gripping story/plotline
It's the kind of cliff-hanger ending that keeps you wanting for more asap.From ep 1-24 it was a breezy watch for me. They maximized their 24 episodes so well that there's no room for filler scenes. There are no spoilers in this review, I'll just write why I love this drama.
1. The cast: I have to admit I've never watched anything from the cast aside from YSX and ZLH so I was pleasantly surprised with everyone's performance. Tian Jia Rui was a scene stealer for me as well as Zuo Ye. I was surprised they're newbies. There's just something about their interpretations of their characters that draws you in. Jin Jolin is ofc a fan favorite lol
2. The plot: It's a work of art. I love the world-building and honestly would want to know more about Wufeng and of their past (and ofc their future but I'm not too hopeful T-T). The execution is also really good, it keeps you hanging after each episode.
3. The production: Top notch. I love the general dark palette. It suits the overall vibe of the drama. SFX, VFX and sound effects are just the right amount to support each scene. Love it.
4. The characters: Very intriguing. I'm particularly curious about the Hanyas and the leaders. Also each character have their own stand out personality that each actor/actress portrayed well.
I'd also like to say something about the fan "feud" between YSX and LYX and their CPs. For me, LYX indeed was a standout. Every time she schemes, her eyes draw you in. I'm such a sucker for actors who have amazing control of their micro expressions and i think LYX excels in that (as well as TJR and ZLH tho i think he needs more training too). But YSX did an excellent job as an assasin too especially since this is far different than her usual roles. Her action scenes are good, tho imo her micro expressions need more work. They both have their strong points. As for the CPs, they're also both remarkable, they have their own audience. For someone who hates toxicity, I definitely preferred the main cp and for people who love thrill and sexual tension trope then the 2nd cp is def for them. I preferred the main cp's honest relationship.
Overall, My Journey to You is an amazing drama that I would proudly recommend to those who ask. It's amazing!
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My Journey to another Journey...
I am missing some romance and believe this drama is incomplete but it was very dark and pretty to look at.The female lead has more or less one expression which is kind pf refreshing while our male lead is bubbly and full of joy and charisma. The side characters are part interesting part annoying. But work pretty well there are a few to many recaps as well as some never ending monologs that felt like the writers took a short cut instead of letting us see the actual plot as it unfolded we got some kind of mess and recap instead.
Some part of the dialog/whispers where so predictable I found myself mumbling them in Mandarin (though I do not speak Mandarin). Other parts came seemingly out of nowhere. The side couple have some pretty decent dynamics but the villains are underdeveloped and even though they seem to try to explain them to us it ended up just confusing taking away most of the exitement leaving me with the feeling of meeh...
Not to mention the show of romance was so little I believe it should be removed from the genres and added to the tags with slight romance.
That said it is an okay watch with pretty scenery, pretty people and probably more poison's and elixirs than all the wuxias of 2024 will have combined.
Leaving me with the questions: Will there be a second season? will that season have as much poison and scheming or will they move on to fire and smoke?
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Very confused but entertained
This could have been a 10 out of 10, but some parts are boring, and sometimes I am not even sure I know what is happening in the story.I will say all the actors are talented and I love the main lead. The second lead syndrome in this show was so strong, sometimes I forgot he was not the main lead. The bond between the second male lead and the third male lead is just something man, that kind of love and loyalty, makes you just reflect on reality.
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Second cp stole the show
Love my toxic couple, Gong Shangjue and Shangguang Qian. I need more of them!!!! Every scene between them was peak tension and drama. Also this is the first drama that made me change my mind about Esther Yu (couldn't stand her character in LBFAD) but in this drama she was really good as quiet but sharp Yun Weishan. I love the scenes between Yun Weishan and Shangguang Qian, I wish there was more of their tense, 'keeping each other on your toes' dynamic and scenes.The pacing is super uneven - starts off slow, drags like crazy in the middle with the boring back hill/three tests arc, and intense and heart stopping in the last big battle arc. That ending hurts me, S2 please 😭 did my girl SGQ lie about her pregnancy like she lied about almost everything else or was she telling the truth?!
