Reaching the peak and fall back to period idol drama's norm.
This is the funniest drama I've watched in a long while. The humor mostly aligns with mine.Initially, the story continues to improve, gaining momentum and escalating stakes. Ultimately, I was hooked from the very first few episodes. However, halfway through, it sacrifices immersion to bring the meta trope to the forefront.
Even though it is the same old trope — transmigration, resisting destiny — this drama is metafiction on steroids, unlike other C-dramas. Unfortunately, the drama goes too far with the trope. When you keep reminding the audience that everything is a made-up story, then why should I care about anything at all? The more you push the idea that characters have medium awareness, the more you risk breaking the audience's immersion. Although this is the extraordinary element of the drama that sets it apart from others, it is the very thing that keeps the drama from being one of the greatest of all time, or at least my favorite C-drama. It completely breaks the immersion I have with the entire story.
Personally, it is normal to see this kind of trope used to kickstart the story, or at the very least, assist the plot progression by giving the upper hand to our leads. Nonetheless, it is such an unappealing idea to overuse or make the core of the plot, as it is cheap.
I was disappointed because I had very high hopes during the watch. I wanted to rate this drama 10/10, but it is totally impossible. No matter how ingenious it is to create such an engaging story (at least before the excessive metafictional awareness arc), in the end, the drama safely landed in the average C-drama territory.
I may have finally reached my C-drama fatigue or have grown out of being an avid C-drama fan after such a long journey of watching C-dramas.
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The plot is gone.
I'd like to start by saying I liked the fortieth episode better. If you ask why, it's because everything is resolved, everyone is at ease, everything falls into place, and the secondary roles get what they want. The fact that one of the maids becomes the prince's concubine and the other the head of the business especially brought a smile to my face. These kinds of people can achieve their ideals. They achieve their desires. Heng's assistant also became a general and guards the border. So, the fact that it contained such beautiful elements impressed me.The series was good in the beginning. I enjoyed watching it. But over time, I think it changed after the fifth or tenth episode. It got complicated, almost drifting away from the plot. For one thing, the dream-within-a-dream, or scenario, and the constant internal interventions within this scenario ruined it. Just as we were trying to do something different, what happened was ruined. And it's too much for a young general to take on a king, two princes, his father, his fiancée, even seven families, and torture them all because of his years-long obsession. Let's say one can't do it, but what about the others? He threatens the king. He manipulates two princes. He imprisons and tortures everyone he encounters. While the others can't do these things, no one asks why. He was a pain in the neck for 36 episodes on his own. We watched this one-sided series. It wasn't like that. The comedy was good. The cast was chosen from actors who are very comedic. It was a warm, endearing series. I liked the actors. The leads were very compatible. Li Yi Tong outdid himself in his acting. He put in a lot of effort. Congratulations. Liu Yu Ning already has a style. He continues in the same vein. Those roles suit him. I enjoy watching them. He suits the role of Zhu Xu Dan. I liked it. Riley Wang was very good. Wang You Shuo was very good. He drove us crazy. He was more than capable as the villain. He suits both good and bad roles. He plays well. I liked it. Chang Long is very good, and comedy suits him very well. Wang Cheng Zi is also a good comedian. I like it. The King and His Concubine, Song and his wife, The Servant Girls, The Screenwriter, Mr. Gao were also some of the ones that caught my attention. The music was good, the clothes were good, the direction was good, the acting was good. As I said, there was a lot of interference in the plot, so much so that there were constant changes in and out, but it became confusing. The plot got messy. The atmosphere changed. Sometimes it became a matter of "why are we back here again?" kind of thing. Things like that bore people. Sometimes changing things up can ruin it. Overall, it's a good series, and everything is good. But we can't ignore what we saw. However, I recommend it to those who haven't seen it.
