Alquimia de Almas Parte 2: Luz y Sombra (2022)

I'm completely in love with this drama

I'm not going to lie that memory plot was irritating as far as it was extended, but it still managed to hook me and look forward to the next episodes. The characters are so passionate, especially the protagonists, Naksu and Jang Uk. It's beautiful to see how their love transcends the physical, it's really a meeting of souls. In terms of plot, part 1 still wins, but in part 2, the chemistry between the main couple overflows on screen. I think both parties had very different proposals, but the essence of the story is still there. I just loved the parallels I noticed while watching

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naksu

The best fantasy historical drama in my opinion that I have ever watched, Actually, I don't really like historical dramas, I'm always picky when I want to watch historical dramas. and this is the best drama.. Starting from season 1 and 2, each episode doesn't make you bored at all.
At first I was confused when I saw scane clip reviews from other, between Naksu, Mudeok, Jin Buyeon, Choyoung, but after watching it is not confusing at all.
There's comedy, there's romance, let alone action, everything is perfect.
Even though the female lead was replaced, Go Younjung managed to build chemistry with the male lead

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Funny, nice story with a really good cast, ending little bit disappointing

So first of all… I really liked this drama. Season 1 and part 2 also. It always kept me engaging. The main cast was really good, i really liked all the characters, the scenery was also beautiful.
However… the last episode of season 2 was a little bit disappointing for me. I need to mention that english is not my first language, so it can happen because of the language barrier, but when it came to soul shifting or the rules of this world… i could not follow it, and most of the times i just let it go. O.o Until the last episode, where i really wanted to follow up the story but i just could not. XD
And it bothers me now. I’m gonna watch it again in my mother language, i’m curious if i would get it better or not.

For me, especially in this season Lee Teacher’s explanations were too much, it’s like he knows everything, so basically he was the mouthpiece of the writers. I get it, it’s a fantasy world, people should understand the rules, but.. I felt like the rules were always changing. xD And because of this… plot armor was keeping the characters in safe most of the times.

In the last ep. where those 3 were dead for… like 3 minutes?! … if I want to be honest…I was disappointed that they are alive. :/ I really loved Park Jin and Kim DoJu, but I felt like… at least Jin Ho-Gyeong and Park Jin’s death would have made sense at some point and could be a collateral damage for the story. But for some reason, everyone got happy ending.
It surprised me that I did not cry, although I’m really that crying type when it comes to dramas. So it was a little bit weightless in the end.

And one more thing. For me they really sc**wed it up, when Jin Mu shifted souls with that Seo guy, he was really bad (also don't really like that actor, sorry xD), I couldn't take him seriously. It took me out of the story. I think the antagonist(s) should have been more…evil.

I’m satisfied with the main cast’s ending, although I still don’t understand Naksu-Buyeon (and others) soul shifting story and I really wanted to see Naksu in action again… but at least they are alive. XD
Altogether it was a nice drama, I recommend it everyone who likes rom-com with a lot of fantasy elements 

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Nothing much to rave about but certainly an interesting wrap-up

This is a sequel to the Alchemy of Souls with an open-ended and frustrating ending. At the end of the first series, Jang Uk was killed but was resurrected by the Ice Stone. Three years later in this sequel, he becomes a soul shifter killer, hunting down the remains of those who had escaped in the first series. While hunting a soul shifter, he runs into a beautiful woman who is held captive by her mother and begs him to help her escaped.

This sequel pales in comparison to the first. There are not much to look forward to. The identities are all revealed even that of this new Jin Bu-yeon is revealed to the audience. I thought the writer should hold on a few more episodes before doing that. I guess it is all to quickly allay the frustrations of those who watched the first series watching MuDeok died.

It becomes a bit of a drag - the identity of the new Jin Bu-yeon is known to the audience but not the characters involved. Jang Uk is in the dark and so are a lot of people in the drama. So the story revolves around them finding out one by one, and also how the 'righteous' people turn to the dark side.

