Latest / Daebak K-Rambles Podcast: K-drama Reviews / Alchemy of Souls, Non-Spoilers - Part 1 | K-drama Review / Ep. 34

Transcript

Alchemy of Souls, Non-Spoilers - Part 1 | K-drama Review / Ep. 34 · Daebak K-Rambles Podcast: K-drama Reviews

0:13
Hey, this is Jess and thanks for joining us for our deep dive
0:16
review on Alchemy of souls, my guests.
0:19
And I actually had a lot to say, and we ended up recording a
0:22
three hour long episode, but instead of cutting it down, we
0:25
just decided to release it in two parts.
0:28
This first part is the usual nonsense.
0:30
On spoiler section of every debauch review.
0:32
The next episode will be exclusively all spoiler talk.
0:36
Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.
1:00
I'm Jessica and this is Deborah. Kerr Rambles were a couple of
1:03
friends review Korean dramas, welcome to another episode.
1:07
I have with me two of my very good friends.
1:10
Really? You guys have become wonderful
1:12
friends. It feels like it's a family
1:14
reunions. I have Oreo.
1:16
And Nas from the soul, Sistas podcast.
1:18
How are you guys? I'm good.
1:22
Thank you for having us back. So happy.
1:25
Yes, I'm just running it feel like we're recording anymore.
1:28
This is just a family reunions. So it does.
1:31
It feels very natural when I'm with you guys and we'll be
1:34
talking about alchemy of souls today, in its entirety.
1:38
All 30 episodes would be talking about it in the non-spoiler
1:42
section and spoiler section. And the way that this came about
1:46
really fast was that I was talking with you guys on social
1:49
media about About the show and that's just right thing.
1:54
I was ready to now, as I really was ranting tune as because a
1:59
lot of the qualms that I had with the shown as agreed with
2:02
me, and then after the fact, after like, I finished venting
2:07
nozzles like, yeah. So already likes the show and I
2:10
was like, oh my God, that that point I was like, you guys had.
2:14
We have to, you know, what we have to do a whole episode on
2:17
Alchemy of souls, it is sucked. Been such a journey And it's
2:22
been so huge all over social media, and I thought it would
2:26
just be wonderful, to have multiple perspectives, somebody
2:29
who liked it, some who didn't. And then me, who will?
2:33
I don't, I don't want to say nothing right now because, but
2:36
anyway, I thought it would be a really interesting episode.
2:39
So I'm so thrilled that you guys said yes to coming on and stay
2:44
tuned though, because I will also be on your guys's.
2:49
How come you have souls episode? Yeah.
2:51
See you guys will be covering I think the second season and I am
2:55
thrilled. So honored to go on and talk
2:58
with you guys even more about, alchemy of souls.
3:00
So stay tuned for that. Be paying attention to the Soul
3:02
Sisters podcast feed. So, before we get started, if
3:06
this is your first time listening, go ahead and
3:07
subscribe on your favorite podcast app, where everywhere
3:10
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3:12
And if you like us, please give us a review on Apple podcasts
3:15
and Spotify that goes such a long way for us and you can come
3:19
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3:21
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3:24
Talk to me. You can find us on Twitter,
3:28
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3:31
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3:34
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3:36
get so much extra content. I'm constantly posting on there
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and it's just a great way for you to get involved.
3:44
And you can check out the page patreon.com/lenguin as critic
3:47
pod and thank you to our patrons, Janet Curtis bail, see.
3:50
Cindy, CD and Grace. You guys are wonderful.
3:53
Thank you so much for supporting us and without further Ado we're
3:56
going to get into Alchemy of souls Season, 1 Part 1, however
4:01
you want to call it and part 2, light and Shadow.
4:05
So I'm gonna get ya. We're here.
4:08
So this has been a long time. You guys, I don't think anybody
4:11
knows but this has been a long time coming.
4:13
I've been talking about this for a few weeks and if again, it
4:16
feels like there's a lot of ground to cover.
4:18
So let's buckle up everybody. We're gonna give you a real one.
4:22
It's gonna be a long one. So mind Ramallah synopsis for
4:28
Alchemy of souls, I'll just read the part one synopsis which I
4:31
feel is a little bit better than the party schnapps is, so it
4:35
reads set in a fictional country called they ho that does not
4:37
exist in history on maps. It is about the love and growth
4:40
of young Mages, as they've overcome, their Twisted Fates
4:42
due. To a forbidden magic spell known
4:45
as the Alchemy of Souls, which allows souls to switch bodies.
4:48
It follows the story of an elite assassin named Knox.
4:51
Whoo-hoo soul is accidentally trapped inside the weak body of
4:53
Moodle. Sang-mook servant from a
4:55
powerful and Noble Mage family in the country.
4:58
The young Master of the Jeong family, Jungle Book holds a dark
5:01
secret about his scandalous birth.
5:03
He wants the formidable assassin to help change his Destiny.
5:07
So part one aired from June to August 20 22, it's a summer show
5:13
and part 2 aired from December to January 20, 23 a winter show
5:17
and I feel like the show's part 1 and part 2 Seemed like those
5:22
vibes. Like part one seems like a
5:24
summer Vibe summer show and partner.
5:27
All of a sudden? Yes, well this was very kind.
5:30
Yeah this is very common for some K dramas where they feel
5:33
like the season. If they come out in the
5:35
wintertime they're set in the wintertime they feel a little
5:38
more you know gloomy or whatever more introspective and
5:42
definitely part to feels like a winter show Just Having come off
5:47
part 2. It definitely feels more
5:50
wintery. So part one is 20 episodes long
5:53
and part two is ten episodes long.
5:56
I think a lot of people who are following outcomes of souls know
5:59
that I think halfway through part one they announced that
6:04
they were going to do a part two with 10 episodes and that was
6:08
like a whole thing that sent everyone into a tizzy.
6:11
It is directed by Park chunhua, he directed Parts one and two,
6:17
he's directed things. Like touch your heart from 2019.
6:21
What's wrong with secretary Kim? Which you know we've done a day
6:24
Buck episode on that for sure. Because this is my first life
6:28
with junk some in. So this is not the first time
6:30
that he's worked with Jung somin.
6:32
Bring it on ghost from 2016. Let's eat.
6:36
I think he did too. Let's eat first two seasons of,
6:38
let's eat, and then ugly, yoga seasons one through eleven.
6:41
So that's like some sort of weekend drama or something with
6:45
lots of Seasons, so he's done quite a lot, very famous like, S
6:51
of life and romance. Dramas.
6:54
So that's something to note. Yeah, part and yes, it's kind of
6:59
like clicking in right there. You're like, oh, the director is
7:03
really good at directing romance, so I definitely thought
7:07
the hung sisters directed as well.
7:08
So this is news to me. Yes.
7:11
So we'll get to them in a minute.
7:12
So, baek Hyun Jin, is credited as also being a co-director for
7:16
part 2. I have no idea if it's a man or
7:18
woman I have no idea what else they have directed So take that
7:22
with a grain of salt. I don't know if you had, I don't
7:24
know if in reality had a co-director for part 2, but it
7:26
seems like there should be some sort of assistant director or be
7:31
director, you know, be crew for other shots and different Side
7:36
characters or whatever, because the director can't be everywhere
7:39
all at once. So right, it might make more
7:41
sense for there to be a co-director for part two.
7:44
But who knows this show was written by the Hong sisters.
7:48
We have home jungin and hung me Ron Mmm, they are very famous
7:53
writing, Duo that have written a lot of kdramas.
7:58
So I'm going to go into a little bit of their filmography and
8:01
we're going to sit really quick with the Hong sisters so we can
8:06
talk this out. So Hong sisters.
8:08
They've been writing since the mid-2000s early 2000s.
8:12
They've written stuff like sassy girl, chewing gum from 2005.
