A second chance on life and and a captivating romance transcending time
This is one of those dramas that suck you in immediately and so heavily, that you start to worry about being disappointed in the end. But you're not. Because it holds its promises till the end.Time travel is a popular theme in dramas and the variety of plots is immense. Here it's a queen in Joseon sentenced to death but suddenly waking up in modern days. Finding a second chance on life, she grabs it, only to discover that history is repeating itself, confronting her with the same threats she already had to face in her past life. Amidst the chaos, she meets her "nemesis", the ML, a coldhearted, domineering blockhead.
What makes the drama so entertaining is its strong cast that carries a quite well written story. Captivating performances of Im Ji Yeon, Heo Nam Jun and Jang Seung Jo make the plot work so well and create the true heart of the story. While Im Ji Yeon is outstanding with her play of a Joseon queen conquering modern routines and forcing her ancient means on others while "socialising" and "adapting" in her own manner in an extremely entertaining way, Heo Nam Jun creates a real good counterpart, unwillingly encountering her and her ways again and again, constantly loosing his composure over her, going against his principles all the time and afterwards questioning himself unbelievably, while unconsciously and helplessly falling for her deeper and deeper. And once accepting it all, he doesn't budge or shy away from his feelings, no matter what peculiar or disappointing things she did again. He's giving her room, he's never forcing her. And he accepts all her weirdness. The romance feels mature, you get your funny/silly moments and it still feels authentic, not over the top - even with the FLs unexpected antics. You notice the slight changes in their behaviour but they stay true to their very own treats from the beginning to end - esp. Im Ji Yeon and her Joseon speech. I appreciated that a lot because their initial bickering and all their early fired up interactions were what made you drawn to the couple in the first place. Their chemistry was on another level.
Jang Seung Jo is one of my favorite actors. He's got a real good acting quality, always giving it all and man, he's great at playing a two-faced, venomous snake. Yet the script manages to not making him out to be a plain villain, but actually gives him a soft spot as well. No matter, how black a heart, everyone needs a driving force in the first place.
What surprised me on a side-note was the grandfather. I always had my suspicions, but damn, they secretly rolled that out throughout the drama quite well. He might be one of the "good" ones, but I can't say that I liked all his ways.
When you look at the drama from above you find a lot of known tropes, yet it reinvents and makes them look more advanced, so you can fully enjoy them again.
If I had to wish for something, I would have liked it if they had shown a bit more about the past life. You get a lot of short scenes and can kinda put it together on your own which was well done. But a few more details for my own curiosity would have been great. I also admit I was a bit lost at the end, when they explained the actual reason for the time travel in the first place. But I might understand it when I think about it a bit longer though. Small personal issues here, but it doesn't lessen the overall entertainment of this commendable drama.
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My favorite thing about the show was the female lead. Very strong, very badass. I loved her.
I liked the male lead as well, but I didn't find anything particularly remarkable about the story.
It was fun to watch, but I wouldn't do it again.
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Repetitive and Boring
As a disclaimer i only watched till ep 12I started this drama expecting a strong female lead, what i ended up getting was such a stereotypical view of a “girlboss” that it almost felt offensive again. This whole, “she is so strong but she is just a girl and omg she butchers pigs” was so tiring because (at least in the first half), it kept being brought up every episode.
The story also did not seem to progress esp. while the ML was hurt and when i finally thought he is healed, he gets hurt once more and the plot doesn’t move again. Like if you cannot write the plot continuing without the ML, stop having him be sick...
The atmosphere and shots in this drama are beautiful, but the story cannot at all hold it together. I ended up dropping it because every review says it gets worse in the end and i already felt like it was horrible since the start.
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OMG ONE OF THE BEST KDRAMAS I'VE WATCHED 10/10.
