A Journey To Heaven... more likely

I don't write reviews often, but in this drama, I felt the urge to just write a piece of my mind.

From acting to production, directing, and music... this drama deserved more than 10....
BUT, if I were to value the script itself, ESPECIALLY in the last 6 episodes alone, I would go less than 7.

Here is my spoiler-free, short evaluation:

1. Acting 10/10

Liu Yuning blew my mind with his delivery of Ning Yuan Zhou.
He was the best leader, most charismatic man, and a strong, loyal warrior, brother, and friend. He was a cunning, smart, scheming leader of a spy organization, and a mighty enemy. He was the embodiment of a man that leads others, and when it comes to making hard decisions, despite how it might be against his morals, he doesn't act sanctimonious and hypocritical in the face of it. I truly admire and love how gray his character was.

Liu Shi Shi... She is the best, most unique, charismatic, and the strongest BADA** FL character I have ever seen in Cdrama and I so love how Liu Shi Shi brought Ruyi to life. She is beautiful, incredibly strong, and equally smart and cunning. She knows what she wants and gets it by any means. She isn't a damsel in distress, and she is so multilayered, I am in awe of her character.

Alen Fang... I love, Love Yu Shisan. His three-dimensional portrayal of this unique character: a free, charming, beautiful, playful, and as his own saying 'playboy' character deserves applause, and I will always love Yu Shisan.

The entirety of the other cast, including Chen You Wei and He Lan Dou, were all amazing and perfect in bringing out their roles.

2. Best, just Best love story in the entire cdrama land as of now! 10/10

Ning&Ruyi are the most mature, loving, equal footing, and endearing couple I have ever seen. Their chemistry is on another level and they truly complement each other.

3. Bromance 10/10

I can't say enough of it... it was Phenomenal and on another level entirely. The bromance between Ning & Shisan threw me off the loop. I never expected to see such a wholesome, beautiful display of friendship, comradeship, and brotherhood.

Not to mention the entire squad was just... They were amazing. So caring, understanding, and protective of one another. I laughed and cried with them, and because of them, and I don't regret it. Especially Yuan Lu... my baby!

4. Music 10/10

I don't know the names of other singers except Liu Yuning, but I downloaded the entire OST and play it on loop for hours. They are unbelievably perfect for the drama and magical.

5. plot ?/10

I will say it simple:
episodes 1-34 ---> 10/10
episodes 35-39 ---> 7/10
episode 40 ---> 5/10 (even this is only for the acting of casts, not the plot or story.)

6. Ending WTF

Here is my long rant, and it contains SPOILERS:

When you write a script with a strong start and a driven, AMAZING plot, you are raising the expectation of the audience, and there are certain minefields you just can't cross. Everything about this drama from the start was full of energy, funny, lively, and in a way that made me look forward to the ending day by day.

I knew certain characters wouldn't make it to the end, and I expected it because of the genre of the drama. But still, I had my expectations for this drama. I wanted to get closure regardless of it being a Sad, Happy, or bittersweet ending.
I DEFINITELY didn't want to see an open/ambivalent ending in the last 1 minute of the drama as if the scriptwriter just wanted to force-feed me the ending that made NO SENSE considering the preview sequence of TRAGEDY that we saw.
That ending that, in appearance, wanted to placate the audience and give a supposed happy ending to satisfy everyone did nothing but make me feel like the scriptwriter is treating the audience as fools.

I have seen similar messed-up endings in her other dramas before, but against my better judgment, I just truly wished that this drama would be different from her previous scripts, and I feel like slapping myself for it!
I'm still feeling numb from this ending and in no way feel reconciled with just that 1 minute of supposed HE.

Overall, I still can't say enough of how PHENOMENAL all the cast was. Especially Liu Yuning totally stole my heart with his AMAZING acting, so much so that just because of him and Boss Ning, despite knowing I'm going to cry myself to a headache, I still watched the dram until bitter end because he deserves nothing less.

I have never seen another drama of Liu Shi Shi, but she also turned out to be my favorite actress as of now. She was the embodiment of Ruyi and brought this character to life for me.

The chemistry between Ning and Ruyi was mind-blowing, and I dare to say they top the best couple in dramas of this year, if not the entirety of dramas I have ever seen- the list is endless- but they were just that phenomenal and I never expected a Chinese drama to create such a refreshing, modern, beautiful and equal footing couple, I NEVER expected it, and for that, I'm still shocked.

They are my most favorite couple of drama land as of now.

The other cast that truly stole my breath with his performance was Alen Fang, our dear, dear Yu Shisan. I must say I was surprised since the last drama I saw of him was Lang Ballad and I was SO not a fan of his character there, but he just stole my soul in this drama.

Yu Shisan will forever be the favorite playboy of my heart and I will NOT forget him.

I will still rewatch this drama when my mood is more stable and I can actually watch without crying but only from episode 1- 34

And I recommend everyone to see it because despite the unsatisfactory and shallow ending, this drama is the best of 2023 and perhaps many, many before it. I will definitely follow Liu Yuning's other drams too.

This is the end of my rant.

