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Nothing good came out of this season
It’s already pretty obvious as the rating and popularity of both seasons are much different. And rightfully so, i am here to explain why..The story has changed quite a bit, although it is a continuation of the same story but quite a poorly written one. Everything revolves around the Jin family and their firebird . Songrim is empty and all the mages are gone!! You wonder what happened to the alchemy of souls as it only exists in the background. The plot is boring and slow.
Uk becomes a hunter! He behaves like a heart broken bad boy whose actions doesn’t make much sense. He says one thing than does completely other( opposite).
The female lead has amnesia even so she feels nothing like her old character. She is clingy, frail and a pushover. Nothing like the witty, blunt and strong minded girl we were introduced to in the first season. The writers forced us to believe that new FL is naksu but failed to make her believable in any way. She was nothing more than a pretty face. We see no action from her considering she is a powerful priestess. They made a whole sentimental scene out of death of maid servant Kim and lady Jin only for them to be alive in the same episode. Like wtf !! Is this a comedy drama!, is this serious writing!!! Like what was that !
Assistant gwanjo freely moves the entire season as if he didn’t make soul shifters run wild. Uk should’ve been chasing him but instead he is killing soul shifters. Like caught the real person behind them bruhh. It did happen eventually but in a very subtle way.
Yul’s moments with the FL had me screaming soo bad like why writer giving steamy scenes to them and wasting time. Like we know nothing will happen between them !! Soi had more spine than any of the other characters. She earned massive respect from me in this season. The 4 seasons were more like flop seasons in this part because we see Uk and little bit Yul in action. Other two are MIA. and have no role in the story.
Anyhow, I skipped many scenes to get to the end. It was hard as the memories of season 1keot haunting me, I just wanted this season to be over.
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This review may contain spoilers
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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Overrated for people looking for something else in kdrama nowadays
I cannot say anything about cgi, music or performances. Even tho, no music was good enough for me to remember over the time. And some performances could have been way better but the directing allow them to act « not that well ».But what I regret is that drama starts off with a very interesting plot and cool special effect we rarely see in dramas. The cinematography is beautiful too.
And then, little by little, we fall in the trap of a standard k-drama plot, which, nowadays especially, is only for fan services for idols and nice looking actors rather than a real plot, complexity, suspense, or without being complexe, something opposed to what we are used to. I mean if you look at it has nothing surprising to offer. Nor great plot or message to tell.
But I guess we call kdramas for a reason and kdrama fans for a reason too as I see the ratings.
I already said something about the acting. If you remove the cool stuffs and beauty… it looks very much like an amateur series in terms of performances.
People are going to say that of course the performances are not perfect since we have rookies. But this is the point… if you can clearly see it, how can you give 10/10 to performances ? Also I am not giving a bad rating because the director knew what he was doing and what kind of public he was aiming at. In that sense, performances are very okay.
Should you give it a go ? In order to support CGI yes but other than that, you can live very well without seeing it.
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Lacks impact and lore
If you’re in it for the world building, you will find this sequel to be entirely unimpressive. Light and Shadow is filled with parallel scenes from the first season, and while the interactions and appearances of our favourite characters are fun, the lack of fantasy elements which the first part had is missing in this one. A lot of the story revolves around the amnesia plot which gets too dragged after a point. The whole soul switching but single body element with Master Lee making episode wise appearances to give us cryptic comments was frustrating. The main antagonist remains from the first season, but he’s really not that smart or amazing to be taken as a real foe for our leads. The story could have been much shorter because by the time we get to the actual lord part, it’s just a rushed closure.Overall it doesn’t quite live up to its initial promise, but is a decent watch if you decide to give up on consistency. The best parts about this drama was the acting and the interactions, could have been amazing but falls short of it.
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Why should you watch it?
Because of the prince and the tortoise :')But seriously:
If you haven't watched Part 1, then don't watch this. This doesn't stand alone.
If you loved the first part of the series and felt like there were unresolved matters and want to enjoy watching the main couple more, then watch Part 2. All the same characters are there.
I gave this overall score of 7.5/10. Because I felt that the plot is now completed (or well used) and this was an okay continuation to the 1st part. They could have changed the characters (/enemies)a bit. Now the plot felt repetitive.
