Alchemy of Souls – Season 2 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

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3 Funerals And A Wedding

Episode 10 of Alchemy of Souls Season 2 starts with Jang-uk and Bu-yeon spending time together. This feels like the calm before the storm though, and the pair decide to make the most of their moments together. They’re unaware, of course, that Jin-mu has a brand new body he’s about to take out for a test drive.

After, the pair head off to see Master Lee, deciding he wants the two to… have a wedding! He’s there to be a witness and reveals before Jang-uk exactly who she is, including her previous incarnations of Mu-deok and Naksu. However, Bu-yeon wants to be wed by her birth name for this, Cho-Yeong. Master Lee references them as Light and Shadow, a nice way of giving a nod to the title of this second season.

In private, Jang-uk speaks to Lee and admits that most of Naksu’s memories have come back… but not all of them. The jade stone calls to Uk though, and he head out to find Naksu surrounded by a barrier. As he steps into it, he sees images of the fire bird, as a young Bu-yeon admits that this fire bird is destined to escape and dry up, eventually destroying this world. The only one who can stop this coming to pass is Jang-uk himself.

Does Jin-mu take the fire bird?

Meanwhile, the Unanimous Assembly gather while Jin-mu’s insatiable appetite, having only just turned, sees him greedy and acting rashly. In fact, after killing one of the maids, he immediately deicides to bust into Jinyowon and take out the fire bird. On his way, he comes across the Crown Prince who’s shocked to learn Jin-mu has switched bodies. Unfortunately the King is on Jin-mu’s side and decides to take the Prince’s gold plaque, meaning he’ll no longer be heir to the throne.

Jin-mu immediately shows up and holds Ho-gyeong by the throat, choking her out. Cho-yeon has no choice but to open it in order to protect her mother. Jin-mu heads in and takes the fire bird’s egg out.

Without this stored inside, Jinyowon starts to collapse. Before Jin0-mu leaves, he throws some scathing words Ho-gyeong’s way. When he walks off, she tasks Cho-yeon with getting help to bring the fire bird back no matter what, knowing that without it, everything could come undone.

In her absence, Kim shows up and learns of the horrors inside Jinyowon. She helps Ho-gyeong inside, but when Park-jin learns that his beloved is there with Hi-gyeong, he comes running to try and help. The relics are escaping though, swirling like black wraiths and screaming unnaturally at him. Park-jin realizes he needs to shut the portal, but knowing that his wife is in there, it’s a heartbreaking moment. Tears stinging his eyes, Park-jin shuts the portal and seals Kim and Ho-gyeong inside.

What happens with Jin-mu and Park-jin?

Park-jin is wracked with anger and bitter resentment off the back o this, his hand shaking with Kim’s ring in his hand. Jin-mu claims there’s a chance to save her and as a result, he’s forced to p;lay by their rules. He’s led to the Unanimous Assembly, who deduce that they want to divide up the power among all the Kingdoms, regardless of what that means for the world itself. Park-jin keeps his honour and refuses to bend to their will.

Park-jin starts to fight off the various mages, until Jin-mu decides to use his magic and open up the fire bird egg. Park-jin attempts to hold them all off whilst simultaneously using the energy to contain it… but he takes his eye off Jin-mu in the process, who shows up and stabs him through the heart.

With Park-jin downed, he’s not completely dead just yet and when the Assembly and Jin-mu both leave, Park-jin heartbreakingly places the ring on his little finger before losing consciousness and passing away.

When Jang-uk returns to the palace, he’s shocked to find out Park-jin, Kim and Ho-gyeong have been downed, explaining the three coffins we saw at the end of the previous episode. After mourning, Yul reveals the details about the fire bird and the collapse of Jinyowon, catching him up on everything that’s transpired. The coffins are also empty too, given Park-jin’s body burned while the other two are stuck under all that rubble.

Are Ho-gyeong, Kim and Park-jin really dead?

With the fire bird in their possession, Jang-uk reveals the shocking truth. The trio haven’t passed away after all! In fact, Uk has tipped the balance back in their favour.

The next scene we cut to Ho-gyeong, who’s absolutely fine aside from a few cuts and bruises. It turns out Bu-yeon created a door to allow her to enter Jinyowon from Danhyanggok. She managed to stop Jinyowon from collapsing and saved the two ladies.

Lee meanwhile, followed her instructions and head to Cheonbugwan where he found Park-jin but no fire bird. He managed to save Park-jin and prevent him from passing away from his injuries.

