SWAG: Hwayugi stuffed animal, GGG bracelet, and photobook/OST combo are all on Amazon! Can’t guarantee quality, but just wanted to give everyone here a heads up. (links are affiliate links)
MUSIC: All OST’s are on our music list.
How we do this: We update the post around every 10 minutes. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later depending on the scene. There will be typos, but we try to fix all those once the episode finishes airing. Also, there might be updates galore at the bottom (time permitting), so check back in!
Shorthand (Character Chart)
Jin Seon Mi,Sam Jang – SJ| Woo Hwi, Woo Mah Wang – MW | Son Oh Gong – OG | Jeo Pal Kye – PK | Sah Oh Jeong – OJ | Jin Boo Ja – Zombie or Z | Winter god – WG | Han Sun Nyeo (winter gods sister) – SN | MW’s secretary – SM | Seon Mi’s secretary – Sec | Su Bo Ri Teacher – BR | Kang Dae Seong – DS | Goong Gang Go (bracelet) – GGG
Airing Time: March 4th, 21:00 Seoul
Countdown: AIRING!
HWAYUGI, A KOREAN ODYSSEY LIVE RECAP EPISODE 20
OPENING
VO – Man trust the sky and gods take care of people, this monkey was born and was a super troublemaker and super strong, and the god land made him a god to soothe him. He made his own name Dae Chun Dae Sun.
MW
MW is talking to some kids. They ask him if the monkey lived happily and MW says no, he committed a crime. His birthplace had a fire going up to the sky and people prayed to the monkey god to block the hole to the mountain and the monkey god blocked the hole to the mountain by borrowing something from the sea palace and blocked the fire with it. But the Skyland didn’t like it. After that, the people didn’t remember, and Skyland put him in jail.
Kids – What about the people?
MW – The people forgot about him and didn’t go to his monkey church anymore. The gods were angry because the monkey didn’t do it for humans, he just wanted to brag about what he could do.
Kids – What happened to him
MW – He endured a big punishment and is alone in his pretty house with a nice garden. Do you want to see that stone monkey?
The kids all say yes so MW puts the kids in the elevator that goes to Sooyangdom. MW wishes that the kids can bring OG out of his home. The kids go to the garden and MW tells the kids that they need to take the GGG from MW, if they take it from him then MW will give them all the toys they can have.
The kids find OG and he tells them to go away. Go Away! But he grabs one and sees that they are human kids. He asks why they are there and the kids tell him what MW wanted them to do. OG tells the kids that he doesn’t want to leave. But one of the kids dropped a dinosaur which triggers a memory of what happened with little SJ. He falls to the ground and holds his heart. He asks the kid if he knows him and if he has seen him before?
The kids ask him if it hurts a lot, but OG just tells him to leave.
MW – His memory is shredded also, sometimes his memory comes out, and he has a pain in his heart for no reason. So, he never comes out of his home.
BR AND MW
BR and MW talk about why OG is still alive, it is because the GGG surrounded his heart, so it saved him. They thought his heart would be his weakest point, but that is what ended up saving him. They thought the GGG would disappear, but it didn’t. Then they talk about the death bell fate. SJ’s only deal with Skyland was to hold OG so he couldn’t come near her, that is how the death bell fate was broken. But OG should go to the Skyland again. They want to take him to the Skyland and MW says he can take him. Then BR says that he has an idea on how to take off the GGG…they can bring the owner back and she can take it off.
What? The owner? BR thinks they can bring SJ back for one day from the dead, so she can remove the GGG.
Cut to OG pouring himself a drink of alcohol, but then he has a memory of SJ and his heart is pained. He hears SJ saying Son Oh Gong, but he doesn’t see anyone around. He goes to drink again, but then he hears SJ saying his name again. He thinks it must be a ghost or something that came into his home.
He walks around his home and sees someone standing on the bridge. It is Seon-mi! She turns around and looks at him but OG doesn’t know who she is. He goes to the bridge and asks what this is, she is not human. SJ looks at the GGG and says that it is still there as they said. OG wants to know how a ghost like her can come here. But SJ just keeps seeing how he is. He asks who she is, and she says that she knows him well because she is the one who put the GGG on his wrist, she came here to take it off.
MW AND SM
MW – SJ can’t take off the GGG because the owner himself is the owner of the GGG, the god land doesn’t know aba=out it. SJ doesn’t know the owner changed also…he should realize that he can take GGG off himself, to do that, he has to put his memory together and SJ is the only one who can do that. She has one day.
OG AND SJ
OG wants SJ to go away. But SJ tells him that his heart hurts. But OG thinks the GGG relieves his heart pain, but SJ tells him that the GGG gives him all this pain. After she put the GGG on his wrist, she started to love him crazily, can you believe me?
BAR
The gods and monsters wonder if Seon-mi can do it, can she put OG’s memory back in one day? And is that a good idea at all? They wonder if the memory will hurt him more than help him. Then Alice comes in. PK talks to her about her shooting a new project. She says that people said she passed out at the photo shoot and lost her memory. PK says he doesn’t know what happened actually. He just followed her around and she ditched him. But Alice doesn’t understand one picture. We get a small flashback of Alice getting drunk way back then and then the four of them take a picture together with Summer god, Buja, PK, and Alice. But PK is the only one of the 4 that are left.
ASY
ASY is a street person now. She is on the street and decomposing. But she isn’t dying. She sees the newspaper, the candidate’s career ended. ASY thinks she was really a bad monster and she hopes someone burns her.
We then cut to the candidate yelling at some suits about these people that promised to support him. All the men are talking about all the bribery money and they are fighting over it. Some people also found out that the candidate’s Grandfather was pro-Japan. The prosecutor gives a signal to the secretary and then the secretary leads a drunk candidate into a room. The candidate yells for the secretary to throw away the coffin, he should have thrown it into the sea a long time ago. Then he goes back and continues drinking in his chair.
He passes out and wakes up bound and gagged inside the coffin. He tries to scream but no one comes to his aid. The coffin has been chained by some thugs and the key is given to the secretary. He tells them to put it in a container and throw it into the middle of the sea.
BR AND MW
The people punished the candidate even before the punishment from the gods came. The world is clearer now that the black dragon disappeared. Hopefully the next dragon is the golden dragon and hopefully, SJ can get the GGG off of OG, we are running out of time.
SJ AND OG
SJ tells OG that she put the GGG on his wrist, so he wouldn’t run away from her. But OG doesn’t think a person as great as OG should be trapped by a GGG. SJ says that she followed him around everywhere and thought he was great and activated the GGG. OG wants to know how she did it, do it again and he will check if she is the owner or not.