The acting was phenomenal from everyone. Drama was heartbreaking, infuriating and unforgettable. I cried so much for Gi Beom and Im Seok Man. They were so young and had their whole lives ahead of them. What broke me the most was how corrupt and incompetent the system was—the actual killer had to clear an innocent person's name because the police and prosecution failed completely.What makes this even more heartbreaking is that it's based on a real case. It reminds you that so many victims never get justice, while innocent people get dragged into cases and have their lives ruined because of incompetence, corruption, and people's greed for promotions, recognition, and badges.
Everyone should give this a try!!
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I don't think the story is bad or that the execution is poorly done; I just came to the conclusion that this type of drama isn't for me. The most memorable thing for me is the opening theme song, which is PEAK.
The characters didn't captivate me, but I don't think that's the point of the drama. You're supposed to look at them and think, "damn, they're messed up." And when you see how they end up, you don't know how to feel. That's what it is.
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That ending traumatized me, especially because I had hoped for a happy ending for her and Pildo. But they pulled the rug out from under me and said, "no, that's not it."
It was a bittersweet ending, but that's the premise of the drama, so the execution was great.
The highlight of the drama for me was the plot twist revealing the true identity of her father. I was so gagged and it was very well done.
And despite being a short drama, it has one of the best pilot episodes I've ever seen in a series.
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Good but censorship cut its potential
Ashes To Crown’s cinematography and art direction is one of the best I have seen in a while from a drama. And the story was engaging as we watch four top schemers trying to outsmart each other, but it’s evident this project suffered from the censorship.This is the type of story that needed some room to let the events breath and allow the viewers to see how the chess pieces were slowly moving in the board. Sadly, that didn’t happened as it was obvious by the butchering editing of what should have been a 30 episode long cdrama, cramped in 24 episodes total.
I personally take offence for Tang Xiaotian who delivered a masterful performance. I absolutely adored his character’s scheming cute little butt. He was ruthless, cold, calculating and honest. Quiet like a tiger waiting to pounce. They all knew who he was and he wore it with pride.
Zhou Yiran’s character also deserved better. It’s the first time I see him play a soldier/General and I think it would have been fun to see more of it.
The relationship between the Xie brothers was also a fascinating side story that was butchered by the censors and editing.
I think this a case of a cdrama that had all right elements but was unable to deliver its full potential for reasons that are beyond the cast or crew.
Still, a fun watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Don't waste your time
I had such high expectations for this, and I couldn't have been more disappointed.I can't write this review without telling you who wins in the end, but you won't regret reading this before watching.
If you want to see psychopaths winning in life, then by all means go ahead, but that is not what I signed up for - and it's not even about being realistic, it's about the evil characters getting away with anything and everything when the good characters could've won but didn't because they decided to be stupid. I was rooting for them, but it got to a point where they were SO ridiculous that I just couldn't be on their side anymore.
This drama should also come with a serious trigger warning because what happened towards the end actually traumatised me - I couldn't stop thinking about it for a really long time, and I'll never be able to forget what I saw.
Absolutely perfect acting - I just wish the actors had been given a better story.
Do as you wish, but I wouldn't waste my time if I were you.
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Great story, happy ending and a shocking NC involved
The story is great and the acting is good too I'm happy about the happy ending I thought we were gonna receive a sad ending they almost tricked me and the NC scenes shocked me they were great and beautiful first witnessing a NC like this in a historical cdrama I'm satified with this series couldn't help but rewatch while I was waiting for the upcoming ep thanks China love youWas this review helpful to you?
In the meantime, you can watch the drama on YouTube: "Her pregnant sister stole her fiancé, so she became his stepmom!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YZ8ldj_Uw&t=1s) or:(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1YZ8ldj_Uw)
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Glad I embarked on this lovely journey with "Journey With You"
After years of only scrolling through comments and drama info on MDL, Journey With You turned out to be the one that held that power over me to create an account and make my review debut. Simply because I want to support the drama, which secured a special place in my heart, and everyone who put effort into bringing it to life.In my subjective viewpoint, I would rate it a 11 out of 10. Not because it's entirely immaculate, but because it clicked with me on many layers. Though one should be a bit more down-to-earth for a review, right? 😊
For starters, let's be fair. Just as every other drama that has been and will be made, it has its own imperfections. Knowing that there's room for improvement in anything, I want to base my evaluations on two points for this drama:
1) Does it have potential? Or did it mess things up?
