the novel has phenomenal writing! i'm going to wait for all the eps to come out so that i can binge watch haha
tbh, i expected a face like zhang linghe when i read the novel. but not going to complain about liu yuning since he was really good in a journey to love âi can see why he was picked for this drama!
for anyone who needs a relationship guide for all three instalments:
dongfang yuechu (gong jun) is the son of dongfang qinlan (to be played by shen yue), who i believe is the sister of dongfang huaizhu (played by liu shi shi). wangquan fugui (played by cheng yi) is the son of dongfang huaizhu and wangquan hongye (played by leon zhang). this would make tushan honghong (played yang mi) and qing tong (played li yitong) sister-in-laws.
FSM: love in pavilion [is the parent story - dongfang huaizhu (liu shi shi) & wangquan hongye (leon zhang)... including dongfang qinlan (shen yue).]
I'm 8 episodes in and it's super cringey so far. Also Liu Shi Shi and Tiffany Tang still haven't showed up. 37…
give it a chance :) most asian dramas around early to mid 2000s are cringey hahahhaha but given the year it was produced, it was one of the best of its time!
So who are Ning shishan and his sisterâs parents please? Confused since they are dead and all..
we know from ning shisan that his motherâs last name is ren, so we can assume that itâs ren ruyi. ren is also his sisterâs name, which makes sense since ruyi always wanted a daughterâŠ
but whether ning shisan and his sister are real, since the parents are presumingly âdeadâ, thatâs open for your own interpretation. the ending was made ambiguous on purpose i think.
iâm currently rewatching some episodes right now and this is how i feel:
you know those stories with main characters whose parentsâ generation is tragic due to war (for example, legend of the condor heroes)? to me, the vibes from ning yuan zhou, ruyi, and the rest of the liudao hall brothers are from the âparentsââ generation, while yuan lu, li tong guang, and yang ying represent the new generation. itâs just unfortunate that yuan lu had to be part of the tragedy from the âparentsââ generation. but at least the new generation is working towards a better future.
if any of you grew up watching those dramatic hong kong wuxia dramas, you might understand what iâm trying to say lol,
i think this was the overall vibe that the production team had in mind when this story was created (which really suits liu shi shi âcheck out brotherhood of blades and vigilantes in masks), and we shouldâve seen the signs âbut i guess most of us became ignorant of it (thus the ending came as a total surprise) because most cdramas these days donât create stories like this. but if we take a dive into dramas from the 80s, 90s, and even early 2000s, a journey to love is very similar to many wuxia dramas from those times (except that this was filmed with more modernised tech and the actors were fashioned with costumes more appealing to todayâs audienceâŠthe acting is less dramatic too, lol).
itâs been a while for me to enjoy a wuxia that that looks like a traditional wuxia drama (albeit our main leads using their stunt doubles for a lot of scenes âbut safety first so iâm not too concern about this) . the thing is: many wuxia dramas these days care too much about visual effects and donât pay enough attention to the actual fight scenes, the comradeship, the greys of right and wrong in the story and characters, as well as the complexity of the world built in the story, which i think are things that make a great wuxia drama. i think a journey to love successfully checked all of the boxes which makes this a rare gem and outstanding from most dramas that came out this year. i think i understand why this is liu yu ningâs favourite work (not only because itâs his first ml role). given his age, he had probably grew up watching wuxia dramas like this, so now that he has a chance to be part of one too, it feels special.
also, cannot fault liu shi shiâs costume dramas. her modern dramas are terrible tbh, but she really knows how to choose a good script when it comes to ancient-setting dramas!
iâm rambling now, so i shall end this long post now :â)
so i'm seeing a lot of discussions regarding the ending, and would like to add my own too xD
between HE and SE, i'm seeing this more as OE. there is a genre in chinese online literature which focuses on an 'afterlife' world, in which those who die continues to live life in 'that' world instead of reincarnating, transmigrating and etc. i will take the ending as something like ning yuan zhou, ruyi and the others continuing life in 'that' world. my interpretation as to why it is chu yue who was on her way to reunite with them (instead of a ying) would be that she herself has passed away in the real world.
throughout the series, most of the cgi/editing were pretty consistent. only that ending with chu yue seemed very 'imaginary', which i think implies that it's "not real". otherwise, it makes no sense to me as to why she would linger around a vast field when she was supposed to be back in state of an for the coming-of-age ceremony âa very important ceremony. she must've somehow passed away while on the journey back to state of an.