That night, Jang-uk shows up to see Bu-yeon, pointing out that their love has defied the odds and although they were never meant to be, they ended up falling for one another all the same. “I love you.” Bu-yeon says before collapsing into Uk’s arms.

Does the Crown Prince fulfil his destiny?

Uk shows up with the gold plaque for the Prince, handing it over and allowing him to ascend back to the position he was always destiuned to be. Uk resigns power to him, pojting out he’s already ascended the heighest of heights with the person he wanted to.

Jin-mu continues to act as a snake, whispering in the King’s ear and gathering the Unanimous Assembly as they prepare to open the egg and awaken the fire bird. Jang-uk is ready though and has plans of his own to stop the bird. As day turns to night, the Prince shows up with the Gold Plaque and tells the King that the man born under the King’s Star will stop Cheonbugwan and the awful deeds Jin-mu intends to inflict on them all.

While he pleads for the King to stand down, Songrim fight through waves of mages (despite taking out 78 of them last episode I may add!)

Is the fire bird defeated?

As for Jang-uk, he shows up at the palace and helps awaken the fire bird, smashing his sword into the ground and causing ripples to protrude out across the ground. Jin-mu watches in shock as Uk causes the entire Assembly to burn. Jin-mu is still standing and laughs until the very end, pointing out that the weak will perish but the strong will rise up.

The flames peter out after engulfing everything, leaving the entire Assembly as smoldering ruins, Dang-gu appears and reveals that Bu-yeon made it to the constellation basin in Cheonbugwan. With the fire bird safe and Bu-yeon having regained her divine powers, all our characters gather.

Bu-yeon uses her powers to send flames rippling up into the sky, which eventually awakens that fire bird. It’s not a phoenix but more a gigantic dragon, and in the wakwe of all this, Park-jin is also alive by the way, he’s not dead.

Uk fights off the fire bird, using his powers to destroy it completely and save the world. As a result, our young Bu-yeon shows up before the adult version, who passes out on the floor and confirms that the world has been saved.

How does Alchemy of Souls end?

We then jump forward 1 year later. Kim reveals to Park-jin that she’s pregnant while looking after Cho-yeon and Dang-gu’s two beautiful children. Cho-yeon and Dang-gu are going strong. Yul is now in charge of gathering pupils at Jeongjingak and there’s plenty of children looking to apply, given he’s allowing anyone to apply regardless of stature.

The Crown Prince is now the King, as before, and they’re in the process of capturing the relics that have escaped Jinyowon. 12 have been gathered thus far but there’s still more to get. As for our couple, Jang-uk and Bu-yeon are living their best life together, protecting the realm and gathering up these relics together. But of course, they’re bound to return for the twins’ birthday right?

The Episode Review

So Alchemy of Souls bows out with a happy ending, as everything is all wrapped up and there aren’t any deaths for our main ensemble after all, at least not for the good guys.

Jin-mu and the Unanimous Assembly are now dead, along with the King and Queen too, leaving the lineage in good hands with the Crown Prince, who’s obviously now the new King. He’s proven this season that he’s more than capable to take up the mantle and lead the Kingdom forward.

The rest of the characters each get a decent conclusion too, with Yul off training the next generation and both Bu-yeon and Jang-uk gathering up the Jinyowon relics while staying together. There’s a nice bit of yin and yang energy too, displaying Uk and Naksu as the light and shadow, which is referenced several times through this season.

This second season is not perfect, and the pace has certainly been a bit erratic at times. Despite that, there’s enough to enjoy here and fans should be pretty satisfied with how this one ends.

Previous Episode

You can read our full season review for Alchemy of Souls here!

 

  • Episode Rating
    (3.5)
3.5

33 thoughts on “Alchemy of Souls – Season 2 Episode 10 Recap, Review & Ending Explained”

  1. I don’t have a heart to watch the last epi of season1 and start watching s2. I LOVED JUNG-UK and MU-DEOK TOGETHER. For me the show ended at epi 19 when he proposed her for wedding the place where they met for the very first time 😍😭🥺. Where he asked her to be his master and lastly asked her to not be his master but wife🥺❤️💜. And I assumed jin mu is dead. How come he ran when everyone was there while shaman was dying and they knew jin mu is involved. So yeah he also died there in my mind 😂.
    And jang uk and mu Deol had happy ending 🥺❤️ dang gu and chu Yeon had happy ending and seo Yul🥺 I hope (in my assumed drama😂) he started developing feelings for ho yeom while getting treated and they have their happy ending together.
    This is how it should have ended 😤☹️. Well yes for me it ended like that. Not gonna watch epi 20. But gonna watch the last scene of epi 19 again 😍.
    For anyone wondering i didn’t read this whole thing. Just skipped to last para , wanted to know did crown prince become evil or something. Glad he didn’t and he is the king. 🥴❤️
    Park jin and servant Kim ❤️❤️ master Lee 🙏🙏

