Long Distance Relationship at its best
the ending is a bit disappointing. they managed to showcase their relationship beautifully; from the childhood love, their premature breakup, how they amend their relationship, their coping mechanism to complement each other. it makes us realize LDR needs both side effort and understanding. it is difficult but doable.but their daughter in few last episodes seems like didnt exist. there's no loving moment as a complete family. the direction still as loving couple rather than a family of three. on another perspective, it is quite logic; LDR makes you feels every moment is fresh and awkward.
other than that, this is a slow burning gem. if you like Le Coup de Fodre, this is another binge for you.
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Soft romance goodness
Between the other dramas from this author, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love and Love Me, Love My Voice, this one was definitely my favorite. I loved how quiet and comforting this drama was, and the acting from both leads was phenomenal.The flashbacks weaved in and out of the present day timeline perfectly and really added to the angst of their second-chance romance. Even after the leads got together, I never felt bored; the chemistry was just that great. I wish the second half of the drama let us mellow in their little moments more and did less of the time jumps. The only other bump in the road for me was the ending, which ended in a flashback. Don't get me wrong — I like the flashback itself and we definitely get full closure, but the last episode just didn't quite pack the punch I craved where we were looking to the future.
I also have mixed feelings on some of the family-related arcs. While I like that nothing was over-dramatic or blown out of proportion, I also felt sometimes that arcs ended abruptly and emptily. People became "good" or changed their tune suddenly, in a way that was not satisfying or realistic.
I also want to mention that we don't get to know too much of either of the lead's jobs, even though it's always in the background. For a drama where the character's occupations are more in the forefront, I'd look to something like You Are My Hero (which I also loved). However, I actually liked that this drama focused on the romance more. It also highlighted the friendships, both of which were really heart-warming. The second lead romance was minor, but quite well done also.
With all this being said, this is a romance drama. The romance IS the best part and it was done really well. I'd definitely recommend this one.
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romance all the way
super excited to watch this show since the poster came out. love the casting of tan song yun and jing boran as the main leads. i really love romance show that shows a healthy relationship, no crazy drama and mature.. so to me this show really did well. the chemistry is a 10/10, with the cinematic all it's really a very sweet romance.actually this show is not hard to understand at all. but all the flashbacks makes it very confusing sometimes, because they show the present time and flash back sometimes. there are a lot of flashbacks but nothing very impt to take note as to what really happened between them. development of the story is ok, but sometimes the timeline seems to jump abit for me and idk how long time have past or anything. for example, when did they have kids??? when was she pregnant??? when was her kid like 5 years old alr??? or like everytime luchen went off for work it felt like very long. this would be a really good show if it is shorter imo. still, love both leads!!! and jing boran looks super hot soooo why not
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second half of drama is more watchable
__*Road Home 2023*__ - 8/10 cdramafirst few eps can be described just by one word :Awkward:. I know it was intentional awkwardness, but it made whole story boring to watch and that dreary vibe didnt helped too...
had urge to end stop watching or at least give it 7,5 score, but later half of drama saved it little and upped it to average drama ratings.
Shortly if you get through hard start you may get to like this drama by end or at least wont hate it as much.
__*plot*__ - FL and ML are exes which didnt see each other for long time and never truly managed completely break their relationship. Now they meet again and may as well get together, but whole thing got problems... family problems, long distance relationship cause of work etc.
__*genre*__ - romance, melodrama
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Here for The Chemistry Only
Usually the Police or Army or Firefighter type of drama will have doctor as female leads, then natural disaster comes so the couple will meet during that period. But not this one. That's why, for me, it's a bit draggy. It's like the writer had no idea what else to write to complement the main story. I literally skipped and only watched Lu Chen and Gu Xiao's part started from episode 13. I also wish the leads' friends would develop feeling and all, but no.Now let's get into my favorite parts:
This is my first Tan Song Yun drama and second Chinese romance drama that i watched. Love the leads' chemistry. I mean by love is L.O.V.E.
First episode when they met again for the first time at gas station in 2018, GX asked LC, "do you still remember me?"
Then LC answered, "i will still remember you even you turn into ashes." THAT WAS INTENSE and IT GOT ME HOOKED.
Then two years after, when they crossed path in snowy Qining (am i right?), they were still reluctant to talk and look at each other. The acting was so natural i felt the distant, hesitation, love, regret etc etc between the leads. LIKE, it was so real even i wanted to scream, "OMG Gui Xiao i know you regret dumping him. I'm sure right here right now you wanna hold and hug him really bad."
After they reconciled, the episodes were bland and boring. It was only them on LDR then make out whenever they reunited.
