A good overall story
My Journey To You can be viewed a few different ways: 1) a story of an assassins' mission to infiltrate the Gong Family, 2) a story of an immature, laid back heir thrown into leadership and being forced to develop into a true leader, 3) a story of the tumultuous incidents happening within the Gong walls and the reactions by various characters within those walls.In my opinion, the third option gives the most satisfactory story and conclusion, whereas the first and second can either be debated or can be viewed as unresolved and even unfulfilled.
I give a 9 to the story on the third point, even though there are still loose ends (two deaths are not explained, one is semi-explained but is very odd and suspicious, the other is just shown with no explanation--chances are both are tied to same person, but we will never know), as well as some suspension of disbelief (quick bride selection towards the end--both sides should've been suspicious of the other, but suddenly there is no protocol, no security, etc--should've been a red flag to the other side).
To the second point, whether the heir truly ever grew into a great leader, or rather just a competent one would be determined by fans' subjectivity. His ultimate show of brilliance is questionable because of what his reasoning and main goals were, and whether his plan was truly a win for his family, and not just a win for his love-life at the cost of some very important lives--to the point where the whole structure of the Gong Family has been changed.
He did become a capable enough person that will be respected in holding the title, but whether his strategic prowess should be respected is up for debate.
To the First point, we are still not completely clear on all aspects of the assassin's mission and whether or not she ultimately failed or succeeded for herself.
A shame the director didn't dare enough to have a specified ending, instead of an OE. Maybe he himself doesn't know what the answer is. Second Season excuse is just an excuse. An ending for a second season would be a cliffhanger, where the audience would be privy to a revelation that will lead into the next season. Not a cowardly direction to just leave the audience hanging, not even revealing to actors what they're supposed to be reacting to.
Then again, perhaps the OE was the only way the story could be told and viewed from other perspectives. And I appreciate the director and script for not falling into fan-services; but rather showed a Male Lead who is not always correct, and validated the characters whom the ML saw as foes instead of villainizing them or having their abilities be deemed lesser than ML.
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A unique, unforgettable cdrama
Amazing martial arts choreography, breathtaking cinematography, and a compelling spy assassin storyline = a cdrama that is unique and unforgettable. It will feed your inner demon with the delicious darkness that lingers in each well-crafted scene. If you're craving comedy, there are unexpected hilarious scenes that will make you chuckle in memory.Romance is aplenty with 4 CPs, and you can choose to ship your sweet, heartwarming CP, your spicy hot CP, your adorable CP and/or your star-crossed CP.
Also, the excellent acting from an eye candy cast is just the lovely cherry on top! Enjoy watching!!
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This is the drama we have been looking for
I watched this drama with my husband and he only watches really good C dramas so I went into viewing with high expectations due to reviews. I have to say. This was probably one of the C dramas that had the best character development for such a short 24 episode series.The best part of the drama for me was that I never knew what was going to happen. Just when I thought the writer was going to write some basic storyline to drive angst or tension, something else is written and craziness explodes. I wouldn't call the drama perfect. Sure, at times the bickering is a little too much and long and going from one story arc to the next can be lengthy but the characters! The entire cast is pretty important in the drama and everyone has a story which is something I enjoyed a lot. I never knew I could care so much for the B and even C cast.
Esther Yu totally shines in this drama and gone is the dizzy girl with the high pitch voice. I really think this was the drama for her to act and to show the world that she can be a good serious actress. I was really excited that Zhang Ling He was casted as the male lead and I really wanted to see him shine. We got a taste of him in Love between Fairy and the Devil. I thought he was fairly good, but he still needs to work on his camera presence. For someone who is over 6 feet tall, you want your character to command the scene and that is something I feel like he still struggles with, but there is hope because he is pretty close.
Overall, the drama was exciting to watch and isn't for the faint of heart. A lot of dramatic events happen, but you will truly feel for all the characters which is totally new for me.
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One of the best of 2023!
This is not your typical idol drama but it's definitely an eye candy fest. You'll see many so many familiar good looking actors/actresses all gathered in 1 drama.This is a quality production in a very dark setting. Ep 1 instantly got me hooked with the female assassin concept which remotely reminded me of Bloody Romance. The cinematography, CGI & fight scenes are all really good.
Make up on the MLs are a bit overwhelming but it works well on the FLs with the dark costumes. Costume designs are very beautiful with lots of black and fine gold detailing. Even the plain monk costumes you can see the fabric texture detailing. Quite impressive.
Storytelling & dialogue is engaging to where full attention is required at least the first 1/2. Story revolves some power struggles , murder mysteries, assassin frenemies making me wish this series is longer than just 24 eps.
Only parts I don't care for is the sister of ML. OTP forced humor feels out of place for this drama. A few lines were funny I admit but most I can do without. 2nd half though she did grow on me to my surprise. It's been a while since I loved almost every character and every fight scene!