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This review may contain spoilers
whats wrong with Season 2, Season was a masterpiece!
the worst thing about the season 2 was their explanation why Naku had a different body. They only didnt want everybody to recognise her which would of course include Uk as well, so instead they opted for a differnt actress and came up with some ridiculous idea which later was completely overturned without any explenation.I only wonder who told the new actress to act like a stupid bimbo? Was it the directors or was this her own interpretation of how Naksu would behave? Honestly, you don't forget your character and start acting like a different person just because you have lost your memory. If she was Naksu with amnesia she should have at least behaved the same, if she was Jin bu-yeon who only carried Naksu soul around it would have been fine but unless Im mistaken we were told its Naksu who is in charge as apparently Jin bu-jeon's souls was dead? (Master Lee's own words at the beginning of the s2 and later completely forgotten) Character is fundamental to who you are and does not change so easily unless she had a part of her brain removed or damaged ( s2 FL acted as if she left part of her brain at the bottom of that lake). If Jin Bu-yeon still acted like Mu-deok then s2 could perhaps offer some saving grace as to why Jung Uk fell for her, but sadly no. He fell for a beautiful woman and completely forgot about Naksu. Yeah I get that 3 years is a long time for a 20 something male and he wasn't a eunuch so testosterone finally kicked in but seriously... they should have waited for the kiss until he realised jin bu-yeon was Naksu.
Oh and let's not forget how in s1 Naksu thought hard to regain her power so she could use her sword but at the end of s2 she is happy with Jung Uk using it and herself becoming his side-kick? Shall I blame the Korean culture for this or the writers? I didnt know women as soon as they married completely forget who they are?
Your thoughts?
Oh and something that just came to me: I know a girl never wants to hear: you remind me so much of her or you are just like her, but at least in this case it would have justified Uk's falling for Jin Bu-JEon but you know why he never said that? because she was never like Naksu/Mudeok. ,
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Not so entertaining to watch, except the last two episodes
Go Youn-jung's "replacement" as the main female lead was actually done very well. Initially, I was ready to be disappointed with this shift, but her mannerisms and innocent-looking amnesiac aura made me realize that she was fit for the role. Even I was able to recognize her as Naksu immediately. She was able to retain the charm of Jung So-min while portraying the character of Mu-deok/Naksu (of course, as the role of Naksu was written for Youn-jung). But then again, I was frustrated that she was again relegated to be fragile and more of an eye-candy when in fact, Naksu was a vicious, merciless, yet skillful person in the first place. The amnesia shouldn't have been an excuse. Besides that, She (the actress) definitely was the surprise for this season.Other than that, I was generally disappointed with how this season turned out. Yes, it was able to answer the fundamental questions from the first season which is the reason why my score for the story is not that low. But, it was full of plot conveniences that initially confused me (Seo Yul's blood parasite problem being solved right away), followed by prolonged dragging of cliches (amnesia, passive aggresive romance, and noble sacrifice being the top culprits) that could've been compressed by at least 2 episodes, and ended with noticeable plot holes that buffered my brain (Park Jin being able to close the door of Jinyowon despite him not being part of the Jin family, among others). The story shifted for the majority of this season, and it only decided to return to the main story during the last 2 episodes.
I was also upset for that it only had few, but still memorable action scenes in this season, partly because of the prolonged building up of tension rather than the action itself. Although, it was vindicated by the last 2 episodes, as the action scenes were breath taking, still I wanted more. The CGI were also top-notch, but it felt that it was only reserved for said last 2 episodes, and budget was only an afterthought for the rest of the season. The wardrobe here were not as sophisticated as the 1st season, but the accessories and the props (relics) were definitely an upgrade.
Speaking of the prolonged tension build up, it was baffling in that everything could've been solved right away, and even the "ultimate" battle was just finished easily. Jang Uk (Lee Jae-wook) was not even sweating during that "battle". Again, deux ex machina overload all over, which definitely killed the ending's potential to be a future classic. It was as if there was more talk than action. Personally, it might be due to the overexposure of the romance plot and its cliches which felt like filler rather than building blocks of the main story. Still, the last 2 episodes are the saving grace for this series all things considered.
Another gripe is Jin Mu (Jo Jae-yoon). How is he still not captured or even dead already? I wasn't really convinced with the reason behind that, and he just was a plot armor. Not a memorable villain as a character, but great delivery of lines and emotions as an actor.
