#Alchemy Of Souls

[dramalove247]

This show was SOOOOO GOOD! I need to rewatch it...

ALCHEMY OF SOULS 환혼 (2022) Dir. Park Joon Hwa

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Wacky relationship dynamics that I love:

Edit to add:

Alchemy of Souls, Doom at Your Service, Extraordinary You, Moon in the Day, Marry My Husband, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, Oh My Ghost, W: Two Worlds, Lovely Runner, The Judge from Hell

[bethanydelleman]

Most directors (it seems): The sexiest thing is sex.

Me: The sexiest thing is when two people spend weeks staring at each other in longing and then their hands brush against each other, and then they hug, but like with their whole bodies and one person puts their hand on the back of the other's head and it feels like they will never stop hugging because they've wanted it so bad, and then they kiss ONCE (1 time) but it feels earned.

[drowningmoon]

No honey they're a murderer to YOU, but to ME they're just a traumatized girl who was feeling silly

[lotus-queer]

Based on all the dramas I've seen, the most dangerous place to be in the jianghu, perhaps in the whole three realms and four continents, is at a wedding.

[wolha]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS: LIGHT AND SHADOW 환혼 : 빛과 그림자 2022—2023, dir. Park Joon-Hwa, Bae Hyun-Jin

[baileybasses-archive]

# angry wife

GO YOON JUNG AS CHO YEONG Alchemy of Souls (Season 2)

[rubylane]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS: LIGHT AND SHADOW (EPISODE 1 & 30) 환혼 : 빛과 그림자

[yesdramas]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS: LIGHT AND SHADOW 환혼 : 빛과 그림자 — 2022, dir. Park Joon Hwa

[dailyasiandramas]

dailyasiandramas’ sunday throwback ★ [WEEK 29]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS 환혼 Written by Hong Jung Eun and Hong Mi Ran Dir. Park Joon Hwa and Bae Hyun Jin

[dramashii]

GO YOONG JUNG in ALCHEMY OF SOULS SEASON 2: LIGHT AND SHADOW (2022)

[dazzlingkai]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS — 2022, dir. Park Joon Hwa

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

I started watching Kdramas this year and I do a lot of literature analysis in my normal life, so I found it really fun to find the tropes that were unique to this genre/culture that were different than what I find in Hollywood TV/movies and novels. I started with Alchemy of Souls and I was kind of amused looking back, because I never thought the SML had a chance with the FL but if I had known how strong the "they met as children and therefore DESTINY" trope is, I probably would have thought they would get together for sure!

Here are some of the unique tropes I've noticed:

-Leads meet as children and therefore DESTINY (What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, 100 Days My Prince, It's Okay to Not be Okay, Castaway Diva, The King's Affection, Sh**ting Stars, Destined with You, subverted in Alchemy of Souls)

-Reincarnation, which happens a ton but of course for the same reason Western media is littered with Chosen One/Saviour plots (played with in Alchemy of Souls and Extraordinary You, straight in Destined with You, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Moon in the Day, My Demon, The Story of Park's Marriage Contract... so many)

-Guy (usually) buys the girl shoes and then puts them on her. They also usually make a joke about her running away. (Tale of the Nine Tailed, 100 Days My Prince, Extraordinary You, Castaway Diva, King the Land, subverted in The King's Affection and The Forbidden Marriage)

-Guy (usually) gives/brings the girl an umbrella to protect her from the rain. I LOVE THIS TROPE, symbolism for protection and shelter gets me (straight in My Lovely Liar, King the Land, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, subverted/played with in Alchemy of Souls, Business Proposal, Doom at Your Service, Castaway Diva)

-Not sure if this would count as a trope, but unique to the genre because we don't have formal speech in English and especially not in Canada where I live (we've basically started just going first name with everyone) I love it so much when the main characters use informal terms with each other for the first time. The subtitles don't always translate this well, but I know what the honorifics sound like and I'm all, "She didn't use "Mr." that time it's serious now!!!"

Anyway, are there more? I'm probably not catching them all!

Edit: Definitely some sort of trope around characters finding wild ginseng to solve a problem.

(I've only been watching Korean dramas by the way, I'm sure some of these tropes are shared by other dramas from China and Thailand. I just found the comparison with English language TV interesting.)

[dramastream]

LEE JAE WOOK & GO YOON JUNG Dec. 2022┃ELLE KOREA

[alchemyofsouls]

Mu Deok and Jang Uk being chaotic: Part 4 | Alchemy of Souls (환혼)

[baileybasses-archive]

GO YOON JUNG AS JIN BUYEON Alchemy of Souls | Part 2