A Dream of Splendor (2022)

Magnificent Story and Great Acting

I loved this drama from beginning to end. First the 3 leading ladies strong, smart and would not let anyone stop their dream. A fourth young lady get added for more adventure and cute romance. Second the twist and turns that happens to these ladies through out the drama, makes the drama intense and you want to keep watching. The romance that the female leads experience, the good and the bad. The leading male that is chivalrous and will not give up of his love for the leading female. The chemistry between the leading female and male was great. The trust that they show for each other you can feel it in their acting. A great story and wonderful acting. It's been a long time since I enjoy a long drama.

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Watch this because of Chen Xiao, but turn out I enjoy it more than I expected.

This drama talk about friendship, family, politic and of course love.... Take place where they still underestimate woman, especially if they come from entertainment background, like Zhao Pan Er (PE) & Song Yin Zhang (YZ). Yeah sometimes they have a very thin line to separate performer with prostitute. This story revolve around how PE and her friends make different, talk about feminism.

What I like:
+ I really like the point of view that Zhang Hao Hao take, if you proud enough with your status, no matter people how look it, it still one very proud profession, but also vise versa if you think it's something shameful it will become shameful.
+ The chemistry between Chen Xiao & Liu Yi Fei. I really like how Gu Qian Fan (QF) see PE. We can see how deep their feeling toward each other.
+ How to separate past & future. Especially when it's about revenging your father died. Really like the point of view PE take, usually with c-drama family problem is big problem, and when other family murder must get revenge.
+ The growth of our girls, especially Song Yin Zhang. We can see in our screen one immature girl turn into mature woman.

What I don't like:
- How they shape the bad guy, Ou Yang Xu.
- How perfect looking for PE. It's like she is one complete package that everyone eventually grow to like her.
- The pulling & pushing between PE & QF.

Overall this is one good historical drama. but it think I quite agreed with some reviewer who wrote the story have nosedive in the end. Somehow I also feel this have quite meaningless end, it's like they lack something when they close the curtain....

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Not Disappointed. I loved This Drama!

The story was pretty straightforward. and flowed relatively smoothly. There were a few parts that threatened to get draggy, but they didn't happen too many times and they didn't last, so I didn't fast-forward through the scenes. There were a few holes and loose ends, but not sufficient to spoil anything for me.

The characters were likeable, and the actors did a phenomenal job in portraying them. The ensemble worked so well together so their relationships were believable, and I actually liked most of them. However, the couple that made the entire story worth it for me were the ML & FL. Chen Xiao & Liu Yifei were electric!!! They portrayed a depth to their relationship that I have not seen in many Cdramas, and which I found to be very refreshing and endearing. They expressed so many emotions without words - a look, a touch - their romance felt 'real'. Even with the chaste kisses, they smoldered. Their embraces felt warm and real. They did a superior job in this drama.

I wish that a little more time would have been invested in the supporting couples' relationships. Much was left to the viewer (except for the obvious wedding, of course) and I would have liked to have seen a wedding for the main couple. As I mentioned before, a few loose ends... what happened to Gu Qian Fan's father and brother? Was Qi Mu served with his comeuppance? Why did San Niang's son suddenly come back to find his mother? Did Song Yin Zhang and Chi Yan become a couple?

Loved this drama - and will probably rewatch it at some point.

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Wow... fantastic production

Three women (and good friends) of low social status was driven to the capital of Kaifeng during the Song dynasty due to unfortunate circumstances in their love and married lives. This is a period known for high class consciousness, highly conservative values and prejudice against women, especially those from the lowly slave class. They struggled to setup and run a business, and pitted their wits against commercial bullying and political sabotages.

Zhao Pan-er's father was punished for disobeying orders as a general and was killed. As a young girl, she was branded as a lowly slave and was trained as a dancer to entertain senior government officers but was eventually freed from her slave class. Intelligent and commercially savvy, she ran a successful teahouse for a living along with San-niang. While helping a scholar to prepare for the imperial exam, they fell in love. The scholar pledged to marry her when he passed the imperial exam, and they were engaged. Unfortunately, good news came along with bad. He was ranked as the second scholar and he was matched made to marry the daughter of a high ranking officer. Not believing that he was a faithless man, she was determined to travel to the capital to confirm the truth.