To conclude, now i want my very own Captain Lu Chen... can I have one like him? He owns all the love languages: touching, quality time, words of affirmation and act of service.
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I dozed off many times
Makers of the show solely depended upon the lead cast of the show. The cast was a great choice, though. However, they forgot that there are several other factors that make a drama successful. The story was very regular and somewhat cliched and predictable. The music was so damn average.The Good:
1. The star cast of the show, especially the leads
2. No unnecessary drama or viciousness in any of the characters.
The Bad(I would rather call it boring):
1. There was too much of going in and out of the past. The leads were a teen couple 11-12 years ago, before they parted their ways, and after meeting again several years later, both realize that they are still in love and rekindle their relationship. It was necessary to show the background in order to feel connected with their present day story, however in half of the show, the leads were just reminiscing their past only.
2. Lack of character development: As the story develops so do the characters. However, the supporting cast, doesn't grow at all.
3. Unrealistic sub-plots: The child of the 2nd male lead is sent to Beijing with the female lead so that she can get him admitted in a school. But this boy is sent to various other homes and people too. For example, the friend and colleague of the female lead just takes the child in, in her care as the female has to go with male lead for a 2 week long trip. The child's father is all cool with his son's living situation.
4. There was no development for 2nd leads. It's shown that the 2nd male lead(who happens to be the colleague and friend of the main lead) proposes the above mentioned friend and colleague of the female lead, but even after the leap of 2.5 years, they were still unmarried.
5. The SWAT team members act so juvenile and childish. It's like they have no work when ML and FL are around.
6. In one of the scenes, after giving birth, FL is trying to feed her baby while the ML(father of the baby) looks on. FL asks her to look away and feels very shy. I was like oh C''mon, girl, he's your baby daddy'.
7. As for the romantic moments, there were way too many staring lovingly in the eyes moments. The leads have chemistry, but bad screenplay is to be blamed for not using the romantic element correctly.
This is just a short list. There were so many annoying and boring moments. I actually slept through the scenes, and many of them I had to fast forward as they were taking toll on my nerves. All in all, it was dragging, boring and somewhat dull.
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This review may contain spoilers
Matured and intense romance but dull after awhile
I like that this drama’s main focus is the relationship between Gu Xiao and Lu Chen (the two main leads) He is a Bomb expert who works in the SWAT team- so his character is cold, silent and not much of a conversationalist. She is a financial investor- while she is more warm and charming, her conversational skills were not that great either (with him) in this first half ish. I like his character- no nonsense kind of man, albeit a little stoic and stiff but that’s how it is. As for Seven Tan- she comes across too “puppy like” at times.. just following him around and watching him fix cars lol. Would have preferred the FL to be more … assured?The chemistry is very intense though. They had broken up for 10 years, and they meet each other again. Lots of quiet and intense gazes, which is fine because the ppl around them are noisy enough haha. The romance is for the matured audience, so don’t expect any cliches of accidental falls/kisses , well dressed looks… but rather an underlying connection and assured confidence in their relationship. The bros of Captain Lu are TOO CUTE! ;);)
I also like that the drama shows aspects of his work (more than hers) but doesn’t focus too much on the details. A little bit of the training, a little bit of the danger to keep the suspense going.
Definitely one of the better Cdramas currently. It’s 30 episodes, so I can expect something dangerous and bad happening to him in the later episodes, maybe he gets injured?? Have to watch to find out! :)
Update: After 20 episodes, just found the pace too slow, and the storyline no longer engaging. Rather boring after awhile ;) Have decided to drop this.
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Slow but lots of kissy moments if you are into that.
I guess I will give the a typical review. I didn’t love this drama like everyone else. If I could sum up the drama with one word it would be that I found it very Boring. And I LOVE boring dramas with low angst and high on kindness.I watch all dramas with Tan Song Yun, who doesn’t like Under Your Power and Go Ahead but I will be honest, I haven’t found any new dramas with her in it that I have loved. Master of my Own and Flight to you have been sub-par at best with way too older ML and too angsty storyline.
I thought Road Home would be refreshing with a low angst drama and a younger ML, they are only 2 years apart! Yay.
The drama started out fine and I was really interested in the past dynamics, how did they fall in love during High School? Why did they break up? I was feeling the slight tension and I was overall curious.
Once they got together, it all went downhill from there. Maybe if I felt the chemistry between the two, I could have been sucked into their lovey dovely romance, because they do love on each other a lot. But I wasn’t feeling anything. I didn’t care for the dates or outings. I didn’t care for when they moved forward with their relationships.