There were still positive comments here, most notably the improved acting of the Hwang Min-hyeok as Seo Yul. He was now able to expand his acting range here compared to the one-dimensional emotionless acting on the first season. Still, there is room for improvement. Also, it was hilarious to think that the Crown Prince Go Won (Shin Seung-ho) had an unexpected character development. Not only that it was lowkey funny, but it was refreshing for me thinking about it due to its being unforeseen.
All in all, still a disappoinment with how this season turned out. Despite my lackluster reception for the first season, I was still optimistic here because of that cliffhanger. However after watching this, I was able to conclude that this season felt that it had a separate story from its predecessor, and as a series, it looked like it has two stories in one.
My review title for the first season was that it was entertaining to watch...at 2x speed. Here, it would be: not so entertaining to watch, except the last two episodes.
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A disappointing sequel of Great Story
Season 1Story was great, The author builded very appealing, likable , interesting , and engaging story,
The story had ' soul '
The world was explorable.
Characters were alive, there interactions look rights from their perspective. They had their belief, even antagonist had their own rationale and personalities.
MC chemistry was great , it felt personal
SEASON 2
I just want to say " you tried your best " on the grave 🪦 of second season , The crew collectively murdered the story.( I like to press murder charges against production crew for successfully murdering a beautiful story, if that is possible)
* I May be little biased towards season 2 because they replaced the female lead
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A 'Shadow' of season 1
In Part 1 I was captivated and glued on to the episodes. They didn't feel like they dragged on even though they were long. However, Part 2's pacing was so slow. It felt like it dragged on and on. Then at the end it felt super rushed. Just 2 episodes to conclude every thing.It didn't feel like they thought it through enough. It should have been reversed. They should have rushed it in the beginning and moved at a slower pace towards the end.
But don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it overall, I just felt that it missed the charm of Part 1. It wasn't because the FL wasn't in there. It was just the overall direction and writing messed up this season.
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This review may contain spoilers
A Revolving Door of Souls in One Body
This sequel promised to bring more intrigue between the opposing factions of mages with Uk now being possessed by the Ice Stone and perhaps a swoon worthy love story with Go Youn Jong replacing Jung So-Min as Naksu. The latter was certainly true being that Go Youn Jong and Lee Jae Wook’s chemistry smoldered unlike his interactions with the previous actress in the role of MuDeok/Naksu.
However, disappointingly, the intrigue with the mage factions came to a screeching halt. With most episodes consisting of Uk falling for Buyeon/Naksu again while killing the monster of the week. Mu continued his nefarious agenda of trying to do….I’m not sure as his agenda got lost in his weekly schemes that never panned out, allies who were sometimes apart of the schemes but their roles weren’t made clear and just the lack of clarity as to why the royal family kept him as an advisor considering the actions he’d precipitated against the monarch in the previous season.
Of course it is learned in the 11th hour of the series that the monarch had been in league with him all along, along with the Unanimous Assembly. Learning this did add some logic to the earlier decisions these characters had made, but still failed to make sense of their end game. Their greed for power was understood. First via the ice stone, then the firebird. The former agenda made more sense than the latter. For the firebird would be difficult to control and would leave the world in shambles. How would this help those greedy for power? It was never made clear.
Moreover, out of all the mages on the Unanimous Assembly only one (too late I might add) realized their plan was a bad idea. It was hard to believe that many seasoned mages who’d seen a lot of good and bad in their lifetime thought Mu’s firebird plan would end with the result they desired. They all came off like a bunch of novice idiots with stars in their eyes over a half-baked plan to grab a smidgen of power, rather than intelligent beings who knew from their ages of experience that this plan would do more harm than good not just for others but themselves. Speaking of Mu his villainy was played out from the first episode. He should’ve been killed in the previous season with another adversary taking on Uk and his family/friends of mages. Mu became unbearable to watch. So much so he nearly ruined the series for me.
Another story thread that became tiresome was Buyeon/Naksu’s soul drama. It didn’t help that every episode changed the story behind what was going on with her soul. First her soul was Naksu, but her blood was that of Buyeon. Hence she could open the ancestral vault of Jinyoun. Then Naksu and Buyeon’s souls were coexisting in the body, with Naksu’s soul soon to disappear. Then it was Cheon which was the name she was born with or perhaps a reincarnation of Seol. By the time the series was over I didn’t know who the heck she was supposed to be.
