1Jing Boran is the Hottest Officer in Uniform
He is a man who cooks, does house chores, and protects the country. What more do we want of a man? The writer gives the viewers a perfect man who loves quietly, hurts quietly, never complains, never seeks glory, is courageous and always wants to help and protect. This is a lovely series which can be boring for some for its slow, everyday life story, but lovely for many for its quiet romance, a romance many can relate to - no fanfare, just love and devotion (if such elements still exist). It is the romance story of a special force police officer.“Road Home”’s Chinese title, “Gui Lu” (means return road), is coined from both the main characters’ names. This is a story with beautiful scenes of the canyons and touching moments, spanning from high school in 2008 to the present time 2020.
Lu Chen aka Lu Yanchen (Jing Boran) is a special force police officer working under the explosive unit. He fell in love with Gui Xiao (Tan Songyun) in high school but they separated when they both sought different career paths. Years later they meet and fall in love again, this time for real. Knowing how dangerous Lu Chen’s work is, Gui Xiao embraces him wholeheartedly because she loves him. For once in Chinese drama, Lu Chen is not the type that says, “I leave you for your own good because I love you so much.” Lu Chen is delighted that Gui Xiao wants to marry him, knowing that there may not be a tomorrow.
Lu Chen is a very serious person. He is strict, doesn’t crack jokes, doesn’t laugh, and has few words. Most of the sentences he speaks are one-word sentences. For him, actions speak louder than words. He also has a complicated family story that torments him since childhood. Jing Boran has perfected his role. With a face that is not pretty but handsome beyond words, and a physique perfect for a tough law enforcement officer, Jing Boran tells the story through his facial expressions that say a thousand words which cannot be spoken. In reality, Jing Boran has a rather similar family story like the one in the drama. Perhaps he can feel the pains of the character better than the others can.
I love to watch how Lu Chen uses his coat to wrap around Gui Xiao from behind and gently holds her. These types of hugs are the most soothing, sensual and romantic; the warmth emanates through the screen, making the viewers soaked in peace, love and security. This is Jing Boran's amazing power and charisma; immersing in his embrace is so reassuring and warm.
Gui Xiao comes from a wealthy but broken family just like Lu Chen’s family. She is independent but when in front of Lu Chen, she becomes a little girl, totally dependent on him. With a face that passes easily as a teenager, Tan Songyun’s juvenile Gui Xiao is very believable and as an adult, her character becomes mature and continues to grow to be even more understanding and loving.
Official Sound Tracks
Two OSTs impress me the most - Youth is Well (青春无恙) and The Dust Maiden (灰姑娘). The former is touching with beautiful lyrics and tune that stays in one's mind. The latter is an old folk song that Lu Chen sings for Gui Xiao. The lyrics are appropriately expressing his feelings for her, and the tune is lively and cute.
My Verdict
This is a down-to-earth type of everyday life romance story. It portrays the life of a police officer on the front line, his love life, family and his sacrifices. There are quite a few episodes spent on just the natural and beautiful scenery of the north-west desert at the border. The pace is rather slow - there’s a lot of looking and waiting, but every second is precious to watch because the story is being told on the characters’ faces. There are no flowery speeches; the dialogs are rather common like things people would say everyday going about their life. All the characters are lovable, and there are no antagonists, though Lu Chen's father was initially thought to be one.
The story reminds the viewers of the sacrifices a country’s protective forces have to make, putting their personal safety on the line to ensure the safety of others. Their valor is admirable. Though the main character is a law enforcement officer, there are limited action scenes as the focus is on the romance development. Throughout, there are a lot of flashbacks, giving viewers the backstory of their romance.
The writer works hard to show the viewers how much the couple is in love with each other. There are a lot of kissing and intimacy scenes. One of the scenes even shows Gui Xiao staring at Lu Chen's naked body when he comes out from the shower. I wish she had gone up to hug him, or better still, gone into the shower with him. But this is a Chinese drama, and it has to pass censorship. Just some wishful thinking. The allusion that she is staring at his nakedness is rare in Chinese dramas.
This is a great drama for viewers who prefer a slow pace story with nothing much happening, for romance buffs who love a mature and quiet romance, or for anyone who just wants to look at Jing Boran.
Don’t miss it. Great Watch!
