A Journey to Love

The start and most of the rest was not only good but awesome

And then there was episode 35, which was the start of the end and the end was so upsetting it was lowkey funny. I couldn't help but laugh at the endless reveals of the facemasks.
If I had a nickel for every time... I don't know what's up with Liu Yu Ning's dramas, I've seen this one and The Story of Pearl Girl and the convergent between them are upsetting.
I'm frustrated 'cause it's both understandable to not have a fairytail-like ending, it does not have to me always a happy ending, but fr i'd preffer it be. Sure the Marquise guy relapsed, or maybe never really got out of his obsession, but did I hope he got better after the shower by Ning? Yes.
Is what i'm saying kinda nonsensical? Maybe, but also I feel wronged

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Truth be, i might be a little late with this but i thought i should get it out there.
i have always had an issue with the way some characters in the dramas are for example; have you ever had this one guy that has done wrong and its so bad that you want to kill them right away?
Well, some series will make you regret watching the drama because they have a saying 'Bad guys last longer or never die quickly'
This series gave me what i have ever wanted in my life, it gave me a cool FL and ML, gave me the bad guy who was really really annoying, and what did they do best of all........they killed them, they really killed them all hahahahaahahahaahaha🤣😂😂😂. That is all i can ask for.
From episode 1 all the way to where I am at ep16, whenever someone gets too annoying for me, its like the directors heard my wish, they killed them and brutally in a right deserving way.
This is good, really good and its all i can ask for. starting today this is my best series yet. Its made me anxious, furious, but found a way to settle my yearning heart, Given me the romance of age, not childish decisions. Am glad i fell on it no matter how late i am.

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First 34 Episodes

This drama got me hooked right from the very first episode. I was thrilled to have a FL that was strong, smart, and knew what she wanted. There was never any damsel in distress and she and the ML truly made the perfect power couple.

The production was amazing and the whole cast did a great job of making the audience laugh and cry. It had characters that you could really empathize with and root for. Loved the friendships between the characters, but especially the 4 friends with the ML. Also, the OST was stellar, seriously one of the best I've heard and it really elevated certain scenes.

Some minor gripes would be the dead fish kisses (which I kind of thought we were past), iffy acting on some side characters, and how at least 90% of the storyline was centred on one goal and felt like an overly long trip.

But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

However, I'm basing my review solely based on the first 34 episodes. I don't know if I plan on watching the remaining 6 episodes, but I feel like it would be unfair to lower my rating too much even if I did as I really did enjoy a majority of the show.

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A Visually Strong Martial Arts Drama, but a Gradual Loss of Engagement

This is a partial review covering episodes 1–26 only.

There’s a lot to love about this drama, even though I ended up dropping it around episode 26. I thought it had a strong main and supporting cast, with great characterization and powerful women in both major and minor roles. The narrative itself was incredibly engaging—there was plenty of well-timed comedy mixed with more serious, impactful moments, making it an excellent watch for the episodes I stuck with. I also loved the action and martial arts sequences. They really highlighted Liu Shishi’s dance roots.

However, as the storyline progressed, I began to feel less comfortable with certain narrative directions. One recurring subplot became increasingly prominent and, for me, felt a bit overextended, which affected my engagement with the story. I also found certain relationship dynamics between key characters to be difficult to watch at times, which made it harder for me to stay fully invested. Because of these aspects, I eventually decided to step away from the drama. That said, this is a highly rated series and remains a 2023 favorite for many viewers.

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The series has captivated my attention with its compelling storyline and engaging characters. The cast's exceptional performances, particularly the main lead's (ML) acting and voice, contribute significantly to the show's overall appeal. The seamless portrayal of characters by the cast adds depth and authenticity to the narrative.

One of the standout aspects of the series is the chemistry between the ML and FL (main lead and female lead). Their on-screen dynamic enhances the viewing experience, making the plot more immersive. It's evident that the actors have put considerable effort into developing a believable and relatable connection, adding a layer of emotional depth to the story.

A noteworthy element that sets this series apart is the absence of overacting. Each actor delivers their lines and expressions with precision, avoiding melodrama and allowing the audience to appreciate the subtleties of the performances. This commitment to realism is refreshing and contributes to the overall quality of the show.

