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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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Playboy Jang Uk
The sisters turned Jang Uk's character into a Playboy in season 2.Then Uk kisses her thinking of her with Jin Bu Yeon in ep 4, that is (a new love interest), since he didn't know it was Naksu yet.
It's just that he wasted no time "changing" women this season. Uk goes to the cliff where Naksu had met her death and says goodbye to her, and goes drinking to his room and that same night he already has Jin Bu Yeon lying in his bed!
He walks with her back and forth thinking of her as "Jin Bu Yeon" until ep 8. And they even kiss without the revelation! Worse yet he asks her to marry him and almost makes love to her thinking she is another woman!
In ep 9, he finds out who she is and RAPIDLY agrees to be with her, he didn't even think twice about it!!!
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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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Truly disappointing
I gave a 7 to another drama which was also very hyped (you are my glory), but not even that one disappointed me as much. I expected so much and all I got was:---- A shallow, silly plot. Plus plot holes galore.
---- Cartoonish villain, and other stupid characters (even leaders like the king, crown prince, queen).
---- No characters' development.
My rating is for the acting of ML and both FLs, the Art Direction, and OST. At least the silver lining with overhyped dramas when my rating differs from the majority, is that it’s easier for me to spot users whose rating also disagree with the majority, so I can add them to my list of members with similar tastes to mine.
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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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Amazing fantasy drama after a while
I find the whole series fascinating. But i was still hoping that few more episodes should be added to season 2. Because of less episodes is S2 there are lots of fillers remain. But i Still can't complain, it is a satisfying show.The lead chemistry is amazing, at first i think jung so min is irreplaceable as FL but Go yoon jung did a nice work in S2 as FL. Definitely give a new arc to naksu character in the limited number of episodes.
Rest of the characters also performed well . Especially the antagonist jin mu really made us hate him to the end.
Totally recommended from me just go for it.
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BEST DRAMA OF 2022.
AOS S1&2 were phenomenal and it was one of those dramas that I would like to re-watch in the future. It was a pack of everything, best of cast, visually and skills as well, best osts, interesting and fun plot and dialogues.While watching this drama I laughed, cried and again laughed. I am not a fan of historical themed dramas. But this one was different, while keeping the historical essence, it was funny and modern. I loved the costumes and how their looks and costumes changes after the leap.
S1 was great, no doubt. So min gave it a kick start and set a mark of excellence for the drama. She was excellent in action, funny as hell and cried sm because of her.
However, I will say GYJ did an amazing job in S2 because her job was harder. She had to act while also keeping the essence of mudeok and somin while playing her role. People had high expectations from her and many were waiting to throw shade at her. However, she proved those haters wrong with her acting and was like a fluff cotton ball while acting as Buyeon, however her sassiness returned when she got naksu's memories.
This drama gave the most exposure to Jae Wook. He was still a rising star until a while ago, he got some main lead roles but I guess the scripts weren't as good as this. He got to show his high quality performance and was praised by everyone. I hope he will be casted in more.dramas and cannot wait for his next project.
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Magnificent, Excellent, Perfect and all synonyms as well.
Alchemy of Souls left us back in August 2022 promising it would come back with another season half the size of the original one in December 2022. Were there any high expectations? Of course! Were they met? I realise now that certainly my expectations were low compared to what the second part provided us with.Part 1 did its thing. Introduced the story and characters to us, made us feel a lot of feelings we did not know we could feel, and left us with a cliffhanger (literally involving a cliff...) that lasted a couple months. The hype for Part 2 was gradually increasing as people started to watch Part 1 right before Part 2 dropped. Everyone, myself included, just wanted to see what happened after that finale.
Story-wise?
Yours truly fully enjoyed it. If I ever complained about it I can't remember anymore what that was about. Of course, sometimes it was a headache trying to understand what was happening, forming theories to keep ourselves busy till the next episode dropped. I am not going to lie and say I wasn't confused sometimes, but there's nothing that was left unexplained (in my opinion).
Character-wise?
I am a huge Jung Somin fan. I was kinda sad she wasn't going to appear in Part 2 but that didn't affect my expectations for the series. Go Younjung absolutely devoured her role. I wanted to see more of her Naksu in Part 1 and I'm so glad we got to see her even for a short 10 episodes. Her Jin Buyeon and her Naksu/Cho Yeong were two entirely different people with the same face, and she managed to convince me that I wasn't looking at the same person.
