I totally forgot how much tvN Sat-Sun fantasy drama Bulgasal cost to make because it just seemed rather low key since it premiered that I put it with other regular fantasy dramas like Tale of the Nine Tales and the like. But it’s not, it’s a $40 billion won drama that is second in price tag to the ambitious Arthdal Chronicles which used its $54 billion won budget to actually shoot two seasons worth of episodes. Putting it in perspective, last year’s biggest hyped Jirisan had a budget of $32 billion won and was considered a disappointment with ratings between 7%-9% (average 8.385%) on cable network tvN. That puts Bulgasal at a massive epic fail as it’s ratings are between 3%-4% range and other than the first episode bringing in 6.346% it’s just fallen less than half what Jirisan brought in. I still don’t know who would hand a $40 BILLION WON drama to the likes of Lee Jin Wook (B-list and with a scandal-tinged past) and Kwon Nara (precariously perched in recent leading lady land but nothing impressive to speak of in achievement). I’ve watched scenes and the two are alternating between torture stoicism (him) and bland befuddlement (her), with the only decent acting and characters and interesting anything coming from second leads Lee Joon and Gong Seung Yeon. You can even tell from stills alone! If this drama cost $10 billion won that would be fine but at one of the most expensive K-dramas ever produced this is a travesty of wasted money all around.
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the drama sucks and im sure not even the writing team knows what theyre doing cause the plot is all over the place , its so bad that not even Lee Joon can save it also Lee Jin Wook is such a boring actor ,does he make any other expression? even in sweet home he was the same , BLAND!
how can lee joon save the show when his screentime is not even more than 10 minutes?
I didn't realize the budget was that big. I was actually surprised that this was aired as the TVN weekend drama offering for December (which in the past have always been huge hits, except maybe for Hwayugi). I thought that this was a better fit for the Wednesday-Thursday slot, and that pure fantasy melodramas have never been wildly successful.
Hey why except for Hwayugi??It was good
Hwayugi, the year-end offering for 2017, only had a peak ratings of 6.9%. Decent, but not a huge hit, compared to Reply 1994, Misaeng, Reply 1988, Goblin, Memories of the Alhambra, Crash Landing on You, and Queen Cheorin.
There are multiple dramas with low ratings on that slot. If Hwayugi was a flop in terms of ratings, then It’s Okay Not To Be Okay is also a flop… And there are even a few that are doing worse than that.
Hwayugi was good, decent, except for the cgi/special effects part. I still feel awfully ashamed if I remember the fight with the dragon scene..and buja's death. Ugh really crappy special effects.
Hwayugi ranked 1st on its timeslot.
Lee Joon has much more expressive eyes than Lee Jin Wook. The later doesn't left with deep impression. You can't feel any in his gaze in majority of his drama.
Yeah with that budget...2-3 percent would have been really good ratings for a low-budget cable drama before 2017-18 but for 40 million? Nope.
I watched the first 2 episodes and liked it then. The production was film quality, story was interesting, and feedback was positive. Put it on pause bc life got in the way and was gonna pick it back up. Confused as to what happened for it to go bad.
so much potential in ep 1-2. i'm still watching but ea episodes feels soooo long after that.
I agree the first two were so good and reminded me of a HK classic movie.
I really love the drama, I just don't know why people make their opinion so loud and disregard something completely just because it's not there cup of tea. I recommend you watch it, it's so interesting.
Amen
Agree
Agreed
Yep, got hooked on the first 2 episodes, but as it progresses I'm getting more & more confused AF. I just want to watch it til the end though to see if it'll end my confusions :|
I’m still watching but I do admit I’m hanging on mostly for Lee Joon and Gong Seung Yeon. It gets cringey when the leads are left alone.
Lee Jin Wook couldn’t be more boring if he tried I think. I’ve quite literally never seen him act in anything remotely interesting. Even if a plot sounds good, he somehow makes it terrible by being in it. I’m being harsh but genuinely dunno why he keeps getting lead roles.
Kwon Nara is exactly the same honestly. Baffled that she’s been promoted to lead status. The leads are terrible all round and after 3 episodes, I couldn’t see why tvN produced this. Also, I dunno where the money went?! It doesn’t look like anything with such a high budget and these actors aren’t expensive either. Whut?