The music accompanying the series deserves praise as well. The soothing melodies complement the narrative, creating a harmonious atmosphere that enhances emotional moments and adds to the overall viewing experience. The thoughtful selection of music underscores the series' emotional beats, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.

The plot itself is intriguing, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats as the story unfolds. The narrative is well-paced, balancing moments of suspense, drama, and humor. Speaking of humor, some moments in the series provide genuine laughs, showcasing the versatility of the cast in delivering both serious and lighthearted scenes.

Personally, I was drawn to the series because of Liu's involvement. Having enjoyed his previous work, particularly his outstanding performance in the last ballad, I was eager to see him in a leading role. It's gratifying to see him take on the main lead in this series, further showcasing his acting prowess. Liu's ability to portray diverse characters effectively adds depth to the narrative, and his presence is a significant factor in the series' success.

In conclusion, this series is a must-watch for its well-executed plot, exceptional cast performances, delightful music, and the absence of overacting. The chemistry between the main leads adds a layer of authenticity, and the inclusion of moments of humor provides a well-rounded viewing experience. For fans of Liu and those seeking an engaging and enjoyable series, this one certainly fits the bill.

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Hmm…not as good as people claim

But I might change my mind. I started watching because of all the accolades this show has received including recent wins at the Weibo Awards 2024. Maybe my expectations were too high. The dancing of the white sparrows was mediocre. It was more about camera angles than actual dancing. I’ve seen better dancers in Chinese variety shows. It wouldn’t have mattered to me, but the director wanted the audience to be astounded by their dance. The music is all over the place. It ranges from hauntingly beautiful to soap opera bad sometimes within seconds of each other.

The characters are okay. The bad guy is the most compelling actor so far. I keep reading how the FL is so amazing. Ah…the best thing about her is that she’s 36 and it’s nice to see that a major production is giving an older woman a lead role, however her martial arts skills are miserable. Her fight scenes contain more cut away camera shots. The only closeups are of her vogueing as examples of her great style. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it’s not. The cinematographapher loves the FL’s face and he gave her AMAZING lighting, but it’s also obvious that the lighting, and heavy pancake makeup, are being over used to make her look younger.

The story is…okay. It’s not awful. It’s not great. Same with the acting. My husband and I aren’t Chinese so the historical elements aren’t always easy for us to follow. We were hoping to get something as fascinating as Princess Weiyoung or The Story of Yanxi Palace. This is definitely no where near the quality of those, although the costumes are fantastic. The acting of the ML and FL isn’t bad, but isn’t interesting either. For ex., the acting of the FL comes off to us as one note. She’s great with an expressionless face during combat scenes. But, she has no other real expression either with her face or her eyes, mouth, etc. The expressions of emotion from her and the ML are completely confined to their voice. There’s 0 charm. At this point, I’ll watch a few more episodes, but I feel like one’s love of this show is cultural. I’ve read that many Chinese didn’t love Princess Weiyoung, but it is a major hit internationally. Similarly, I feel like this show will only be mildly successful internationally whereas it’s adored in China.

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Um dorama com protagonistas fortes e um final completamente aberto a interpretações

Esse é um dorama que você já percebe que é um fenômeno logo de início (mesmo eu tendo patinado um pouco nos 3 primeiros episódios).
Os personagens intrigantes, bem desenvolvidos, carismáticos e fortes. Não são so os protagonistas que brilham, e sim, grande parte do elenco.
A história é cativante e bem elaborada. Eu amo o fato de que a protagonista é mais forte do que qualquer homem da história e desempenha lindamente esse papel. Inclusive, amo que ela toma a atitude, é ela quem dá em cima do protagonista rs.

Esse é um dorama denso, intenso, forte, com personagens maduros, inteligentes e destemidos. O desenvolvimentos e crescimento dos personagens na trama é palpável e dá gosto de acompanhar.
A química dos protagonistas eu não preciso nem falar né? Pega fogo no início, e depois ela é transformada em um relacionamento saudável e maduro.

Esse é com certeza um dos doramas que tem os melhores diálogos e ensinamentos. Tem cada diálogo que a gente pensa: que foda! São o oposto daqueles doramas que tem diálogos superficiais e problemas que giram em torno de coisas bestas.

