Road Home (2023)

The Entire Premise & Plot are about GUI (Xiao) and LU (Chen)

The Entire Premise & Plot are about GUI (Xiao) and LU (Chen) -- Thus, the very apt name of this drama: Gui Lu.

I wanted to watch this drama because of Jing Bo Ran. He is very tall, manly, charming and handsome. Drama truly presented him in the best light possible which adds greatly to his devastating charm. In this drama, he cooked so well, he loved deeply, he behaved responsibly, he acted with loyalty as well as with integrity. I would definitely like a Lu Chen for myself.

What I loved a lot about this drama:
- Jing Bo Ran. He stole the show. I want a Lu Chen too. Charming, responsible, loving, courageous, sensible, faithful... WOW!
- Relationship between FL and ML was believable. I liked that they only had eyes for each other and truly loved each other madly and deeply. The fact that they re-united and got together after they broke up when they were young made their 'new' relationship a mature one. I liked it.
- FL's and ML's besties were also GOAT. I liked Duan Rou, Meng Xiao Shan, Qing Feng, Hai Dong and Qin Ming Yu.
- I enjoyed the breath-taking scenery. I liked seeing ML and FL in such beautiful surroundings.
- This was also a 'happily-ever-after' drama. I am a sucker for happy endings.

What could have been better:
- Editing was abrupt. Some scenes were fragmented and jumped from one part to another. At times, I went 'huh?' and wondered if I missed something.
- I was looking forward to Jing Bo Ran's shower scene which I spied on YouTube... but, I did not see it while watching the drama.

What I didn't like:
- ML's father was all kinds of f-ed up. Luckily, ML managed to deal with his father forcefully enough too and was not a wimp and he did not allow his loved ones to be hurt by an unreasonable and atrocious maniac.

Overall, I love this drama because I love Jing Bo Ran. I also love his character, Lu Chen. I highly recommend this drama because JBR! <3

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Such a good story

I loved this drama the first time I watched it, it held my attention the entire time. Sure there weren't many if any angsty moments. Things go relatively smoothly for the couple once together. They have great chemistry together and a ton of sweet moments. If you like shows with lots of angst and drama you probably wont like this one.

Pros:
The leads both actually like each other. In the beginning they have misunderstandings but throughout the drama they actually communicate with each other and demonstrate a healthy relationship.
The second couple isn't forced or given an inordinate amount of screen time. The story focuses mainly on our main couple and their life.
Lack of love triangles. Not that there aren't any, it is just that our leads shut them down and don't entertain them.
The series sticks pretty closely with the novel it is based on which is nice.
The young boy wanting to stand up for the FL and 2FL all the time. I think the young actor did a great job in his role.
I feel like this drama fits well within the found family type of drama. The couple both have family issues, and depend on each other as well as their core group of friends more than actual family.

Cons:
While the drama held my interest on the first watch through I do find myself fast forwarding certain portions on subsequent viewings.
I wish they explained more about boy staying in Beijing, They gloss over some details that explain his situation.
Some moments from their past were shown to much, we got glimpses of past events from each of the leads pov which was nice but sometimes felt repetative.
I wasn't a huge fan of the final episode. I hoped for more even if it was a conclusion for out 2nd couple, or more of the main couple together as family.

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A potential Masterpiece (story, great actors) but spoiled by a clumsy production

Series with two Great leads (Jing Bo Ran in ML & Seven in FL), but slow and rather painful narration for the 1st half of the drama.

Plot: Reunion of 2 ex lovers 10 years after they broke up due to family issues & long distance relationship. They still love each other but have to recreate a relationship despite multiple difficulties: annoying love rival, ML's father drunken and abusive behavior, etc.
The drama's tone is happier after the make-up of the couple.

PROS:
+ Quite realistic story with everyday details + a big part to the glory of SWAT & the nation.
+ 2 great leads and an excellent cast with endearing characters
+ Good OST, beautiful images, beautiful landscapes

CONS:
- slow pace, and I mean slow, slow, slow...
- The drama's chronology, including many flashbacks, slows the pace. Let's not talk about the final episode where we discover their very first exchanges in high school. Quite questionable chronology, therefore.
- obvious errors, particulary the child actor supposed to be the one-year-old daughter, is at least 3 years old.

=> Good drama, which had the potential to make a Masterpiece (story, great actors) but spoiled by a clumsy production
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Super leads (Jing Bo Ran en ML & Seven en FL), mais narration lente et plutôt painful pour la 1e moitié du drama.

Plot : Retrouvailles de 2 ex lovers 10 ans après leur rupture due à des problèmes familiaux & à la relation à distance. ils s'aiment toujours mais doivent renouer une relation malgré de multiples difficultés : peste rivale amoureuse, père du ML ivrogne et maltraitant, etc. Dieu merci, la 2nde partie du drama est moins sombre.