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Slowly losing patience with the FL
This drama started out great. I love the acting of all the characters. The main couple are adorable. I can understand why the FL initially hated the ML. But 25 episodes in and the hatred just doesn't seem to go away!!!Her misunderstanding the ML started getting old real fast. I've been feeling so bad for him. Poor guy has been mistreated and misunderstood his whole life. The FL is supposed to see the real him and help him. Instead she just adds to his heartbreak and troubles. Even when she finds out the truth, she still hates him for deceiving her. Hello?!?!?! What about you trying to kill him and ruin him at every turn?
This drama is starting to feel like a marvelous lesson in gaslighting. Even after the truth comes put, its the ML apologizing to the FL. Are you kidding me. This breaks my heart because this is a bad script. The acting, the costume, the fight scenes and everything else has been superb. I honestly don't know if I can finish watching this. But I hope the script improves fast.
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this only because of Liu Yuning.
I've only watched up to episode 9, but I'm really annoyed with the female lead character.. when she read the script, she didn't read the whole story.. and when she suddenly came into the story, she immediately hated Nan Heng's character.. all the bad things that happened in there, she immediately accused Nan Heng.. I persisted in watching this only because of Liu Yuning.. honestly, I was really annoyed by the storyline, and really disliked the female lead character.. I'm not sure I'll finish this drama..Was this review helpful to you?
Only I felt bored?
This drama is not my type,In first episode everything seems okay their acting their makeup she looks like bailu , episode starts with funny plot but they failed to develop. I love comedy but not cringey spining like fan in first episode doesn't seems like funny it's like classic drama concept i hate that cringey, and i Expected this as a slow burn romance but it started with Kiss at first meeting hate that too..If it's comedy maybe should like alen fang in A journey to love or person like baishu but I hate comedy from lead protagonist anyway this is my opinion if you feel like the best please continue don't mind me..Was this review helpful to you?
Only good thing is Liu Yuning
I really wanted to watch this drama, but honestly, I was just struggling through it. I made it to episode 9, hoping it would get better, but I was annoyed the whole time. It seems like it’s going to take forever for the female lead to trust him.I adore Liu Yuning—he’s amazing in this drama—but the fact that it’s 40 episodes long and I’m not enjoying it is a problem. If it were shorter, I might have stuck with it, but the episodes are long and draggy.
My biggest issue is the female lead. The actress did an amazing job, but her character was just too much—annoying and, honestly, kind of dumb.
This is also my first time watching a parody-style historical drama, and I have to say, I don’t enjoy it. I like sarcastic shows, but not a straight parody—it just doesn’t work for me.
It breaks my heart to drop it, especially since the edits for Liu Yuning are amazing and their romantic scenes look lovely. But right now, it feels too out of reach for me.
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I enjoyed it
Pro: the male was a good actor. The male last lead story was also interesting. The story was funny. There were some un expecting things. Plot was intriguing. The side characters were interesting. The costumes were nice and his mask was chefs kiss. His change in tone per costume was very good. The second lead story was also good on why he wasn’t the main. Other couples were cute too.Cons: female lead was very very very annoying. She was not smart and did things I was like very annoyed about. Like girl make up your mind and she was just a lot.
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It's Complicated
I genuinely was impressed with how unique and funny this drama was. The actors had good chemistry and the supporting roles were very strong. Loved the night wanders. So why is this complicated? Truthfully I almost dropped it during episodes 26-29. I went from mildly disliking the female lead to loathing her..It was rough and if I didn't like LYN so much I might have missed out.So yes I was emotionally abused with the poor ML, but the last 10 episodes made it worth while. Loved the way this wrapped up. So many CD have weak endings but I thought the way this ended was incredibly creative and so well done. 10/10 for the end.
So I am much more willing to forgive the parts and storyline I didn't like because of an ending I loved.. Would recommend with a cavet of push through the 26-29 it's worth it.
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all that roundabout and slapstick
I was full excitement to embark on this drama. I saw the trailer and I was stoked. I was waiting in anticipation for it. When I was done with "Prisoner of Beauty", I went straight to this drama and gosh, … I was disappointed. It was saddening to feel disappointed (to be honest) as I wanted to enjoy this drama.I saw a title from one of the reviewers which said (on the line of) "for LYN fans" only. I concur.
