Alchemy of Souls Season 2: Light and Shadow

You're not missing out by skipping this series

This show really is terrible. The second season even more so. Pt 2 feels like it caters purely to the audience with no respect to plot or logic. It's like they locked a group of horny teenagers and this was the outcome. Both the actresses were unbearable to watch. The fl in Pt 1 shouldn't have attempted speaking in dialect. It sounded as awkward as it looked. I only have negative things to say about the actress in Pt 2. The male lead was horrendous, character wise. I could not and did not want to root for him. I understand this was an attempt at creating grey characters but god damn, was it awful. The chemistry was off. The ml really had a thing for women who acted like a mom.

I will never understand the Hong sisters' warped sense of what a badass female character is nor will I understand their need to mock, taunt, make fun or, and insult other women in their shows to make the fl shine.

The stakes weren't very high. There wasn't a point in the show where I was at the edge of my seat. The world building was flat and illogical. They threw in random explanations to make the world building fit the scene, which was odd.

All in all, disappointing. Not eager to see Lee Jaewook in future projects.

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A shorter oddly more draggy sequel, that traded epicness for romance

A deeply flawed yet highly entertaining ride this drama has been.
☆DISCLAIMER☆
This review is only to those who have watched season 1 and season 2.
I will be discussing each aspect of my rating separately.

Story and writing:
The story, in terms of the fantasy and lore, unfortunately suffered a lot this season.
Season 2 hits off with a flash forward 3 years after the end of S1, we are shown quite a lot of clumsily put-together flashbacks to explain to, or rather mystify, the viewer as to what exactly took place after the death of the FL in S1's finale, and even after we manage to satisfy ourselves with the explanation given to us, we are still dealt some comically mystifying and convenienty mashed up rules to the magic involved in order to satisfy the needs of the plot and make it move forward.
To elaborate further;
Much of the rules, if they were ever properly explained didn't make much sense and left one *rolling eyes* mumbling okeeeeey!. We also come accross a couple of contradicting aspects and sudden power shifts like healing powers etc, that in hindsight leaves one wondering why they were never utilized prior. Also seeminly highly wise and powerful characters would constantly be changing their explanation of how the magic behind soul shifting works, and even worse things just ultimately transpire in a totally different manner. other times powerful side characters (park jin, seo yul, master lee) would mysteriously vanish at the most critical moments only to suddenly reappear after sh*t had already hit the fan to stand around and discuss it. A lot of these minor frustrations add up to make one feel like the writers were giving themselves enough viable cards and options to wriggle their way out of any tight spots that come up, all thanks to the highly sophisticated and complicated world that they themselves created in the first place.

Among the other smaller gripes that I had with the story writing, was how everything was built in a way that ensured our main leads were brought together, and despite that being a common trope of many a rom-com plot in K-dramaland, it still felt forced and too convenient, I guess one just has to accept the "they are destined to be together" card and simply roll with it.
But what I hated above all was creating emotional dying scenes and even holding a funeral, just for it all to turn out to be fake, only for the sake of creating a cheap cliffhanger. It made me just wish they were actually dead. I don't mind the suspense with a grievously wounded lead like Seo Yul, but to fake deaths, that was such a sick move by the writers. Also in my humble opinion, you can create an epic saga about good fighting evil with the good prevailing, while still showing sacrifices and deaths on the good side, not every single character has to survive physically to be considered a happy ending. Just saying.

The pacing was not one of the best apsects about S1, but still overall it was highly enjoyable. But season2 easily outdid its predecessor in bumpy pacing, with 2/3 of the drama wasted running in circles of ( missed hints>confusions>angst>break up>making up>and back to more missed hints ). Although watching the two re-fall in love from scratch honestly felt fun to watch, the romance plot line just took comparatively too much run time for its own good, it reached a point where it felt clichéd and dragging I just wanted the big reveal to happen already (and when it finally did oh boy was it lackluster), and it also took away much needed time from the core issues at hand that needed to be addressed to insure a proper closure, those issues were only given less than a third of the running time, leaving us with 2 last episodes that are too rushed, one almost feels like gasping for air watching them, and with sudden shifts between scenes feeling like whiplashes. We are promised a grand and epic battle, only for it to end in mere minutes with every one watching at the sides in a safe environment and Jang Uk doing all the work. Honestly, nothing made much sense with that fire bird plot, evil plotting wise or how it was handled (if it is destined to hatch then let us hatch it earlier duh!)