8:16
My girl, from 2005 to 2006, I think A girl has EG from moon
8:24
lovers and yeah. And then my girl also Stars, oh
8:30
my God. He was in touch your heart and
8:33
God, I woke you don't look. So he's the main guy in my girl.
8:37
Oh yeah you're beautiful from 2009.
8:42
Was a very major drama that has oh my God.
8:45
What's her name? She is from production.
8:49
Hey Park Shin Hye Yes, thank you so much for filling in the gaps
8:52
here. Epoxy, Nate and some other
8:55
famous people as well in that show.
8:57
That's 2009. And then, we hit my girlfriend
9:01
is a Gumiho from 2010 and that's Eason ghee.
9:05
And here's the plot really fast. A singie gets caught up with
9:07
Shin Mina who is a Gumiho AKA and nine tailed fox and this is
9:12
similar to like the Gumiho itself is similar to the Chinese
9:17
who Lee Jin Jing and the Japanese Kitsune.
9:21
Very similar creatures in mythology.
9:24
So keep that in the back of your mind, the greatest love from
9:29
2011. I ended up dropping the show and
9:33
when I watched it I drop that show.
9:35
Yeah. Wikipedia says a story about a
9:38
true but true love in the fake world of entertainment.
9:42
So I dropped it naturally. That's one thing that has been
9:47
on my list for a while. Yeah.
9:48
Like yeah. I don't, I probably wouldn't
9:52
recommend some people love it. Like, yeah, give it a shot but I
9:56
dropped it somewhere like for me and I was not, it was not for
9:59
me. So next, they have big in 2012.
10:03
This stars going you going, it's a body swap drama.
10:07
So teenager ends up in the body of going you.
10:09
That drama is very famous. For it's terrible ending.
10:14
Like the writing and that one. I hated it.
10:18
I hate. It was a wonderful concept.
10:21
Wonderful concept. They didn't know how to end it
10:23
and it's very famous that that end upsetted.
10:26
So many people. Yeah, yeah.
10:29
So I remember going through that ordeal with big so then they
10:35
have found some earlier. Mmm.
10:40
I don't love you. Love you just love you.
10:45
Okay? So then we have the master's son
10:48
from 2013. This is a woman who sees ghosts,
10:51
so now they're kind of doubling up on some of these fantasy
10:54
kdramas, they did the Gumi. Oh, they did a body Swap and now
10:59
they've done ghosts. Yeah, then they did warm and
11:02
cozy in 2015 which is a Twist on the Fable of The Ant and the
11:05
grasshopper which is from Aesop's Fables.
11:09
And that was kind of more grounded.
11:11
Even though was based on like a fantasy fantasy story, then you
11:16
have a Korean Odyssey and I guess we should stop here for a
11:20
minute because good for Korean Odyssey from 2017.
11:24
I think the other name is why Yugi.
11:27
Yeah, it's a romantic fantasy based on the Chinese novel
11:31
Journey to the West, Eason Gigi again.
11:35
Back in the mix, he's worked with a hung sisters, a bunch of
11:37
times. He's back.
11:38
I'm Plays an immortal monkey spirit and I'm only on.
11:41
So who plays a woman with Second Sight and she turns out to be no
11:45
ordinary human whatever. I drop this one too.
11:48
I just like the way a lot of people will be like, oh I love a
11:53
Korean Odyssey and I'm like more power to you because I dropped
11:59
this one did not like it at all and it wasn't until recently
12:05
that I saw some people commenting on night, two talks,
12:07
about alchemy, Souls and Hong sisters and stuff.
12:10
They were like, yeah, they've been caught up in so many
12:13
plagiarism scandals and cultural appropriation scandals and I was
12:17
like beg pardon because I didn't know that Korean Odyssey was
12:24
based on Journey to the West until people started commenting.
12:29
And they were like, oh yeah. They're so what it.
12:32
How do you guys feel about some of this?
12:36
Controversy because I feel like it's sort of warranted a little
12:41
bit a little bit because Journey to the West is like, that's
12:46
purely Chinese, right? Yeah, I don't know if we have
12:49
anything here in the west that kind of does the same thing.
12:53
Like feels as steeped in the culture that if some other
12:59
country or culture tries to do it, we would feel a certain type
13:04
of way. So Just something to think
13:07
about. I'm not saying they did or
13:10
didn't but that is just something to keep in the back of
13:14
your head. And then most recently Hong
13:16
sisters, wrote Hotel Del Luna from 2019 which is a dark
13:20
fantasy a hotel for ghosts. Basically is the concept of that
13:23
one. So you can see that they kind of
13:26
dive the more they got into the present day, the closer we're
13:29
getting to Alchemy of Souls and they have basically cut their
13:34
teeth on a lot of Fantasy kdramas, right?
13:38
The only one that I truly recommend from the bottom of my
13:41
heart is the master son. I love that show, I love that
13:46
show the rest, I could say, gir girlfriend is a Gumiho is pretty
13:51
good. It's just basic like basic
13:55
rom-com hijinks you know might be a little dated because it's
13:59
from 2010 but you know, in general I like that one.
14:04
You're beautiful which were also Going to cover on season four of
14:08
them back. Well I like I like that one too
14:11
but that was ridiculous. Like you have to walk into it
14:14
and be like this is ridiculous. You know, like she said I think
14:19
it was a packed unit takes over her, brother's spot in a Kpop
14:25
band. Okay.
14:27
Yes, that's so it's like a She's the Man midst you know.
14:32
Twelfth Night, sort of situation Twelfth Night right, where
14:36
nobody knows that it's a woman, it playing a man or whatever.
14:40
So gender swap, right drama, it's stupid, it's ridiculous.
14:46
It's somehow like, you know, it works.
14:50
And other than that, I think I would not recommend some of the
14:54
recent stuff from the Hong sisters.
14:58
So I'm curious like how, what is your relationship with the
15:02
Sisters dramas? Have you?
15:03
Like Dove deep on some of these have you watched some of these
15:07
like what was your experience watching?
15:09
Because I feel like that is a huge bit of alchemy of Souls and
15:14
there was a lot of talk online and especially on Tick-Tock I
15:17
felt like nobody knew who the Han sisters were.
15:20
Oh wow right not really I wasn't really familiar with their work
15:24
because I haven't seen none of any of these things and I know
15:27
you mentioned you had a conversation with nests but one
15:30
part two are and Man, you had a conversation and I was asking
15:33
you. I was like, do the Hong sisters?
15:35
Usually do this at you. Like yeah, I'll get into that
15:38
later. All the stuff that she's just
15:40
because I actually told me as I was like, now I see what just
15:44
was talking about. But when you like, broke down
15:48
your feelings about the hung sisters and then I will go into
15:50
it later. Yeah.
15:52
How the rest of alchemy are told, I was like, okay.
15:55
Now I understand and even just with this, I'm like, okay,
15:58
everything is kind of Florence together and making sense with
16:00
their work. Which I don't know if it's a
16:03
good or bad thing. Exactly.
16:06
It's up to interpretation for sure.
16:07
There's no right or wrong. Answer whether right there.
16:10
Just kind of mining fantasy stuff from ancient literature
16:21
and Old Concepts like ghosts. I feel like we in the states
16:28
don't really care that much about ghost stories other than
16:30
like, I don't know, Casper or, you know what I'm saying?
16:34
No more activity or some paranormal activities in the
16:37
paranormal movies. But we don't have like shows
16:41
about ghosts. You know, people who seek ghosts
16:44
and stuff like that. Does that make sense?
16:47
Yeah, yeah I think the relationship is goes and stuff.
16:49
It's different. It's that show on CBS actually
16:52
call. All ghosts actually isn't the
16:54
one with the ghosts in them in the Mansion or the house.
