Perfect ending, and good drama.
Very good drama, with a perfect ending and a surprise for me.The story is fresh, with a neat plot and good characterization. It has a good soundtrack and good production. It combines three elements: time travel, modernity, and the world of a novel. Full of emotions and ups and downs, laughter, sadness and anger. They delivered it epically. It really reached the heart. Many of the plots are unusual and fresh and not always about romance or politics or domestic drama.The dramatic scenes were well-done, without the need to create sadness by killing off characters. The story's ending was perfect, with everyone happy in their own way.Was this review helpful to you?
A Literal Masterpiece Romantic Comedy that is a critique at the usual tropes found in dramas.
Leaves you thinking long after.With fighting against your own fate at its core: When I first saw the trailer for A Dream Within a Dream, I didn't think it was going to be as serious and thought provoking as it ended up being. I just thought it was going to be a simple, little nice romantic comedy that would keep me laughing and be an easy watch. While it is still that it is also so much more and so much deeper. I love how it took most of the tropes we are used to seeing in Asian dramas and turned them on their head. I will give two examples: the ML always saving the FL. Most of us love that trope because it shows how much the ML loves the FL which we also saw with Nan Heng and Song Yimeng. But I think some of the lengths the ML's go thru to protect the woman they love can be ridiculous & extremely dangerous as highlighted here. Another trope always used in dramas is the villainous sister the FL always has. ADWAD really turns that around while Song Yiting may actually seem like she is in the beginning there is so much more to her, and I really loved the relationship between the Song sisters. I loved the whole Song family. Nan Heng's family was way more complicated but, in the end, I also ended up loving the relationship that grows between Nan Heng and Nan Rui in the last episodes. It was gold! Loved Nan Rui's development.
Speaking of complicated characters let's get to the FL in this moment: Song Yimeng: She wasn't the typical submissive FL that falls on the ML's feet right away. No, she was independent, fiesty, brave, stubborn, irritating, sweet, funny, loyal to those she loved, protective etc. Many people had big problems with her character because she wasn't the usual submissive FL to the ML. Nopes! She had a temper and often used extreme cruelty to push the ML away. To me her actions made perfect sense. Especially gathering his first actions towards her and what she knew of him before actually meeting him. I think SYM also represented those who are very prejudiced and judgmental when it comes to someone. Sometimes that stubbornness doesn't allow people to see who others are. Prejudice is very hard to get over. Until something changes their perspective like it happened with Yimeng,. I loved her journey how she learns to see Nan Heng for who he really is, let's go of her initial prejudice and just gives into her love for him. It wasn't an easy journey, but it was worth it in the end. I loved her from the get-go, she could be frustrating at times, but I loved her development this is what I like seeing in my FL's. Li Yi Tong was excellent in this role. After ADWAD I'll make sure to follow her other dramas.
Nan Heng, the villainous ML, or was he? great job from the writer in showing him thru SYM's eyes at first. Then slowly peeling back his layers to show us who he really is an emotionally damaged hero who will fight for those he oves. Kudos to the script writer for giving Yimeng the same journey she gave us with Heng as viewers. NH also represented that character that perfectly depicts fighting against one's fate. Death and gloom befall him???? nah! He'll do what he has to, to ensure that doesn't come to him or to the woman he loves. He's always meant to be seen as a heartless, ruthless prince? nah! He'll slowly show everyone who he is at his core. I loved that about him. I've seen Liu Yuning in other dramas, but I have to say Nan Heng has been his best character up to date! It will be so hard to top him. The care and love that LYN played him with is hard to reciprocate. He showed what an amazing and versatile actor he is. Loved, loved him in this.
Proudly enjoyed his chemistry with LYT too. They were matched perfectly esp in the comedic and dramatic scenes.
The supporting characters were all written so well and had a big role to play. The cast were all excellent in their roles.
I adored how ADWAD was also a critique how some characters become larger than life and sometimes the route in which the writers want to take them doesn't work anymore. Some writers are too stubborn to take that journey with their characters and often stick to their guns of the original plan. Hence why so many tv shows, books, video games etc end up going wrong in the end. ADWAD had their characters fighting against this retmhic and in the end they win. I wish more writers would realize it's better to go where the characters take you than ending up with an end that makes no sense at all and pissing off the audience.
As to why I say A Dream Within a Dream makes you think because some of the tropes and themes, plot points used by writers are used to make us think differently about a character or a certain scene etc. I think all of us were left coming up with many theories after the episodes aired for that reason. The post credit scene in ep 40 was particularly mind blowing. I'd say it will have fans talking for days even months!
All in all, I give ADWAD a 10/10 and it has reached my top dramas of all time. Seriously so good and worthy of watching more than once. Highly recommended. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I cursed some characters, adored others. So hard to move on from.