the characters:
Our all so mighty ML who is supposedly feared by even the greatest of mages thanks to the power of the ice stone, was somehow rendered into a middle schooler both in emotions and inconsistency. Still his journey climbing up from the dark pit he had thrown himself into at the beginning, and how the FL helped warm and light up his world was endearing and heartfelt.
The bigger problem though was our FL, who was, even by her own words, foolish and weak especially during the first half of the drama. She had the face of Naksu (for reasons that made not much sense to begin with) so I would assume that most viewers were like me in hoping that she would regain her powers and we would finally be graced with more scenes of our bad-ass FL for a change , a prospect that was dangled in front of our eyes since the character was introduced S1ep01, but alas, we only ever witness a shrivel of Naksu in character, and even Jin Bu Yeon's powers are only ever displayed briefly. There were a couple of instances where I thought there had been an ample opportunity for the writers to choose to show her stand up and defend herself, to be deserving of the powerful souls that lies within her, like when after regaining her memories she decided to face Jin Mu, the man behind her madness and death in S1, and chose to dive into a treacherous place for the sake of beating him. I thought surely then she will somehow survive and come out on her own (after all we know that among the remaining powers left within her is the ability to cast away evil writhes and spirits), but God forbid no! they still chose to create an unbelievable sequence (involving coming up with the idea that she is the reincarnation of an old powerful mage) just in order to make the ML be the hero of the day and save the damsel in distress. Even in the final scenes of the finale, they totally had the chance to show that Naksu, whose soul had been spared the owner of the body, was working on regaining her long lost prowess. But no! The exact opposite, She adamantly expresses her absolute wish NOT to train, and to stay completely dependent on the ML. That was just disappointing tbh.

As for much of the side characters, they were mostly just that, side kicks stored on a shelf only picked up and utilized for conveniency's sake or to provide some elements of humor and immediately shelved back thereafter.
while I really liked how the crown prince was portrayed here and was somewhat satisfied that his character was thankfully one of the ones that witnessed a redemption, I can not still get over the fact that he left Jin Mu to become gwanju after all his evil deeds in S1.
Seo yul, felt bland as ever for the most part, but on a positive note his brooding sad expression here perfectly matched his lone wolf life in this season more than the previous one. The only instance were I felt emotionally connected to him was in the plot concering So I , which I honestly was moved and brought to tears by.
Jin Mu this season was too comical of a villain, he was powerless and totally dependent on his minions and other higher ups to realize his evil master plan (which was utterly stupid to begin with)

The acting
Superb on the most part.
A lot of people were turned off and disappointed by the FL casting. story-wise aside, I have to say I found her acting to be very good, especially in the second half when she had started to regain parts of her memory as Naksu. I also strangely felt more romantic chemistry in this season than season 1 (which made me feel kind of torn up), maybe owing to more physical intimacy and kiss scenes, dunno.
Seo yul was a nice cool dude but I have to admit I found the actor's portrayal to be a bit lacking, and how the character was written this season didn't help either.

I can't say I didn't enjoy this drama both seasons, but to be honest, I am of the belief that if there had been less filler plots in both seasons, both could have then been made to fit nicely into a 20 episodes format drama. Then I think with such high-end CGI and great casting, this could have easily been one of a kind classic.

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It had the potential to be better.

I don’t write drama reviews often, and this is solely just my opinion, no hate.

I originally wanted to give this drama a 7, but when I went to write this review, I realised that a 6.5/10 is the true and fair rating.

I’m going to keep this short even though I have a lot to say. I absolutely loved season one, but I understood the direction the writers were taking with season 2, it was just the delivery of it.

Season 2 wasn’t bad, it just lacked what season 1 had.

The whole season just felt rushed.

I found myself bored for about 50% of the drama.

Would I watch season 2 again, most probably not.

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A letdown

Alchemy of Souls Season 2 suffers massively from bad, contrived writing and a ridiculously pathetic FL that was done dirty. Strangely enough, I don't think the actress switch is the main reason for this. Rather, it's the writing behind her character.