I watched the first episode eagerly but, it was sort of a let-down.
First, I went from Wei Shao in "Prisoner of Beauty" to this role here and it was a huge disconnect.
Second, the female lead seemed quite inexperienced and raw to me... especially when I went from Qian Man to this actress.
Third, the premise was not a fun watch for me. I went from the intrigue of "Prisoner of Beauty" to the roundabout-quite-a-mess plot (to me) and I just did not have the patience to ride it out. "Prisoner of Beauty" was excellent. I loved the acting. I loved the intrigue. I loved the suspense and the riveting plot.
Well, as you can see, I did not fail this drama at all, so please don't bash me for it. We are all entitled to our own positive/ negative reviews with our own justifications. I do think it'll be a good watch for his fans. I do like him but I'm not in his fandom (yet). Thus, I gave up the roundabout and decided to embark on something else.
Salut!!
[I respect other reviewers and their individual choices. There are plenty of dramas out there to suit every taste. Direct your support or lack of to the drama itself. If you support this drama, good for you and please continue to. Please write your own good reviews. If you do not support this drama, please also write your own review. We are reviewers. Not personal attackers. We review. We do not attack. Reserve your opinions for your reviews and not for the reviewer who is responding to the drama itself and not to other external aspects. I am responding to this drama that I have watched and I am not personally attacking any actor or actress in real life. It is all based on this particular drama only/ this particular reel life only.]
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This review may contain spoilers
Not for Me
I was excited to watch this because it looked great in the preview. Unfortunately, I only lasted 7 episodes. The FL actress is so pretty. She was very funny at the beginning where she was sucked in the script and died so many times. I love how she portrayed her role. But I don’t know, I just don’t see the chemistry between the leads. Maybe that’s just me. I watched the ML in another drama and he was great there, but sadly, I just couldn’t get myself to be hooked with this one. I watched the last episode back in July and it’s already September and I still haven’t gone back to watch it. Definitely not for me.Was this review helpful to you?
Not my cup of tea
It started off very well, I really enjoyed seeing the FL, as she was the reason I started watching cdrama, my first cdrama being Bloody Romance.So, the script, initially seemed intriguing, a female traveling back in time, in the script. I get that this is a new concept, of scenes repeating themselves over and over again, but at some point it got so tiring..
I wanted to see at least one episode beginning to the end where the story and plot were developing and I could get a glimpse of how it will become, but no..maybe its just not ky cup of tea.
Other than the tiring script, I really like both main leads, supporting characters, music and costumes.
For the ones wanting to watch a drama that has a narative, I wouldn’t recommend starting this. For the ones that just want to chill and watch a drama go for it.
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A Chinese Version of Extraordinary You and It Is Not for Me
A Dream within a Dream is a drama about Song Xiao Yu who was pulled inside a script playing a tragic female lead who was constantly bullied and tortured by the male lead, Nan Heng. The story definitely resembles the Korean drama, Extraordinary You, even sharing the same plot that no matter how hard the characters try, they are always pulled back towards the 'right' plot.For the record, I was also unable to finish Extraordinary You. The reason is because I find the idea of being so helpless against the plot (or fate) to be disturbing. I ended up getting bored over the repeated attempts to change the plot and I also cringed at times when the characters failed to change the plot. However, one thing I like about this drama is how they reenact popular scenes from other dramas.
The actors did well though! After watching The Prisoner of Beauty, I became a fan of Liu Yuning, which is why I started to watch this drama. As expected, Liu Yuning did great! He has that charisma and appeal whenever he acts in costume dramas. Li Yi Tong was befitting for her role as Song Xiao Yu/Song Yi Meng, as well.
To be fair, I've only watched 4 episodes. I might give this drama another try but for now, I am putting it on-hold.
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