SJ leans in and kissed OG. But nothing happens. She tells him that she seduced him and did everything, so she will take it back. But he says it isn’t activated. But then he starts to remember when they had their first real deep kiss when he said that isn’t enough to activate it. He clutches his heart and tells her to go away. SJ says that she cries when she sees him hurt, that is love, what else can it be, so come out of this place and I will convince you that it is true, I will wait for you outside. She leaves.
SJ waits outside and it is already dark. She hopes that he comes out and thinks that she is running out of time. Then we flashback to a necklace that BR and the gods gave her. She put the necklace on and BR tells her that the necklace will make sure that she can be in the human world…please take the GGG from OG.
Then we see OG remembering a flashback of OG saying that he is trapped with that GGG. He thinks what the ghost is saying is true. Then he hears her saying to come out of this place.
MANSION
MW comes home and finds OG’s coat on his bull. He thinks that this is OG’s clothing, right? Yeah, it should be his coat! He grabs the coat and yells for OG. OG comes out and MW tries not to cry. He tells him, hey, you came out finally? OG says his bathroom is good, he will use it, maybe he used it a lot. MW tells him that he did, and he never cleaned up after his bath! He almost cracked his head several times because of OG’s soap!
MW starts laughing and talking about all the things OG did to him. OG goes to sit and MW wants to know what happened to the ghost. OG says that a ghost came to him and wanted him to take off the GGG, but do you think she is just a ghost? MW says she is not just any ghost. MW wants OG to find the truth, when he puts his memory together, then he can remove the GGG.
Meanwhile, we see SJ at her workplace. The sec is cleaning it and packing everything because SJ is dead. We see him cleaning it, but SJ thinks he will be surprised to see her so she covers up her necklace and disappears. The sec comes in and sees the yellow umbrella.
Sec – CEO, you told me you would go to your hometown.
But then the waterfalls. SJ picks it up and the sec sees her.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
The sec can see SJ because she let go of the necklace. He passes out. He thinks that he should pass out because it is too scary. He hits himself and tries to pass out. SJ tells him that she is sorry.
Cut to the morning. The sec is still out but MW is there with SM. The sec wakes up and sees MW there, perhaps he is still passed out? But MW tells him that his sleeping time has ended, let’s talk. MW tells him that they will take care of Seon-mi’s remainings. The sec wants to know how SJ had a car accident and there was no funeral. But they say that she died nicely, and she would wish that you had a good life. Seon-mi wants the sec to take care of the real estate agency. He just needs to sign their documents and the real estate agency will belong to him along with the remainder of her money. SJ wanted him to live happily and smile. The sec starts crying blubbery tears and SJ smiles as she watches through the office window.
MW leaves and says that he is not crying, he just has some dust on his eyes. SM says she can’t see it since his lenses changed their color. Then some flower petals start to fall, but it is too early for flowers. They wonder where it is from. MW says his wife liked flowers, maybe she is telling him that she came back to this life as a flower.
OG
Cut to OG going to SJ’s home. He looks around the home and we see little flashbacks of scenes. Like when he busts through the wall…when he told SJ he was too great to take care of a human….when he said he was there to eat her. He remembers it all and then turns around and sees SJ ghost.
He tells her that what she said was correct, she loved him so much and he ditched her, that is why she put this GGG on his wrist. But he isn’t sad about it because he is that kind of person. SJ tells him that she only has one day. OG sees the necklace and says that is the one-day star. SJ says she even put stars in the sky and OG wonders how a ghost like her can put stars in the sky.
He says he is hungry, what should he eat? She should know what he likes because he doesn’t have any memory about that. So, she should guide him.
They leave and SJ takes him to a ddukbogi place. She tries to feed it to him to get him to remember. She says it is super spicy…does he hate it? But he says it is good. He also feels good to talk to her like this, maybe it is because he has a lot to apologize to her about? SJ is glad that she likes the ddukbogi and runs to get some more. She thinks that they should do all the things he likes to do. At the same time, OG thinks that he might feel sorry for her, that is why his heart hearts.
DEVIL SHOP
MW goes to the shop and asks for the halmoni, but the boy is there. The boy is eating mushroom juk. It is the same juk that MW likes and it is from the same place. They start talking about it…bring me some next time. They exchange their phone numbers. The boy has a lot of stars on his phone. He said one night there were a lot of stars and his halmoni told him to greet the stars that night, so he took a picture. MW says the shooting stars that day were the fate of the woman he loves. The boy also has some flower leaves glued to his case. He says some petals were flying around one day, strange, right? So, he put them on his case.
MW asks his name. The boy says his name is Hong Hae Ah (the son’s name in the original book). MW goes back to his secret place. He is holding one of the flower petals and asks the petal if their son’s name is Hong Hae Ah? But he remembers BR saying that the god land will try to kill his son if they ever know about him.
PK
PK overhears some people saying that they smell something super rotten in the changing room. They think they need to clean it so they go inside and find a girl hiding there. But PK runs in and covers her up, he says that this is his friend who came to see him, can they excuse them?
Then PK kneels and tells ASY that this wasn’t for her, it is because all the people know Buja and he doesn’t want them to think that she is strange. But then he sees the state that ASY is in and asks PK to bury her. She doesn’t have any power now that SJ died, she can’t even eat any humans. She wants PK to burn her and just remove her from this world.
Cut to the tow of them in a field. She says this is a good place. ASY also tells him that Buja completely disappears when she entered that body. PK says that he knows and produces a blue flame. ASY tells him the last word that Buja left for him…I liked you.
She grabs PK’s hand and puts the flame on her body, she burns up quickly and disappears. PK starts crying alone in the field.
MANSION
They talk about whether SJ will be able to do it, can she get OG to remember or not? MW thinks it can happen, but he wants to ask BR one thing…was Nachal reborn as a flower? BR can’t answer it directly, so he starts giving all sorts of funny body language movements to let him know that she was. MW smiles, okay.
But then they get back to talking about OG. MW says OG just needs to put his memory back together and then he will be able to take off the GGG by himself and he can tell SJ how he feels.
SJ AND OG
They are both outside on the hill they ate the cotton candy together. SJ tries to explain all the monsters that they went to together to catch all the monsters. This place was the last place. OG doesn’t believe her, but then he gets a flashback of all the monsters that they destroyed together. He has a headache as all the Ghostbuster things all come together in his mind. He says he never had so many memories come out this clearly. So SJ used him? She says that was their contract. SJ wants to know if he trusts that she is the owner, but he retorts, how can he trust her? She used him.
