Half of Us (2023)

From thrills to lulls

Completing this 24-episode drama marked the longest duration I've ever spent on a series of its length. It took almost an entire week of my time to reach the final episode.

Right from the start, this drama kicked off with some thrilling moments that genuinely got me excited. I couldn't help but have high expectations because of how engaging it was initially. However, as the story unfolded, I caught myself yawning after a few episodes. Even resorting to playing the drama at 1.5x speed, I still found the need to skip through certain parts.

But well, let's delve into the pros and cons.
Pros :
― Wardrobe sorcery. The costume design team must have wielded some kind of sorcery because the outfits worn by the characters were incredibly stylish and visually stunning,
― Charming casts. The actors and actresses brought their characters to life with such charm that it's nearly impossible to pick a favorite.
― Enchanting sets. The settings, particularly those depicting the Gong Residence, were nothing short of breathtaking. Every detail in these locations was meticulously crafted. The attention to detail and the aesthetic appeal of the sets enhanced the immersion and realism of the storyline.
― Stunning fighting scenes. Nearly all the fighting scenes in the drama are a visual treat. The choreography and execution of these sequences are not just action-packed but also aesthetically pleasing.
― Comedic relief. Gong Zishang's presence on screen never failed to bring a smile to my face with her antics. I just wish there was more exploration of her character. While she was designated as the weapon expert, her character didn't receive enough depth or opportunity to shine beyond providing laughs.

Cons :
― Slow-paced. The narrative slows down significantly from the middle to the end, creating a somewhat draggy pace that tested my patience.
― Excessive close-ups. Initially, the close-up shots on faces added a cinematic touch, but their overuse became a distraction. As the saying goes, too much of anything is good for nothing.
― Makeup mishaps. Some male characters suffered from poorly done makeup, giving off an amateurish vibe. The colors used didn't complement their skin tones.
― Too many whispers and boring conversations. It felt unnecessarily drawn out and contributed to moments of boredom throughout the drama.
― Lackluster overall story. The narrative leaves much to be desired. Aside from assisting Gong Ziyu in becoming the Sword Wielder and eliminating elites from Wufeng, the plot lacks substantial development. Particularly, Yun Weishan's character deserved more attention and depth.
― The open ending. Generally, I don't mind open endings, but in this drama, I found it unnecessary. It left me pondering its purpose—was it an attempt at creating a cliffhanger or did it serve a narrative intention I missed? I don't know. Perhaps an open ending would make sense if the production team planned another season. However, rumors indicate otherwise. So, consequently, the open ending feels like a detriment to the story― it feels like it's just there to disrupt the narrative flow and test my patience.

Leia Mais

Forget everything you think you know - the twists in MJTY will sucker punch you!

My Journey to You was a very enjoyable watch and has the most impressive fight scenes I've seen in a C-drama. I laughed, I cried and then cheered for the characters - even some that were unbearable at first. I loved that there was a lot character development by the end of the drama. There were also many likeable, complex characters. I was so sick of watching dramas were I despised half of the characters. Honourable mention, the eye candy was endless - male and female characters alike.

I must commend the writers as the plot twists were superb. I soon learned to forget what I think I have learned from my experience watching dramas as a lot of the happenings were unexpected. Something as simple as thinking, "There's no way a certain character will get caught this early in the drama because it never happens" or feeling relaxed thinking, "There's no need to stress, that character will be fine like they always are in other dramas" makes sense until doesn’t. The writers pulled a uno reverse so many times, I was on the edge of my seat and could no longer trust my gut haha.

Finally, the OSTs were so beautiful and matched perfecty with the scenes where they were played over. My tears couldn't stop flowing in the last 3 episodes when the OSTs played even though I had heard them multiple times throughout the drama.

I truly hope we get a 2nd season as the last few scenes implied it. This drama would have been a 9/10 if the loose ends were thoroughly tied up. Overall, a very enjoyable watch.

