A Journey to Love

Excellent acting and dilogues

The ML, is my favorite, for he is the best in this drama , I like the way he canexpress feelings ... because I don't see many lead actors having a wide range of facial expressions, they are often only "pretty faces". Anyway I think he is also handsome beside being a very good actor.
All the actors of this drama are good or very good, the main characters or the less ones!
Lu Yu Ning and Liu Shishi are very realistic ML , He Lan Du is so credible at any time, her performance is remarkable.
The only thing I would have changed is that sometimes things were too slow and others too fast, it was not the pace I would have chosen. But even this way I really enjoyed this excellent drama.

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Must watch!

Just finished this drama and wow i was impressed! Great cast with good acting all around! Usually when theres a huge cast like this, i have a hard time remembering who is who, but the characters are all memorable here and have depth! They each have their own stories and so not exist just to move the plot along. The directing, cinematography and pace were all excellent. No boring parts at all but still had enough moments between the characters to flesh out relationships. Loved that this wasn't solely focused on romance (the title is a bit misleading). The fight scenes were amazing. Liu shishi is perfectly cast here as a cold assassin and Liu yuning is the perfect match here as her equal.

This drama sprinkled just the right amount of comedy in the perfect spots. The first half had me laughing to myself almost every episode. I didnt know Alen Fang had comedic chops!

The ending gutted me but i was prepared from all the spoilers online. I do feel this was the "right" ending for the characters and i appreciate the directors not forcing a happy ending just to please viewers. A tragic ending is sometimes more impactful and it made sense the core group died as heroes.

Anyway, this is a must watch! Have tissues ready for the last few episodes though.

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Action packed with a rollercoaster of laughters and tears

The show is about a top assassin, Ren Xin, who had been framed and imprisoned of killing the empress of An kingdom, who happen to be her benefactor. She had to escape prison, fake her death, change her name to Ren Ruyi, and later reinfiltrated the An kingdom’s spy organization’s branch located in a rival kingdom to track down the mastermind behind the empress’s murder and avenge her. With a twist of fate, she encountered the head of spy organization of the rival country, Ning Yuanzhou, and striked a deal with him, tagging along with the envoy entourage to her own country to teach the envoy in return for NYZ gathering intel to help her get her revenge. Many things happened along the way, and she started forming a bond with the members of the spy agency in the entourage, and a special liking towards NYZ.

I like it how the show had a solid premise, good storyline and they executed it in perfect gracefulness and rather fast paced too. Although it started out in a serious and intense premise, they manage to blend goofy scenes seamlessly within. The goofy parts were well executed and didnt looked forced, leaving me smiling or laughing throughout - definitely didnt look out of place or annoying like those in Fighting for Love. Despite the goofy scenes, they were able to execute the action and serious scenes tremendously well too. The action scenes were superb, the choreography was on point and well executed. The intimate scenes between the leads were well paced. With this show i can really feel and make sense of how they fall in love with each other despite coming from rival kingdoms, without having senselessly overbearing and cringe-worthy proximity moments like those in Ancient Love Poetry.

The only show ive ever seen Liu Shishi in was Scarlet Heart, although she acted well in it, i felt that her face didnt really suit to be in ancient drama, cuz i thought she looked too modern. I changed my mind when i saw this show. Maybe its due to hairdo, costume, age or makeup, but she looked perfect in AJTL as a retired top assassin on a mission to avenge the death of the closest person to her. Now this character Ren Xin/Ren Ruyi is one of my favourite FLs of all tv shows I’ve seen so far, the writers wrote her really well with almost no flaw at all. She is strong, quick-witted, resourceful, brave, resolute and capable with a sound and collected mind despite facing conflicts of interest. Basically she is the badass of all badasses of the mortal world, while Shen Li from Legend of Shen Li wins that spot for the fairy fantasy category. Although ML being the understanding other half, contributed too. I liked A Mai from Fighting for Love too, but the writers slightly botched it with poor decision-making when in comes to love in the earlier part of the show. Ren Ruyi did not suffer from this. I guess I had to give it off to the the writers for not messing up. FL was constantly with a sound mind and not the type who would get emotional. Although she did went berserk quite a bit when the red uniform guards killed her adoptive mom, and ML ended up knocking her unconscious to stop her. But hey, even a flawless character had to have some flaw or else theyd be inhumans.

