Alchemy of Souls: Episodes 3-4

by alathe

Buckle up for some high octane master-apprentice shenanigans, as our hero hones his magic at an unprecedented — and dangerous — rate! The political situation grows perilous, and our protagonists have managed to anger everyone. Luckily, our favorite bloodthirsty assassin is ready to do what it takes to protect her pupil, whether it involves spying, scheming, or abject humiliation in front of the crown prince…

EPISODES 3-4 WEECAP

Our heroes, having defied death, return to Sejukwon. Here, in a moment of aching trust, Wook kneels and swears to serve Mu-deok. She warns, less tenderly, that this relationship has a built-in expiry date. Once Wook trains to full strength and restores her power, they must part ways. Wook, whose abandonment issues run deep, seems skeptical, but agrees.

Time for training! Mu-deok gives the lowdown on three key magical techniques. Jipsu, the ability to gather the water’s energy. Ryusu, absorbing this energy. Chisu, controlling it for explosive results. Her demonstration of the fearsome moves she employed as a master assassin would be impressive — if it didn’t cause her to collapse, winded. Unfortunately, her new apprentice is no better; even in her scrawny secondhand body, she beats him soundly in a fistfight.

Still, there’s hope. Ordinarily, it takes years to master even Jipsu. Wook’s got an ace up his sleeve: when the kindly Yeom restored his energy gate, he channeled roughly a decade’s worth of magical power into his body. How does Mu-deok verify this? By shoving him back, stripping his outer robe, and pressing her hands up close and personal against his stomach, of course! Flawlessly awkward.

So, the energy’s there — now, to harness it. For this, they need Yeom’s personal breathing technique: only then can Wook metabolize the power before his benefactor does anything awkward, like, um, ask for it back. What better way to learn than to stalk Yeom’s relative, Yul?

Well, as it turns out, almost anything. When Dang-gu spots the master-apprentice pair squabbling in the library, Wook declares they’re here to spy on Yul because of his maid Mu-deok’s embarrassing crush. Curbing her murder-glare, Mu-deok follows Yul to the Jeongjingak mages’ changing room, where he tells her to leave. However, circumstance – and, by circumstance, I mean a gaggle of half-naked male mages preparing to bathe – forces them to press up close behind a curtain. Mu-deok sneaks a grope at Yul’s stomach, but he flusteredly shoves her away.

Yul proves no fool. When Mu-deok offers a last-ditch fake love confession to get another chance at feeling him breathe, he snaps that he knows what she’s trying to do, and why – and it won’t help Wook. He turns to leave. But, after several of Mu-deok’s failed attempts to grab him, the bird whistle he took from Naksu’s body has fallen from his robes.

Mu-deok plays the whistle, and, like the Pied Piper, draws back Yul. They strike a deal: Mu-deok will return his precious keepsake in exchange for Yul’s breathing technique.

Meanwhile, Wook’s been busy. With a judicious bribe of liquor, he’s managed to fend off Yeom’s attempts to retrieve his energy. In fact, whilst carrying his inebriated elder back home, he’s pilfered his breathing technique! Upon finding Mu-deok, though, his triumph is eclipsed by seeing her stand close to Yul. It’s not full-blown jealousy, but it’s not nothing, either. Mu-deok, for her part, indulges in some deadpan teasing, waxing lyrical about Yul’s handsomeness.

Wook’s well on his way to mastering Jinsu. This is appalling news for Jin, who’s honor-bound to act on what he was told by his friend Jang Gang. Wook, he knows, is not Gang’s son, but the late King’s. If he catches the attention of the royal family, he could be killed for treason — the smallest hint of fame will spell his doom.

Therefore, when the man he regards almost as a son asks for an invitation to Songrim, Jin has no choice but to refuse. Publicly. Adding insult to injury, he returns Wook’s father’s sword — the one he lacks the power to unsheathe. Then, the worst blow of all: Wook is banished from Songrim.

Things get even uglier when Jin demands the return of Wook’s spirit plaque. Wook can’t exactly explain that his assassin master purloined it during one of her ill-fated bids for freedom. So, he has to claim he lost it. The punishment for a lost spirit plaque is one hundred floggings; Jin doesn’t hesitate to give the order.

Stone-faced, Wook endures each blow as his friends watch in horror. Finally, they finish. However, Wook, in a move so ballsy it defies belief, tells Jin that he has only received ninety-nine blows. He demands that Jin himself deliver the last.

It sends Wook reeling to the ground. Jin inwardly pleads for Wook to stay down — to give up, and live a quiet life. Instead, Wook pushes himself to his feet. When he leaves Songrim, it is with head held high, Mu-deok walking proudly at his shoulder.

Back home, Wook’s not so stoic. Actually, he’s depressed, and wallowing in long baths. Moreover, the flogging jump-started his body’s magic absorption: Wook must suffer brutal heat, as the energy burns up, then excruciating cold as it recedes.

The heat is easily combated through ice baths. The cold nearly kills him. Mu-deok bundles him in blankets, slaps his face to keep him conscious, and when all else fails, holds him close. Wook, evermore heroic, insists that if he dies, she must take his energy. Mu-deok, evermore herself, replies that if she knew how to do that, she’d have killed him already. Still, we get some incredibly sweet content, as Mu-deok murmurs stories, helping him through the night. Whilst she speaks, she pats his arm to comfort him. (I die.)

By morning, Wook is recovered, and stronger for it. Nonetheless, he still can’t unsheathe his father’s sword. This becomes an issue sooner rather than later, because he has a crown prince to contend with.

