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Before I start raving about Lee Joon in Bulgasal again, a quick information about Hu Yitian and Zhang Yunlong’s new drama Checkmate. It's supposed to start airing on iQiyi in August. I think. And I found this short Making of Special on Youtube. It looks good and slashy already. I’m all prepared to ship their characters again. :)
And now let’s commence with my raving about Lee Joon in Bulgasal Immortal Souls, with spoilers and gifs, and fanvid recs.
Ok Eul Tae is absolutely queer-coded. And on one hand – it’s problematic, because he’s a villain, a cruel monster who drinks human blood. And it’s a Korean drama so it’s not like there are other queer characters there to balance things out. On the other hand – Lee Joon is amazing and beautiful, and he acts like an angel. And he’s the best thing in this drama. And that’s not only my opinion.
And there is a lot of homoerotic tension, like seriously a lot. And nobody will convince that it wasn’t deliberate. I really can’t read Eul Tae’s feelings for Hwal as anything other than unrequited obsessive and possessive love.
Nobody uses the word “love” of course, and I guess if you really, really want you can interpret Eul Tae’s feelings as a completely non-romantic and non-sexual obsession. He was sick and weak all his life, and his father despised him, and overlooked him in favor of Eul Tae’s healthy younger half-brother, so Eul Tae desperately wanted to be an immortal and inhumanly strong monster, and that’s why he was so obsessed with Hwal, because Hwal was the one who could turn into Bulgasal.
But he really behaves like a jealous and desperate lover when it comes to Hwal. Like the main motivation for his hatred of the female lead Sang Un seems to be "if it's not for you, then he would have been with me". He literally tells her in the 16th episode:
“If it weren’t for you Hwal would have been mine.”
In episode 12 he begs Hwal to stay with him:
“Don’t go. Don’t go. Just let her go. Focus on me. […] Let go of her and come to me. Please don’t go.”
And then there is this scene from episode 15:
I’m not that good at making gifs so here is the whole scene in gifset form I found on tumblr. Eul Tae looks at Hwal with such desperate love and longing in his eyes. And do you see the way he leans into Hwal’s touch when Hwal caresses his cheek? How is that not love? :)
And there was even more of a homoerotic non-con blood drinking in episodes 15 and 16.
And here are fanvid recs:
River
Take Me With You
Clay
After I finished Bulgasal I started The Silent Sea, because Lee Joon plays one of main characters here, too. I’ve watched three episodes already and for now I like it. It’s a bit boring at times, but I’m intrigued by the main mystery enough to keep watching, and two other main characters are played by Bae Doo Na and Gong Yoo, who are both reliably good.
And now let’s commence with my raving about Lee Joon in Bulgasal Immortal Souls, with spoilers and gifs, and fanvid recs.
Ok Eul Tae is absolutely queer-coded. And on one hand – it’s problematic, because he’s a villain, a cruel monster who drinks human blood. And it’s a Korean drama so it’s not like there are other queer characters there to balance things out. On the other hand – Lee Joon is amazing and beautiful, and he acts like an angel. And he’s the best thing in this drama. And that’s not only my opinion.
And there is a lot of homoerotic tension, like seriously a lot. And nobody will convince that it wasn’t deliberate. I really can’t read Eul Tae’s feelings for Hwal as anything other than unrequited obsessive and possessive love.
Nobody uses the word “love” of course, and I guess if you really, really want you can interpret Eul Tae’s feelings as a completely non-romantic and non-sexual obsession. He was sick and weak all his life, and his father despised him, and overlooked him in favor of Eul Tae’s healthy younger half-brother, so Eul Tae desperately wanted to be an immortal and inhumanly strong monster, and that’s why he was so obsessed with Hwal, because Hwal was the one who could turn into Bulgasal.
But he really behaves like a jealous and desperate lover when it comes to Hwal. Like the main motivation for his hatred of the female lead Sang Un seems to be "if it's not for you, then he would have been with me". He literally tells her in the 16th episode:
“If it weren’t for you Hwal would have been mine.”
In episode 12 he begs Hwal to stay with him:
“Don’t go. Don’t go. Just let her go. Focus on me. […] Let go of her and come to me. Please don’t go.”
And then there is this scene from episode 15:
“Everything you did was for me. I shouldn’t have blamed you.”
I’m not that good at making gifs so here is the whole scene in gifset form I found on tumblr. Eul Tae looks at Hwal with such desperate love and longing in his eyes. And do you see the way he leans into Hwal’s touch when Hwal caresses his cheek? How is that not love? :)
And there was even more of a homoerotic non-con blood drinking in episodes 15 and 16.
And here are fanvid recs:
River
Take Me With You
Clay
After I finished Bulgasal I started The Silent Sea, because Lee Joon plays one of main characters here, too. I’ve watched three episodes already and for now I like it. It’s a bit boring at times, but I’m intrigued by the main mystery enough to keep watching, and two other main characters are played by Bae Doo Na and Gong Yoo, who are both reliably good.
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