My Journey to You (2023)

My Journey to Jiuchen...

My Journey to You m'a captivé par son esthétique magnifique, son casting remarquable et sa réalisation soignée. À la fois sombre et élégant, ce wuxia explore le conflit entre liberté et devoir et liens familiaux complexes.

C'est un drama qui m'a séduit dès les premières minutes avec sa palette de couleurs froides et sa brume ambiante. Le suspense et le mystère, qui s'articulent autour de toute la noirceur, renforcent la tension. Au cœur de cette résidence, on découvre l’amour, l’amitié et la fraternité. Chacun se lance avec détermination dans un voyage de découverte.

Un événement chamboule l’ordre actuel. Au milieu du chaos, Yun Wei Shan (Esther Yu) et Shang Guan Qian (Lu Yu Xiao), deux espionnes de l’organisation Wufeng s’infiltrent dans la résidence. Elles ne sont pas qu’un artifice, mais un pan entier de l’intrigue. Yun Wei Shan lutte constamment, partagée entre sa mission, sa quête de liberté et son affection grandissante pour Gong Zi Yu. Ses longs échanges avec Shang Guan Qian sont redoutables.

Elles s’entraident, mais restent continuellement méfiantes l’une envers l’autre. Yun Wei Shan ne lui fait jamais totalement confiance, et à raison. Il est évident que Shang Guan Qian ne souhaite qu’une chose, atteindre son objectif. La douceur qu’elles dégagent offre un contraste radical avec leurs motivations. À elles deux, elles sont la parfaite définition du proverbe : « l’ennemi(e) de mon ennemi(e) est mon ami(e) ».

Cependant, l’histoire reste centrée sur la famille Gong. Gong Zi Yu (Zhang Ling He) est réputé pour être un homme à femmes incapable de s’investir dans les affaires familiales. Pourtant, c’est aussi celui qui fait passer l’humain avant le pouvoir de son statut. Être Sword Wielder va le pousser à gagner en maturité. Gong Shang Jue (Cheng Lei) est vif, intelligent, calculateur et un brillant combattant. C’est difficile de saisir ses pensées, mais c’est également ce qui le rend si fascinant. Enfin, Gong Yuan Zhi (Tian Jia Rui), un personnage bien trop sous-estimé. Expert en poisons et armes dissimulées, c’est le frère adoptif de Shang Jue. L’amour fraternel entre eux est touchant. Impulsif, parfois cruel, sa confiance envers son frère est indéniable.

Jin Fan (Sun Chen Jun) occupe la place de garde personnel de GZY (avec un passé intéressant, bien que pas exploré). La sœur, Gong Zi Shang (Jin Jing), est complètement barrée, ce qui apporte des scènes hilarantes, notamment lorsqu’elle est avec Maître Hua (Liang Xue Feng).

Côté romance, Yun Wei Shan et Gong Zi Yu ont une relation douce, presque naïve. Yun Wei Shan ne fait aucun effort pour séduire Gong Zi Yu, parce qu’il tombe amoureux dès le départ. Ainsi, la relation entre Shang Guan Qian et Gong Shang Jue est plus intéressante. C’est une relation sombre, incertaine avec une certaine toxicité, car basée sur le mensonge et la manipulation. À titre personnel, je ne pense pas qu’ils soient amoureux, ni l’un ni l’autre. Ils s’utilisent mutuellement, c’est tout. Si la thématique de la romance est utile, elle ne devient jamais principale. Yun Wei Shan et Shang Guan Qian n’ont qu’un but : remplir leur mission. Elles ne deviennent pas des femmes aveuglément amoureuses. Après tout, l’amour est une menace pour elles.

Bien que le rythme soit plutôt lent, l’histoire est bien conçue. Certaines scènes s’étalent sur quinze minutes, ce qui les rend extrêmement longues. Cela contraste complètement avec les combats qui sont dynamiques et entraînants – à mes yeux, les combats de My Journey to You sont parmi les meilleurs dans le genre. Or, il est agréable de voir le rythme s’accélérer dans les derniers épisodes et apporter un nouveau souffle au drame qui explose littéralement en émotion et en action.

