[Drama 2022] Alchemy Of Souls: Light and Shadow ✴ 반환

[K-dramafan22]

1 hour ago, partyon said:

 

 

b) She is a low-key fraudster who was forced to do petty crimes to survive. She probably cares about Mu Deok, but due to unlucky circumstances she is now in a position where she might have to betray Mu Deok. I believe she will do the right thing in the end, but I am not sure Yul is the right man for her...

 

Errr.....  Chingu.....the last sentence I would like to rephrase....

but I am VERY SURE she is NOT the right gal for Yul....   she is dangerous.   

 

And my poll is (c) fraudster and opportunist.....May no man go near her.....

 

Actually I like (d) the best but realistically not possible since she had to be fake Bu-yeon first....

[rocat]

1 hour ago, partyon said:

e) Something else. What?

 

So-i isn't innocent. But neither is she particularly evil. 

She is trying to make the best out of the choices given to her whether by chance of by force. 

 

However, she is ambitious in that she lusts after the power of being in the Jin family and covets the position of being the beloved eldest child. I understand her motivations - she has no love nor family, and has had to live a lonely life of crime to feed herself. If she enters Jin, she not only saves her own life, she gains power/position, a doting mother who will wear her hair like an ahjumma, and doesn't have to worry about the people/crooks who step all over her. 

 

Then again, she has not much of a choice; she met people influential and powerful - more than those in her current life as a thief - who will control, manipulate and kill. Those are the real villains.

 

Her existence is essential to the story though. She's there to return the eye scarf with the family crest to Buyeon turned MuDeok and thereby identify her as the Jin family's eldest child. (Yesss! Something that doesn't need further guessing!) Her meeting with Yul also helped to move the story a bit to confirm facts and what not. Once she has outlived her usefulness, I think her infatuation with Yul / gratitude to Bu Yeon is going to end with her death.

 

They could have left her out of the story altogether and get the old guy from the village to return the eye scarf but, but, but how will they create angst for me who cannot stand the fraud and opportunist in her?

 

And go on hiatus?? 

And do Part 2?!

 

[rocher22]

the scene in the courtyard of the palace

 

first, it was a cute scene when Fluffy was running around Uk...then it was amazing fight scene..and then

it was so hilarious scene  when Master Lee asked -''does it hurt''   

Only Uk was confused...

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if Jang Gang will immediately realize that Mudeok is Naksu..  

 

[Tina288]

21 hours ago, LeftCoastOppa said:

You misunderstand, so long as Naksu is dominant in Mu Deok, she is not (currently) drawing on Bu Yeons memories - therefore even if she was finally recognized by others as the real Bu Yeon, she(Naksu) still has no access to Bu Yeons memories.  Not that this is a problem, as before Mother Jin seems to accept memory loss in the previous fake Bu Yeon

I'll disagree with you here - Just as the founder of Songrim was born under the Kings Star, so is Jang Uk - The founder did not become King, and I don't believe Jang Uk will either.  After Park Jin, I see him leading Songrim as the founder originally did.

 

In contrary, I think buyeon is more of indirect and naksu is more direct. I think buyeon is able to manipulate what she wants her body/mudeok to provide naksu soul as a vessel. We started to see that Buyeon is born of jin family which gives her power to trap the soul and bind powers. I also think she has control not to blend her memories with naksu to keep her secret safe. I believe buyeon needs naksu to be her eye since she lost her sight at birth. That way is a very interesting of how they crossed the path. And it works really well that it allows buyeon to get close to jang uk in order to produce ice stone for him to maintain the balance in daeho one day. It does seem like buyeon is more indirect rather than dormant. I think she is fully aware of what Is going on. The way she saved jang uk in soul shifting world and binding Naksu’s powers is the way of telling us her goal. The more we know her, the deeper we learned what their destines are. The best thing she has done for naksu is binding her powers to prevent more problem. Buyeon can’t afford anyone to know that she is ice stone and produces them but she needs to hide. So it is crucial to be indirect soul to control another soul. If jang uk is in danger, buyeon has a way to protect him indirectly. She can decide when naksu can release her powers and then bind back to keep jang uk safe.
 

my question really lies in master lee’s cryptic message. Was the message to target buyeon or naksu? Buyeon is someone to destroy because she is ice stone, and Naksu is assassin. She still harbours revenge. Her revenge can be relived by the return of jang gang to tell her the truth. For buyeon, don’t know what’s her cure. She is somehow may become a tragic hero. She was betrayed and raised in rough condition, people not understanding her powers, and lived with a curse of being an ice stone that she cannot live in a normal life. Soyi and her grandmother were probably her only friends or people there for her. And plus she is also blind. 
 

