A Dream within a Dream

This is a shocker. Never ever have I seen such a brilliant tongue-in-cheek comedy, such a self-deprecating scenario, taking down the very industry it belongs to.
And with such wit, and careful balance between humour and outright sarcasm displayed against the production teams, marketing gurus, writers, directors and diva-status actors making up the drama movies industry.
It's a gem.
May it rise to 10 out of 10 approval rating points, for it stands easily at 20.
How about the music?
Another gem. So often in Chinese dramas the music trashes over dialogue at impossible high volumes, making impossible to follow or even hear what the actors are saying.
Here, the music is a character in itself. It comments, it pokes fun at the situation, script or characters. It reinterprets classical scores, it goes down on you with heavy metal rings. It has it all, but mostly, I think it has brains.
It is a feast for the ears, soul and mind.
And please, where have you ever seen top actors deriding their own status on camera, while winking at the audience?!
Acting skills are never a problem in the dramas I have seen. So many a boring script and forgetful directing I endured for the sake of the brilliant actors picking up the production from the trash bin.
Here I hope that the beautiful cast had as much fun poking fun at their real life status as I had watching them acting.
Oh, and I forgot: yes, it is about an actress "falling" into a different dimension, and into the script of the period drama she is cast to play in.
But, boy, after this overly done premise, everything else was turned on its head with sheer wit of scenario, of directing, of acting.
Have I said it already?
It's an absolute best!

Read More

Would've been 10.. but

This show was so good when it started.. it was hilarious.. i loved most of the cast. I would've given it all the stars i possibly could give but.. the FL kinda killed it for me.. I've watched literally all of LYN shows and loved him and the FLs.. but this one was just not it for me. Practically the whole entire series she just showed she didnt care as much for the ML as he did for her like she only cared about her drama and thats it. She spoke about how the characters were real people but her role was so detached from everyone. Like it was already a few episodes till the end and she still hasnt convinced me that she was truly in love with the ML.. idk maybe its just the lack of chemistry? Idk.. 8.5 was the best i could give due to the FL..

Read More

A fun comedy that also tugs at your heart strings

A well done troupe of a modern day person sucked into a period drama with touches of ground hog day.

Loved the comedy and the way the drama poked fun at all the usual period drama troupes. The best comedians were the ML’s general and Prince Nan Rui - perfect delivery and timing. I also enjoyed the performance of the handsome second boss of Moonshade.

FL was annoying at times but thankfully her voice helped to temper it. ML was fantastic and the way the story unfolded to show us his true person was beautifully done.

I was angry at the Emperor for hating the ML and torturing him at every turn then I realised this “bad writing” was consistent with the idea that the whole story was supposed to be just that - a drama with a typical script that doesn’t make sense such as the 3-person stabbing each other and 180 behaviour change of the emperor. Then it shows us that the parts of the world that unfolds on its own was better than the scriptwriter’s story such as Moonshade.

This drama ended well as the last few episodes surprised me by not being the typical loop. Loved it!

A must watch if you’re tired of all the recycled troupes that is common in many Chinese period dramas.

Read More

A satire that becomes the thing its parodying

EDIT: Came back to drop this from a 7.5 to 6.5 when i remembered that weirdly homophobic episode from the first half.

The way I was bawling my eyes out with laughter for the first dozen or so episodes and then.... stopped. A Dream Within A Dream starts off as a fkn hilarious satire aimed at Chinese costume drama fans like myself. After having been let down a while ago by My Only Love Song – a Kdrama with a similar premise to ADWAD but terrible execution – I was ready to be hurt again.

Was I hurt? Yes. But only after thoroughly enjoying the first half of this series. And because the start was so good, I was uncharacteristically forgiving about the narrative trajectory for the rest of it (hence the weirdly high rating). A lot of times I was laughing at scenes in the middle episodes because I was viewing them through a satirical lens, even though the parody elements kinda fell off the wagon around the mid way point. There was also just enough small gags to keep me going to the end, but not without disengaging from major chunks of the storyline along the way.

The problem is that ADWAD ultimately folds in on itself. It becomes what it was parodying. And despite some attempts to salvage some of the humour and satire at the end, it never truly recovers.