Le final est intéressant, bien qu’il ait suscité pas mal de contrariétés, et c’est justifiable. C’est difficile d’offrir une fin parfaite pour un wuxia comme celui-ci, notamment lorsqu’il laisse tant de possibilités. Personnellement, je n’en suis pas totalement satisfaite, notamment parce qu’elle va à l’encontre de certains personnages, tandis que le sort d'autres reste un mystère. Une suite semblait dans les tuyaux, mais n’ayant pas reçu le succès espéré…

La mise en scène de Edward Guo est impressionnante et met en lumière les décors, les costumes et les personnages. Il capture leurs visages et leurs mouvements de manière divine. En particulier Cheng Lei et Tian Jia Rui. Ce sont deux beaux acteurs, mais le réalisateur capture l’essence même de leur charisme au travers de sa caméra. Enfin, la bande originale est magnifique et s’accorde parfaitement aux scènes.

En bref, malgré un rythme lent (qui s'accélère dans les derniers épisodes) et un final fâcheux, My Journey to You est un wuxia fascinant grâce à son atmosphère sombre, sa photographie exceptionnelle, son intrigue et ses personnages captivants.

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House of cards.

My Journey to You is dark, intricate and suspenseful wuxia that hones in on Wufeng spy Yun Weishan's mission to sneak into the Gong family's heavily guarded mountain stronghold. This is a once in two decade opportunity, as the Gong family holds a bride selection event for their young masters who have come of age. A shocking twist thrusts Gong Ziyu, the least capable young master, to the helm of the family. He is clearly unequal to the task and must prove himself worthy before the seemingly invincible Gong family folds like a house of cards under the force of internal and external challenge.

Shocking murders that rock the foundations of Gong family just as Wufeng spies slip through the gates. The whydunit is quite clear from the get go. By elimination and a few clues, most of the mysteries including Wuming or Anonymous's identity, are easy to solve. The mysteries look more complex than they really are because many other sub-plots unfold at high velocity. The key is not to over think; the straightforward answers are usually the right ones. The antagonist reveal comes late in the story after the facts are stale and the long expository style gives a sense of anti-climax at the end. It may have been better to resolve the internal conspiracy prior to facing the external challenge. Nonetheless the mystery sub-plots are fairly tight and engagingly woven into the external plot of this dark wuxia.

The real guts of the main plot centres around the Gong family and the secret that they vowed to safeguard for all time. It is no fun to be a Gong; stuck on an isolated, toxic mountain and locked in an existential battle with their arch enemy Wufeng. All of the young masters of the Shang (weapons), Jue (commerce), Zhi (poison) and Yu (defence) lines shoulder many responsibilities from a young age. All except the self-indulgent and spoiled Ziyu who has a father, foster mother and older brother to lean on. It is no wonder that Shangjue and especially Yuanzhi resent Ziyu and demand he prove his mettle. The real irony is Sword Wielder is the most sucky job that comes with a butt ugly tattoo and life imprisonment on that dreadful, suffocating mountain. Not to mention the exhausting chore of trying to stare, glare or scowl down Shangjue and Yuanzhi only to be torpedoed by one of Zishang's whacky, mind boggling non-sequiturs that destroy any crushing come back! As much as I was riveted by the Gong family soap opera, it is the mysterious denizens of the back mountain that broke my heart with the intensity and absoluteness of their obsessions. This drama has the most absurdly gorgeous, eccentric, layered and memorable cast of characters.

While romance is always a feature, it is never what this kind of dark themed wuxia is built around, so conventional romance watchers are bound to be disappointed. Both Weishan and Qian are spies on a do or die mission. If they have love brains, they'd have been long dead spies. By design, Shangjue and Qian's relationship is more interesting because Shangjue is a more cynical and questioning character than Ziyu. He is a much more difficult target and this forces Qian to take more risks and thus reveal more of herself to captivate him. It is quite clear there is an intense attraction, that they got their hooks into each other. It is a dark and fascinatingly toxic relationship where it is left for the viewer to decide whether and to what degree they actually fall in love.