  2. For everyone who didn’t understand why Bu Yeons eyes “sparkles blue”.. it’s because Naksu’s soul is in her body👀. Her body is Naksus original form, and when they rescued Mu Deok from the water, they had the choice to resurrect her. Remember, Mu Deoks body was actually the Jin Bu-Yeons, so her soul was trapped alongside Naksus in that body when Naksu shifted souls. So, when they brought her back to life after the water, her body “reformed” to its original features, as Naksus souls was still there😶. All along Naksu shared they body with Jin Bu-Yeons, she was there all along from S2 Ep1💙.I’ll admit I found it hard to watch the relationship blossom between both Uk and Jin Bu-Yeon in S2, even though I knew it was Naksu it hurt that Uk was catching feelings for her, without fully knowing it was Naksu until episode 9 – which is just ridiculous because he basically guessed right away and in every episode he was reminded of Naksu when they were together, so to believe that he didn’t know until episode 9? A bit of a stretch and unnecessary😔🙈. It would have been much better if they allowed him to realise it early on, as it hurt my heart watching it 😂 All in all I’m torn because I LOVE LJW Aka Uk, and Naksu, who was portrayed by Mu-Deok who was a fantastic actress🔥💙. Even though we saw Jin Bu Yeons version of Naksu at the start of S1 E1, a lot of people forget technically she is the real Naksu(well the actress anyway) but Mu-Deoks performance and chemistry with Uk was just amazing ♥️ So yes, I enjoyed S2 but mainly because I got to see Uk again as well as other “side” characters, and ultimately Uk ends up with Naksu so that made me happy♥️ Would I have been happier if they kept Mu-Deok or failing that, made Uk recognise Naksu BEFORE Ep9? YES😂🙌🏼 But still, I’m obsessed with AOS and the cast (LJW🔥) and music

    I hope this helped 🙏🏻😅

  3. >But it seems even tho she seemed to die, she did not? I am so confused.
    As far as I was able to understand, Jin Seol Ran puts Naksu’s soul to sleep to fight/prevent chaos(firebird).
    Once it is all finished and they defeated it, we can see Jin Seol Ran awakening Naksu’s soul and connecting it to the body completely, then She goes away finally.

  4. Arsenia raised my question. I thought naksu’s soul was going to die. But it seems even tho she seemed to die, she did not? I am so confused. Overall it’s a great piece of work. I sort of liked part 2.

  5. 😭😊😭😊😭😏😏😏
    I feel sad same happy
    Love you all 😘😘😘😘🙄🙄🙄
    Wishing there could be season 3

  6. I enjoyed this series tremendously. Couldn’t wait to watch the next series. I hope there is a season 3. Made me laugh and cry. Also enjoyed “Tomorrow ” and and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” both are excellent series to watch!

  7. I like to watch season 1 more because of jung so min as Mudeok. There is chemistry between Mu deok Jang-uk and the crown prince. If there will be season 3 please retain jung so- min in the cast.

  8. Brilliant series! Loved it from Episode 1 Part 1 to it’s conclusion – will there be a series 3? Like others I’m a bit confused as to why Bu Yeons eyes sparkled blue at the end – I’m assuming she still has the soul of Naksu as Jang Uk didn’t kill her as the final soul shifter? I love Korean fantasy dramas and now I’m off to see if I can find one I haven’t watched yet!

  9. I am so glad this messy part 2 is over. The ten episodes was a disaster. The writing was extremely poor! I totally love LJW. I am looking forward to him moving on to bigger and better things.

  10. Overall happy it’s a good ending but one thing I kept Wondering that the main problem was the ice stone which is still present in Jang Uk and it can lead to chaos again. So what actually Bu Yeon did? Her main purpose of still living was to remove the ice stone that caused chaos?