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Road to Patriotic Boredom
If you look at the stars you may wonder why the low overall score when pretty much everything is rated highly so here is the deal. The story itself is a decent and pretty interesting story, the cast is amazing and the cinematography is gorgeous there are no annoying over the top characters and the start of the drama was so good I even cried in the 5th episode. The chemistry, kisses, dynamics in this are also all good. There are adorable animals in almost every single episode too and not to mention amazing found family and friendships.So basically this should have ticked every single one of my of my boxed and gotten a 10 star rating...
However I was bored out of my mind at times as the pacing of this drama is extremely inconsistent, the flashbacks to the past come seemingly out of nowhere and once we are back in the present something big happened but we never got to see the good stuff as it unfolds.
A lot of time is dedicated to teaching us some type of morals about monogamy, staying faithful to ones partner as well as to mother nation. As I am pretty sure this drama was made to satisfy and recruit wives to soldiers, SWAT team members police etc.... Teaching viewers that saving the nation comes first and a good wife waits patiently for her lover to come home without asking be it a week, a month or 10 years she shall be faithful and supportive and loving...
Unless the guy is unfaithful or beats her then it is ok to get a divorce, seek happiness etc. etc. I am not sure if that counts for men serving the country or if it just for those who have civilian jobs. But it does seem to be clear that the drama is pro divorce, which is a good thing in my book but it was done so wrong I felt like my intelligence was being questioned.
I also found myself thinking:
Will someone please think of the children?
Yes there was one character who seemingly did but one of the kids was tossed around so much the kid must have wonderd where the h*** he was when he woke up. If this is the reality of kids to SWAT people I find myself thinking maybe SWAT captain is not the ultimate job for a single father... But Hey I am sure the guy had his reasons... But I did wonder how hard can it be t to get a job as a regular police officer near ones kid... but then again I do not know s*** about this but did feel bad for the kid, with
or without found family.
However the main reason for dragging down the score was the endless preaching dialog... the repetitiveness of I have to go I can not tell you... I may die..." meets "Ok, I understand" that would have made a killer drinking game, but without one present I was just board out of my mind.
So to sum it up yes this has a lot of potential and good stuff to it but it was not worth it and I should have dropped it somewhere in the middle... But again the first bunch of episodes touched me so I do not regret starting it, but I do regret finishing it.
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"It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight."
Road Home is not your typical Cdrama, where you expect to see the most unexpected of them all.In essence, it's just a melodramatic, feel-good, piece-of-life sort of drama. Be prepared to see lots of romantic scenes, Kisses, hugs, long gazes, beautiful locations, and most importantly; how to LOVE and LIVE at the same time.
Plot summary:
This drama is focused on First love. Two youngsters fell in love at first sight and broke up due to fate's plan. Seems simple and predictable at times, yet they take you on a journey of self-discovery and healing. How to grow up and cultivate the love you once lost. It's mature, warm, and heartwrenching at times; yet you will enjoy every single minute of it. Be ready to see flashback scenes and the younger versions of the leads and their interactions.
First Impression:
The drama starts pretty simply as the plot suggests. The pacing is decent, since the leads find each other rather unexpectedly and reconnect because they want to! There is no hatred felt from both side unlike what we see in Asian dramas mostly. From the first episode, you can feel their longing and desire. It's like they are destined to set foot in each other's lives once again.
As the story progresses, there are minimum complications, and no cringe-worthy scenes ( except a few scenes where the leads are cut and can't communicate well). There are no jealous exes or love triangles to mess up the drama. Just sit back and enjoy watching two long-lost, lovey-dovey human beings. However, the ML is a SWAT member, as a result, there are scenes exhibiting his life and work by himself.
Acting:
It was my first time seeing Seven Tan in a drama and I dare say I was impressed. She plays her character so well. You can easily see her development from a teenager to an adult through the course of this drama. She suffers in her childhood as it's depicted through the flashbacks and develops into an independent woman who wants to love and settle down. She expresses her feelings and desires fully and Gui Xiao makes you believe in love if you don't already lol
Jing Boran aka the Male lead Lu Chen. The heartthrob of this drama. I wanna applaud his acting in this drama. It's hard to deliver a rather tough and broken character in a drama, and i must say JBR did a wonderful job delivering a police officer's employment and love life. Not to mention depicting affection and brewing loving chemistry with Seven Tan.