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Not Your Typical Historical Drama, and That’s a Good Thing
I can understand why some viewers might struggle with this drama at first. I almost dropped it myself after the opening episode. Coming straight from The Prisoner of Beauty, I needed a moment to recalibrate and get used to the idea of transmigrating into a scripted fictional world where FL is playing a scripted character. (But I stayed because I really enjoyed "Extraordinary You" and the synopsis sorta reminds me of that)I am glad I stayed with it, because what followed was an unexpectedly rewarding experience. The writing stood out as carefully constructed, with intrigue layered throughout and clever use of chaos and misunderstanding, particularly around the masked hero, Li Shi Liu. That storyline alone kept me invested, showing how well the narrative was planned from the very beginning.
It would not be fair to compare this drama directly with TPOB. Although the two may appear to belong to the same genre, they operate on very different aesthetics and tones. Where TPOB has a certain grandeur, this series succeeds through sharp storytelling, playful twists, and its distinctive thematic approach.
I would encourage viewers to approach it with an open mind, rather than holding on to rigid expectations of what a historical drama should look like. If you do, you will discover a work of striking creativity. For me, it was thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. Oh and dont forget to watch extra scenes after the end credits on the last episode.
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This review may contain spoilers
watch for the laughs and fluff but not for the plot
The first few episodes of the drama is actually really funny. It made me anticipate the next few episodes! After watching multiple of the "go into script" dramas I felt quite familiar with what she was experiencing. The usual denial of the plot, the attempts to make changes and slowly figuring out the rules. It began well however midway I realised the progression stopped. Song yi meng (SYM) stopped making significant changes to the plot. She also didnt spend much effort to analyse the changes taking place. Honestly the first major change where instead of Nan Heng it was LSL who saved her from the fire, should have made her question the flow but this was looked over until much later on. Anyway after awhile until ep 30 it became quite draggy and I was just waiting for Nan Heng's redemption. This was another point for 30 eps SYM continued with her prejudice of Nan Heng even though he was outright helping her and literally crying multiple times in front of her. Until ep 29, where suddenly in 2 episodes everyone's opinion of Nan Heng just changed overnight...so....this part i felt like they could have built it up and developed it much better. Because Nan Heng faced injustice for sooo many episodes so the turn over wasn't very satisfying.The ending definitely went in a way that I did not expect. Although the progression was messy but it was an interesting take. However all these dramas never give us enough of the modern world time as well. A 5 min cookie video after credits for the modern world is just :(((( I was very curious about Nan Feng's side of the story as well. Unfortunately it was not really explained.
The villains were just really stubborn and annoying. I have nothing more to say they are just annoying. Not really the smart kind of villain just jealous kind.
--- ACTING ---
Hats off to Liu YuNing, omg he really managed to shine in this drama. All his scenes and expressions were really so interesting to watch and his character had alot of story to allow him to portray different types of emotions and expressions. Honestly since I knew the ending is happy in the modern world the deaths didnt really feel very sad to me so instead i was admiring his acting for every death scene. It was really good and he makes it look so good on camera. I feel this drama really gave him the opportunity to showcase his skills.
I think Li YiTong was also okay but her character was not developed well so I feel she didnt get as much opportunities. It felt like a very one dimensional character. I feel like the makeup artist didnt give her justice with the overlining of the lips cause it was too obvious in all the episodes >< I enjoyed watching her comedic scenes though at the start it was really funny.
--- OVERALL ---
In terms of plot, I felt like it was a decent drama, but its definitely not for the plot. For the romance yes, there are many cute moments between the leads. Its a funny drama but it has its flaws so good to watch with not much thoughts. There are many things we start to question while watching but most of them are ignored "since its just a script". But definitely for LYN's acting its a really good watch I CRIED EVERYTIME HE CRIED.
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A Fake Promise
The first part of the drama was very entertaining. The comedy was fresh, the chemistry between the cp and the whole cast was pretty nice. The directing is really the only thing that is actually impressive tho, the shots were different and brave especially for a cdrama, very innovative, the action scenes were beautifuly filmed too which is something that rare to see in cdramaland now.In term of acting, it wasn't bad at all but nothing was that incredible to witness.
Li Yi Tong did good, but when you look at her acting in « Royal Nirvana », you can see the radical difference when it comes to having her in a drama where she can display the depth of her skills or not. Here, she tried her best, but I don't think she portrayed her character the best she could have, some of her scenes felt forced or maybe one dimensional ...
Liu Yu Ning definitely improved again, still showing his ability for range when it comes to acting but you could clearly see how his skills lack depth and strong incarnation.
The writing after 20 eps went downwhill pretty fast, which was very disapointing. The ideas were good, the execution was immature.
The main and strong theme of the drama being the generic "mary sue" role freeing herself from that narrow minded narrative turned into a strong will or direction to make the ml the most pitiful possible. How come the work around the fl didn't get the same dedication?