This is also one of the most visually beautiful shows! Almost on par with the films I used to analyze for film class.
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This review may contain spoilers
Curiosity is the biggest bait
[this is more of an after thought than a full review]This drama has Guo Jing Ming (director/screenwriter) written all over it making it a double edged sword from start to finish.
As someone who only found out about the existence of c-drama during the Pandemic, his work had a sense of exciting familiarity from the get go. The way he uses visual story telling and symbolism reminded me of some of my favorite movies/shows growing up. I have yet to find another Chinese Director or writer who is able to evoke that feeling in me.
Visually this drama really is impressive. I have a massive soft spot for dark, goth-vibe movies and shows. Combine that with the bad-ass BGM when the characters were introduced and the carefully crafted visual storytelling ... ah I love it!
The more dramas I watch, the more drama-fatigue I get and it's hard to watch anything from start to finish because everything becomes so predictable. But for the first time in a long time I watched episode after episode being excited about what happens next. I could not have guessed it and that made it a really good watch for me.
Instead of thinking of it as FL, ML, SFL, SML, TML,... It was quite clear (to me) that this drama has multiple mains and every story is equally as important. Although it begins quite ambiguous, it becomes more and more evident that among all the leading characters there's no one who is really a villain. Everyone's ambitions are justifiable and not born out of greed. This solidified my initial impression that this is a story of many, not of just two.
But unfortunately the story of first CP dragged along after having a very good start. Any sense of chemistry that was there eventually fell into a slumber as their story became more and more lukewarm. The intense stares and slow mo walking past-each-other scenes early on quickly ceased to exist and in my opinion this is what gave the second CP the chance to shine even brighter because they kept the intensity up. ZY was introduced as the spoiled son that spends a lot of time hanging out at the dance house (brothel?), likes to drink and pretends to be weaker than he actually is. He often rebelled against his father and did not hesitate to yell that he will leave. Everything about his introduction had me believed he would at some point reveal his true character and show every one his wits especially after the tattoo scene, however he and YS were gradually reduced to being the safe option in order for the more complex characters to go about their story. After all you cannot have your bread buttered on both sides.
GSJ and GZY had such epic introductions, with epic instrumental that is not commonly used by c-dramas and their styling was also much better than that of the ML, who sometimes looked like his make up was wet paint.
The brothers reminded me of a duo of wolves, so calculated but also deeply complex and their dynamic was amazing. In comparison ZY fell short on so many levels and became the SW although GSJ was much more qualified and long term would have been more respected and feared by outsiders. Thinking about ZY ten years down the line... I cannot help but to suspect that the reputation of Gong will become less and less feared. Selfishly though I must admit this provides GSJ with a tiny chance of freedom, that he unlikely is to take willingly but if the circumstances are right I believe he could have his own drama about how he leaves the Gong family, despite having an undying sense of loyalty towards them. I have no doubts was the situation flipped YZ would not hesitate and leave to be with YSS... but doesn't it sound more interesting if it was the so-sure-about-his-place character that ended up leaving the mountain? - Wishful thinking I know.
Not being able to have multiple deeper, darker main characters is something I have noticed in every c-drama that attempted this so far - guess this is where Censorship comes into play. At this point I don't think I'll ever get see a 10/10 drama from China because only the most dark and twisted (love) stories can get such a rating from me.
GSJ, GZY and SSQ were the most interesting part of this drama. She was thrown into a lion's den and of the two assassins, her mission was much trickier and therefore so much more exciting. We only got glimpses but I believe these three could have their own drama, making it a push-and-pull game of wits and raw feelings. I would not want it to be ruined by idol romance but rather make it a dark romance. I'm kinda fed up with healthy or realistic relationships in dramas, it's fictional so give me all the borderline toxicity. I wasn't walking around in a "Mrs. Salvatore" hoodie for years because I liked Matt, lol. (vampire diaries).
The story of these 3 had an even flow and from all the characters I found theirs could be the perfect background story for a season 2. Yet I did wish we had gotten more scenes of them taking a (dangerous) liking to each other.
