Gm movie lovers, it’s the weekend!
And weekends, they say, are for movies!
The series I just finished watching is the KDrama: Alchemy of Souls.
This would be my second watch though and so, I’m gonna be giving my movie review. It’s a two-season movie but I’m gonna be giving a review on the first season; more reason because I just feel like the second season was so unnecessary as everything should have found a way to a satisfying ending in the first season.
And without further ado, let’s get into the plot of the story. (Please don’t get bored, as I really tried to summarize a 20-episode movie)
So there is this fictional kingdom called Daeho where they have so many powerful mages and they also have so many powerful spells that they have to master to a certain level to reach certain heights; so to speak. Amongst these spells, there is one that is forbidden which is called “alchemy of souls” (Reminds me of a setting in the Holy Bible called the Garden of Eden-if you know what I mean)
This spell allows a person to transfer their soul into another body so they can function as another person. (So diabolical)
The drama is centered around an event that led to the birth of chaos. This event involves a mage called Jang Gang who helped the king perform this soul-shifting magic so the king could possess Jang Gang and father a child as the king was too weak physically to do anything.
The child Jang Uk, who was born out of this deadly magic was destined to bring chaos to the world and so, Jang Gang sealed his magical powers and left the scene, out of everyone’s sight.
Now the movie opens with a strong assassin called Naksu being hunted.
When she discovers that she is severely wounded, she performs this deadly magic but unfortunately ends up in the body of a weak and blind girl called Mudeok. (my very much favourite character)
Because of how weak Mudeok was, Naksu loses her powers and hides her identity while she made sure to live as a maid in Jang Uk’s household.
Meanwhile, Jang Uk who is desperate to unlock his sealed powers, discovers Mudeok’s true identity and begs her to be his master. She agrees to train him because she believed that in the process, she would regain her powers as Naksu.
And before long, a teacher-student bond was formed which slowly develops into a deeper relationship.
In the course of the story, we have Naksu’s old friend, Seo Yul, who is also a mage in Daeho, and the Crown Prince Go Won. They too, try to get involved and become suspicious of Mudeok’s real identity.
There were also strong political tensions that rose in the kingdom, especially when the powerful ice stone appeared. It’s an ancient stone that can manipulate souls and also resurrect the dead.
Then there is Jin Mu. (We all have that one person who makes us so angry in a movie) His work is to manipulate events to gain power and control the Ice Stone. It was later revealed that Mudeok is the long lost daughter of the Jin family which gives her a rightful claim to a powerful magical lineage.
In the final episodes, Jin Mu manipulated Naksu (in Mudeok’s body) to go out of control. She killed innocent people, including mages, and ended up fatally stabbing Jang Uk(her lover now😭)
And in a very unpredictable twist, the season ends with them throwing him into a fire to be burned but then a blast of fire erupts, revealing him resurrected because of the ice stone inside of him.
MY REVIEW
Now for this movie, I have just three points in mind:
Firstly, I got to ask myself a question and that is: What actually defines a person? Is it his body, soul, memories, or his actions?
Because looking at Naksu for instance,(since she is my favourite character anyway) while being in Mudeok’s body, she struggled with being herself in a frail body and I wondered, maybe we can now say, a person is actually defined by who is inside them which is the soul.
Secondly, I could see that love has no boundaries. I saw how Jang Uk and Mudeok fought to be with each other even when they fully knew that it was a disastrous venture. Being that, she could kill him if she goes wild since she is a soul shifter.
And lastly, I see the lengths to which people would go to amass power. Fathers killed their sons so that they could continue living. That showed how much sacrifices humans are willing to make just to gain dominance and power.
Maybe if you watch this movie or have watched it, you would agree with me that the producers could have found another way to end this series satisfactorily without making Mudeok suffer what she suffered. I hated the fact that her beautiful, humorous and sweet face would disappear and someone else would show up as her. It was so heartbreaking.
Anyway, I’ll be giving this first season a 9/10.
All images are screenshots are from my device.
Thanks for reading guys 😌