Alchemy of souls

I followed the recipe used in the kitchen. Apparently, Mu-deok used to enjoy making those noodles.

them: Uk is someone that can bring chaos to this world

Uk: Mudeok is my lil egg 😃 I love baths and honey biscuits 😌 I’m only fighting bc I need to get that jade stone back! For our divine love 🥺

Alchemy of Souls rambles

Spoiler for part 1 of the show if yall haven't watched but I need to vent some disorganized thoughts because I haven't stopped thinking about it for the whole day.

Jang Uk and Mudeok form a bond out of desperation early in the show, that's how their whole relationship begins. What I love about it though is that from the getgo of the establishment of this relationship, it's almost like they have a secret agreement to be completely themselves around each other. They don't have to. Just because they depend on each other doesn't mean that they have to be truthful or vulnerable with each other. And yet they consistently show their vulnerabilities to the other, open from the beginning, hurt and bleeding in front of one another and patching each other up that speaks to a trust between them that neither of them acknowledge out loud for a while. It's just so beautiful.

I love that Jang Uk is like.. a real person. They could have made him out to be this perfect guy who charms the assassin out of her life of violence, but he's nothing like that. He's a bit spoiled, a picky eater, can be petty and even lash out at times when he's upset. He's also confident in his own charms and funny and self-assured in the way that he doesn't care what many think of him, or at least acts like he doesn't. He's unafraid to get into a massive amount of trouble for the people he cares about and may seem childish at times, but also has a sense of responsibility that continues to grow throughout the show until his ultimate sacrifice of the energy he'd worked so hard to cultivate to the ice stone, all for the protection of Mudeok, his friends, and the greater good. He's an amazing character, protagonist, and male lead, and I love seeing all his facets.

All the characters are really fleshed out and as a writer, I am DROOLING at how they managed to represent the desires and motivations of each character and interwove it with the narrative. I started out disliking Park Jin for always being so harsh with Uk, but then we find out why, and really how desperate he is to protect Jang Uk in what he thinks is the only way, especially being in a position of great authority - balancing his love of Uk, his desire to keep him safe, and his duties to the people of Daeho. Just lovely.

I have a lot more thoughts but it feels good to get that down. I have to go study freaking math BUT I SHALL RETURN!

The Alchemy of Souls posters are a masterpiece!

cho yeong's last memory as mudeok is stabbing the person she loved, the first person who loved her and looking at her hands in devastating realization that killing is all she can do — and jang uk made sure in his last breath to hold her bloodied hand to say it's okay and she could never truly hurt him and i love you

‘bu-yeon’ being flirty with jang uk is karma for how ridiculously flirty he was with mu-deok

@kdramaspace + @userdramas YEAR IN REVIEW 2022 | Masterclass in Acting

♖ favorite female characters of 2022:

✧ naksu as mu-deok, alchemy of souls

✧ bai feng xi, who rules the world

✧ na hee-do, twenty five twenty one

✧ evelyn wang, everything everywhere all at once

Alchemy of Souls | Part 2 Ep 4 

Season two is making me realise that it’s so beautiful that Naksu would like/fall in love with Jang uk no matter her circumstances; first she was an assassin with high ambitions and very little time for feelings and she still fell in love with him, and now she doesn’t have any memories and believes herself to be Jin Buyeon, she STILL starts to like Jang uk like—

No offense (to everyone else because they were fantastic too) but Go Younjung is literally... outstanding in this episode. Like she was in the spotlight for me. I already missed her 🧍 Wtf, she is so... brilliant. It still feels like Mudeok, just with Naksu's face this time, but no assassin vibes, just baby. She's really so *chef's kiss*

We need to talk about the fact that in Ep 11, when Mudeok sets up the bet for the golden toads, the Crown Prince is just... hanging out in a tree.

Not even at the palace. A tree in Songrim. And this makes sense to everyone.

How does he know this is the right tree? That Mudeok will just happen to come by so he can have a chat with her? Has he been up there all day, watching the wrong servants go by, and just kind of regally nodding "Carry on" when they notice him?

What is it like in this man's head?

Mu Deok - Alchemy Of Souls

So.. I finished Alchemy of Souls

Guys, the amount of tears I just shed in front of my entire family in the last episode of part 2 is crazy.

They were just sitting there like, you good? It's fiction as I'm sobbing my eyes out.

Anyway.

I have many thoughts. So many. And I lowkey want to make a separate post for each of them.

But for now I do want to leave some of my impressions about the finale: (spoilers ahead obviously)

I thought it was pretty well done. I expected to be a bit more shocked about the whole Jin Buyeon is Jin Seol-ran plotline but it honestly made sense to me and I feel like it was actually foreshadowed pretty well for the most part, even in season 1.

