A Journey To Love Review

Coming to the end of 2023, A Journey To Love (一念关山) is another drama that managed to attract a large audience. It is not a title that I was keen on watching so soon after Wonderland Of Love which is another historical drama with power plays. But I gave it a go nevertheless due to all the chatter. It wasn’t particularly engaging to me in the beginning but I forced myself to continue as much as I could. So, did it get better as the story moves along? A Journey Of Love review below will provide some insights from my own perspective.

My rating: 8/10
Episodes: 40
Type: Historical Romance
Aired: November 2023
Images Credit: Douban Movie

The Cast Of A Journey To Love

• Cecilia Liu Shi Shi as Ren Ru Yi / Ren Xin
• Liu Yu Ning as Ning Yuan Zhou
• Alen Fang Yi Lun as Yu Shi San
• He Lan Dou as Princess Yang Ying
• Chen You Wei as Yuan Lu
• Wang Yi Zhe as Qian Zhao
• Li Huan as Sun Lang
• Chen Hao Yu as Chu Yue
• Chang Hua Sen as Li Tong Guang
• Ye Xiao Wei as Li Shou Ji / Prince He Dong
• Yuan Ruo Hang as Li Zhen Ye / Prince Luo Xi
• Yin Zhu Sheng as Li Zhun / An Emperor
• Chen Xiao Yun as Noble Consort Chu
• Zhang Tian Yang as Yang Xing Yuan / Wu Emperor
• Chen Du Ling as Xiao Yan / Wu Empress
• Zeng Ke Lang as Yang Xing Jian / Prince Dan Yang
• Zhang Lei as Zhang Song
• Lu Xing as Chief Secretary Du
• Maggie Huang Meng Ying as Jin Mei Niang
• Zhang Qiao Er as Liu Li
• Zhang Fan as Deng Hui

Main Characters

Ren Ru Yi / Ren Xin

Ru Yi is a low level spy for Scarlet Guards which is the intelligence outfit of the An state. Prior to that, she was an assassin with a high ranking in Scarlet Guards before she had to hide her identity. Ru Yi is a very sharp and capable killer with great martial arts skills. She is trained to carry out missions and hence, doesn’t trust others easily. Hence, she appears as cold and direct with little experience in building relationships.

Ning Yuan Zhou

Ning is the former Deputy Chief of Liudao Hall which is Wu state’s intelligence unit. He has no interest in political power plays but is a man of integrity when it comes to his Liudao Hall comrades. He is a skilled martial artist and respected leader.

Yu Shi San

Shi San was a Commandant of Liudao Hall under Ning. He is a lover of beautiful women and likes to flirt with them. Thus, he understands their wiles better than most men. While he always seems to be playful, Shi San is adept at tricks and martial arts.

Princess Yang Ying

Princess Yang Ying is the half sister of the Wu Emperor. She is a neglected princess born in the cold palace who nobody truly cares about. She is a naive and trusting young lady who hasn’t seen much of the outside world and the evilness of those around her. Princess Yang Ying has a secret boyfriend named Zheng Qing Yun who is an imperial guard in the palace.

Yuan Lu

Yuan Lu was a Commandant of Liudao Hall. He was Ling’s subordinate and they share a close bond. Yuan Lu is an 18 year old lad with a heart problem. His specialty is in coming up with useful gadgets and weapons to deal with potential enemies.

Supporting Characters

Qian Zhao & Sun Lang

Qian Zhao is a Commandant of Yulin Army while Sun Lang was a Commandant of Liudao Hall. Both of them have a deep hatred for Scarlet Guards as they have caused the deaths of their comrades and Wu state soldiers including Sun Lang’s own father. They are both strong martial artists and used to be Ning’s subordinates. Qian Zhao is a reserved and serious man.

Chu Yue

Chu Yue is the tomboyish daughter of Duke Chu Yuan who is the head of the powerful Sha Xi Tribe in An state. Her aunt is the An Emperor’s consort. Chu Yue is a straightforward young girl who would not hesitate to speak her mind. She is betrothed to Tong Guang but hates him.

Li Tong Guang

Tong Guang is Marquis Chang Qing of An state. He is a very capable young man and army commander but doesn’t have the full trust of the An Emperor. Tong Guang’s mother was an An royalty but his father was an insignificant man from Wu state. He has his own agenda in An politics and he is also having a secret affair with his Emperor’s noble consort. His attendant is Zhu Yin.