of course, this is all just something i made up to make myself feel less sad hahahaha.
overall, a solid drama to end 2023. enjoyed it very much. it's been a while for me to follow a drama while it is still ongoing, and this felt like it was worth my patience to wait haha.
i did, however, became a bit disappointed with the pace of the story after ep 36. the events felt rushed and they just didn't feel as exciting compared to the earlier events that happened. all that built-up just for a war and for them to be so easily defeated? even taking into account of our characters having injuries on them, old and new, it still didn't really make sense to me for them to be weaker than their opponents, when we were told and even shown since the very beginning that they were pretty much super smart and undefeatable. oh well. it is what it is haha :')
time for the laughs from hello saturday! it's super rare for liu shi shi to be on variety shows!
itâs definitely engaging from the very first ep for me :D i usually fast forward scenes, but i havenât done much of it for this drama âshows how invested i am in it haha
never cared too much about alen fang, but he definitely takes the spotlight in this drama out of all the male cast xD whenever he is on the screen, he makes himself the main character and is brilliant at it!! HAHAHAHA
hahah right... it's just that the plot on the novel was transmigration, but C-gov has banned drama that has transmigration…
long post ahead, sorry :')
the points you made are definitely valid. i really do see your reasonings. but personally, it comes off as lazy writing when i watch the drama because like OP, i still question in the end: what was the point of the virtual reality here? like sure, lian man'er could take advantage of her modern knowledge to make money. but what's next? she was able to find herself a boyfriend after coming out of that virtual reality? :') she finally knows how it feels to be loved by her "parents"? the entire plot just seems aimless...other than her feelings and blood pressure got f'ed up while she was in the game, lol.
i would have rather the screenwriter made changes to the original source than to force it by turning it into a game just to justify the fl's modern knowledge (take the western grape wine as an example: the writer could've changed it into the fl making a discovery, somehow, and she figured that she could make money by producing the wine because no one else was doing it the way she was/or had discovered. not necessarily western wine, 'cause that would make no sense in an ancient china setting. perhaps chinese wine? it's a good way to promote and learn more about the culture lol (bet those in charge of censorships would love it lmao). either way, every successful business person would have to start somewhere, and that somewhere always comes with new ideas). there are other ways to make it work, but the writer just had to choose a game... this is what i mean by lazy writing and why i think it's a weak excuse to pass censorship.
i did enjoy the drama though, if we ignore the game part haha.
hahah right... it's just that the plot on the novel was transmigration, but C-gov has banned drama that has transmigration…
am i the only one finding the whole censorship excuse to beâŠweak? many other dramas do just fine by literally removing the transmigration part . but this drama just had to add something so unnecessary to it âand like what the OP questioned, what was the point of the virtual reality here?â
saying itâs because of the censorship is not a good reason imo :/
iâm reading the novel right now, and i feel that it mightâve been best if they hadnât attempted to turn it into a drama at all. they left out a lot of characters and subplots that makes it feel insulting to even call this drama âadapted fromâ said novel.
tbh, i expected a face like zhang linghe when i read the novel. but not going to complain about liu yuning since he was really good in a journey to love âi can see why he was picked for this drama!
FSM: love in pavilion [is the parent story - dongfang huaizhu (liu shi shi) & wangquan hongye (leon zhang)... including dongfang qinlan (shen yue).]
FSM: red-moon pact [dongfang yuechu (gong jun) & tushan honghong (yang mi)]
FSM: sword and beloved [wangquan fugui (cheng yi) & qing tong (li yitong)]
-----
if i happen to be wrong about something, please correct me :D
most asian dramas around early to mid 2000s are cringey hahahhaha
but given the year it was produced, it was one of the best of its time!
so many flashbacks!
but whether ning shisan and his sister are real, since the parents are presumingly âdeadâ, thatâs open for your own interpretation. the ending was made ambiguous on purpose i think.
you know those stories with main characters whose parentsâ generation is tragic due to war (for example, legend of the condor heroes)? to me, the vibes from ning yuan zhou, ruyi, and the rest of the liudao hall brothers are from the âparentsââ generation, while yuan lu, li tong guang, and yang ying represent the new generation. itâs just unfortunate that yuan lu had to be part of the tragedy from the âparentsââ generation. but at least the new generation is working towards a better future.
