innocent.” A flashback to that fateful day shows another hooded figure leaving the apartment that Sang-Yeon died. Could this be one of the monsters? Dark Hole perhaps? It certainly changes our perception of the past, but Sang-Un doesn’t believe him. She’s convinced it was Hwal responsible for her wife’s death. ..
As the gang approaches their destination, they are met with a car crash. The driver, who is believed to be Bulgasal, is able to choke Ho-Yeol out and he begins bleeding from his nose and mouth. Ha-Yeol then whispers in shock that this is Bulgasal.
A man claiming to be from the Joseon era emerges from a tunnel near Sang-Un and confronts Hwal. He claims to have been walking the earth for much longer than Bulgasal. Apparently, he is the sole survivor from the monster annihilation that took place in the Joseon era. However, Hwal has been active since the Goryeo period. ..
Sang-Un and the villain fight, and Sang-Un claims that the villain’s soul is also hers. The villain begins stalking Sang-Un through the woods, claiming that she will be his next victim.
Unfortunately, Dark Hole starts choking out Sang-Un and Hwal steps up to help. As he does, Do-Yun pulls the sword out of his body moments earlier and throws it directly into Dark Hole’s chest. It narrowly misses her throat as she watches, wide-eyed, as this monster begins to choke and sputter.
Sang-Un is still alive though, and Hwal staggers over and holds her, just like he did with his wife. Sang-Un asks for help before falling unconscious.
The Episode Review
The Bulgasal series has managed to add deft layers of reincarnation and a compelling plot about souls and karma into what appears to be building to a complicated doomed romance.
The acting is great by Lee Jin-Wook and the addition of Hwal’s hierarchical levels of monsters helps to create a menacing threat.
Who killed Sangyeon and when? Was it really a monster and when did Si-Hi give birth to the reincarnated version of Hwal’s son? Or is Do-Yun the reincarnated version? There are a lot of questions and it’s absolutely fascinating trying to second-guess this show!
The various twists are well placed in the story and while the 80 minute chapter starts a little slowly, the rest of the drama manages to step on the gas and ramp things up.
The ending of this drama hints that we may slow down a little going into next week’s episodes. For now, this is turning into a must-watch drama!