Li Shou Ji / Prince He Dong & Li Zhen Ye / Prince Luo Xi

Both of these princes are the An Emperor’s sons. Prince He Dong is the eldest while Prince Luo Xi is the second son. They are not as capable as Tong Guang and thus, are always jealous of him.

Li Zhun / An Emperor

The An Emperor is a suspicious and shrewd man. He is also ambitious with a penchant for wars to expand his influence. He married Noble Consort Chu from the powerful Sha Xi Tribe to ensure their support.

Noble Consort Chu

Noble Consort Chu is Chu Yue’s paternal aunt. She is married to the An Emperor but is in love with Tong Guang with whom she is having a secret relationship.

Yang Xing Yuan / Wu Emperor

The Wu Emperor is a reckless ruler who has just lost the war with An state and is taken hostage. He has 2 younger brothers, Prince Dan Yang and Prince Ying.

Xiao Yan / Wu Empress

Xiao Yan is the Wu Empress. She is pregnant with the Wu Emperor’s baby and wants to make her child the new Emperor should her husband fails to return from An.

Yang Xing Jian / Prince Dan Yang

Prince Dan Yang is the Wu Emperor’s younger brother. He also has eyes on the throne and has little reason to want his brother’s safe return.

Zhang Song

Zhang Song is the Prime Minister of the Wu state,. His ambition is to remain the power behind the throne.

Chief Secretary Du

Chief Secretary Du is the official selected to be part of the delegation to accompany Princess Yang Ying to An state to negotiate for the release of the Wu Emperor.

Jin Mei Niang

Jin Mei Niang is the Chief of the Jin Sha Sect. The sect is known to be an intelligence gatherer which provides information for a price.

Liu Li

Liu Li is Ru Yi’s former maid in Scarlet Guards and now working as a laundress in the An army camp.

Deng Hui

Deng Hui is the new Commander of Scarlet Guards who apparently hates the female members as they caused his father’s death. He is a conflicted commander who has to serve a cruel Emperor and yet has to be loyal to protect his life and state.

Synopsis

Ru Yi was an assassin with the Scarlet Guards which is An state’s intelligence branch. She is thought to have died and changed her identity to remain hidden so that she can quietly investigate who killed Empress Zhao Jie of An. She rejoined Scarlet Guards as a low level spy. While on a mission together with other spies in Wu state, their identities are exposed and Ru Yi’s colleague is killed. As Ru Yi tries to escape from Wu’s officers, she gets entangled with Ning who is the former Deputy Chief of Liudao Hall which is Wu’s intelligence bureau.

At the same time, Wu has just lost a war with An and the Wu Emperor has been taken hostage. Ning is compelled to lead a delegation to An to secure the release of the Wu Emperor when his former comrades of Liudao Hall are being accused of treason for the war defeat. He ropes in Ru Yi to be part of the delegation due to her knowledge of An’s royal family and their politics. In return, he will help her with information pertaining to Empress Zhao Jie’s case.

As they travel together to An, both Ning and Ru Yi begin to fall in love with each other. Along the way, they have to ward off threats to their lives from enemies who don’t want the Wu Emperor to be released. Ru Yi also has to learn to trust Ning since they are from different states to begin with.

A Journey To Love Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)

A Journey To Love has an open ending but with much sadness along the way. In the last episode, Wu and An states cooperate in the war against Beitan. While awaiting reinforcement led by Prince Dan Yang, Ning, Ru Yi, Shi San, Chu Yue, and Tong Guang are staring at defeat from Beitan’s attack on a crucial city as they are outnumbered. Tong Guang feels guilty and shameful over his incompetence which caused many of his soldiers to die. So, he makes the decision to go and kill the Beitan King without consulting the others.

Ning has to go to the battleground to save Tong Guang and is pierced by spears as a result. There is no confirmation that he died but the scene will make you presume so. Ru Yi then takes up the mission to assassinate the Beitan King and Crown Prince. She successfully does so and throws explosives in the tent which erupted in flames. The scene shows an explosion which also indicates that she would have died. With the Beitan camp in disarray and Prince Dan Yang’s arrival with reinforcement, Wu and An win the war and push Beitan soldiers back to the north.

