FLOWER OF EVIL
AN INNOVATIVE DRAMA
ABOUT
A
UNIQUE
COMA
DREAM
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Flower of Evil, a unique, ground-breaking Suspense-Melodrama, is an indisputable masterpiece which stars the sterling actor Lee Joon Gi as Do Hyun Su. Make no mistake about Do Hyun Su, a psychologically unstable metalcraft worker: he sinks into a coma in which he is entangled in a web of fascinating dreams. A wealth of mysterious symbols and stunning images that range from normal to surreal and bizarre from Episode 1 to Episode 15 dominate Do Hyun Su’s dream. His reality, which is brief, angsty and sweet, only begins in Episode 16, the last episode. Moon Chae Won who portrays his wife, Cha Ji Won, gives a masterful performance as a tough, strong and intelligent criminal-busting homicide detective in the innovative, high-adrenaline drama.
With their awesome Flower of Evil, Kim Cheol Kyu, the internationally acclaimed and award-winning director and Yoon Joon Hee, the highly creative scriptwriter have made their mark on television drama history. They are the only ones who have produced such an incredible thought-provoking, tautly and intricately created drama which resembles a mysterious jigsaw puzzle that has been carelessly scattered but swiftly reassembled. And, while adroitly putting the pieces together again, they take the audience on a wild adventure, springing non-stop surprises, and injecting thrills as well as chills all along the way.
In case you do not have a clear memory of the events or
incidents in Flower of Evil, Do Hyun Su’s coma dream is a
succession of bizarre images, unusual emotions, strange symbols, disturbing
hallucinations or delusions, and impossible situations which range from the surreal to the miraculous, all of which might not mirror the actual reality. Some
of the strange visions or incidents could probably be figments of Do Hyun
Su’s own fertile imagination that has run riot and wild.
Exciting, frightening and angsty stories from Do Hyun Su's life, which have been influenced by his childhood traumas, morph from scene to scene in rapid succession. Chances are the stories could have been altered since he is mentally unstable. The scriptwriter and director have injected detailed elements,
concepts, symbols into Flower of Evil. Many try to make sense of the
fantastical, bizarre or illogical elements in the drama that probably can’t
exist in reality until they realise that it is all just a dream. The director
and the screenwriter, who keep the viewers guessing till the end, allow the
viewers to curate their own logic concerning the coma dream. Do Hyun Su’s psychological health condition has generated a lot of debate on the internet. Strange as it might be, viewers might feel that his condition does
not pose a cause for medical concern as long as he has the love and devotion
of Cha Ji Won, his wife.
When told that Flower of Evil is a dream, some viewers may react with jaw-dropping incredulity. How do we know that Flower of Evil is a dream? Consider the ingenious and bold subplot of Baek Hee
Sung, a dreamlike 15 year-coma patient who wakes up to discover a changed
world but not truly aware of the important implications of technical
advances, for example, the dashcams in cars. At this point, they might concede to the possiblity that Flower of Evil is really about a dream.  Flower of Evil has a unique narrative structure which has
never been attempted before; it comprises 16 episodes, each of which is structured
into two (2) parts, the PROLOGUE and the MAIN STORY. The PROLOGUE is unusual as it is presented in a flashforward or
a flashback. Except for Episode 1, the prologues of all episodes are flashbacks. The prologues capture the essence of the drama; it conveys to
the viewer that the story is a dream. As in dreams, the prologues are not
arranged in a linear or chronological order but are choppy or jumbled up.
They, however, help the audience piece together the puzzle of Do Hyun Su’s
life. The MAIN STORY, which is structured in a chronological or linear
style, logically leads the viewers through the latest exciting events in Do
Hyun Su’s life.
In the opening expository scene, the director teases and tantalises the viewers as he prepares them for the strange images and visions that occur in dreams. And the audience are expected to actively think and
independently interpret everything they see on the screen as they are sucked into
the plot machinations.
Episode 1 is the beginning of Do Hyun Su’s dream. In the
opening moments of the story, the flashforward high-octane drowning incident with
its bubbly, glistening water, is dreamlike. The scene of the flooded
shrimping pool is drawn from Episode 5 of the drama. Do Hyun Su, who is fully submerged in the water, seems resigned to his fate. He talks mostly to himself, not to Cha
Ji Won, his wife. Although swallowed by the water, he is neither panicky nor
frantic; he remains calm and detached as if in a dream. Unlike him, Ji Won, his distraught
wife, is beside herself in her frenzied attempts to save him. It only takes 2 minutes for a person to drown and lose
consciousness but oddly, Do Hyun Su lives to tell the tale.         
 
After Do Hyun Su is shot by Baek Hee Sung in Episode 15, the viewer is transported to another reality, a strangely dreamlike scene. The setting, with the presence of 2 church altar candelabras, is purely white and Do Hyun Su and Cha Ji Won are clothed all in white. The white as snow situation speaks of spirituality, purity, peace and death. The monochromatic scene tells us that Do Hyun Su is in a dream in which he talks strangely to Cha Ji Won about being near the sea and in paradise.
  Where the river meets the sea, it means life has ended. The two candelabra signifies that they are in a holy place. Paradise means they are in Heaven. But since Do Hyun Su seems to be talking, he’s still alive but in a coma dream.
         The abstract dissolves in Episode 16 are an indication that Do Hyun Su is in a surreal dream. The various images, which represent different times and moments in his life, morph swiftly from surreal scene to surreal scene. The dissolves in the dream sequence comprise flashbacks which indicate that a period of time has passed between the different scenes.