About the heirs of songrim, it seems to go by inheritance that dang gu asked park jin if he has a secret child. For jang Uk to be a leader of songrim, he probably need to take over by force. The founder of songrim happened 200 years ago. There may be marriage that went from Seo to Park or lack heir that eventually decided park family to take over.

 

jang uk can either take over the throne since he has king’s star or he  will be gwanju of cheongbawon for being jang heir. Or he can build a new kingdom like the founder of songrim. 

 

18 hours ago, SleepyKitty said:

 

Adding more theories here. Personally, i really can't see janguk leading anything. I mean sure he has incredible (hidden) power, but mentally? He's too reckless and has never shown any single leadership quality so far. Going by this trajectory, i'm imagining he'd ended up more like free spirited prodigy, someone like master lee, free roaming the world. At the very least, it can help him to gain a lot more experience, wisdom, and skills. Besides, with naksu on his side, he's going to face too many backlash if he were going to be placed into any powerful position by the end of season 1. People are not just going to easily forget that she's an ex assasin. And keeping her identity as a secret until the end of time is not a good option either for me.

 

For me, that could be the very reason for the split into season 2. As janguk (and naksu) travels around the world, they get to meet a lot of people, going to places they've never been, thus expanding the universe, and creating a lot of spin off stories for the side characters. If he were going to end up leading anything, i can only see it as a situation where he's being called back into the capital after being a more mature individual than what we've been seeing now.

there are parallelism of jang uk and Harry Potter. Jang uk with king star and destiny is something he was born with. These powers are needed to be developed no matter what. Jang uk was suppressed for so long that he could not develop his skills. So it has been waiting for him. Buyeon is like that. She was born with innate powers too. Both of them needed to be trained and mould into a right way of managing their powers. Naksu not only helped him to get powers, she also teaches him the skills. You still Jang uk lost his fight with yul despite his level of powers. He still lacks skills but he has ability to learn fast. I think he has been studying and watching people how they fight. You see when he first met mudeok/nasku. He recognised her tansu fighting skill that he knew that he wants her to be his master. Some people have ability to learn fast. You know how much he begged to open his gate of energy and wanting to learn when no one wants to tell him that he will lead them to darkness if they let him. He lost his mother too. He doesn’t even have father figure. How much confusion he has to take to realise his dream. He was canned 100 times. It was so much for wanting to learn magic and live like everyone else. Park jin was too busy with his leadership. Jang gang had gone missing. I’ll have to sympathise him with that. BUT he grew up well. He learned from what is like to lack something that contribute his good moral ground. These painful experience toughen him up to be a better person. He is a really good guy and cares a lot for everyone. 
 

his way of dealing with recklessness and putting naksu under his care. I think it has to do with his destiny/fate. He was very drawn to her for some reason. Here is a thing, jang uk is sort of rouge mage. Nobody want to teach he what he really wants to know. So he is asking a rouge mage to teach him because that is only way she can agree to teach him in return for her favour. Mudeok/nasku was already very weak and powerless. And also naksu did tell him her story and how she ended that way. Also she found out that jin mu is not her trusted leader. They were trying to finish her. They didn’t bother to keep her alive especially when she becomes a soul shifter. Jang uk overheard master Lee telling park jin about naksu and her tragic life. Yul, the perfect mage also got involved with naksu in the past. He looked at mudeok/ naksu looking at her tablet of her and her father’s. Yul began to feel the regret for not helping her earlier. He would have wished to do like Jang uk to get her out of the problem. Jang Uk has no one to lead him. He is really alone in that journey. It is a good thing that buyeon bind naksu powers and force her to live like a human to learn human nature. So it can be a good thing. I think jang uk knew there is more in naksu. His way of telling naksu if she was able to use her sword, she must kill him first (he doesn’t know he may be more powerful than naksu as a mage) is to tell naksu that he felt responsible for releasing her, and hurt his people that he deserves to die. He told her in a right timing to tell her choose a better life. Jang uk is her weakness. 

 

17 hours ago, rocher22 said:

Jang Gang come back to the town at the right moment.

He is the only one left who still has something to teach Uk.

I wonder how powerful Uk will be because he belongs to two families.  