10 years later, the scene shows Chu Yue in a grass field. A boy on a horse is riding towards her. He introduces himself as Ning Shi San and tells Chu Yue that he also has a sister named Ren Lu. As Chu Yue hugs him, she sees Ning, Ru Yi, Shi San, Yuan Lu, Qian Zhao, and Sun Lang riding happily on their horses. The scene has a hazy-like quality to it which you can interpret it to be Chu Yue’s imagination. Alternatively, it can also indicate that Ning and Ru Yi are still alive and the boy is their son.

Who Dies In The Drama?

Qian Zhao and Sun Lang die in Episode 35 after Beitan soldiers are let into the An and Wu border by the Second Prince of An, Prince Luo Xi. The prince does so out of spite for being banished by his father who thought that he killed the First Prince.

Yuan Lu dies of exhaustion in Episode 36. He was traveling non-stop for days to An state to raise the alarm that Beitan soldiers are launching an attack. He dies in Princess Yang Ying’s arms. Shi San dies in Episode 39 in the war with Beitan after ensuring Chu Yue’s safety.

When Did The Leads Get Together?

Ru Yi already identified Ning to be the man she wants to have a baby with as early as Episode 5. But this is without any emotional attachment as she is just following the late Empress Zhao Jie’s advice to have her own child but never fall in love with a man. As Ru Yi learns more about relationships and spends more time with Ning, she truly begins to develop feelings for him. Ning is also smitten by her but has to suppress his feelings due to the mission at hand.

Ru Yi is severely injured when Qian Zhao and Sun Lang attack her after finding out that she is a Scarlet Guard member in Episode 10. Ning insists on saving her against his friends’ wishes in Episode 11. She doesn’t want his help initially as she isn’t sure if she could trust him. To prove his sincerity towards her, Ning allows Ru Yi to stab him. He knows she wouldn’t have the heart to kill him in the first place. All Ning wants is to save her and for her to go on to have a happy life.

They become a couple after the incident in Episode 12 when Ru Yi saves Princess Yang Ying and returns to join Ning’s delegation to An. This time, Ning agrees to have a baby with her once everything is over. They get married with a simple ritual in Episode 37 after Ning rescued Ru Yi from being forced to marry Tong Guang.

Is There A Breakup?

Ru Yi and Ning quarrel over Tong Guang in Episode 17 as he is jealous and suspicious of Tong Guang’s motives. After they have calmed down, Ru Yi tells Ning in Episode 18 that she has second thoughts about living a secluded with him after their mission is over. Ru Yi is still interested to make use her expertise and experience while Ning is tired of the schemings and power struggles of the ruling class and wants a quiet life. Hence, they agree to rethink about what they really want for the future.

Ning and Ru Yi realize how much they mean to each other after he nearly dies in Episode 20 to save Tong Guang who is under attack. They make a promise to always be together in Episode 21 following the near death experience.

Li Tong Guang’s Background

Tong Guang is actually Ru Yi’s sole disciple. Ru Yi reveals Tong Guang’s life story to Yuan Lu in Episode 17. Tong Guang’s mother was a princess who was married to the Crown Prince of Shu. But when Shu and An became enemies, her husband tried to kill her out of spite. She was saved by a musician who was performing in Shu palace. The musician risked his life to bring her back to An and they became intimate. He subsequently died and Tong Guang’s mother didn’t know how to face her own son.

As a result, Tong Guang felt abandoned. He was also ashamed that his father was a musician. Thus, he was a problematic child. Empress Zhao Jie asked Ru Yi to guide and teach Tong Guang as she felt that they share similar traits. So, Ru Yi became Tong Guang’s master. He also ended up being very attached to Ru Yi. When she had taught him all that she knew, she left An on a mission although he wasn’t happy with her decision. He subsequently thought Ru Yi had died in the fire that killed Empress Zhao Jie.

Love Struck

6 years have past before Tong Guang meets Ru Yi again when he is sent to meet Princess Yang Ying’s delegation. However, Ru Yi denies knowing him since she is now part of the delegation from Wu. Tong Guang becomes irrational and infatuated with her. He wants Ru Yi by his side regardless of who she is. He confirms her identity in Episode 26 through several clues. Tong Guang then confesses his feelings for her but Ru Yi tells him to forget the past as she is not Ren Xin anymore. Ning scolds some sense into Tong Guang after another bout of delusional action to get Ru Yi back to his side in Episode 27.