SJ thinks that they are running out of time. She tells him that he put a star in the sky for her. OG looks at his GGG and then flashes back to when he put a lot of stars into the sky for her. Then he starts to flashback to all the love memories for when OG was falling in love with SJ. Like the wedding …..the cell phone date …..the bookstore kiss….the time he said he will call her when he is scared. OG says that SJ hid something from him, is it really true that she just followed him around because she loved him?
He snaps his fingers and all the star candies start to fall. He says it seems like he was the one that loved her so much, enough to put stars in the sky. But SJ says it was all because of the GGG, it wasn’t true. That is why she is there, to take it off so all his pain will go away. He tells her to take it off then and holds his arm out to her. She tries to take it off, but it won’t come off, it starts to glow and stays on his wrist.
He puts his wrist back to his side. He says she is wrong, she doesn’t remember it well. Is she sure that his pain is a feeling created by the GGG, is she sure that his feelings will go away? She says she isn’t sure, she never saw his true heart without the GGG. She really believes that his love would disappear without the GGG.
OG tells her that she failed, she couldn’t take it off. He tells her that the day is almost over…and he disappears. SJ is left wondering why she can’t take off the GGG.
MANSION
OG comes home and MW wants to know if she took it off, she couldn’t. He remembered that he liked her and followed her around and she was happy. MW tells him to keep doing it, keep looking for his memory. OG goes to his garden and remembers the sword and the white heron. He walks through the garden and the white heron tells him that it was so painful to live without the GGG (?) And that whoever is not dead will have the most pain. If you have to live forever than the pain will be more severe. He remembers SJ dying and telling him that she is happy he has the GGG; when love dies, he will be okay.
OG starts to say, Jin Seon Mi…..Jin Seon Mi…..
COMMERCIAL BREAK
GODS BAR
WG and PK talking about the day almost ending. SJ will go back to the world of the dead without knowing how OG really feels. WG said she heard his true feelings on a cold day. She heard them momentarily.
Meanwhile, SJ is at the lock bridge. OG comes back and SJ is happy about that. OG tells her…Jin Seon Mi. SJ says he remembers her name. He says he remembers that last thing she told him. That when she is gone, the love won’t be there.
He grabs the GGG and takes it off…it disappears.
OG wants to know if she has any questions now, ask him whatever.
SJ – Do I look pretty now?
OG – Yes, you are pretty…because I love you
OG starts tearing and goes to SJ, he pulls her into a big hug. SJ has a big exhale and says that nothing disappeared. She tells him, I Love You. But then she tells him that time is up, she has to go back, but she doesn’t want to leave him alone there.
OG tells her that he will not let her go like this. He runs his hands over her eyes and closes them. Then he says she has to stand there because he has something to give her. He puts his head on her head. Then SJ opens her eyes and they are red. OG tells her that she has one of his eyes now.
SJ – You gave me one of your eyes?
OG – Listen to me, I will find you wherever you are and however you change, now I will be able to recognize you. remember my name and I will find you
SJ – I will wait because when I call you, you will come anywhere. I will never forget your name
OG – We will meet each other
The star necklace starts to glow.
SJ – We definitely will see each other.
OG touches her face and smiles, he tells her to leave and she smiles and disappears.
He starts to cry as he stands on the bridge alone amidst all the locks.
(From the original book: That eye is special because OG can recognize all the truths behind the surface. But it should be gold.)
SECRETARY
The sec uses the yellow umbrella as he talks to a man about his ghost problem. The man smiles and leaves and the sec walks up to some ghosts. But he doesn’t see them, he just looks around and the ghosts look at him. They laugh, he can’t see them, they don’t have to leave, hahaha. But then the sec opens it, but he is so scared that he runs away again.
He goes to the god bar. It is his first time there. WG talk to him about the umbrella and how he may be found the bar because of it. The sec says the umbrella belonged to his former boss. He starts to say all the things that happened from his point of view. Then he starts to drink. He wonders why all those people gathered around his CEO, maybe she was not human. WG says maybe it was opposite, maybe she was the only human and everyone else was monsters. The sec tells him not to talk about scary things because he can’t sleep and went into a haunted house today, it was so scary.
DRAGON SPOT
MW bought all the land. He says he will put a nice hotel there. He learned something from Seon-mi. He needs to put a hotel up and all the bad monsters will come there, then he will kill all of them and his points will go up. He will make a lot of money and accrue a lot of points at the same time. It is a Ghostbuster hotel!
OG thinks that is great. It looks like OG is back to his normal self, he tells MW that he likes to stand next to him. MW tells him that OG did everything to make this place bright again. He was really cool. OG jokes that MW started to like him, what will he do without him? OG says he has to go because someone is waiting for him. MW says okay, he will do his own things today. They tell each other that they will see each other later…in the middle of their own way.
Then we see someone driving an SUV. It is MW, he talks to sec Ma and asks her where they are. She says they are selling something on the street. MW says…jashik…don’t catch them, just observe them. Then we cut to MW on the street with the boy. The boy tells him to stop targeting him and MW tells the boy to stop stealing from the shop. Then MW tells him that he will make a hotel and the boy can work there if he wants. They have some back and forth about what the boy will do…clean the toilets? But MW says they should just go eat some juk, and they walk out. They scratch their backs at the exact same time in the exact same spot and we find out that halmoni told the boy that he resembles his dad.
MANSION
MW goes home and sees his bull without a coat on it. OJ is there and tells OG that OG went on a little trip. MW thinks OG is gone, he took his statue also, so he went somewhere far away. OJ said he is going to the land of the dead to get Seon-mi. MW thinks that is crazy, OG is about to make a huge mess in the land of the dead. But he laughs and thinks that OG can just go…that crazy Jae Chun Dae Sun!
We cut to OG driving in a hot blue car. He tells SJ to wait for him, whenever she is scared or is having a hard time, he will be there, because he loves her. He smiles a mischievous smile and the camera pans to the car driving over a bridge on the seaside.
The End
Thank you for recapping with us!
SCENES
Scene #1: Seon-mi and Oh Gong say goodbye at Namsan tower
This scene is translated by stroppyse on Soompi. Thank you so much!
SM: You came again. I had wanted to see you once more before I left. So, I’m glad you came.
OG: Jin Seon Mi
SM: You remembered my name?
OG: Yes. And the final words you said to me, I remembered them, too. You had said it was a relief because the geumganggo was there, didn’t you? That it was a relief that when I was left by myself that at least love wasn’t left as well. In a similar sentiment as you, there was something that I had been hiding. (takes off the GGG which disappears) If there is anything you want to ask, ask it now. You had said that you didn’t want to leave anything behind, but ask anyway. Please ask.
SM: Am I pretty to you even now?
