This review may contain spoilers
Foresee the ending, change the fate
A dream within a dream (2025)
I cannot believe that this drama has ended. It has been in my “plan to watch” list for a long time now. It unexpectedly started airing but, I was happy since it was another Liu Yuning’s drama after “The prisoner of beauty”. I came to enjoy his acting here too and luckily ended up with an intriguing story as well.
The story is about a “slacker” actress who happened to get a role with a famous actor. However, once she read the script, she realized how “trashy” it is. Unfortunately, the least expected happened and she transmigrated inside of the novel. She tried changing her fate as a Female lead who was treated like a plaything. She soon realized that her fate is unchanged but, something surprising happens towards the end…
The story might not appear as something new or refreshing, but it actually is. The beginning started with comedy and I saw many people dropping it thinking it was just another cliché transmigration drama. However, drama has a unique style. For example, I loved the way they mocked common and overused tropes like male lead does not die or falling off a cliff will not kill you. The side characters being named with alphabet letters is so funny. Unlike many other transmigration dramas, many characters knew that the whole world is a storybook, even if they found out about it towards the end. Especially the female lead explained all the story to the male lead was finally a common sense being used in such type of dramas. Another thing I love about this drama is that, it used a reference to other dramas like Bai Lu’s drama “One and only” and Liu Yuning’s drama “A journey to love”.
Besides its unique concept, the comedy was my favorite too. Although the drama does not heavily focus on comedy, it does not fail to make me laugh whenever there is a comedic scene.
As for romance between the leads, I would say they have a good chemistry. It is just that, we did not get enough of sweet moments after all of the misunderstandings between them were cleared out. Hesitation both from male and female lead was seen during the time they were building their relationship. Male lead was hesitating because his second identity captured female leads heart, not the real Nan Heng whom hated by many. Female lead was hesitating because of the future and the ending they could potentially experience. However, at the end we were finally able to see them facing the future together with trust and an unbreakable bond.
Characters & descriptions
Song Yi Meng or Song Xiao Yu – in my opinion, she was an amazing character. Her character development was good although many people found her to be annoying. However, I think the choices she made later made sense. If I transmigrated into a novel or a script where I have a horrible life, I would do worse than she did. She was slacker first, like she was in modern times but she has changed overtime. At first, she hated Nan Heng out of the fact that he was evil in the original script. Her avoiding Nan Heng was completely reasonable and it was to save her life as well. Next, she knew he was not evil, as he appears to be, however, there were other obstacles, which are iconic scenes. This time she truly changed. It was not out of her own greed or her precious life but because she cared about the other characters around her. Characters development was executed perfectly. She treated them as fictional characters as it should be but after getting to know them, she understood that they all are living people not solely characters made up for a story.
Nan Heng/ Li Shi Liu/ Nan Feng
Nan Heng is the character that suffered the most in this drama but he got justice later on. I saw NH as a closed character. He never wanted to explain himself to anyone even though he was framed or blamed. For this reason he created a persona (Li Shi Lui) where he could be free without anyone hating him. His second identity helped him discover the side of people where they trust him just like how he discovered Song Yi Meng is not as bad as she seems to be. From youth, he simply wanted a close friends and a good parenting figure who trusts him. Unfortunately, he did not have any of that until he built a group of nightwalkers. Towards the end, he finally ended up with his beloved person Song Yi Meng after taking the 99 steps out of 100 as Song Yi Ting said.
Song Yi Ting – I found her characters to be smart. I love one line she said “Humans can’t fall in love with idiots. They are another species.” She has her standards when it comes to love and I like her for that.
Shangguan He or should I say Chu Gui Hongs temporarily brother?
He is the funnies side character and a lovely cupid. He is good at giving advices that involve others love life except his. He just needed a little push.
Chu Gui Hong
Your typical righteous and protective second male lead? Wrong! Pure evil person. Since everyone’s characters differs from the original script so does his. He became so evil towards the end that he did not really have a purpose to get revenge anymore. He was full on fighting for throne and killing the innocent. I thought he would at least start to understand Nang Heng and make up for the old grudges but I was mistaken. I understood his intentions at first as he did not know about the whole thing that happened during the war but later? His actions were irredeemable, he had no excuse to be such an evil person.
Emperor
I thought he would get a proper reason for his bad fathering but I am grateful that he at least got a character arc and became a better father figure in the last episodes.
Nan Rui
His character was indeed unintelligent at first but I believe that he had good traits as person. He knew the difference between the righteous and evil. Lastly, I loved the fact that he was brave enough to save his father, the emperor in the end. Although, he is a character mostly seen as incapable, he did a very good job during the finals
Acting
Acting is of course top tier. Especially the main leads like Liu Yuning and Li Yitong. Liu Yunings acting seems to have improved a lot compared to his previous projects and he killed this drama with his acting range. The emotions? The way he expressed through his eyes is simply amazing, you can literally read them.
It is my first time watching Li Yitong except the time in Love between fairy and devil where she was a guest role. Here I think she played well as cheerful and comedic character but her crying scenes?? They were amazing. Both of the leads had a good chemistry and I can’t see anyone else playing their roles other than them.
Background music
The background music used in this drama are very unique and they even used OST’s from another project of Liu Yuning. The music effects never seemed unnecessary, just perfect!
Ending
It could potentially be the best ending among the transmigration or generally among the dramas I have watched. Like many commenters said this drama includes all types of endings possible. Happy ending, sad ending and open ending but bad ending excluded because I think it ended in the best way possible!!
Overall, this drama brings more refreshing take to transmigrations dramas with a well written story and amazing characters. It is overall 10 out of 10 for me!
