Profile: Drama: Alchemy of Souls (환혼) Network: tvN Episodes: 20 (Part 1) Release Date: June 18 – August 28, 2022 Runtime: Sat. & Sun. 21:10
Plot: A skilled assassin shifts her soul into a blind servant and meets Jang Uk, who is looking for a teacher who can unleash his powers trapped by his own father.
Main Cast Lee Jaewook – Jang Uk Jung Somin – Mudeok/Naksu Yoo Junsang – Park Jin Oh Nara – Maidservant Kim Hwang Minhyun – Seo Yul Go Yoonjung – Naksu Shin Seungho – Crown Prince Go Won Arin – Jin Cho Yeon Yoo Insoo – Park Danggu Park Eunhye – Lady Jin Ho gyeong Joo Sangwook – Jang Gang
Jo Jaeyoon – Jin Mu
Review: The first half was so boring, I didn’t know why people were raving about this show when it came out. I struggled to finish the show. The drama got interesting only starting ep 12. I think this should have been 16 eps and not 20.
I like the whole fantasy part about soul shifters and spells. Reminds me of Harry Potter since this drama also had different teams, except they used swords instead of wands, and Uk is like Harry Potter who didn’t know he was the boy that will save them all (or the boy with the King’s Star)
I like Mudeok/Naksu though sometimes I got annoyed when she uses her accent. She is brave and ruthless but she also learned to mature and love instead of becoming an assassin. I’m still confused about Buyeon, how can 2 souls reside in 1 body. They say Buyeon is controlling the body and yet when Naksu heard the bells, Buyeon couldn’t do anything. So I feel like writer is using Buyeon if they need a plot device. Will we ever get to meet the real Buyeon? Will people finally found out that Mudeok is really Buyeon and is the proper heir to the Jin tribe? I really wish Lady Jin meets her because she has been tormented long enough.
And why no one has ever suspected Mudeok to be Naksu when there are so many red flags about her! For supposedly powerful mages, they were all stupid except for Uk and Yul. And they can’t even capture Jinmu who is always one step ahead of them!
I love the master -pupil pair of Mudeok/ Jang Uk more than as lovers. I didn’t feel the romantic chemistry between Mudeok and Jang Uk, even when they finally confessed and kissed on episode 19 I didn’t feel anything. The only scene that stirred me was the end when Naksu stabbed Jang Uk and he died and Mudeok woke up and realized what she has done.
I think Naksu/Yul’s story were much better in terms of tragic romance. I think they had better chemistry than Uk. There were also several unnecessary side stories and too many characters. Like the thief girl. Yul is too pure to have even some sort of love line with her and she gave him the blood parasite!! I think it was supposed to keep him alive but the pain that he felt and she never even bothered to tell him so they can find a way to get it out of his bloodstream!
Cho Yeon/Danggu brought the cuteness in this show, as well as Park Jin and Maidservant Kim’s cat-dog relationship.
It was also a little unbelievable that 3 guys were fighting over Mudeok esp with the Crown Prince butting in all the time. He didn’t know she was Naksu and thought of her as a mere servant but kept stop meeting up with her. I also didn’t like the Crown Prince although I think he was meant to be arrogant. I also don’t know if he is going to be bad in part 2 since it looks like he has some sort of jealousy / competition with Uk. What will happen if he finds out Uk is the son of the late king?
I’m excited for season 2. I really hope it finishes the story well or else I will really be disappointed.
Rating: 8.25 (8 for first half, 8.5 for second half)
Profile: Drama: Love Between Fairy and Devil / Cang Lan Jue (苍兰诀) Country: China Episodes: 36 Aired: Aug 7, 2022 – Aug 29, 2022 Aired On: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday Original Network: iQiyi Duration: 45 min.