Leia Mais

Worth it for amazing Didi Yuan Zhi and high production value, not for the central romance

The series resolves around the encounter of nobleman Gong Zi Yu and spy Yun Wei Shan who is in an infiltration mission within the very powerful Gong family. The central romance felt very boring to me: the growth of the main male lead was not believable and not paced well enough, the main female lead felt too emotioneless (almost like a blank canvas) for me to want to root for her. Fortunately the stories from several other characters (cunning Shangguan Qian, Dark Gege Gong Shang Jue and feisty Didi Gong Yuan Zhi) kept me interested.

The acting was pretty good overall with some really striking performances (namely the ones of Ryan Cheng, Lu Yu Xiao and Tian Jia Rui) compensating for more middle-of-the road / average performances. Zhang Ling He and Yu Shu Xin (aka Esther Yu) pairing did not work at all for me...I did not feel the chemistry between them, their acting felt very blank. They were not helped by the script but still, it was pretty plain and unconvincing. Ryan Cheng and Lu Yu Xiao had amazing chemistry together which made the main romance feal even weaker just by comparison.

Tian Jia Rui, the actor playing Didi Gong Yuan Zhi made the show for me. Each of his scenes was a delight to watch and truly impressive (especially knowing that this is his first acting job in a drama). He is credited as a support role but he had much more screen time than some of the main roles, which was the right directing choice because his performance shines through even in the background. He was from far my favorite part of the series and I will be looking forward his next drama (hopefully casted as main lead).

The filmmaking and production are really awesome. The accessories, the sets and decors, everything looks so pretty and rich...I liked it a lot. It is so so pretty, I took so many screenshots while watching the series to immortalize some of the scenes. The OST was nice as well, not too overly present but delicate and melodic.

I would recommend this to people looking for a martial arts historical drama with some fantasy elements, high production value and featuring an interesting family conflict mixed with internal politics. The central romance is not the best aspect of the show but there are some storylines around more "secondary" relationships that are really well done and keep the viewer invested. This series allowed me to discover newcomer Tian Jia Rui who amazed me with his strong screen presence in the role of Didi Gong Yuan Zhi. Just for him, I think it is a really worthwhile watch despite some flaws in the pacing and in the writing, as well as an ending that felt too rushed.

Leia Mais

'' There is no wall in this world that can stop the sun from rising. ''

After more than a month I could not finish few dramas that I started (which I had alot of interest in them at the beginning but all of that wane away when I reach middle 2/3rd of the story) , finally kudos to myself for being able to finish this one successfully. The fact that this drama only has 24 episodes does help I think.

My thoughts:

✅️ Cinematography & fighting scenes : 10/10. I loved the extravagant setting and how each scene were artfully filmed . Even if the story's bit lacking I was busy eye feasting with the beautifulness present in every scene.

✅️ OST: 10/10 . It was the best! While I usually enjoyed only one or two songs from a drama , I enjoyed all the songs here. Probably this become my favorite cdrama OST of the year. That song that has 'ge' in it was often played in Gong Shang Jue and Gong Yuan Zhi scenes really suited these two brothers relationship. Both since young have lost people dearest to them but later find solace and support in each other's arms. It does have a beautiful lyric.

✅️ Costume , hairstyles and visual : 10/10 . Everything is beautiful except I noticed one flaw that disturbed me for awhile while watching . They blurred hairline for all male here probably don't want us to notice how unnatural it look like lol .

☑️ Plot : 8/10 . Interesting beginning, a bit dragging in the middle but exciting ending. This drama surely have a lot of talking ,scheming scenes with non ending poetic languange in it script which definitely make you feel bored if you like more action in your drama. I remember being mildly bored and became instantly elated when a fighting scene is about to start lol. I think you need to be patience while watching all the talking scenes in order to understand the story better. About that ending scene. I am not even surprised anymore . Cdrama just love to have such an ending huh. Actually it was kinda expected because when we reach the last episode, Gong's mission to eliminate Wufeng still not achieve yet. Thus, 24 episodes is not enough to do it all. However I would not hold my breath waiting for season 2. Read somewhere that it is probably not going to happen.

