Road Home (2023)

A perfect angsty, protective hero romance . . . until the propaganda ruined it

On one hand we have an angsty, forbidden secret childhood romance, and a silent, gruff protective hero who thinks the world of the heroine:everything I like in romance in one place. If you like the Jane Austen novel Persuasion, you will love the first 20 episodes of this.

On the other hand, this is a propaganda pitch for dangerous frontline work to men, and the propaganda wins out for 10 slow dragging episodes.

Our main male character 100% will always pick his job first. The female lead is just so grateful to be in a relationship with him, and she will never make the mistake of putting herself first again! Even his alcoholic waste of a father, and his snobby father in law come around to accepting he is a hero whose needs and priorities come first, and they need to stop making trouble.

So there you have it. A great premise, excellent chemistry and acting all ruined by its simplistic propaganda theme: become a hero of the state, and you'll get the girl and the home and the life you always wanted. Everyone will just be so grateful.

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SECOND CHANCE AT ITS Best! BRILLIANTLY DONE!

At first, I am hesitant to watch this drama since I am not into second chance love romances. But I was totally moved by it.

JIN BO RAN was SUPERB in this drama. He really pull it through and he is so Hot in uniform. Though I already like him on other drama but this once thoroughly fits.

SEVEN TAN is a surprised for me,this drama is more mature and a lot of kissing scenes, some of her dramas doesn't. But she's good at it. I really like some of her dramas. Despite the agr difference in real life, for me it doesnt matter coz they make it through and they give justice to it.

For me, this is a brilliantly done drama. A slice of life and a real tear jerker esp the scene where JIN BO RAN was crying in the snow after break up. Wow! Really moved by it.

Side characters are good but not much highlighted which is for me is better since the story itself is more about the couples up and downs and how they faced it and became mature in their relationship.

Can't forget the cinematography. Truly wonderful!

I highly recommended this drama esp if your are into more mature audience.

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Underrated

The first time I have read the plot of this drama, I immediately know I would like it but later got doubtful because of the reviews I have read while watching but it turns out my first impression was right. I am a fan of first and only love, hardworking male characters, and old lovers or acquaintances meeting again just like in Le Coup De Foudre, Lighter and Princess, You Are My Hero, Forever Love and etc. but what was different in this drama was how it involved the people around them in the development of their love story the second time around. All the issues that caused their relationship to fail in the first time got resolved. For some, it may be slow because the drama did not just rotate in the main characters' issues but also in each of their family's issues which have affected them and their relationship directly. I was really happy how each of the characters developed into better versions of themselves especially the mains' parents because some dramas would start and end with unsupportive and close minded parents. I also like how in most of the episodes, the characters' are together . They are already certain of the feelings they have for each other and I was happy that there were no episodes wasted where the mains will try hard to be together. Instead, the drama developed with the mains' being there for each other. I really like this drama and if you are someone that do not like dramas where it would take a long time for the characters to be together then I think you would like this too.

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A Completely Beautiful Love Story Of ..... "The First Love Is My Last Love" .... My Forever Love

I was still swooning from the aftermath of Seven Tan and Ren Jialun romance in Under The Power, when I clicked into another Seven Tan's drama "Road Home". Being a hopeless romantic, I immediately got hooked into this drama, curious to watch the really mesmerizing male lead Jing Boran. His manly, cool and man of few words Lu Chen character who only has eyes for Seven Tan's - Gui Xiao will simply take one's breath away.

The story itself is nothing new and yes, the pace was really slow. Therefore, the two leads had an immense responsibility to make their chemistry work on screen. Their un-said words, their internal struggles, their facial expression, their body language, yearning, happiness and love were all felt throughout the drama. The director's request for this love story to be played out in such pure and raw emotions amidst the beautiful backdrop of Xinjiang Autonomous Region allowed me to soak into the characters so comfortably. 30 episodes went by too fast for me.

Till now, I am still replaying many memorable moments between Lu Chen and Gui Xiao in my head. The love at first sight at school. 8 years later, bumping to her again after breaking up. Another 2 years later to meet again. Him singing his song for her whilst cuddling on the ground in the snow. Both of them watching the sunrise they name "Chen Xiao" and many many more. Everything that a die-hard romantic like me will find endearing is found in the Chen Xiao love story.

The drama however, is not perfect. The many repeated throwback scenes were a slight off to me. But, everything else made up for it. Two second couple love stories, Ming Yu's delightful son Xiao Nan, Gui Xiao and Lu Chen's parents drama and on top of this, an appreciation for military police S.W.A.T work which I did not know much about, until I watched this drama.

Road Home is a slow paced emotional drama for die hard romantics. If you are not into hugging, kissing and natural love interactions, you can give this drama a miss. As for me, this drama will be one of the classics, in my books. I will be re-watching this drama again whenever I feel like having a dose of positivity in my life. Scoring 10, for an overall entertaining drama.

