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TvN Drama ‘Hwayugi' Lee Seung Gi, Oh Yeon-Seo, Cha Seung-Won etc. *The END*


Bella D'Amour

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  • Hwayugi: Episode 3 hwayugi3-00749.jpg

 

It’s been quite a couple of weeks for Hwayugi, and to be honest I was actually surprised that tvN ended up airing the show this weekend. (Nutshell version: After the controversy erupted over the injured staffer, filming shut down for four days for safety inspections, a press conference was given, and questions were raised about the future of the show. In the end, the show hired on a third PD, Nine and Bride of the Water God director Kim Byung-soo, to head a C team for filming.) As of now, we appear to be back to a regular airing schedule, but we’ll see if that remains the case.

It’s really a shame for the show itself, because I enjoy the story and find the adaptation clever, and particularly love the twist we get in today’s episode. The show is funny and romantic and interesting, but it’s been so overshadowed by the production issues that the narrative and creative work has taken a backseat. I hope for the show’s sake that it can find a way to stand on its merits.

 

 

EPISODE 3 RECAP

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We resume where we left off: Sun-mi, the ghost-seeing girl with the unfortunate fate of monk Sam-jang, learns that Monkey King Sohn Oh-gong has been trapped inside the picture world she’d escaped. Moreover, because of the promise he made her as a child, she now holds the unique power to call Oh-gong back to this world—something his frenemy Mawang hadn’t anticipated when he’d locked him in the picture in the first place.

So she purposely slices her hand to attract demons with her blood, then hollers Oh-gong’s name into the sky. Moments later, he comes flying through the air and lands at her feet, banishing the demons with one blow.

 

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Oh-gong pushes her behind him as he fights more of the demons that come at her. With an endless stream of enemies headed their way, Oh-gong decides to address the source: Seeing the bloodstain in the grass that’s attracting them, he causes the blood to rise in droplets, transforms them into butterflies, and sends them flying away. The demons chase them instead.

Sun-mi is amazed that Oh-gong even appeared, and when she uses his name, he tells her to use his full title: Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, Sohn Oh-gong. He blows on her bloody hand, and immediately the cut heals over.

 

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“That’s amazing, Sohn Oh-gong,†Sun-mi says. His face suddenly hardens and he grabs her wrist firmly, saying, “It drives me crazy, I can’t stand it.â€

Nervously, she asks if he still sees her as food, and struggles to free herself.

Across town, Mawang fumes at the foolish human for freeing Oh-gong again, levitating in a beam of red fire, ignoring Secretary Ma’s warnings to calm down before he’s spotted by human employees. Mawang rages at the idea of Oh-gong becoming immensely powerful if he eats the monk, while idol PK is all for running away in case Oh-gong already ate the monk.

 

===Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/01/hwayugi-episode-3/

 

 

COMMENTS

love this love-as-shackle plot device! There’s something so wonderfully comedic about this setup where the cavalier Monkey is actually saddled with feelings of love, and how his head is completely aware that it’s a spell even as his heart undergoes the throes of real(istic) love. The flip-flopping emotions are hilarious to watch, and Seung-gi has this natural and off-the-cuff delivery that is perfect for both sides of the coin.

Where it really gets fun, of course, is when the lines get blurry between what is love enforced by a bracelet and what is actual love brewing in Oh-gong’s heart, because I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing both of those aspects growing. I’m willing to bet he’s going to blame everything on the bracelet and insist that none of those feelings are his own, and I’m so looking forward to the day when he gets an inkling that maybe it’s not quite so cut and dried as that.

​

 

It’s also refreshing to watch a courtship unfold where both sides of the push and pull action come from the same person, which is great. We get to see Oh-gong being swoony and flirty (and I honestly never saw Seung-gi as sexy until this episode, but wow did that happen all of a sudden), but he’ll undercut his own drippiness before we can even cringe at how romantic it is, because he’s the one who hates the schmaltz more than anyone. Honestly, I think this dynamic is pretty brilliant.

I have a few quibbles about the actual structuring of the episodes, because I feel like there isn’t a lot of neatness in introducing monsters of the week or beginning and ending storylines to conform to episode lengths. It sort of feels like episodes end when time runs out, and not because a story wraps up (sort of like a daily soap, rather than an episodic drama). It’s not a huge complaint, but I just prefer shows where episodes feel like they’re complete mini-works of storytelling that make up a bigger complete arc. But given that I don’t care too much about any of the monsters themselves, I suppose this loose plotting allows us to avoid fixating too much on tertiary characters.

Last but not least, I was pleased to catch a glimpse of Mawang’s backstory—I was honestly not sure if he’d get much emotional development since he’s carrying so much of the comedy. But I like this idea of the tragic love—and more poignant than a lost love is the lost love who suffers, whom he’s desperate to save. Things suddenly feel more grounded once you give him a reason to care, which gives me a reason to care.