Overall:
2nd FL & 2ML out acted the ML & FL
2ML's brother makes a great trio dynamic
Ending is.... tragically messy to the land of no where. Hoping S2 will magically appear one day and answer all unanswered questions.........................
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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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Infinite Heat < Infinite Slo-mo action sequences
Lots of beautiful looking people. Choreography is amazing. Sets and costumes are all well designed. Lu Yu Xiao (2FL) did amazingly well, my first time seeing her. I really hope she pops off and gets a more main role, because she deserved it.The sets remind me of Song of Glory and Jade Dynasty, it is so artificially looking, it looks funky. Albeit beautiful, but cannot be immersed in, as it looks too fake. Story seems like it could be a 3 hours movie that expanded to 24 episodes. Usually the 2ML is written to make the ML look good, but it seems like this is the reverse in this drama. Honestly disappointed in how they wrote the ML. 2ML is intelligent, ambitious, and scheming. While ML is more of: Yun Wei Shan, Yun Wei Shan, Oh- Father and Brother died, Yun Wei Shan, Yun Wei Shan, Yun Wei Shan, Oh wait, I'm supposed to be the Sword Wielder, Yun Wei Shan, Yun Wei Shan. The definition of a simp. Honestly comical. 2ML is more towards the family, and its responsibilities. He’s like a general, he’s rough and tough, but his loyalty is to the house. As far as the ML goes, he’s just really infatuated with the FL, really doesn’t deserve the position. Idk what the writer was thinking when writing the character. I think after 10-15 episodes, we can see some smartness in him, after like half the series. But honestly, it's really dull to me.
The dynamic with ML couples and 2ML couples is that the ML couples are ‘soft’, have a soft spot for personal relationships and don’t want to involve the innocent. While the 2ML couples are ‘hard’; use whatever means necessary to achieve what is needed. Who said the Gong’s mansion was hard to infiltrate? Just send 2 beautiful and smart women in and TA-DA. If it wasn’t for 2ML, Gong’s family would have been destroyed in under 10 episodes, but then again, we wouldn't have a drama to watch :D.
As for the actors/actresses, they all did well for their role. I had high hopes going in, with a rating of 8.7. But the rating is probably inflated due to how well it was filmed, the actors and actresses, and how beautiful everything looks.
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Disappointed and annoyed
I was hooked watching this drama from the first episode. The story was interesting, dark, suspenseful, spy movie. I love ZLH and Esther Yu. But oh man, it was all spoiled after I watched the last episode 24. I thought there was episode 25 that I’m missing. But alas, no. Episode 24 was the last one. No special episode after that. No epilogue. No plan for season 2. This drama disappointed me so much I felt so cheated. No sad or happy ending. No open ending that makes you think of possibilities. Nothing to stretch your imagination. It’s as if the whole production was cancelled, the staff packed up and went home. The story has NO ENDING! And I’m still scratching my head asking myself why was this show like that. I will not recommend this at all.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
The most memorable thing about the series is the art direction, which is highly stylized and simply stunning. The writers take great care in developing each character and creating the bleak yet beautiful world of Gong Men, a powerful family with many secrets, supposedly the last bastion against the ultra evil organization of Wu Feng. The worldbuilding is impressive, until it all falls apart like a pillar of sand in the finale.
The finale feels like it’s written by someone else entirely – someone who doesn’t bother to read the early chapters. Like a video game, characters are buffed and nerfed at random. Some of them are so OOC it will make your head spin. Then we have “The Dumbest Plan Ever,” hyped up by the so-called brains of Gong Men. The plan gives away strategic secrets, leading to the deaths of longtime allies and the wipeout of the Gong’s elite guards. After all that, they still can't touch Wu Feng's upper management, but viewers are told it's a victory and that the Gongs are brilliant strategists. At this point I can’t take the show seriously anymore.
The one saving grace is the supporting cast, which is one of the best ensemble cast I've seen in a while. The actors have such rapport that I wonder if they’re all close friends in real life. Cheng Lei and Lu Yu Xiao are smoldering with a kind of sexual tension you don't often see in C-drama. The leads Zhang Ling He and Esther Yu aren’t bad. They have chemistry with everyone, except each other.
This is a show that desperately wants to be taken seriously, but has not done enough to earn it. It’s better than mediocre, even entertaining in a shallow sort of way. You'll enjoy it more if you leave logic at the door.
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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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Gong ShangJue is the best character
I may sound biased, but this is the first time I watched the entire series for not the Male Lead, but the second Male Lead.Gong ShangJue is absolutely perfect. He's smart, capable( more than enough capable,actually) and devoted to his clan. he knows how to keep his head in the game, even when he's cornered. and does not let anything cloud his judgement. even when he keeps plotting against Yun WeiShan, I wanted to support him.
and the way he takes care of Gong YuanZhi, like it was just as easy as breathing or blinking. and he is so fiercely protective of his people. I'm totally Fangirling over him right now 😍😍😍😍
the rest of the cast is also good. and Gong ZiShang - Jin Fan have the most ridiculously hilarious screen time.
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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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