I watched it as I wanted to know how it would all ends. So if you have already watched the first series, you would want to watch this one too.

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|| OVERALL ||

For K-dramas, having a season 2 / part 2 is always hard as it has to live up to the usually better season 1. Given there were only 10 episodes, I think part 2 did do Alchemy of Souls justice. Certain bits seemed a bit slow and unnecessary, some bits seemed very last episode of Game of Thrones (i.e. "what...that's it...?"), but all in all I was pleased.

**I recommend this drama to those that like a fantasy kdrama with well-rounded genres of romance, comedy, and a bit of light action.

|| DETAILS ||

= Story =
*Premise - A continuation of the previous story unravelling the unanswered questions, but also kind of like a new story of its own. Again, set in Daeho a place mages, soul shifters, and magic exist.
*Genre - More of romance and comedy, a little bit of action. The heart-wrenching scenes were well done.
*Plot - The 10 episodes could be split in two parts. First part focused on the love story of the main couple. Second part saving Daeho (the nation they live in). I really have to praise the scenes with the main couple because there were just too many heart fluttering moments. It's really difficult to follow part 1 as the audience already have a main couple in mind and to bring someone else brought mixed reactions, however personally I was very convinced with this new couple. Flaws of the plot, though, were the scenes they dedicated to certain side stories instead of exploring other more important side stories. There are only 10 episodes and not a lot of time, so was it really necessary to give so many scenes (sometimes even a whole episode) to side stories that don't really progress the main plot. For example, sorry Seo Yul, but the whole thing with him, So-Yi, and the bloodworm...good riddance. Maybe more scenes could be spent on elaborating Jin Mu. He's the main antagonist, but extremely not convincing. He caused so much trouble for so long, but he isn't really a strong mage to be honest, and both his demises were so quick and easy. Same with the firebird...something that can cause so much destruction but a bit useless. That is why it gave me the death of the night king vibes (Game of Thrones reference). Anyways, this season is less focused on the action scenes so with that in mind and the fact that they had only 10 episodes to cover everything, despite the flaws, I'm pleased with the plot.
*Characters - Well, we already know most if not all the characters from the previous season. They all had new troubles, and the way the matured and solved each of their problems were nice. Generally the side stories did not take away from the main couple which was nice.
*Ending - Got a little greedy and thought we would be in for another kiss. I liked the ending. To be very honest, despite reading audience's comments on how the Hong Sisters' dramas usually ended, I was quite sure about the direction the plot would end with, and I wasn't wrong.

= Cast =
*Acting - In part 1, Jung So Min really stole the show. In part 2, I rarely say this, but both Lee Jae Wook and Go Youn Jung did exceptionally well. Their characters are the most complex and layered, and they showed that very well.
*Chemistry - I personally think Lee Jae Wook and Go Youn Jung's chemistry was better than with Jung So Min. They seemed more like a couple and it extended off-screen. Those kiss scenes....damn. It's crazy to think that it's the first time Go Youn Jung had kiss scenes in dramas. The way they fed off each other's energies was crazy. They both were great, in contrast to the previous season in which I felt Jung So Min was the stronger actor.

= OST =
Great songs, especially Ailee's "I'm Sorry". Fantastic.


|| A LESSON ABOUT BALANCE ||

In a place too dark, light brings warmth. In a place too bright, shadow brings coldness. Like Yin and Yang, a balance is required in many things in life.

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Honestly One of The Best Drama In The Industry

I think this drama is going down in history as one of the best drama ever damn! Where should I start......