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  • Hwayugi: Episode 4hwayugi04-00952a.jpg

     

 

 

You know what’s great about involuntary mystical love? Everything. I’m really tickled by the direction of the story, which has become romantic very quickly, and very hilariously at that. It probably doesn’t come as a shock that Monkey is unfamiliar with love and its attendant mood swings, and watching him bumble his way around these newfound feelings is unexpectedly affecting, and just plain fun.

 

 

 

EPISODE 4 RECAP

 

 

 

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Mischievous (and now lovesick) Monkey King Sohn Oh-gong lands on the perfect scheme to get free from the mystical circlet that binds his heart to Sun-mi, who carries the fate of monk Sam-jang. Her employee Han-joo is about to become zombie dinner, and Oh-gong offers to save him if she removes the circlet.

 

Sun-mi very nearly falls for it, until the crafty Mawang shows up to stop her just in time. He reminds her to trust in the power of the circlet, so this time she grabs Oh-gong’s hand and says that he didn’t leave her alone to suffer before, and asks sincerely for his help and runs off to save Han-joo.

 

Oh-gong knows she won’t make it there in time, but Mawang knows that Oh-gong will save him anyway, and thoroughly enjoys mocking him for not wanting to leave Sun-mi scared, sad, or alone. “Will you be able to withstand her tears?†he singsongs in glee.

 

 

 

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Oh-gong imagines her crying over Han-joo’s dead body, and Mawang is shocked to see the circlet in action: It glows as the tendrils around his heart tighten and cause him pain. Oh-gong insists that he’s not affected at all… as a stream of tears falls down his cheek. Hahaha.

 

He doesn’t even realize he’s crying until Mawang wipes away the tear and alerts him to the fact, and teaches him the very basic correlation—if Sun-mi hurts, Oh-gong hurts too. He’s flabbergasted and asks angrily why it should hurt him if she’s in pain, and Mawang sings, “Because I love you,†but to the tune of Lee Seung-gi’s “Because You’re My Woman.†LOL. The mockery has reached a new level of meta.

 

 

 

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In Sun-mi’s apartment, Zombie Girl is just about to snack on Han-joo when Oh-gong appears and tosses her aside. Han-joo is spooked to see him there, and Oh-gong just yells at him to get out and pushes him out the door without explanation, leaving him baffled. That’s how Sun-mi finds him, but he’s even more confused when she lights up to hear that “he†came.

 

She rushes inside to find Oh-gong waiting for her, with Zombie Girl stuffed into a giant duffle bag at his side, ha. He says that Mawang was right about the power of the circlet being stronger than he thought, and sighs that he’s not the type of being to be cleaning up after some lowly human.

 

 

 

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Sun-mi thinks it’s right that he should hate her for it, but he says he can’t do that right now and tenderly sweeps the hair out of her face. He says it was the right choice not to remove the circlet, because he surely would’ve eaten her the moment she’d freed him.

 

Despite knowing it already, Sun-mi seems sad to realize that his protecting her is only because of the circlet, which he readily confirms with a smile. Then he offers to take care of Zombie Girl and wheels her away in the bag.

 

In his office, Mawang confirms with Secretary Ma that Sun-mi signed his contract, and she goes to lock it up in a safe place when Mawang can sense that Oh-gong is near. But she only gets a few feet away before realizing that it’s not the original contract, and Mawang says warily that he can’t let Oh-gong get his hands on the original.

 

 

 

===Read more: http://www.dramabeans.com/2018/01/hwayugi-episode-4/

 

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

 

Monkey always comes back around to swoony when it counts, and even though I know his love isn’t real (yet), he feels it as if it’s real moment by moment, which is going to change him down the line. It already has to a great degree, from the minor things like feeling left out of the group chatroom (so petty, so funny) to the major things like saving someone’s life to prevent Sun-mi’s grief and pain. He already spends his days waiting around for her to call, though I did grumble in today’s episode over the fact that they spent so much time apart. I liked it better when he was popping by with moony eyes and monkey dolls.

 

 

 

Now that we’re aware of the Big Bad—the door to hell busting open and unleashing hell on earth—the overarching plot has a little more substance to it than just fighting demons till the cows come home, which is fine as a procedural device but has much less urgency to drive the plot. This twist, on the other hand, sets the stakes much higher if Mawang’s suspicion is true, and either Sun-mi or Oh-gong will have to die to close the door again.

 

I’m sure there’s a loophole in there somewhere and I trust clever Monkey of all people to find it, but I like that the stakes are so massive, because in every other instance I know where a door to hell had to be closed, someone had to die to do it (see: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural). There’s nothing like a good ol’ apocalypse to give your heroes purpose, especially when Sun-mi’s entire life goal up till now was to survive, and Oh-gong’s was something between drinking 2,983 bottles of liquor and chilling out in heaven.

 

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But it’s really the contractual involuntary love that makes this story ingenious and fresh, because it puts Oh-gong at cross purposes with himself at every turn. He resents Sun-mi for shackling him and wants her to suffer and die so he’ll be free, but he can’t bear the thought of her suffering or a world without her. He’s vengeful enough to remind her that his love is fake, but his actions speak differently, and he always comes through for her. There’s such a great dramatic duality to this relationship, and it really keeps me on my toes not to know where to draw the line between spell love and real love.