In essence, he is just a simple guy who doesn't talk much but just look at the way his eyes and body move. That is another level of acting in my opinion. Some simply watched the drama for his good looks, Well, you're not alone!
All other actors involved in this drama deserve kudos. Everyone played their respective roles in alignment with the story and this is what makes the drama interesting in my opinion.( A special kudos to the kiddo who plays Qin Xiaonan)
Writing:
This drama is based on a romance novel and the Author is also involved in script writing of this drama, which is a great contribution. I haven't personally read the novel, yet those who have had before mentioned that this drama is closely following the novel's footsteps and we are not deviating much from the novel ( as the novel readers say, the drama followed the novel closely. so if you see things missing or don't make sense, the original book is the same). As a result, the author's presence had a great effect on the script and character development.
Yet again, the only downside was that the second lead had minimum screen time and their relationship was kinda rushed. So we are mostly focused on the main leads.
Production and cinematography:
If you have watched Cdramas before, you are fully aware that their production system is a bit different( In terms of using CGI and dubbing voices, however, in this drama the actors' original voices were used) But this drama uses beautiful locations and picturesque scenery. We see a variety of locations and buildings, camps and bases, and cities too!( not to mention the tents and camps they showed us!)
The episodes that are shot in Qining are the best of them all, which adds to the value of this drama. If you watch the drama, you realize the importance of this magnificent place for the lead's destiny.
Music:
The selection of music is a bit limited, however, the background classical pieces used in different scenes definitely bring about good vibes.
I just want to mention that if you're a romantic and die for romantic dramas with the least complications and cringe, and at the same time crave romantic scenes and beautiful chemistry, be sure to check this drama. It's a solid 10/10. highly recommended.
And another side note. Some did not like this drama. Understandable! Not every drama made in dramaland is aimed to satisfy everyone. But this drama is not at ALL lame and bland. It's designed for a more mature audience who wants to see something realistic and romantic.
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too little content in too long of a drama.............
I'm a romance junkie, so this drama should have been a 10 within that genre, but sadly, here's what happened:All Actors = 10
ML = 20 - for hotness
FL = 10 - for keeping the fire going
Visuals, Cinematography, Scenery, knowledge about Chinese landscapes = 20
Details about SWAT team = 10
Sizzling chemistry = 10
Steamy intimacy = 10
So what happened????
1). the story was nothing special. Even that is forgivable in a romance, however stretching it to 30 episodes is a mortal sin. Tooooo loooooonnnnngggg. Maybe they should have 2 versions of all C dramas - one for the global audience, which is about 12-16 episodes, gets to the point and keeps the drama interesting. Another version just for the local/regional audience who may enjoy this kind of length or it brings in advertising revenue.
2). the chemistry was sizzling, but rehashing scenes over and over again?? why ???
3). the second couple could have lent a breath of fresh air - but their story was poorly developed
4). that poor boy - he was mostly used as a prop, but he could have had such a nice role to play instead
5). all the parents - their roles were vague, not given proper direction, just hanging around to fill in some vacuum
So although C dramas are definitely improving with smart, independent females and sizzling chemistry, maybe tightening the story and reducing the length could increase global appeal.
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Jing Boran and Seven Tan acted great, but the plot was draggy, boring with stupid ending
Road Home is a modern drama focused on a long lost love of Gui Xiao and Lu Yan Chen during high school when they broke up and rekindled their love 15 years later.The drama started great, and Jing Boran and Seven Tan acted great. Still, the plot got boring, stupid, repetitive, and very draggy, especially in the last 5 episodes.
The ending in episode 30 was stupid; it replayed their first encounter, which was repeated in previous episodes. I wish the conclusion showed the married of the 2nd CP.
I agree with Duoban's rating. I initially rated it high, but I am downgrading it to 6.0 because it was boring, draggy, and stupid.
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Stuck in traffic on a very long winded Road Home
My education in Chinese dramas continues apace with this romantic offering. This is 100% about relationship; every sigh, every tear, every regret, every breath, every tender touch, every long lingering look (and there are a glut of them to the point of nausea) is lovingly laid out for you. So if you’re a romance junkie, this one’s totally for you. And the leads make a very creditable job of the chemistry even though the script circumnavigated the globe rather than let them get skin on skin.Quite how they managed to act this well amidst the shambling, third rate budget production going on around them is to their credit, because once it strays into any other territory it’s like sailing through lumpy porridge. I recommend just scooting through and only watching the scenes between the leads in the first half, then skip to the end. You won’t miss anything and then the drama might seem quite good and you’ll be less likely to fall asleep at the wheel.