PROS :
+ Story assez réaliste avec les détails du quotidien + hymne à la gloire du SWAT & de la nation.
+ 2 super leads et un casting global excellent avec des personnages attachants
+ Bonnes OST, belles images, beaux paysages

CONS :
- rythme lent mais lent, lent, lent...
- La chronologie du drama, incluant de très nombreux flashbacks, ralentit le rythme. Ne parlons pas de l'épisode final où on découvre leurs tous 1eers échanges au lycée. Chronologie tout à fait discutable, donc.
- des erreurs évidentes notamment l'enfant acteur censé incarner la fille de un an, a au moins 3 ans.

=> Bon drama, qui avait le potentiel pour faire un Masterpiece (story, great actors) mais gâché par une réalisation maladroite

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Here for The Chemistry Only

Usually the Police or Army or Firefighter type of drama will have doctor as female leads, then natural disaster comes so the couple will meet during that period. But not this one. That's why, for me, it's a bit draggy. It's like the writer had no idea what else to write to complement the main story. I literally skipped and only watched Lu Chen and Gu Xiao's part started from episode 13. I also wish the leads' friends would develop feeling and all, but no.

Now let's get into my favorite parts:

This is my first Tan Song Yun drama and second Chinese romance drama that i watched. Love the leads' chemistry. I mean by love is L.O.V.E.

First episode when they met again for the first time at gas station in 2018, GX asked LC, "do you still remember me?"
Then LC answered, "i will still remember you even you turn into ashes." THAT WAS INTENSE and IT GOT ME HOOKED.

Then two years after, when they crossed path in snowy Qining (am i right?), they were still reluctant to talk and look at each other. The acting was so natural i felt the distant, hesitation, love, regret etc etc between the leads. LIKE, it was so real even i wanted to scream, "OMG Gui Xiao i know you regret dumping him. I'm sure right here right now you wanna hold and hug him really bad."

After they reconciled, the episodes were bland and boring. It was only them on LDR then make out whenever they reunited.

To conclude, now i want my very own Captain Lu Chen... can I have one like him? He owns all the love languages: touching, quality time, words of affirmation and act of service.

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Easy to watch, not melodramatic

None of the real high suspense cliffhangers between episodes. Just entertaining.

Too many flashbacks. I only want to see them once, but the same ones were repeated. The continuity between episodes and the time lapses were not done well. Too much time elapsed and you could not tell. They missed opportunities to tie together events.

I know they wanted to stay true to the book but the drama should have spent more time developing the relationship between the shy Qin Ming Yu and the pretty Duan Rou and his son. There is enough to make 3 or 4 episodes with them courting that could make funny and embarrassing situations turn to a sweet love story. Really disappointed that the drama didn’t bring their relationship to an obvious closure. But I am not the scriptwriter.

The scenery is worth looking at.

I’m looking at the English subtitles and I’m not sure they use some of they correct words. I think they could be better. They also overlap the captions of the songs which is really annoying.

Anything more said would be spoilers.

Get past the first 6 episodes and you will watch the rest.

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Matured and intense romance but dull after awhile

I like that this drama’s main focus is the relationship between Gu Xiao and Lu Chen (the two main leads) He is a Bomb expert who works in the SWAT team- so his character is cold, silent and not much of a conversationalist. She is a financial investor- while she is more warm and charming, her conversational skills were not that great either (with him) in this first half ish. I like his character- no nonsense kind of man, albeit a little stoic and stiff but that’s how it is. As for Seven Tan- she comes across too “puppy like” at times.. just following him around and watching him fix cars lol. Would have preferred the FL to be more … assured?

The chemistry is very intense though. They had broken up for 10 years, and they meet each other again. Lots of quiet and intense gazes, which is fine because the ppl around them are noisy enough haha. The romance is for the matured audience, so don’t expect any cliches of accidental falls/kisses , well dressed looks… but rather an underlying connection and assured confidence in their relationship. The bros of Captain Lu are TOO CUTE! ;);)

I also like that the drama shows aspects of his work (more than hers) but doesn’t focus too much on the details. A little bit of the training, a little bit of the danger to keep the suspense going.

Definitely one of the better Cdramas currently. It’s 30 episodes, so I can expect something dangerous and bad happening to him in the later episodes, maybe he gets injured?? Have to watch to find out! :)

Update: After 20 episodes, just found the pace too slow, and the storyline no longer engaging. Rather boring after awhile ;) Have decided to drop this.

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Messy writing but beautiful couple

Leads are great together. They have good chemistry, love all of their skinship and cute scenes. I just think it felt a little rushed how they got together too fast. Maybe they could've take a little more time to reconcile and we could get more angst and the drama could focus on why they broke up before they make amends. But regardless of that, they were good. But still I think the actors deserved better than this drama for reasons I will explain below.

I'm an advocate for cdramas not having 30 eps or more. It's always a little slow on pace, and this drama was no different. After they get together it's like they went around in circles between his father being an a**hole, their flashbacks together in the past, and chinese police propaganda. Then she gets pregnant and it's all them and their long-distance relationship which felt a little repetitive. It felt like there was no story for real and nothing really happened. I'm usually a fan of these kinda shows where it's more focused on the characters rather than plot, but here it was neither one nor the other. They could've talked other things like why he got into the police (we know it's bc of his deceased stepfather but that is never really portrayed), or her parents' divorce which was done superficially. They could work on this and we would know more abt their characters. The dialogue is the worst. Things are poorly explained, if they happen to be at all. The timeline is a little confusing too. Flashbacks felt sudden and out of nowhere.

