Towards the end of ep 18 was the first episode of this entire drama where I had to pause to take a breather because I was so frustrated with the events and didn’t want to watch what happened next. I went and sought out spoilers to see if I’d get angry at the plot, then came back and finished watching it later.

I explain in more detail below, I don’t want to be giving spoilers in this intro. But ultimately, after reading the spoilers and actually watching the next part, it turned out to not be bad at all, and in a way I’m a little disappointed with what I spoiled for myself because it was an excellent part of the story.

These couple of episodes felt a little slow but necessarily so. I loved the deeper exploration into Jin Bu-yeon, the character development of Nak-su and the surprise tying in of something that we saw in earlier episodes that I thought was a temporary plot device that I thought we were done with.

I also realised after I’d written my ep 15-16 review that the show was skipping a week to work on special effects. Waiting two full weeks was… hm. Actually, worth it. I can totally see why they needed the extra time and I think what they came up with was fantastic.

Jung So-min absolutely stole the show this week. I’d been disappointed in her performance before, but for these two episodes I was in awe. And I was actually, for once, finally sold on their romance. With only 2 episodes left, I’m not sure how they’re going to tie everything together neatly, and I can definitely see why they need a part 2.

I am a bit disappointed that when I finally get on board with JSM’s acting, she’s going to leave the show. Unless their previous confirmation that she won’t be in part 2 was a red herring/jk type of thing.

Anyways, spoilers below!

This intro was written after watching ep 15… My unabashed gushing occurs after watching ep 16, which, due to spoilers, comes after clicking read more.

Alrighty… first things first: Jung So-min is confirmed to not be appearing in Part 2. I already made it clear how I’d feel about her being replaced by Go Yoon-jung but, I guess now that it’s been confirmed and I’ve watched a lot more of their behind the scenes/interviews, I really can’t wait for her to be out of this show.

It’s painfully obvious that she avoids LJW. I’m not sure if something happened, but the impression I get is that he’s trying his best, and she’s avoiding him for the most part. She looks far more interested in Hwang Min-hyung (the actor for Seo Yul) and it shows on screen.

This is making it difficult for me to root for the drama’s supposed OTP, and I absolutely hate it when the OTP lack chemistry because it gives me unnecessary second-lead syndrome. From a character perspective, Yul’s random longing for his first love doesn’t really make sense to me, and Nak-su has already made it clear that her heart is now elsewhere, supposedly.

Unfortunately, Jung So-min isn’t really selling the not-interested-in-Yul to me very convincingly, and she’s selling the in-love-with-Jang-Wook even less so. Now, I want to be sensitive to LJW potentially having wronged her, but I can’t help but feel it’s unprofessional for a veteran actress like her to publicly display such obvious bias against him.

It’s so awkward. He tries really hard to appease her and she just tries to ignore him most of the time. I can’t figure out if it’s arrogance or discomfort. However, there’s an interview in which they’re tasked with seeing how well they know one another, and LJW was able to answer almost everything about JSM, while JSM knew next to nothing about her co-star.

They weren’t difficult questions: what’s LJW’s birthday? What’s his IG photo? His fan club name might have been a difficult one, but even after a bunch of hints she scarcely managed to guess one correct answer. It comes across as incredibly unprofessional. If you’re going to be the main female lead, surely you’d do at least the bare minimum of research on your co-star. I felt so bad for LJW; it was really off-putting to watch.

I’ll try to keep an open mind for the remainder of this series but I’m worried that it’ll just turn crap for me now that I feel bias against her, which is a gigantic shame because I used to really like her as an actress and was previously quite enjoying the show. Either way, I’m ready to see what Go Yoon-jung can bring to the table.

We are almost at the end game of Part 1, which I think was supposed to be a complete series in its own right, but the story seems to be losing its oomph. So much is happening and yet it feels like nothing is happening all at the same time. Or, perhaps it’s just how little excitement I feel from Jung So-min these days.

Not sure if it’s the directing or otherwise, but her range of expressions is becoming increasingly limited compared to the earlier episodes. Gah, this is not intended to be a JSM-bashing post. That was not the intention. Anyways, spoilers ahead should you choose to read more!

The above intro was written after only watching ep 15. However, I have a lot more to say now because, well, ep 16 absolutely knocked me off my feet. This show is fast becoming one of my top 10. If not, my top 5. If it continues the way it does, maybe even my top 3. I’m blown away.

I started watching Alchemy of Souls this week after reading about it on Dramabeans. The poster looked interesting and the premise intrigued me, so I read all of the recaps. And, subsequently, started watching the drama… and then binging it all in a few days. Honestly, no regrets.

Actually, that’s not true. My only regret is now the torturous wait until Sat/Sun when the next episodes are due to drop.

To be honest, I didn’t really care that it was a Hong sisters drama – they’re credited for writing some of the highest rated and most popular dramas to grace our generation (Descendants of the Sun, Goblin/Guardian: The Great & Lonely God, Mr. Sunshine — wait, that’s Kim Eun-Sook. Uh… ah: The Greatest Love, Master’s Sun, Hotel del Luna)…

Welp, that’s how much I knew about their works. And now that I know their filmography a little better, I can totally see their fantasy-with-elements-of-horror style all over Alchemy of Souls. I enjoyed Master’s Sun and Hotel del Luna, even if I had to watch half of it hidden behind a pillow, and so far, I’ve enjoyed Alchemy of Souls so much that I need to write about it.

Warning: reading more contains spoilers for Alchemy of Souls up to ep 14. I’m also not writing a recap, I just need to fangirl.