My most favourite character of the whole show is Yu Shisan, one of the spies in the envoy entourage. He’s easily the most handsome of the spy group, he’s not shy to flaunt it too as he is proud to be known as the shameless, flirty playboy who has a way with girls. He was extremely popular and admired by female inmates and workers in the prison (he was imprisoned for kidnapping a noble’s daughter) because he loves to do make up on them (and obviously because he flirts with them) before ML picked him up to join the entourage mission. He’s the goofiest person in the group, most of the goofy scenes are caused by him, but also the closest to ML, being a good listener and confidant to ML, especially with regards to dealing with FL. ML also revealed to Yu Shisan of how bad his condition was before the final showdown of the emperor rescue, and entrusted Yu Shisan to take the rest of the troop to safety if ML couldnt make it. And I totally ship him and Chu Yue. Theyre the cutest not-yet-a-couple ever!

Princess Yang Ying is probably the character with the most progress. She started off as an extremely timid, weak with zero self confidence, unfavored princess of the late emperor, born in the cold palace and looked down even by the palace maids, let alone the rest of the harem,but later grew into a full fledged ambitious, capable, confident, resourceful and quick-witted princess aiming for the throne. She is the youngest sister of the current emperor, who was lovesick with the only palace guard who showed her kindness thus willing to do anything to marry him. When her brother the emperor was taken hostage by Emperor of An kingdom, she volunteered to be the envoy to deliver the ransom in return for her to be granted fiefdom and ability to choose her own husband. Because one of the conditions of ransom is it must be delivered by a prince, she had to disguise as one and learn everything a prince should know during the trip. She was slow at learning at first, but the moment ML, as the head of security of the entourage, changed her tutor to FL, she made great progress in terms of learning capability and the building of her character as a pompous and snobbish prince with ample political & court knowledge. I must commend the actress, she definitely nailed it as a male impersonator. Although she looked soft and delicate as a princess, she also managed to pull off the look of a snobbish yet graceful teenage prince and as time passes, i no longer see her as a girl. This is the second character after Fighting for Love’s FL that I ever saw able to pull off as a male impersonator, and she did it perfectly well without even having to try too hard to act as a tough boy. I’m glad they didnt forget to bind her chest, i hate it when characters are portrayed to be disguising as a male and yet the chest totally gives them away, and lets not even get into the girly voice and acts. Fortunately, those cringy parts that give away male impersonation are nonexistent in this show. Well done!

Another interesting character is Qian Zhao, one of the spies with medical expertise. He’s literally the medic for the entourage. He is very quiet and reserved, only speaking when necessary, but in fact is very stubborn and steadfast in his decisions. Nobody could stop him when he set his mind to kill FL when he found out she was a spy from An, and everybody had a hard time persuading him against seeking revenge from Emperor Wu for his reckless decision of going to war with misleading intel and information which resulted in high war casualties. The only thing stopping him from finishing the emperor off was the flare signal from nearby fortress indicating that they were under attack. Even ML admitted in the end that he had everyone else figured out but Qian Zhao.

All in all i think the whole production team did a tremendously great job with this show. I really couldnt find any other loopholes other than the hand injury of Deng Hui that went missing the next day after his hand was stabbed by Emperor An. The make up artist and director must have forgotten the script. Anyway, I wonder who wronged the writer team so badly for them to come up with such a huge massacre of characters. It saddens me but the show was so good I cant seem to hate it for making me cry with each episode after Ep34. For a show that is laden with goofy scenes all over, i was so not ready for the last 6 episodes that are pretty tragic and tearjerker. Boy sometimes I hate this show for being so damn good at bringing laughter and tears to its viewers.

If youre like me who love shows with strong leads, action packed with non-domineeringly sweet and non-cringy love story, and do not mind a tragic-possible-emotional-damage-inducing ending, then this might be for you. If youre all that but cant handle super tragic ending, well, maybe stop watching at Episode 34, 35 is where the massacre starts. But if u want closure to all power struggles, then stop at 38. I just cant wrap it around my head why didnt they just end the show with 38. It was actually perfect. Somehow they just had to drag in more episode just to break our hearts. 😭

Despite hating the ending, I just cant seem to strike off a star from my 10 rating. The show was THAT good!

I am currently rewatching the show and realized ML’s near death situation on Ep 20 and his ultimate exit on Ep40 were both due to saving that brat I dont want to mention. The first time because that brat recklessly went for the leader of the assassins despite his mediocre (in my eyes) martial skills, and the second time when he again, stupidly went into the enemy’s camp ALONE to supposedly kill/capture the marshall. The first time, ML saved him because he was An emperor’s envoy keen for peace between the two kingdoms hence they needed his support, and the second time because he was An kingdom’s regent. Well, the second time was because he didnt want FL to go on the suicide rescue mission, and because he knew how much that brat meant to FL. This sorry piece of sh!t, gosh i hate him so much that I didnt want to even mention him when i wrote this review the first time because i didnt want to reveal spoilers, but when i am rewatching right now, damn i just had to say this at least once. Okay finish rant!