As for Jaewook, what can I say and where do I even start? He was fantastic. I just couldn't believe Part 2 Jang Uk was the same guy we met during Part 1. Jaewook's acting was just incredible and it played a pivotal role in me liking this part as much as its predecessor.
...
Alchemy of Souls is brilliant. If you haven't watched it, I really am judging you.
[I will continue to write this review later because I pulled an all nighter to watch the finale, definitely not a win for those in the west. But I would gladly do it again.]
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Great Start, Missed Opportunity: Naksu's Revenge Arc Left Unexplored
I was really looking forward to Season 2 after loving Season 1, but then I heard the news that Jung Somin, who played Naksu/Mudeok, wouldn't be back as the main female lead. Honestly, I was pretty upset about it—change is tough, especially after getting attached to a character over 20 episodes. I almost forgot that Go Yoon Jung was the original Naksu. Still, I decided to give it a shot, especially with that crazy cliffhanger at the end of Season 1 that had us all wondering what would happen next.But Season 2 felt really slow compared to the first one. The story was there, but it just felt all over the place, and it wasn’t just because of the cast changes. I think it mostly came down to the writing. Go Yoon Jung did a great job as Naksu in Season 1, and we were all hoping to see that same strong assassin in Season 2. Instead, the Naksu we got felt completely different after losing her memories, and even when she got them back, she never fully returned to who she used to be. I think this was because of the way the story was written.
They really missed a chance to dive into Naksu's backstory, especially since she's the main character. We were all waiting for her to get her revenge and uncover the truth about her family’s massacre and Jinmu’s manipulation, but it felt rushed and not really explored. The real Naksu would have had a huge reaction after getting her memories back, but the way the plot went just seemed too quick and didn’t fit someone who’s been messed with all her life. Where’s the justice for her? It feels like we got cheated. Season 1 focused a lot on JangUk, and I really wish they’d spent more time on Naksu's origins.
That said, the series still looks great, and the cast does a solid job, especially Go Yoon Jung, who played three characters even though she’s still new to this. But there’s this lingering disappointment because we really wanted the badass assassin we loved from Season 1 back, especially since Yoon Jung is the original Naksu.
Overall, Season 2 is still good, but it falls short in some ways, leaving us feeling both satisfied and disappointed at the same time.
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The good things turned bad and the bad things turned worse
[SPOILER-FREE PART]I enjoyed watching the first part of the series (I wouldn't call it a masterpiece and it's not even a favorite, but definitely fun!) and I was hoping to see a somewhat worthy conclusion for this story in the second part.
Unfortunately, it looks like everything about the first part that I liked so much was nowhere to be found in the second part. On top of that, the writers somehow managed to worsen the aspects of the drama that were already bad to begin with. At some points while watching I started feeling like they were just making a fool of me.
For these simple reasons, this time around I don't have a list of things that I liked about the drama: the list of the things that I don't like just got horribly long.
[END OF SPOILER-FREE PART]
Starting with the things that were already bad that got even worse:
- The worldbuilding wasn't solid from the get-go, but I was at least hoping that things would stay relatively tame in that regard. Well, I was wrong! This Part 2 managed to produce a new magical artifact and create new magical powers at every turn, all while making the characters completely unable to use their magical means for no reason, all based on what the plot needed from them. The number of times I thought "wait, did that exist all along?!" and "why are you not using your powers/artifact?" might not be infinite, but it's still embarrassingly high.
- While P1 was not rich with fighting scenes, their number was still reasonably high. In P2 there's even less fighting. Also, while the FL used her sword in a couple of instances in P1, here in P2 she barely touches the sheath once and never again. I was looking forward to the rebirth of Naksu and hoping for some badass fights involving her, but I got nothing in the end.
- Introspection doesn't exist, which is amazing considering the amount of time that the characters spend talking about nothing in P2. Most dialogues are just a bunch of poetic lines thrown there for dramatic effect, which only made me feel more alienated. Even Naksu/Bu Yeon wasn't explored at all, which says a lot about how her potential was wasted entirely in the end. Overall, there was a lot of material that the writers could have used from P1, so I can't understand why they chose such a terrible plot for P2.