Plot: A fairy from a rival tribe unknowingly sets free the devil lord from the Moon tribe imprisoned for 30,000 years and swaps bodies with him. She ends up putting a curse on him where he can feel every thing she feels emotionally and physically. Devil Lord needs to keep her close and find a way to release the curse, but what happens when they end up falling in love?
Main Cast Dylan Wang – Dong Fang Qin Cang Esther Yu – Orchid/Xian Lan Hua/Goddess Zhang Ling He – Lord Changheng/Xiao Run Xu Hai Qiao – Lord Rong Hao Cristy Guo – Chidi Woman Charles Lin – Shang Que Hong Xiao – Jie Li Wang Yue Yi – Fairy Danyin Zhang Chen Xiao – Xunfeng
Review: I’ve never watched a xianxia- I always thought they looked fake and I’m not really into immortals and fairies. But I saw that this drama has Didi and Esther as the main leads so I thought I should check this out! And boy, I’m so glad I did! This drama totally surpassed my expectations!! I was just looking for a light cutesy romcom drama but I ended up having so much more.
Gorgeous visuals. How much did they spend for the CGI because every scene was so beautiful! The Arbiter Hall, The Moon Palace, the Memory Loss River, the Immortals Realm, etc. Even that scene where Changheng went inside the painting with Rong Hao was so good.
Beautiful costumes. Orchid was always wearing beautiful flowy dresses and her hair accessories are so pretty. DFCQ’s costumes are also splendid, so are Lord Changheng and Ronghao’s costumes. Their wedding costumes in Lucheng were also so gorgeous. The only cringy items are their acrylic looking or gold looking hairpieces that look cheap.
Grand display of power. I loved it every time DFQC used his blue Hellfire – it didn’t look fake and you really feel that he’s the most powerful being in the realm. Even the glazed fire was so shocking. Also everytime DFQC shows up in the earlier episodes to rescue Orchid was wonderfully done. The Goddess of Xilan, when she finally showed her powers to rescue DFQC in one scene, and to stop the battle between the Immortals and Moon Tribe was awesome.
Romantic Comedy. In the first half, Orchid was cute and adorable while DFQC was the unsmiling jerk. There were several light and funny scenes, like when DFQC had to count flowers, laugh and cry while Orchid was laughing and crying. The body swap scenes where Orchid in DFQC’s body was forcibly trying to kiss DFQC in Orchid’s body to swap bodies.
“Not only will I not kill you, I also won’t allow anyone to hurt you. If anyone dares to touch you, I’ll cut their skin off and make a human lantern out of it. From now on, you’re mine. Your life belongs to me. Your breathing belongs to me. Your heartbeat belongs to me. Every drop of blood in your body belongs to me. Without my permission, don’t leave my sight.”
Eternal Love. By episode 20, Orchid and DFQC are still not together, but not because they don’t like each other, but because of their current situation. DFQC’s mission is to kill everyone in Shuyuantian to avenge the wrong treatment of Orchid and to restore the Moon Tribe like he promised his father and his tribe. Orchid is from Shuyuantian and even though she loves DFQC, she doesn’t want him to start a war and kill her hometown. The angst. Omg! I was crying whenever they had to argue about this. And that scene where DFQC put the bone crushing thing inside his body which causes him pain every midnight until he is able to release the frozen Moon Tribe and Orchid’s helplessness in the situation.
The argument scene when Orchid wants to take the 3 day punishment in DFQC’s place to show the people that she deserves to be the Moon Queen, and DFQC pretending to drink the tea and secretly vomiting it so that he feels the same pain as Orchid. I was bawling like crazy!! I’ve never watched a drama where the main leads were really fighting for each other and willing to sacrifice their lives.
When Orchid learns of her true identity and tries to pretend she doesn’t remember DFQC but makes a mistake of doing the Smile gesture that gave away the truth, and DFQC kissing her like there’s no tomorrow.
