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The allure of fairy tales and fantasy media hinges on the promise of escapism. To sustain the audience, you have to sustain the myth, the magic. Korean dramas on Netflix soul alchemy, To achieve the same goal, it creates an intricate drama that likes to offer more comfort than intrigue.
into two parts, soul alchemy cannot be purely classified into a single type. With two parts totaling as many as 30 episodes, each spanning just over an hour, the show is wrapped up in a long Ferris wheel ride, moving along the different emotional (and magical) subplots it has to offer. To fill that sprawling screen time, the show hopes to strike a balance between two heavy-handed plots — a star-crossed romance and a fantastical political thriller.
Written by the Hong sisters who have previously worked on other fantasy Korean dramas such as Moon Hotel, the story takes place at the Great Lakes, “a place not found in history books or maps,” and the magicians who live there. The mages of Daeho gain their magical abilities from the elements around them, and they must obey one important rule: not use their skills to transfer souls from one body to another, also known as “soul alchemy.”
In the first part airing in June 2022, the notorious assassin Nak-su (Go Youn-jung) uses this spell to transfer her soul into the soul of the blind orphan Mu-deok (Jung So-min) in order to escape capture. A chance encounter with Jang-wook (Lee Jae-wook), the heir to one of the four major magical dynasties, who was unable to channel her abilities, made her a master (threatening to Jang-wook that she would expose her magic if she didn’t. t teach him magic) and a servant (as a cover to give Jang Woo a lesson). The next 20 episodes document this dynamic as Mu-deok and Jang Uk deal with royal and fantasy chaos. However, in order to fulfill the show’s main romantic thread, each subplot is set up to end in a way that brings them closer or further apart. In doing so, it stumbles while executing parallel-running high-fantasy plots that organically don’t fit its romantic beat.
It undercuts its magic by introducing too many elements, not all of which contribute meaningfully to justify its run time. Viewers aren’t exactly motivated to keep track of the new plot additions, either, as each one is repeatedly reintroduced with a lot of exposition.
Alchemy of the Soul: Light and Shadow (Korean)
writer: Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran
throw: Lee Jae Wook, Jung So Min, Go Eun Jung, Hwang Min Hyun, Oh Na Ra, Yoo Jun Sang, Park Eun Hye, Jo Jae Yoon, etc.
episodes: 10
story plot: Three years after Nak-su’s death, Jang Uk, now a ferocious hunter of soul-shifters, meets a long-lost heiress, while the fictional town of Daeho continues to deal with new problems
The second installment of the show begins on December 10, 2022, with half the number of episodes and a much clearer narrative moment than its predecessor. Three years after the cliffhanger ended, the writing for the second installment did a better job of linking the more human elements with the fantasy ones. Zhang Yu, who now owns the ice stone, has become a respected hunter for those who practice soul transfer. Meanwhile, Nak-su experiences his own death and resurrection. While the larger theme remains the romance of Jang-wook and Nak-su who are always at a moral crossroads, the cliched themes of using magic to underpin romantic longings (star-fated lovers, mistaken identities, memory loss, etc. on) Make it an even more engaging follow-up.
So the show, in particular, reaches its peak when it uses its magic to lighten the human drama, keeping the magic inherent in actions, consequences, and emotions. The second part has also improved its features. Of course, when a show spends 20 episodes with a character, they must feel immersive. But this time, their choices match the information we have. In the first part, Nak-su is a ferocious assassin who grew up in the wilderness and was reviled by Daeho’s mages. However, once she transfers her soul into Takeru’s weakened body, the frailty also seeps into the character’s writing. As we all know, her determination, her almost indestructible nature, never fully surfaced after the first episode. In contrast, the topic of souls occupying different bodies has been dealt with more self-inquiringly in the latest episode. After her resurrection, Luoxiu worked hard to reconcile her scattered memories of her previous life with those of her new life.
soul alchemy At heart, this is a decidedly curious show that wants to poke around with impressive characterization and storylines. It’s the story of a mother who manages to resurrect the same daughter twice; it raises the question of what makes a person, and whether the soul is as strong as it remembers. The show’s handling of humanity, death, and life after death is intriguing, if not clichéd, and one can’t help but wonder how the story would have developed if certain subplots had been prioritized. Still, it achieves its original purpose: to provide viewers with a romance that breaks your heart, but in the end, leaves you basking in the happy ending.
Alchemy of the Soul is currently streaming on Netflix
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