Also they definitely got me good with the deaths of Park Jin, Maidservant Kim, and Jin Hogyeong (if that's how you spell her name). Like that's when I started crying tbh. (I could care less about Mama Jin tbh, she sucks, but that deserves its own post). And I'm glad that them actually being alive didn't feel like a cop out to me. They established early on that Jin Seol-ran knew what would happen and used that to their advantage so it was believable and didn't feel like a Deus Ex Machina move for them to be saved. Well, maybe one of them should have died (cough–Mama Jin–cough). But it's fine.

I do feel like the last two episodes were kind of rushed though. I don't know if they had budgeting constraints or if Netflix didn't give them more than ten episodes, but I think that they should have had at least 12. Two more episodes would have allowed for more expansion on the climax and allowed them to up the drama more, which I think would have done well for the series over all, and would have been a better payoff.

I think the time could have been used well to flesh out some of the side characters arcs more. I feel like Danggu and Jin Choyeon were kind of pushed off to the side this season, and especially in the latter half, but I would have liked to see more of them and their relationships not only with each other but with Jang Uk and Naksu/Jin Buyeon.

For all intents and purposes, Naksu/Jin Buyeon lived as Jin Choyeon's sister for three years, and we can see that despite everything that happened three years prior, Choyeon did treat her as her sister even knowing the soul was Naksu's and cared about her. I think that could've and should've been expanded upon, her choosing to care about Naksu/Jin Buyeon or how that came to be. Also, after Naksu regained her memory AND found out Jin Mu had been for sure controlling her at the end of Part 1, I would have loved to see the conversation between her and Choyeon about what she did, an apology and an explanation that she would never have done that if she were sane of mind. What I said about Choyeon applies to Naksu as well because she lived three years as Choyeon's sister, and we can tell she cares about her, so I would have loved to see more of her feelings towards her, especially upon remembering all that had transpired in part 1.

When it comes to Danggu, I mean, he's one of Uk's best friends, and he was left out of the loop a lot when it came to anything Naksu-related. I would have liked him to find out or for Uk to tell him at some point and see how he makes peace with that. Because Danggu and Mudeok were friends in part 1 and he supported her (erroneously) in her supposed romance with Seo Yul. But then she killed his fiance's father and tried to attack him. I can't imagine the sense of betrayal he felt, but also finding out that it wasn't her fault and how he could come to terms with that would have been great to see. I also think his whole experience/trauma from part 1 was kind of glossed over. Like his main thing this season was his broken heart after Choyeon didn't end up marrying him, and I think that was making his feelings a bit too one-dimensional there. They do talk about how he feels slightly uncomfortable/doesn't know what to do with Jang Uk at the beginning of the show, but once Seo Yul comes back, that's kind of forgotten about and the three of them just start hanging out again no problem. I would've like to see a bit more about him struggling with becoming Leader of Songrim as well and how he adapted to that amidst his heartbreak for both his love and his friend who he doesn't even know how to act around anymore, and even towards Naksu/Mudeok who kind of ruined his future and that of his best friend but also being intuitive enough (because he is and he has one of the best hearts we've seen in the show) to realize that there's more to the story than her just going on a murder spree.

I've seen some talk about people saying they didn't like the actress for season 2 as much as season 1 (forgive me, I forgot their names), but I think both brought something good to the table.

Season 1 actress for Mudeok was really good. Her facial expressions were spot on and her chemistry with Lee Jaewook and the other cast members was really good. I think she definitely had great stage presence and made the show popular in the first place. I just don't agree that season 2 actress was worse.

I think season 2 actress definitely put in the work and embodied who Naksu/Jin Buyeon was for the majority of the series. There were times where she made expressions that perfectly resembled/echoed Naksu/Mudeok's that really got me like yes they are the same person even if she doesn't remember. She may have been cuter than we were used to with out sharp-tongued and emotion-resistant Mudeok, but I think Naksu needed that. As Mudeok and before then she didn't have the luxury to be more emotional and girly, it's only now in this body that she does, and I'm glad she had the opportunity to express that side of herself that had never seen the light of day.

We did get a glimpse of that side of her at the end of part 1 where she's playing around with makeup and what might make her look pretty, and it really spoke to all that she had missed out on and had to give up in order to survive. So yeah despite all the angst, I'm glad Naksu/Jin Buyeon had that opportunity through season 2 actress who played it really well while keeping in line with the essence of Naksu/Mudeok.

This whole thing about Naksu being the shadow to Jang Uk's light and if light exists then it needs a shadow broke my heart you guys, it was so perfect. And the fact that they were each other's light and shadow at different points but were also wholly necessary to each other in that was beautiful. I want to talk more about this in a separate post, so I'll table this metaphor for now.

Shout out to Crown Prince Go Won, a great character this whole season in terms of both comedic relief and massive character growth. So good.

Uk's arc was fantastic too but again want to save that for a full post.

Those are my out of order first thoughts about part 2, but I have SO MUCH MORE to discuss, so I will come back for sure. I just needed to scream to the world for a bit (virtually of course).

Question though for all of you more knowledgeable in the k-drama world: is there going to be a season 3?