thoughts on the alchemy of souls franchise

i was bawling my eyes out for the majority of the final episode scenes. midway, i honestly thought a happy ending would no longer be possible. uk & yeong were genuinely happily spending their limited time in danhyanggok, but this just made me cry :(((( plus, that scene wherein park jin had to close the door to jinyowon so that no more relics would escape, but had to sacrifice her wife for that matter :((((( & that scene where yeong said i love you while recalling her last moment as mudeok :(((((((( & died afterwards. felt so much loneliness for jang uk :((((((((( he’s all alone now. tears wouldn’t stop flowing at this point.

things i love about the whole series
1. they showed that love transcends the physical appearance. jang uk loved cho yeong as mudeok, the one he first fell in love with, & as buyeon, the girl whose memory was wiped & asked him to be her husband.
2. during the first episodes of season 2 i was dreading that jang uk learns of jin buyeon’s true identity asap. i was kinda irritated with how hostile he was towards her. i could not understand why they would reveal her identity at the latter episodes. at some point, jang uk fell in love with jin buyeon & i came to understand the reason for this. the hong sisters wanted to show that jang uk loved both versions of cho yeong. they didn’t want jang uk liking jin buyeon (cho yeong) only because she was mudeok, but for what she truly is, or what she could have been if jinmu didn’t raise her as an assassin.
3. the whole character arc of crown prince go. i’m sooo glad they didn’t turn him evil because he was such a lovely character. + the yeong & crown prince dynamic!!
4. seo yul!! also glad they didn’t follow the second lead-turning-bad-at-the-latter-episodes arc. he was innately good
5. storyline-wise, i love how it was written. there’s so much to unpack in the drama—the foreshadowing, the plot, the characters. it was all soooo well-written.
6. am not a fan of fantasy dramas because, i guess, the editing looks all so weird to me. but i love the cinematography on this one.

kudos to the hong sisters. this was a drama for the books. 100/10. probably my favorite drama of the year!!

Read More