But I really didn't like how they schemed against her near the end. It wasn't until then, that SSQ was singled out as the only antagonist of the four/five. YZ did not tell her about the fortnight flies and she also ratted her out to the others, which totally took away the element of surprise and potential for a great reveal scene. I was actually looking forward to that a lot and I'd almost say while watching it was one of my biggest disappointments.
My favorite scenes were early on when GSJ was riding a horse in the dark and the camera films from above and then through an open gate as he rides past.. and a little earlier GZY being on the roof to stop ZY - just EPIC. You already get the clear feeling that these two are very different from your usual drama characters and they delivered 100%.
--BIG SPOILER--
I read up on the final scene and it's interesting how on Chinese internet the interpretation is that SSQ's life ended since he saw her standing on water. Previously only for-sure dead characters were 'seen' by the leads, so the fact that he imagined seeing her could hint at that she is no longer alive. On the contrary on mdl, reddit, etc everyone is certain she is alive since she was seen in a garden tending to the flowers.
-- CONCLUSION--
In the beginning it all felt like one epic production and I could envision it continuing in so many ways. Even now I still think if they were ever to make this a multi-season show, they could really pull the wheel around and make it amazing. Somehow I can't shake the feeling that it felt like the backstory of something greater. Knowing how this is most likely a stand alone drama, I do feel let down but in my mind there is no doubt that the story continues and the best is yet to come. (small hope is that the screenwriter/director has multiple works that have more than one part)
As I said, it truly feels a prologue. In a perfect world (or literally just a country without TV censorship) this could turn into a complex game of survival and love that could de-throne any drama I ever watched. As small as the world of Wufeng & Gong was, it was just the perfect amount to get immersed into the story without feeling like you need to care about the rest of the world. I really loved that aspect.
One of SSQ's lines early on was "curiosity is the biggest bait" and they really took that and went with it for the entire drama. I was really curious after the very intriguing start and was baited into watching till the end. I don't regret as it stands out a lot to me and is not comparable to other dramas in my opinion but I also kept waiting and waiting for big things to happen and from to time things did happen but the entire 3 trials thing was such a big plot of the drama which I really didn't like it at all. I only fast forwarded twice during this drama, both times were during the second trial. I really wanted the leads to have a more intense story. Also I feel like for some of the symbolism I know too little about chinese language, culture/history to really get it. I felt like there was a lot of hidden meaning behind things shown and spoken.
In all of the drama, there is only one thing visually that bothered me. The transitions... some of them were just like the ones you use for a fancy power point.
Also there are so many single tear drops running down the characters face… I was about to make a drinking game out of it, lol
Full circle moment back to the beginning of this after thought that turned into an endless thought: Guo Jing Ming's work is always like that. I watched his movie "The End of Endless Love" a few days ago and had the exact same feeling afterwards. Some real glimpses of gold, that just hit so right and feel totally unique but he's never able to make a full stream of light from the few glimpses. Makes me wonder, does he just have really great ideas but doesn't have what it takes to turn them into reality... he needs to pair up with a superb screenwriter and maybe then it will turn into a masterpiece.
Another drama watched that was on my "not interested" list and ended up leaving a big impression. Maybe I should listen more to what people are hyping up?
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An engaging and striking drama, let down by it's final few episodes
I went into My Journey to You blind, having been introduced to it through gifs that were being created on Tumblr. It was the cinematography that held my attention at first, yet after reading what this show was about I was instantly intrigued. A more mature story filled with intrigue and suspense, with an intricate spy network infiltrating its way into a powerful family that tries to route them out -- how could I not be interested? This show sounded so promising and interesting, I was eager to watch it.For the most part, there is very little I dislike about this show. The beginning is fantastic; the pacing and tension of what is being set up for the story is engaging and draws you in instantly, the mystery of what's happening making you ask questions that have you wanting the next episode as soon as you can. The episodes can run quite long for a cdrama - roughly about an hour in length - and while some episodes that feels like enough, for others it can feel like they run a little too long .
