Half of Us (2023)

The Tale of The Cloud & The Feather

This drama is a masterpiece, as a Wuxia addict that I am I was so blown away with the complex characters and unique fighting styles

I absolutely adored GZY & YWS in their roles, they were the light of this drama, their chemistry, the love & support, I for one thought GZY was such a smart, capable leader, I swear I wanna throw hands on those critics who had horrible things to say about him 😒😒

YWS was such a smart, strong FL, somehow I feel like she was secretly a Mei, she always had the upper hand over SGQ, even when it looked like she was cornered, she always had SGQ doing exactly what she wanted her to do, she was such an interesting and refreshing FL to the very end

I was literally boiling with rage everytime GSJ & GYZ appeared on the screen, their disdain and utter disregard for GZY made me wanna wring their necks, but by the final episodes I got to appreciate their characters and even grew a a soft spot for them, I didn't care for SGQ or her breathy voice and absolutely did not find anything shippable btw her & GSJ, the best part of this drama for me remained the ML & FL

I also loved the loyalty of the Gong family, they might have many subsets, different parents but at the end of the day family is family for them and this is one of the major themes I love about Wuxia dramas.

Also can I mention how much I loved the ending? It was absolutely perfect , I think many viewers always want rainbows & sunshine at the end, but that wouldn't exactly be realistic as this is a relatively dark, complex drama and not romance

Solid 10/10

Leia Mais

Awesome need a Season 2

24 episodes were so few..the ending though I'm like is there a season 2, so many questions????. It ended with another start, I am hoping there is season 2 to tie off the loose ends. Like what happens to FL and ML, his brother's romance, who is the person behind the screen and why is the twin terrified? Did the FL die, is the one behind the screen Wufeng, she has the other half of the martial arts skill what will happen to the ML, and will they become a power couple? I honestly dislike open-ended endings as much as separated by death endings. We need a season 2 with a happy ending at least give us that and tie the loose ends they are wayyyyy tooo loose.

Definitely recommend its a yes i give it 9/10 because of the ending, it's beautiful people in entanglements and strong females.

Leia Mais

Acting wise this was sooo well done!!! Zi yu was definitely my favorite character because we need more good kind heroes. Esther surprised me with her acting here, i cant handle the too sweet heroines which was unfortunately her past character. She was amazing in this!

Another amazing character was GSJ. He was so charismatic in this role. I was not very big fan of the second couple, because I cant handle that kind of toxic relationship but they acted out that part well. SQ potrayed assassin very well, her smiles is so calculative and her eyes are expressive.

The flaw was the ending!!! That was so unsatisfactory and i cried for elder Gong Brothers! Also keep tissues ready for the series because it will wrench your heart out!!

Leia Mais

Dark and poignant masterpiece

Perhaps I went into this with little to no expectation but it outperformed itself. I was hooked in by the cast but stayed for the plot. The cinematography of the drama felt like I was watching a movie. As I watched on, the layers start to unpeel and before I knew it I was sucked into the political discord between Wufeng and the Gong family.

I’m not a fan of political dramas… and MJTY IS politically driven but the romance between our 4 leads make the watch so much more enjoyable. I disagree with some reviews saying it’s not about the romance cos it is a huge driving force in the plot imo (if you view it plainly without overthinking).

That aside, the side characters aren’t redundant and I cared about their stories. Everyone had their own role to play and the execution was perfect - I felt for all the characters. It’s probably one of the rare dramas where the spotlight isn’t entirely on the main characters (I.e. YWS and GZY), feels like everyone got a fair share of screen time.

The pace is just right, can’t decide if I want it to be longer cos I just really like the script?! I think it deserves so even more recognition. This ranks top 3 on my list for 2023, this is also probably the only drama review I’ve written this year. Ps. I highly recommend skipping the last 5-6 mins

Leia Mais

The first ML definitely gets better

I'm in love with this drama and everyone has praised them as the actual should. The only problem I have is the comparisons between the first and second leads. I've heard so many people say they don't like the first leads, that they have less chemistry and I'm honestly surprised if we watched the same thing or if they even watched till the end.
1. People should put away Zhang linghe's character in story of kunning palace to be able to enjoy his character here.
2. People always want good character development until it's actually good. This was not one of the series where the frivolous man suddenly turned to be the leader of some underground information collecting system. No, Gong Zi Yu works hard for his position and undergoes such development till I rooted for him every step of the way. But in everything he was still kind hearted, loving and sincere towards everyone. He was so clever too and was definitely not stupid at all no matter what other people said. Everytime he made his arguments I was so stunned.. it's just that the author made it so that the opposing side had an answer for each of his arguments. If it were another drama , he would have been praised.