My answer is that Journey With You has a glittering potential. Relatively speaking, you can point out that some things can be better executed. But given the budget, the facilities, and the limited filming period, the plot delivered well and unfolded at a nice pace. They gave us a glimpse of the past so we can internalize the situations that escalated and the relationships that developed over time.
The almost-tangible love between the main couple (Yin Qi and Pei Yanzhi) has been the biggest highlight of the drama for me. The chemistry felt so genuine and unmatched. I can't even begin to describe how much it got me hooked on the screen.
So it made me say, "It is promising. It has the essential elements, and they did their best with what they had in their hands about polishing it"
2) Does it bring something more or better than the precedents?
My answer is YES. Historical Chinese BL is a genre that I'm quite into, and I honestly dislike making comparisons, but now it feels like a clear way to put it. The cinematography, especially in intimate scenes, seemed noticeably improved and suited to the general atmosphere.
To me, the plot presented more serious substance than we've seen before, such as time-travel, unexpectedly curiosity-arousing various side-stories, and a captivating romance that invited us to witness MUCH further -which are all to my personal liking. Very significantly, the dosage of each subject was just right. The romance stood out perfectly, neither disregarding the other aspects nor being overshadowed by them. We had bits of everything balanced out well.
Overall, I pretty much enjoyed and waited impatiently for every episode of Journey With You, and it straightforwardly went to my list of "To be rewatched many times." ❤️
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Lighthearted drama adds intrigue - enjoying with fav actors - here for whole journey
Many great actors in this rom com action political drama - all favourites of mine - so pleased to see them all together.Main leads well established to carry whole dramas on their shoulders, great work first episodes in.
Aware cleverness of both characters, temporarily hidden to misdirect many.
Into and outro really enjoying, as with all music so far, particularly as intro and outro highlighting mood, beauty, design. Few dramas can get away with presenting every key scene of storyline in outro, usually initiating a tick off list, spoiling early episodes (unless saved for last few episodes).
Design for scenes and costumes lovely - with male lead elegantly wearing attire and mayoral headpieces and female lead hairpieces superb.
At first storytelling light hearted (thought aiming for <15yrs mkt) but soon added martial arts to elevate skills, mastery and darker themes. Not necessary for me, but when done really well can add viewership.
A few elements skipped over to maintain pace but easily decided to stay with this drama for full journey.
Recommended viewing - after first 5 ep - 8 / 10
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This review may contain spoilers
A mystery shrouded in mysteries!
This drama is sooo interesting!On ep 18 and I don't know what to think about Ye Li. My gal is having hallucinations, split personalities, pathological liar and also knows martial arts.
We are still at square one where the Li Mountain mystery is concerned and where do monkey bites come into all this? And the way her maid dies is still not revealed.
But thankfully Mr. Mo has uncovered one of her many secrets. Let's hope the next episodes give me more answers! So many twists and turns
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The story line was great
Music was on point
The lead actors gave it their all
I could feel every emotion flowing to me through my phone screen.
The series is worth watching and I could rewatch it a second and third time though it made me cry 😭😭😭😭😭I still have tears rolling down my cheeks while writing this review😭😭😭😭😭😭😭.
The director,screen writer and production crew did a great job.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
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Could have been great, but was lacking a lot
I was so excited to watch this, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. "Master" Peem was WAAAY to stiff to be a believable character to fall for and in 12 episodes there was only 2 spicy scenes and 1 of those was the support couple. I wasted 12 hours and was rewarded with only 8 minutes of actual intimacy. I just couldn't feel any real emotion between Khem and Peem, just so rigid and distant.I will not watch the follow-up and will not re-watch this series. The whole drama could have been reduced to 10 episodes and made the same impact, too long for too little reward.
If you truly just want a chilling drama, it is perfect and very well done, if you want romance and spice with your drama, pass on this one.
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