16:57
Yes. And it, is it there from there
16:59
from all different? Eras.
17:00
Yes, Viking 1. And there's like, there's like
17:03
what sorts of yeah. Is that an American remake of
17:06
the British show or is it just the British show airing on
17:09
American television? It's an American show so maybe
17:12
it so it's a remake it's a yeah, I'd never the British.
17:15
Oh, oh my God, you should watch a British one.
17:18
That is really funny, like some of the best comedy I've seen in
17:21
television, period. Is that show in the the British
17:25
one though? Yeah.
17:26
Anyway, that's a big tip. Big tangent.
17:28
But anyway, all this to say that, I feel like, it's
17:31
important to know. Yeah.
17:33
What, who wrote some things? What?
17:35
Who the directors are? What they've done before?
17:37
Because I think a lot of people came into, Alchemy of Souls and
17:42
just like, cold turkey. Blind didn't know who wrote.
17:45
It didn't know who directed it. And what's worse?
17:47
Don't care. Right.
17:49
Yeah, and I feel like you should sort of care, you know, it
17:54
definitely does put things into perspective, puts things in
17:57
perspective. Yeah, yeah.
17:58
Because I didn't, I say, I knew who the Hong sisters were,
18:01
because it's like one of the names that I was used to
18:03
hearing, I just before Alchemy, I hadn't seen him for work.
18:06
I had a lot of their shows on my list like at the master's son on
18:09
my list. I had hotel de Lune on my list
18:12
and the greatest level my list, but I knew like my girlfriend is
18:15
a Gumiho exist in things like that.
18:16
So but I was like, okay, I'm excited to watch a hyung
18:19
sisters, you know, production because I never seen one before.
18:22
But now seeing their filmography, I'm like, okay,
18:25
they really do like the fantasy aspect of like storytelling.
18:29
So it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense and I
18:33
will say the holdup hotel de luna, the quality on that show,
18:37
is to me a marked improvement from the previous shows in terms
18:42
of budget, right? If you watch hotel de luna,
18:45
you're like, you know, I dropped it, but I could tell that a lot.
18:49
Of money was put into this right, right.
18:52
And the talent is top talent. And all of this, I you I don't
18:59
want to think about how much it costs for her to appear in the
19:01
show. But anyway, I guess what I'm
19:05
trying to say is, if they had it coming, like they had all of you
19:09
is successful or mildly successful, dramas.
19:13
And then they got hotel de luna was, which was very successful,
19:16
and high budget, and then they get out Alchemy of Souls.
19:21
Which will go into a little bit more of the budget on that one
19:24
in a bit. But just to throw things out
19:28
there and put things again in perspective.
19:31
Let's talk about this cast. So in season one, we have dunks,
19:34
women leading this troop as Moodle.
19:39
That's like her main Persona. I guess.
19:45
I think that's worth noting that junk summon is 33 years old.
19:50
She look good. Yeah, 33 years old, she looks
19:53
wonderful. She's very cute and she's been
19:57
in the business for a long time. I remember watching her and
19:59
mischievous kiss from 2010 and that's like with a synthetic
20:04
character, like does the guy doesn't want anything to do with
20:07
her and she's like, obsessed with him?
20:09
You know what I'm saying? And he's like very stoic and
20:11
sometimes mean, so she was in that.
20:14
Not very famous show. Can we get married from 2012?
20:18
2013, my father is strange from 2017, which has a lot of famous
20:22
people in it and I have wanted to watch my father strange but I
20:26
think it's a family drama. So there's High episode count so
20:29
I have never gotten around. Yeah.
20:31
So I've never gotten around to watching my father's strange
20:34
because this is my first life also from 2017 love.
20:39
Yes, I love it to Nas and then the smile has left her eyes from
20:42
2018. I love The smile has left her
20:45
eyes o 2. It is a heartbreaker but I love
20:48
it. It is like Shakespearean
20:49
tragedy. Yeah, so that's junk.
20:52
Some in we have a joke playing jong-guk in both seasons.
20:58
I think it's worth noting, he's only 24 years old.
21:01
So young. Yeah.
21:02
He's very young, he's done some things already like memories of
21:06
the Alhambra from 2018 2019. I totally forgot about that
21:10
character Marco because it is feels like a throwaway
21:13
character. Am I supposed to remember, Marco
21:16
when the show's over? Not really.
21:21
They pull like, insane guyliner on him and his hair is like,
21:24
sticking up in all directions. He just looks a hot mess.
21:28
Have you seen memories from the Habra, or have you seen clips of
21:30
her? And I've heard no good things
21:32
about that show. So I've never, I've don't watch
21:35
it memories of the Alhambra is a terrible show.
21:38
So side note, I love I appreciate the concept because I
21:42
love The concept of memories of the Alhambra.
21:45
The first two episodes are like amazing amazing, amazing.
21:49
And then, the writings just didn't know what to do with it
21:52
and they fumbled the bag, fumbled it from, with a fumbled.
21:55
It it's terrible. Don't watch memories of the
21:57
Alhambra if anything just watched the first two episodes
21:59
and just be like, leave on a high, note me like, wow, that's
22:02
so cool. And the Never watch it.
22:04
Never complete it. So that's my two cents on been,
22:07
right? It's Beyond in.
22:09
Yes. And passion a yeah, we're just
22:12
talking about her. Yes.
22:14
Yeah. Top talent.
22:16
Really good concept felt high-budget like you just felt
22:19
that Netflix money. You know, right.
22:22
Oh my God. It was terrible.
22:23
It's terrible. I don't watch it anyway.
22:27
EJ look is in that he's in search www which we covered on
22:31
season 3 of the podcast. Love various real love that
22:36
episode such a good episode because it's funny.
22:41
We were all over the place. I didn't like The show.
22:45
They at they did, Benny liked a really problematic character.
22:50
And we were like, what are you smoking by me?
22:53
Like, like a lot search www and he's been an extraordinary you
23:01
which spoiler alert. We're going to be covering on
23:03
season four of the podcast. I think he really made waves
23:09
ejected with extraordinary you from 2019 and then Did when the
23:14
weather is fine, I always get this wrong.
23:17
Do SOL, SOL La La Sol from 2020. And then he was also moved to
23:23
heaven. And he, I think he must have
23:25
been like a bit player in that because I don't remember him
23:27
being in every episode of moved to heaven.
23:30
So very good show move to Heaven, is one of the best
23:34
kdramas I've ever watched. What's amazing is going to be in
23:37
my top 10 forever. It's so good.
23:38
It's beautiful. Beautiful show.
23:41
So that's where you can watch eg a week.
23:43
He's definitely gotten. More and more responsibilities
23:45
as far as Leading Men. Responsibility goes and
23:52
extraordinary. You is a High School drama.
23:55
Technically. So yet the Nori is shaking her.
23:59
Why you shaking your head or E I hate hit his character.
24:05
Hey, it's hit yeah. Yes.
24:08
Sir this. He's a meanie, right.
24:11
Am I right? Yeah, I've seen some clips.
24:14
He's a meanie, he's a meaning. But I think what's important to
24:18
note, I guess about Egypt. We can defend log or feel that
24:20
he's done so far as like he's very versatile.
24:23
Absolutely. And you might be swooning one
24:26
minute and then you might be kind of afraid of him next
24:28
minute. And that's I think a sign of a
24:31
great actor. I think that he's really all of
24:36
the stuff that he's done so far is really prepped him to take on
24:39
such a huge role in alchemy of souls.
24:42
Then we have Call Eun dong as Jim Bowie on Knox, who whatever
24:50
you want to call her. She is slightly older.
24:52
She's at, just 27 years old. She's been in, he is
24:56
psychometric the school nurse file, sweet home and law school.