3. People saying the chemistry of the second leads were better? Honestly I didn't feel it at all..the chemistry of the first leads did it for me. The sincerity, love and sacrifices both made for each other.Gong Zi Yu was literally protecting Yun Weishan with his life. They truly loved each other and gave me butterflies when on screen.
4. As for the second leads, the only smudge of chemistry I felt was from Shang jue. Maybe it was became Qian was lying and scheming so much I was literally detached from her. I couldn't feel sincerity or love from her at all... Even her tears never moved me because I felt it was all fake. Out of all characters, no matter what other people say, she's the one who the audience knows nothing about because even if she gives her story everyone is still skeptical because she lies SO MUCH. She lies until we don't even believe what she tells Shang jue in their last scene.
4. Finally, I'd like to say that I definitely need a season 2 of this please. They need to be happy and the mysteries have not yet been solved.
All in all, best cdrama I've watched in 2024

Leia Mais

Stunning! Like a movie. DO NOT miss it.

Incredible scenery, cinematography, music, acting, plot. It was all fabulous, like a high-budget movie. The acting was sensitive and realistic. The story was dark and heart-wrenching. It had the appropriate number of twists and minimal distracting subplots. You could truley feel the fear, desperation, hate, and hope lived by these characters. So moving! There was a new beautiful actor who blew my socks off. I hope fake social media gossip doesn't ruin his very promising career. This production raises the bar for other dramas. It should have much higher ratings.

Leia Mais

A story worth watching

It has good combination of
1) story
2)cast
3) world

Whole story has good flow, not like Korean drama where they make emotion intense at last five minutes , many advertisements (they are becoming annoying , and symbol of decline of Korean drama industry as they have to rely on that extra money)

For mandatory 500 words
Whole story has good flow, not like Korean drama where they make emotion intense at last five minutes , many advertisements (they are becoming annoying , and symbol of decline of Korean drama industry as they have to rely on that extra money)

Leia Mais

Unpredictable in Every Sense

I watched this drama while it was airing and all through out the comment section was filled with theories and ideas of how the drama would unfold. Luckily none of us were right as this drama is pretty hard to predict if you’re watching it with no prior knowledge. The characters truly felt like real intricate people with real feelings and real emotions. Each cast member played their role to the best of their ability and you can definitely tell in the quality of the drama. Furthermore it was honestly a success as a whole as the cinematography was absolutely stunning, the script was flawless, the soundtrack has made its way into my everyday listening music playlist, basically I can go on and on praising it, but I think everyone should give it a try. When I began watching it I didn’t think I would really like it since I’m not a fan usually of dark dramas, but this drama aced it and truly left me with a hunger for more like it. As for the ending I think each person has their own opinion about it, as for me I hope to see our questions answered in a second season and hopefully we will see the same quality of work and meet our cast members one more time as they bring these characters to life. Now after reading my rant you should go watch it. I have a guess you probably won’t regret it!

Leia Mais

A cinematic masterpiece with only one flaw

My Journey to You (MJTY) is dark story yet is able to find use of comedic relief to balance out its harder themes. Honourable mention to the very well choreographed fight scenes because they are simply *chefs kiss*. So much detail was put into this drama, and the production level was like watching a movie and not a long drama. If you like a happy ending, I would suggest stopping at 42:30 of the last episode and not finish the last few minutes.

Story:
The story is very well paced and thought out, and I'm constantly trying to figure out who is a Wufeng spy and who isn't. I really enjoy dramas where I feel like the story can outsmart me as a viewer, and MJTY was no exception. Every time someone was assassinated, the story was able to make the viewers guess and give them time to try to figure it out, but always added a good amount of twists to the murderers. I really enjoyed the stories of all the side characters, and the support cast played each character so well. The only flaw I found was that they ended the drama on an open note, possibly to encourage season 2 but seeing how big the cast is and the popularity of Esther and Linghe rising it's gonna be virtually impossible to see another season for years to come.

Acting:
The entire cast for this drama was phenomenal. Can we talk about how all the actors learned their martial arts scenes?! The fight scenes were so beautifully executed and I could see there was a minimal use of stunt doubles because the director is so adamant about creating masterpieces. Even down to Young Master Xue who is literally a kid, executed their characters perfectly. The chemistry of the second couple, Shangguan Qian and Gong Shangjue was insane; I could literally feel sparks fly off the screen. Although I felt like the main couple lacked chemistry together, both Esther and Zhang Linghe did a great job at playing their characters. The main comedic relief of the entire drama, Gong Zishang, was SO funny I literally could not stop laughing every time she was on screen.

Music:
I love my period dramas, and although this drama outshone in everything else, I did feel like the music was a bit lackluster. The music did not give me goosebumps or do much to enhance the scenes like in other dramas I've watched. However the background music score for the fight scenes did a good job at creating the atmosphere. I'm just disappointed there isn't any good OST songs for me to listen to after I finish watching.

