Gorgeous Dream (2025)

Bloody REVENGE with a mere HINT of Romance

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Revenge with a capital 'R' and romance with a lowercase 'r' is the theme of this minidrama. The main protagonist is the FL and the the 'boogeyman' ML is mostly a shadow following her around to provide 'slight' assistance. This is especially true in the first portion of the drama which focuses on her personal revenge as opposed to uncovering the masterminds behind the scenes.

Negatives:
🚫 Short length requires break-neck speed and waving hand over details of the past
🚫 Some revenge is shown in detail and some, the end is left hanging in the end offscreen
🚫 There is no ACTUAL kiss between the leads (personally not a negative but for many I know this IS so listing here)
🚫 Typical last second ending

Positives:
✅️ Nietzsche
✅️ A take no prisoners style FL who isn't afraid of mass manipulation
✅️ Multiple layers of character stories told through lines of dialog and brief flashbacks
✅️ Unhinged OTT acting at it's finest (beyond more than just the leads)

IMPORTANT considerations:
🌸 This FL gets her hands dirty and her schemes may have you wonder if the is the same or possibly becoming worse than her object of revenge.
🌸 You must be able to overlook such things as full facial change and later a character having a 'full skin suit'..
🌸 Background information is given out scarcely and sprinkled unevenly. There is a LOT left unsaid which leaves the viewer either frustrated that 'nothing makes sense' if they can't make logic jumps with 2 lines of dialog episodes apart; OR wishing the story were longer so that the show could be more fully fleshed out and characterized.
🌸 This is pure entertainment value with MANY actual flaws, some seemingly in place because of the sheer nature of the scope of work limiting how the novel could be adapted.
🌸 The show provides PLENTY of scenes presented for 'shock value' but does not actually utilize on-screen rape and/or miscarriage - there are scenes of force and violence against woman as well as men.
🌸 If anything could possibly cause someone who is clapping their hands along with the mayhem to sigh it might be the switch-over from 'act 1' to 'act 2' as my personal reaction was: '....And suddenly there's comedy? The stare wide-eyed mouth open for flies, head cocked to the side, can't believe it sort...' Then... 'Omg I can't... This girl isn't acting unhinged but just plain off her rocker 🤣🤡'

🔥Final Rating: 9/10🔥
This is HEAVILY weighted for enjoyment factor and scenes I feel will leave a lingering impact on my mind.
I greatly enjoyed the style of acting the actors were asked to portray, though the ML with his single tear drop was, in my opinion, a 'choice'.
The music was 🤷‍♀️ - it was background music and it fit the scenes
I doubt I will ever rewatch this show in its entirety again, but if clips came up on my screen or if someone were already watching, I'd sit down and rewatch parts.

I paid for the Express Pass and do not regret it.

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Revenge? Yes. Deaths? Many. Romance? only if you squint reallll hard

First, I must mention the acting. Phenomenal. Every one was so good, especially the women--their insanity was so well shown. I loved Liu Matriarch, Xie Ruilan's, acting so fucking much.

Lead girlie Lan Mengyan was so, so, so good in all her insane moments. The killings, blood-splattered smiles and tears and revenge scheme scenes were so well executed by her.

Mo Xiu was good when he was pissed and enjoying Lan Mengyan's craziness. But his individual scenes and story/plot, fell flat. There was nothing in them worth seeing.

On that note, the romance was so non-existent that I wish it wasn't there to begin with--would've made the show much better.

The show wasn't 100% perfect but for a short length series, we can be generous, hmm?

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