First of all, The people who are frustrated with the dragging of the plot, having 2 seasons annoyed a lot of netizens, and the switching of the female lead also made a lot of people so frustrated to the point of dropping this drama, accusation of weak female main lead/weak female leads in general, This are all the and..... I quote "the only frustrating/cons bits inthis drama" and I agree half-heartedly BUT have u seen any other masterpiece in the history of film/series that is without a single mistake? As they say, it is always easier to find the small mistakes than to appreciate the actual good parts

lemme tell you
Watching this drama I realized that there might be a lot of dramas/shows/series/movies similar to the concepts of alchemy of souls, the ones that came to mind rn are all the Chinese "wuxia" dramas/movies like Ashes of love, word of honor etc.... they all had this kind of visual effects and similar romance/swordplay.BUT the execution, the plot, the chemistry not just between the main characters but all the secondary couple leads also, the acting, the light-hearted comedy, the ost and the production WERE ALL JUST *chefs kiss* and THIS drama really left this feeling of watching an original fr

-STRONG(at heart) female leads LMAO

I was also a frustrated netizen with the switching of the female lead since we are attached to our gurly Mu Deok/Jin Bu Yeon(Jung So Min) ,her astonishing acting and her freaking adorable face but being real we are all just attached to the character of naksu inside of mu deok and we are afraid of seeing a new character take that place even though logically the new actress (Go young Jung) is the actual main lead it is not replacing but rather going back to the right owners .Also the new fml is as good of a actor and have another adorable looking face but watching this second season really showed me the THE BIG PICTURE and fill in on the confusions, Miss Naksu / Cho Yeong (Go Youn Jung) is the main character of the whole series no matter how you look at it story and the character in general , our gurly mu deok/Jin Bu Yeon was the bgm character for a reason (a lot people did not like the fact she was bg character 4/5th of the show) as u all know in the season 2 it is portrayed clearly that Jin but yeon (trying not to spoil) is a reincarnation of a character and she was not an individual who had only one purpose (can't spoil) that is saving from something ahem ahem... yeah so obv we can understand that she is a being who clearly didn't give 2 f**ks about who is in her body or whatever ppl inside her body is doing 💀 she is a deity for a reason and a powerful one for that matters. And for our actual fml naksu/chae yeon there is a point in this season where we can see the starting character naksu is clearly a revengeful person made up by jin min(villain guy) but chae yeon is a soft-hearted,cheerful,delicate girl and yes even if they are the same person and that strong naksu was someone we all thought was cool but our fml becomes a person who stopped being naksu who was rebellious and liked being always on her own, didn't care who,what,why and just revengeful towards the world in general Turned into this healing person and started being a person who slowly fully depends and rely on jang UK like relying on a shoulder to cry so we can all guess that she did not do any acting/fighting in season due to her finally finding her self and healing .Also prehaps came to a point she didn't want to hurt more people around for her selfishness like she technically stole Jin buyeon's body but thankfully our gurl don't give a sh*t 💀

now for the all the other female supporting characters i think yes it is disappointing some times when they are showing way too much weakness (like towards the plot we can see they don't show the same amount of physical magic power same as the male leads and tends to "sacrifice" their self 💀 which is so furstrating like gurl UR A CLAN LEADER USE UR DAYM POWERS..ETC..) but i think they were all kind of strong in their own ways (mentality?lmao)

-The Acting and The CHEMISTRY *Chef's kiss*
these 2 things in this drama is just so good to the point it's just crazy like jang UK( the lucky bastard) had the luck to make out with both the female leads (Go young Jung and Jung so min ) my guy don't discriminate (I wouldn't either 💀) i have to say the chemistry between them ( Jang UK and the both fmls)is just none better or worse than the other its so crazy to me How his eyes are so much in love and how much the female actors feel like they're the same person,The biggest acting plus point i saw that was common in all the characters is the rawness of emotions in everything they did ,And the eyes! man looking at their eyes there's so much going on there its way too good and enjoyable on a deeper level

-The unhinged humour (LMAO)
bruh I'm bawling my eyes out and then I'm laughing with a runny nose jeez the execution of humour of the drama made me look past the dragging plot

1 thing I'm pretty sure about is there is more to this drama than it meets the eyes and all the furstrations can be explained if U pay attention to the smallest details