✅️ Acting : 9/10. I think my most favorite character in this drama is Gong Zi Shang. I was never bored watching her dramatic antic. She was adorable to the max . While everything else in the story is dark and bleak she brings the sunshine into the story. I enjoyed all her scenes with Jin Fan. I'm happy she got her HEA. I think the main leads down to supporting characters did great in their given roles. While I did think that something is lacking in FL's character. I feel that her background story was not shown better . Other than her connection with Yun Que and Han Ya Si we know nothing else about her . Yes she talked about it with Gong Zi Yu but I prefer telling with showing rather than just telling only. Thus we inevitably feel detached with her character. Heck even Yun Que and Lady Wu Ji 's background stories was shown better than our FL. While everyone in the page comment section praises SFL for her performance here I have a different opinion . Something in the way she talks irritating me . It was the way she articulates each word looked and sounded greasy to me lol.

✅️ My Overall rating : 8.5/10

MJTY to me is like a beautifully wrapped -limited edition- candy with chocolate filling. You will feel good while eating it but after that it will leave you yearning for more .

Leia Mais

Worth it for Ryan Cheng's bombastic side-eye

==Breakdown==
Background plot - 60%
Romance - 35%
Misc comedy - 5%

Background plot - Excellent in some parts, rushed and sloppy in others
Romantic chemistry - Excellent for second leads, tepid for main leads
Misc comedy - Good
Production value - Ranging from good to excellent

Ryan Cheng stole this one. Except a few crumbs stolen by Lester Lin, Ryan Cheng staged a heist and legit burgled the whole dang show.
THINGS I LOVED:
1) Every scene with Ryan Cheng (or Lester Lin) was captivating.
2) The fight scenes were awesome.
3) Cinematography and set design
4) Costumes
5) Background of story and set up of story

THINGS I DIDN'T LOVE:
1) I love Esther Yu and Zhang Ling He, but the script was not great and many of the scenes were waaaaaaaay to slow. By all accounts, Esther Yu and Zhang Ling He had good chemistry, but weren't given the scenes or the dialogue to demonstrate it. Their interactions were boring after a while (because of the pace and script), which was a shame because you could tell (with their expressions and eye contact) that they gave it their all.
2) Someone said in the comments that every scene was overly dramatic. I co-sign this statement. The panning to everyone's face to see their facial expressions and reactions would've been fine if it had been used as a device for one or two scenes, but it was waaay over used.
3) Not only was it slow, but the show had a huge amount of repetition, showing the same scenes over and over.
4) Also, this was weird: the show did this thing where they'd show a character once and then kill them (someone I'd never seen before or hadn't seen much of) and then do a flashback with that character for 20 minutes where we were apparently supposed to get to know them via a summary of their past and then feel sad about their current death. This never worked. I just fast forwarded these flashbacks after the 4th time this happened.
5) The second to last episode was absolutely nothing but exposition wherein the bad guy spent 45minutes telling us how he did it. That's just lazy storytelling.

Leia Mais

AMAZING PLOT TWIST

There are so many plot twist that I can not say but were truly shocking imo. I love the chemistry between both couples, second couple was more subtle in expressing their feelings but I thought they were cute. Main couple's chemistry is EVERYTHING, the way Zi Yu protected Wei Shan no matter what was such a green flag even after he found out. Honestly, Zi Yu teaming up with Shang Jue was so clever. I don't know why they only revealed that they planned it all at the end, but I think that's what made the last two episodes a shocker. Im curious to see how the next season will be like because there's going to be a season 2 right?? There has to be.

Leia Mais

My Journey to Jiuchen...

Son atmosphère mystérieuse et son élégante noirceur m'ont convaincu à peine quelques minutes après le début du premier épisode.