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Friendship and sacrifice

It was a very good series. I watched it with love, curiosity and excitement. I laughed at some parts. I felt sad in some parts. I got emotional. Especially in the last chapters and the deaths of the heroes. Of course, there were places where I got angry. Places I don't like. There were also places where I thought it wouldn't happen. By the way, let me say; Especially Yuan Lu, who has a heart disease, fights and swings his sword in a very healthy way. On top of that, he traveled 480 kilometers on horseback and on foot, trying to report news. It wasn't believable at all. If a person with heart disease had waved a sword, held a shield, shot an arrow, fought, or killed a man for 5-10 minutes, let alone the hour, he too would have to die in that hour. I'm not a doctor, but he can't do this level of action. He cannot travel for hours on horseback. He cannot run the remaining 80 kilometers. Such a thing is not possible. I've surpassed reality, you can't even do it in your dreams. To that degree. I find the scriptwriter very wrong here. I still gave it a very good grade. I gave it to the whole series. Elements such as friendship, patriotism and self-sacrifice are emphasized, and it is underlined that those who wrote heroic epics should not be forgotten. It was explained that commanders and rulers should strive to keep those under their command alive instead of killing them, and that therefore even wars should be aimed at peace. I get it in that way. I understood from the descriptions of people feeling sorry for those who died and angry at those who caused them to be killed. Of course, in addition to their sacrifices, warriors and fighters, their private lives, loves, sorrows, joys and jokes are also reflected. I found it good. Especially the actors were very good. Direction and visuals were great. The activation scenes were near perfect. It was worked very meticulously. Attentive. Congratulations. One mistake was that all the heroes died. There was no happy ending. It ended sadly.
Our leads were very good. Liu Shi Shi is an actor who is especially suitable for roles such as assassin and undercover officer, this role suits him very well. I like. Likewise, Liu Yu Ning filled the role with her tall physique. I tell him to be careful, he is very overweight despite his paint pulp. If he gets more, he will be in fat roles. Alen Fang also got used to these humorous boy roles well. It made us smile. It was great. In He Lan Dou, he turned out to be an actor with the ability to add a role to his role. I liked this girl very much. I've watched a few more TV series. A different understanding of roles in each series. Mastering the role and doing what is required. He has made great progress. Chen You Wei was also humorous and lively. He fit the role very well. He was a hero with heart disease. He did his role very well. He added value to his role. Congratulations. I also liked Chang Hua Sen. I'm watching it for the first time. It will be better. I liked the actor who played the King of Moment with his different playing style. He added value to his role. I like this type of players more. I recommend it to those who haven't watched it. Watch. You will be satisfied.

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Prepare the tissues

This drama has to be one of my favorites this year. The action, the story and the characters I love it all. Just when you think you know what will happen you don’t, and all the characters grow exponentially from when we first meet them.

Everyone has a reason for why they do what they did. I haven’t been this invested in ALL the characters of a drama for a long time. You become very attached to them, even some characters you wouldn’t expect to like.

Don’t let reviews about the ending put you off this drama.

Yes the ending is sad but it honestly makes sense why things happen the way they did. At the end of the day the main cast were assassins and spies, their endings were very befitting of them.

The music truly brings the mood together, the sound effects are perfect. Especially the funny ones.

The acting was amazing, I can’t see anyone else play these characters and give them justice . The actors were perfect for their respective roles.

I honestly recommend this drama even though i’m not personally a fan of sad endings this is worth it.

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sad ending but worth the ride

The first half of the story was fantastic. The focus on the characters coming to care for each other, the Liudao brothers' easy camaraderie, the warm and affectionate relationship between the main leads, the feminist themes and the mentorship between Ruyi and the Princess were all so enjoyable to watch.

Sadly I feel that the story lost steam halfway. The group took way too long getting to the An Empire, and once there, the introduction of LTG and Chu Yue (though I enjoyed their performances) weakened the plot and made it draggy. The script is best when focusing on the characters, their relationships and their growth. For some reason the scriptwriter or director lost sight of that and began focusing on politicking in the second half, making it a rather tedious watch.

Then there is the ending. There is a lot of debate about whether the ending was 'good' or not. I think it was a poor ending. The characters made decisions inconsistent with their previously very consistent characterizations, and some died in rather unsatisfying ways. I fast forwarded from episode 28ish onwards as the show felt very draggy and a bit of a mess.

