Alchemy of Souls

Reminiscent of the k-drama Crash Landing on You, in that it's a love story with charming and very competent actors. I'm sure I'm missing some relevant cultural context, but I find this series, through the first eight available episodes, thoroughly enjoyable, a needed escape. Accolades to the director who allows the actors to showcase both their individual charisma, and their chemistry with each other as they glide seemingly effortlessly through this light hearted escape.

Oh this series, I am in love with this. After long long time a Kdrama to get me hooked.

The best thing of this show is How interesting the character of Lee Jae - Wook's is. I mean you expect typical historical/ Joeson character but no, he is completely different with great comic timing and seriousness when its needed.

His flirting scenes with Mu Deok is so subtle.

One more thing to add here, apart from the good CGI and different story, is that unlike every other historical show there is no rush to make lead couple fall in love immediately. Its new take on historical show. They hate, they curse, they fight, there are moments between them. I like it.

Last but not the least, the female lead - Jung So Min's character is very strongly built and it is not getting faded in the course of romance. Loving it.

A little spoiler which is not spoiler at all - It is very funny to watch that everytime she wants to help him she puts both of them in danger.

Once in a while you come across a hidden jewel which outshines everything around. This is one of those gems which is par excellence. A must see, it has twists and turns, plots and sub plots, just when you think you've figured out the plot it goes into a totally unexpected dimension.

Don't understand a word of the language but the subtitles are very well done.

Moreover its got superb acting by all the main characters.

For me it's been the fantasy series of the year so far.

A magnificent fusion of adventure, fantasy, comedy and romance. Koreans, at their current rate, will dominate the world of entertainment in a very short time. Just stay away from the increasingly weakened and irritating contemporary Hollywood formula. If Netflix has any sense, it will only finance the projects, leaving the Koreans to do, with complete independence, the works that are increasingly delighting audiences around the world. In South Korea, artistic talents erupt in profusion, names like Park Eun-bin, Park Min-Young, Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Gin are becoming easier to memorize in the western world every day. The screenwriters and directors demonstrate extreme competence in works that capture you from the very first chapters. Alchemy of Souls is no different, the beautiful and talented protagonist couple, Jung So-Min (Mu-Deok) and Lee Jae-Wook (Jang UK) get involved and involve the viewer in a story, which always leaves you wanting the next episode and who knows, a new season. Remembering that new seasons are very rare in the Korean industry.

Season 1 (10/10): The first season is a really good season, probably the best historical/fanatasy drama I have ever seen. The storyline is just really unique and pulls you in fairly quickly. The balance between comedy, romance and action is just perfect. The characters are all really charismatic and interesting. You get to see many different stories develop through the characters and you grow to love most of them. My favorite thing about this series are the visuals. The whole series is just like eye-candy. I could honestly watch this series just because of the visually pleasing scenes. The graphics are amazing as well. And the soundtrack really just pulls it all together.

Season 2 (7.5/10): The second season continued with the great visuals, but something just felt a little off compared to the first season. The first episode in this season was a great starter, but episodes 2-7 weren't honestly that interesting. I feel like the story only started to take off in episodes 8-10. Don't get me wrong, the second season was still decent, but it just didn't live up to the same standard as the first one.