The crown prince deserves to be the king.

Jang Gang has a lot a lot a lot of explaining more than just teaching. 
 

But I truly believe that Uk will prove him that he is the best person to save daeho. I think jang gang misunderstood the UK’s prophecy. He is very worried that UK’s life will be caught for treason due to alchemy of the souls. Master Lee sees the prophecy that UK’s king star is more like the fate of the founder of songrim rather than becoming a future king. The founder of songrim never became a king. He was only revered. 
 

Jang Gang would be surprised that Naksu is already with UK the whole time. So much for leaving to find her so many years! 

 

12 hours ago, kwayteow_mama said:

Couldn't have said it better myself here. Though honestly the whole GYJ returning as FL for S2 rumour kinda color my expectation that Naksu/Cho Yeong and MD/JBY's gonna be separated. I'm not holding out for any satisfactory end for our OTP at this point but at least, please do justice to Naksu/ Cho Yeong/ MD/ JBY characters. Both are tragic characters, IMHO.

i think the writers didn’t do much justice on jin buyeon yet. As for Naksu with the return of GYJ- you may have better chance to see a lot of Naksu’s story from assassin to heroine. 

i wish the writer will Do more for buyeon. I Like jung somin. She did a wonderful job playing mudeok. I really hope they are two people. Buyeon in a way will not survive long and will sad fate. So I hope the writers will fill more about buyeon for Jung somin before we go to season 2 to see more about naksu. 
 

i am the one or the few who likes jung somin and Lee jaewook’s chemistry. 
 

i also notice comments that somin and jaewook doesn’t have off screen chemistry. 
i think it has to do with age gap, and also privacy. I do know what they mean but sometimes we don’t always have to rely on what we see. First of all, I think somin and jaewook have very respectful and professional relationship due to age gap especially she is his noona. Minhyun is actually closer to somin’s age. And shin seung ho is like everyonr’s maknae. Minhuyn and seungho seems to be closer to somin like they are her little brothers. Also jae wook, according to everyone is more serious in first impression but warms up eventually. Also both of them are love interest so they are not trying to mix with their personal life. Also the editors may make this way to keep us guessing about mudeok, naksu and buyeon. And their fates. Also I saw that somin and jaewook did not engage banters and joking around while doing script reading. there could be a reason they want to take it seriously or felt like they want to finish it soon because they were outside. Everyone in production including them were suffering in cold. So they probably wanted to get over with to move on. It was too cold to play around especially at nights. So I could do the same to finish at one take or few possible. I see their banters and joking around mostly indoors. But I wouldn’t read to much into that. 
 

11 hours ago, maribella said:

Park is the evil queen? She was so sweet in Dae Jang Geum. Age does that to some people. 
 

Addendum after reading all possibilities:

I knew it, it's 3 in 1. Mu Deok/BY/ Naksu. For a cliff hanger, if they add little puppy soul shifting, making it 4, I'll definitely watch it. 

park Eun hye was so sweet in dang jang geum. She was a really a good and kind queen. 
 

i don’t entirely think she is an evil queen in alchemy of the souls as jin ho gyeong. I think she was under duress for dealing with her half brother and her husband. After losing buyeon, she lost something she loves. I do think she is a willing mole for songrim to find out jin mu’s plan. I think she has a plan but she needs to know the truth because her house jin is in trouble especially without buyeon. She Is probably pretending to do so in order to find the root of the problem. That is the possibility. I think she finally found real buyeon which is mudeok. But decided not to approach her in order to protect her secret. She knows Jin mu needs her. So she probably would not want to happen again. 

 

9 hours ago, sadthe1st said:

she can be paired with Park Jin's right hand man..

i have too much love for Seo Yul to give him away to her. 

I have to say that soyi is a tragic character. She did it for survival. She knows it too much and underestimated jin mu. She is probably an orphan. She also need to survive all her life. The way she wanted to see mudeok to return her blindfold crest band, she must have known that it is important to mudeok. She recalled her for being too easy person, kind or etc. When she met Mudeok again to make sure that she doesn’t know her. She told the assassin to call off killing because mudeok no longer recognise her. But her mistake is not knowing that mudeok is real jin buyeon. 
 

i don’t see her match well with Seo yul but i do think she deserves a better person if she is out of clutches of Jin mu. 
 

Seo yul is probably best with lady heo but they are cousins right? He would be able to sleep well with her around. Naksu and soyi will keep him awake all the time and getting sick. We will see how it goes. 