It turned so forced, it was very hard for me to find the drama interesting during the 2nd part of it.
The main character's development was poorly done; the writing didn't emphasize enough her need to be straightforward and selfish to literally stay alive, AKA chosing herself instead of entertaining the idea of having to sacrifice for her love, for her family, for everyone else but herself, instead they made her seem like ruthless. At the same time, they made the ml seen as the most pitiful, deep down so kind and nice despite everything that happened to him, which ultimately blocked any attempt to showcase any real gray areas for his character, which would have been more realistic when it comes to psychology...
The last part of the drama was completely meaningless, nothing was really interesting to watch, and the conclusion felt flat. They turned the last segment of the drama the story of the ml's life and focussed on his relationship with his father.
The fl became a supporting character, and it's quite baffling when you consider the drama's introduction, which promised us to see her reinvent the character's position in the story, challenging stereotypes etc, clearly it was a fake promise LOL.
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Another thing I didn't like is that all ths female heroines written for stupid ultra left feminists to please idiotic minds and cultivate hate towards men. All the male characters turned into masochists and trash, female heroines just wipe their feet over them each communication scene between genders.
I'm completely sure that there is kind of template of "female inquiry", that marketers created for producers, screenwriters and scenarist. Thats the reason all the heroes suck when it comes to integrity and continuity of characters. Like it written by AI.
I'm sorry, that such poor scenario and poor directing (in terms of quality of female actors perfomance) has such high rating. It means that people turned into undiscriminating consumer already.
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This review may contain spoilers
The female lead doesn’t deserve the criticism she’s been getting.
My favorite drama this summer. The acting is solid, the production is polished, and while some may find the costumes a bit flashy, they actually fit the setting. The show delivers a clear message throughout. Some of the fight scenes are super cool, and the soundtrack is absolutely on point.I’ve seen a lot of comments about people dropping the drama because of the female lead, but I personally find her setup reasonable. She’s actually the most clear-headed female lead I’ve seen in a book-transmigration storyline. For an ordinary person suddenly thrown into a fictional world, you can’t really expect them to treat the characters as if they were real people.
That said, the male lead’s character is perhaps too well written — he’s often the one suffering, his inner struggles are well portrayed, and his tragic backstory is fleshed out, while the female lead’s past and inner world remain underdeveloped. This imbalance makes many viewers feel more sympathy for him and resent her.
One strong point of the drama is its supporting cast, especially the female lead’s father, whose character is well crafted.
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Funny and dramatic with great characters
At the beginning of this drama I thought it would just be a light and fun drama, but throughout the story we get to know each character better and their sad and dramatic stories that go far beyond what is presented to us at the beginning by the script that the protagonist knows. This drama is without a doubt one of my favorites, it was perfect.Just watch it!🥹🤌🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷
No começo desse drama achei que seria somente um drama leve e divertido , mas ao longo da história passamos a conhecer melhor cada personagem e suas histórias tristes e dramáticas que vão muito além do que nos são apresentadas no início pelo roteiro que a protagonista conhece. Esse drama sem dúvidas está nos meus favoritos , foi perfeito . Apenas veja !
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Great romantic comedy but a little too long
My high rating is mostly for half of the characters and the comedy parts of the drama.The show was hilarious in the first half and I was hooked immediately. Then it became tedious after ep 20-22 because the FL just couldn't see past her prejudice against the ML and kept hurting him repeatedly. In an attempt to make rational and unemotional decisions she basically stunted her character growth. I understood her mindset in the beginning and not trusting Nan Heng given her initial knowledge of the script. It took forever for Song Xiao Yu/Yimeng to show any mental flexibility despite multiple things happening that should ultimately change her way of thinking. When the main CP still isn't together or at least confessing by ep 30, it makes the romance a little hard to believe in and root for. If it wasn't the beautiful and naturally funny Li Yitong in this role I'd have way less patience with her.
The ML however has grown into a lovely character. I'll admit I enjoyed the Li Shi Liu identity more in the beginning and missed him once he was gone. But once LSL was dissolved, Nan Heng just started to behave like his true self and quickly won me over. He's highly intelligent and has a very forgiving nature. His father and brother treated him like garbage his whole life but he never holds a grudge ( I did the whole drama though lol). He is also very attentive and caring towards Song Yimeng. Even after they get together, it's clear he's still more head over heels for her than she is for him. Liu Yuning is very talented. I'm never disappointed watching him do anything whether it's acting, singing or just being himself on a variety show.
My other favorite characters were the Nightwalkers of course. I liked Yun Long the most, but Shanhu and Shangguan He were still great. I did not care for SH's romance with Song Yiting. Song Yiting was a great sister to Song Yimeng and gave her great advice, which is the only reason I didn't completely dislike her. But when it came to romance she was very toxic. First she tried to force a relationship when she thought SH was LSL, and then she tried to force herself on him physically. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Then she just bullied SH their whole relationship which was funny at times, but ultimately not endearing.
