The Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi is the 11th script of the Hong sisters. 2018; 20 eps at 1hr20 mins ea. Hwayugi (HW) was one of the first few kdramas I ever watched. It is absurd, wonderful and heartbreaking; an indelible memory. The comedy/romance/supernatural fusion combined with sophisticated filmmaking and an absurdist/surreal panache was enchanting but difficult to ease into; it made me an instant fan, obsessive and curious about the Korean industry and its history.

And yes, I bawled buckets the first time... and the second....and...
Please, please give it a try and become a Hong Sisters fan too!

I was amazed at this remake of/take on the chinese buddhist novel Journey to the West (one of the six classic pre-modern chinese novels), whose characters permeate pan-asian cultural products of all kinds.

That premise is essentially a comic set-up. The 3 companions from the novel, the monkey King, the pig, and the fish king are like Homer Simpson -- they are driven by human appetites to constantly get into trouble. It is the job of this motley crew to protect the Monk, Sam Jang (Tang Zang/Xuansang), on his journey to the West, but even he cannot save them from their own idiocy.

But in Hwayugi, Son Oh Gong (SOG) tricks a little girl who sees spirits into releasing him from heaven's punishment of imprisonment. So heaven punishes her by forcing her to take on the dharma of the Monk in modern times. Is this fair, no. Is this a tale of the supernatural, yes, so fairness does not pertain.

The monk in the novel is looking for texts, but in Hwayugi she/he has become a sort of "sin-eater" who has to bear the burden of human evil. Her flesh still has the monk's fragrance of lotus flowers and even a tiny bite of it grants immortality. Meanwhile she grows up plucky and resourceful and turns her spirit-seeing ability to good commercial use as a real estate agent.

The Bull (Demon) King, Ma Wang (MW), who had sent her on the original errand and gotten her into the situation with the Monkey King, ends up remorseful when they all meet later on, He is no longer the novel's villain but a more ambiguous figure, a media mogul, a celebrity show host. The group moves into his house. Including PK (the pig) and the elusive CEO, they all pity her but also cannot stay away from her fragrance. Thus the comedy.

Even SOG is uneasy at what they have done; he refuses to admit it but has kept an eye on her all along ever since she was a child when he tricked her and lied to her. Deities are fundamentally different from us -- but the Monkey King is a demi-deity; in an ambiguous position, he can fall in love and he does so unwillingly.

There are some cool props: the slave-love bracelet the Geumgango; the Onggi of prophecy in the little shop--as soon as the FL lifts the lid out of curiousity, a pandora's box situation occurs; the Doom Bell and the Love Bell. Spoiler alert, there is no HEA.

ps. The scriptwriting duo of the Hong sisters set the bar if not the entire tone for the kdrama industry renaissance overseas -- not primarily in the West, mind you, but across South, East and West Asia. They are famous for being consistently commercially successful.

Each HS drama stands on its own, rarely repeating genres. The HS use literary tropes and texts with abandon, reinventing them, combining them, with a mastery that is hard to describe. Not only do they always catch the wave of audience interest with their creative wildness, but they also appeal to all different sorts of viewers who can tune into the dramas at differing levels of meaning and complexity.

first posted july 31st 2024 on Viki