 

 

7 hours ago, K-dramafan22 said:

Think if and when Naksu returns to her own body, the most confused person would be Jang Uk like us...

 

He has never seen Bu-yeon's face nor encountered Mu-deok's soul before.   During their childhood, he must have met Bu-yeong before?  Maybe there would be a backstory of Bu-yeon and the 4 seasons in Season 2 as her being part of the 4 seasons until she was lost?

 

Jang Uk would be faced with a Mu-deok's body and a Bu-Yeon's soul when Natsu is spilt from her Siamese-twin soul.  Mu-deok is the person without the soul but has a body that 2 men are accustomed to and loved??  It's quite weird right thinking about it?  haha  That's fantasy genre...  

 

When Bu-Yeon's soul shifted into Mu-deok, Mu-deok must be dying just like the young boy whom Master Lee shifted into.  So when  Naksu was trying to soul-shift into another girl in that room that she busted into, Bu-Yeon must have sucked Naksu into hers instead if she was preventing her from shifting to the other girl's body....so technically, Naksu inside Bu-yeon is not a pure soul-shifter, hence the dog did not bark at her when it first saw her at Master Lee's home.  Also, during the time Cho-yeon(Ep 2?)  sent the gwigu to find soul-shifters, it jumped out at a person behind Mu-deok and Jang Uk but not Mu-Deok.   Typically, a soul shifter switched a soul out, Bu-Yeon superimposed her soul on Naksu  like protecting her(?) so that makes Naksu unique.

 

So Naksu is slowly figuring this out as she gets her dizzy and blinding spells meaning she would figure out that she has another soul within her?   Is it this realisation that makes her willing to eject from Mu-deok and back to her own body later or Bu-yeon basically has the power to eject her anyway?  Being together in one body is trapping Naksu's power as a mage. 

 

Just so curious why is Bu-yeon lying so low in profile though she is the powerful soul?       Does she need Naksu's soul to remove Mu-deok's blindness(since Mudeok was no longer blind after Naksu entered her body) in order to be Jang Uk's master to help him?    Was it all along her plan to seek Jang Uk out to help him remove the curse so that they can join forces to fight the chaos together?

 

I have so many questions....hopefully I can find the answers in the next 4 epsiodes or in season 2.  

 

Jang uk doesn’t even know how naksu looks like. Buyeon is mudeok. Blind buyeon came to rescue jang Uk with blindfold in soul shifting universe. She is real buyeon in soul and identity. 
 

Mudeok is buyeon’s secret identity. Look at the location of the mole and the scar. Mudeok belongs to buyeon. However buyeon is a soul but kept alive with ice stone. It ice stone is taken away, she will be perished along with her body. Look at eunuch Kim. 
 

i believe buyeon only needs to be kept alive with ice stone even think she soul shifted. Buyeon’s case is very different from others.
Only naksu can soul shift and perform master lee’s style in hwansu magic to keep her from going wild instead of needing ice stone. 

 

buyeon is a jin priestess. They can get the soul of powerful mage into their body as a vessel. They can either trap or bind or use their powers. They can even control the memories to use the powers they may not have. That is what buyeon is doing to naksu. She probably knows that naksu is still dangerous to anyone especially the person who is her destiny: jang uk. She Probably has the gift of foresight for knowing that naksu will be a good master to jang uk to awaken his powers. Time is coming near that they need to get ready. 

 

In order to save daeho, it needs someone who is born under king star, and someone who can produce ice stone. It is similar fate of founder of songrim, and jin seol ran. Jang uk shares king star with the founder of songrim while blind buyeon shares similarities to jin seol- ran, who is also blind and produces ice stone. Jang Uk will use and activate ice stone to end the soul shifting problem, and also destroy it. He may have to help buyeon to destroy herself which is ice stone and producer of ice stone not to fall into wrong hands. That could be master lee’s cryptic message for handing a sword to Jang uk. Buyeon needs to set her priorities right and probably need to sacrifice herself. I just hope jang uk can find a cure for buyeon to live without ice stone. Naksu’s solution is to follow master Lee how he lived without using ice stone. She needs to develop hwansu. I think buyeon will give her before she dies. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Tina288

[LeftCoastOppa]

2 hours ago, Tina288 said:

In contrary, I think buyeon is more of indirect and naksu is more direct. I think buyeon is able to manipulate what she wants her body/mudeok to provide naksu soul as a vessel. We started to see that Buyeon is born of jin family which gives her power to trap the soul and bind powers. I also think she has control not to blend her memories with naksu to keep her secret safe.

