Summary
Although slightly messy structurally, episode 12 is frantic and action-packed in the best possible way, advancing the story massively too.
This recap of Netflix K-Drama series Bulgasal: Immortal Souls season 1, episode 12, contains spoilers.
Read the recap of the previous episode.
We start with a search for Eul-tae, which begins after Hwal spots an opportunity to kill him given his conceivable weakness. Sang-un is somewhat reluctant for him to do such a thing, given it’d mean he would also die, and a faint promise is made that Hwal won’t die with him. Things are interrupted by a call by Si-ho, who reminds her sister not to trust her ally.
Bulgasal: Immortal Souls season 1, episode 12 recap
Back at the house, Si-ho discloses that both Bulgasals must die at the same time to Ho-yeol and Hye-suk, a fact which stuns the two elders. Do-yoon hears too, but before we can dwell we’re taken to a dark, brooding forest to see Eul-tae talking to Hwal 1000 years ago. There, he desperately discusses how he wants to be just like Hwal, but before anything is said, a part of him is ripped from his chest, and we see the dark hole appear for the first time.
After some lighthearted scenes between Hwal and Sang-un, which includes a sweet interrogation based around her feelings towards her past-life foe, an offer is made for the soul to be switched around again, something that would allow Hwal to be human once again. It’s not accepted, though, and Hwal concedes that he has forgotten how to live as a human anyway.
Elsewhere, Do-yoon and Si-ho share a moment together after the mother-to-be has a nightmare, and we see more that she is slowly piecing together that she had a past connection to Hwal. The younger sister is forever doubtful of her past-life husband, and later interrogates Ho-yeol over his potentially lethal capabilities.
When we return to Hwal and Sang-un, the tethered monster reflects on the words of Eul-tae during their confrontation (that 1000 years ago he wished to be Bulgasal), but is told to ignore them. Then, Hwal says to Sang-un that he must find out why she gave him Bulgasal’s curse, how their relationship began, and what kind of person he really was. He later drops by at the safe house, and is told by Hye-suk to retrieve his soul from Sang-un instantly, but such an imperative demand is met with instant rejection. “You’re my one and only family,” Hwal’s partner-in-crime pleas, wishing for him to stay alive.
Now, Si-ho looks into Sang-un’s past in attempt to get the context Hwal desires, and to also find out why Kim Hwa-yeon wanted to kill both Bulgasals. There, she is met by Hye-suk’s childlike state, who warns Si-ho not to look into past lives, with a claim that “once the memories are recalled, everyone will die” following shortly after. As such, the insight stops, the younger sister discovering a cut on her hand too.
“They should not have met again,” Hye-suk says while furiously wiping the floor in a tense scene with Si-ho, stating that “it would start again” before she is brought back to reality. Concurrently, Hwal sneaks into Eul-tae’s house to search for any potential leads on the questions he has, stopping dead before the large portrait hanging on his living room wall. He finds further images too, including a wall detailing the monster’s overarching plans and schemes. When interrogated by a member of Eul-tae’s security, Hwal calls his foe, and we see that he has aged and weakened drastically.
As expected, Hwal sees opportunity in this, and heads to the mountain in a bid to find Eul-tae. Calling his phone and listening out for the ringtone, he soon finds his enemy, confronting the second Bulgasal only to be told that he can find out the information he wishes should Sang-un be killed. It doesn’t make Hwal waver, however, which makes Eul-tae promise that he’ll take everything from Hwal when he next sees them after Dark Hole discusses that his other half once chose Sang-un 1000 years ago in a fatal error.
Calling one of his men (a police officer), Eul-tae allows Sang-un to get stabbed and taken whilst waiting in the car, something which leads to Hwal leaving their showdown to find her. When he does, we find out the shaken woman has in fact stabbed the man after suddenly becoming strong, a fact that, when told to Eul-tae, leads to him getting his power back after devouring his minion.
After tending to Sang-un’s wounds, Hwal weighs up her level of care for him, before tackling a phone call from her sister in which he is told not to betray the woman he is currently living with. Fortunately for Si-ho, Sang-un is constantly looked after by Hwal, with numerous scenes of the two’s relationship, and unabating trust, shown afterward.
The ending
Realizing that her stab wound is in the same spot as Sang-yeon’s scar, Sang-un seems to have a moment of realization about her past — including when Hwal stabbed her — collapsing as her memories come flooding back. Then, in a moment of pure anger, Sang-un drives scissors into Hwal, before asking who, and what, he actually is.
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