Now for the cons that I say poke out like thorns in this perfect field of a master piece "IN MY OPINION"
-The female lead not having a fight after getting all her powers in both bodies, In both the season I was hoping to see more of the little action that was shown in the first EP into something bigger and exciting, I really expected at least one of the FML will show us a real good naksu fight with the villain 😐and that left an empty space in me seriously! I wanted chae yeon in season 2 showing it off with her naksu blade from season 1 but instead we see Jang UK 😭 taking the sword as a souvenir this made me(a horrible feminist for female leads) very disappointed...i think we def should have given a chance to see our naksu+che yeong+mu deok+jin bu yeong powers all mixed and executed beautifully into an K.O fight with SOMEBODY ya know maybe even showing she is more powerful than jang UK ahem..ahemm
-The dragging of the plot is honestly just unnecessary towards the ending but season 2 did add so much closure like it is the big picture
-Maybe too much about romance(I'm talking about the screen play not story or characters ) and less about the main lead's past/future/present the romance and the repetition of all the already done romantic scenes were literally the 2/5th of the drama
and it gets annoying seeing the same romantic scene from like season 1 played like 50 times in season 1 and 2 LMAO
THATS PRETTY MUCH IT ITS JUST A MUST WATCH KDRAMA !

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Having detachment issues after finishing

Well it's officially over and I have spent 30+ hours dedicating my life to the story and the characters it built and honestly my emotions cant handle it. This drama (both seasons) did such a good job making you care about the characters and develop a connection that you just dont want to let go. Although I wish the Bu Yeon had acted a little more like Mu Deok in the beginning, I still think the actress did a good job with the script she was given in imitating the character Jung So Min created. The thing that really won me over with this drama was Jang Uk. He was absolutely Bad Ass! His persona was completely different from season 1 and the shots and scenes they gave him really elevated the drama. But I will have to say, the best part about season 1 & 2 is hands down the Crown Prince! Him and his relationship with Jang Uk haha

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interesting

It was a good drama loved the fact that we were able to see Naksu but I would have liked to see her act as a villain/ evil like in episode 1 in part 1 of aos. I was confused on why some actors didn't remember Naksu when they fought her in part 1 so that was a little confusing to me and the explanation of naksu confused me but at least they explained it multiple times.
I like the storyline but the memory loss was too long. I feel like they skipped out essential parts of the timeline as it felt rushed at the end. loved the crown prince wish there was more scene with him in it.

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Among All Couples, You Two Are the Dearest--Light and Shadow!

Of course, I had no wish to spoil anything in the title, so I modified the quote of Master Lee as he tells Jang Uk and Cho Yeong, "Among all the married couples I have seen through my entire life, you two are the dearest." That is a sentiment that I'm sure resonates with most viewers.

A light that embraces a shadow will never be lost in darkness. This may be the most profound piece of wisdom said throughout the entire series. Most people fear the darkness; fear the shadow, but only by embracing it—accepting it—can it be released and let go. Jang Uk is the light, and Naksu is the shadow, and both are equally important in maintaining that balance.

Season 2 was every bit as incredible as Season 1, and in some ways, even more so as we finally come to the culmination of this vast, deep, complex, and incredible story. While it may be sad for those who’ve traveled this amazing journey, we are grateful to have been a part of it at all.

This is an epic series that transcends just about every other series that I have ever seen. It’s beautiful, it’s deep, it’s revealing, and it’s vast in its wisdom. Like so many other Korean shows, it invites the viewer to take a hard look at the world around him or her as well as to take a look within ourselves. It’s another reason why I believe that Koreans—and a few others—represent the next stage in the evolution of entertainment. That people no longer wish to JUST be entertained, but this medium of TV and film can be used to bring about change and wisdom.