My final favorite is Song Yude, the Song's father. He was just as hilarious as he was wise. Every scene he was in was just gold.
The villains are pretty hard to stomach when they're on screen all for different reasons. Chu Guihong is what I've been calling a plot robot. He's unintelligent and only regresses mentally throughout the show. Chancellor Gao was just painful to watch. The actions of this character were definitely more impressionable than the actor himself. The show also tried to redeem the Emperor, but he's still a villain to me. Believing that his son caused his late wife's death to begin with makes him a braindead and cruel person in my eyes. He can act like he feels bad all he wants. He's still a crappy dad and person. That fact that he ever picked Nan Rui as crown prince over Nan Heng just showed he made decisions out of spite, not out of what's good for the country. And finally, they brought the actual scriptwriter in the last 5 eps or so but put him in the body of CGH's father. I didn't care for this at the end. I think it would've been more interesting to have brought him in earlier as a key player and that would've made for a richer/more interesting villain.
OST & Cinematography: The OST is still stuck in my head. We already knew it was going to be fabulous with LYN on board. The cinematography was good but it was meant to be silly/exaggerated for the parody so there's no fair rating there.
Overall: If they had kept the comedy more prominent throughout the entire drama, I think this could've been a 9 or 10. But the story started to feel stressful once it got serious and then the last 5 episodes were just a hot mess of resets and chaos. The ending was cute though, both the actual and the alternate one. LYT and LYN had great chemistry and were hilarious together. I would definitely watch them as a CP again.
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When Romance and Comedy Get Lost in the Plot Twists
A Dream Within a Dream is hilarious from the very start and will have you laughing out loud for many episodes. It’s filled with genuinely funny moments that will keep you giggling nonstop. The early episodes stay lighthearted and playful, with the characters growing closer through sweet interactions, skinship, and kisses. The plot flows smoothly, without much filler or slow pacing. I found myself rewinding the same moments because I couldn't stop laughing which I haven't felt since lbfad aired.But then, like many C-dramas, the story takes a sharp turn. What could have wrapped up beautifully by episode 20 gets dragged out unnecessarily. Suddenly, the show forgets it began as a romantic comedy and shifts into a more serious tone, where the subplots take center stage. As the mystery unfolds, the relationship between the two leads begins to fall apart, and not by their own choice but by those who forgot that two characters need more interaction for their love to be believable.
The warm, comforting moments I loved were replaced with constant misunderstandings and arguments, creating emotional distance between the leads—and between them and the audience. Their connection fades, and the once-charming romance feels almost completely erased.
Towards the end, the show becomes more focused on explaining villain motivations than allowing the leads time to heal, reconnect, or even share meaningful moments together. While there’s a small attempt to revive the romance near the finale, it comes too late. By then, the spark is gone. The man desperately seeks her forgiveness, love and trust but our female lead refuses to have any kind of self awareness and emotional growth and easily loses her charm. Repetitive scenes where she continues to repeat the same words to the male lead where he doesn't get a single second to share his opinion or even open his mouth drove me crazy and I wish I could forget it happened. I could say the same thing about second lead couple which also had a lot of potential with its funny moments, but any attachment to them evaporated by a man's refusal to show his feelings until the very end. Someone needs to be taught that dragging romance until the last episode for a couple to decide to be together isn't romantic at all! On the contrary, you lost every butterfly in our stomach by the time they get together.
Overall, it’s definitely worth watching for its original concept and the hilarious performances by every character. But hopefully, one day, Chinese dramas will learn to let go of the obsession with endless backstories and excessive subplots. We watch these dramas first and foremost because they’re marketed as romances—not as convoluted mystery thrillers. If the story had stayed true to its heart, it could’ve easily been a 10/10. Unfortunately, the unnecessary dragging took away what could’ve made it one of the best shows out there. Maybe one day someone will figure it out.
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Amazing storyline!!
This show is really amazing. It had me from the first episode. The only thing I didn't like about the show so far as that she took so long to tell him the truth about why she couldn't be with him and I felt sad every time he got rejected but finally they are together and had a hapoy ending so I'm happy and this is one of the best shows I have watched this year and I really watch a lot of dramas. I love liu yuning and so I watch everything he's in. I didn't like prisoner of beauty, to be honest, but this one really makes up for it. I would definitely recommend everyone to watch it!Was this review helpful to you?
Definite 10+
This is one of the rare series where its comedic moments results in belly roars of laugh-out-louds. The episodes gets better by the episodes. It's good to see some of the casts from Prisoner of Beauty recasts in this drama similar to the roles they had previously. The plot of the story, I admit, can move a bit quicker but nonetheless you;ll enjoy every episodes this series.Was this review helpful to you?
