Review | Netflix K-drama review – Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow, show’s soulless second season, draws to a close
- A ratings winner it may be, but Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow does not quite match up to the show’s first season in terms of plot and characters
- The romantic chemistry that made Alchemy of Souls’ first season so watchable is absent here, and there is no real tension thanks to an unconvincing villain
This article contains spoilers.
2.5/5 stars
Hit K-drama writers the Hong Sisters have done it again – the finale of Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow has surpassed the previous ratings peak set by the closing episode of the first Alchemy of Souls season.
But while season one ended on a strong note that had viewers clamouring for the follow-up, season two had a more definitive close, with happy endings in bountiful supply.
Light and Shadow continued to follow the increasingly confusing romance between skilled mage Jang Uk (Lee Jae-wook) and – deep breath – Naksu, Mu-deok and Jin Bu-yeon, played in various incarnations by Jung So-min and Go Yoon-jung.
Vengeful warrior Naksu, in the body of Mu-deok, appeared to die at the close of season one, but her spirit returned in the body of Jin Bu-yeon – now with the appearance of the original Naksu.
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Bu-yeon is the long-lost eldest daughter of the Jinyowon clan, but she has no memories of her former life. She is a classic “princess in the tower” locked in a room in the Jinyowon grounds.
Every time she manages to escape, fate dictates that she bump into Uk. Sharing an unusual, not-quite-romantic attraction, the pair very suddenly get married.
Their unconventional relationship dominates the rest of the season as we patiently wait for the other shoe to drop – we know that Naksu/Mu-deok is buried somewhere within Bu-yeon; other characters, namely villains like Jin Mu (Jo Jae-yun), also figure this out quickly, but our oblivious lovebirds are the last to cotton on to it.
To borrow a life lesson taught by Songrim mage Park Jin (Yu Jun-sang) earlier this season: “Life is unpredictable, but you choose your own destiny.” Alchemy of Souls has often been unpredictable but ultimately this is by design, as the Hong Sisters have chosen the destinies of their characters for them.
This lesson pops up during a quiet scene in episode four when Jang Uk, Seo Yul (Minhyun) and Jin’s son Dang-gu (Yoo In-soo) are summoned to a breakfast Jin has prepared for them.
The running joke all season has been that Jin, who retired as the head of the Songrim mage clan between seasons one and two, has passionately taken to cooking in his retirement but his horrible dishes strike terror in everyone forced to sample them.
Jin presents the young men with three inoffensive-looking rice cakes, but there is a catch. He explains that two are filled with sweet honey and the other is filled with bitter fish sauce. This is a reference to a running gag in the popular Korean reality television series Two Days, One Night, but here the gag gets a metaphorical twist.
By the time Uk is faced with the last rice cake, the other two having been filled with honey, it seems he is destined for the bitter taste of fish sauce, but Jin injects an element of doubt. He said one of the rice cakes was filled with fish sauce, but he asks if they can trust him.
Yul takes him at his word and adds: “If we doubt the rules, nothing will ever be predictable.” Uk takes a bite but does not reveal the contents of the rice cake. Jin’s point is that when it comes to life, you need to take a bite and figure it out for yourself.
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In Alchemy of Souls, we are constantly forced to doubt the rules, partly because the story – just as life – is indeed unpredictable, but mostly because the rules that govern the magical land of Daeho keep changing.
The magical tapestry of the series keeps being rethreaded in accordance with the needs of the story: new reasons to keep our lovers apart and bring them back together, new ways to beat the villains and build them back up again.
When Jin Mu inadvertently steps into the Gwido prison realm in episode nine to retrieve the Ice Stone, he is killed by Uk – only to return through soul-shifting, the original “alchemy of souls” spell that was strangely absent throughout most of Light and Shadow.
More manipulative is the emotional first half of the final episode that sees Jin tearfully close the door on the collapsing Jinyowon chamber to prevent its dark relics from escaping, trapping his beloved maidservant Kim (Oh Na-ra) in the process.
A grief-stricken Jin is then struck down in the next scene, but by the end of the episode the pair are reunited.
Part of the frustration with Light and Shadow lies in the fact that Jin Mu was already comprehensively defeated in the first season and was not an entirely convincing villain to begin with. Relying on him again meant that this new batch of episodes lacked any real tension.
Besides twiddling our thumbs waiting for Uk and Bu-yeon/Naksu to recognise each other, there was not much else to keep us invested in the story.
Furthermore, save for their magical blue and red Yin and Yang stones, there was not much drawing the pair together. Sadly, the romantic chemistry between Lee and Go never quite matched what was shared between Lee and Jung last year.
Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow is streaming on Netflix.