if any of you grew up watching those dramatic hong kong wuxia dramas, you might understand what iâm trying to say lol,
i think this was the overall vibe that the production team had in mind when this story was created (which really suits liu shi shi âcheck out brotherhood of blades and vigilantes in masks), and we shouldâve seen the signs âbut i guess most of us became ignorant of it (thus the ending came as a total surprise) because most cdramas these days donât create stories like this. but if we take a dive into dramas from the 80s, 90s, and even early 2000s, a journey to love is very similar to many wuxia dramas from those times (except that this was filmed with more modernised tech and the actors were fashioned with costumes more appealing to todayâs audienceâŠthe acting is less dramatic too, lol).
itâs been a while for me to enjoy a wuxia that that looks like a traditional wuxia drama (albeit our main leads using their stunt doubles for a lot of scenes âbut safety first so iâm not too concern about this) . the thing is: many wuxia dramas these days care too much about visual effects and donât pay enough attention to the actual fight scenes, the comradeship, the greys of right and wrong in the story and characters, as well as the complexity of the world built in the story, which i think are things that make a great wuxia drama. i think a journey to love successfully checked all of the boxes which makes this a rare gem and outstanding from most dramas that came out this year. i think i understand why this is liu yu ningâs favourite work (not only because itâs his first ml role). given his age, he had probably grew up watching wuxia dramas like this, so now that he has a chance to be part of one too, it feels special.
also, cannot fault liu shi shiâs costume dramas. her modern dramas are terrible tbh, but she really knows how to choose a good script when it comes to ancient-setting dramas!
iâm rambling now, so i shall end this long post now :â)
throughout the series, most of the cgi/editing were pretty consistent. only that ending with chu yue seemed very 'imaginary', which i think implies that it's "not real". otherwise, it makes no sense to me as to why she would linger around a vast field when she was supposed to be back in state of an for the coming-of-age ceremony âa very important ceremony. she must've somehow passed away while on the journey back to state of an.
of course, this is all just something i made up to make myself feel less sad hahahaha.
overall, a solid drama to end 2023. enjoyed it very much. it's been a while for me to follow a drama while it is still ongoing, and this felt like it was worth my patience to wait haha.
i did, however, became a bit disappointed with the pace of the story after ep 36. the events felt rushed and they just didn't feel as exciting compared to the earlier events that happened. all that built-up just for a war and for them to be so easily defeated? even taking into account of our characters having injuries on them, old and new, it still didn't really make sense to me for them to be weaker than their opponents, when we were told and even shown since the very beginning that they were pretty much super smart and undefeatable. oh well. it is what it is haha :')
time for the laughs from hello saturday! it's super rare for liu shi shi to be on variety shows!
whenever he is on the screen, he makes himself the main character and is brilliant at it!! HAHAHAHA
the points you made are definitely valid. i really do see your reasonings. but personally, it comes off as lazy writing when i watch the drama because like OP, i still question in the end: what was the point of the virtual reality here? like sure, lian man'er could take advantage of her modern knowledge to make money. but what's next? she was able to find herself a boyfriend after coming out of that virtual reality? :') she finally knows how it feels to be loved by her "parents"? the entire plot just seems aimless...other than her feelings and blood pressure got f'ed up while she was in the game, lol.
i would have rather the screenwriter made changes to the original source than to force it by turning it into a game just to justify the fl's modern knowledge (take the western grape wine as an example: the writer could've changed it into the fl making a discovery, somehow, and she figured that she could make money by producing the wine because no one else was doing it the way she was/or had discovered. not necessarily western wine, 'cause that would make no sense in an ancient china setting. perhaps chinese wine? it's a good way to promote and learn more about the culture lol (bet those in charge of censorships would love it lmao). either way, every successful business person would have to start somewhere, and that somewhere always comes with new ideas). there are other ways to make it work, but the writer just had to choose a game... this is what i mean by lazy writing and why i think it's a weak excuse to pass censorship.
i did enjoy the drama though, if we ignore the game part haha.
saying itâs because of the censorship is not a good reason imo :/
iâm reading the novel
right now, and i feel that it mightâve been best if they hadnât attempted to turn it into a drama at all. they left out a lot of characters and subplots that makes it feel insulting to even call this drama âadapted fromâ said novel.