Still, for the fun I had in the first half, I'm giving this an 8.5. IMO this show is very rewatchable before the sad ending for the funny shenanigans and the heartwarming bonds between all the characters.

Side note but LTG reminds me of every obsessed yandere abandonment issue disciple in every cnovel bl ever lol. He has Luo Binghe vibes.

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─ ‍you have to promise me.

A Journey to Love lives up to its name, offering audiences a captivating storyline that is truly a beautiful journey. It delivers in every aspect—from its compelling writing and storytelling to the characters, their dynamics and acting.

One of the drama's best part is the portrayal of not only the main protagonists but also the beautifully developed side characters. Each character undergoes significant growth, shaped authentically by the unfolding events and their own motivations. They feel genuine, adding depth to the narrative like interconnected puzzle pieces.

It's difficult to pick a favorite character, as each contributes uniquely to the drama's meaning while maintaining their authenticity. The team is the one of the best squads seen in Chinese dramas, ensuring every moment is engaging and emotionally resonant.

The drama's OSTs are another highlight, beautifully complementing its scenes and adding to its overall appeal.

While the last five episodes are emotionally intense, evoking tears, the earlier episodes balance this with moments of joy and laughter.

In conclusion, A Journey to Love is a definitely recommended drama! I will probably rewatch it later on.

link to edit : https://youtu.be/yvzUBx2rigk

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A Worthwhile Journey

Foremost, this series had my heart fluttering with excitement within the first two episodes with the individual introductions of the FL and ML. Finally -true- representations of badass females and males. I've avoided this series because based on the title and synopsis, it felt like another romance-heavy trope. But very glad I gave it a try because while it is romance-heavy, it definitely does not present itself as typical.

The overall plot isn't perfect but the cast and characters were near perfect. This is a group that will draw you in heavily and not just with any particular character or two, but with everyone. There is such fantastic chemistry between the main crew that you almost look forward to seeing them on screen more than your main FL and ML. You will laugh with them, cry with them, root for them, and fall for them. The action and fight scenes were done well and it's balanced nicely with the politics and romance. In fact, there are so many great focuses on character developments in this one that I really don't even know how to provide an overall summary.

One of the main flaw is that the underlying political plot is a little wonky with some plot holes and pacing issues. The second is that while I thoroughly enjoy the FL and ML scenes and their romantic developments, there's some repetitiveness in their conversations that gave it some drag. However, the positives with this series really outshines any of its shortfalls. It's one that will take you through multiple emotions and it also isn't just a tearjerker... it's an ugly-crier.

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Really great story with some amazing characters but a rushed ending - still worth watching 100%

I love this drama so much that I created an account *just* to review it.

*This review contains some mild spoilers but I've done my best to be as vague as possible*

I want to start by saying this is one of my best Chinese dramas ever for several reasons (and I've been watching dramas for the past 5 years)
First, the FL here is a truly strong, badass, amazing character. I loved her so much, and sometimes, I would just pause the drama to squeal, "She's so cool!" The other major female characters were also super cool. Yang Ying for example, started off as a really weak girl who would always cry and run away. Her character development was magnificent to witness (tbh, I watched AvenueX's first impressions video and she's 80% of the reason I watched this drama, and I'm so happy I didn't regret it!) Chu Yue and Mei Niang had smaller scenes but they were also really cool-headed, strong and ambitious women. I really appreciate the writer for creating these awesome characters and actually sticking to it. None of that, they start off strong and become weak nonsense. No, these women grow stronger and stronger every day. Amazing stuff!! Here and there, they also included some feminist statements I truly appreciated (although they did fall short around the ending, like calling someone so-and-so's wife instead of her title, even though they kept mentioning that women are strong with/without husbands sigh..)

The ML was also super cool, and I really enjoyed watching the relationships between him and his group. Their brotherhood was a main highlight of this drama, and each of the 5 had their distinct attributes and characteristics. My favorite was Qian Zhao cos he just looked super cool! He's the quiet brooding type lol. But all the main characters were awesome! Even the stupid and wicked Emperors embodied their roles so well. Only exception was Li Tong Guang. I see people commenting that the writers did him dirty and while I can sort of, kind of agree to this, based on the info given to us by the writers, he should have died very early on. He was the most ridiculous, stupid, obsessive person ever. They kept trying to make it seem like he was just a child but he wasn't! He was in his 20s drugging someone to have a wedding with him. I wanted him DEAD at that point and I wish they had killed him off; such an annoying character. And he was soo mean to the 2 women he was connected with, at different points. So malicious and vindictive eww. I didn't even hate the war-mongering Emperor as much as I hated him.