25:00
I've been seeing some clips of law school lately because her
25:03
name is trending, so people putting that more clips of her
25:06
in different dramas. So, I have never watched her
25:09
before. This is the first time that I
25:10
watched her, have you had a chance to see her and some of
25:13
the other Dramas a like no first time I've seen her.
25:17
Yeah, I don't watch out of these drama of hurt, everybody loves
25:21
her and everything else that she's in like sweet home and
25:23
stuff so that she's good. Yeah, we'll see because we're
25:27
covering sweet home. I'm see some Forest.
25:31
Yeah, I know or he's coughing okay.
25:33
And then I'll quickly go through some Supporting Cast and I think
25:36
we will get into our thoughts after this so Supporting Cast.
25:39
We have minion. I saw you and he's our second
25:43
male lead. You might have known On him from
25:45
the K-Pop group, newest, and that group disbanded last year,
25:50
March, 22 to 20 22. And he's also a former member of
25:54
101, which I know about one-on-one, but I guess I had no
25:59
idea that they just disbanded and then he would join newest.
26:03
So, this was a whole thing. Wait, yeah, yeah, girl, I'm in
26:09
and out of Kpop and I'm more out than in.
26:11
So we're often. And when I say yes, And I saw
26:15
that he was in newest. I was like, okay.
26:17
And then I see wanna one now. I was like, I didn't know he was
26:21
in one-on-one and then I was like, what happened to 101.
26:23
So it was like a, it was a rabbit hole that I fell in
26:26
Minion. Has basically only been in live
26:30
on which is a 20, 20, 20, 20 20, I'm sorry. 8 episode High School
26:36
drama. So he's a rookie in acting if
26:41
you guys want to think of it that way and Then we have un Sue
26:46
as dong goo. He is our BFF character sidekick
26:51
character out of the Four Seasons.
26:55
I guess you could say, and he was in all of us are dead from
27:00
2022. So you had a pretty good year
27:02
because he had all of us are dead in the beginning of 2022.
27:05
And then he came out with Alchemy of souls, a few months
27:07
later and everyone was like, oh my God, the difference between
27:12
these two characters and like, freaking out because he's
27:15
character and all of us are dead.
27:18
Is a villain like straight evil. Yeah.
27:23
Oh my God, you guys have watched that?
27:24
Show you guys look sharp so I can't do scary like saying oh my
27:29
gosh, I can't wait. I want to see him as a villain
27:34
though. You have to see all of us are
27:36
dead. It is not the same person, it is
27:39
a different. So wow, I didn't think that you
27:42
guys haven't seen that but watch it.
27:43
Definitely watch it. It's scary is stressful but it's
27:47
Good. So using all of us are dead and
27:52
then he played bit parts and supporting roles in like every
27:56
drama, like throw a rock, you hit a drama.
27:57
He was in so strong girl doubling soon.
28:00
I don't know where he wasn't, but he was in that while you
28:03
were sleeping which we covered. Yeah.
28:05
Like, you guys aren't wait. Do you guys remember seeing him?
28:08
He was in that somewhere. Exactly School 2017.
28:12
Sweet Revenge. My ideas Gangnam.
28:14
Beauty love alarm. Did you remember seeing him and
28:16
loving are not real. Burr him from ever.
28:18
We pointed it out. One - we saw them.
28:22
Two guys, it's emanating. Yeah, we did on our review, we
28:25
point at him all I remember. Yep.
28:27
Oh my gosh. Yeah, because he looks up to
28:31
you. Yes, yes.
28:34
Oh, sorry. Spoiler spoiler.
28:36
That's right. That's who got his boyfriend.
28:39
The the crown. Prince's.
28:41
Yes. Okay.
28:41
Yes. Okay.
28:42
Okay. So, love lime.
28:44
He was in stranger to, he was in chocolate, which is a beautiful,
28:46
like, Slice of Life. If show a distant spring is
28:49
green, he was in that, as well as like a bit supporting player,
28:53
whatever. So he's been in a lot of Dramas
28:56
in small capacities and now he's getting his like flowers,
29:02
getting stronger roles and then to round out the cast.
29:05
We have Auden as to get you one. Oh no, that's her.
29:10
Real name is Cho. You one.
29:11
And then the character's name is tell you on and then she is the
29:16
youngest daughter of the Jin family.
29:17
It That like puts things in perspective, I think, what is
29:20
she spring in the Four Seasons? Okay, she's a member of idol
29:26
group. Oh, my girl.
29:28
Never heard of this group before.
29:29
But there she is cool. And this Alchemy of souls role
29:34
is her first ever acting rule. Oh yeah.
29:39
So a couple of rookies in here and then we have shinsung, all,
29:42
as a Crown Prince go on, and he has had a wonderful few years.
29:47
He was in love alarm, he was in how to buy a friend DP from
29:51
2021, and then, he was in week hero class one from later, like,
29:56
last quarter, 2012, 82 and of course he's now the Crown Prince
30:02
so people know him. I think from We Care a Class 1
30:04
and Alchemy of souls. However, I first saw him in DP
30:09
in 2021. Have you guys seen DP?
30:12
Yeah, I did. That's a big difference to know,
30:16
okay. Well already knows that.
30:18
It's a huge difference. It is almost as stark contrast
30:25
as un Seuss character and all of us are dead.
30:28
Is shin Seung, Mi character and DP is vile.
30:33
Just a terrible person. Yeah, I love the first believe.
30:38
It's believed it because when I saw him here, I was like, wow,
30:41
he's okay and because he was just evil in DP.
30:47
Anyway. So we have come to the end of
30:50
behind the scenes and we've gone through our cast.
30:54
So what I don't know who wants to go first but like what did
30:58
you think of the show? In general terms non-spoiler
31:02
terms, And if you want to talk about a little bit about season
31:05
one, that's totally fine. If you want to talk about season
31:07
2, that's fine, too. Whole thing is a whole taken
31:09
together. Just go for it.
31:14
As you want me to go or you gonna go?
31:18
Um, well, just kind of Prelude it to this.
31:20
I did enjoy the show and even after a time, I feel like my
31:26
love for the show has kind of grown overall.
31:30
There are Hills and Valleys ups and downs, especially while
31:37
watching will, which will get into some stuff later.
31:40
But I think this is very at least for me.
31:43
So, It's oh, I don't want to compare it.
31:47
Mr. Sunshine was a very break and cinematography for me as far
31:51
as like, the scale and like, I don't know, just the things that
31:55
they were doing and accomplishing, I'm not comparing
31:57
this to mr. Sunshine, because it's Sunshine
32:00
is definitely. It's been enough drama for me,
32:02
but I see what you're saying. Yeah, the craft.
32:06
That was in. Yes, mr.
32:08
Sunshine. Yes.
32:10
Yes, that's, that's kind of how I feel with this.
32:12
And I don't know if it's because it's the 30 episode type, feel
32:15
whatever, but anyway, I kind of appreciated that even more as
32:20
time has gone on. So I enjoyed the show but Hills
32:25
and Valleys ups and downs. All right now as Okay, so Just
32:34
full disclosure like this. I just hate saying this because
32:38
I know like, it's such an unpopular opinion, but I had a
32:41
really hard time watching this show because this was my first
32:46
like true fantasy kdrama. It's not really like a genre
32:50
that I am particularly drawn to I started watching the show and
32:55
I was like, oh, this is pretty cool.
32:56
And watch a show like this before, but I felt like I think
32:59
by the time I got to like episode 7, I was watching it.
33:01
As was airing. I was just like huh.
33:03
I was like I'm not loving this but I feel like I can't turn
33:07
back now and I have a problem. Dropping shows, like I feel like
33:10
I just have to keep going and I was I want to see how this is
33:13
gonna end. So I kept going.
33:16
Little did you know that cats? Yes.