Naksu/Mu-deok/Bu-yeon is the most shamelessly shafted character I've ever seen. We are told—and I forget how many dozens of times we are told this—just how powerful her divine powers are and she does… pretty much nothing of significance! I can understand why Naksu doesn't want to become a warrior again, Jin Mu made her this way, so she rejects that part of herself and it's understandable. But the problem here is that it's actually Naksu's fierce nature that has been lost. Plus, all her powers, her agency, AND her personality have been taken away from her, leaving only a weak, empty shell behind. You don't need to fight with a sword to be a badass, but you certainly need to do… something! This new Naksu character is expressionless and featureless and is the complete opposite of the original Naksu, which makes zero sense as they're supposed to be the same person, amnesia or not. Mu-deok's playful and contentious character is also nowhere to be seen for some reason. In short, Naksu goes from hero… to zero.

The Queen was just baffling too: you can't make me believe that after 10 years of torture and torment she conveniently 'forgot' who was behind her misery, I just can't. Horrible writing. In fact, all the female characters in this show, and especially so this season, are horrendously written and exist only to either be subservient to the male characters, look pretty and be rescued, or just mope around and wait to be impregnated because… they're women I guess? Only men can accomplish anything in this fictional world it would seem, and women cower behind them at every opportunity, which is doubly ironic considering Alchemy of Souls was written by women. I know kdramas aren't exactly a bastion of gender equality, and I can generally tolerate it, but in 2023 this is just frankly embarrassing. Not even a single moment of any single one of those women standing up for themselves. Pathetic. Feels like this was written decades ago.

The male lead was quite nice though, I liked him. It's not his fault that this show is misogynistic crap, he really tried his hardest. He even attempted to propel his co-star to the forefront whenever the opportunity presented itself, to no avail due to the subpar writing. I liked how powerful he was and yet he remained relatable and fun to watch at all times, because he had depth to him. Definitely one redeeming quality of this show was the male lead, and he shines again here in the second season.

Also, the action was, again, well filmed and interesting. I liked the OST too.

There is an incredibly compelling and moving story about power, greed, all-conquering love, and taking control of your life beneath all this bloated nonsense, which is what is so frustrating to me. I wanted this to be good so much.

I'm actually hoping for a remake one day. It certainly would deserve one. This time around… let's not do Naksu dirty, shall we?

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A highly entertaining absolute mess

It is hard to write a review of this show, since it has elements that are really, really good, mixed with stuff that is really, really bad.

The most irritating part Alchemy of Souls 2 is the main female character. We fell in love with Mudeok/Naksu in the first part of this show because she was this fierce, amazingly powerful figure who had suddenly found herself in a completely powerless body. She adjusted to being completely helpless by using her brain instead of her sword, and by using the increasingly powerful Jang Uk as a tool to eventually get her magical and sword-fighting abilities back (it was never explained how exactly that was supposed to work, but whatever). So, going into part 2, we were led to expect that the reborn Naksu/Jin Buyeon would eventually get back to what we think of as her true self.
Instead, we got an almost completely different person. The new FL is still smart and not afraid of anything, but otherwise a complete blank, and her main, or only, goal is to gain Jang Uk's affection. This is understandable - she can only remember the last 3 years of her life, in which she interacted with about 3 people, so she never had time to really BECOME ANYONE - but it is hard to connect her to her previous incarnation as Mudeok. As the story progresses, she starts to gain some of her old qualities back, especially her old fierceness (the scene in which she confronts Jin Mu is amazing). But, she only becomes her old self for fleeting moments, after which she again turns into helpless Jin Buyeon, permanently in need of rescue.
The FL's transformation could have been explored in interesting ways. Naksu's transformation raises an interesting question - can you still claim to be yourself if you have no memories of your previous self? To what extent do your experiences and the people around you make you who you are? There are a few moments where this comes up (there is one scene in which the FL is asked which of her four names she wants to use, and another in which Buyeon/Naksu realizes she does not even know who she is), but otherwise completely ignored.
Other things that were problematic:
-The plot and consistency issues: People acted in a certain way in one scene and then completely different an episode or two later, without explanation. Or they appear in places with no logical reason to be there, only because they are needed to advance the plot.
-The pacing and ending: The last 2-3 episodes were absolutely rushed, and there was very little tension in the 'big showdown' at the end, because so much was crammed into the last episode.
- Characters become one-dimensional (especially the villains). I loved Jin Mu and his evil genius in part 1, but in this sequel he becomes a bit boring, to be honest.