I have been waiting for this drama but I am happy and sad at the same time that it ended. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful journey with all of the discussions with MDL people
I cannot believe that this drama has ended. It has been in my “plan to watch” list for a long time now. It unexpectedly started airing but, I was happy since it was another Liu Yuning’s drama after “The prisoner of beauty”. I came to enjoy his acting here too and luckily ended up with an intriguing story as well.
The story is about a “slacker” actress who happened to get a role with a famous actor. However, once she read the script, she realized how “trashy” it is. Unfortunately, the least expected happened and she transmigrated inside of the novel. She tried changing her fate as a Female lead who was treated like a plaything. She soon realized that her fate is unchanged but, something surprising happens towards the end…
The story might not appear as something new or refreshing, but it actually is. The beginning started with comedy and I saw many people dropping it thinking it was just another cliché transmigration drama. However, drama has a unique style. For example, I loved the way they mocked common and overused tropes like male lead does not die or falling off a cliff will not kill you. The side characters being named with alphabet letters is so funny. Unlike many other transmigration dramas, many characters knew that the whole world is a storybook, even if they found out about it towards the end. Especially the female lead explained all the story to the male lead was finally a common sense being used in such type of dramas. Another thing I love about this drama is that, it used a reference to other dramas like Bai Lu’s drama “One and only” and Liu Yuning’s drama “A journey to love”.
Besides its unique concept, the comedy was my favorite too. Although the drama does not heavily focus on comedy, it does not fail to make me laugh whenever there is a comedic scene.
As for romance between the leads, I would say they have a good chemistry. It is just that, we did not get enough of sweet moments after all of the misunderstandings between them were cleared out. Hesitation both from male and female lead was seen during the time they were building their relationship. Male lead was hesitating because his second identity captured female leads heart, not the real Nan Heng whom hated by many. Female lead was hesitating because of the future and the ending they could potentially experience. However, at the end we were finally able to see them facing the future together with trust and an unbreakable bond.
Characters & descriptions
Song Yi Meng or Song Xiao Yu – in my opinion, she was an amazing character. Her character development was good although many people found her to be annoying. However, I think the choices she made later made sense. If I transmigrated into a novel or a script where I have a horrible life, I would do worse than she did. She was slacker first, like she was in modern times but she has changed overtime. At first, she hated Nan Heng out of the fact that he was evil in the original script. Her avoiding Nan Heng was completely reasonable and it was to save her life as well. Next, she knew he was not evil, as he appears to be, however, there were other obstacles, which are iconic scenes. This time she truly changed. It was not out of her own greed or her precious life but because she cared about the other characters around her. Characters development was executed perfectly. She treated them as fictional characters as it should be but after getting to know them, she understood that they all are living people not solely characters made up for a story.
Nan Heng/ Li Shi Liu/ Nan Feng
Nan Heng is the character that suffered the most in this drama but he got justice later on. I saw NH as a closed character. He never wanted to explain himself to anyone even though he was framed or blamed. For this reason he created a persona (Li Shi Lui) where he could be free without anyone hating him. His second identity helped him discover the side of people where they trust him just like how he discovered Song Yi Meng is not as bad as she seems to be. From youth, he simply wanted a close friends and a good parenting figure who trusts him. Unfortunately, he did not have any of that until he built a group of nightwalkers. Towards the end, he finally ended up with his beloved person Song Yi Meng after taking the 99 steps out of 100 as Song Yi Ting said.
Song Yi Ting – I found her characters to be smart. I love one line she said “Humans can’t fall in love with idiots. They are another species.” She has her standards when it comes to love and I like her for that.
Shangguan He or should I say Chu Gui Hongs temporarily brother?
He is the funnies side character and a lovely cupid. He is good at giving advices that involve others love life except his. He just needed a little push.
Chu Gui Hong
Your typical righteous and protective second male lead? Wrong! Pure evil person. Since everyone’s characters differs from the original script so does his. He became so evil towards the end that he did not really have a purpose to get revenge anymore. He was full on fighting for throne and killing the innocent. I thought he would at least start to understand Nang Heng and make up for the old grudges but I was mistaken. I understood his intentions at first as he did not know about the whole thing that happened during the war but later? His actions were irredeemable, he had no excuse to be such an evil person.
Emperor
I thought he would get a proper reason for his bad fathering but I am grateful that he at least got a character arc and became a better father figure in the last episodes.
Nan Rui
His character was indeed unintelligent at first but I believe that he had good traits as person. He knew the difference between the righteous and evil. Lastly, I loved the fact that he was brave enough to save his father, the emperor in the end. Although, he is a character mostly seen as incapable, he did a very good job during the finals
Acting
Acting is of course top tier. Especially the main leads like Liu Yuning and Li Yitong. Liu Yunings acting seems to have improved a lot compared to his previous projects and he killed this drama with his acting range. The emotions? The way he expressed through his eyes is simply amazing, you can literally read them.
It is my first time watching Li Yitong except the time in Love between fairy and devil where she was a guest role. Here I think she played well as cheerful and comedic character but her crying scenes?? They were amazing. Both of the leads had a good chemistry and I can’t see anyone else playing their roles other than them.
Background music
The background music used in this drama are very unique and they even used OST’s from another project of Liu Yuning. The music effects never seemed unnecessary, just perfect!
Ending
It could potentially be the best ending among the transmigration or generally among the dramas I have watched. Like many commenters said this drama includes all types of endings possible. Happy ending, sad ending and open ending but bad ending excluded because I think it ended in the best way possible!!
Overall, this drama brings more refreshing take to transmigrations dramas with a well written story and amazing characters. It is overall 10 out of 10 for me!
I have been waiting for this drama but I am happy and sad at the same time that it ended. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful journey with all of the discussions with MDL people
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