Yun Wei Shan et Shang Guan Qian sont deux espionnes envoyées par l'organisation Wufeng pour intégrer la résidence Gong. Chacun a une mission et la réussite de cette dernière est une question de vie ou de mort. Cependant, elles n'intègrent pas n'importe quelle résidence, mais celle de la famille Gong. Les ennemis jurés de l'organisation Wufeng. Si quelqu'un découvre leur identité, il ne fait aucun doute de leur sort. De même, si elles reviennent bredouilles, Wufeng s'occupera d'elles. D'ailleurs, Yu Wei Shan le dit elle-même, mourir de la main des Gong sera moins douloureux.
Le fait qu'elles soient des espionnes n'est pas qu'un détail dans l'histoire, au contraire ! C'est un arc entier qui se développe sur toute la durée du drame. Pour moi, la meilleure façon de résumer ces deux personnages est dans l'expression : l'ennemi(e) de mon ennemi(e) est mon ami(e).

Ensuite, les membres de la famille Gong et les secrets qu'ils conservent. Gong Zi Yu, qui est réputé pour aimer la bonne compagnie des femmes, et qui ne s'implique pas assez dans les affaires familiales. C'est un personnage parfois naïf, mais d'une grande humilité qui fait souvent passer le bien-être humain avant son statut.
Gong Shang Jue qui est un brillant combattant, intelligent et doté de capacités martiales stupéfiantes. Cependant, il est facile de voir qu'il ne fait confiance qu'à son frère adoptif, Gong Yuan Zhi. Et c'est réciproque. Ce dernier maîtrise l'art des poisons et des armes cachées. Ensemble, leur duo est épique, jouant toujours sur la corde émotionnelle. Des larmes ont coulé, oui.
Dans la famille Gong, on compte aussi une seule femme, Gong Zi Shang qui nourrit une obsession pour Jin Fan, le garde personnel de Gong Zi Yu. Elle est stupidement amusante - tout comme Jin Fan qui est un homme fidèle à ses principes et Gong Zi Yu.

En soit, les personnages sont tous excellents (même si l'antagoniste principal est révélé trop tard dans l'histoire, tout comme ses motivations). Si vous enlevez un seul personnage des Gong, une des deux espionnes ou un des Maîtres, l'histoire s'effondre, c'est évident. Avec un tel investissement dans l'histoire et les personnages, chaque fois que l'un d'eux est en danger, cela devient un combat interne. J'avais l'impression de me faire malmener, tandis qu'on me tordait de l'intérieur. En y réfléchissant deux minutes, je pense que c'est le wuxia m'ayant le plus touché, émotionnellement.

Même si le drame est étiqueté comme une romance, elle n'occupe pas la première place. Son arc est joliment distillé sur toute la durée du drame, sans être centrale. Encore une fois, ça fonctionne grâce à la façon dont elle sert l'intrigue avec intelligence. Le rythme est un peu lent, parfois les scènes sont longues pour, même si les échanges deviennent un jeu. Malheureusement, la traduction nous fait perdre une partie de leur sens, mais on y peut rien.

Le final est intéressant. Il est une demi satisfaction pour moi. Cependant, il semble être pensé pour une suite, donc ! Ce n'est pas une fin poubelle ou une fin clichée qui sort d'un chapeau magique. C'est cohérent. Lorsque contrariété et cohérence se côtoient.
Pour finir, difficile de ne pas parler de la mise en scène de Guo Jing Ming (également scénariste). Il rend honneur à l'ensemble de la production : l'histoire, les décors, les costumes, les scènes de combat (qui, à mes yeux, partie des meilleures dans un wuxia) et surtout les personnages. C'est magnifique, tout simplement !

En bref, malgré un rythme lent (qui s'accélère dans les derniers épisodes) et un final qui n'est pas pleinement satisfaisant, My Journey to You est une histoire captivante, menée par des personnages fascinants et une cinématographie impressionnante.

Leia Mais

When I first heard about this show, I didn't really care about it and it didn't appeal to me at first. Then when the show actually started airing, my sister persuaded me to watch it and I did. Boy was I not prepared for what I had watched.

