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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
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Like Love 2 (Mandarin) [Nobody Knows But Me]

By Golu
The second film in this series, it again took a long time to finish watching it. I am really not sure why this movie or mini series had to be almost 3.5 hours long. The message or the struggles that. They were trying to show could easily have been squeezed into shorter segments with much more impact. So sadly, this one negative from the prequel still exists in this second feature. The story is a logical progression from where the prequel ended at the two boys coming together. This time it's really all about dealing with being a couple and families who are vehemently opposed.

The story here now moves from what happens after An Ziyan and Maiding are a couple. The duo go on a holiday where they meet another couple who pretty much share the sam dynamic as them. One of them is more serious whereas the other is more playful. Almost 40 minutes are spent in establishing their friendship and then its nowhere mentioned again. When they are back home, Ziyan's parents forcible take him back home when they learn that he is in relationship with another boy, leaving raiding confused. His parents literally lock him up, emotionally blackmail him, till Ziyan's grandfather comes home and talks sense into them. An Ziyan and Maiding get back together as a couple, but soon a new issue comes when Maiding's mom desperately wants him to meet girls and marry. He has been lying to them about him having girlfriend. He even asks Ziyan's ex-girlfriend to pretend to be his girlfriend. Anyway a lot of drama happens after this. The two families , still unhappy even meet each other. Surprisingly, Maiding's parents have a sudden change of heart and finally everyone is agreeable on their relationship. The last 15 minutes are spent building a possible third film in the series where we see Ziyan spending time with another guy hiding some secret from Maiding. But I don't think that film is ever being made now.

Just like the first part, the thing that stays with this film is the amazing chemistry and the goofy loving relationship that the couple share with each other. Their love is something different and whatever they did, their chemistry just grew from strength to strength. The way they tease each other, fight for each other, shower with love or even get mad with each other is done very realistically. The family drama idea was good but somewhere the execution lacked finesse as they did with basic love story. The whole sequence where Ziyan's grandfather reprimands his parents and sister for not supporting him fo love and instead emotionally blackmailing him was so spot on. The dialogues in that sequence were so true and relevant. To almost every family and individual. One of the best scene. Also the whole first sequence with the other couple on holiday was all nice and all but what was the whole point. It brings absolutely nothing to the story besides trying to show us how the story and love is growing between the two individuals. Anyway, I'd recommend watching this film just for the sheer chemistry and unique relationship that the couple shares and how they manage to move around it. Maiding somehow has a upper hand and gets more scope to be naughty and silly and goofy, but An Ziyan also does a very credible job of the serious lover who is willing to take on the world for the sake of love. I was quite hooked for the first one and a half hour, but after that many scenes started to feel stretched too much and then it was hard for me to continue to keep focussed. But overall, I still think its a slight improvement over the first part. (5.5/10)
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