ML is annoying. He's too serious, never laughs or softens (sometimes not even with FL) and all characters like to praise him for smth. I mean, it's like he's perfect but not in a good way, more like a robot. And I simply can't forget the time he called FL too innocent and silly (I think those were the words) just cause she's always smiling and in a good mood. It was just patronising. The whole time he acted all macho like he had no weakness at all. FL tried to take some feeling from him but he doesn't loosen.

I also felt there were too many characters and none of them had screen time and space for their stories. It bothered me that:
- We didn't know if Mingyu and Duan Rou got married;
- ML had siblings who never showed up, why say they exist in the first place if they have no part in anything at all;
- That FL's friend who is a doctor had more screen time than he should, there was no need to know his story;
- Mingyu's son was left aside during the drama and it's like his father doesn't care abt him. He just goes from one person to another and must understand everything. He's a kid, he needs security and to be taken care of!!
- We didn't get to see the face of ML's cousin who introduced the leads until the last ep, she was like a ghost, we could only hear her voice, I don't know why;
- Why did ML's parents not divorce?! His father was an abusive father and husband. Even if his father was trying to be better in the end, she still should've divorced. FL's dad cheated on her mother and they got divorced but ML's dad beated on his children (especially ML's sister cuz she's a woman) but that can be forgiven. Ugh!!

Although side stories are usually not that important, they shoud at least be told right. It's like they opened some paths but never took time to finish it. That's just disrespect with the viewers.

All the chinese propaganda was one of the worst things of everything. Cause the couple is really good, I can handle some drama as long as it's abt them. But the show spend some time just showing how SWAT works and it was just boring yn. And sometimes it's played to show how awesome and badass ML is, but I don't really like him, he's too forced.

All in all, it wasn't bad. It was a little boring and the narrative is lost, but the leads form a beautiful couple. If you focus on that maybe it was better than I made it seem. But for me a drama is not just a couple, but also narrative and writing, which here could be way better. Overall rating goes for the couple.

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Yet another drama where Tan Song Yun shines like the bright light she is!

Before going into this drama, I read a few reviews and saw many praising Jing Bo Ran for his looks and performance, for me thought Tan Song Yun was the star of this show. I did like Jing Bo Ran but his character Lu Yan Chen/ Lu Chen was a bit hard to pin down for me, I liked Lu Chen sometimes, but others he just didn't seem like a person who pursued things other than his work. Gui Xiao, on the other hand, was a treat to watch.

I especially loved the flashbacks, which gave us complete look into how each of them felt for each other. Lu Chen was far too reserved so the flashbacks helped reveal a bit more about his feelings for Gui Xiao. Their breakup had me reminiscing about the decisions made when I was that young, how easy it is to be swept away with emotions. It also showed us how two different people dealt with their problems in different ways.

But you still have to give it to Lu Chen, even though Gui Xiao broke up with him, he didn't hold on to the resentment for long. He was more understanding than most MLs.

The romance part was good, the leads have good chemistry. However, there made up very suddenly. It was a bit underwhelming but I was happy for them both.

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Calming, healing, romantic watch.

struggled slightly before I decided to watch this show - reviews were mixed. some said good, some said boring, some said too long.

3 words: I loved it.

Pros:

- Cast - I always loved Seven, esp since I watched Go Ahead. I think it might be the first time I am seriously watching JBR but love love love.

- Easy watch (ZERO angst) - as I’ve always reviewed, I hate shows with angst, push and pull. this barely had any, maybe in the first couple of episodes with the weird ZMS trope but solved so quickly, no complaints.

- Great wrap up - while some reviews I’ve seen online have mentioned that it’s 10 episodes too long, I love that the last episodes feel like it’s giving us a great wrap up. I love that the ending wasn’t 10 mins of bliss but really episodes and episodes worth of bliss. Almost every issue was also wrapped up, some maybe done lightly but still well done.

- Easy watch - did I mention this already? while it may seem too long for such a simple plot but I loved how it’s just slice of life, romantic, about a second chance romance, about how their first was ruined by misunderstanding and distance but the second chance fairytale like due to their maturity and longing for each other

Cons:

- ZMS trope - don’t want to spoil it but that was strange, felt unnecessary

- ML’s father - seemed too easily forgiven but might also be realistic in a sense that blood ties can’t be that easily broken? not sure, but in my eyes, too simply looked over

- overly perfect - my god, UNNECESSARY!!!! creating all these expectations for the perfect husband ☠️ I kid, without this, it wouldn’t be that sweet. (where’s my handsome, fit husband that’s a good cook, doesn’t talk much, sweet, caring, understanding)

If you want a light watch, watch this. If winter is coming and you want something to warm you up, watch this.

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