In Episode 29, Tong Guang again expresses his desire to be with Ru Yi but gets rejected once more. But he tells Ru Yi that he is willing to wait for her although he knows that she loves Ning. He becomes conflicted in Episode 32 as he feels guilty after stabbing Ru Yi in a fight. Ru Yi has purposely pierced herself against Tong Guang’s sword. Since she is a wanted person, doing so will help to erase the An Emperor’s suspicions on Tong Guang and earn him a promotion to be a Duke.

However, Tong Guang becomes tempted to possess Ru Yi when he learns that Ning’s and Ru Yi’s inner strength are weak due to injuries. He forces Ru Yi to marry him in Episode 37 but is rescued by Ning who beats him up to teach him a lesson again. He can only watch as Ru Yi leaves together with Ning.

Chu Yue’s Relationships

The An Emperor betroths Chu Yue to Tong Guang in Episode 10. But the 2 of them don’t get along initially. After a few encounters, Chu Yue feels that Tong Guang is not that bad after all and begins to have some interest in him. In Episode 28, her father also wants her to get along with Tong Guang due to his rising powers for their tribe’s safety in the future.

However, Chu Yue sees Tong Guang and Ru Yi together in Episode 29 and becomes disappointed when he admits that he loves Ru Yi. She meets Shi San who helps her to forget her heartbreak by showing her how to have a good time. This broadens Chu Yue’s outlook about men as she becomes attracted to Shi San’s bad boy personality. So, she strikes up a friendly agreement with Tong Guang to be a fake couple as she is now interested in Shi San. But Shi San draws a line with Chu Yue when she goes to see him again in Episode 30 although he is also attracted to her. After all, she is Tong Guang’s fiancee then.

In Episode 39, Shi Shan could foresee his own death with the war with Beitan. So, he tells Chu Yue that he is someone who wouldn’t commit to one woman although she wants to be with him. Shi San dies after ensuring Chu Yue is out of the battleground when bombs start raining down on them during the war with Beitan.

Who Did Princess Yang Ying End Up With?

After killing Zheng Qing Yun who betrayed her trust, Princess Yang Ying finds Yuan Lu to be someone she can talk to. They share a happy friendship. Yuan Lu confesses to her that he has liked her all along when he is dying in Episode 36. He didn’t want to tell her previously because he is supposed to have a short life due to his heart ailment.

In Episode 37, Princess Yang Ying suggests to Tong Guang that they should get married. When she was trapped in An, she had used her status as a Wu Princess to convince the An Emperor to make her his Empress in Episode 33. She was betrothed to Prince Luo Xi instead as the Crown Princess as the Emperor didn’t trust her. Princess Yang Ying tells Ru Yi and Ning that she doesn’t want to return to Wu in Episode 34 as she wants to use her position to try to secure peace between the 2 states.

With the An Emperor’s and Crown Prince’s death, Tong Guang doesn’t have support of all the tribes as regent. Since Princess Yang Ying was appointed to be Crown Princess by the late An Emperor, it would be easier for Tong Guang to gain all the tribes’ support if they are together. Hence, they agree that that is the best thing to do with a looming war with Beitan and simply got married.

In Episode 39, Princess Yang Ying tells Ru Yi that she is getting along well with Tong Guang and they are respectful of each other. But she still always has Yuan Lu in her heart.

What Happened To Empress Zhao Jie?

How Empress Zhao Jie died in revealed in Episode 26 when Ru Yi hypnotizes Prince Luo Xi. She also obtains information from Tong Guang after he found out her identity. Empress Zhao Jie discovered that her husband had made a deal to buy horses from the Bei Tan to attack Shu. But Bei Tan is their enemy and they had killed Empress Zhao Jie’s father in the past. She disagreed with his move and became angry. Prince Luo Xi was promised the Crown Prince position by his father if he could get his mother to stop raising a ruckus.

So, Prince Luo Xi wrote a memorandum that his mother had gone crazy which was why she was causing trouble. The An Emperor also bribed Empress Zhao Jie’s father of the Sha Dong Tribe to keep quiet about the cooperation with Bei Tan. If the cooperation is exposed, he could lose his throne. In the mean time, Prince He Dong also took the opportunity to frame Empress Zhao Jie’s brothers for fighting over some land. Together with his father-in-law, they tried to get Empress Zhao Jie impeached and deposed. Once she is deposed, Prince He Dong will have a better chance to be the Crown Prince over Prince Luo Xi who was Empress Zhao Jie’s biological son.