I simply found everything boring. Maybe I’ll strike gold with her next drama?
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A HARDCORE SLOWBURN
The story is good, themes and side characters well written. But it is such a slowburn drama that i was absolutely BORED out of my mind for a good chunk of it. Jing Bo Ran and Tang song yun are my dream team and was the only reason i finished the drama.The flashbacks i felt were so uselessly long and there was no actual indication we had gone back in time, since all the settings and characters and personalities are same in the past and present.
In my humble opinion it is not a special drama, you won't miss anything if you don't watch it. Its a background drama i watched while doing work.
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Watch it for the main couple! Seriously!
I've never seen Jing Bo Ran in anything before, but as ML Lu Chen he was excellent. He wasn't cold, he was stoic. But his heart was on his sleeve for Gui Xiao from day one! Okay, you can never go wrong with a man in uniform, so that was bonus. His stature and demeanor were such that you totally bought him as soldier/police. But being the romantic I am, I loved all of his scenes with the FL. The small gestures were a testament to his love for her. Closing his eyes when hugging her, burrowing his head into her neck like he just loved the essence of her, the kiss in her hair when they hug. Every action was butterfly-inducing.I love Tan Song Yun and she was lovely as Gui Xiao. She is a good actress, she's so beautiful, she is a beautiful crier.
Their chemistry was amazing! Bo Ran has very expressive eyes and manages to convey so much love using just his eyes. And when he smiles, my oh my! Lots of wonderful kisses and hugs. The scene where his back is to her and asks her to take his hand - beautifully filmed and so tender. They were yin and yang. She was so bubbly and effervescent, and he was serious. I can't stress enough how much I loved this couple together.
Big bonus - thank you SO MUCH for not adding the conniving female trying to break them up, or the sad/morose male that loves her from afar. This truly was a drama about them and the strength of their love.
The second couple was cute to watch.
So why is my score so low, after waxing poetic about the strength of the leads?
1) There is SO MUCH filler in this drama!! They spent an inordinate amount of time showing the training and the missions of the SWAT team. I couldn't quite figure out if it was patriotism or propaganda. All that extra stuff took up at least half of the drama.
2) The flashbacks. There were, I think, three different years that they kept flashing back to. I didn't think that the flashbacks were used effectively, especially since the actors pretty much looked the same once they got out of school. The last episode's flashbacks finally gave us the whole history of their relationship, which was nice to see, but then the drama just ended!
3) This might be just a translation issue, but she asks if he still remembers her and he says, "I'd still remember you if you turned to ashes." They showed this a couple of times, and the wording is just a little creepy to me.
I can highly recommend this drama for the main couple. Plus, you might not be bothered by all the time spent on work stuff, but I didn't find it interesting.
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This review may contain spoilers
I love both leads and waited for all the episodes to come out so I could watch to my hearts content! But by episode 20… I realized why so many said this was one episode too many. The leads had chemistry… but at least for me… not enough. It fizzled out and I actually found myself getting annoyed by FL’s cutesy-ness. ML was the typical stoic man of few words… only sometimes he was too stoic when she was trying to be too cute. FL didn’t seem to change much in 10 years and she was almost too understanding and too perfect with ML’s absence and profession I love her character so much more in Go Ahead. The flashbacks would have been so much better early on instead of at the end. I would have loved more of the second CP and watched their story to the end. I’ve seen other dramas where they do a ML perspective but it’s short and sweet and totally works. This one… I sadly FF through even though it was the last episode.
Overall I think if you love the leads.. like A LOT, then you’re good to go!! If you just mid-like them then drama is just too long.
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Serious but no challenges
I'm glad this drama wasn't as fake/ overly exaggerated as usual Chinese romance dramas are. The acting is fine, but the story/leads don't face many hurdles. As soon as they get together, it's all up from there. I mean there was objection from the FL's dad, but it's not like he does anything about it besides disapprove of their relationship. On the other hand, the ML's dad is a mess and one day turns over a new leaf with no explanation as to why. When the accident occurs, they don't show how it happens but just the fact that it's a life-threatening injury. and I'm not sure how many days might've passed. but shortly after he has close to no injuries....They don't explain anything about the accident or his injuries. Furthermore, after they start dating again, the FL smiles every time she sees the ML and is suuuuuuuuper affectionate. I'm unsure if that's how the script wanted it or whether she chose to do so herself, but I don't think I've ever seen the FL asking for so many kisses.They did a good job of the flashbacks to the past and I felt like the last episode was pretty meaningful, but wish they would've added it into the other episodes instead of saving it for the end. I don't think I would watch this again, but it wasn't horrible.
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