In sharp contrast, Ziyu is naive and unquestioning. Weishan is his first love and he falls for her like a ton of bricks, absolutely and unconditionally. The feeling may be intense and pure but it is also uncomplicated and not that differentiated. The bigger problem is that Weishan is by design an elusive character. She does not have to reveal much about herself to reel Ziyu in and so for the most part, she remains a blank character. By the end of the drama, she is still so much a mystery that it is difficult for viewers to be that invested in her and thus the main romance. Yun Weishan is the main character but because she is so hidden, it is as if there is no main character or CP that anchors the story. For the most part, this feels a story about many characters told from many different points of views. To me, this is the biggest shortcoming in the narrative that is saved by the presence of many other fully realised characters. This is not completely a bad thing because it allows the entire spectacular cast, and notably Cheng Lei, Lu Yuxiao and Tian Jiarui, to really shine without taking away that much from Yu Shuxin and Zhang Linghe. All of the actors got the screen time their characters deserve and deliver all around strong performances.

In terms of cinematography, breathtaking action scenes and stunning aesthetics, this drama is everything I expect of Guo Jingming and more. He is the ultimate connoisseur of male beauty and truly immortalises all of these actors, male and female at the peak of their gorgeousness at their most flattering camera angles. Yue (Moon) Gongzi was the one that stood out for me in this visual feast and his love story moved me most - I'd have gone to the moon and back for him any day of the week! Despite some holes, I am overall very satisfied with the writing. I much enjoyed the witty repartee, the foreshadowing and the layers in the dialogue and many hidden clues in the form of riddles and homonyms that are embedded in the script.

I actually quite like the ending epilogue which has caused quite a bit of consternation and heated discussion among viewers. This is a plot driven story so none of the main characters are the end game. Both main plot lines converge to deliver a very complete ending in terms of th narrative, which is merely one mission or chapter in the saga of Wufeng's longstanding rivalry with the Gong family. The end epilogue closes with just the right dark and chilling note that upon reflection was long foreshadowed, makes sense and is completely in character. As such, I am very happy to rate this 9/10.

I will elaborate further on the ending epilogue in a spoiler below but please don't read it until you have finished watching this drama. This drama is best enjoyed without spoilers so please don't scroll down until you are done watching.










WARNING!!! Major ending spoiler below!!!















Yun Weishan returns to Wufeng to face the music because her work is not done. The biggest clue is that she is not that surprised to find Wufeng waiting for her. She allows Ziyu to think she chose freedom over him, so that he does not look for her and endanger himself and his duty to protect the Infinite Fire. Beyond that, she also knew the note was not from Yasi and possibly she always knew about her twin. More than the Fortnight Flies, that may have been Wufeng's real hold over her. If you rewatch the opening scene, it is very suggestive. Yasi quickly reassures her that the Yun family was just knocked out and not harmed. So it is important to Weishan they are not harmed yet she is not curious enough to even look at the bride she is replacing. Why? Because it is her twin, she already knows what she looks like.

The bigger reason she returns to Wufeng is revenge. She is probably quite safe from Wufeng because everyone that knows of her betrayal is dead and Qian was the one who actually leaked all of the information that lured Wufeng in. She told Jin Fan the truth about Zhuomei, just not the whole truth. She may even be Zhuomei's daughter. That is why she was taught all of Qingfeng's top martial arts but Qian was not. Neither of them even got close to Dianzhu/Wufeng's leader so they could not have learned Qingfeng sect's top martial arts from Dianzhu. Weishan probably joined Wufeng to avenge Zhuomei and possibly also free her sister. She simply could not stay with Ziyu in Gongmen because her work is not yet done. But the first chapter of her story can be considered complete.

A second season probably reunites Weishan with Qian because Dianzhu is their common enemy. This is also why Qian leaves Gongmen, she also has a mission more important than love. Another season could well take place entirely outside of Gongmen so it is not clear the entire cast needs to return. Given how popular the Gong family is with audiences however, my guess is if they can reunite everyone they will bring it all back to Gongmen. But they can also continue it outside of Gongmen with only Shangjue returning or Ziyu returning after handing the reins over to Shangjue. This is very smart of Guo Jingming. He left all his options open. Including the option of not proceeding with another season.

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