Despite the confusion surrounding Buyeon/Naksu’s ever changing identity and why it was changing, the love story between she and Uk was well done. The closeness that grew between them was a natural progression and thus believable. And though Buyeon’s connection to Uk and their budding romance was supposed to be due to her soul being that of Naksu, I didn’t feel that she was Naksu. It felt like she was a completely different person, a new person, melting Uk’s heart. Their love story was sweet and their chemistry was amazing. However, I feel the writers took the audience up the mountain but failed to reach its peak. These two had some amazing hugs and kisses. We did get the wedding, but then after that no more smoldering romantic interactions. They may as well been good friends rather than starcrossed lovers who finally beat the odds to be together. Disappointing.
Similar to the first series, the writers missed some opportunities for epic moments within the series. For example, Mu’s death, it should’ve been more painful and dramatic. Uk discovering that Buyeon was really Naksu. He didn’t even blink upon learning this truth, which was odd. Yul being cured of the blood parasite should’ve been more challenging as should’ve been Uk dealing with the firebird. There had been several episodes discussing the dangers of the firebird being awaken and the difficulty in dealing with it only for Uk to wave his sword a couple of times, easily destroying it. Again disappointing. Uk taking on the firebird should’ve been a real battle as I got the impression that on its own it was just as powerful as the ice stone within him.
Though this season had its disappointments, it was still very good and worth watching. Will I watch again? Probably not. There was nothing about this season that was extraordinary enough for me to want to experience it again.
That said, I would absolutely watch a show with the adventures of Uk/Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol finding the relics that escaped Jinyoun. Provided Naksu/Buyeon/Cheon/Seol doesn’t add another identity/soul to her repertoire. Lol. I think a show about her and Uk’s adventures would be a fun .
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Season 1 to 2 transmigration falls flat
Those of us watching season 2 (S2) probably enjoyed season 1 (S1). S2 wasn't a bad season so much as it was a let down on expectations for continued enjoyment. Even worse, S2 had the effect of snuffing out some of the joy from watching S1.S1 wasn't perfect. The villains were flat and dumb. But the romantic and comedic charm was strong and alleviated duller elements of the show. Park Jin and Kim Do Ju's romance, for example, was anticlimactic in S2 and that was emblematic of many other characters and relationships that lost charm; they passed their peak and weren't contributing much to the story development. For example, bad cook Park Jin was overdone and not advancing the story or providing effective relief; it felt tiresome. Because S2 failed to keep up the charm, the less rosy parts of the show that were previously easier to ignore were now visible and frustrating.
Heo Yeom, who was charming and well-acted in S1, suddenly felt irrelevant and flat in S2. The same happened for too many characters such as Master Lee, Park Dang Gu, Maidservant Kim, Heo Yoon Ok, and the list could keep going on. Am I to believe the actors collectively performed less than their capability? Could the directors have pulled more from the actors within what was sourced? Nah, it's definitely an issue of writing in S2. I recall being surprised how soon S2 was offered after S1 completion. Perhaps the writers did not have ample time to craft S2. Plot 'twists' felt forced, rushed, and not believable. Characters were not well developed. Sang Ho, for example, deserved development in S2 but received none. Lady Jin essentially stayed the same petty version of herself throughout. Some even regressed; Heo Yoon Ok had charm in S1 and is written to be hated in S2. Character potential was squandered in S2.
Go Youn Jung (GYJ) was very enjoyable as Naksu; she exceeded my expectations by a mile. The scene telling Jang Uk to "Drink Up" was perfect. But, I still found myself missing Jung So Min's Filthy Mu Deok, especially Mu Deok's varied interactions with multiple characters. GYJ's interaction was heavily restrained to Jang Uk in S2. With Naksu's amnesia, the character lost complexity and missed the drive that Mu Deok had (to regain powers and seek vengeance); GYJ Naksu's drive was to remember, which we the viewer know all about, turning mystery of outcome to unbearable waiting. Again, this is a problem of writing, not of the actors/directing. Both FL actresses did a tremendous job.
Let's remember that Master Lee was exterminating shifters despite being a shifter himself. Or that he could be hands on and in save-the-world mode or wander aimlessly and not care about anything. Master Lee's treatment captures the broader sense of inconsistent story material with characters flip flopping personality on short notice. When the story was focused on slice of life charm, such as the Crown Princes' pining for Filthy Mu Deok, bromance with Jang Uk, and cold/warm love of Black Turtle, etc., the show was at its best. When the story power creeped itself as an apocalyptic story, it didn't deliver well.
Oh well, Drink up!
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