Rewatch:
I will 100% be rewatching this because I want to pick up all the details again. The fight scenes were insanely good and I need to see it again.

Overall:
I really enjoyed this drama, and I think its becoming one of my favourites of 2023 after Hidden Love. I really loved Love Between Fairy and Devil last year and started this thinking it would be a great twist cuz now Esther is with the second lead, but I totally fell in love with the entire cast and was rooting for the entire Gong family to win. I also felt like the action scenes were so well done as if it came out of an animation, so it must have taken the actors so much effort to do those scenes and I'm so proud of all of them. I will definitely be following everyone's projects from now on!

Leia Mais

Just perfect. And now I must wrote 300 words. I'm watching that drama for second time. This was my first drama I was watching without jumping scenes, even for 5 seconds. Now watching frame by frame, even rewinding.
Story is fantastic. Caught me and I can't stop watching.
Excellent writers job.
Cast - incredible performances.
Director did awesome. I can see how she had all movie in her head before filming.
High level production.
I can't find mistakes in make up.
Light and atmosphere are fantastic. With so much feelings.
Music also.
It was hard for me to start rewatching this drama, because I knew I need two days, now I have them.

Leia Mais

Amazing cinematography and intriguing plots

This is my first time watching wuxia historical drama and it set my bar high. Even though one or two episodes at the end, probably their cut didn't blend seamlessly coz it left me feeling there was something that I didn't watch yet. Thank goodness for the top reviewer bcs at least they give me heads up.

The Male Lead, Gong Ziyu started as careless unpolished young man that disappointed his father but suddenly got thrust into Sword Wielder position and always got criticised by his cousins that he didn't deserve that spot which was true. Thankfully, he decided to prove them wrong. At the same time, quoting from his personal guard, "he was a foolishly good man". His heart was big and ofc he fell hard for the bride to be, Yun Wei Shan.

So our Female Lead, Yun Wei Shan was a Wufeng assassin that was sent to infiltrate Gong Family to get their families secret. Being in Wufeng just a job to her bcs what she craved the most was the freedom and not under their control anymore. She was smart and very skillful in martial arts. Although a bit impulsive at certain times, she witnessed how honest and kind Ziyu toward her, fell in love with him and decided to help him through the journey of getting the Sword Wielder position.

I really enjoy this drama bcs aside from romance, we got to see how strong brotherly bond between the other cousins in other lineages which was Shangjue and Yuanzhi, how wise, kind and gentle some of the Young Master in the back hill (Xiaohei, I love you and Xue Young Master, I adore you) and the funny antics of Eldest Young Miss Zishang pursuing Jin Fan.

I'm glad I watched this drama even though I am the type that want happy ending but I really understand why it ended like that. Their missions are not done yet and if Wufeng is not destroyed, Gong Family and people in martial arts world would not live in peace. Looking forward to season 2 if it exist, huwaaaaaa

Leia Mais

This drama started out slow, but after a few episodes, the story picked up and became more interesting as it went. I like the juxtaposition of characters and I’ve seen both leads in other works and they’ve already proven their acting prowess there, especially when I have viewed four of Zhang Ling He’s works before I watched this one. So I knew what I was expecting. Who surprised me though is Ryan Cheng. I didn’t realize he was also the main in “A Familiar Stranger,” but maybe it’s because his character there wasn’t as flushed out as Gong Shang Jue’s.

The characters in this drama are multi-dimensional, that they are not necessarily “all good” or “all evil.” Despite what has been portrayed, most of them have the freedom of choice, whether to follow along the path that was created for them, or carve out one for themselves. This is why I admire Yun Wei Shan’s character and Yu Shu Xin’s portrayal of a skilled assassin. She cleverly integrated herself into the Gong family and made her own judgment, not solely relying on what had been fed to her, while also following the edicts of her organization.

Gong Zi Yu, for his part, turned from a playboy to a love-struck fool, from a supposedly incompetent “spare” to become the new Sword Wielder. Throughout his journey through the trials, Gong Zi Yu has proven himself to be more than a sitting duck everyone assumes him to be. His ingeniousness, coupled with his compassion for the people, made him a formidable leader.

I find myself second-guessing the true nature of the characters, which is rare for me as I have usually found them predictable in other shows. Even I find the pairing of Gong Zi Shang (Zi Yu’s sister) and Jin Fan (Zi Yu’s guard) hilarious. Perhaps the only person I truly detested here is Shangguan Qian. I really have no tolerance for her type of character, through no fault of the actress.

As for other aspects, the production, cinematography and the costumes were breathtaking. Likewise, the plot here is also intricate and engaging. Everything here in this drama is smoke and mirrors, and it is up to these characters to decipher the truth from all of it.

Leia Mais