All these were done with the An Emperor’s consent including the fire to silence her. That was why Empress Zhao Jie refused to leave when Ru Yi came to rescue her. She was in despair by the betrayal of her husband, father, and son. It was also why the An Emperor refused to entertain Ru Yi’s explanations and she became a scapegoat for Empress Zhao Jie’s death.

The Villain In Wu State

After the Wu Emperor’s death, Prince Dan Yang and Prime Minister Zhang Song begin fighting for control. The Wu Empress takes a decisive step to propose Prince Dan Yang to be the new ruler in Episode 38 as she feels the state needs a leader with Beitan at their doorstep. Prince Ying tries to kill Prince Dan Yang as well as prevent the Empress from delivering a healthy baby so that he could be the only legitimate heir. Ning sets a trap for him to walk into which exposes his crimes. Prince Ying also colluded with Beitan to assassinate the Wu Emperor. Ru Yi kills Prince Ying for his betrayal after he is forced to confess what he had done.

To ensure everyone will rally behind Prince Dan Yang, Ning reads out the late Wu Emperor’s will to appoint his brother to be the new ruler. Zhang Song has to admit he has lost the battle for power. In fact, Ning tells Zhang Song that the late Emperor actually left him 2 wills. One is to appoint Prince Dan Yang to be the new Emperor. The other is to hand over the throne to his unborn child. In his dying breath, he told Ning that he trusted him to do what is right.

Thus, Ning decided that Prince Dan Yang should be the new ruler after learning that Zhang Song had fought to be the power behind the throne. To appoint a child to the throne will just give rise to more instability and power struggle during a critical war with Beitan.

Other Key Events

• Ru Yi’s godmother is killed when she is taken hostage by the Scarlet Guards to threaten Ru Yi in Episode 15.
• Princess Yang Ying kills Zheng Qing Yun in Episode 16 when he tricks her to escape from the delegation to An. He wants to scuttle the plan to bring back the Wu Emperor as per his agreement with Prince Dan Yang. In return, he is promised a promotion.
• Princess Yang Ying is allowed to meet the Wu Emperor in Episode 23.
• Jia Ling kills herself after being defeated by Ru Yi and Ning in Episode 25. Ru Yi wants Jia Ling dead as the latter had killed the Scarlet Guards spies in Wu to cover up her embezzlement.
• Ru Yi kills Prince He Dong in Episode 26 as he was involved in the death of Empress Zhao Jie.
• Ning and his friends rescued the Wu Emperor in Episode 31.
• Ru Yi takes the An Emperor hostage and reveal his crimes against Empress Zhao Jie in Episode 32.
• Princess Yang Ying reveals that she is a woman to the An Emperor in Episode 33 when she knows she couldn’t escape from him. She suggests that she could be his Empress in order to avoid death.
• Ru Yi and Ning reveal the An Emperor’s and Prince Luo Xi’s collusion with Beitan in Episode 37. Deng Hui kills Prince Luo Xi after Ru Yi kicks him off the stage. Tong Guang’s attendant kills the An Emperor in the commotion to pave the way for his master to have more power.
• Beitan assassinates the Wu Emperor and Chu Yue’s father in Episode 38.
• Deng Hui dies in the war with Beitan in Episode 39.

A Journey To Love Review – Inconsistent Pacing

A Journey To Love starts off on a rather slow pace to me. Basically, it is a story about a bunch of good friends setting out on a journey to pay a ransom and negotiate for the release of their Emperor following a defeat in a war. A female assassin who has defected from her state gets entangled with the male lead and becomes part of the delegation. The problem for me is the long journey to get to the enemy state. It takes more than half the drama before they get there and it is more than three quarters into the story before they have the Emperor rescued.

Along the way, you are treated to some romance and sabotages due to the infighting among the royals for the throne. I find it to be draggy at times. Then, the pacing changes considerably once you hit the last quarter. Things happen rather quickly especially towards the last few episodes. A last minute villain appears and quickly dispensed with. At times, the story moves so swiftly that the editing and scene transitions couldn’t seem to keep up.

Nevertheless, A Journey To Love has a good plot overall. While I find the first half to be pretty boring, I guess the fast pacing in the last 10 episodes makes up for the earlier grind. You will forget the monotony then if you find the first half slow like I did. So, you might need to be a little patient to wait for the eventual “highlights”, if you can call it that.