Jang Uk embodies the ice stone, making him pretty much invincible. And while others crave the ice stone for its power and immortality, Jang Uk merely sees it as a vehicle to do what is right. That is what makes him a true hero, in my book because he is truly selfless. The only real question is whether or not he can find some spark of happiness for himself. He began this journey as a somewhat lazy and selfish young man. And now, he represents all that is good and noble in man.

When we last left Naksu, her sole desire was to get her energy back. However, had it not been for the bells, one has to believe that her love for Jang Uk would have prevailed. As Mu-deok, Naksu was a bit rough around the edges. We could see her fluctuating between her desire to get her power back and get revenge to softening and dropping her guard to let love inside. As Jin Bu-Yeon—despite her loss of memory—we see a much softer Naksu who smiles a lot more and seems deeply infatuated with Jang Uk. And nothing can substitute Naksu’s finally embracing the light AND shadow of who she is.

Maidservant Kim is as lovely and handsome as ever! And seeing Park Jin’s attempts at mastering the art of cooking were hilarious! They make a cute couple.

At 30 episodes, this series easily goes down as one of the best of all-time for me. And the best fantasy series since Lord of the Rings—and in some ways—even surpasses that one. They are just about even, as far as I’m concerned. We’re given an incredible world of mages whom—despite their extraordinary power—fall to the same evils as ordinary men. The story and characters are vibrant and deep, and the special effects are state-of-the-art, but they never overshadow the characters or the story. The special effects do what they are meant to do: compliment and enhance the story.

I cannot think of a single flaw in the series. It was well-written, well-directed, and immaculately performed by the entire cast. Performances across the board were impeccable. The chemistry between Lee Jae Wook and Go Yoon Jung was fantastic, which is really saying something because the chemistry between Lee Jae Wook and Jung So Min was equally impressive. When I saw that Jung So Min wasn’t going to be in the second part of the series, I admit that I was apprehensive, but Go Yoon Jung more than impressed me.

At some point, I will definitely want to rewatch this series. I’m sure there will be details that I’ve missed or forgotten. Plus, I can watch all 30 episodes together rather than having to wait. Alchemy of Souls is a journey that has been more than a privilege to be a part of. It’s like being grateful that you were alive to see and watch Star Wars for the very first time, watch Sohyang, Michael Jackson, Bruce Lee, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, etc. Those special people and moments that only seem to come around once in a lifetime. Alchemy of Souls is an unforgettable series for that reason.

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great cgi, romance plot

8,8/10. Sumpah harus mulai darimana ya 😞😞😞 ini tuh konfliknya ga sebanyak di s1. Mungkin karena dulu si jang uk belum punya kekuatan sepowerful sekarang, makanya konfliknya bejibun ABIS. Klimaks konflik s2 cuma di eps 9 - 10 doang, selebihnya full romance between jang uk - naksu & kim doju - park. Jang uk - naksu hubungannya gemes karena tarik ulur, kim doju - park gemes karena sama2 kocak. Di ending beneran ngira si ji mu bakal idup terus makanya semua org butuh s3, taunya yaa k.o juga doi walaupun dgn cara yg kureng sadis 😁💔 kalo menurutku knp semua org butuh s3 karena ending yg kaya kurang penjelasan. Jujur pas liat ending tu aku harus ulang 2x baru agak ngeh dikit sama maksudnya. Juga jang uk - naksu pas sama2 inget satu sama lain tuh sedikit bgt partnya jadi kayak AKSHSJSNSJK lebih banyak pressurenya dibanding happy. Untuk sinematografi & cgi ya gausah ditanya, beneran bagus drama ini bikinnya. Dari s1 gapernah ngecewain 👍🏻 yg disayangkan mungkin part naksu yg powerful cuma ada di awal2 sama ending doang, jadi kaya kurenggg gitu padahal bagus bgt pas dia punya kekuatan itu. Tapi ya balik lagi mungkin emank plotnya ditujukan naksu itu hadir di saat yg emg genting bgt buat warga daeho. Ostnya suka di part kedua ini, lebih ngena 🔥

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