OG: Yes. You’re pretty. Because I love you.
(OG embraces SM)
SM: Nothing had disappeared. I love you. (anxiously looks at the sky) I’m almost out of time. I have to go back. Since I’m going back alone, what can we do?
OG: I won’t let you leave just like this. Jin Seon Mi. Stand just as you are. I have something to give you.
Scene #2: The continuation of Seon-mi and Oh Gong’s Farewell at Namsan Tower
This scene is translated by stroppyse on Soompi. Thank you so much!
OG: Now you have one of the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven Son Oh Gong’s all-seeing eyes.
SM: You’re giving me your eye?
OG: Jin Seon Mi, listen to me carefully. I’m going to go find you. Wherever you are, however you may change, now I will always be able to recognize you. Remember my name. I will definitely go find you.
SM: I will wait for you. Since when I call your name, you always come. I will definitely not forget your name, and I will wait for you.
OG: We will definitely meet again.
SM: The time is almost up.
OG: Go.
(SM disappears, OG cries)
Scene #3: Oh Gong and Ma-wang say goodbye to each other at the dragon spot
This scene is translated by stroppyse on Soompi. Thank you so much!
Frost: It could be that that CEO was the only human, and the others were demons.
HJ: Why are you saying such scary things? I even saw a spirit today before I came. I won’t be able to sleep. Oh, geez. Oh, I have to get drunk. I have to get drunk. It’s too scary.
MW: This land that used to belong to the Korea Foundation, I bought it all.
OG: This is a place where evil spirits used to gather. Even though I did clear them all out, they’ll come back.
MW: That’s exactly what I’m going to make use of. I’m going to build a hotel there, a very luxurious one.
OG: Hotel?
MW: There was something I learned from seeing Jin Seon Mi’s real estate business. I have to utilize the uniqueness. Just build a hotel here, the evil spirits will totally come flocking.
OG: That will probably happen.
MW: If I catch them all, then the points will really build up as well. So, from this hotel, I earn some money, and by catching the evil spirits, I also gain points. This will be just the thing!
OG: From the time that you set up an entertainment company so that you could siphon off the energy beads, I had thought that you were smart, but… a hotel that caters to evil spirits. I won’t go there.
MW: Come occasionally. Just occasionally. I’ll reserve a room there with a large bathtub and a parking space for you.
OG: I’ll see what the hotel is like. If it’s shabby, I won’t come. Build it well.
MW: On my path where I was just methodically building up my points to become a deity, how did the two of you end up on it and become enmeshed? No, that’s not it! Was it Sam Jang’s intended road, that we had ended up on?
OG: Even though it was a road that I was dragged onto against my will, that ultimately I could be standing here with you, Ma Wang, I like it.
MW: That the darkness here was cast off and things had become brighter is something that you did. It was great work. You were a little bit cool.
OG: See? This is why I just can’t regret it. Ma Wang has come to love me so much. Huh? What will you do about the boredom when I’m not around?
MW: Huh? Are you going somewhere?
OG: I have to keep going on my own path. There is someone waiting for me. So, I have to go.
MW: Okay. Go ahead and go on. I have to continue on my own path as well. For the sake of that child.
OG: Yes. In the middle of a different road, let’s meet again.
Scene #4: Final Scene of the drama, MW talks about what OG is going to do now and we see Oh Gong driing away to get Seon-mi
This scene is translated by stroppyse on Soompi. Thank you so much!
MW: Have you eaten yet? There is a porridge restaurant right over there.
Grandson: If you’re going to buy me nut porridge, then I’ve already eaten, but if you’re going to buy me beef porridge, then I haven’t eaten yet.
MW: Of course, you’e going to eat nut porridge.
Grandson: I don’t like it.
MW: Then vegetable porridge.
Grandson: I don’t like it.
MW: Why do you have so many things that you don’t like?
Grandson: Then abalone porridge?
MW: I don’t like it!
MW: But, hey, who do you resemble?
Grandson: Well, my grandmother says that I resemble my dad.
MW: Your father must have really been a good looking man.
Grandson: Is that right? I wouldn’t have thought so.
MW: Looking at you, he must have been a good looking man.
Grandson: Hmm. Here it is.
OJ: You’ve come.
MW: What about Son Oh Gong?
OJ: Yes, he said that he was going on a trip, so he’s packed his things and has left.
MW: So, he’s left. Seeing as how he’s packed up his statue to take with him, he must have gone a long way off.
OJ: He said that he’s going to the Next World to escort Jin Seon Mi.
MW: The Next World? The Land of the Dead? That thug, how much trouble does he want to cause in the Land of the Dead…?! Oh, that… (chuckles instead) Okay, you go there, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Moron!
OG: Wait for me. Whenever you’re tired, scared, or in danger, if you call my name, I will always go and protect you. Since I love you.
PREVIOUS RECAPS
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I will miss reading your live recap on Hwayugi..thanks a lot for your hard work!! I will miss this drama so so much.. Major withdrawal syndrome is approaching.. Its not a perfect 100% drama..But all of them did a great job protraying their roles..
Can’t wait for the last episode.. still hoping for a happy ending!!
Somehow this drama had legions of international fans following it! Thank you so much for recapping with us over here Beebee! I hope we have a very happy episode tomorrow! Or at least a satisfying episode. Theories: SJ is reincarnated and meets OG? ASY brings SJ back to life? SJ isn’t really dead but just in a dream like state?
Last episode ? Isn’t last episode ???
series two please
Lol yes, conflicted emotions over here. I’m partly glad that the story has moved towards its final stages. But I’m sad to see the series end.
My sincere thanks to Team Bah Doo who has made the live recap experience fun and something to look forward to while we wait for the subbed episodes!
🍪🍬🍭🌹🌼and everything nice for *V, her Beau and the team!
We are so happy you recapped with us JY299!
Glad u guys are there to do the live recap.. I even prepare 2 phones with me..one to watch it live..another to read your recap.haha..
Some might find the drama not so exciting..but for me, I fall in love with hwayugi since I accidently watch its trailer in fb..got hook till today..😂😁
I really hope it it the latter one.she isnt dead yet.. and I really hope the scene at namsan tower is not the end scene where samjang just dissapeared after meeting sog😢 that will break my heart for years!! Wondering how they will end ASY character..If SJ is dead basically Buja is dead too right.. and winter god, did he died or survive in the end.. Today we will know who’s Ma Wang child is.. maybe Hong Sisters put a twist to this too.. hope there will be wedding scene where all of them gather together..OJ,Hanjoo,PK,SM,MaWang,
WG/SF and maybe Buja too..