 

I think you're still misunderstanding - whenever Naksu is in conscious control  over Mu Deok/Bu Yeon's body, she has shown no ability to remember/access Bu Yeons memories - at least not yet. 

 

 

[rocher22]

it is completely understandable why  Soi fell in love with Yul at the first sight.

He helped her in a such cavalier way.

Soi is a tragic character and I think she will sacrifice herself at some point.

Of course she will do it only for Yul.

 

 

 

 

 

Uk and the crown prince are a perfect team.

The way they split up when they noticed  someone  following them, so fast and quiet. 

 

 

 

 

[Dreamofsprings]

I know their part two but why I think he loose some of the people this part 

[mvrecci]

7 hours ago, Tina288 said:

...."Seo yul is probably best with lady heo but they are cousins right? He would be able to sleep well with her around. Naksu and soyi will keep him awake all the time and getting sick. We will see how it goes.."

this made me so lol..

 

and..you made a very conceivable review im so convinced it confirmed whats behind my unarticulated mind.. :^)

 

[SleepyKitty]

Random thought of the day i have, again, about timelines and characters' age. Idk why it matters so much for me but i guess i'm just so used to the korean age-related dynamics (which also happen to sometimes coincides with my own culture).

> So, it turns out seo yul is actually the same age with dang gu and jang uk, since we saw the scenes with mini jang uk, dang gu, and seo yul. So, does it mean that naksu is also the same age with the three of them? Since we saw her sharing her teen years with Seo Yul.

> Meanwhile, we know that naksu's family massacre happened when she's about five or six right? But we saw that jang gang was there to kill her dad (correction: it was park jin who did that, but jang gang was there to sob on her father's dead body, right?). So, Jang Gang actually stayed until the kids are old enough to remember the face of their parents? But why did I always thought that jang gang left right away after jang uk's birth and his wife's death? Also janguk keep mentioning how he doesn't remember his dad's face. Did he just said that out of spite or what.

 

In conclusion: I am confused.

[K-dramafan22]

11 hours ago, Tina288 said:

Jang uk doesn’t even know how naksu looks like. Buyeon is mudeok. Blind buyeon came to rescue jang Uk with blindfold in soul shifting universe. She is real buyeon in soul and identity. 
 

Mudeok is buyeon’s secret identity. Look at the location of the mole and the scar. Mudeok belongs to buyeon. However buyeon is a soul but kept alive with ice stone. It ice stone is taken away, she will be perished along with her body. Look at eunuch Kim. 
 

i believe buyeon only needs to be kept alive with ice stone even think she soul shifted. Buyeon’s case is very different from others.
Only naksu can soul shift and perform master lee’s style in hwansu magic to keep her from going wild instead of needing ice stone. 

 

buyeon is a jin priestess. They can get the soul of powerful mage into their body as a vessel. They can either trap or bind or use their powers. They can even control the memories to use the powers they may not have. That is what buyeon is doing to naksu. She probably knows that naksu is still dangerous to anyone especially the person who is her destiny: jang uk. She Probably has the gift of foresight for knowing that naksu will be a good master to jang uk to awaken his powers. Time is coming near that they need to get ready. 

 

In order to save daeho, it needs someone who is born under king star, and someone who can produce ice stone. It is similar fate of founder of songrim, and jin seol ran. Jang uk shares king star with the founder of songrim while blind buyeon shares similarities to jin seol- ran, who is also blind and produces ice stone. Jang Uk will use and activate ice stone to end the soul shifting problem, and also destroy it. He may have to help buyeon to destroy herself which is ice stone and producer of ice stone not to fall into wrong hands. That could be master lee’s cryptic message for handing a sword to Jang uk. Buyeon needs to set her priorities right and probably need to sacrifice herself. I just hope jang uk can find a cure for buyeon to live without ice stone. Naksu’s solution is to follow master Lee how he lived without using ice stone. She needs to develop hwansu. I think buyeon will give her before she dies. 

Precisely he has not seen Naksu before, that's why he would be the most confused once Naksu leaves Mudeok's body. He would probably have a confusing time with Yul in a confused triangle...

 

Oh...so Bu-yeon was just living under another name Mudeok?   That could be a possibility.... but she has grown up to look so different from the original Bu-yeon that Sol-i looked even more like young Bu-yeon? 