*And now to the story:* it starts off really really really good. The politics, the fights, the plotting and the chemistry between all the characters just hits so well. Some bits were quite slow around the middle and I wouldn't have minded if they had cut out some of the FL/ML's scenes and given the other couples some screen time. I mean there's an entire 5-min sequence (or so) where we just watch the FL watching the ML make a sword for her, with some background music, like come on... Cut it short and let's move on! And a couple of smaller scenes weren't very sensible -- like the ML getting into a bath filled with ice and then holding the FL to transfer the cold temperature cos she had a fever? Just reduce the ice, put in more water, wait a while and put her in lmaoo?? But anyway, my rating was like 10000/10 till episode 35. Up until that point, I had decided this was my absolute best c-drama ever.

But then episode 35 came. The first death hit *hard* but it was expected, to me anyway. Usually when someone's actions are so out of character, they're probably going to die. I think the Chinese call this "不識好歹 bù shí hǎo dǎi -- not knowing what's good for oneself." Anyway, the second death happened IN THE SAME EPISODE (!!!!!!!) and broke me, but still I accepted it, it made sense. But then, the third death really pissed me off, it was soo ridiculous and annoying. The character basically ran 2 horses and himself to death without taking a rest for 300 miles (their words not mine) just to get across knowledge of the impending war. And after that, the people that were warned still had a coronation and marriage?? And then the 4th death was even more annoying. If you're hurt in a battle and you have the chance to escape, you fu**king escape not fight more?!?! By the 5th and 6th deaths, I was already numb and just wanted to get the drama over with. I'm not sure if it was an editing issue or censorship issue regulating number of episodes, but I hope there was a f**king good reason for killing off 6 people in the last 6 episodes. I have never seen this before. AND AND the last 4 deaths were soo unnecessary. 2 of them were caused indirectly by the LTG mentioned earlier (somehow, he still didn't die, they were still trying to comfort the asshole smh).

The final 5 minutes of the show were truly unwanted, unasked for and just plain ridiculous. Like another reviewer mentioned, if you have the guts to kill off nearly everyone, then stick to it! Why include a child and his sister whose names are made of the dead leads' names? Is it to make us discuss over and over whether or not they died? For a drama that had such high ideals, the ending felt cheap and unnecessary.

To conclude, I really liked this drama. I'm not happy with how it ended but I would still recommend it to anyone anytime.

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What was with that Ending!

This drama truly stirred my emotions from start to finish; I found myself with a racing heart and tears streaming down my face by the end. Liu Yuning's performance was exceptional, and I can't imagine anyone else in the role. I recently came across a video suggesting that Wallace Huo might have replaced him through an AI face switch, and I sincerely hope that's not the case. My growing discomfort with Artificial Intelligence applications has led me to believe that this technology poses a threat to our world. I fear it will foster laziness and have a detrimental impact on humanity. On a brighter note, I must commend Liu Yuning for not only his captivating deep voice but also his remarkable musical abilities. I'm unsure if he has undergone martial arts training, but if those action scenes are a result of his acting skills, they certainly appear authentic.

I loved the strong woman part, played by Liu Shi Shi (great name) I hope to view more of her work. I can imagine all the wires she had to go through to play this part, flying in the air and all the twists and turns. She is a 10-star actress for me.

The Martial Arts Scenes: I loved how they paused the camera to show their poses in the fight scenes. I wish all dramas did this.

Update: Wallace Huo did NOT replace him. It was a hoax.

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Unexpectedly good!!!!

It is what it's titled is, A Journey to Love. This drama tells the story of Ruyi aka Ren Xi. She met the ML, Yunzhun and they embarked on a journey to fight justice for their country. In other words, they are both spies from different countries. Also, they both left their spy job and became nomads. However, they meet and go on a journey to fight for justice for their countries, and along the way they fall in love :). The romance in this drama is fresh, sweet, and lovable. It's not overly done, and it's just lovely. It's parental guidance or pg-13 at best if you will :).

I also really enjoyed the Power Ranger team in this drama between the brotherhood with Ning Yunzhun, Shisan, Yuanlua, Qian, and many more of brothers. It was a nice journey to see the brotherhood bond unfold as they faced life and death together, and their brotherhood grew deeper and loving towards each other like family.

The princess was an interesting watch, as she went from naive to smart and strategic. She is the MVP who improves her skills and improves her outlook on life as the plot progresses.

The ending was a little rushed, and it's an ambiguous ending; it was a happy ending since they all basically died and united together in the afterlife.

Overall, I say this is one of the best dramas at the end of 2023. The fight scenes were great, the cinematography was beautiful and the script was almost perfect :). 8.9/10.

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