This guessing game is driving my imagination wild😅😁😃
I love that!
I also wonder about Buja as well and ASY, it is really hard to believe that ASY is still alive and Seon-mi isn’t, so hopefully something happens to bring Seon-mi back somehow? Perhaps ASY could make some ultimate sacrifice to bring her back. I don’t know, I’m reaching.
ASY is still alive but seonmi and buja is connected thats why buja’s body is decomposing while ASY is still in it ..remember that seon mi is already dead so it also goes for bujas body
I am with you. I got accidentally watched Hwayugi on fb. I love it till the end. Some say sd ending but to me. It s a good ending. 😘
Haha, just saw the Swag links, 😂 I was right, they’re selling the GGG 😂. I bet they’ll have a mini GGG couples ring too.
😱 Yukgong is so much cheaper now. Near Valentine’s Day, there were offers to buy it for $70, close to the price they were demanding for the Korean Starbucks Valentine’s collection.
That is crazy! They have to get rid of that inventory now 🙂
GGG bracelets? Mmm. gotta check that out___I already ordered my SOG stuffed monkey 🐵on amazon .I will let you know how it looks. My theory is that somehow the grandmother (goddess of virtue?) gets involved and OG has atoned for his past bad behavior & SJ somehow comes back. ? The description of this drama said fantasy comedy romance.. I will be needing all of that tomorrow. I got tears eyed at the end of 19..so freakin sad
So many thanks to all you do, I would have been pulling out my hair if I didn’t have your recaps. THANK YOU…😊.. we are watching some of the same dramas so you will see me on the other sites.
Hopefully it looks good. I put a link for one that had a review with a picture in the review section and the images they provided looked good.
is it really coming to an end? no extra episode? awww.. surely will miss reading the live caps and the comments ^^
should i prepare a box of tissue? 😉
Keep it handy just in case, but hopefully you won’t need it! 😉
I will lose my mind if it isn’t a happy ending. I don’t want bittersweet. That was 19. 20 has to be happy.
I know! Hopefully they have something up their sleeve.
Thanks Bah+Doo team!! You guys are super awesome!! So happy that the slow subs and lots of dialogue from Hwayugi led me here. Last episode, lezzgo!!
We are so happy about that too 🙂
Cant believe it’s our final episode for Hwayugi! It’s been a long journey w/ you guys and I’m more than proud to tell that you guys did an amazing work for Hwayugi!🌸 Thank you so much for all your hardwork and I’ll always support you guys! Thanks again! Much love💕💕💕
P/s: cant wait for tonight’s episode! I hope it’s a happy ending so tht we can sleep well tonight!😂
We’re glad you’re here Cullen!
Okay y’all, the commercials are on so it shouldn’t be too long now!
Looking forward toa great ending. I want my happy ending. Thank you so much Bah+Doo Team! You really made this journey bearable for us who needs to wait until subs are up. 💟
Thank you for your live recaps!! you really made my weekend <3<3
Anyone has the link for live streaming?
HELLO
Anyone has the link for live streaming?
i just started reading the opening scenes and its already heartbreaking. I feel for the great sage
Poor SOG.. 😭😭😭
OK, this is way confusing, Alice is still around?
Yeah but not possessed anymore by the prince
Ahh, that makes more sense 😂
Although today is the end for hwayugi, but i will stay here for misty and maybe upcoming drama hahaha.. Thanks a million, V and the team for giving us a part of your time doing this live recapping. Love ya!
Thank you so much for this recap! This series has literally got me waiting by the second to see how it all ends. You’re a life-saver!
Is anyone else’s heart hurting?!?
I know what you mean, i loved it in the beginning All the romance/sweet arguing between OG and SJ – & even Buja and PK…when Buja turned into AS the tone changed. But even then : OG rescuing SJ, and watching SJ learning to love and trust him and he as well with her, doing everything to protect her…ep 19 was super hard to watch. I’ve watched so many of the Hong Sisters Dramas, The Masters Sun being my all time favorite..all the ones I watched ended happy. Honestly if this ends sad, I probably won’t watch another Hong Sister drama, my heart can’t take it. I get so invested in the characters and SJ and OG were REALLY good actors and had wonderful chemistry together.
A roller coaster ride of emotions. Not forgetting the oSTs which are all wonderful. Was never a K drama fan,never watched one before till I came across Hwayugi and the rest is history.. Gonna have withdrawal syndromes after this final episode. Thank you Team Bah-doo. your recaps truly are lifesavers.
Will always support u!
From SG
Wait. She puts stars in the sky?? Hold on a minute, is she a deity already??!! Geez c’mon you can’t make us believe she’s a ghost if she’s like trainee deity or something!! Arrggghhhh
If he goes to Skyland and she is a deity then can’t they be together. Maybe it will end with him going to Skyland and her sitting there waiting for him
OH MY GOD, reading these recap just breaks my heart. everybody is dead! and OH GONG doesnt even remember anything. PLEASE hong sisterss give me a good ending.
There isn’t enough time
The writers are really wringing every tear aren’t they? From Asanyo to the amnesiac og, is redemption the theme of today’s episode?
Soo sad from the beginning .. Will there having happy ends?
OMG NOOOOOO
I officially will never watch another Korean drama. This was too much.
Hahahhaah i already seen alot like that Tori
You should have seen me at the end of Scarlet Heart Rio…Same scenario only sadder ending….I said the same thing… but then I recovered and watched
The masters Sun ….Strong Woman Boon Song …Splish Slash love…. Moon that embraces the Sun..
have someone give you a list of the happy ending.dramas because they are so good..but you are right, you loose your heart in the characters and want the happy ever after. I personally didn’t like the ending of this one, Including the treatment of Buja..she deserved better PK’s really got sad he lost everyone…and of course SJ& OG they laid down their lives for the humanity and got nothing in return. At least SJ found out he really loved her……Maybe there will be a sequel…
They.. left us with an open ending… give me monkey babies NAAOOOO!!! *rageA*
So he kills himself to be with her? So he can go to the land of the dead and find her?
I don’t think OG needs to kill himself, he just needs to go visit the Underworld. The Great Sage should be able to do that easily (in the original story, he could also visit the Dragon Palace under the sea etc.)
But… I gotta say… I’m just disappointed in how it ended. I don’t really understand the point of the last episode, because it was just a lot of crying and a lot of flashbacks.
