Although the drama officially ended in February this year, we are now bringing you a review of tvN’s fantasy meets historical saga Bulgasal: Immortal Souls starring Kwon Nara and Lee Jin Wook.
This is another k-drama which was translated into my own language which means that I absolutely watched this with my mom in case you missed her very deep input in my reviews. Bulgasal wasn’t really a drama that was calling out for me during its run and I’m glad I waited until it was done because I would’ve lost my mind waiting for new episodes. I wasn’t sure how to feel during the first two episodes of this but soon after I got completely hooked and dragged into the story that it if it wasn’t for my mom going on a trip for 10 days we would’ve finished this in less than a week. Needless to say, we both enjoyed Bulgasal quite a lot despite its melodramatic flaws. Actual review is below as usual.
From MyDramaList: Bulgasal tells the story of a woman who remembers her past lives by repeating death and reincarnation for 600 years, and a man who cannot kill nor be killed and has lived for the past 600 years as a Bulgasal—a mythical creature that feeds off human blood and is cursed with immortality.
No major spoilers ahead:
Acting wise, I had the opportunity to see Nara in Royal Secret Agent where she was pretty solid but she definitely improved a lot and showcased that through Bulgasal while Jin Wook remains his amazing self through yet another looks like he could kill you, is a marshmallow role (as we saw him in Sweet Home) which he does the best. It was very easy to get attached to both of their characters as it’s absolutely apparent that there’s no way they’ve both been as horrible as the show is making it seem. Getting stuck in a reincarnation loop would get me feeling unstable too. I think the chemistry between them was great and I really liked the way their dynamics kept changing throughout the drama as well – seeing them learning how to trust each other was truly lovely and one of the highlights of the drama. People being loyal? Count me in. Nothing irritates me more than changing sides every five seconds.
Bulgasal‘s best aspect has to be its cast. I truly liked how everyone portrayed their characters, from main to supporting characters (and we have quite a few main ones here). I think the chemistry between everyone was great and you guys already know that nothing gets to me more than the found family trope and that’s exactly what we have here (although in a very peculiar reincarnation way). I think the way the story unfolded was great and the pacing of the drama was solid as well. It can be a bit frustrating not knowing what actually happened those 600 or 1000 years ago right away but I think it’s also a blessing as we get to create our own impression of the characters and pick who we actually trust regardless of their past lives. The push and pull between the bad and the good side was fun and I like that even the good characters were more on the gray scale – there is no black and white. Which brings us to our main villain and another great part of the drama.
Lee Joon’s Ok Eul Tae was hot. I mean bad. Very bad. So bad. He truly was the most horrible… What was I saying again?
Jokes aside, Eul Tae was horrible but also Lee Joon kind of did everything we needed in that role and more. I think it’s always tricky to portray characters who are two faced and Eul Tae was honestly keeping me on my toes because I could never figure out if what he was saying was true. I think this was also a cool aspect as it brought more mystery and thriller-aspects to the story. You never knew this man’s next step so good luck to whoever decides to watch this. I wanted to strangle him more than enough times but also he kept pushing the story forward and deceiving you with his pretend emotions (which sometimes didn’t look so pretend to me…). Either way, Lee Joon was so good in this role and mom and I both were just… looking. Respectfully of course.
Now, for the end regarding characters I wanted to highlight the character which ended up being our favourite one by far and that is Nam Do Yoon (played by Kim Wooseok). We grew a bit too attached to him from the start and this boy gave us a fair share of mental breakdowns because I swear to God everytime something happened to him both mom and I were five seconds away from either crying or jumping into our screen to get him out of this hellhole. Wooseok was fantastic in this role and I’m really feeling him as an actor (although we all know he’s a good singer and performer) because he really did everything here. Do Yoon was our baby. One thing that bothered me regarding characters is the fact that the trio Do Yoon-Shi Ho-Ho Yeol did so many questionable things and made quite a lot of impulsive choices but on the other hand I don’t think they’re the ones to blame – if there is something that Bulgasal needed, it was better communication between all of them regarding the past. How are they just supposed to magically know things if no one told them anything?
I like the ending as well. I think it was the only way to finish this story and I appreciate that they didn’t go some out of the blue route or inventing something just for the sake of everything being perfect. Have to appreciate that it was trying to be real. Now, I do think the past story or the essentially back story was a bit… underwhelming. Sure, it was emotional but it was also pretty thin in plot and reasoning. Bulgasal is surely not going to be the best drama you’ve ever watched but it’s certainly a solid one with great characters and a nicely developed story considering it deals with folklore and reincarnation which are always bound to be messy and tricky. I gave it a final 8.5/10 stars but I enjoyed almost every minute of it.
Header Image Source: tvN
hallyureviews 
Did not have this show on my radar even while it aired it didn’t speak to me but you being the second person to praise it? I wanna watch lowkey.
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Caught me by surprise cause girl, I was ENTERTAINED!
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