33:20
And I'm like okay like you know and part 1 ends, I don't like
33:24
okay like that ending was pretty satisfying II.
33:26
Need to see how this is all going to end.
33:27
So I'll watch part 2 but like it's not it wasn't something
33:31
that I was like oh my gosh like this is this is the greatest
33:33
show ever like I'm I'm so obsessed with.
33:35
This is awesome. Like, I just didn't feel that
33:37
way solely because I just don't think it's a genre that is for
33:40
me. I like, so like I, but I 100%
33:43
understand why people love this show, though.
33:45
Like right tog. Rafi is like breathtaking, the
33:48
acting performances are incredible.
33:51
And I think the world that they create is so interesting and so
33:55
creative, but it was just like, it was, it was hard for me to
33:58
kind of take it all in. So yeah, those are my overall
34:02
thoughts, overall top. So you Overall, you disliked, it
34:06
overall, Oreo, liked it with, with caveats, because Hills and
34:11
Valleys Hills and Valleys. I do want to say Jess and I know
34:16
this is going to be a topic later.
34:18
This really had me watching fantasy, see dramas because I
34:21
didn't know that the whole flying and all that other stuff
34:25
was something that they did. So I was like, oh and then I saw
34:28
it. See dramas, and I'm like, I'm
34:29
going to watch this and between the brakes of seasons of
34:32
alchemy. So I did want to say that.
34:34
At okay, we'll get perfect. So we'll talk about that in.
34:38
I don't know, five minutes or so because that's okay, really
34:40
something on the docket, the we're going to talk about.
34:42
So I again went through Hills and Valleys with Alchemy of
34:48
souls. I started watching and I was
34:52
very intrigued by the story. I was loving this dark heroine
34:58
of knock Sue and I was like, how are they going to resolve this
35:02
crazy story? And I was kind of watching for
35:06
her Arc or what have you. I was okay with a lot of the
35:12
world-building. I thought it was very impressive
35:15
and the money I've, you know, you can watch Alchemy of souls
35:18
in your like, I see budget. I see, you know, effort and I
35:21
loved the submit cinematography, and I loved the world building,
35:26
and it was fun to see, such a young ensemble cast sort of
35:30
carrying the show and having The older more veteran, actors sort
35:36
of supporting, which is, I don't want to say it's rare.
35:41
But it's nice because you see that, these older actors are
35:48
probably giving them notes probably helping them behind the
35:51
scenes. And this is how good actors
35:54
become great actors because they act with better actors.
35:58
And so, I'd like to see that I can kind of read the tea leaves
36:02
on that and see that there's Improvement.
36:05
Like, from The Young cast throughout the course of the
36:07
show, like I said, big budget. This is a studio dragon show.
36:14
Most people know that studio Dragon does high budget does
36:17
really nice shows most of their shows look polished.
36:21
They don't look like they were necessarily meant for daily.
36:25
Like, for television, you know I'm saying, look very cinematic.
36:29
So I loved that about the show and the patrons.
36:34
My patrons know, my journey with Alchemy of souls because it
36:37
declined very fast. I thought that the drama did a
36:41
terrible job of creating twists and turns felt authentic.
36:46
It was all for a very convoluted plot or conflict reasons.
36:52
It was excellent at keeping me guessing at what was going to
36:54
happen because they the Hong sisters played by no rules or
36:57
conventions. They broke their own rules
37:01
within this world often and managed.
37:05
Fly in the face of good writing and pacing.
37:07
So that's my main large complaint about the show has to
37:11
do with the writing and not necessarily the fixings, right?
37:17
Like the cinematography, the acting the cast, The OST, none
37:21
of that is the issue because I love all of that.
37:24
It's literally, the writing of the show.
37:29
I think a lot of people that I interacted with online and on
37:33
tick-tock, They didn't care about the plot, the pacing how
37:38
complicated it was getting. And I I do I've said this
37:42
multiple times on the podcast, I'm a plot person.
37:46
I don't care how beautiful the actors are necessarily or if
37:51
they're acting their asses off, if the plot and the writing is
37:54
terrible. I'm not going to stick around
37:57
pretty much. I feel like the only reason why
37:59
I ended up finishing, Alchemy of souls is because I knew at one
38:03
point in the future. Future.
38:05
I'm going to want to finish. Alchemy of souls.
38:07
Yeah, but I didn't want to be spoiled.
38:12
Yeah, that's the big one. Not, I didn't want to be
38:13
spoiled. It's huge.
38:15
The spoiler culture on social media is out of hand and I felt
38:21
the only 24 hours. No, they don't give you even 24
38:24
hours, so I thought, I guess I have to watch this as its airing
38:28
because otherwise I'm going to get spoiled and I'm never gonna
38:32
watch this show. So yeah, I was, you know, part
38:35
of it was like that. Where I was like trying to just
38:39
keep up with it. And again, I'm I guess The Rare
38:43
Breed over here that's getting caught up in the plot weeds.
38:47
I feel like most people were just really weren't worried
38:49
about the plot. They just cared about these
38:51
characters and their relationship, the main
38:53
relationship and they wanted to see it through.
38:56
It was about the machination of getting these two characters
39:00
together and not so much about like the human drama of these
39:04
two people and their arcs necessarily it was just Like I
39:08
want to see like I will I want them to get together already.
39:11
You know what I'm saying? Like in a frenzied sort of way.
39:13
Yeah, we threw logic out of the window.
39:15
A lot of times? Yes, yes.
39:19
Orry I thought the show was, oh my God, please jump in jump in.
39:23
Do not go for it. Not say like when you were
39:25
saying talk about hockey for like yeah, I don't care about
39:28
all the storylines stuff in the plot stuff, I just, I just care
39:31
about you. Jay look is cute.
39:33
Like and I'm like on Tick-Tock. I feel like a lot of the
39:35
commentary was like, oh yeah, like I love him.
39:37
Oh my Josh. But like people actually talking
39:40
about the story in the comments, you can see that like people
39:42
didn't even know what was going on in the show, right?
39:46
Why do you why do you make? So why are you watching the show
39:49
watching? Because yeah, I would see the
39:51
Comfort. The conversation people are
39:52
having the comments icon Tick-Tock.
39:53
I'm like, you guys don't understand what's happening in
39:55
this show because like, the and I, for me, like the reason why I
40:00
love kdramas because the stories are so solid.
40:02
And like, I just love like going into the Weeds about the
40:05
storylines and I need everything to kind of like link up and come
40:08
Back together at the end and it was just kind of like, I felt
40:11
like there was just like plot holes left and right and like,
40:14
yeah, it took away from my enjoyment.
40:15
So when people are like, oh my gosh, this show is like the.
40:17
I'm just I'm just here for the actin just here for each.
40:20
A welcome like yeah, what about the story right?
40:23
Yeah, right to me, it's almost How do I put this if I wanted to
40:29
see a beautiful Egypt? Look, I would just watch like
40:34
kdrama edits all day long of alchemy of souls versus watching
40:40
over an hour-long episodes, right?
40:44
Every week, you know what I'm saying?
40:46
Like, Okay. If the pit, if the payoff for
40:49
you is you want to say, EG look in this role or, you know, in
40:55
all black Semi-historical attire whatever.
41:00
Just what? Download some photos, get some
41:02
photo cards together. Yeah and watch some YouTube
41:05
clips or get on Tick-Tock together and watch some kdrama
41:10
edits because you're not really in it for the show bed.
41:14
Like to me you're so not to be dragging people but that's just
41:22
how I see it. Drag em Jess.
41:27
Is so this is this show felt like all style and no substance.
41:35
There was wrong statement, very little payoff for me.
41:40
And I have to defer to share from Clueless because she says,
41:45
at one point in Clueless, she's a full-on Monet, like from far
41:52
away, Alchemy of souls is okay, but up close.