I don’t think I can watch another fantasy genre show ever again…
What an ending?!?!?! I was expecting some Samjang’s and Oh Gong’s baby to pop out 🙁
Thank you bah doo team.. 😘😘😘😘
Okay wtf I don’t want an open ending, unless they’re giving us season 2! Argh I wanted to see them together atleast in the last scene! I’m so annoyed rn I can’t even wah
Thanks bah doo team for the good times with hwayugi!! Ahhh it ended.. what do I do now :((((
Wheeere’s the babyyyy? Why does it have to end like thaaaaat. 😭😭😭😭😭
This is it?! Disappointed..have to sooth my broken heart🤕🤕
ahhh i wish the ending would be better than this. it is almost like there will br a sequele to this! thanks bah-doo for job well done!!
I don’t think he killed himself. Since Oh Gong, in the original JTTW is supposedly a half diety, he can travel between the 3 realms.
But then again, I wished that the writers could just make it a much happier ending after all those tears we shed. The writers are so cruel.
This was a terrible ending to a show.
Thank you for the recap! It was an emotional ending…
Thank you so very much Bah+Doo Team!
Its already an odyssey so why not make an unrealistic ending?
I’m SAD!!!
though it may seems like a good ending but still.. SJ is not alive, not even reincarnated 🙁
well as long as OG gan go wherever SJ is I’ll try to like this ending.
thanks to Bah-doo Team for live recaping this wonderful drama, always staying live recaping another great drama around :))
see you on another chance. Hwaiting!
NOT EVEN 1 COUPLE LAST TO BE TOGETHER IN THIS DRAMA
#CryInTheCorner
Woah, even to the very end they won’t give us the ending we want. Idk how to feel with the ending… i’m not sure if i can call it a happy ending? but i’m really disappointed tbh 🙁 What should i do now that it has come to an end?? I already feel empty 🙁
NOW I WANT A SEASON 2 OF THIS DRAMA!!!!!
PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN SERIOUSLY 😭😭
I dont get it. DID SJ’S BODY JUST PHYSICALLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTHER AFTER EPISODE 19? I mean her body is left in OG’s seurumdom which is technically only accessible to those which OG allows? Why can’t they just put SJ’s soul back into her body just like the way Buja comes back to life.
On the side note, thanks for recapping! Can’t believe this is over.
Thanks a bunch bah-doo team. I really enjoy reading your recaps of hwayuki.
Thanks for the recap Bah-Doo Team. My weekends will never be the same again. I am surprised by the ending as in how can it be so underwhelming… Thought the ending will be a good surprise cos the script has been amazing thus far… but it turned our a little meh..
Good thing SJ didn’t reincarnate etc.After all if she’ still a human,she can die,and SOG will still be left alone at the end.Though it’s an open ending I still pretty like it except on how they try to wrap up the last scene.Could be better if they can show us SJ & OG scene at the end.Thnx bah doo team,recapping such a nice drama
Yeah it would have been nice to have a scene of OG storming into the netherworld at the end to rescue JSM. That would have been a great ending!
So disappointed ending… Not even giving us a good reason thats is ending.. Go for eps 21
Or season 2
i agree
Thank u Badoo team for ur great work! I cannot believe this ending, there is not even a glimpse of their reunion and how they will have their forever HE. SOG can go to the land of the dead without dying, he is an immortal deity. Back to the original story, he went to the land of the dead and erase all names of his monkey’s gang on the book of the dead. After he went back to his mountains, the heavens sent troops to contain him and bring him there.
I have one big question that keeps bugging me. WHAT THE HECK IS THE HAELMONI? Is she some sort of diety too? This ending sucks.
I think she is Guan Yin #hmmm
based on chinese story I watched, MW son is left in care of Guan Yin.
I think she’s Guan Yin too.
in chinese story line, the one who give GGG to SJ is Guan Yin too
So I guess that’s who she is ^^
Wow.. what a terrible ending. Looks like the writer suddenly lost the idea how to write the ending. Such a waste as the story starts with a great storyline.
Is the underworld scary? Like in Greek mythology it’s super scary and sad like hell almost
Such a disappointing ending for a great drama… I know the ending could’ve been better… ugh *cries* Nonetheless, i wanted to compliment everyone’s acting in this drama. They were all spot on! Especially Lee Seung Gi, Jin Seon Mi and Cha Seung Won. Thank you to the writer – Hong Sisters (eventho i still hold a grudge), directors, producers, stylists, lightning team, cameraman, staffs & everyone involved in the drama directly or indirectly.. thank you for making it happen.
BIG QUESTION IS HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MOVE ON FROM THIS DRAMA?????? I AM ALREADY PREPARING TO BINGE WATCH :”)))
The acting was so good!
The ending is worse than Goblin!!! The story didn’t deserve an ending like this….. Makes me think that they could have lessen the filter episodes during the earlier part of the drama to give more airtime for conclusion of the story. So disappointing
thanks a bunch *V+
can’t believe it’s over!
All the “love stories” ended down the drain. So saaaad. SOG and SJ, PK and Buja, even MW and princess iron fan… So sad.
@*V Thanks so much for the live recaps. Though I was late to the party, I’ll be staying around for more recap parties 😂 Maybe I’ll bring Oreos to the party lol OK, bad jokes aside, fighting!
@Mjon True, Sun Wukong in the original had found that many of his monkeys had died after he’d returned to Shuiliandong (Seureumdong) after training, so he went into Hades and basically raised hell (the making potential for bad jokes always amazes me lol). And throughout Journey to the West, he visits Hades several times though he’s about as welcome as… Not 😂 So yeah, maybe they just want to play out a possible second season. But seriously?? After this ending, I don’t think the writers and producers will have that much cred to have a second season.
@What is study when you have kdrama
😂 join the party, I’ve been anticipating Hwayugi withdrawal symptoms for a few weeks. That said, the ending was quite… dismal, I was hoping the Hong sisters would do a Master’s Sun HEA after all. But it seemed they ran out of steam or inspiration (which I’m not sure) and then decided, oh well, we’ve wrung enough tears, so let’s… not give them a happy ending but one that leaves a question mark. Seriously… way to piss off half the audience groups 😂
Rather than season 2,imagining this made into a movie..well with same cast but better story line and ofcourse ending.Just like cheese in trap from drama into movie
TOALLY 100% agree with you! Instead of another series, just make a full movie. No dragging out for 16-20 episodes and we can have everything answered. I hope they will consider it!
Wtf what kind of ending was that….😡😡😡
Uh hello what happened to their baby? So many loose ends untied…
Thanks for the recap. A little sad about the ending, but, what can we do !
I was reading on one of the other sites and there was a coment about a second season..did anyone else hear that? To me that would be the only way it would make sense because as everyone is saying ..too many loose ends, too many deaths and basically a rushed ending that left me upset..sad..confused ..angry…and all of the above comments.
