Review: Alchemy Of Souls: Light And Shadow

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show continues our magicky narrative from Season 1 (review here!), and manages to serve up a solid story, while sticking to its own mythology and internal rules.

On top of that, I found Show nicely engaging on the emotional front, once I got my bearings in Season 2.

To address the elephant in the room, yes, I thought Go Yoon Jung was very good as our female lead, and I thought the change of female lead between Season 1 and 2, was nicely managed.

Importantly, even though I did feel like Show wobbled a little bit at the end, it does, in fact, give us a solid ending, while working within the mythological framework it’s set up for itself.

Not bad at all, I say.

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Review: The Uncanny Counter

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Gritty, bloody and full of action like many an OCN drama, yet character-driven and full of heart, like you might expect from jTBC, with a fantasy bent like you might expect of tvN, The Uncanny Counter is the superhero-flavored, heartfelt, X-Men-esque demon-hunting story that I didn’t know I needed in my life.

For the most part, Show does a great job of meshing all these different personality traits into an organic whole – except for a late-stage change in writers, which admittedly causes a bit of a wobble, but which Show does recover well from.

Our cast does an all-around great job of bringing this story to life, while making their characters and their relationships pop, and Show works out to be highly engaging, and sometimes, even rather cracky.

Definitely recommend.

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