41:56
It's a big old mess and that's how I feel about the show by
42:02
episode 9 of maybe season. To, I think it was, I kept
42:07
seeing seeds of great ideas that were in no way shape or form
42:13
addressed teased referenced hinted at or Easter egg
42:17
throughout the course of nearly 30 episodes.
42:21
Yeah. So that felt like such a
42:24
disservice to some of these great Concepts and ideas felt
42:29
like it was a shame because it was so poorly executed and
42:32
rushed. I think a lot of people thought,
42:34
The ending was a rushed for season one, rushed for season 2
42:39
and tell me why that needed to be the case.
42:43
We had 30 episodes, you know, exactly.
42:48
There's so much time. Yeah, we had a lot of time.
42:51
Here you sat me here for a lot of time honk sisters.
42:55
So yeah, a lot of my issues have to do with the plot have to do
43:01
with the under utilization of Especially female characters and
43:07
the female good? Yes, yes.
43:10
So many were, I think a lot of people were saying online that I
43:16
saw a couple of people say this, That season one was not the main
43:20
Story season 1 was all a setup for season 2 and Ori or he's got
43:28
a confused face on and I'm trying to having a whole moment
43:34
over here, Jess, okay. Um, kind of because when you
43:39
were talking, I was like, I don't know, a metamorphosis
43:42
out-of-body moment. I was thinking, I think I really
43:47
like the show and a lot of my comments are going to be about
43:51
part one because I think I just part two, I just forgot.
43:55
I mean, I'd I forgot. I just like acted like it didn't
43:58
happen. Okay.
44:01
Okay. So yeah, may just take back
44:05
that. I said, I love the show still
44:06
but I was like yeah for those ten episodes I'll just wasn't, I
44:10
was there but I wasn't there. Yeah, I was watching so but yes.
44:16
Sorry. But yes, that's why I was making
44:17
faces. Okay, nope, no problem at all.
44:22
I don't agree, I don't agree with people that say that
44:25
season. One was just a setup for season
44:27
two. I think that's diminishing.
44:31
The entire shut like why did what no did you guys have any
44:37
thoughts before I get into the next?
44:39
You know aspect of just general? Non-spoiler talk did you guys
44:42
have any thoughts about? Why not why, but would you have
44:47
preferred it to be if they were going to go for 30 episodes?
44:51
Let's say the Hong sisters. Actually thought this through
44:54
and said, I think this is a 30-30 episode kdrama from the
44:59
start Would you have preferred season 12 B, 15 episodes and
45:03
season 2 to be 15 episodes? Or are you okay with them doing
45:08
20 episodes and then wrap it up in 10?
45:12
That's such a good question. Are those the only choices?
45:17
Oh, no. Not at all.
45:18
Do you have other suggestions for how they could have broken
45:22
up the seasons? You said they have to do two
45:26
seasons right now. They not.
45:27
I mean they don't have to do anything.
45:31
Yeah, definitely prefer not having a season to at all, but
45:35
if they had to outthink 10/10 would have been nice.
45:39
Okay. So 10 episodes for season 1 and
45:41
10 episodes for season 2, got you.
45:44
Yeah, that's kind of down the Avenue.
45:46
The patrons know this, I fully believe in my heart of hearts
45:51
that the Hong sisters had they want it to had.
45:53
They really I had an editor and had someone who was looking over
45:58
their work and said, I think we need to cut some of this.
46:01
I think we need to simplify that's my buzz word.
46:04
For this show. They should have just simplified
46:08
the show and outlined it a bit better.
46:10
Had they done this? I think they could have done it
46:13
in 20 episodes not 30. Yeah, I agree.
46:19
I would opt for a 120 episode season.
46:23
I think 20 episodes is And enough time to wrap up the
46:26
story. Especially because in my
46:28
opinion. But part 2.
46:31
Like I remember where I was like probably episode 5 or 6 and
46:35
nothing significant, it happened even still up until that point.
46:38
So it's kind of like we could have wrapped all this up in like
46:41
20 episodes like from beginning to end even including, you know,
46:45
all that transpired in season two.
46:47
I think that they could have definitely done in 20 episodes.
46:49
I think 30 episodes is a bit much especially because I felt
46:52
like half of part. 2 wasn't even Moving the story forward.
46:56
So yeah. Okay, so we're all on the same
47:00
page about like flirty is excessive 30-pound, not really
47:05
warranted, you know, it could have just been 20 and okay, so
47:10
let's move on to the toxic fandom that I encountered
47:14
online. So, oh, I didn't know that
47:20
people were so gung. Ho about the show.
47:24
Until I started doing c-stick talks about, you know, the
47:29
problems that I had with the show.
47:30
And I'd never meant it to be mean spirited.
47:36
And that I'm also trying to make this this podcast episode not
47:41
mean-spirited, right? The behavior that I saw online
47:47
was unsettling, and toxic fervor.
47:51
I've said this before. And if If you DM me about, you
47:56
know, your kdrama taste or whatever.
47:57
And I don't agree, I never belittle someone for their taste
48:02
in kdrama for liking something that I dislike or vice versa.
48:07
But the level of vitriol that people had for anyone except to
48:12
express doubts, about alchemy of Soul or said anything.
48:15
Remotely - what outrageous, it made me think that I was dealing
48:21
with children instead of adults. Maybe that was the case.
48:24
Maybe I was dealing with underage people on Tick, Tock
48:26
who the fuck knows. But it was unreasonable, and I
48:31
feel like I'm a very fair person, but personal attacks are
48:37
unacceptable and PSA. They will get you blocked on any
48:42
debit account. So, you should be able to hear
48:46
criticism without in any way. Taking it personally, as if you
48:51
created the show, like, it was A personal thing like it's not,
48:57
you didn't create the show. You can just relax and there's
49:02
no reason to defend the show. The show doesn't need defending
49:08
exactly. Yes.
49:09
Our entertainment shells. It's for entertainment.
49:13
It's not that serious. Yes, yes.
49:16
Someone made a tick tock to try and rebuffed the criticism from
49:19
another Creator. Not me.
49:21
And they they put her video at the beginning.
49:24
Another video where she said, she didn't think changuk and
49:29
bouillon had chemistry, that was what she said in her video and
49:33
that she was skipped end up skipping their part.
49:35
She was just like I got enough skipping their parts or whatever
49:38
and the video caption said I'd say more but I don't want to be
49:42
rude to someone's grandma because the Creator was older.
49:46
So out of line like for what we're talking about TV shows
49:49
guys this is toxic internet behavior and culture And what
49:55
that video was saying, was, let's have an open forum for
49:59
tearing down this person because they don't agree with us.
50:02
They saw something different in the show, and it's disgusting,
50:06
you know, and as for the grandma comment, like, BFF are people of
50:10
all ages, can watch kdramas and listen to Kpop and enjoy them
50:15
and get this find fault with them.
50:18
It's okay. It's not exclusive to young
50:21
people. So like, fuck right off with
50:24
that age. Ageism shit, like, that's old
50:26
ageism on Tick-Tock. Yeah, there is this is a direct
50:31
Tick-Tock. Comment was I quote, no one is
50:34
allowed to talk shit about äôs. No one.
50:39
And that was so toxic. Like, I know he's out of
50:42
control. Yeah, people saying, oh, I miss
50:45
mudak comments. Everyone was like, well then go
50:48
watch season 1. Whoa, it was never that serious.
50:54
Like what is wrong? So I'm a little bit like trying
50:58
to stay calm. As I talk through this because I
51:01
want to immortalize this and I want to call attention to it.
51:04
Yeah. Because it's not okay.
51:07
It's just not. So let's segue into or you
51:12
mentioned. See dramas, so a lot of and some
51:16
of my tips were about this too was about how Alchemy of Souls.
51:23
Is derivative derivative of C, dramas period it is.