As únicas coisas que eu mudaria nesse dorama são:
- Alguns episódios que dão uma enrolada no meio do caminho entre os eps 20-30. Eles enrolaram bastante até o episódios 30, e depois dele, correram demais na história. Os 10 últimos episódios foram muito corridos e confusos. Era tanta coisa acontecendo ao mesmo tempo que ficou difícil acompanhar;
- também senti falta de uma dinâmica a mais, afinal, o obstáculo central do dorama é o mesmo desde o início até o fim. Acho que poderiam ter enrolado menos no resgate do imperador e fluir melhor em outros assuntos para não ficar massante.
- Eles poderiam ter desenvolvido melhor a relação entre o Marques e a princesa, ficou faltando mais tempo de tela para eles (enquanto isso pesaram a mão nas cenas de obsessão dele com a Ru Yi).

O que falar do final? Sinceramente, não sei. Foi um dos mais confusos que já vi. Li teorias sobre a morte deles e também sobre terem sobrevivido, e todas elas tem argumentos plausíveis e corretos. Então, não sei se foi um final feliz ou triste. O final que mais me convence foi o triste, e mesmo assim, pela rapidez e confusão que foram esses últimos episódios, nem consegui me emocionar.

Tirando esses detalhes que citei, o dorama é lindo, tem ótimos diálogos e muito bem feito, tanto nos cenários quanto na história em si. Vale muito a pena ver e eu indico para quem gosta do gênero.

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The best squad forever!...

C'est ainsi.
37ème épisode et je ne sais si je vais pouvoir le terminer.
Non, non, ce drama possède peu de défaut à mes yeux. Des qualités que je désespère de trouver en ces temps maussades (où est le printemps???).
Et pourtant me voilà, à hésiter à appuyer sur "next".
Si le courage me fait défaut, je reviendrais vous le dire.
Une première introduction. Juste pour vous partager mon immense coup de coeur de 2024. Pour être honnête, j'en ai eu des coups de foudre, des passions, des dramas qui ont su me marquer ces dernières années....Un drama qui aura su me faire pleurer, me faire aimer CHACUN des personnages, me faire croire jusqu'au bout à un happy ending!!!! Un drama qui aura su me blesser autant que me donner un bonheur inattendu? Je peux les compter sur les doigts d'une main.
J'ai terminé récemment un magnifique drama qui a su me faire rire à m'en faire mal au bide (Love endures) , un dama qui a su transcender des relations complexes faisant battre mon coeur à une vitesse indécente ( Lost you forever), un drama qui a su m'émerveiller à m'en décrocher la mâchoire (Story of Kunning palace) ou bien un drama d'une maturité folle dont la romance m'a scotchée jusqu'au bout comme "parallel world"....2024 aura été une année incroyable d'émotion...
Et pourtant, "a journey to love" aura été le seul à réunir (en 2024) autant d'émotions : le rire, la tendresse, l'émerveillement, le coeur qui bat sans retenue, et la souffrance. Alors, je sais que l'amour de ma vie ne va pas tarder à arriver (Joy of life saison 2 !!!!!!!!!), mais "A journey to love" est définitivement un drama que je classerai comme inoubliable, peu importe la fin...

Je reviendrai vous conter la suite dès que mon courage m'aura permis d'appuyer sur l'épisode 38....


Edit :
Episode 40....
Lorsque j'ai commencé ce drama, je le savais. Alors pourquoi grand Dieu, me suis-je lancée dans cette aventure qui ne se cachait pas d'être une tragédie? A vrai dire, je ne sais pas. Juste une envie.....

Ce drama porte bien son nom. Ce fut une sacré aventure et bien que mon coeur n'en soit pas sorti indemne, j'ai apprécié chaque moment de ce drama.
Afin d'éviter de spoiler, je ne parlerai pas de la fin, du moins je vais éviter de citer les noms.

L'intrigue :
c'est une intrigue qui mêle habilement les complots nauséabonds politique et la recherche de vérité de Ru Yi. C'est un vrai délice que de suivre les aventures de Ru Yi d'un côté et de l'autre le sauvetage d'un empereur. C'est donc un scénario qui a plus d'un tour dans son sac et qui sait nous tenir en haleine jusqu'au bout. L'évolution de l'intrigue est assez simple sans pour autant tomber dans la facilité. Je dirais que le scénario suit un schéma classique mais desservis par des personnages incroyablement attachants et c'est ce qui fait à mon sens la force réelle de ce drama.