Be Prepared For The Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

A Journey To Love kind of reminds me of Tiger And Crane with deaths being the “highlights” that I mentioned above. Depending on how you interpret the last scene, the conclusion sees most of the important characters getting killed. The male lead and his members lost their lives together with the female lead. Thus, you have to be prepared for the sadness if you watch this drama. I suppose the stretched out journey is necessary to set viewers up for the bucket of tears when one friend after another dies towards the end.

Whether all the deaths are necessary is, of course, debatable. Personally, I don’t think they need to kill off so many characters. A confirmation that the female lead remains standing would jive better with the theme given that she has been touted as the best assassin throughout the drama.

The other problem is with the last scene itself. Just like My Journey To You and The Longest Promise, the ending is open to interpretation. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is done well. The character chosen to close off the drama is not one of the main ones. It is a bit hard to relate her to the bunch of men and the female lead that appear at the end. This is because she is only closely linked to one of them but hardly seen together with the rest throughout the drama. So, to use her in the last scene is not so ideal to me.

An Infatuated Character

One other aspect of the drama that baffles me is the way one of the characters has been written. Li Tong Guang is such a complex character that wavers between being smart and idealistic to being delusional and infatuated. You may find him pitiable due to his background. But frankly speaking, I was kind of put off when the story starts showing him as being irrational and infatuated with his master. And the leads actually tolerate him although some of his actions are blatantly wrong. Well, I suppose I was expecting a more well-written and shrewd character to add to the intrigue of a power struggle. But it just falls short.

To me, It is as if the screenwriter can’t decide whether to make Li Tong Guang a good or bad person. Well, he can be both but the problem is his story and character are not effectively fleshed out. So, one minute, he is a rational and capable commander and the next, he is vowing to possess his master no matter what! Then, when you think he has come to his senses, he kidnaps her to force a wedding. His part of the story is just baffling.

However, as Li Tong Guang is just a subplot in the overall story, the drama is not adversely affected as a result. Furthermore, the main leads are able to hold the fort that the weaknesses can be glossed over. Therefore, the drama remains highly watchable.

Acting & Chemistry

This is the first time that I have watched Cecilia Liu in a drama. I think she is great as Ru Yi in the drama with the way she depicts the character. You can immediately sense her toughness and strength as someone trained to kill. She also outshines the male lead in a way due to her more domineering screen presence. I know many have been critical of Liu Yu Ning’s performance in A Journey To Love. To me, it is not that he did badly but his co-star simply overshadowed him.

So, I have no complaints about Liu Yu Ning’s acting. Perhaps he is just miscasted in the role. He is much suited to the character he played in The Legend Of Anle as someone who is smart but has weak health. In A Journey To You, his character is a strong martial artist but that aura seems to be missing. In contrast, Alen Fang steals the show as the playboy Shi San where the male leads are concerned. His good looks and flirty expressions just make him perfect for the role.

In terms of chemistry, I can’t sense anything explosive between Cecilia Liu and Liu Yu Ning. The chemistry is just adequate for a romance between 2 matured characters. I guess that is sufficient for a drama that is not relying on pure romance for its story.

My Verdict – Watch!

A Journey to Love is a good but not great drama to me due to the weaknesses mentioned above. But I still consider it a highly watchable drama. The reason being the story is fairly interesting although the pacing is a little slow in the first half. If you like watching the spirit of brotherhood, this will move you as the story progresses to the last quarter. It may have a long build up to get to the more emotional parts but the wait should be worth it. As the pacing quickens towards the end, the story will also get more engrossing.

As for the romance, this isn’t a young and fluffy kind of love. The female lead is direct and isn’t shy unlike typical historical drama heroines. She does the chasing and flirting in the beginning while the guy shies away instead. So, if you love a strong and straightforward female lead, this drama should be your cup of tea as well. There are enough sweet moments between them for those who crave for romance. But personally, I wouldn’t watch this for the romance but the brotherhood among the men. I find the latter to be more touching overall.

For this review of A Journey To Love, I would give it a score of 8/10. It could have been a real masterpiece if more care had been taken to give viewers a more consistent pacing. This is the most glaring weakness to me. But I still enjoyed it overall and it is one of the better dramas for 2023.