What is going on between Park Jin and maid Kim?
The 20th episode of Alchemy of Souls begins with Park Jin walking with maid Kim in this season finale. She reveals that she wants to stay with her husband in a comfortable house, in a small garden. Park Jin promises to find the exact house for her and give it to her on her wedding day. He openly explains how Master Lee courted him, but Kim doesn’t believe how stupid the leader is.
“My feelings are you!” He opens his mouth as Park Jin is shocked that he missed it. Park Jin tries to correct these mistakes, but Kim runs away, the word “with love” echoes in Park Jin’s mind.
On the way home, Jang-Uk sees her crying and listens to her troubles. However, he also makes a comeback with some good news, revealing that he will be getting married soon. When he reveals that his bride will be Mu-Deok, Kim is shocked and bites his handkerchief.
Even Lady Heo has come to terms with the idea of Jang-Uk being with Mu-Deok, thinking she never stood a chance with him.
What does Jin-Mu intend to do next?
Meanwhile, Jin-Mu continues to make plans, trying her best to convince the crown prince to get together with her. The prince is quick to point out that Jang-uk has lost all his power, and public opinion, combined with the fact that he was the one who enchanted the Royal Star, means that he will politely decline. That is, until the slippery wizard tells him that he can hide Jang-Uk’s power.
Confronted by the Crown Prince, Jin-Mu instructs those in Cheonbugwan to fetch the Queen’s spirit potions and divination bells. Now, the latter actually belonged to Shaman Cho and could well play a role in Jin-Mu’s final gamble. He intends to confuse the soul changers by ringing the bells. By doing so, it will unleash Jang-Uk’s power with the ice stone.
Ho-Gyeong waits for Woo-Tak, who is still alive after stabbing himself in the gut in the last episode, to wake up. He’s not exactly in a forgiving mood and tells her that he hopes he’s in pain after what he did to their family. Tears silently fall down Woo-Tak’s face.
Does Jin-Mu learn the truth about Mu-Deok’s identity?
Although Yul has recovered, he is still in pain. Now, the root cause of this is the blood parasite that So-im put into him. So-i mulls it over and talks to herself, hoping that Yul will take the medicine at Jinyowon to relive the pain.
Meanwhile, Park Jin stops by to see maid Kim before she leaves, offering her hand and some seeds as a gesture that she’s willing to wait with him. Kim gladly takes his hand and decides to “go for it” going forward, cementing the couple’s blossoming romance. Master Lee watches from afar and decides to abandon them. Unfortunately, she ends up crying her eyes out, heartbroken by this turn of events.
As for Park Jin, he realizes that Jin-Moon knows everything about Jang Gang’s past and decides that the only solution is to kill him. Of course, we know he’s hatching a diabolical plan to disrupt the upcoming wedding. Not only that, but Jin-Mu starts putting all the pieces together and realizes that Mu-Deok is actually Naksu. Will Mu-Deok succumb to the calls and go wild?
Meanwhile, Ho-Gyeong confronts So-I after she lied while rooting for Jinowon. He intends to kill her, but So-I uses the veil to keep himself alive, refusing to tell him where Bu-Yeon is until he guarantees her safety. For now, he walks away. Finally, I smuggle medicine to Yula to help her pain.
Is the crown prince working with Jin-Mu?
On the eve of Dang-gun’s big wedding, the crown prince tells Mu-deok what he thinks of him, leaving things on a rather bittersweet note after hoping that he and Jang-uk would be far away so he couldn’t show his illness. feelings towards them. Unfortunately, Jin-Mu uses this to his advantage and encourages the crown prince to take Jang-Uk down.
In the morning, Dang-Gu and Cho-Yeon’s wedding continues, but there is of course still animosity between Ho-Gyeong and Park Jin. Mu-Deok is also nowhere to be found, considering he’s under Jin-Mu’s spell. Unfortunately, he kills a number of wizards protecting Woo-Tak before going after the main man.
Cho-yeon shows up in a wedding dress and tries to stop Mu-deok, but it’s no good. The killer is very powerful. Dang-Gu also tries to intervene, but it’s too late, Mu-Deok kills Woo-Tak, apparently right this time.
Does Mu-Deok go on a killing spree?
“Kill those who killed your father,” echoes Jin-Moo’s voice, as Mu-Deok finds himself on the verge of a murderous attack. Jin-Mu, armed with bells, enters to see Park Jin and warns that Naksu is under attack. We see the fearsome power of this wizard as Naxu takes out a number of wizards with ease.
Park-Jin points his bow and fires a magical arrow… until Jang-Uk stands up and stops the shot. Park Jin moves him at the last second, but Jang-Uk opens himself up for Mu-Deok to stab him in the gut.
Does Jang-wook die?
Jang-uk falls to his knees as he bleeds out and begs Mu-deok to snap out of his trance. It seems to be a trick, but he suddenly realizes what’s going on and is shocked. Of course, this all foreshadowed the last episode, but it still doesn’t stop it from being heartwarming.
The bells ring once more, but this time Mu-Deok takes off and Jang-Wook begins to bleed out on the floor. As news of what happened spreads, Jang-wook’s body is eventually brought to a secret room. Jin-mu uses this to her advantage and pleads with the king to punish Songrim for it.
As for Ho-Gyeong, he tries to find Mu-Deok to find out who took his body. Cheonbugwan follows him too, so it really goes down to the wire.
As we know, Jang-Uk is the King Star Fire, and as the fire burns in the courtyard, the flame suddenly turns blue and bursts into flames. Steps out of the fire Jang-Uk! After all, he is good! Master Lee is also there to watch because he knows it’s not Jang-Uk’s time to die. Our hero purposefully emerges from the smoking ruins.
We bring back Mu-Deok, no longer able to hear the bells, but with cracked skin. Standing at the edge of the cliff, Jin-Mu is sure that this is where he meets his death. He jumps into the water and lets himself sink into the depths. However, hands grab her and begin to pull her back to the surface.
Will Mu-Deok be saved? What will Jang-wook do next? What will be the fate of Songrim, Jinyowon and Cheonbugwan? We’ll have to wait and find out when this show returns later this year!
Episode Review
When Jin-Mu’s master plan was thwarted last episode, this finale essentially works to wrap it up, but also introduces a new threat for season two. This is seen in the form of Mu-Deok being affected by the calls and being controlled by Jin-Mu.
Speaking of which, if Bu-Yeon is this powerful mage, shouldn’t she be involved in all the calls? To me it’s a bit contrived and mostly works to set up season two. To be fair, the story could have been wrapped up in episode 19, which felt like a natural conclusion. In many ways, this chapter is basically like the opening chapter of season 2!
However, we do have an issue with Jin-Mu and how he was able to get into the throne room and influence the royal family. This itself is a bit contrived, because shouldn’t the queen absolutely despise Jin-Mu at this point? Why does he accept what he says? Now it is possible that the king will punish Songrim for what happened, and it will fall into Jin-Mu’s hands.
There are still a lot of loose ends to be resolved here, and in many ways you can forgive the cliffhanger ending because we know another season is coming. Ho-Gyeong’s daughter, ice stone, Jang-Uk’s new goal, etc. All the dramas involved will hopefully come out at the end of this year.
This first season was a great watch and the mix of romance, fantasy and drama is sure to be another hit on Netflix. Will it be as good as the next one? We have to wait and see.