When the dissolves end, the metalcraft worker wakes up from his coma and loses memories of his wife and daughter. Lee Joon Gi allows the camera and the viewers to savour the poignancy of his conflicting feelings in his scenes with Moon Chae Won. It takes more than skill and intelligence to successfully play a role as tough as Do Hyun Su. Genius would be the right word for the high calibre actor. Moon Chae Won is also an amazing actor; her crying in sad scenes reduce the viewers to tears.                      The drama inspires debate about whether it is believable that Baek Hee Sung, the comatose psychopath, has the miraculous ability to walk not long after awakening from his coma.
Well, it is, indeed, a miraculous recovery; Baek Hee Sung rises and walks like Rip van Winkle, a man who awakens after his 20-year sleep in the nursery tale written by the American author, Washington Irving.
Research has shown that healthy-looking brain activity occurs in coma patients so Baek Hee Sung could have emerged from his coma relatively intact. The viewers must be reminded that unlike Rip van Winkle, close attention and loving care have been given to Baek Hee Sung during his comatose state. A scene shows Baek Man Woo, his Hospital Director father, giving him a liquid meal through enteral feeding.
     In another scene, the maid of the Baeks ensures that Baek Hee Sung, while still in a coma, has passive limb exercise to prevent skeletal muscle atrophy. An automated leg exercise device is used.      In another scene, Gong Mi Ja, his loving mother gives her son routine physiotherapy - a leg massage.      Baek Man Woo, has also given his son some injections. We are not sure about the drugs given. He, a specialist doctor and his pharmacist wife have access to knowledge concerning cutting-edge medical technology and all sorts of 'miracle' drugs. In Awakenings, an American movie, L-Dopa is given to catatonic patients to stimulate movement. Perhaps, Dr Baek has also injected similar drugs to hasten movement in his son. Even if the audience do not believe in such miracles, they have to be reminded yet again that this miracle has happened in Do Hyun Su’s coma dream.       You are right if you think that there is something peculiar about the BRICK WALLS in Flower of Evil. It seems rather odd that brick walls of different colours and sizes appear in EVERY episode of the drama, Flower of Evil. Such FREQUENTLY RECURRING images that pop up out of nowhere can only mean one thing - IT IS ALL A DREAM.   Dreams about fire and water are COMMON dreams that people have so it is not unusual for the recurrence of the two elements in Flower of Evil. The repeated images of fire and water only serve to show that Do Hyun Su is dreaming.
 Water dreams symbolise life, death, change, rebirth and renewal but they also are associated with subconscious thoughts and emotions concerning unbearable situations. Drowning in water symbolises the attempt to escape from overwhelming situations in one’s waking life.
                 A CARP means strength and perseverance. According to Chinese tradition, a carp that could leap over the falls at Dragon Gate transforms into the Celestial Dragon.
        Fire dreams symbolise anger, destruction, ressurrection, passion, purification and transformation. People with such dreams, like Do Hyun Su, might find themselves in tough situations.
                                   There is an dream-like image of a rhinoceros without its horn / horns in the bank of windows of the building, Maronie Plaza of Hope.   A RHINOCEROS symbolises stamina, substance, strength and resilience. A rhinoceros without its horn / horns might mean that it has been robbed off its power, strength or life.
The African (Kenya) rhinoceros probably represents Do Hyun Su who has been robbed off a normal life after the discovery of his father's heinous crimes. If both horns have been removed from the rhinoceros, then the rhinoceros represents both siblings who had been separated from each other for 18 years - Do Hyun Su and Do Hae Su. Could the rhinoceros without its horns refer to the division of Korea into two countries, North Korea and South Korea? The Alps Ski Resort is located near the Demilitarized Zone, the border between North Korea and South Korea.          A CIRCLE (circular grave) represents the divine and also the transformation process from birth to death, ending and beginning.
         Dreams about a fork in the
road is not unusual.
      The belief that Do Hyun Su is locked in a coma dream also stems from the numerous bizarre and disturbing images in Flower of Evil. The collection of such images is incontrovertible proof of Do Hyun Su’s coma dream. It is difficult to imagine any other conclusion.                                                      While it is common for hallucinations to appear in dreams, Do Hyun Su may or may not have hallucinations in reality.
                                                                        But, what is most astonishing is, the eye or eyes is / are watching the characters in the drama. One can see the eye or eyes everywhere, including the CCTV and the dashcam in cars. Pareidolia? They are also watching the viewers. Eerie.
Remember, Do Hyun Su is dreaming.
                                                                                                When Do Hyun Su wakes up from his coma, he discovers that he has amnesia. But, in the end, everything is resolved and luckily, some of his memories return.
      Some images in Flower of Evil which have an uncanny resemblance to the symbols of the Freemasons, a previously secretive organization, have sparked the viewers' interest and also triggered a comparison between the symbols related to them.
If your imagination runs wild and free, you might connect the brick walls in Flower of Evil to the brick buildings that belong to the Freemasons.      Think also of the Freemason symbols – the 'all-seeing eye' in the basement of Do Hyun Su's childhood home, the pair of scissors that look like the compasses (cold open / opening moments), Do Hyun Su whose unconscious body resembles the letter G (Hephaestus, God of Fire) in the circular grave, Do Hyun Su’s apron and the geometric shapes (Geometry) that abound in the drama. When one thinks of the Freemasons, one thinks of the secret inter-connections of people from the various professions and industries who have come together to form a brotherhood. But, today after the T.V. series on the Freemasons, the organization is not that mysterious any more.
         Geometrical shapes (Geometry)               Flower of Evil, a masterpiece, which provides a valuable insight into the
human condition through images and ideas, is meant to leave the viewers thinking about the issues of
the mentally ill and those involved in their lives, the nature of love, reality and unreality,
illusions and delusions, responsibility, accountability, corruption and the interconnectedness of humans and nature.  |
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