Tanlixia
Alchemy of Souls Season 2: Light and Shadow
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by Tanlixia
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.
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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