 

And when Oh-gong makes promises to protect Sun-mi, I believe that he means it. I found the swooniest thing of all to be Oh-gong’s negotiation with Mawang over the length of his contract, because without batting an eyelash, he effectively agreed to love Sun-mi for the rest of her life. Maybe he thinks she won’t live that long, and to him it’s just a couple of decades at most in an immortal existence, but to Sun-mi that’s her entire life, and induced by a bracelet or not, he potentially agreed to be in love with her until the day she dies. I found it highly ironic that he saw it as an exit strategy, while to anyone else it’s a lifelong commitment. Oh to see the look on his face when he learns a thing or two about the way love actually works.

 

hwayugi04-00501.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by FranCella
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would you mind to share it here? tnx ilikeitplz.png

sorry because my work place recently blocked Instagram and twitter. i cant use the the app to upload the post. but yesterday Hongki said in his radio show, he was filming Hwayugi before coming to the radio station :)

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clip from Viki lool

 

 

 

 

sorry because my work place recently blocked Instagram and twitter. i cant use the the app to upload the post. but yesterday Hongki said in his radio show, he was filming Hwayugi before coming to the radio station smile.png

 

i see, isit perhaps this one? lol

 

Edited by FranCella
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The end of the world scene....lol I'm shocked that didn't cause articles to trend on Naver.

That scene got me shookt and made me love the drama a thousand times more. I can just tell Oh Gong will sacrifice himself for her but will it really be a sad ending? I feel like she'll call him and get him out of it somehow. Okay, we're only on ep 4 and I'm thinking of the finale...

 

I guess the lack of promos from TvN (understandable after what happened) kind of caused the low internet traffic about it even tho the ratings increased?

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Oh i'll edit it ASAP BEFORE MOD... :imstupid:

Oh wait nvm its gone.

Edited by Ninja_Potato
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K-Drama Reaction: Hwayugi | Episode 2

 

 

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Date: January 10, 2018 Author: maknaeahjumma
 

Is this the start of Jin Sun-mi’s fairytale?

 

Not a Fairy-godmother

 

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Lucifer Entertainment CEO Woo Ma-wang (Cha Seung-won) is not the fairy-godmother Jin Sun-mi (Oh Yeon-seo) needed. For starters, Ma-wang also has the urged to eat Sam Jang just like other monsters who smell her lotus scent. Nonetheless, Ma-wang still tried to help our newest heroine in her mission to remember Son Oh-gong’s (Lee Seunggi) name.

 

He’s not doing it for charity though as it was apparent he has ulterior motive to get rid of the infuriating Monkey King. I’m guessing there is more on Ma-wang and Oh-gong’s history than just the latter being an irritating housemate.

 

 

More: https://ahjummamshies.wordpress.com/2018/01/10/k-drama-reaction-hwayugi-episode-2/

 

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that cinematography tho omg

 

 

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(SPOILERS!DON'T OPEN IF YOU HAVE A WEAK HEART) i warned you lol za5g21G.png 

 

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#Hwayugi OST Part 3 “I’ll Be Right Beside You†sang by #MeloMance will be released tomorrow at 6 PM (KST)

 

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Edited by FranCella
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i bet they will air it tonight lol

 

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stills

 

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Since the broadcast accident, I'm being a little bit anxious. I tend to check around to make sure Hwayugi and perhaps other dramas that I followed as well aired safely. Here's hoping for a smooth sailing broadcast. laugh.png

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Lee Seung Gi Holds Oh Yeon Seo In His Arms In New “Hwayugi†Stills

 

 

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tvN’s “Hwayugi†will be ramping up its romance with tensions running high in the upcoming episode as Lee Seung Gi comes to Oh Yeon Seo’s rescue.

 

In the drama, Lee Seung Gi plays the role of Son Oh Gong, a reckless troublemaker, while Oh Yeon Seo plays Jin Sun Mi also known as Sam Jang. She is a human who can see demons and evil spirits with special blood that attracts demons.

 

The previous episode of “Hwayugi†showed Son Oh Gong falling in love with Sam Jang and relentlessly confessing his love for her. Romance seemed to be blooming as Son Oh Gong ran to Sam Jang’s rescue every time she was in trouble and spent time playfully flirting with her.

The upcoming episode airing on January 13 will include scenes where Son Oh Gong walks with an unconscious Jin Sun Mi in his arms. In the newly released stills, Sam Jang is covered in blood from head to toe as she slumps unconscious in Son Oh Gong’s arms. Son Oh Gong is looking ahead with fierce eyes as he holds Sam Jang firmly.

 

cr

 

 

 

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LIVE RECAP LINK! ep5

 

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  • love changed the title to TvN Drama ‘Hwayugi' Lee Seung Gi, Oh Yeon-Seo, Cha Seung-Won etc. *The END*

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