Ugh!! I still can’t move on from the final episode where **BIG SPOILERS AHEAD** DFCQ sacrificed himself. Such a significant character growths for both the main leads. Of course, I wasn’t too bothered with the sacrifice. They are immortals, so I thought they can just come back / reincarnate or whatever. DFCQ carefully planting and taking care of Orchid’s seed and Orchid taking care of DFQC’s moon spirit until he comes back (after 500 years but that’s fast considering they’ve lived for more than 30,000 years).
Noble Second Male Lead. Lord Changheng was so nice, I wouldn’t have minded Orchid being with Changheng without DFQC. Changheng also had a sad fate. He is engaged to the goddess that he has never seen, falls in love with Orchid, and hiding his feelings for her because he is engaged to the goddess, not knowing that they are the same person!! When he finally founds out the truth, Orchid has already fallen in love with DFQC. Later when Orchid is the Goddess and wants to pushthrough with their wedding even if Changheng knows she doesn’t love him. Aw poor boy can’t catch a break. And his best friend Rong Hao betrays him and everyone in Shuyuantian.
Wonderful Bromance. DFCQ and the loyal Shang Que. DFQC and the mortal Xiao Run which later became a bond with Lord Changheng. Lord Changheng and Ronghao (tragic but still a good bromance). DFQC and Xunfeng.
Rich Side Stories. There were so many other stories aside from the main leads’ story, which extended the episodes into 36. We have the love story between Shang Que and Jie Li, which I honestly do not approve of. I think Shang Que deserves a better girl than Jie Li, although I also like Jie Li’s dilemma of following Haishi or protecting her friends.
The Lu Cheng episodes where the immortals all went down to the mortal realm were a huge treat. Chidi Woman and Orchid’s friendship. Chidi Woman’s crush on DFQC. I think the poem came true, that Chidi was supposed to meet DFQC that night, get married and was killed by DFQC. She wasn’t meant to be with Changheng like they all think. I think Chidi woman had the saddest story of all the characters (Changheng comes second).
Changheng and Danyin’s friendship. I was hoping they end up together but I guess they are really just friends. Plus Li Yuan’s big reveal about Danyin being a half Moon Tribe (which she never knows) and finding out Danyin and Jieli are sisters (they look so different from each other though – aren’t they supposed to be twins or something).
Evil Bad Guys. Show’s not complete without the villains. For the most part, the villain is Rong Hua/Lord of Haishi City who has been wreaking havoc across the realms to reincarnate his beloved mentor Chidi woman. I liked in the first half because although he is bad, you can sympathize with him and his mission of wanting to bring back his beloved at all costs. But I think what he did in the latter half was too much and the last episode spent a lot of time on him and Chidi woman was unnecessary. We want less Rong Hao, more Orchid/DFQC scenes and he just took most of the time away from the could have been a very happy ending.
I also think Lord Yunzhong is a big annoying immortal who keeps abusing his power and blaming every mistake to Changheng or Orchid.
There’s an even bigger baddie in Tai Sui which serves as the climax of the drama.
Of course, there’s no perfect drama and LBFD also suffered slightly from this. i already mentioned what I didn’t like – Shang Que and Danyin, too much screentime for Rong Hao in the last episode (we didn’t need to know his background story and we don’t really care). The last scene could have been extended for maybe 10 more minutes so we could have seen Orchid and DFQC happy and possibly with kids in the future. We didn’t get the best ending but I’ll just go back to that previous episode when they DFQC was in a dream that he and Orchid were happy and pretend like that’s the real ending.
This is showing in Netflix today so please do not miss this wonderful drama!
Profile: Drama: From Now On Showtime! (지금부터 쇼타임!) Network: MBC Episodes: 16 Release Date: April 23 – June 12, 2022 Runtime: Saturday & Sunday 20:40 Country: South Korea
Plot: A magician and policewoman reluctantly work together to solve crimes.