The acting in this show is incredible, and there's not a character that I found to be frustrating or felt was out of place. I'd say some of the roles that stood out for me were that of Tian Jia Rui's Gong Yuanzhi, Cheng Lei's Gong Shangjue, Sun Chen Jun's Jin Fan, and Lu Yu Xiao's Shangguan Qian. But honestly, the entire cast stepped up and delivered in this show, and they should all be praised for the work they've done here.
I mentioned that the cinematography was the first thing to draw me into this show. Regardless of any of its flaws, My Journey to You is a masterpiece in this area. This was very obviously a big production, and the shots and camerawork that were used are something else. So many scenes look like works of art, and it truly elevates this show to another level altogether. I would go as far as to say it's probably one of the most beautiful dramas from the 2023 lineup, and there were quite a few stunning works that year!
I will say that for all of its strengths, this show does struggle towards its ending. I won't say much as I aim to keep this review spoiler-free, but I felt that the last few episodes made some odd choices: not all of them were good. The finale to this show is ... baffling, honestly. It sets up for the potential of a sequel, however I very much doubt that such a thing will come to light. As I mentioned, I came into this show blind and had no idea about the struggles and controversies that were wrapped around it (plagiarism allegations, investigations into sexual assault charges pressed against one of the supporting cast, arguments that this story 'borrowed' too much from Japanese dramas rather than more traditional Chinese ones), but having since read about them I can sort of see why this show ended as it did. In a way, it's rather a miracle this show was even released as it was - but I find myself glad that the audience got to watch it. So, while the ending may feel unsatisfactory for what had started out strong, it doesn't diminish the otherwise enjoyable show that it began as.
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This review may contain spoilers
Unique drama worth watching!
I really enjoyed My Journey to You. It is not like your run of the mill wuxia. It is highly stylized and the plot is unique. The pacing is good and its only 24 episodes which meant theres never any boring parts! Yu shuxin really surprised me and was quite good as a female assassin completely different from any of her previous roles or what you see of her on variety shows. She really showed her range here and she wont be type-cast into cutesy roles. Even her actions scenes looked realistic! Zhang Linghei was good as the seemingly soft hearted heir (major golden retriever vibes lol). The SFL and SML were amazing with their acting and had smoldering chemistry!Definitely give this dark wuxia a watch!
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Great Drama
I have never seen any of the actors in a drama before, so I'm not watching this as a fan.I watched it because the FL character seemed cool.
The best thing about this drama is how the director made each shot look pretty. The fight scenes are like dancing. I've taken so many screenshots here, because it's just so pretty. The music goes with the scenes and I thought the production was the best thing about this drama.
The story was interesting. It slowed a bit between ep. 12-16 and I thought I saw a lot of plot holes but they might have been purposely placed there. lol.
The logic wasn't too hard to follow and I didn't have to wrack my brains to follow any of the intrigue.
I was most drawn to the Gong Shang Jue/Shanghuan Qian and Gong Yuan Zhi story.
I found them way more interesting than the main leads. The story tries to develop the other characters besides the main characters (which is great) and I just kept getting interested in Gong Shang Jue/Shanghuan Qian and Gong Yuan Zhi. Their story, I found was more touching/interesting.
I don't think the story was perfect but this drama kept getting me hooked.
The weakness is the romance. I just don't buy it, because it's all based on lies. However, I watch dramas for entertainment and not necessary the romance, and I thought this drama has a more interesting story than other dramas. The romance isn't the main feature of this drama, so it was ok. They didn't focus on it.
If you're looking for something interesting, check this out.
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stunning visuals, great acting, very poor story
The production value of this series is absolutely amazing, costumes, sets, scenes are truly amazing. There's a host of very likeable side characters and complicated back stories.however the story itself, while has the potential of amazing spy drama, is extremely weak. The production decided that instead of shooting the story to at least indicate the plots that are happening, they jsut shot a story of a mildly intelligent guy stumbling along, then at the end within one episode showed us a host of scenes that directly contradict everything we watched for 23 episodes to tell us that the main lead is truly smartest of the smartest schemers! it's a cheap way to tell the story, it means that there's no value in analyzing any of the scenes as they are all going to be contradicted at the end.
that was a huge disappointment of the movie. the way characters choices and motivations are often just stupid or made obviously for dramatic effect instead of any gain for them.
