Anoif

I’ve only ever seen him in Blood of Youth…. And I thought he totally looked the part. Lol.

He defo is very annoying here…. But I thought he was also rather amusing..

lol but his natural gaze is kinda….. sharp/piercing? lol, a little too sharp to be a protagonist… I might find it a little odd if he acts all innocent and good from the get go…. Probably might downplay his strengths… this role was perfect for him coz it makes one guess which side he’s on…. So more of a grey role? Or an anti-hero… also whenever he smiles I just think he’s up to no good. 🤣🤣🤣

I think he should play more ambiguous roles…. And defo some romance too! lol.

Zhuge Kong Yun is actually my favourite character. lol. I think the actor did a very good job…

lol, I’m SOOOO glad I didn’t come on MDL prior watching. Usually I would for all the dramas I’m really into… but I was never invested or hooked by the drama, so once I saw that all the episodes was released I just randomly clicked on one of the last few episodes, coz I was curious as to who Yesha was….

Actually not only him, like certain twists of the main plot also surprised me…. For example, the first 20 episodes or so. I kept wondering what on Earth is up with Xiao BeiMing being poisoned… I mean him being poison ok, it’s fine, feels cliche, but sure…, lol, but the way he was poisoned made me quite confused about the genre of this drama as well. I was like…. Right, so romance is a main theme as well? But how is it possible that FL’s reflex response is to NOT trust him? That’s so illogical, they grew up together. He isn’t some random dude…. Then as the plot progressed, I was like, romance is basically almost non-existent… like wth…. I’m so confused. It’s only towards the end then I was like ahhhh…. So the poisoning is related to the main plot. Ok…. Right…. The could have introduced this story better… damns….

LOL! you spoilt it…. Awwww, I feel your pain….. but seriously, I think the final arc, or the main plot is really well-written…. And this isn’t based on any novel/webtoon…

Like it’s quite unique and different from most of the Cdramas of this genre. Frankly speaking, just based off my memory, I can’t remember any that gave me a real shock at the end. I mean, there are those which I guess the culprit wrongly, or just couldn’t guess at all…. But defo none that is like ultra shocking, not that I can remember of….. 🤔

I analysed it, and I think for this case, it’s also partially due to this actor. I wouldn’t say he’s a super good actor, but I think it’s more of his natural face and also his passable acting…. If otherwise I think more people could have guessed correctly….

lol, I kinda paused/dropped it after episode 20…. coz I never quite got attached to it, and didn’t have the urge to continue,…. This is my favourite genre, mystery+thriller….. so I just decided to binge watch the remaining episodes since it ended out of curiosity on who the main culprit is, I ended up fast forwarding a lot…..

I’m seriously considering to watch it properly this weekend….

This one is in the minority of Cdramas whereby the plot got better and more surprising/thrilling towards the end….. honestly I wasn’t that into it from the start because there are some bits of the subplot that was kinda weird and it felt very random/forced…. But it all came together and converged in the last 10-12 episodes… I loved how they disclosed a lot of the finer details.

Honestly the main plot is very interesting, quite intricate and also pretty smart. The unfortunate bit is how the entire thing was kicked off from the start. The execution of it and perhaps the editing or the overall production of it……? anyways, it had a very shaky and inconsistent first half… some bits made sense, some bits made me roll my eyes, the camaraderie here isn’t the best either, felt kinda out of place at times and makes you kinda forget about them instead of getting attached to the characters….

I know some of the MDL-ers guessed the culprit, but I was defo caught off guard…. lol.
Think the MDL score should be a bit higher…. 8.2 to 8.3….

The last couple of episodes were defo disappointing. It started from like a thriller, realistic reflection of the landscape in Mainland like 15-20 yrs ago to….. something uber cliche… and it became kinda weird towards the end actually….

lol, I thought that bit of the plot was super funny, he keeps drugging her….. but wouldn’t she find it strange when she wakes up in random places with gaps in her memory? Do those pills even work?? lol…

I’m defo in the minority here, but this is a really good twisted, thought-provoking drama…. lol. In a way it kinda is a borderline makjang? Like a toned down subtle psychological version….. the messages are presented in a very dramatic fashion, but it does really make you think about wot marriage actually means in the modern day world, and the notion of having kids etc.

I can totally understand all the polarising comments on MDL…. Anyways, because they kept it tight 8 episodes, I was totally engrossed in it. Good casting too. It probably wouldn’t have worked with just strong leads.

Yeas!!! My eyes was completely glued to the screen for Ep. 11 because of how realistic and natural everything looked!

Woah, the CGI…….. gosh, I never thought I’d say this but it’s done so well that it almost feels like I’m living in a futuristic video game/RPG… also the colour grading they chose, there is like a certain tone to it that makes the humans and the real backdrops ultra realistic, the CGI contrasts perfectly, like the colour just pops…

I was super immersed in Ep. 11 just coz of the special effects…. The CGI is very tastefully and thoughtfully done… CGIs have developed exponentially in Mainland in the past 5 yrs, but I always felt it’s just very “pretty”… to some extent it became kinda distracting… but this elevated the standards to a new level, at the very least for TV series/dramas, outdoing themselves… Also defo appreciate the absence of makeup…. Everything just feels very ‘au naturel’…

Thanks so much for this, I’m a big fan of Ryu Soo Young’s recipes and culinary tips….

It is, there’s a proper name for it. I rewatched it, in Ep 33, NH mentioned it. Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream. Basically a famous parable illustrating the difficulty of distinguishing between reality and illusion. In the story, the philosopher Zhuangzi dreams he is a butterfly, enjoying the freedom of flight and unaware of his human existence.

Yeap, defo a less convoluted but also a less intricate version of Inception…. I mean the fact that she restarts and loops should have already been a hint. Eh wait, I actually didn’t really get that butterfly thing. Was it insinuating a butterfly effect or something else?

lol, I was wondering about the exact same thing….

But I think based on some of the explanations below, it’s possible coz to begin with both versions are alternate reality versions, meaning logic and physics laws cease to exist. So basically NH and NF existing in the “modern world” is plausible because that modern world is a fictional one anyways. It was written by that girl that was typing on the laptop in the end. That is the “real” world, i.e the one we are watching the drama in right now….

Hence the title “A dream within a dream”….. I mean wot they did at the end reminded me of the movie Inception….

The turning point for the ML is so much better in the novel, a lot more realistic…. The way it happened in the drama was kinda random and weird actually…

Yeap. It was just super weird, and just became such a forgettable plot in the second half….

Not only that I actually found some of those novels kinda weak in terms of plot…. And they have like a zillion chapters….

I feel sad for this novel, would have been nice to watch it as a TV adaptation…. I think the FL is very unique….

But they weirdest thing is they actually followed the plot from the novel quite a bit in the first half, and then it almost became a completely different drama after she got amnesia…..

To be fair, I don’t think all the novels/webtoons selected for adaptation are good, I actually find a lot of those novels not that great either. But for this one, the source material itself is pretty unique and solid…

I still don’t understand why they didn’t follow the novel…. The novel’s plot and characters were so good. It almost needed no rewriting, probably just some minor touch-ups so that it translates better on-screen…..