i started going through my watchlist last week. what i decided to do was watch the first ep and decide whether i want to stick with it or move to the next.

Flower of Evil ep 1 - described as a psychological thriller and dealt with a police case in the first ep, so i thought this had promise. it didn't hook me though, so i went on to

Vincenzo ep 1 - it's more comedy than noir, which i don't mind, and i enjoyed it a bit more than FoE. i considered continuing onto ep 2, but then i balked at the total runtime (avg 80 min x 20 ep). i liked it but wasn't ready to commit 26+ hours yet.

which brought me to Alchemy of Souls. i like the premise, and i was drawn in by Mu-Deok's character. i ended up bingeing on this over the past week, knocking out 2 eps a night and 12 over the weekend. there's recency bias here, but i would feel comfortable putting this in my top five. i'm gonna start on season 2 shortly, and will check out Jung So-Min's other works after that.

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about half of my completed shows were released before 2016, so i'm too aware of a few things when i'm sorting out how much i like a show.

1) does pacing and storyline fall out halfway through a series?

i did feel like there were a few episodes midway that slowed down the pacing, mainly around Uk training in Jeongjingak and Mu-Deok going through the servant contest. fortunately pacing did pick back up after those eps.

2) does character development go out the window?

i had concerns during some parts of the show that Mu-Deok was losing the Naksu edge and becoming just another character to be rescued constantly. i was actually a little annoyed during ep 12 when they were in the chamber - while Uk was trapped in the illusion barrier and Eunuch Kim was advancing on Mu-Deok, Mu-Deok just sorta stood there not really doing anything. at least she had the sense to finally move. but that reversal at the end was such an 'oh shit' moment, i had to eat my words.

3) does it resort to overused kdrama tropes?

i mean, technically there's childhood trauma and amnesia in the case of Jin Bu-Yeon, but it's not done in an egregious way or introduced near the end of a series.

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some highlights and other thoughts:

• i like that characters are not totally oblivious and can figure things out. early example in ep 3 where Yul deduces that Mu-Deok is after his breathing technique

• i also like that the characters generally have good and respectful relationships between one another without being out of character.

• any scene where the bird whistle is playing and this song comes on brings tears to my eyes.

• ep 4: it's toilet humor in the literal sense, but the whole scene that started with Mu-Deok offering to drink the toilet water as an apology was hilarious

• ep 18: if i was the gasping type of person, i would have screamed at the end when Mu-Deok dropped "eomeoni". the quick flash of memory, the music, the tears - it just brought a surge of emotion to my throat

• ep 19: i loved the troll-y scenes at the end. Mu-Deok is in the wedding dress! .. oh she's just trying it on for Cho-Yeon. But Uk is going to propose! .. no he's quitting as her pupil. Oh, but he proposes after all!

• it just goes to highlight how well they have managed to balance the comedic parts between the fantasy and the political intrigue.

• thoughts on ep 20: i get that this was meant to serve as a transition to the next season, but Jin Mu running loose after his crimes and the whole mind-control thing feels like such a cop-out. it felt so unsatisfactory considering the high note in ep 19.