Hwayugi is a great, complex, sometimes bogging down, but always fascinating K-drama. It’s got romance, bromance, death and destruction, and independent-minded and strong (yet slightly clueless) women.
Thank heaven there is a very funny bromance to distract from uneven scripting.
The text that Hwayugi is loosely based on, Journey to the West, is a 16th-century, 2,000 page Chinese text summarized hilariously here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nuXrvqNgI
and here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ai5umy9yH0
And here’s a Chinese version of the “original” story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdCKVo7jAH8
Donnie Yen, in my list of Eternally Classic Hotties <3 <3 <3 , starred in this version of Journey to the West (looking just a bit different from his normal hunky, suave self):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMI3zqIODf8
(The Beijinger)