Read More

I binged this in 3 days and if I was to give an overall score only based of my enjoyment while watching then It would be a 9.5/10 but there are some glaring issues ( or red flags maybe) in the story that effected my scoring here. Here is a list of all the goods and bads;

THE BAD :
1. a very irresponsible portrayal of sexual assault. In an attempt to run from a loveless marriage Yi Ting drugs and tries to r*pe our male lead and she suffers no consequences. My jaw was on the floor. Shame on writers. This specific plot line is enough for me to not recommend watching this to anyone regardless of how much I loved the rest. There is so many things wrong with this I dont even know what to say... She was a very problematic character as whole. Pathetic ,pretentious and predatory. All the Ps. Viewer discretion is advised

2. Yi Meng, our female lead, is not nearly enough intentional in her decisions given the fact that she had read the script beforehand and knows all the important plot points. First few episodes were fine because she was just learning how this world functions and it was funny but as the story progressed she refused to learn to use the story mechanisms in her advantage. She is so dumb it hurts to watch. At some point a whole new character is added to the story that wasn't even in the original script but she still foolishly refuses to accept that she can try and change her ending insisting that iconic parts will happen regardless whereas Nan Heng, where he uses one of story mechanisms to change an iconic scene in the plot barely a few hours after learning it. Which takes me to my next problem,

3. Nan Heng overpowers Yi Meng in every way possible. He has great martial art skills, ,he is strong and quick thinker, knows politics really well but he is also sympathetic and very heroic. He get so much more done even without reading the script. All while the female lead who has all the cheat codes and prior knowledge is running around like a headless chicken. Oh did I mention that he has great photographic memory?
Funny thing is before Fl gets transported into the script, the drama makers were in a meeting discussing the production where our female lead side have to fight for her right. This scene shows us that we are going to watch a parody of sorts where all common repeated issues of c drama land will be made fun of . Someone in the meeting mentions the fact that the female leads in c dramas are always used as a tool to make the male lead shine . Later, our female lead is reading the script and she is raging at how bad it is because her role is a tragic doormat while all the glory goes to Nan Heng. Although I haven't watched enough C dramas to know the tropes, misogyny is universal and I can see what they're trying to critic. Then They actually go on and repeat the same mistake. All Yi Meng does is making Nan Heng shine.

THE GOOD:
1,Production
I have never seen a historical drama, kdrama or cdrama or anything else, with such a grand production. The set, the outfits. the camera work, the editing, the fighting choreographies etc., were all great. They had huge budget and it was obviously very well spent. Its a feast to the eyes.

2, Music
beautiful and well placed

3, Comedy
Most of time the comedy hashtag in genre section just means cringe but Here I actually busted out laughing which doesn't happen to me alot.

4, Angst and slow burn
It takes alot for the main lead to finally confess their feelings both to themselves and then to each other so when it finally happens its satisfying. After they get together there are many obstacles and set backs and I was surprised how well the angst suited the story when we started with such a light and fun mood. Kudos to both actors playing the main lead they cried and wailed.

5, Layered story telling.
this premise is not anything unique. There are countless dramas where the lead is thrown inside a fictional world and had to fight the plot/writer but for some reason A dream within a dream is a quite fresh story.
As I said before there is hilarious comedy and there is heart wrenching angst but also there is political intrigue, dysfunctional families, unique and powerful friend ships and philosophical themes. There was a few thought provoking ideas there and some memorable dialogues that made me pause and keep replaying it,
Also it has the best ending of dramas with this premise or any drama that I've seen. Very satisfying

Read More

Break conventional expectations and be patient!

Honestly, it took me a while to get a grip and stick to the end. I wasn't really use to the dual dimension story telling where the story has an awareness of modern and reality where it it involves the actor. So, patient is key I guess. I watch on past Episode 3 and 4 , where i eventually stick to the story. It is quite interesting and I would say refreshing.

Both female and male lead do very well. I like Liu Yu Ning better as he fits the role well - cool, calm and emotional. Female lead at times annoys me, but well.. female role, needs some sort like that , I guess.

i gripe most as the script is really cruel to the male lead, at times, overly done , so it gets viewer quite angry and emotional. I guess that makes viewer stays on to keep watching and see the outcome expected. Nevertheless, the story was saved with ending that would out viewers at ease. Bringing the consciousness of the male lead back is surprising a good ending. Not the usual corny good ending.