The ML works as a bomb disposal expert (for once the job matched the personality) however, there’s a laughable lack of procedure around it. Although, it does do a good job of highlighting the stress to the family of people involved in such dangerous work. The FL is cast in the stay-cheerful-be-long-suffering-self-sacrifice-to-the-end part: “I am willing to donate half my husband for the country”. ’Nuff said. But at least she has a professional job and a life of her own. As with most Chinese stuff, it’s got an education emphasis, complete with nifty tips and tricks. This one centres on how to be grown ups and have a long-distance relationship.
The plot has the feel of the writer gets up in the morning and thinks, as they chomp their toast and gulp their coffee, okay I need to go shopping, get the kids to basketball, ring my mother, renew the car insurance, organise a Creatively Exhausted Writers support group meeting and, oh, script the next episode. Hmmm, not got a lot of time to be imaginative today so they can just chat aimlessly for half an hour, then I’ll use that idea I had lying around from the last drama I wrote.
The problem being, they think that every morning so there’s not a lot of forward planning going on with the result that there is very little flow or cohesion, just a random sequence of scenes. Some of the playing out of crises is — well—embarrassing. Obviously where research and experience are absent, fantasy has a ball. Actually there’s very little plot at all and it could all be over and done with in six episodes including plumbing some depth. The whole thing is a perfect definition for “filler episodes”.
Okay you have to have a little bit of sympathy when they obviously had the brief to talk up some barren desert and sell it like it’s prime Manhattan real estate. Not sure what Mandarin word they actually used, but “pretty” is not what springs to mind. Don’t get me wrong here, I genuinely love the outback, but my descriptive words and feelings might sound more like awe inspiring, powerful, unlimited and silent. And I wouldn’t go out there in a skirt and high heels.
As for the dialogue; banal and directionless come to mind with occasional sparks of insight between the leads, as though someone on the writing team had some time to think creatively that day. And the pacing? It’s a very, very long road home and expect to crawl along like you’re stuck in traffic.
There’s not a great deal of understanding about how to build tension using cinematography, editing and soundtrack. Oh, just do normal tracking shots with some random music over the top, then a couple of close-ups—that’ll work. Or continuing to film in an urban location where the wind was so hard into the microphone it almost drowned out the dialogue. At times the editing is really bad, with lots of scenes rammed together like shish kebab on a skewer. Even on HD streaming some of it looked out of focus and badly lit.
On a more serious note, there’s a storyline about a kid being educated away from home, who gets shunted around like a pass the parcel. Even when he was at home, he spent long periods on his own whilst his father worked away. Then we find out that his new main carer has 200 days of business trips a year. I found it profoundly sad and not least because the writing team thought that was a situation they didn’t really need to investigate much.
What my rating means: 4+ I forced myself to go through to the end of it, but only because I was committed to writing the review. It annoyed the hell out of me. Actively avoid.
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'Road Home' really shot up to be one of my fave dramas this year.
Let me just say I really enjoy everything about this show especially at the start, the angst and tension I really enjoyed it. This drama is focused on the main leads' romance. It is a mature and intense kind of romance. I felt that the drama did not drag even once they got together.
Hopefully the new watchers give this a try.
Things I love about the drama:
- Enjoyed how this drama didn't focus much on any other characters, but on the relationship of our main leads. There were no love triangle, maybe there were some annoying characters but it didn't put me off since the main leads actually brush them off, and the misunderstandings that happens in the drama get cleared out really quickly. I really love how they didn't drag anything, especially any problems that arises.
- It may be melodramatic, but it's not too heavy to take and once they got back together it became a feel good drama.
- It is a healthy and mature romance. After the main leads got back together, I love how understanding the ML and FL were with one another. And when apart, they were very independent.
- FL did shown some character development. As she became very understanding, especially with the ML's job, it was noticeable when they got back in a relationship.
- I really love the cinematography in this series, especially the views and scenery of 'Qining'. It just makes you want to travel there.
- The chemistry, I absolutely love the chemistry between these two main leads.
