A Journey to Love: Dropped Drama Diaries

Aug 15
2 min read

Title:	A Journey to Love (2023)
Platform:	iQIYI
MDL Rating:	8.7
Genre:	Period Idol Romance/ Wuxia
Episode Count:	40
Last Episode Watched:	7
Parental Guidance Rating:	PG (I'd give it PG-13): Violence, Blood, Torture
Starring:	Liu Shi Shi (Love in Pavillion) Liu Yu Ning (Prisoner of Beauty) Alen Fang (Zhan Zhao Adventures) He Lan Dou (Tower of Whispers) Chen You Wei (Love in Pavilion)

Synopsis:

Female assassin Ren Ru Yi, the former left envoy of the Scarlet Guards, becomes a member of the Wu's State's escort delegation to save the King of Wu who has been taken hostage by the State of An. Together with Ning Yuan Zhou, the leader of the Wu State's Six Realms Hall, the free-spirited Yu Shi San, Princess Yang Ying, clever teen Yuan Lu and the imperial guard Qian Zhao, they experience love, life, death, and grow together. @MDL

Non-Spoiler Thoughts:

This is the drama that made me get iQIYI and sadly, it didn't hold my attention. While the characters were mature and battle hardened with a "will they/won't they" dynamic, and the story was layered nicely with politics and action, I just wasn't feeling the vibe. Which is a very hot take and I acknowledge that. The narrative was interesting, but slow in building with a grittier undertone that I wasn't feeling at the time. I hope to maybe go back in one day and finish, but most reviews I've seen unanimously hate the ending, so maybe I'm better off?

A Journey to Glow, the spin off of A Journey to Love started filming in 2026, starring Wang An Yu (The Last Immortal) and Zhao Jin Mai (The Princess Royal), and I'm pretty excited about it! It looks like it can be watched as a standalone.