It’s about one week away from the premiere of tvN fantasy sageuk drama Alchemy of Souls (Korean title Returning Soul) and I remain as perplexed as ever what to expect. But if I dig into the Hong Sisters oeuvre this drama probably has a Hong Gil Dong vibe, start off all comedic and neato before transitioning midway to mega serious and ending with rocks falls down. I’m good with the progression except for a rocks fall down ending, let’s never do that again m’kay Hong Sisters. But Jung So Min and Lee Jae Wook are also not as naturally seamless together as I had hoped, their interactions from the teasers set up their bickering and snarky relationship but the chemistry isn’t jumping off the screen (yet) for me. If Minhyun as the second male lead has a great character then this may turn into a second lead ship for me but it’s yet early to tell.
New teaser for Alchemy of Souls:
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I'm so confused by the setting for this drama. Is it supposed to be historical? But some of the styling is completely modern tho? or are we supposed to take this as completely fantastical? I guess my brain is just not able to compute the drama's concept of fusion historical and modern elements for now lmao
Ditto
It's supposed to be a fusion sageuk with fantasy elements (sort of like medieval fantasy), but they have incorporated more modern aesthetics, which is something the Hong Sisters did with their previous work in the same genre. I remember in their drama, Hong Gil Dong, the eponymous hero wore brown sunglasses which were trendy back in the noughties, despite it happening in the Joseon Era. There was also a reference to Internet chatting.
Hong sisters' work is very polarising for me. Giving this a try for Somin's sake. Not feeling anything yet coz teasers can be deceptive.
I feel like the quality of their dramas alternate. If their last drama was good, then the following drama is not and vice versa. I'm not getting my hopes up for this one because their last drama, Hotel De Luna was one of their good dramas but hopefully will be pleasantly surprised.
I'm not convinced by the modern vibe. I know it's a fantasy drama in a created world, but it's weird.
The plot is not very clear for now. Her soul is stuck in a weak body, it's all. There will be 20 very long episodes, so I hope they know what they're doing.
I think there is a "big bad" in the plot, Jin Mu, played by Jo Jaeyoon. He's described as an ambitious character from a matriarchal clan (same family as Arin and Park Eun-hye's characters), and he works for the royal family and his job is to observe and record celestial energy(?). And in earlier news, it's said he perfected forbidden dark magic. Yet I'm kind of scared it's going to turn out like Hwayugi when the menace takes form in later episodes.
I'm just excited to watch #JungSoMin in this fantasy romance drama #AlchemyOfSouls as it seems there are so many twists and turns. I want to see how #JungSoMin plays two different roles.
Idk why but I’m always scared when any of my favs do a Hong Sister’s drama! :/ I really like the leads! Praying it’s not anything like’Big’..... lol
This show looks so damn weird. A sure flop if I've ever seen one...