Bamboozled: Alchemy of Souls Review

January 10, 2023

Spread the Love!

Alchemy of Souls is one of the better K-dramas I have watched in recent memory.

It is mainly because no Korean drama I have seen in the past few years seems to be as good as Crash Landing on You or Mr. Sunshine. Tomorrow (another K-drama released earlier in 2022) was good story-wise, but the props were obviously constrained by budget.

This isn’t to say that Alchemy of Souls was perfect. Part 1 was awesome, though!

You see, Alchemy of Souls was released in 2 parts – Part 1 and Part 2, months apart. Part 1 was 20 episodes, Part 2 is 10 episodes.

Not only that, they changed the main actress. The female lead was played by different actresses in Part 1 and Part 2.

This was explained in the story but as the audience, I really did not warm up to the second actress in Part 2. I was already invested in the main character (first actress) from Part 1.

I really enjoyed Part 1 but found Part 2 to be not as good as Part 1.

What I Liked in Alchemy of Souls

What I liked can basically be summed up as “everything in Part 1” 🙂

The concept is really good. I like how they established a world with magic users. If you’re thinking Harry Potter, it’s not quite the same. For one thing, our protagonists are more grown up.

Also, don’t go by the Netflix blurb description – it’s a terrible description of what this show is about and gives the wrong idea.

I like the seeing the friendships in Part 1 – how friends stayed loyal to friends, how our main character, Jang Uk, develops his skills after being pushed to the brink every time by his master, I like how the female lead pulled off comedic scenes while trying to keep her secret, that made her more endearing to watch.

The show was not a comedy but had wonderful comedic moments.

Our female lead always came up with schemes and what not that often landed her in some comedic situation or other.

Other characters, like Master Lee, Uncle Park Jin, and Maidservant Kim were also a hoot! The Crown Prince was also a fun character. One of our main character’s friends, Seo Yul, is unbelievably handsome. It is so noticeable that even though I don’t normally comment about these things, I just had to say it because someone might say my review was incomplete if I didn’t, LOL.

Worldbuilding was more than adequate – I was fully immersed in their world where there are mages, and prestigious mage families who held responsibilities for keeping the world safe.

The sets, props and CGI were good. The “look” of the show was good and looked professional and cinematic, much better than most K-dramas.

I liked how the story was building up and how we were getting to know our characters.

What I Didn’t Like in Alchemy of Souls

What I didn’t like can basically be summed up as “a lot of things in Part 2”.

I was so excited for Part 2 because I really liked Part 1 of Alchemy of Souls. But I’m sorry to say that it did not deliver.

I miss the main actress from Part 1

I don’t have anything against the second actress. She is pretty. However, there was just nothing in Part 2 to help me warm up to her. Her character was just a generic pretty girl (she even kept saying herself how she was the prettiest in all the land! so full of ourselves, aren’t we?) – but she was just waiting all the time or something – she did not make funny schemes to get her way or take matters into her own hands, unlike what her character was always doing in Part 1.

The female lead was kind of boring in Part 2. The Part 1 actress had much better facial expressions, was much more animated, and felt easier to connect with, and more fun to watch.

The difference was too stark, that now I am googling other shows with the first actress (Jung So Min) so I can watch more of her shows. Before Alchemy of Souls, I have never seen any show with this actress before (or none that I remember, so I was totally unfamiliar with her before this). I was also totally unfamiliar with the second actress as well before Alchemy of Souls.

Part 2 was meh

After all the fun and interesting things that happened in Part 1, Part 2 was a letdown. Everyone was kind of depressed or something. Nothing was really exciting except for the rare fight scenes.

Only Uncle Park Jin was the comedic relief and he did his part well. Other things were boring. I mean, the actors and actresses did the best they could, but couldn’t the writers write something more exciting for them to do while waiting for the final confrontation with the baddie?

We didn’t even get to see female lead kick ass again.

Ending was Rushed

They wasted time doing so many flashbacks instead of making a better ending!

They even did a feint in Episode 9 (2nd to the last episode of Part 2), and that was a really brilliant twist, but this show just wasn’t fun anymore and I was like, Oh no, don’t you dare drag this to a Part 3! Like, by the second to the last episode, it seemed like they were going to drag the story on for another season, and I was like, Please, No!

Fortunately, they finished the story in the last episode.

Unfortunately, they finished the story in the last episode. This means that the ending was rushed and they resolved all the problems / baddies in only one episode.

So, 29 episodes of build up and you only “resolve” all the conflicts in the last episode? And in basically only one scene and it’s not as satisfying as I had hoped it would be. The first fakeout was more satisfying.

It was really that easy and quick to defeat the bad guys! Like, wtf? That’s it?! The End. Then a short epilogue.

I was not satisfied with the ending. I really miss the Part 1 version of our female lead and don’t like the boring version of Part 2. She doesn’t feel like the same character.

I hate that it was cut into 2 parts

Alchemy of Souls released 2 episodes a week on Netflix – one on Saturday, and one on Sunday.

I waited until they had several episodes up before I started watching. I prefer binge watching because I totally forget what happened the previous week.

If I can, I try to wait until a series is finished before starting it. Because I really, really hate waiting a week for the next episode.

I was totally blindsided when Alchemy of Souls didn’t finish by the last episode of Part 1. At the time, I had no idea that the story wasn’t complete. Korean dramas typically have 16 episodes. So 20 episodes for Alchemy of Souls made me assume that the story was finished.

I have no problems watching longer dramas. Heck, I watch 40-70 episode C-dramas. Just be honest about it and don’t blindside your audience. If it is 30 episodes then be upfront about it and say it is 30 episodes.

So we had a few months’ break between Part 1 and Part 2. I was excited for Part 2, and expected the same level of storytelling as Part 1, but like I explained above, we did not get the same feel as Part 1.

Now I feel kind of bamboozled by the writers of this Kdrama, first, by the “not” ending of Part 1, and the not so good Part 2. Did they just drag this on to milk more money out of the show? And then add to that the lead actress switcharoo. I wouldn’t have minded at all if only they had nailed Part 2.

They even “leaked” rumors that Actress 1 would come back for some scenes in Part 2. Nope, did not happen. Hence, why I feel more duped as the audience.

One standout was the actor who played the villain in the last episode – he was annoying at first and I wondered why we kept seeing him, but he actually nailed the last episode, haha!