Mais avant de parler des personnages, un mot sur la réalisation : époustouflante! la mise en scène est magnifique, et bien que parfois on remarque des lacunes surtout au niveau de la décoration qui manque cruellement de réalisme, les scènes d'actions sont superbement orchestrées et filmées! je crois que depuis "Ever night" et "Kenshin", nous n'avions pas autant apprécié la beauté d'une scène de combat! le ralenti est utilisé avec intelligence et donne un dynamisme incroyable aux combats, transcendant ainsi la gestuelle et insufflant un sentiment d'émerveillement à la spectatrice que je suis (et mon mari aussi ). C'était whoa, que cela soit les scènes de Ru Yi ou de Ning ou de Shi San ou de Jiu, bref, de tout le monde!
C'est filmé avec virtuose et sincèrement on en redemande. Les meilleures scènes?? il y'en a tellement, mais je dirais peut-être que la dernière scène de Shi San fut remarquable, cette scène magnifique m'a juste fait comprendre que Shi San était encore plus incroyable que "Kenshin" (fallait le faire tout de même)

Je garde le meilleur pour la fin : les personnages.
La force de ce drama ( et je ne le répéterais jamais assez, des personnages bien écrits et bien joués, c'est une quasi réussite pour moi) est dans l'écriture et le jeu des personnages.
J'ai tout simplement adoré tout le monde....mais sincèrement, il n'y a que "love like the galaxy" et "Joy of Life" qui détenaient à mon sens le " whoa" pour tout le casting.
Honneur aux femmes : Ru Yi est la protagoniste qu'on ne peut qu'aimer. Sensuelle, féminine et redoutable, elle manie avec virtuose aussi bien l'épée que les mots. Sa force de caractère et son amour inconditionnelle étaient remarquables.
Yang Ying n'était pas mon personnage préférée, et au fur et à mesure de son évolution étonnante, elle est devenue un personnage attachante et adorable. J'ai adoré son évolution constante, la force qu'elle se découvre et les actes qui l'amènent à devenir une adulte forte et responsable. Il y a aussi la princesse Chu Yue, Mei Niang, Xiao Yan...des femmes fortes qui ne tremblent pas et qui avancent la tête haute. J'ai été agréablement surprise de leurs rôles car ici pas de femmes larmoyantes, de femmes qui ne piétinement pas l'égo des hommes (malgré les sous-entendus à leur rôle de séductrice en tant qu'assassin), mais des femmes qui vivent de leur force et de leur faiblesse avec sincérité.
Mais si j'ai aimé la place des femmes dans ce drama, l'importance qui leur était accordé, je dois avouer (je reste une femme après tout), que mes chouchous restent Nin Yuan Zhou, Shi San, Yuan Lu, Qian Zhao et Sun Lang.....Alors j'ai prié tous les dieux sur cette terre de ne pas refaire l'épreuve de "Mr Sunshine", je n'ai pas été entendue :(
j'ai adoré ce squad, leur amitié, leur chamaillerie, la force de leur relation, la confiance absolue des uns envers les autres, de don de soi total sans aucune arrière pensée. Leur personnalité unique et propre à chacun a rendu encore plus attachante leur amitié et j'avoue avoir réellement détesté la scénariste pour cette fin horrible qu'elle nous a pondu.

C'est un drama qui va me marquer longtemps, qui m'a rendu heureuse et malheureuse en même temps.
en résumé :
- Une intrigue qui ne s'essouffle pas.
- Une réalisation dynamique et des scènes d'actions impressionnantes
- Une romance principale adorable et mature, des romances secondaires qui m'ont brisé le coeur....
- Une héroïne remarquable, intelligente, magnifique et qui allie force et sensibilité.
- 5 protagonistes masculins qui m'ont fait shipper à fond, définissant pour toujours l'héroïsme vrai.
- Je tire mon chapeau aux jeux des acteurs! Si cela n'était pas déjà fait, je suis définitivement une fan inconditionnelle de Liu Shi Shi (je l'étais déjà avec "scarlet heart"), de Liu Yu Ning et de Alan Fang.

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