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He is a true king and she is his princess knight

There was not a single moment in this drama where characters were OOC.
Amazing chemistry between leads and the heartwarming story line was something I can never forget. They were so true to themselves and their love.
From the start to the end of drama it was not a let down. Not a moment felt draggy and pointless.
LX and ZY were amazingly played by chen fei yu and zhang jing yi. You could see the emotions in their eyes. Their love and guilt and regret.... it was so heartwreching and beautiful to watch these two together.
The story line was meaningful and had a lot of lessons in it.
Almost all the characters had depth in their personality. There was no complete black and white -except for FZJ that was a true trash- and I cried when I finished the drama just because it was truly beautiful.
I'm glad the drama ended on a high note and didn't disappoint at the final episode.
The song tracks were so so beautiful that I couldn't resist playing them over and over.

I will rewatch it again because I can't get enough of this truly wonderful couple!

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Anything and everything you expect in a love story and some more

OK, so I never write a review about any drama I have seen so far but L&R turns out to be the exception in many of my never to-do list.
first of all, GREAT CHOICE of actor and actress, Cheng Yi and Crystal Yuan were the best possible match for their characters, they essentially brought the characters to life and I will forever remember Yu Sifeng and Xuanji, especially my darling Sifeng!!! seriously I fell in love with him from the first second of his appearance in the drama till the last second of the end and it had nothing to do with the fact that I already love Cheng Yi since we all know even if an actor is brilliant, it doesn't necessarily mean that the character he will play would be liked or not, but I LOVED Sifeng as much as I loved Cheng Yi and found myself smile and cry with him the entire time of the drama. He took the selfless lover to another level and I have never seen anyone else sacrifices anything and I MEAN anything and everything for his love every time and in every lifetime! he took the meaning of love to another level and I loved that he showed strong ML doesn't mean he isn't vulnerable or doesn't need protection! Sifeng and Xuanji completed each other in a way that you couldn't possibly see one without the void of the other.

This series checked all the main points necessary to be the perfect drama with xianxia/wuxia concept:

-great acting of ML & FL
-strong female lead (without the often stupid/dumb trait in female leads of other similar dramas)
-strong male lead that actually has vulnerabilities and feelings(no cold unfeeling bastard exist here)
-protective FL (it is a fact that in most dramas ML has a protective trait, but you can't see this trait often in FLs)
the FL was capable and protective whenever it concerned the ML in any situation, and I truly enjoyed that in drama.
-actually selfless and caring ML (without the often arrogance and overbearing types in AGAIN similar dramas)
-actual storyline and without getting messy and out of order in the second half of the drama
-unexpected plot (even till the last second I couldn't guess the ending, and I love to NOT KNOW what to expect)
- exceptionally perfect CGI! I enjoyed it a lot
-perfectly related music (some scenes in the drama I had to rewatch just because of the songs!)
- No unnecessary plot hole or loose ends
-out of chart chemistry between the main couple!! you could feel the love between them even when one of the main leads wasn't even aware of it!
-the BL concept was gold!!! they conveyed it perfectly between Teng She & Qing Long, Bailin & Luo Hou Ji Du, and even the sort time of Luo Hou Ji Du & Sifeng (although it was not BL but way more complex but anyhow it was short but perfect)
- SPOILER--------- HAPPY ENDING ---------
what I hate the most is that the main couple goes through 10 levels of hell and in the end one of them or both, have the fate of death or maybe worst!!!
fortunately, even though my heart bleeds for Sifeng the entire time - I mean ... you literally die because of/by the hands of the one you love for 9 times(?????) and still choose to love her selflessly and without blaming her even for a second for all the torture and pain you went through??? excuse me, are you sure you are not a Saint??? - still every character got what they deserved.

AS for weak points(not really weak more likely sad point):

-the easy manipulation on FL's side (although if I really put myself in her place, every time she tries to understand Sifeng or take his side, he would always do something unexpected to give the opportunity to others to easily manipulate her)
- miscommunication or better said no communication at all on ML's side (I mean Sifeng already knows that she lacks the 6 senses and therefore easily swayed by the words of the people she trusts and even when she gains them, she still doesn't understand all of the feelings half of the time, yet he still won't explain things better to her! he could have given a better explain or tell her his intentions instead of putting both of them through hell)
- Linglong's character should be a complex and traumatized character that makes you sympathize with her pain but instead, I was annoyed by her most of the time, the actress couldn't pull off the truly traumatized feeling well.
- the said 'righteous sect' was anything but righteous! the Irony!!! I liked the demon clan more! at least they didn't hide their evil deeds.
-If only Crystal could cry as her voice dubbed was like crying but I couldn't see a single tear in her eyes... anyhow she conveyed all the other feelings pretty well so I could look away for her lack of skill in crying.
-wish Si Feng spit out less blood
-Xiao Yin Hua was unnecessary and annoying, better keep her as snake, like in novel

but still although there were weak points (which drama is completely perfect?) I rewatched the drama for 5 times (yes, It is true) and still have to force myself to not watch it again because nothing can replace it for me and it is my first c-drama ever that I rated 10 because it had everything I wanted and needed in a drama and I love Cheng Yi, Yu Sifeng, Xuanji, Crystal and all the other characters to bring such an amazing drama to life

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