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Slow but lots of kissy moments if you are into that.

I guess I will give the a typical review. I didn’t love this drama like everyone else. If I could sum up the drama with one word it would be that I found it very Boring. And I LOVE boring dramas with low angst and high on kindness.

I watch all dramas with Tan Song Yun, who doesn’t like Under Your Power and Go Ahead but I will be honest, I haven’t found any new dramas with her in it that I have loved. Master of my Own and Flight to you have been sub-par at best with way too older ML and too angsty storyline.

I thought Road Home would be refreshing with a low angst drama and a younger ML, they are only 2 years apart! Yay.

The drama started out fine and I was really interested in the past dynamics, how did they fall in love during High School? Why did they break up? I was feeling the slight tension and I was overall curious.

Once they got together, it all went downhill from there. Maybe if I felt the chemistry between the two, I could have been sucked into their lovey dovely romance, because they do love on each other a lot. But I wasn’t feeling anything. I didn’t care for the dates or outings. I didn’t care for when they moved forward with their relationships.

I simply found everything boring. Maybe I’ll strike gold with her next drama?

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I will start with the two main things I didn't love/like about this drama: the *astronomical* military propaganda and the last episode... it gave more context on Lu Chen's feelings and certain events but... I found it a tad boring. Two minor things I found meh were the way the adults took care of the kids lmao... they were just shipped around like some things, really sad. I also admit I enjoyed the romance the most when it took place in the winter time in Qining. That is when it truly peaked for me. Once our pretty couple got together, they got a little *too* sweet, sometimes I felt annoyed how much Lu Chen baby-ed the female lead: let her wash that glass of milk, don't treat her like she is incapable of doing things just because she is pregnant etc. like we get it, he is caring but sometimes it was a tad too much for my liking. One thing though: male lead's face never disappointed when he hugged Gui Xiao, he looked so at peace and happy, it made go crazy tbh !! The way they were looking at each other and their chemistry were so great, you could really feel their love for each other, it felt so real to me. The cinematography in this show was wow, just top notch, so pretty! Every episode felt like 5 minutes despite being 9x the length, i had such a good time watching several episodes at a time because it was such an easy watch. Overall, sweet and mature second chance romance; I'll repeat myself: the Qining episodes were *chef's kiss*.

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Watch it for the main couple! Seriously!

I've never seen Jing Bo Ran in anything before, but as ML Lu Chen he was excellent. He wasn't cold, he was stoic. But his heart was on his sleeve for Gui Xiao from day one! Okay, you can never go wrong with a man in uniform, so that was bonus. His stature and demeanor were such that you totally bought him as soldier/police. But being the romantic I am, I loved all of his scenes with the FL. The small gestures were a testament to his love for her. Closing his eyes when hugging her, burrowing his head into her neck like he just loved the essence of her, the kiss in her hair when they hug. Every action was butterfly-inducing.
I love Tan Song Yun and she was lovely as Gui Xiao. She is a good actress, she's so beautiful, she is a beautiful crier.
Their chemistry was amazing! Bo Ran has very expressive eyes and manages to convey so much love using just his eyes. And when he smiles, my oh my! Lots of wonderful kisses and hugs. The scene where his back is to her and asks her to take his hand - beautifully filmed and so tender. They were yin and yang. She was so bubbly and effervescent, and he was serious. I can't stress enough how much I loved this couple together.

Big bonus - thank you SO MUCH for not adding the conniving female trying to break them up, or the sad/morose male that loves her from afar. This truly was a drama about them and the strength of their love.

The second couple was cute to watch.

So why is my score so low, after waxing poetic about the strength of the leads?
1) There is SO MUCH filler in this drama!! They spent an inordinate amount of time showing the training and the missions of the SWAT team. I couldn't quite figure out if it was patriotism or propaganda. All that extra stuff took up at least half of the drama.
2) The flashbacks. There were, I think, three different years that they kept flashing back to. I didn't think that the flashbacks were used effectively, especially since the actors pretty much looked the same once they got out of school. The last episode's flashbacks finally gave us the whole history of their relationship, which was nice to see, but then the drama just ended!
3) This might be just a translation issue, but she asks if he still remembers her and he says, "I'd still remember you if you turned to ashes." They showed this a couple of times, and the wording is just a little creepy to me.

I can highly recommend this drama for the main couple. Plus, you might not be bothered by all the time spent on work stuff, but I didn't find it interesting.

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I love both leads and waited for all the episodes to come out so I could watch to my hearts content! But by episode 20… I realized why so many said this was one episode too many. The leads had chemistry… but at least for me… not enough. It fizzled out and I actually found myself getting annoyed by FL’s cutesy-ness. ML was the typical stoic man of few words… only sometimes he was too stoic when she was trying to be too cute. FL didn’t seem to change much in 10 years and she was almost too understanding and too perfect with ML’s absence and profession I love her character so much more in Go Ahead.