 

Then the Jin mother who yearned so much for her daughter day and night, could not recognise her own daughter Bu-yeon in Mudeok but found Sol-i looking more like Bu-yeon instead.        Unless like what someone has suggested before, that this Jin mother is another great pretender....pretended to join alliance with Jin Mu , to uncover his evil plans....including ignoring that her husband is also a fake one?    That part is hard for me to understand, how could she not know that her husband was not her real husband?    So she is really a GREAT PRETENDER??        If all these were true, then she would know that Sol-i was a fake Bu-yeon.... 

 

Last part, I hope Bu-yeom does not have to sacrifice herself....just because she is the ice-stone...just stay in the presence of mages who can protect her like a national treasure.    I mean, we don't destroy national treasure to protect it from theft, do we?  

[kwayteow_mama]

Thanks @partyon at creating the hiatus poll to enliven our lives for these two weeks!!! 

 

17 hours ago, partyon said:

b) She is a low-key fraudster who was forced to do petty crimes to survive. She probably cares about Mu Deok, but due to unlucky circumstances she is now in a position where she might have to betray Mu Deok. I believe she will do the right thing in the end, but I am not sure Yul is the right man for her...

Leaning on a nicer response too  I wouldn't vote her as world nicest person but she's not really evil evil like Dangollae and Jin Mu and I can understand her dilemma. By magic of scriptwriting, she has also spared two of the main cast currently. Still not rooting for romance with Yul though! If I might add, I find her prep to be JBY scene a bit too clunky for my liking. Bracing for more gut wrenching Mom-fake JBY-real JBY action.. just pray it doesn't get unnecessary clunky, we've only got 4 episodes left for S1!

 

15 hours ago, partyon said:

Me too! I just LOVED her sass, glare and her fighting skills!

No offense to Jung So Min, but she's very different from the original Naksu actress. I don't think JSM could pull off the original Naksu scenes in the same way.

Kudos to the casting choice of GYJ - she totally nailed it as Naksu. She's gotten so much recognition after AoS.  I'm also one of those who were first hooked to AoS because of her visuals.

 

NGL I also have a feeling that she's gonna have great chemistry with LJW both because they're closer in age and because I expect the dynamics of their relationship to have changed once she gets back her power and body. (yes, I'm assuming the rumours are true that GYJ is returning as FL)

 

Don't get me wrong though I'm UkieDeoki team by preference but I'm just being objective on both side. I also blame the lack of chemistry in the recent episodes to the drama direction. Can't help but feel as though drama is trying to mentally prep us for the real OTP as Cho Yeong/Uk for S2. Of course, I could be entirely wrong here.

 

13 hours ago, Tina288 said:

i am the one or the few who likes jung somin and Lee jaewook’s chemistry. 

I like JSM and LJW romantic pairing. I think they've got so much potential but I really don't know why the drama choose to dilute their chemistry after ep8 or something? Ok, the Cheongbugwan hug scene is fine. But as of recent episodes the only romantic things they've been doing is to declare that they will die for each other at covid distance apart (oops, even in different places) and then followed by 10 second or more stare. So it just make me go into a sarcastic mode thinking that the drama is trying to get us not invested into Uk-MD pairing so that they don't have to deal with so much backlash later when the OTP is changed.

 

Anyway here's to hoping drama will give more romantic action for the night date scene. It doesn't have to be touchy feely, or have super long/many screen time but for god's sake just drop the formal vibe there.

 

Since we've got two weeks to burn, ukiedeokie rant ahead!

Spoiler

I can rant about many Ukiedeokie so called romantic scenes during the later episodes but at the top of my head:

 

Re the hug after the unsuccessful soul shift by Gilju scene. Even if I am not complaining about why are they not addressing the part where Uk sees MD in soul world, like what's up with Uk patting MD's back like his mom/ aunt/ sis? I mean c'mon that's the first time we see a tender/emotional Naksu. Why don't let the love acknowledgement happen from here instead of some elaborate Songrim test. Didn't they already know the significance of the yinyang jade exchange even at that point?

 

Also even if we were to accept a passionate kiss scene is just not possible under current situation why can't MD have the same tender eyelock moment with Uk in all of those moment where they have declared their love to death ala Yul 3 heartbeat scene??? Of course this is with the caveat that it comes with a proper set up. 