- Jing Boran did a wonderful job in portraying Lu Yanchen (ML). His character is complex, from a strict captain of the SWAT team, he also is a man of few words, and mostly he shows affection through actions, and I seriously love the micro expressions he does for his character. His eyes is very expressive: from a longing look, to hurt and tearful, and etc. I really felt butterflies, when it comes to him pulling the FL into a hug, cuddling her, just looking at her, and his kisses (Thank God, JBR is such a great kisser on screen) I absolutely love the final episode, where it shows the POV of his character and it really answered so many questions that came up while watching the series.
-Tan Songyun, really did a great job as Gui Xiao. It is my first time to watch her act, and I love how she brings her character to life. Her character is just so charming and at times childish (especially when she gets spoiled by the ML) Also like Jing Boran, she had the most expressive eyes. I seriously love the tension in the first few episodes with the ML, you know they were really longing for one another and wanted to pick up their relationship again.
Though when it comes to the main leads in a high school, it did felt kind of awkward especially with Jing Boran in a uniform; but that may be just me. But to be honest it didn't really bother me much afterwards.
Overall:
Definitely is in one of my top fave dramas, so hopefully everyone can give this a try. For re-watch value, absolutely going to re-watch this and to be honest while this was ongoing, I was already re-watching several episodes over again and especially the scenes I really like.
At the moment I'm still going through withdrawals with this drama, and may update this review again afterwards if something comes into mind.
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Even good things can become bad if they went on for too long
This show is fundamentally a love story with a slow start. The OTP's romance is sweet and innocent when started in high school but gets complicated as their path diverged. The inevitable breakup during a long distance relationship was painful and left both scarred. Nevertheless, the show has a laser focus on them and everything else that happens are distractions. This is a double edged sword which I'll discuss later.There are also some police SWAT and EOD actions but they are secondary. There is certainly a strong Band of Brothers vibe. A light propaganda element is present and accounted for.
Let's start with the good bits.
1) Once they reconnected after years apart, their love is unshakeable. No one can come between them. This is a nice touch in a sea of antsy melodramas. Their chemistry is very strong and there are many swoon worthy moments and lots of skinship which felt natural. They are literally making up for lost time!
2) All the characters are well defined. Everyone behaves predictably with no surprise personality disorders. There are plenty of flawed characters but they are predictable and a bit cliche.
3) Northern China is harsh but beautiful. The snowy mountain scenes and lunar landscapes are captivating. Hats off to the actors and production crew who has to brave the extreme elements.
4) Acting is solid if uninspired. There is a lot of young male actors involved and they certainly did their best with the physical challenge side. The leads are in their elements, and they delivered. This is especially true for the FL who literally glows whenever she is with the ML. For once, she is not playing a feisty FL who has to prove her worth repeatedly.
Unfortunately, this is where I have to insert the dreaded BUT.
They need to trim a few episodes off the run. It would be near perfect if that happens. The problem is not the love story per se nor the acting in general but rather the show became an Ouroboros and began to feed on itself once the show lost focus.
The last 1/3 of the show feels voyeuristic to me. A lot of their interactions are quite mundane. They are always whispering sweet nothing to each other while in bed, on the phone or just doing chores. It is as if we are eavesdropping on them. It is very lovey-dovey but repetitive. There is not a lot of depth to their conversations which leads us to the next point.
Most of the characters are one dimensional, including the leads. I’m not saying that they are not interesting but they are set in their ways. The ML is a SWAT officer and even though he tries to relax and be a good BF/husband when he is with her, he is always on call and his time with her is measured in hours. He is stoic, loving and protective (to a fault) towards the FL. On the other hand, the FL is very accepting and accommodating so she will not try to change him but rather work to fit in with his punishing schedule. She adores him but she is in his shadow.
The personalities and behaviours of the support cast are largely on rails. Friends and colleagues are loyal and supportive. Antagonists are ineffective and learn their lesson sooner or later.
On top of that, most subplots are skin deep and just eat up screen time. It was nice that the 2CP's “romance” is cute and not attention grabbing, but its progress is vague and stilted.
I’m not sure if it is a direction or writer(s) issue but it is obvious to me that the Show is fraying around the edges and lost narrative focus towards the end. Some plots became disjointed, others stretched, and loose ends are handled awkwardly. One of the worse examples is when the ML was severely injured in ep.26 but there is no details about how and why it happened. We just jumped from the train station to the hospital operating room. As a police drama, this is very untidy. Could it be a censor issue?