Last 5 minutes of the show are rage inducingly stupid I have to say. there's absolutely no reason for that scene, no logical explanation at all.
All in all amazing visuals but no rewatch value other than in gifsets.
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My journey to you in S...L...O...W M...O...T...I...O...N
The drama looked pretty intriguing from the story. It started off with a bang which looked pretty promising then it began to drag in the middle, then accelerated all the way towards the end and finally stopped dead in the end. (That's the gist of the drama).All the things that I loved about the drama in the beginning began to irk me towards the end. One such example is the aesthetics. It was really gorgeous to look at the mesmerizing natural scenes now and then but they did it way too much that I began to skip them. Another example is slow motion, that is the biggest problem in this drama. It was good at first in some scenes but they were walking in slow-mo, running in slow-mo, drinking in slow-mo, fighting in slow-mo, talking in slow-mo and explaining things in slow-mo...tbh I had to watch all that in 2x many times. (I have never seen a bad guy explaining his plans for more than half an hour and that too so damn slowly that I even lost interest in the middle of his conversation. The closeup scenes for instance began to look funny because they did it way too much especially during the fight scenes which, by the way, showed really good choreography, began to look fake. It looked they were posing with a sword for some photoshoot.
The main leads for me were the least interesting couple (I just did not feel anything for them. They were good in separate scenes but whenever they were together it felt .... boring.) Even the side characters were far interesting than them. The sister was hilarious (there was overacting but still in all the chaos she was the one who made me laugh). I loved yound elders and felt more connected to their stories than the leads. Plot wise it was really interesting but due to some reasons it looked the writers were justifying ML's every action right no matter how stupid it was. The interaction of two brothers and sister-in-law was something I enjoyed a lot. I felt more connected to young elders like Xue and Hua despite less screen time than anyone in the drama even the assassin mentor Hanyesi made me cry. It had great visuals, beautiful actors, well acted suspenseful story and good songs but it lacked chemistry ( FL had more chemistry with her mentor despite few scenes, two brothers had more chemistry than second leads) and sense at times. Plus the ending which wasn't even an open ending tbh. I wonder if there will be a season 2? (So many loose ends).
All I can say in the end is that it was a good one time watch.
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THE 2ND LEADS HAD THE BEST CHEMISTRY
Overall, the plot, storyline, music, characters were CHEF KISS. I liked the fl and sfl, however the ml was kinda bland for me. Personally I enjoyed the story between the sml and his didi and the 2nd lead couple more than the main couple. Usually, when this happens, I drop the drama if screen time is done no justice to the second leads, however in this drama, all characters really shined and got their screen time.I honestly was not expecting to like the 2nd lead couple more but man, was their chemistry on FIRE. Like they could literally just be looking at each other and it would still give me butterflies. The way they protrayed the 2nd ml to be absolutely stone cold on the outside but every once in a while will break off his mask and show slight affection towards the 2nd fl literally got me blushing screaming kicking my feet fr. And SGQ was an absolute icon, fav character fr, her actor did an AMAZING job at portraying her. The way I could never tell what she was thinking and planning until the end, you will legitimately sit there thinking if her last monologue in the show was lie or not.
Anyways I swear they need to film another season cause girl what was that ending- especially GSJ SGQ we need them together ASAP
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Worth watchiing!
especially for Ryan Cheng’s acting. He’s fierce and intense (and very handsome). He and the 2nd FL have good chemistry and make the story interesting. The ML and FL didn’t have much chemistry but at least Esther Yu changed her annoying baby girlish voice to a whispering voice.I love that the sister had a completely different personality than female characters in most dramas. She was shamelessly pursuing Jin Fan. I found her character was quite refreshing.
Overall, I recommend this drama. It wasn’t perfect in any way but still worth watching.
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