The flashbacks would have been so much better early on instead of at the end. I would have loved more of the second CP and watched their story to the end. I’ve seen other dramas where they do a ML perspective but it’s short and sweet and totally works. This one… I sadly FF through even though it was the last episode.

Overall I think if you love the leads.. like A LOT, then you’re good to go!! If you just mid-like them then drama is just too long.

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Serious but no challenges

I'm glad this drama wasn't as fake/ overly exaggerated as usual Chinese romance dramas are. The acting is fine, but the story/leads don't face many hurdles. As soon as they get together, it's all up from there. I mean there was objection from the FL's dad, but it's not like he does anything about it besides disapprove of their relationship. On the other hand, the ML's dad is a mess and one day turns over a new leaf with no explanation as to why. When the accident occurs, they don't show how it happens but just the fact that it's a life-threatening injury. and I'm not sure how many days might've passed. but shortly after he has close to no injuries....They don't explain anything about the accident or his injuries. Furthermore, after they start dating again, the FL smiles every time she sees the ML and is suuuuuuuuper affectionate. I'm unsure if that's how the script wanted it or whether she chose to do so herself, but I don't think I've ever seen the FL asking for so many kisses.

They did a good job of the flashbacks to the past and I felt like the last episode was pretty meaningful, but wish they would've added it into the other episodes instead of saving it for the end. I don't think I would watch this again, but it wasn't horrible.

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So sweet and romantic

When 2 great actors come together with good writing and directing you get “RoadHome”. A story about reuniting lost love. Story slowly tells 2 people found love at a young age, lost it due to long distance relationship, and found each other again. Solid acting with gorgeous cinematography. A must watch if you are into romance. The female lead Seven Tan’s acting is so natural and effortless. Can’t help but laugh and cry with her.

So glad to see a Chinese drama with a career minded, strong, independent female lead, who is happy on her own and choose to be in a relationship because she know he is what she wants.

This is about two people that love each other and overcome obstacles to be together.

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⚠️ Injurious To Single Heart............. Hahaha

If U r facing a problem with your relationship in real life Do watch this drama with Ur BF/Husband Trust me later u'll see the feedback definitely ✌️

Story: Its a Reconciliation story of Two Teenage lover who once broke up for some unusual situation... How they adjust themselves with each other later and showering their unconditional love which was suppressed for 8 years...The plot is too relatable without any dragging unnecessary drama...Not Toxic at all..

Cinematography : So refreshing.. Best part of this drama.... ♥

Cast: Well,I always follow TAN SONG YUN drama...This is my first time i have seen her doing many intimate scene and she is so mature and understanding GF here so many things to learn from her.. First time watching JBR in any drama..He is a member of SWAT a person with less talking love FL tremendously & sooo Hot.. Their acting is Top notch trust me u started believing that they r a Real life couple.. their skinship /touching head/sniffing,kissing hair, nose all r so so Romantic... Sometimes they didn't need any dialogue their eyes were enough to convey their Love & Emotions..Best chemistry in 2023 till now....

Music: Actually who understand Music and lyrics he will surely enjoy RH ost..Cz this drama has such a deep meaning and calming music..as a music lover i really love these OST Specially (1)Road home--Opening theme song by Summer (2)Love in the air by Allen su its so beautiful..... (3)Youth is Safe--- TAN SONG YUN--seven is a great singer also her voice is so soothing.... 9/10 for musice from me..

Rewatch :: This drama is really worthy for Rewatching... Cz its has so many Romantic scenes while watching this drama u will definitely feel butterfly running on ur stomach ... Will watch them for their chemistry again ❤️

Overall its a different types Romantic genre drama with Excellent Cast.....There r so many things to learn from them also...If ur Mood is off then go for it..

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Soothing in a low key kind of way

This drama will definitely not appeal to everyone, its not full of angst where our main leads are pulled all over the place. Equally its not a romantic comedy as the leads find themselves in outlandish situations. As a romantic drama its not even particularly dramatic, although it does have its moments.

So why watch it?

Simply put, I liked the fact that I was watching real adults who knew exactly what they wanted and found a way to each without lots on angst or drama.

This drama felt natural to me. From the friendships, the romance and even the issues with their families.

The overall pacing of the drama won't appeal to everyone, I personally liked that everything progressed at a similar pace throughout. This to me was refreshing compared to many of the other drama's I have seen.

The leads had really good chemistry throughout and talked through any issues they faced. Equally, they supported each other when they faced their own problems. Again this was I nice change pace for me. Generally, I don't see healthy communication in a lot of the drama's I've watched.

If your looking for a reflexing, yet moving story I would certainly give this a go.

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