The 2.5 years’ time skip felt abrupt and the whole wedding felt undercooked. You just don't feel that much time has passed. Everyone looks (other than the daughter) and behaves exactly the same. You can almost feel the plot fraying.
Ep.30 is a waste of time (apologies to die-hard fans). It is basically a retelling of their high school romance and a few minutes of new footage and voiceover. Why now? We knew what happened. There is a hint about their future at the end but it feels tacked on. I would have preferred a honeymoon travelogue with a bit of flashback for some awesome fan service. I won't call it a rotten tail, but it doesn't feel right either and loses points with me.
It could have avoid all this and ends on a high if it has a shorter run. I was really enjoying the first 3/4 of the Show and to end it this way is disappointing.
I'd be happy to rewatch a good chunk of this show but not the whole series.
As Mickey finds out in the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, be careful what you wish for. Even good things can become bad if they went on for too long.
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Healthy relationship, pure bliss, no hair pulling drama of the year.
Road Home is a second chance at love drama, it is mainly felt with intense chemistry between the two leads, There isn't much action initially, but it does get intense later on.Personally, this drama was exciting to watch, however, there are moments where the scriptwriting felt off. It would seem like there should be more to say but it was just an awkward silence. However, give it a chance because Lu Chen played by Jing Boran is a man of very few words.
As aforementioned, Lu Chen is your typical cool, handsome, popular, man of few words character. Like legitimate few words where Gui Xiao (Seven Tan) said he should speak more. LOL I guess you can say he's more reserved than outgoing. However, he's very emotional towards Gui Xiao and cherishes her even though they had broken up before the series began. His family background is not the best, as his mother divorced his abusive, alcoholic father once before. LC works as a police officer who is constantly away on missions, hence this has tarnished his relationship with Gui Xiao. As the drama begins, they begin to build their relationship with a more mature mindset. Acting-wise, this is my first drama of Jing Bo Ran, and I have heard of him a couple of times - I think he acts pretty okay. Comparing his real personality to the character, I think he did pretty well in portraying a reserved but strong commanding officer. Did I mention how hot he is? LOL
Gui Xiao played by Seven Tan, is a very strong, independent woman. She is no damsel in distress as she has said once before that she can live her life without Lu Chen. However, she will fight for her love no matter how difficult their situation is. Lu Chen is constantly on missions, so their relationship is somewhat like a long-distance type, he does come home though and it gets very cute. I think what makes their relationship so special compared to other dramas is how healthy it is. It teaches us that communication is very important in a relationship and understanding, and being mindful keeps the relationship going. Her family background is somewhat unfortunate as well because her parents divorced (not officially until the series began.)
Seven Tan is one of my favorite actresses, I will be honest this drama did not showcase her full capabilities - it seems a little off at times due to the script. Her acting will always be impeccable, however, I wish the script was a bit more smooth I suppose. It's a little inexplicable.
I feel like this drama would deter others because it doesn't have much "drama" or excitement like your typical Asian drama does. It feels more like a slice-of-life genre, focused on rebuilding a relationship and a proper family. However, I would suggest giving it a try. It depicts healthy relationships, and confidence and I think it's what people need if they don't know what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like.
Is there a third wheel? There was one who tried but to no avail. haha
The side characters were wonderful, GX and LC have amazing friends, basically like sisters and brothers, who support their relationship all the way. Giving wonderful advice when they need it.
I had watched a drama similar to this where the kid is extremely annoying, and the male lead became very difficult to watch so I had to drop it. Whereas in Road Home, the kid is tolerable and the male lead respects the female's boundaries.
The ending was satisfying as they finally held a wedding, and the final episode is just flashbacks.
The cinematography, and scenery of this drama were very beautiful, it makes me want to travel to the location someday.
I would recommend this drama if you just want to chill, not pull your hair out and enjoy a cute, slice-of-life, fluffy, romantic drama. Also if you don't mind a reserved, quiet male lead then definitely give it a go. It has several flashbacks to their high school days as well, and it is fun to see how it all began. The final episode shows us how they started to have feelings for one another, of course, they did explain what their past relationship was like throughout the drama, not just at the end.
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Yawn.