He was great in Sweet Home and Voice 3 though.
I do not understand why Lee Jin Wook keeps getting roles. Seriously he is not a good actor, doesn't have a crazy fan following, and doesn't have any charisma to make up for his lack of acting chops. What kind of backing does he have to get so many jobs when others don't or are stuck in second lead land.
Thanks to his agency, that why he often got role in big budget project.
This drama is dull and boring and I agree, the acting was not impressive. But tbh, people overhyped Lee Joon's performance here. To me, he was just ok as he was obviously overacting.
I agree kind of boring but i like lee jin wook and his partner kwon nara,she's boring.their chemistry is not good
I really enjoy Lee Joon here, but I can concede that he overacts at times. Maybe I enjoy his performance because everyone else is under acting. At least he has energy. Everyone else acts like they are sleepwalking through the drama.
Then stop watching, tsk.
Very wise advise :) maybe they are stop watching just write whT they thought abt the drama
Tbh, I'm quite wary of expensive tvN productions since last year. Even with a big name cast or star writer, things still go sideways. tvN have been in a downhill slide in the fantasy genre since Doom At Your Service followed by Jirisan and now Bulgasal. Their only saving grace last year were Vincenzo, Mr Queen and HCCC. I'm pivoting back to public channels SBS, KBS and MBC.
TVN was actuallly having strong year last 2021 thank you. Other than the three big hits you mentioned (HCCC, Vincenzo, Mr Queen) they also have Hosplay 2, Mine, Devil Judge (all in top 50 highest cable television rating). Jirisan, despite initial poor reviews, also actually had strong ratings hovering at 9-10%.
Jirisan is a huge flop. After the slew of bad reviews and reports of investors losing money, there was no buzz at all whether it was the drama itself or the actors. The production company’s stock has plunged to almost half its value and still hasn’t recovered.
Domestic cable ratings in SK alone is no longer the one and only metric of success nowadays. HP, Mine and DJ all showing in Netflix cannot compete with SG, My Name, HCCC, Vincenzo, King's Affection, Beloved Summer in top ten most watched non-English shows. Share market value tanking is a major red flag. However, if you say they have a strong year go ahead whatever makes you happy.
In terms of viewership, Jirisan is not bad at all. Far above NWBU. Bulgasal is even worse.
I can't comment specifically on Bulgasal since I haven't watched it, but I think that studios need to pay more attention to a strong, well-planned script than just throwing out money. The director and actors and special effects are all important, but if you don't have the foundation of a strong script to build on, it will be fundamentally flawed. Most of the projects I see that flop budgetwise end up being ones where they paid more attention to spending money than to the bare bones requirements of a logical storyline. The selling point shouldn't be the budget, it should be the storyline. Everything else falls into place after that.
I like this drama wish we would stay more in the past. The stars can’t be super A”list because the money had to go to the cinematographer, sets, etc. the quality is actually top notch for all the historical portion of the novel. I feel like I was watching a movie….and should have been one instead of 16ep. I thought the storyline was quite interesting and keeps me on the guessing game every week.
The romance might be too fast for others but it was hinted way in the beginning and you just knew they both had some kind of history together. This type of story are right off my alley. I’m here for it until the end!!
I totally agree to you.. I'm keep watching this series becuz story line is really interesting... It's keep twist over one and another episode... And also i like the actors even the leads... They all bring their hardwork to this... I dunno why others didn't like this
._.
Yup..i dont know why people dislikes this drama..because this the only drama that i watch currently.many korean drama nowadays make me only watch early episode not the end because its getting cliche and easy to read plot.but bulgalsal make me wait for the weekend. the last time drama that make me cant wait is for next ep mrqueen.of cos there are a plot that a bit dragging but its not that bad like the article.yup the female lead may lacking but to say only lee joon and gong seung yoon save the show it totally no I fall for lee jin uk in this drama and start to watch his another past drama.
Completely agreed..
Completely agree..
It’s actually good! I don’t plan to watch it but I don’t have anything to watch at the moment. Surprisingly, it’s more than what I expected (in my opinion better than The King EM - LMH) Give it a chance.