- I was hoping for the female characters to get better at the very least, but they didn't change for the most part; if they changed it was for the worse. Naksu/Bu Yeon turned from being mature, witty and a little grumpy to being the cardboard cutout of a sheltered princess who whines and pouts whenever things don't go her way: it was painful to watch because her character was actually the most interesting part of the entire series and P2 just ruined it completely. Jin Cho Yeon had the chance to grow from being a plain aspiring wife, but she didn't develop in the least. Heo Yoon Ok turned from being useless to just being annoying. So Yi also had the chance to be more interesting as a character, but her motives revolved entirely around Seo Yul and it got boring very quickly. There's no meaningful bond between women unless it's between a mother and her daughters or just pure hate, which was just sad.
- The love triangles made even less sense in P2. Seriously, WHY?!
- The writers seem not to have learned anything from the ending of P1, because the ending of P2 felt just as rushed and unsatisfying, other than being excessively over the top. I felt like I was watching an Alchemy of Souls parody of some kind.
I wish this was over, but no. The following are the good parts of P1 that were ruined in P2:
- Theme? What theme? This time around the plot is entirely about pointless romance and magic stuff being thrown here and there. If someone could put some fantasy and romance tropes in a blender to make a random plot, this would be the result.
- The dynamic between Bu Yeon and Jang Uk was terrible. Since their master/disciple relationship was nowhere to be found, it really felt like they stayed together all those episodes for the sake of the plot. Her moments with Jang Uk didn't catch my attention at all.
- Bu Yeon/Naksu's personality is nowhere to be found in P2. The fact that she's like that because she lost her memory made sense, but she felt like an entirely different character (a very frustrating and boring one!). The wit and the charm of her character are completely lost here, as well as her mature attitude that made a good contrast with Jang Uk. She turned into a spoiled lady who is obsessed with the idea of eloping for romance and it made me wish she just disappeared from the series for good multiple times.
- Jang Uk's training and rise to the top during P1 made his few fights and adventures very interesting, but in P2 he just became too OP and his fights became very boring. Even the final episodes weren't interesting, because I already knew he would win easily and save the world. The only result was that all the times he conveniently forgot about his powers for the sake of the plot were even more annoying.
- For some reason the props and the special effects looked worse this time around. I also hate how they decided to give Park Jin short hair out of nowhere.
In conclusion, I can't say that I was heartbroken over this (again, Alchemy of Souls isn't even a favorite), but I was definitely disappointed. I can't even recommend watching the series for fun at this point, because this Part 2 just ruined it all.
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I WILL MISS THIS SERIES
this is the seriously best series and and the first season now the second season both of them are just unforgettable there is so much entertainment and drama in this series are really loved it. Jung Uk and naksu both are my love . I really loved mu deoki character and the first season it will really never leave my head this year is really recommended to watch !!!... this series was really entertaining and enjoyable I really had a great time watching this series it was so comedy and romantic I wish I could forgot it and rewatch it again it is really worth itVond je deze recentie nuttig?
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WATCH THIS MASTERPIECE
people are saying "this is misogyny!! we wanted naksu back!!" did we watched the same show? cho yeong is very much a badass as she is right now and doesn't need to change. naksu was her trauma, her pain and her suffering and y'all want her back? cho yeong never wanted to become an assassin,she just wanted to be happy and a normal kid but jin mu (glad he's dead) took that away from her. she loses her memory for three years and she is so bright and happy and no has worries. her past memories came back but she knew that she could be that happy (like she was before) if she chose to let naksu (her trauma, pain, angry, sadness, loneliness) go. cho yeong made that decision for her own good, for the little her that wanted that since the day 1. so I'm not gonna sit here and watch y'all ruining this drama just because of this reason. I don't mind for your other reason (like the plot was dragging, the amnesia plot was too long, for the rush ending or anything you didn't like). cho yeong is a badass right now (did y'all see her make up in the last few minutes???) with her divine powers and finding those relics!!Now that my point was made, I wanna say this one is my favourite kdrama. The plot, the humour, the acting, the script... everything was 🧑🍳💋
i really enjoyed their story, their relationship (uk and cho yeong), the bromance, the friendship between seo yol, dang ug (?), jang uk, kim do-joo and park jin (my parents), the chemistry between all of them. everything was perfect. of course it had it's problem but that doesn't stop you from enjoying.
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