 

Anyway my point is I think the lack of romantic chemistry between LJW/JSM is due to the drama direction itself.

 

 

 

 

[frozentundra]

18 hours ago, partyon said:

b) She is a low-key fraudster who was forced to do petty crimes to survive. She probably cares about Mu Deok, but due to unlucky circumstances she is now in a position where she might have to betray Mu Deok. I believe she will do the right thing in the end, but I am not sure Yul is not the right man for her...

I'm thinking Mudeok is the only person who ever did anything nice to her, and that's why she's been extra careful about Mudeok. Now that she realizes Mudeok is the original Buyeon, I am not so sure her good will will keep going on. Maybe? Yul is another person who did something nice for her, and I think that will be her weakness in the bad guys' plan. But her ending up with Yul? Er...no. He would be much happier with someone who has a similar background as him in terms of interests and outlook on life. Unrealistic things are forced in drama scripts all the time, but if this was real life, well...there is not much to connect them.

1 hour ago, kwayteow_mama said:

I like JSM and LJW romantic pairing. I think they've got so much potential but I really don't know why the drama choose to dilute their chemistry after ep8 or something? Ok, the Cheongbugwan hug scene is fine. But as of recent episodes the only romantic things they've been doing is to declare that they will die for each other at covid distance apart (oops, even in different places) and then followed by 10 second or more stare. So it just make me go into a sarcastic mode thinking that the drama is trying to get us not invested into Uk-MD pairing so that they don't have to deal with so much backlash later when the OTP is changed.

 

Anyway here's to hoping drama will give more romantic action for the night date scene. It doesn't have to be touchy feely, or have super long/many screen time but for god's sake just drop the formal vibe there.

It does feel like the direction has pulled back on the chemistry lately, which is annoying. It was on fire before they started with the distant, formal confessions. If they're doing it on purpose, to prepare for a switch of FL, urgh. I don't think it will be easy to make that switch regardless, but I don't think this helps. 

 

Then again, Mudeok seems most honest in her feelings when Uk is in danger, so if she is pulling out swords to defend him in future episodes, the romance line may sort itself out a bit more, too. Or (lol) maybe she will watch Choyeon and Danggu being sappy, and pick up some tips. (If she can stop gagging first.  )

 

15 hours ago, Tina288 said:

i also notice comments that somin and jaewook doesn’t have off screen chemistry. 

Spoiler

This touches a little on a peeve of mine, but is it required that actors be in love in real life? I also have noticed that the group interact as a fun cast family, but that no one seems particularly in love with anyone else. It made me admire their acting skills, because on screen, great chemistry. It's a job, it's ACTING, not a dating service. I can certainly think of a small handful of cases where it was screamingly obvious there were real life feelings that had nothing to do with the script, and nine times out of ten, those people ended up making public statements confirming that. I mean, sometimes you do get together with someone you met at work. But 95% of the time, this is something they are coming to from a purely professional standpoint (even if they are playing love scenes). It is just jarring to me sometimes to see a couple have even a mild romantic love line in a drama followed by six months of #endgamemarried posts. Yay to all real life couples! I have certainly shipped my share. But it's not a requirement for creating fantastic, believable on-screen characters. It's enough for me if I believe in Jang Uk and Mudeok on screen, and forget about the real-life actors playing them.

 

[kwayteow_mama]

56 minutes ago, frozentundra said:

Then again, Mudeok seems most honest in her feelings when Uk is in danger, so if she is pulling out swords to defend him in future episodes, the romance line may sort itself out a bit more, too. Or (lol) maybe she will watch Choyeon and Danggu being sappy, and pick up some tips. (If she can stop gagging first.  )

Hope so chingu!!! Drama better don't let me down this time with Uk's reaction by giving her a granma pat on the back again 

 

Honestly my bar is so low now that I'll be happy even to see Uk bring Naksu out in town at night and their troubles are forgotten for a moment, defenses down for a moment and a real genuine smile is exchanged (not out of master's pride, please we've seen that) instead of the usual oh RickRoll'D, you've seen through me, I don't know what to do about it except to look at you with all my defenses up

[SleepyKitty]

46 minutes ago, frozentundra said:

This touches a little on a peeve of mine, but is it required that actors be in love in real life? I also have noticed that the group interact as a fun cast family, but that no one seems particularly in love with anyone else. It made me admire their acting skills, because on screen, great chemistry. It's a job, it's ACTING, not a dating service. I can certainly think of a small handful of cases where it was screamingly obvious there were real life feelings that had nothing to do with the script, and nine times out of ten, those people ended up making public statements confirming that. I mean, sometimes you do get together with someone you met at work. But 95% of the time, this is something they are coming to from a purely professional standpoint (even if they are playing love scenes). It is just jarring to me sometimes to see a couple have even a mild romantic love line in a drama followed by six months of #endgamemarried posts. Yay to all real life couples! I have certainly shipped my share. But it's not a requirement for creating fantastic, believable on-screen characters. It's enough for me if I believe in Jang Uk and Mudeok on screen, and forget about the real-life actors playing them.

couldn't have said it better myself.