OK JUST ANSWER ME THIS HONG SISTERS ..WHY WAS THE DESCRIPTION Of THE DRAMA : :FANTASY COMEDY (comedy…not melodrama,) and ROMANCE..??
Ok, now I feel a bit better….😤😥
this is the END??? huh??? really there is no FOREVER
Calling out Hong Sisters to rewrite the last 2 episodes! It’s just so annoying! If you really want to give us a sad ending, then fine, but not like this, it’s very disappointing. Or at least give us one more episode to clear things up! This drama went from HERO to ZERO. This drama deserves better, we deserve better!
And by the way, where is that baby now?? The baby that wasn’t supposed to be born yet??
@Curious Human Being oh yes! Where is that baby?
I don’t get it ,why it ends this way ,y?
yes ,where is the baby ?
oh gong should burn bu ja
Agree!
I don’t know why in the first place they want to let Kang DaeSong to, be a king???
Just kill ASY in the first place is the brilliant idea. =(
Hate this dragging part of ASY ding dong here and there.
Just reading you guys comments making my heart throb like crazyyyy already!
Arghh im hoping for a happy ending pleaseeee!!
Dont care if it is a cliche happy ending as long as Samjang and SOG be together and have their baby!😭
How can I get enough courage to watch this last 2 episod pleaseeee!
Whyyyyy???
I am super in love with Hwayugi storyline and great twist for fantasy and love comedy as I myself a fan of Journey to The West and Japanese Anime Gensomaden Saiyuki.
Hence, Son oh gong character is similiar to Son goku in Saiyuki anime which I really loves and Lee seung Gi potrays his character superb! Cheeky ,heartwarming monkey comrade.
I trust you Hong Sisters!
You want to surprise us with season 2 or Movie right?????
Right?!
Arghh cant move on with episod 18 ending. Thought that it will be good newwsss for monkey baby.=(
Need to heal my heart with Master In The House then.
I was thinking the very same thing. I need some laughs after these last 2 episodes.
Oh, and I also got that anime feeling from the start. But to me, it felt like a bit of Inuyasha (which I so love). Human girl with spiritual powers (which are sealed for most of the story), a demon who is controlled by her gift (necklace in Inuyasha, bracelet for Hwayugi). Both demon and human can’t really stand each other but in the end they fall in love. I don’t know if I can move on from this, because so much was left unanswered.. how does he get her back? What about the baby? Ugh!!!
The last two episodes were a real let down.
I was thinking the very same thing. I need some laughs after these last 2 episodes.
So at the end , he’s on his way ti HELL to “RAISE HELL”. Even brought his weapons and magical staff. 005!
Thank you for your recaps! I’m late to your site, but I have enjoyed reading as I watch each episode.
If you ever come across a link for SJ’s infinity ring, please post! It is so beautiful!!
I haven’t found it! I will post it to the music list if I find it! Hopefully someone finds it.
Kim Yoonmi posted it! momokorea[dot]com/accessories-en/ring/rtrm0001.html
Thank you for your recaps! I’m late to your site, but I have enjoyed reading as I watch each episode.
If you ever come across a link for SJ’s infinity ring, please post! It is so beautiful!!
Cannot move on.. After going through so much?? Whyyyy don’t you just let JSM and SOG have a decent happily ever after?? Whyyyy?? JSM shouldn’t have died, the Gods should have not have trapped SOG. He cld have just been there to protect JSM when the power crazy candidate tried to snatch the sword away from her!!
At this point, having season 2 wld be useless coz all the major plots have reached its peak. Just give us 1 more episode to tie the loose ends and whether cliche or not, show that love is divine,love is all forgiving and that love means the heaven have the heart to let JSM and SOG have their dream life in Suremdong with their babies please!!
Yes one more episode only just to see what happen to winter God ,to ma wang son ,and pk and alice
I really dissapointed with the ending.
Is it true that Hong Sista’s write?
As i know, Hong Sista like happy ending story.
Like Master’s Sun, Warm and Cozy, My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox, …
you guys have already voiced out my opinion. but really, an open ending was one of the things i really don’t appreciate…. tsk…
eotteoke? withdrawal starts now for me, huhuhuhu…. but thanks hwayugi for introducing us to a smexy lee seung gi… i don’t think i’ll follow another drama for awhile., will be busy stalking the cast or should i say, lee seung gi. haha
many thanks @V and bah-doo team for all this wonderful recaps….
You didn’t see Hong Gil Dong then….
BTW, I saw some people were asking about the ring… Ring: momokorea[dot]com/accessories-en/ring/rtrm0001.html
Season 2….????
I haven’t watched the ending yet but thanks to you, I already know it. Thank you bah-doo team to the moon and back! At least I won’t be expecting a happy go lucky ending as we all hoped. It’s somehow a decent ending since Seon Mi is a human after all. They can’t just resurrect her. But since it’s an Odyssey, anything should be possible even a season 2! But let’s see because kdramas don’t usually have sequels. Anyway, can I just say there are indeed of Hwayugies! I mean fans. There’s even a mini team meeting in the office just to talk about what’s happening in Hwayugi. Hahaha
Gotta be a season 2… just think of the possibilities…. the story lines…. endless… drama’s
Now that the series is done, I feel comfortable talking about my thoughts on this drama. As a disclaimer, I basically stopped watching the series after episode 10, and was uninvested by episode 6, and have just been going off recaps. But I feel like I got the gist really. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
I largely share the sentiments of everyone else in the comments, but I thought I would throw my two cents in as well because for the last 4+ years I’ve been balls deep in Journey to the West because of my own writing. Hwayugi piqued my interest because it was another adaptation, but modern, and was doing a romantic relationship between Wukong and Samjang, and I couldn’t pass it up. As a drama I think it was good with a lot of great ideas, but there was also a lot of missed opportunities and lost potential that kept it from becoming something truly amazing.
But let’s talk about the good things first. I don’t think anyone would dispute the INCREDIBLE casting. I was so delighted to watch Lee Seung Gi as Wukong, especially as its my first Seung Gi drama. What a introduction to a great actor. The entire cast, including minor characters, were all fantastic, and brought in their great character moments and human elements to each (supernatural) character and I couldn’t love them more. Hong Sisters excelled the most in Hwayugi’s ensemble cast, and every character had their moment in the spotlight. But this is also a burden, as not every character’s plot threads got cleared up by the end. Hong Sisters did the best in adapting Journey to the West characters to the modern age. I did not catch that the shop grandma who sold Ma Wang the circlet was Guanyin, but when I read that I kicked myself the whole day.