I tend to love conflict free cdrama romcoms. This show however is not a comedy at all, but as it happens I also like slow-burn melodramatic shows, as long as they are low on the makjang & that certainly applies to this one. So why is it that my rating stopped at 5.5? Well, in my opinion this is a fairly boring show overall, I fell asleep multiple times watching it. The romance is basically a Hallmark tier love story. Yes the actors had pretty good chemistry & looked great together in the second half of the show, though I do think they took their sweet time to get comfortable around each other, thus the early episodes were far worse than the later episodes because of that reason. I've been told repeatedly that me finding the romance boring in this one is because I wanted more conflicts & love triangles and whatnot. I assure you all that is not the case, this drama is just really mediocre compared to some of the better recent and similarly conflict free cdrama romance stories. (for example "Meet Yourself" or "Hi Venus")If I look at things outside of the OTP romance, the drama is really really annoying on multiple levels. It feels like it was funded by the police/government to help find partners for officers and perhaps just to aid with recruitment, as such there is all kinds of social engineering in the show.
Also the amount of patriotism presented is on another level. My tolerance is very high in this regard, because American shows tend to have a lot as well and I grew up watching those, but good grief, there is really an immense amount here..
One other thing I hated how the writers dealt with the -toxic- fathers. Basically both of them decided to just suddenly stop being toxic & that's it. (this makes literally 0 sense based on the plot up to that point)
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The longggggg road home.
Romance and Jing Boran could only keep my interest for so long.More time was spent on propaganda and off-screen dramatic character changes than on even-paced writing. Significant character personality shifts made little sense because all major conflict resolutions happened off-screen. I didn't care for the drawn-out military montages of our ML being a super badass and the long-winded explanations of "sacrifice for the motherland." It felt on-the-nose and unnatural to say to another person when there were no cameras around. On the plus, the drama is a visual feast for the eyes with overviews of isolated, snow-covered towns, prairies of ice and trees, and Jing Boran's perfectly placed eye mole.
I'm excited to continue watching Jing Boran in future dramas, but this one was hard to like after a while. The pacing was too slow, conflicts weren't fully fleshed out on-screen, and I hoped to feel a broader emotional spectrum to match the 30-episode watch duration. Still, there was no talent shortage from every actor (including the child actor). I'd blame my dislikes for the drama on writing and pacing more than anything else because, at the end of the day, if you're looking for a drama that's a feast for the eyes without much to sate your hunger, you'll leave satisfied anyway.
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This review may contain spoilers
I have 3 big problem with this drama
Seven Tan & Jing Bo Ran... Of course here I come...I have 3 big problem with this drama. Haha....
1) The duration.... OMG this is one f*cking long drama, without so much problem to solved. Make me quite bored watching this. For me this drama don't need to be this f*cking long duration or ep, maybe around 20s ep is actually enough.
But yeah like ChineseDramaFan wrote: "This is a lovely series which can be boring for some for its slow, everyday life story, but lovely for many for its quiet romance, a romance many can relate to - no fanfare, just love and devotion (if such elements still exist)." If that's what you looking for, this drama actually quite good. Drama filled with a little flashback, every day boring life with a little interruption about SWAT team mission.
2) I really have hard time to differentiate between the past & present time.... There's no much diff in the appearance of Lu Chen (LC) & Gui Xiao (GX) past & present, no diff color to differentiate the timeline, nothing to make us easier to differentiate past & present time. Maybe just the dialogue they said or little background. But hell I'm still sometimes have hard time to differentiate the timeline. Gonna be better if they choose diff actor to play the past, at least then we know for sure it's the past time...
3) After I read shiro review it make think, about the children, aka Qin Xiao Nan (XN). Yeah how pitty he is. He just moving from 1 house to another acting like it's a usual thing for him. But my problem it's not that... Haha.... The biggest question is where the h*ll is his mom.... Qin Ming Yu & his wife divorce, and at the beginning they tell us XN's mom always want to care for him. But she's really missing from the picture, not even care that her son is transfer to Beijing & his living condition. She can go to court to get custody, even at first the court side with the dad doesn't mean the circumstance can't change. But yeah of course they're not the main couple, so I think they don't need to think too much of this situation.
What I like about this drama:
+ The chemistry between Seven Tan & Jing Bo Ran. I love it... I can feel the attraction between them.
+ The solidarity between the SWAT team & friends
+ The adorable Qin Ming Yu & how he tries to chase Duan Rou.
Overall this quite good drama that you could watch.
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