  11. I was actually thinking mu deok would play her part, seeking for revenge by piercing her sword through Jin Mu heart.
    I love the movie anyways.
    😘😘😘❤️💖💖💖💖💖💖💝

  12. So depressing that Mudeok (jung so min) wss no longer part in the season 2.. no matter how naksu or they want her to act or look like mudeok in the season 1.. she cant beat jung so min. So sad and frustrating why they need to change the lead female..

  13. Great kdrama series…and happy ending I hope there is season 3..but pls..give naksu a fight scene..many of us waited for naksu return …go youn Jung is the best actress can pull off that scene as of now she is the best for me….

  14. Part 2 is not as engaging as part 1. There were times that the last episode was dragging, redundant, so fast also that they wanted to end it abruptly.

  15. nice job cast and crew for sure! . Was expecting return of the fierce, less romantic Naksu in the end to drive her white sword to Jinmu at last.

  17. Yea, S2 focuses a lot on Jang UK & Naksu’s relationship and lesser on the action side, especially a pity that we didn’t get to see Naksu back in action. Would love to see her hold her sword. Nevertheless it was still enjoyable because I love this couple. I believe it would have been a lot better with 12 eps instead of 10.

  19. Loved both Seasons. The Season 2’s episodes neatly wrapped up the little details such as Seol- Ran protecting Buyeon and Naksu, the use of the 2nd gold plaque for the Crown Prince to finally assert himself, the door created to save Jinyowon… even the turtle with good energy! To see Uk and Buyeon/Naksu having a well deserved time together collecting the missing relics was a heartwarming end to the series!

  20. Part 2 of Alchemy of Souls started our strong. Then fizzled on the final episode. What a disappointment. Those who died should have stayed dead. The writers did a disservice to the amazing talent of the actors.The episode was rushed and I felt nothing with the silly ending. No chemistry.

  21. Alchemy of Souls Wao! this K drama blew me away from season 1 I was in love with the couple not only Mu Deok and Jang Uk was incredible but also all the actors, in the drama without forgetting Pak Jin, Kim DoJun, Mr Lee, Yeom, Pak Dang gu, Jin Cho Yeon and without forgetting the Crown Prince Go won who made the drama more interesting his role in this drama was fantastic I was always waiting to see what the writer has planned for him a good personality who does not have any greed in his heart. His bad luck he was only surrounded by evil people but his heart remains pure. Here I would love to see more in this last episode him wants to know what happen to Mu Deok their charisma was outstanding.

    This season 2 I was hesitating to watch it thinking whether it will give the same satisfaction as the 1st season. But it was really surprising how Bu Yeon pull this off and made this season hers. Hats off to the director, producer, and actors for this drama. Really it was a real pleasure to watch and I think if you would have added more episodes people would have appreciated it no matter what because we want to see more of Alchemy of Souls. Why not Season 3.
    Love to all the crew members who work really hard behind the camera.

  23. My husband and I got engaged on both Parts I and II. Good plot, story outstanding performances by the characters.
    Congratulations to the actors and the writers and all involved in the production.

  24. Omo this film is fucking 🥵 🔥 But why did the eyes of Buyeon brighten and sparkle . We’re all confused, did it end in episode 10 just like that 🙄 I’m sure we’re moving to season 3 😎🔥 Jin Mu is very Heartless and he doesn’t care the fuck that happens to anyone 😂🥺 The Fire bird is his main concern 🥺

  26. Honestly I only watched ep1 and lost interest because My doek wasn’t there. There was no point honestly. Maby it turned out good but they shouldn’t have killed her off like that. L 🥲

  27. Loved this series although I thought the ending was a bit confusing, 🤯 felt it was a bit rushed and could have explained a bit better. All characters were amazing 🤩 main protagonists were spot on ! Love Korean dramas, my guilty pleasures 😉

  28. The only one who wasn’t given a decent ending was mu deok who was the real Jin buyeon and the reincarnation of Jin seol ran..her life, her power, her face and identity was stolen from her..if they wanted to resurrect Naksu that bad, they should give her another body and let mu deok live her life as Jin buyeon coz she deserves it…she could have given the Jin buyeons character more life..

  30. But why did the eyes of Buyeon brighten and sparkle to blue? Is Naksu still alive for Season 3?

  31. I was so much in love with the Alchemy of souls that i didn’t want it to end I love K dramas so much

  32. Mu deok was the heart and soul of this series. She and Uk. Should have been together. What a pity. Bu yeon was absolutely lacking in depth and too one dimensional. Really no heat whatsoever
    Mu Deok’s energy was infectious.

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