51:29
And um a lot of people online were say if someone pointed this
51:33
out including myself on Tick-Tock, especially people
51:36
were commenting and still a os8. See dramas need to take notes
51:42
from a OS, like, all of this, all of this stuff like still,
51:45
like, trying to make Heroes out, to be better.
51:50
And I think it's no surprise. I disagree.
51:55
I don't know what your experiences are with see,
51:59
dramas, but I've been watching. See dramas for several years,
52:02
especially my favorite. Genres are the Lucia and the
52:06
saint Seiya meets you used to. So, when I started watching
52:11
Heroes and I said this in my patreon episodes, I was like,
52:14
this feels like this show and this part feels like the show
52:16
and it feels very much like the vibe and the writing is
52:20
reminiscent of see dramas and The Styling and everything about
52:25
it. Just feels like I see drama.
52:28
And someone on Tick Tock was talking about see dramas and
52:34
they were talking about a 0s in particular and they said, see,
52:36
drama ciancia is based on Rich Chinese cultures and its unique.
52:41
Taoism historical Decay. Drama is never going to outdo
52:44
the Doer. And again, I have to agree.
52:49
I don't think Alchemy of souls surpassed.
52:54
See, draw it like those historical fantasy, see dramas
52:58
or you're shaking your head. You're just like, that's where
53:00
they make. Like they're see, drama industry
53:03
and please just correct me if I'm wrong.
53:05
Like that's their bread and butter specifically that genre
53:09
of the see dramas. So it's like it's not making
53:13
sense, it's not, it's some out. Me of souls is a one-off, right?
53:21
That did a lot of things, right? A lot of things wrong, but you
53:25
can't come, I think you just can't compare and say it's
53:29
better than see dramas when they're you're like you said,
53:33
there is an entire sub-sect of the sea drama industry.
53:37
That is dedicated to producing us Lucia and Sansa dramas, some
53:42
are bad. Some are great, some are
53:44
amazing. Some people, sit through 50. 60
53:48
70 plus episodes and come out and say it was fucking worth it.
53:52
I loved every minute of it, you know, a lot of people started
53:56
complaining about seizure amoz saying oh I loved äôs.
54:00
It did all this stuff, right? But I don't like see dramas
54:02
because x y z. So here's the XYZ.
54:04
That people said I collected these.
54:07
So main complaints from kdrama, folks about Ste, dramas were the
54:13
CGI, the Whigs, the dubbing. The High episode count.
54:18
So I'll go through each of these.
54:20
So I think each of these deserves, at least a couple of
54:22
seconds. So CGI.
54:25
I learned about this recently. The CGI and see, dramas is often
54:32
not very good, and it's because of like this concept of good
54:38
enough in the industry in the Chinese drama industry.
54:45
Chatzi dramas. I don't think our ever until
54:49
recently until the past few years.
54:52
They were never intended for a global audience.
54:54
They were intended for the Chinese right?
54:59
And the Chinese people evidently don't really care about giant.
55:07
Wonderful high-quality expensive CGI and it's expensive.
55:13
I don't know what the budget is. Like on these.
55:15
But if you're making 60 episodes and each one requires a high
55:20
amount of CGI, Something's Gotta Give.
55:24
And that's where that concept of.
55:26
Oh, it's good enough comes from. So let's talk about wigs.
55:32
This is a funny one because I think that äôs Alchemy of souls
55:39
did away with wigs. We could, let's talk about it.
55:41
There are no elaborate wigs. In augment don't have long hair
55:47
or anything like that. Yeah only a few characters, have
55:50
long hair. Only a few characters.
55:51
Have wigs. Mostly the female characters and
55:56
the boys don't have any wigs. Right?
55:59
Largely I think dong goo has blond hair for that one.
56:05
So you can't really compare the wigs and Alchemy of souls to the
56:12
wigs and C drom. Misled also, sometimes have
56:16
giant headpieces, elaborate, jewelry and things in the hair
56:21
and they're doing a bunch of stunts and stuff with these
56:25
really elaborate wigs. So yes, the hair is like a prop
56:31
or like it'd be a start piece the way they be using the hair
56:34
the men specifically so right. Steve.
56:38
Yeah. So the wigs I don't even know
56:42
how you can compare and say like Cos wigs were no yeah.
56:49
There ya know. It's like no not really.
56:52
So let's talk about dubbing dubbing was a huge 14c dramas
56:56
really fast. So I learned this to dubbing is
57:01
usually done for a plethora of reasons, excessive background
57:05
noise and I thought this was interesting.
57:07
Some of these see dramas are because it's an industry.
57:11
There's so many being filmed at once and they're using The same
57:15
location sometimes to stay in sound stages and especially
57:21
outdoor like palaces and like things like that, there's only
57:25
so many resources, only places they can go to.
57:28
And so there's excessive background noise, so they dub
57:32
sometimes, they need to make changes to the dialogue in post
57:35
production due to orders from the Chinese media Regulators
57:39
because China is a communist country.
57:41
They're regulating the media. So sometimes Changes have to
57:45
happen after the fact dubbing. And then this is my favorite
57:50
one. Sometimes substandard,
57:52
deliveries of poorly trained actors to makes dubbing a better
57:58
idea. So a lot of reasons for dubbing
58:02
in a totally understand it. Some people can't get past it.
58:05
I think I have over the years of watching.
58:08
See dramas, I have but just have a little Grace with the dubbing.
58:13
Some see dramas too. Better than others but there's
58:16
that dropsy drama have dubbing, um, more than more often than
58:21
not, they do have dubbing. I think it's only recently that
58:26
they've started backing off of doing the dubbing.
58:29
Yeah, for a recent, in recent years and then also high up high
58:32
up a, so count. This last thing that people had
58:35
complaints about. Interestingly enough, the reason
58:40
why some see dramas have a lot of episodes High episode count
58:45
Is because of money, they get more advertising money, if the
58:48
drama's popular, if it's doing well, they'll be like, let's add
58:52
some more episodes. That's right.
58:54
Some more stuff in because we're getting, it's doing well.
58:57
So they're getting advertising money or what have you.
59:01
So that's also contributing to the low quality of some of these
59:05
High episode. See, dramas.
59:07
So what did the government do in the last couple of couple of
59:09
years of just said that the Chinese government is very
59:11
controlling. So they said, No more High
59:15
episode. See dramas, we're not doing
59:17
those anymore. We need to increase our soft
59:19
power. We need to compete with Korea,
59:21
so low that lower the episode count and increase the quality
59:25
of the sea. Dramas and that's why you have
59:27
certain, see dramas, having 36 episodes, 40 episodes and it's a
59:31
little more manageable is because the government stepped
59:34
in and said, we're not doing those 60 70 episodes anymore.
59:38
It's not working. Wow.
59:40
So 36 to 40 is short is short and luckily See, dramas are not
59:45
an hour, a piece for more like 40 minutes.
59:48
I see, okay, okay, I know for me, if it's not 40 episodes, I'm
59:52
not watching it. So yeah, I think about episode
59:57
count is 30 to 40 per government mandate so I don't want to
1:00:03
freaking hear it up about. See dramas being worse in,
1:00:07
alchemy of souls, I can list 20c dramas that are better than
1:00:12
Alchemy assault. So it's again, it's pretty
1:00:18
subjective. You if you don't like the
1:00:19
language, if you don't like Mandarin, if you don't like high
1:00:22
fantasy, then don't watch Lucia and see on sad, see dramas, but
1:00:28
there you have it. Last thing about this cultural
1:00:31
appropriation. I heard a lot of people in my
1:00:34
Tick-Tock comments talking about cultural appropriation.
1:00:37
Because of the sea drama aspect of alchemy of souls.
1:00:40
How its derivative talking about clothing being derivative?
