Ram Srikar
The show falls into a genre that’s rarely explored in the streaming space. Journey is pure drama. It does feature rather sensational elements like crime and violence but it’s not centered around them.
This means we have to bear long stretches of melodrama where the emotions are rubbed on our faces with little to zero subtlety. And it’s both exhausting and effective.
One of the points of the story is to track the fall and rise of its characters but the show invests so much time on their fall that you get restless. On the flip side, it makes you root for the character to succeed so at least you can be saved from the on-screen misery.
Cheran brings the recurring elements in his films—career pursuit, family bonding, redemption, commitments, and social consciousness—to Journey and weaves a tale that’s familiar but honest. You can see this honesty seep through the narrative in tiny moments.
Journey is, without a doubt, an agmark Cheran product and is filled with touches we have seen in his films. It portrays the ugly side of life and society but also tries to instil hope. It tells you that life will not always be fair but gives an assurance that all will be well in the end.
The show does leave you with a warm feeling and a tiny bit of hope at the end but to get there you have to be very patient.