Now to the things that were really good:
- The visual: stunning costumes and sets
-The OSTs! There is not a single one that is bad, and many will give you goosebumps (Scars leave a beautiful trace, Aching, Blue Flower, to name a few)
-The romance: Even as you want to scream at Naksu/Jin Buyeon not being Mudeok, you can't help but be are drawn in by the increasingly dramatic and painful love story between ML and FL. The actors playing both will absolutely make you believe that nothing in the world matters more to them than the other person.
-Acting: next to the LJW and JSM playing the leads, huge credit goes to the actor playing Jin Mu - SPOILER - after he shifts souls. He became a completely different person! You knew straight from looking at him who he was.
- The humour is great. Park Jin's cooking skills are the best running joke in this series ("If you want to die, I will cook you more noodles!")
- The characters will make you root for them. Jang Uk, who really was an annoying brat through most of season 1, now becomes much more likable as a traumatized but incredibly powerful hero. You will love Naksu/ Buyeon in the moments when you don't want to shake her to come back to her senses. Of the supporting characters, the Crown Prince is really likable (and I really enjoyed his interactions with the FL).
- I loved how the writers drew connections to the beginning of season 1. SPOILER: In the last episode, Park Jin finally has to face the door scenario; Jang Uk fights a powerful adversary on a frozen lake Gyeongcheondaeho, shooting from a bow, which brings you back to Naksu's fighting the mages right at the start of season 1.

Even with all its faults, Alchemy of Souls 2 has HUGE entertainment value. I was not bored for a single minute watching this! And even if you don't agree with the characters' choices a lot of the time, you'll find that they stay with you long after finishing the drama.

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I couldn't get myself to adjust to this storyline

I had such a love/hate relationship with this show... Season 1 was a dream come true in the sense that it had fantasy, magic, action, romance and comedy - pretty much everything that I like in a story. All the characters were well-developed, the plot was engaging and the overall vibe was so surreal. I loved it. Felt like I was there going through the journey Jang Uk had.

And then season 2 aired. Although I loved JSM as Mudeoki in season 1, I wasn't too distraught over the change of actress. But then I started season 2 and I felt my excitement and interest wane episode by episode. Almost every other scene made me wonder about its relevance to the story - the plot was murky and didn't hold up to the standard season 1 had set. I was expecting l would only have to adjust to a new actress but imagine my surprise at finding out that they had changed the character, the love story and the very thing I liked about the romance.

I will just highlight the issues I found in the romance in s2:

Amnesia: Adding this overused trope in a fantasy show that had previously established itself as a unique show, was such a disappointment. There are so many ways they could've shown the soul connection without having either of the characters go through memory loss. Ugh. This felt very fanfic level writing to me.

Jang Uk: I love this guy. He was such a fun character in s1 and to see him turn into a serious/darker version of himself was sad but also very much needed for the show. But why make him fall for Bu-Yeon so quickly? It just felt like insta-love to me. One of the best things about Jang Uk/Mudeoki in s1 was how they ended up having feelings for eachother because of going through trials and problems together. That's how their bond formed. To see all that erased in the new season, and them falling in love over proximity, marriage and shared kisses and a disservice to their own story. It was a little unbelieving for me how Jang Uk was heartbroken for three years and it only took him a few days to fall in love again with another person. Kissing her etc also felt like a an infidelity, I don't know, it felt a little weird, because he thought she was someone else and didn't care if it was Naksu or not and to think that he had already forgotten about Naksu and I didn't like that feeling so I felt uncomfortable about watching.

Soul connection: Again, this felt like a cop-out from the writers. You can show soulmates in a story without it being so surface level. I would have loved it if they had actually gotten to know eachother better, and then fallen in love. Anything that would be more believable because gosh I SO wanted to ship these two.

Their visuals were so good but because of the reasons above, I just couldn't adjust to this storyline and hence.

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Disappointed with everything

I loved the first season and couldn't get myself to like the second. And I will explain the main reason.

In my personal opinion, I think that Jang Uk didn't need to fall in love with someone again, because he already "loved" Mudeok at least until the beginning of the second season. In ep 1 Uk was near the stone tower "pining" for her to come back. And she came back but without memories. One of the big problems is they dragged on amnesia for a long time..
The sisters could have made the connection between soul mates in a completely different and more convincing way for everyone. And than to see Uk simply move on from Mudeok......

Moved on from Mudeok in ep 4 and falling in love with "another woman" (because he didn't know it was her until ep 9), that was the true and great love Jang Uk had for Mudeok???

I read reviews around here and realized why this happened. Anyway....