Another good thing Hong Sisters did was the monsters of the week. Now, I wish they had a better final boss monster than a black dragon, but their monsters of the week were really good. Each one was clearly designed to mirror a conflict of one of the major characters or an important social message, and that is the sign of a veteran writer. The anorexia monster, the mermaid, the children – all of them were fantastic. And scary. Really scary.
Now for the less than stellar parts. I have only watched a few dramas, but even I can see the trend most dramas suffer under: great premise, great start, and then for some reason they all derail like crazy by the end, leaving an unsatisfying finish to what was a great beginning. I suspect this is because of the breakneck pace of Korean drama filming schedules.
It’s clear Hwayugi was planned and had a lot of thought put into it, but not enough. The thing that suffered the most is definitely the main plot and conflict. I could smell the trouble coming when 20 episode series with 90 minutes each kept trucking along to the end with a lot of filler, and no major plot development. At the end, the black dragon plot ended up filling Episode 19 and then disappearing, and that was a huge letdown as a plot point that the writers had been hyping since day 1.
There were a lot of plot threads that got dropped. Buja not getting closure on her murder and on her mother’s fate is really messed up because we got a lot of filler screentime before she became Asanyeo. The mother just dying and Buja disappearing without a trace is not good enough when the replacement was a trite karmic supernatural punishment for Kang Dae-sung that got shoved into the last episode/epilogue.
Dragon Prince is also another plot point that got dropped. I don’t mind that he was basically a sidekick for most of the series; clearly that was very necessary as there were too many characters with too many other unresolved plot points. But the dragon prince of one of the four dragon kings cannot just die like that without huge trouble from angry dragon kings. You could literally have written a whole supernatural drama JUST for the Dragon Prince and another season just for people being angry about Dragon Prince being dead. Also, if the Summer Fairy can die by showing us her real self, I wanted to see the Dragon Prince’s real self when he died. The writers dodged the gay bullet on that one and just put in bubbles. I was very disappointed. I wanted the gay. Give it to me.
Ma Wang is also another dropped plot point, which is very unfortunate as he is one of the major characters. They clearly wanted his angst to be a ominous warning to Wukong if he lost Sunmi, but that whole plot just got really weird. They should have given more to Princess Iron Fan because she ended up a very passive female character with no agency despite her being hyped as a dangerous desperate woman fighting for her son. After Ma Wang took her fate, she should have been given the chance to live and be happy. Ma Wang’s son was a fun plot twist, but not nearly as interesting as it should have been, and ultimately unsatisfying end for Ma Wang’s character. In the teasers it seemed like Ma Wang would end up against the main characters, but the writers may have changed that when they saw Ma Wang’s popularity with the audience. I don’t like how dramas will change plot stuff according to audience reactions, but this part is me speculating.
Ok, onto the last point: the final showdown. The final plot is based around three things: the death bell, Asanyeo, and the black dragon. All three are made up and not from Journey to the West, and all three are really the biggest disappointments for me in this drama. Wukong is supposed to protect Samjang, not kill her. I get that the death bell is a twist on this duty, but the execution on this idea was sloppy. Wukong and Samjang spent the last few episodes working behind each other’s backs and scheming to try and protect the other person from destiny but all it did was ruin the original character development from the first half of the drama, which is that they are supposed to work together. The death fate felt more like a rule of supernatural dramas than a meaningful part of Hwayugi plot. I don’t know why the writers killed her off. There is nothing they wanted to do with that they couldn’t have done through a different plot idea. As far as Asanyeo and the black dragon goes, there are a lot of better baddies from Journey to the West that would have served a more impactful climax for the drama. Asanyeo is meant to mirror Samjang except she doesn’t have love, but she doesn’t get enough of a backstory to give that parallel any meaning, and the black dragon was a huge letdown. You know it’s bad when they’re building up to the final showdown and you only get to see the big baddie in one episode. And would it kill the drama to give Wukong his staff? What’s up with the fan and then a flaming sword? Why?
They clearly wanted to do things with this drama but they also wanted to do too many things. They should have focused the writing on a cleaner plot and just did that. What I wanted the show to be was Sunmi struggling with her fate as Samjang, and wanting to be a normal person while all these demons keep knocking on her door. Maybe to counterbalance Wukong’s original unwillingness to help, you could have the spirit of the original or first Samjang as a ghost running around helping her. So the plot is just focused on Sunmi and her character growth to accepting her destiny. Not as a central two episode plot for the librarian monster, but as a plot arc for the entire drama. Sunmi and Wukong could struggle to get along with the circlet between them, Sunmi could struggle to trust Wukong after her childhood experience, all while Samjang warns her not to rely on Samjang’s help too much, or she will end up with Samjang’s fate forever and forever relinquish her chances of living as a normal person. She must trust in Wukong and work with him to defeat the big baddie, not work with Samjang the spirit. This would be a great supernatural symbol to drive home Sunmi’s character arc as someone who has always been alone and has to learn to trust people and open up to them and work with them. This would also match Wukong’s arc of learning to put other people before him.
Hwayugi’s ending is clearly to generate as much drama as possible. They love each other but they can’t be together because death or whatever destiny says it will end sadly. If instead of this, they had Sun mi fight the baddie and realize she will not be strong enough if she doesn’t become Samjang, then you could also serve the same purpose. Sun mi decides that for the greater good, she willingly chooses to be Samjang and becomes the actual monk Samjang, then Wukong and Sun mi would not allowed to be together as a couple. Samjang starts off on her quest to India for enlightenment and Wukong goes with her, so they’re together in that sense, but they can’t be together as a couple. This avoids the weird death and amnesia or whatever ending we got but still gives you that sweet sweet tragic couple story dramas love. Also this opens the door for a season 2. Yes I’ve thought about this a lot, almost from the first episode. Yes I wish the writers had given me the reins to the story and let me do what I wanted.
Anyway, I still appreciate Hwayugi as an adaptation of Journey to the West, however loose it is. It was a brave experiment and tried a lot of new things with very old canon stuff, and the result wasn’t that bad. If you liked my analysis and wish you could watch my version of the drama, remember me. In ten years I hope to finish my version of Journey to the West and publish it. It won’t be like Hwayugi but you’ll get your romance. And demon fighting.
Ok I’m done. I’m going to go order the bracelet online now.
Lit!
I will miss you(r recaps) *V
Thaaaaaanks a lot
You’re welcome Moz 🙂
Love love love this series! Thank you Bah Doo team! I had a lot of fave episodes but the last 3, I love the most! 😍
I am so glad you loved them RP! The last two episodes made me want to throw something, but it is good to hear that you enjoyed them 🙂
Thank you bahdoo team for all the live recaps although these 2 last episodes put me in the bad mood for days 😅