PRINCE GO WON (Shin Seung-ho) is striking for two reasons: his unerring ability to raise a single eyebrow in skepticism, and his ill-judged loyalty to his mentor, Jin Mu. The latter has led him to fear the Four Seasons; he’s here to assert his power by demanding Naksu’s sword — and Jang Gang’s, too. When Wook refuses, Won proposes a duel. To make things semi-fair, he draws a line in the dirt: Wook wins if he can drive him past it.

Wook’s no combat savant; Won knocks him around the yard without breaking a sweat. Luckily, help is at hand in the form of Mu-deok and a brimming chamber pot! Her genuinely ingenuous solution is to slop its contents between the two fighters, causing the prince to recoil in fastidious horror — right over the line he drew.

Meanwhile, Dang-gu has gone to check on Wook. Yul tags along to speak to Mu-deok, and Cho-Yeon has somewhat confused plans to scold Wook, then treat his wounds. In short, three Seasons arrive in time to hear the fourth effectively tell a prince not to let the door hit him on his way out.

Won doesn’t exactly take this lying down. Instead, he tries to behead Mu-deok for staining his sleeve with toilet slop. But, as his blade comes whistling down, it’s deflected. Wook has accomplished the impossible: in that moment of peril, he unsheathes his father’s sword.

And what a sword! It’s positively luminescent with lake-power. Wook lunges forward to fight in deadly earnest: something is forcing his body to lurch forward, puppet-like. His friends wrestle away the sword, but Wook’s right arm is dealing out dizzying blows due to an uncontrolled surge of power. Thinking fast, Cho-Yeun whips out a magical binding bracelet, restraining the disobedient limb. Sadly, Won’s still out for blood.

As the Four Seasons bicker over how to navigate this political quagmire, Mu-deok resorts to desperate measures. She kneels before Won. She holds up the chamber pot. With wide eyes, she offers to drink it in penitence.

Wook’s honor won’t allow this. He also kneels, offering to drink in her stead, causing Mu-deok to go on a truly phenomenal face journey through seven shades of irritation and perplexity. Wook’s doting housekeeper, KIM DO-JOO (Oh Nara), throws herself forwards. She’ll drink from the pot! Hot on her heels comes Dan-gu! He’ll help drink! Cho-yeon steps forward and… shrieks at the stench. She tried.

Luckily, Yul still has his wits about him, and offers Won what he actually wants — an excuse not to watch this debacle unfold — by saying they dare not challenge him. Won takes him at his word, whilst also taking the opportunity to leave.

Wook’s ecstatic at having achieved Ryusu — enough to pull Mu-deok, who still reeks of toilet sluice, into a tight hug. (She hugs back pretty well for someone who claims to avoid non-murderous intimacy.) He’s determined to head back to Songrim and show Jin the fruits of his labor.

This is a mistake. Jin, forced into cruelty by his knowledge of Wook’s fate, demands that he remove the binding bracelet on his arm. He obeys, struggling to hold his sword aloft. But, it’s too much for him. His arm plunges forward of its own accord, stabbing Jin in the shoulder.

Jin doesn’t bat an eyelid. He just stares, hard. But, when Cho-yeon attempts to defend Wook by praising his duel with Won, he explodes into fear and rage. Mu demands that Wook be imprisoned for attacking the prince, and Jin agrees.

In Wook’s cell, he and Jin face a harrowing conversation, awkwardly asking after the wounds they inflicted on each other. For Jin, the problem is unbearable: it breaks his heart that Wook won’t consider an ordinary life. For Wook, the betrayal is enormous: even his patron wants to see him fail. Jin levels one last blow, telling Wook that he’s the result of his mother’s love affair. This lie hurts all the more when you remember that Jin himself was in love with Do-hwa.

Unbeknown to our heroes, wider problems are emerging. Mu’s lackey, GIL JOO (Choi Ji-ho) suspects that Mu-deok is Naksu. He’s currently escorting a sinister soul-shifter into the city, for purposes unknown. Meanwhile, another mysterious stranger has stolen Gwigu, transferring the formidable dog-spirit into the body of an ordinary mutt. Still, the biggest concern is that Wook has lapsed into a depression that even Mu-deok can’t lift.

Luckily, she’s master of the creative solution. With Dang-gu’s help, she orchestrates a meeting between Yeom and Mu. It doesn’t take much goading to get Mu to agree to an official duel between Won and Wook — potentially, to the death.

There’s no time to waste: Dang-gu and Yul help Wook flee Songrim. He and Mu-deok allegedly plan to lie low in Mu-deok’s hometown until things settle. However, as they set sail, Mu-deok reveals that it is Danhyanggok, Naksu’s home, that they’re headed for… to train.

Cue Wook: “You’ve poisoned me again!”

As ever, Alchemy of Souls is driving me wild with its tightly-plotted theatrics. Whilst the successes of Episode 3 are punctuated by some uneven comedy, Episode 4 is a triumph from start to finish. As always, our leads’ rock-solid chemistry carries the day, but the supporting cast is coming into their own. Jin and Wook’s thwarted, pseudo-parental relationship splits my heart in two, and I’ve a growing fondness for Yul’s quiet dignity. Cho-yeon is another standout: she’s adorably prim, and deeply erratic; I can’t wait to find out more about what makes her tick.

I’m earnestly rooting for our heroes, because the balance of sympathies is so deft. Wook tries so hard, and fails so often, but his main opposition comes from those who love him. Mu-deok is masterful and vulnerable in equal turn, but she’s unafraid to humiliate herself in the service of a scheme. In short, everything is beautifully complex. Plus, I’ll confess, I don’t usually giggle at toilet humor. But, this episode’s toilet humor? Solid genius. Bring on next week!

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Alchemy of Souls: Episodes 3-4