Just do yourself a favor and watch something else....

I heard a lot of positive things about this drama so I gave it a chance. It started well enough. I ignored the overbearing dad, childish FL, toxic FL's best friend and ML's cousin, and all the obvious plot fillers, hoping for a smooth drama-free ride after the couple got together.

I should just have read the reviews early on. I'm at episode 27 of the 32 episodes version and I think I'm done. The medical scandal happens, 0 communication on ML's part, FL's is completely oblivious to his change of mood, and he chooses to run away from it all to figure it out? I'm over it all. The ML was one of the strongest points of the drama for me but with the hand that he was dealt in this drama, I don't think there is much more he could've done to save it.

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It was good while it lasted...

I was in a drama slump when I started watching "Fall In Love" so I had less than zero expectations. I found myself pleasantly surprised by the change of genre. I usually avoid Republican dramas but the reviews sold me on it (I never learn my lesson, apparently).

The beginning of the drama wasn't bad. The story was nothing new but still felt interesting once we got past the initial misunderstandings.
I was rooting for the CP (only them and none of the other couples). Despite all the flaws, it was a solid 8.

Until we got to episode 27 or 28 and the annoying noble idiocy trope entered the chat. That's when the drama lost the plot (I ignored all the previous problems until that point because it made sense). I was half certain that the ML and FL were pulling our legs, and it would all be an elaborate trick to fool Xu and Pei.

Alas, it wasn't a pretense (at least not one they had planned together) and I lost interest by the time we got to episode 31 when they made up. That half-assed resolution of the conflict between them, and the reason why he was selflessly giving up his love to protect her almost made me roll my eyes backward. I also couldn't believe that after all he put her through, the FL just forgave him like that with "Don't do it again..."

Are you freaking kidding me!

Then to close things off, we had the stupid propaganda. It wasn't subtle either. We didn't really completely achieve our revenge plot but why don't we all give up our cushy lives to join the revolution?!

You know, if that had been the premise of the drama from the beginning, I wouldn't have been mad that we ended in that spot.
Maybe I was too naive, or maybe it's because I don't usually watch Republican Era cdramas, but I was not expecting the drama to end where it did. Disappointing, the romance was good but not good enough to redeem the drama in my eyes.

I will give it to Chen Xing Xu and Zhang Jing Yi. They really delivered and did their best with what they had. The OST was also well-fitting. At the end of the day, that's the only thing I'm keeping from this drama.

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Even Love's sweetness can't make up for all this mess

I need to preface this by saying that this is my second go at this drama. I started it months ago and dropped it, finding the premise of the story a bit far-fetched from the first episode.

Now, it seems almost every other person who responds to drama suggestions on Reddit or Facebook has to mention "Love is Sweet" as the best romance/ enemy to lovers/ green flags (you name it, it seems to have it). So I decided to give it a second chance especially since it has Bai Lu and she's one of my favorite Chinese actresses.

As I expected my girl did not disappoint and I was pleasantly surprised by Luo Yun Xi. He sold his character to me. If anything, I think I loved Yuan Shuai way more than I did Jiang Jun, despite his flaws. I'll even go as far as saying that I was pleasantly surprised by the way the drama was going up to episode 24 - 25ish... The romance was great and what you'd expect from people who went from old friends/ enemies (in her mind) to lovers. Once all the initial dust and introductions were done, I appreciated how they acknowledged that maybe they'd misunderstood the other all along and decided to start their relationship on a new foot, almost as proper friends. Sadly, that's where the good ends with this drama - for me.

The problematic parts of the drama occurred when too much screen time was given to things that didn't contribute anything to the general story. Or some characters were conveniently made to fit a certain purpose temporarily and when that was done, they went to the next "purpose"; for example, Du Lei aka SML, aka ML's loser archenemy, aka poor orphan who misreads FL's signals, aka reformed (?) cold-hearted bad guy, aka newfound friend, aka Mr "Oh nevermind he was an asshole after all"...

And don't get me started with that second couple... I gladly fast-forwarded through most of this mess (especially Du Lei, I couldn't stand him). I have a theory that maybe the writer gave up on the plot after episode 24ish and decided to just get things done no matter what, no matter how long it would take.

All in all, what I'm trying to say here isn't that you should skip the drama entirely. I think it had potential and was very enjoyable in parts but if you decide to give it a try just know that you're not getting a perfect package despite what you might read. The leads will make it worth your while if you can bear all the rest (and that's the hard part).

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Where can I find myself a Yu Tu?

This drama is everything I didn't know I needed and more. Healthy relationship?... Setting boundaries when needed?... No unnecessary drama...? Realistic story...? Check, check, and check all the way!

I loved it so much it's like I'm not even sure how to express how I'm feeling right now.

Now while the producers almost satisfied all my (non-chaotic) drama wishes, I feel like I'm still left wishing for something more at the end. Maybe this is what reality is supposed to feel like and life doesn't have a perfect bow-tied ending. Or maybe I just can't come to terms with the fact that it's over? Anyway, here I am in tears both in love and devastated.

I highly recommend this drama to anyone who needs a break from all those grandiose stories that might sound fresh at first but end up being a mess with too many twists.

This has deep messages, great acting, and a simple but meaningful story.