 

I too have my fair share of shipping actors with their real life chemistry (seol in ah and kim min kyu? anyone?). However, watching this drama and following some of their promos and real life updates have made me realize how much i appreciate their acting and their professionalism. jung so min and lee jae wook really don't even have an inch of romantic chemistry in their irl interactions. Even during behind the scenes clips, when editors usually love to manipulate viewers into thinking there's actually something between actors, there's nothing in here to feed the delulu shippers. Their on screen chemistry as quasi-romantic-master-student really is born from their acting prowess, and that makes me respect the actors even more.

[sadthe1st]

16 hours ago, Tina288 said:

Seo yul is probably best with lady heo but they are cousins right? He would be able to sleep well with her around. Naksu and soyi will keep him awake all the time and getting sick. We will see how it goes. 

Seo Yul is cousin with crown prince.. he is one of the 4 candidates (along with Jang Uk, Dang Gu, Crown Prince) that Heo Yeom is shortlisting for Yun Ok.

 

although technically speaking, Dang Gu is officially taken lol

 

[K-dramafan22]

1 hour ago, sadthe1st said:

Seo Yul is cousin with crown prince.. he is one of the 4 candidates (along with Jang Uk, Dang Gu, Crown Prince) that Heo Yeom is shortlisting for Yun Ok.

 

although technically speaking, Dang Gu is officially taken lol

 

Think if they want to give everyone a pairing, Jung Somin must carry on...

Mudeok/Bu-yeon for Jang Uk

Naksu for Yul

Cho-yeon for Danggu

Yun Ok for for Crown Prince

 

That would be a fairy-tale ending..... which is not quite likely for the script to be so nice...but we can hope....

 

I also agree that actors/actresses who did a good job professionally on-screen do not mean they have to act lovey dovey outside camera.  They are typically friendly and cordial, think we should not be expecting every on-screen couple to really pair off in real life...it is not realistic....don't stress them.. 

 

 

[LeftCoastOppa]

2 hours ago, frozentundra said:

I'm thinking Mudeok is the only person who ever did anything nice to her, and that's why she's been extra careful about Mudeok. Now that she realizes Mudeok is the original Buyeon, I am not so sure her good will will keep going on. Maybe? Yul is another person who did something nice for her, and I think that will be her weakness in the bad guys' plan. But her ending up with Yul? Er...no. He would be much happier with someone who has a similar background as him in terms of interests and outlook on life. Unrealistic things are forced in drama scripts all the time, but if this was real life, well...there is not much to connect them.

 

So in a drama where a mage leader is in love with a maidservant, a young mage is in love with an assassin/maid, the same Assassin a once younger fledgling mage had a crush on ... yet a petty (and pretty too) thief can't fall in love with a mage?

 

 

In Daeho anything is possible  

 

   

 

 

 

 

[sadthe1st]

5 minutes ago, LeftCoastOppa said:

 

In Daeho anything is possible  

let me call daeho marine over

 

 

 

[K-dramafan22]

21 minutes ago, LeftCoastOppa said:

 

So in a drama where a mage leader is in love with a maidservant, a young mage is in love with an assassin/maid, the same Assassin a once younger fledgling mage had a crush on ... yet a petty (and pretty too) thief can't fall in love with a mage?

 

 

In Daeho anything is possible  

 

   

 

 

 

 

While anything is possible in Daeho, think not everything is possible with Yul.   Yul is quite a die-hard type of guy.  Once he is fixated on someone like Naksu, I think it would be very hard for him to have eyes for anyone else.   ...so.... Sol-i really does not stand a chance....   Sorry.....

[frozentundra]

@LeftCoastOppaLol, of course it's possible in a drama! Based on their personalities, I don't think they would be compatible at ALL in real life. But hey...it's a drama, anything is possible on screen!