Every episode has so much detail and so much going on, we are given that the whole story revolves around 2 "families", Wufeng and the Gong residence. We are then introduced to our assassin Yun Weishan, whose goal is to complete a mission in the Gong residence. The show does a really good gob at characterizing each person's personality traits in the show. Every one of the Gong people are so unique and special in their own way especially Gong Yuanzhi, I loved his character.

Not to mention I was already stunned and impressed with everyone's acting and makeup, but then the show brings up the characters in the back hill and I completely lost it. These humans only get more handsome and prettier. I felt like I had a crush on everyone in the show. Not only was every character impressively gorgeous, their acting skills were even better. I'd never thought Yu Shuxin to be the type to play an assassin but apparently she pulled that role off super well. I was also mesmerized by the Xue Chongzi's acting, a 12 year old boy can act better then some adults in other dramas I've seen.

The OST is so depressing yet beautiful to listen to. I love how the show plays music when it portrays sad scenes, and it only makes me cry even harder. The costuming was also really good. I don't think the show invested a lot of money into costuming but you can clearly tell the costumes are designed very elegantly. The fighting scenes were also very impressive and has sparked the entire Jiang Hu dramas.

I really hope to see a season 2 of this drama, season 1 was way too short, and left with a cliff hanger. The best thing this drama does is every episode ends in a cliff hanger so it only makes you want to continue to watch the next episode. This show made me take such wild conclusions that I fee like I should be a detective sometimes!

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Visual Feast

I do love the director's works, and this My Journey To You seems to be more in line with the current aesthetic than the ones made a few years ago. Not only are the male characters very handsome, but the female characters are also pretty and bravr. The director Guo Xiaosheng is good at capturing the emotions between two people, whether it's love or affection, and it always gives me a deep feeling. Whether it's the main characters, or the minor characters, they all have their own stories and I felt the whole story line is rich. And some of the scenery in the show is so incredibly beautiful that it could even stand alone as a landscape movie. Really enjoy watching it

Leia Mais

An Intriguing Mix of Suspense & Romance

Set in a fantastical universe, My Journey to You reunites “Love Between Fairy & Devil” co-stars Yu Shu Xin & Zhang Ling He. This drama is a long overdue treat for those fans who secretly shipped Yu Shu Xin & Zhang Ling He’s characters in LBFAD and hoped to see them together in another drama. If you are one of those fans, then it is time to rejoice; because this show pretty much hinges on the natural & refreshing chemistry between Yu Shu Xin & Zhang Ling He. Directed by Guo Jing Ming who is well known for helming fantasy artworks like L.O.R.D 1, L.O.R.D 2 and The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity, the show has the distinctive Guo Jing Ming signature. It is a big budget project with a high production value; set in a cinematic universe, everything about this drama screams opulence. Jing Ming never spares any efforts when it comes to building a fantasy world that is rich, divergent and intriguing; My Journey to You follows through on the same premise. You can’t help but gasp or swoon at the lush green locales or the snow-clad mountains; the settings are mesmerizing and beautiful. The costumes are resplendent and understated. Starring alongside Yu Shu Xin & Zhang Ling He are Ryan Cheng, Lu Yu Xiao who have prominent roles as well.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/my-journey-to-you-first-impressions/#more-114

Leia Mais

It could have been the best based solely on the aesthetics

The strength of MJTY lies in the cinematography and the various eye candy actors yet it still falls prone to the C drama Achilles heel where the audience is given a taut beginning that rapidly descends into hum -drum. Time and again the middle will drag and answers that could have been provided incrementally are dumped at the last minute. In addition, there was barely any chemistry between Esther Yu and Zhang Ling He with both performances verging on robotic, meanwhile, Ryan Cheng and Tian Jia Rui's looks and performances overshadowed the main leads.

Also, the fight scenes were a tad acrobatic-ish (and boring) with multiple skirts flying amid the ridiculous gymnastics but overall a good drama

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