K Drama Review: Alchemy of Souls - A Magical Mystery

Introduction

Series’ Name - Alchemy of souls

Director’s Name - Park Joon-hwa

Writer’s Name - Hong Jung-eun, Hong Mi-ran

Genre - Fantasy, Romance, Action

Language - Korean

About the Drama

The appeal of fairy tales and fantasy media hinges on the pledge of performance. To sustain the bystander, you must sustain the myth, the magic. Netflix’s Korean drama Witchcraft of Souls, in its pursuit to achieve the same, creates an intricate drama that relishes in furnishing further comfort than conspiracy.

Divided into two seasons, Alchemy of Souls can be divided into multiple seasons. With both seasons totaling up to 30 episodes, each episode being more than an hour, the show packs in a long Ferris wheel lift, moving along the different emotional and magical plots it has to offer. In wanting to fill this mammoth of screentime, the show solicits a balancing act between two heavy plots: ill-destined love and a fantasy political suspense.

Written by the Hong sisters, who have preliminarily worked on other fantasy K- dramatizations similar to Hotel Del Luna, the story takes place in Daeho, “ a place that doesn't live in both history books or charts, ” and the Magicians that live there. inferring their magical capacities from the rudiments that compass, the Magicians of Daeho must abide by one pivotal rule not using their powers to shift souls from one body to another, also known as ‘ witchcraft of souls ’.

In the first part, which aired in June 2022, an ignominious killer Nak- su (Go Youn- jung) performs this spell to transfer her soul into that of an eyeless orphan Mu- deok (Jung So-min), to escape prisoner. A chance meeting with Jang Uk (Lee Jae- wook), heir at law to one of the four major magical dynasties and one who's unfit to conduct his capacities, renders her a master (to Jang Uk who threatens to expose her witchery if she doesn’t help him learn magic) and a menial (as a cover for giving Jang Uk assignments).

In the coming 20 episodes we see this dynamic, as Mu-deok, and Jang Uk deal with royal and fantastical messes. Still, to fulfill this show’s primary premise of love, each action is set up to ultimately conclude in a way that brings them closer or pushes them further piecemeal. In doing so, it stumbles in executing the parallelly running high-fantasy plot, which doesn’t fit in organically with its romantic beats.

The alternate part of the show, which began airing on December 10, 2022, comprises half the number of occurrences and is presently far sharper in its narrative than its precursor. Set three times after the thriller ending, the jotting of the alternate investiture does a significantly better job of tying its further mortal rudiments to its fantastical bones. Jang Uk, now in possession of the ice gravestone, has become a deified huntsman of those who practices soul-shifting.

Meanwhile, Nak-su undergoes her rejuvenation from the dead. While the more prominent theme continues to be Jang Uk and Nak-su’s love, which has always stood at a moral crossroads, the use of magic to hold up stereotyped themes of romantic craving( incorrect identity, memory loss, and so on) makes it a much more compelling follow- up.

The show, thus, particularly reaches its peak when it uses its magic to palliate mortal drama, keeping the magic essential to the conduct, consequences, and feelings. The second season also improves in its characteristics. While of course when a show has spent 20 episodes with a character, they're bound to feel lived in. But this time, their choices match up with the information we've on them. Nak- su, in the first part, was a fierce murderer, who had grown up in nature and was reviled by Daeho’s Magicians.

Still, once she shifts her soul into the frail body of Mudeok, frailty seeps into the jotting of the character as well. What's known of her determination, her nearly imperishable nature is in no way completely brought to the face again after the first occasion. In discrepancy, the content of a soul enwrapping a different body is given a much more tone-enquiring treatment in the rearmost occurrences. Following her rejuvenation, Nak- su’s struggle to attune her slapdash recollections of a once life to that of a new bone is foregrounded.

Personal Verdict

“My pupil, you have lost all your energy.” – Mudeok/Naksu

Alchemy of Souls is, at its heart, a demonstrably curious show that wants to poke around with emotional characterizations and stories. It’s the tale of a mama who successfully revived the same son doubly; it poses the question of what makes a person, and if the soul is only as strong as it remembers itself to be.

The show is curious, if not a little corny, in its treatment of life, death, and life after death, and one can’t help but wonder how the story would have been condemned if certain plots were given precedence. Nevertheless, it achieves what it set out to do to serve the followership with a love that gives you measured dolor, but in the end, envelops you in the comfort of a happy ending.

Written By - Soumi Chatterjee

Edited By - Riya Dabas