So, overall , I still rate this a great drama to watch, but do be patient, Try give it a good 3 - 4 episodes before you give up hahahaha.

Read More

It quite better than i originally thought it would be.

All though Chu Gui Hong become an antognist now in letter episode
but
now it fill more real and is acting is quit better then when i want to be a roll model and want to be a good person whatever a good person by his praspective.

. . .

Read More

2025 the year of original script

I’ve been putting off my review until now. from what I see from all those who watched the show and primarily has issues with the FL, I could say this show is really not for everyone.

if one not used to cdramas use of tropes, or this is first time into cdrama, the understanding and relatedness to the scenes showed in this drama might be much lower.

this year is really the year of original script, showcase talent of scriptwriters. being other one that enjoyed was filter, ADWAD is definitely up there.

during the course of the drama, I had no issue with the FL, whilst I thought reducing few episodes does make it better, but FL stays rational is understandable. guess those who were frustrated wanted her to see NH for who he is and then fall in love, and then what? the turning point of their relationship is when SYM finally believes in him. and they working together to change their fates. and that’s the end of their relationship, there’s no growth anymore. HEA. imagine them being together in the middle, their chemistry and story will suffer.

why NH keeps suffering when many forgot his manager requested 900 scenes of just him. the real scriptwriter fulfilled that wish. the emperor perhaps represent those people with high position job that doesn’t treat their people like humans and when they did something worth praising, they just switch their tune.

I felt this story is trying to show such people and such does exist irl, relatable in that sense.

it ended with a bang, the last few episodes were the best I’ve seen since MLC.

Read More

White Head, Same Heart

Okay so this drama had literally EVERYTHING I love: time travel, reincarnation, time loop chaos, a modern girl yeeted into a fantasy world and enemies to lovers?! Hello?? All my favorite tropes dumped into one glorious 40-episode soup. I was seated.

And what a breath of fresh air it was, from start to finish! The plot kept twisting and turning so much I almost got whiplash lol. Sure, some things were predictable (as all dramas are), but the constant absurdity of it all? Weirdly part of its charm. They told us from the very beginning that this girl was trapped in a ridiculous script and had to rewrite her own fate no matter how bizarre, and that’s exactly what she did, with full chaos energy. And I love that she was hellbent on staying within the world and not return.

The music was great and also, those scenes where they had to play out the “actual script” while flashing between timelines was absolutely awesome and super cool! That was one of the most creative parts of the show, hands down.

AND… it had a happy ending!!! Like a real happy ending. YAYYYYY!!! ◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜🎉

Now for my nitpicks:

Like a few other plotlines, they just kind of abandoned the “secret recipe to the unbreakable sword” subplot. FL literally went “meh, idk” and moved on to the next problem lol.

ML’s dad was a certified monster and then suddenly he’s a loving father again? Nah. I still hated him to the very end. One beef I have with Chinese dramas is that parents can never be wrong (especially the emperor). *sigh* but do I still watch? Yes. Yes, I do.

ML himself had the classic drama disease: from ruthless and calculating to golden retriever. Though to be fair, that could be blamed on the “script rewrite” by the FL.

And FL… girl. You do so well sometimes. And other times you go and make the exact same dumb mistake that already ruined things once. Like?? WHY. (⩌_⩌) You literally know what happens! But anyway, I had long since turned off my brain and just enjoyed the ride for this one 😩

Overall, this is just a super fun watch. Not too serious, not too deep, just pure entertainment wrapped in fantasy time-loop ridiculousness. Everyone wins in the end with the power of friendship and love and sparkles and whatever else. Yeyyyyy!! LMAO 💀✨

Emz recommends!

Read More

Recommended

Currently finished watching 6 eps. It was really funny. Ost lyrics was so hilarious and 2x -3x dying scene got me laughing so hard. There is also a lot of meta jokes and hidden references to some dramas. I really enjoyed it. I am loving fml's acting so much. For me supporting characters actings are really important. They tend to irritate me a lot. But here supporting characters acting are also good and they are also really funny. So far fml's character is consistent. I hope they don't change it. Drama is very novel coded. Like how I imagine novels transmigrated fml's to act. Overall I am enjoying everything. Looking forward to upcoming episodes.

Read More