1:00:44
Sets being the same as other see, dramas and I was like, I
1:00:50
don't know about all that. I thought that was a bit of a
1:00:51
stretch. Yeah, to call it cultural.
1:00:54
Porsche preparation. I had some people comment in
1:00:59
Japanese on a couple of my videos and I translated the
1:01:03
meticulously because I was like, what the hell is going on?
1:01:05
It was like back and forth, like they were commenting back and
1:01:08
forth is a whole conversation. So they were talking about, it
1:01:12
seems like a lot of Korean people think that alcohol, Ami
1:01:14
of souls is very much a Korean culture show and I was like
1:01:21
what. So it was very kind of devolved,
1:01:24
but they brought up this great question.
1:01:26
They were like are all wizard movies since Harry Potter
1:01:28
considered plagiarism. Wow, and I was like, that's a
1:01:33
fair question. Thank you.
1:01:35
Japanese commenters? Yeah.
1:01:37
Because where you draw the line, right?
1:01:39
I don't think that it's plagiarism but you have to
1:01:45
acknowledge the roots and the inspiration and that it's not
1:01:52
original, a AOS. Is not original, right?
1:01:57
So I think that's where I want to buy something.
1:02:01
Hmm. Yeah, they went into like, sushi
1:02:04
versus kimbap. Like, and I was like, oh no.
1:02:07
Like, I can't deal with you guys.
1:02:09
Yeah, I did Legend says they're still commenting to this day,
1:02:14
so, talking about fantasy kdramas.
1:02:20
This again, Alchemy of souls is not the first fantasy kdrama
1:02:24
there. I've been many fantasy kdramas
1:02:26
that have come before, and I'll name a few.
1:02:29
It's gonna bog Goblin Julie. Yeah, perfect.
1:02:32
So we've got Goblin, we've got a bunch of Gumi.
1:02:36
Oh, dramas roommate is grumio. Girlfriend is a Gumiho Gu Family
1:02:40
Book. Tale of the nine-tailed.
1:02:42
We have a Korean Odyssey which that has its own controversy.
1:02:46
We have our 'The doll Chronicles, I hate arth da
1:02:51
Chronicles. You posted about that when
1:02:53
you're like this is Jim. Write ups song Joong Ki is in
1:02:58
it. I hated our throw Chronicles,
1:03:01
and I had nothing to do with acting sets design, the World
1:03:10
building it had nothing to do with that.
1:03:11
It had to do with the over complication of the plots, which
1:03:17
is the same freaking issue that I have with Alchemy of souls.
1:03:21
So our third all Chronicles. If you can get through that and
1:03:24
Understand what the hell happened?
1:03:26
See me because I want to know. So we also have the legend from
1:03:32
2007, which is an oldie, we have boo castle Immortal Souls.
1:03:38
This is a recent drama from 2021 2022.
1:03:41
Hotel, de luna Masterson. Oh my ghostess, these are all
1:03:44
ghost shows here. We have mermaids with legend of
1:03:47
the blue sea, sweet home, which is like, I don't know, monsters
1:03:51
or something tomorrow and doom At Your Service.
1:03:54
Both with grim reapers. Yeah, we have Angels last
1:03:59
mission with an angel Mystic. Pop-up bar we have Abyss.
1:04:03
Don't watch it's terrible. We have the bright of public.
1:04:05
Don't watch it terrible fever. We have the king Eternal
1:04:09
Monarch. Don't watch it.
1:04:11
It's terrible. Good.
1:04:16
Yeah, we'll talk about it offline.
1:04:18
We have Immortal Admiral Yi sun-shin from 2004 and I didn't
1:04:25
mention any of these but there are a number of kdramas About
1:04:30
Time time. Travel body swaps, vampires
1:04:33
robots, zombies and demons. So Alchemy of souls, not the
1:04:38
first Fantasy kdrama by any stretch.
1:04:41
However, I did look up. Most expensive cake drama
1:04:45
Productions because I was like, I'm curious, Alchemy of souls is
1:04:47
very well done. In terms of, you know, the
1:04:51
production design the setting, CGI and stuff like that.
1:04:55
So what is the budget for Alchemy of souls in comparison
1:04:59
to other fantasy kdramas? That I just mentioned?
1:05:04
So actually I'll go through the other ones first.
1:05:06
So Goblin 15 billion won production was 12 million
1:05:12
dollars. We have arth doll Chronicles.
1:05:17
This is very expensive show and it's not even done.
1:05:20
Season 2 is coming out. I don't even know if I'm going
1:05:21
to watch that. Are 30 Chronicles 15?
1:05:24
T 4 billion. One forty four point two million
1:05:29
dollars to make art dog Chronicles.
1:05:33
The legend from 2007, which is very close to his fiancee has
1:05:36
like a Mortals and stuff like that.
1:05:38
In it forty-three billion 135 million dollars.
1:05:45
Recently, we have Booga Sol Immortal Souls.
1:05:49
That one production was 40 billion won, that's 32 million.
1:05:54
30, Two million dollars. To make blue Gasol Immortal
1:05:56
Souls hotel. De luna was approximately
1:05:59
sixteen point. Three million dollars, legend of
1:06:02
the blue sea, which I had no idea.
1:06:04
This is this expensive, 18 million to make that one.
1:06:07
I was like, where is this going? Sweet home that one, twenty four
1:06:13
point five million dollars. Wow.
1:06:16
The king Eternal Monarch twenty four point five million dollars
1:06:21
to make that show. Not to be the Netflix.
1:06:24
So, the budget for Alchemy of souls was 40 billion won
1:06:30
approximately 30 to 35 million dollars.
1:06:34
Wow, it's the fourth highest of all kdramas.
1:06:39
Wow, at least production cost of the production cost was that
1:06:42
high? You can see it and this number
1:06:44
doesn't include season 2. That's all raizy.
1:06:47
That's insane. Wow.
1:06:49
So if you're wondering why you liked Alchemy of souls versus
1:06:54
other fantasy kdramas or other kdramas, you might be just
1:06:58
seeing money, you might be just seeing budget.
1:07:01
Yeah, because definitely very well-made like, very well made.
1:07:06
Yeah, so I wanted to note that because people are like, oh, the
1:07:11
CGI. See dramas and I'm like not.
1:07:15
Every see, drama is a 32 million dollar budget for 20 episodes,
1:07:22
okay? Like you got to put it in
1:07:24
perspective, so, right? Yeah.
1:07:27
So I'll probably put this list of fantasy.
1:07:31
As in the show notes, in case anyone wants to watch some of
1:07:35
these. I don't recommend all of them
1:07:38
but user, I mean, viewer, discretion, advised, I guess.
1:07:45
So, now that we have all of that out of the way, I think we're
1:07:47
going to get into the weeds for Alchemy of souls now and go into
1:07:51
some spoiler. Talk, what would you rate the
1:07:53
show out of five? Solid, you bottles.
1:07:58
Oh no, I can go first, I'll give it a 2.5 2.5.
1:08:04
Okay, Ori is shocked. I thought I was like, whoa, I
1:08:12
gave it a 3.5 mainly because of part 1.
1:08:18
Okay. Wow, I will give it a two Two
1:08:23
stars out of five and I'm being generous yeah just because as
1:08:28
well. But yeah, like okay, let me know
1:08:31
give a little Grace. I want to give it as much grace
1:08:35
as I can but the writing a lot of decisions were made and I
1:08:41
don't agree with them so we're going to get into it right after
1:08:45
this part. 1 has concluded flip over the disk to hear side be
1:08:53
Just kidding, but do join us for the rest of our Alchemy of souls
1:08:56
discussion on the next spoiler filled episode.
1:08:53
Just kidding, but do join us for the rest of our Alchemy of souls
1:08:56
discussion on the next spoiler filled episode.