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Good possibilities but ...

it all ended up being so disappointing with the mother being the central part of the show.

The two couples were great. I love the development of both relationships. Individual growth was also nice to see. Overall, I was hooked as long as I fast-forwarded the mom's parts and the spineless dad, I was fine.

The problem for me began when FL & ML got together and it wasn't her mom but now other family members came into the scene. Like what kind of toxicity are we justifying in the name of family? I know families like that exist but I can't...

I absolutely hated the narrative of family they were trying to push down our throats. I'm all for forgiving when there are disagreements but come on, some people are bad even if they're your family. Just trying to keep the peace because you share blood is toxic IMO. If I'm going to sacrifice about 37 hours of mine to your show, that's not the type of narrative I want to waste my time watching.

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Superior drama!

I was not going to write a review but I started jotting down some notes and here we are. I just finished the drama so my thoughts are not well organized but here is my reflection on this drama. I will try not to rehash the same things most people have already said.

First off, the actors blew my mind away. I came for Zhang Ling He and Yu Shu Xin but by the end, I fell in love with Cheng Lei and Tian Jia Rui just stole my heart with his childish antics. All the actors without exception did a fantastic job. I wasn't a fan of the actress playing Shang Guan Qian and I was not rooting for their romance because, in the end, she broke my dude's heart. However, I can admit that, for a moment, she had me fooled when it looked like she had turned against Wufeng.

Talking about our main couple, I love ZLH and YSX but I didn't feel the chemistry between them at all. I didn't care about this couple's story one bit. I'm not sure if the reason for that was her lack of emotions. Don't get me wrong, her acting was fitting for the role of a spy, but not so much for that of a new bride who is supposed to fool her husband/ lover and endear herself to him. She got lucky that Gong Zi Yu fell first because she made zero effort to entice either Zi Yu or Shang Jue to give her a second glance during the bride selection, unlike Qian. Maybe I'm being too hard on her because this is the character YSX was given but this took away from my enjoyment of their relationship. It was so much of him being infatuated and her "being stoic as long as it fulfilled her agenda" until she fell too in the later parts.

That being said on the subject of love, I feel like everyone was treated equally. By the end of the show (with the info we're left with at least) there is only one happy pair (Jin Fang and Zi Shang). I wish we'd seen more of them.
The drama wasn't about romance which is why I overlooked that and still rated it pretty high. The qualities of this drama lie in everything else that it did. I particularly love how the things that seemed like plotholes or were not making sense in the earlier episodes, were all tied together at the end.

For me though, aside from the intrigue and the story itself, I found the emphasis on the Gong family's relationships so touching. I don't usually care about family ties and lessons in dramas. Here though... man! They made me bawl my eyes out in those last episodes...
The brothers' relationships with each other and as a whole (minus Huan Yu)... all different but similarly loving and supportive.
The parents' love and support for their kids in hidden ways... (minus Zi Shang's asshole father)
The love that the Gong family has for their members and the people they love is so deep.
From an outsider's perspective, all those things may seem cruel, isolating, and harsh but once you're in, it's an unbreakable bond that a lot would envy.

The ending seems to suggest a second season, but it could also mean that the writers are letting us interpret it the way we want. All I can deduce from Zhang Ling He's face is that whatever was behind that door was not good news or not what he was waiting for.

It's not satisfying but I'm not upset by it. In my mind, she died and I hope Zi Yu recovers soon but would it be this drama if it was that simple? Too many things are still left unanswered. They defeated the Wang warriors of Wufeng but not the Wufeng as a whole. What if the Liang warriors exist? What about his brother? Has he truly given up and been defeated? Could the whole martial world unite against Wufeng with the Gong family? Could the Gong family eventually become more open to outsiders if the former point happens? So many questions and that's why I love this drama, regardless of whether we will get an answer to them or not.

As you can tell, My Journey To You has impressed me beyond words with all its twists and turns.

If I can end this long review with a small quibble (aka what I referred to above as plotholes), I wish the story had been told more linearly. There were a lot of flashbacks and retelling of stuff that the audience had no way of knowing. It worked the way in a lot of moments but for example, when I wonder where Shang Guan Qian was amidst all the final Wufeng chaos, it feels like there is a disconnect between scenes. She only reappears during the Huan Yu showdown. It seems like it's not all happening at the same time. This did not deter me from enjoying the show, however, if there was another season, I wish there'd be less of that style of storytelling.

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Saving myself from this ordeal...

As much as I love Bailu and Luo Yun Xi, I've decided to drop this after 1.5 episodes. I'm so annoyed with the FL's actions right now.
Sure, she was scared of the Devil God from her own time but she did come back to the past BEFORE he became evil for a reason, right? Why try to get him upset and then act like he is more than the current situation?

She realized right off the bat that the real Ye Xi Wu was a difficult person so she didn't have to continue acting like her. But no, here she was letting him continue kneeling in the snow while she contemplated how he deserved it and that he was indeed not a "normal person". Then when he fainted, she was praying that he wouldn't die when she - as Ye Xi Wu, the person who made him kneel originally - could have just as easily freed him and started analyzing how she would accomplish her mission.

There were other infuriating things from the first episode too, so I'm doing myself a favor and choosing not to suffer through this stupidity.

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