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I can't process how big of a disappointment it was

It's quite sad how they went from a nearly perfect season 1 to whatever S2 was.

It had so much potential in terms of world and characters building but all we got is story elements and informations dropped here and there without proper building and tangible consequences and characters development that either was uninteresting or a dull and boring repetition of s1 characters arcs at best.

I can get why people would enjoy the romance but to me it really gave nothing and felt totally devoid of sincerity and interest. Just like watching 2 sims characters rushing through a love story.

I also think that there are too many bland and boring moments for just 10 episodes (especially in the 5 first ones) and the whole amnesia plot doesn't make a good and strong enough main story line.

Others plot points ,such as the whole fire bird thing, felt like they're developed inconsistently (especially compared to how the ice stone was handled in the first season).

Another thing I deploy is how secondary characters' incorporation in the story was superficial and not necessary. Like whether it is during the Seo Yul rescue part or at the end of the story, it felt like they were all there cause they had to be. It wasn't substantial at all.

The direction that Jang Uk's character took could easily (very easily) had been way more relevant and well written than what we got there. Honestly I think I could go on and on about all the things that bother me about this season, and it pains me more than anything else.

I suppose I'll just pretend S2 doesn't exist.

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A Mediocre watch

Going from watching the masterpiece that Alchemy of souls Season 1 is to this is truly disappointing this season lacked the depth humour and charm season 1 embodied i know alpt of people trash on this drama because if the actresses change but that isn't even on my radar because i liked the new actress of course i preferred the other but for me they didn't really feel like the same person and we ciuld partially understand why but it wasn't only that that failed this season the plot going artificially nowhere to the bombastic anticlimactic ending i was really hoping since she had been dubbed the workds deadliest assassin to see even a little taste of the power but no not even an imaginary glimps all in all it still provided something to chew on hence the 7 but for me personally imaginary gonna stick with only season 1

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I *LOVE* Alchemy of Souls but Part 2 is not quite up to the hype

I eagerly awaited each week to watch Part 2 of Alchemy of Souls - seriously looked forward to it all the way back in August. But just because I like the concept of the story and world does not mean the show is free from flaws and holes. I view its current rating as being artificially high.

The Not-So-Good:

The pacing was much too slow for my liking. We spent 90% of the series with the amnesia plot and reveal dragging along. We only had 10 episodes - too few to drag for the majority. The actual reveal was underwhelming - too understated for the weeks of frustration we were subjected to. "Is she the same person?" No shit, man.

Our main villain, Jin Mu, basically became a cartoon character. You'll wonder in the back of your mind why has he been allowed to survive this whole time. Shifty eyes and interesting choice for facial hair - the whole gamut. The Queen - you'll wonder why she's just as bad as the imposter Queen from season 1 and why they had to save her. I thought the whole dried chicken relics plot was laughable.

Seo Yul's uncle looked shady when we first saw him, but his character development was non-existent and weak. Finally, he is totally eclipsed.

I know some were disappointed that we never got bad ass Naksu back. While I understand that they are trying to re-build and re-paint her in a non-assassin way, you'll realize there are no other bad ass female mages out there AT ALL besides Jin Hogyeong who takes a hit this season. So yeah, we missed gothic dark eyed makeup Naksu back in action.

Continuity and explanation of Jin Buyeon and Naksu's soul status seemed to shift as what Master Lee said in one episode wouldn't match what he says later in the series, with no clear explanation for what changed or why he explained it differently previously. So we the viewers were deliberately misled.

Soi - I didn't like her and she got too much screen time.

They also turned Lady Heo into a jealous, catty woman when she wasn't that way in the first part. However, her pettiness actually proves to be a big plot point in moving the dragging story forward.


The Neutral:

The turtle. I liked the turtle, but it got a lot of screen time in a limited 10 episode run and I'm not sure it needed that much. That being said, if they were going to go all the way, they should've given it a place in the ending LOL.


The Good:

I am glad they at least were able to use Jung So Min in the flashbacks and was happy to see her every time. I think Go Yoon Joung did a good job of portraying her character.

The tree finally gets climbed.

The tragedy that I thought would happen didn't end up sticking.

All in all, while I enjoyed the ride, I definitely felt frustrated with Naksu and Jang Uk's ignorance and questioned parts of the story. For something that I really looked forward to, the product for my waiting didn't quite match my level of excitement when watching. I think this season, with the material that was actually played out, could've been 6 episodes instead of being stretched to the already small 10.

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