Main Cast Park Hae Jin – Cha Cha Woong Jin Ki Joo – Go Seul Hae Jung Junho – Choi Geom Lee Dong Ha – Hae Chun Moo Jung Suk Yong – Nam Sang Goon Ko Kyu Pil – Ma Dong Chul Park Seo Yeon – Kang Areum
Review: This drama had everything I love in a Kdrama – romcom, comedy, ghosts, murder, creepy killer, new found family, magic, and they managed to squeeze in a little sageuk in the story too. Whew! Too many things happening but I loved the seamless transition of each scene. The sageuk went for 2.5 episodes if i remember correctly, it was like watching a drama within a drama. 2.5 episodes were too long though, they could have kept the past life story at 2 episodes max and more time for the last episode.
Great ensemble cast, from the grumpy ML, charming FL, funny ghost gang and fanboy spirit. I loved their interactions and team work. Esp when they were showing how they did their magic tricks. The drama also showed the background story of the 3 ghosts and I was crying when they finally had to leave and enter Nirvana. I was also surprised at Choi Geom’s story – didn’t expect it all and Cha Woong was just right to get angry at his betrayal and secrecy!
I also loved the romance between Cha Woong and Seulhae, I guess sharing the past, they just knew they were meant to be together. I actually sometimes like their past selves more than their current selves because their love was just so tragic. and Princess Chunhwa was so pretty, no wonder Hae Chunmoo felt in love and couldn’t let go even after 2,000 years!
The episodic cases were light while the initial villain (Ahn Chang Hwan) was so creepy and scary. I mostly ignored Hee Soo, i think he wasn’t a good SML as he could have been. He was just there but didn’t really do much.
Yeji was mostly irritating for being too money hungry but she made up for it by helping Cha Woong in the end. Wished her character was given more chance to shine as a great shaman in the making rather than showing her being petty. I thought the boyfriend deserved a nicer girl than Yeji but Yeji also turned out to be super nice when she dropped her money hungry act.
The final episode wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping it to be since it felt rushed. The evil spirit was so annoying at this point with his obsession for Chunhwa when she was never his. And him jumping from one body to another was too much. But I got it — it made sense he jumped to Heesoo (SML turned bad), to Heesoo’s dad (he finally got the what he deserved for lying all these years), then to Seulhae (to test Cha Woong).
Profile: Drama: One and Only Original Network: iQiyi, Tencent Video Aired: Aug 18, 2021 – Aug 27, 2021 (Wed, Thur, Fri) Episodes: 24 Duration: 45 min. Country: China
Main Cast: Allen Ren – Zhousheng Chen Bai Lu – Cui Shi Yi Wang Xing Yue – Liu Zi Xing Li Yi Ru – General Hong Ethan Yao – Cui Feng Su Meng Yun – Feng Qiao Zhou Lu La – Xiao Yan Liu Wei Wei – Cui Wen Jun
Review: I heard a lot of great reviews about this drama last year that’s why I really put this on my watchlist. Finally had the time to watch in Dec 2021. This story started slow, I almost dropped at episode 6 but glad I listened and kept on watching. I did however, take several weeks until I was able to finish this. I couldn’t wait until ZSC and Shiyi’s romance starts (which was around episode 10) and I was hooked since then.
Zhousheng Chen and Shiyi’s forbidden love was heartbreaking! They never even held hands or kissed or confessed their love, but every gaze and every tear showed how much they long for each other and wished that things were different. I loved their “dates” and how they just connected so well and knew what each other wanted to do or say without telling the other person. One of my favorite episodes were during the time ZSC and Shiyi stayed in Long Kang Academy. It was there that they really started to feel more than just master-disciple. That scene when ZSC was kneading (?) her shoulders was filled with so much tension, and they weren’t even naked or hugging each other. Huan Yu (and later on Shiyi) asked ZSC if he ever regrets making his vow not to have a family. But he said every decision he made was worth it. Huhu. He is faithful, loyal, courageous, but also stubborn. I remember even when ZSC was set up, Feng Qiao cried to ZSC, “for once, just be selfish!”, but he still refused to yield.
Bailu also so pretty as Shiyi and when she cries, I can feel every emotion — when she hugged him so tightly because she was getting married to the Prince and knew she will never be with ZSC, when she found out his death, I was crying with her!!, and when she jumped to her own death 😭 OMG!!! I couldn’t stop crying in the last 3 episodes! 😭 Especially the final episode. I had to watch her final scene 3x and still I cried. I understand how she felt. What’s life without ZSC? Without freedom? Trapped inside the palace by a selfish prince? As long as she lived and refused the prince (now king) advances, her family will always be threatened. I think she took a courageous decision. In modern times, suicide is not the answer, but during the old times, someone always had to sacrifice themselves for the greater good and to achieve peace. Gah!! I just feel sad that Zhousheng Chen and Shiyi never saw each other for the last time before their deaths. ZSC’s final letter to Shiyi was the final thing that broke Shiyi’s spirit “Throughout my life, I never let down anyone except Shiyi.”
I wasn’t that interested in the politics, esp in the early parts where they introduced so many characters, I was getting confused who was who, who was siding with which family, and what they were fighting for. I hated the empress dowager and pushing her off the lake to drown wasn’t enough to punish her for all her crimes, including killing the emperor. She should have been beheaded or displayed in from of the capital. It was during these episodes that I started to like the politics side of the story, and this intensified and the story became thrilling starting from episode 16. But of course, there were too many collateral damage from the struggle for the throne. the emperor died, the grandmaster died, the loyal general was forced to betray the Nanchen army, 2 of Nanchen’s generals were injured, and 1 died.
One of the best things about this drama is the focus on the Junior Prince Nanchen army team. Let me break down the key characters in ZSC’s army:
I loved the story between Cui Feng and General Hong. It was also a forbidden love kind of romance. When Gen Hong cried when Cui Feng had to marry Princess Xinghua, when she learned that they got divorced, Cui Feng and Gen Hong were already planning to stay together. But then Cui Feng got kidnapped by Jin Rong’s army and she almost had to kill Cui Feng (as promised — good thing ZSC arrived in time to stop the arrow), and Cui Feng crying when General Hong was killed during a battle. It was funny though that there were so many troops attacking them but Cui Feng, Feng Qiao stopped to hug and cry over Gen Hong, while ZSC was left alone to fend off the attacks from all fronts.
Other characters I liked were Xiao Yan (the monk), although I didn’t like his interactions/semi flirtations with Feng Qiao. I find Feng Qiao annoying and dense sometimes – she couldn’t read the room and always looked clueless. I also loved Prince Pingqin, who was loyal to Western State and Shiyi, and was ready to take her away in the last episode. Huan Yu from the Long Kang Academy was a cutie with long straight flowing hair and small dimples. He tried so hard to play cupid between ZSC and Shiyi; and I also liked Gen Chou. You know what? I love everyone in the Western State. The whole Nanchen army were so loyal and dedicated to ZSC. It’s so unfair ZSC had to die of dismemberment 😵 when he was the only one who didn’t want to partake in the throne grabbing. Special mention to Yang Shao, who I thought was one of those annoying characters, but he redeemed himself later on by helping ZSC and Shiyi in their final moments.
The person i hated the most was Luo Zi Xing. First, he had this weird obsession with Shiyi just because he grew up being told he is arranged to be married to her. He doesn’t know her at all, but thinks he loves her and he felt unfair that the engagement was cancelled. I thought he treated her more like a possession than a human being. If he really loved her, he would have tried to understand her and not trap her into a marriage that made her unhappy. But in the end I dont feel bad at all or angry at him. Because of his hunger for power, he killed the Liu family (his relatives), Shiyi killed herself, he barely enjoyed being the king because he died young, sad and alone, and without an heir.
And now I’m off to watch the sequel Forever and Ever 🥰
KDrama Dreaming 