Sun San-Niang formerly worked as a butcher and built great physical strength. She was also a very good cook and a good mother. Her biggest ambition was for her son to succeed in the imperial exam when he grew up, so she could be awarded a set of tiara and ceremonial gown as the mother of a scholar. Unfortunately, her husband had other plans and fostered her son to his late cousin's wife on the pretext that his son would inherit the cousin's estate. He divorced San-niang when she discovered that they were having an affair. To add salt to her wound, her son chose to take side with the foster mother as she pampered him in contrast to his mother who forced him to attend school and do well academically. Greatly hurt, she jumped into the river in a suicide attempt.

Song Yin-Zhang was the top pipa (lute) player in the Qiantang province. Being a performer, she was also regarded as from a lowly status class. Anxious to be freed from her registered status, she ran eloped with a 'wealthy' merchant, against the advice of Pan-er whom she regarded as her sister. She was unfortunately mistreated as her new husband tried to extort money from her.

Gu Qian-Fan, a commander in the Imperial Capital Bureau, was well-known for being ruthless and earned the nickname, 'Living Hades'. He was assigned to investigate rumours in the capital and to trace a painting which would reveal a great secret against the Empress who had been assisting the Emperor in court matters and was hated by the ministers fighting for power. While on this mission, he was made the scapegoat for the murder of a minister and his family.

Zhao and Gu were at loggerheads with each other as Zhao hated the Imperial Capital Bureau which arrested her father. However, along the trip to the capital, they crossed each other's path and had to help each other to get to their destination.

Would these unfortunate souls survived and eventually find they love they deserved? Who exactly was Gu? Why did the new prime minister help him?

What I like about this drama?
1. It depicted the gender prejudice during that era and how three women braved the odds in their lives to run a successful restaurant. While at the same time, there were a lot of light-hearted moments. You might expect it to be quite dark for a theme like this, but it is not. Unlike some dramas where the villain always wins throughout, this drama is the oppose.

2. The chemistry between the lead actor and actress as well as that between the secondary leads was phenomenal.

3. The dance performance at the opening of the restaurant was the best I have seen in all dramas (I have watched a lot).

4. This drama is full of good looking actors and actresses - Chen Xiao (Gu), Liu YiFei (Zhao), Xu Hai Qiao (the villain), Liu Yan (Sun) and Fei Xia (Song). Call me shallow, but good looking actors and actresses with good acting skills always make a big difference to a drama.

5. The flirtation between Gu and Zhao - subtle initially and more obvious later. The exchange of words was so poetic in episode 5 when Gu visited Zhao at the inn, if you can understand Mandarin.

6. Liu YiFei playing the seductress to hoodwink ZhouShe in the story - she was absolutely superb.

7. Excellent overall production: lovely cinematography, excellent cast, beautiful costumes, well choreographed dances, lovely opening and closing theme songs - very well executed from the beginning to the end.

8. Last and not least, it earned my empathy and tears not from a dying scene of the hero or heroine (a departure from the usual) but from the appeal against the prejudice of that age.

What I dislike of this drama? As with most dramas, it was not without questionable moments. Here is my nitpicking:

1. Gu was severely injured during one of the scenes. Zhao appeared to help him, took a flare from him and fired it for help. Wonder why Gu did not fire it earlier himself when the assassins appeared and not get himself so badly injured.

2. Song Yin-Zhang's playing of the pipa is completely out of sync with the music. It appeared she knew nothing about playing the pipa and was not even musically trained.

3. The opening and ending theme songs were lovely but I wish there were more musical moment in the drama.

The story appeared quite straightforward. But still it would keep you glued in front of the screen, trying to find out what might happen next. I am rewatching it as I write this review.

Highly recommended. This is the best drama I have watched over the last 2 years.

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A comfort show where the first half is everything.

THE STORY
I adored the first half of the show so much that I let the last 1/3 go a little bit though I will admit I barely skipped ahead in the first 2/3 but the last 1/3 I skipped a lot of the scenes. I adored how there was a significant lack of huge tropes in the main leads' romance, with a lot of logical reasoning coming into their interactions.

For Eps 1-18: No talk of "it was love at first sight and fate" and the female lead had a reason to help the male lead- he threw a 'poisoned' needle at her for goodness sake and that part to be honest had me. Their story was lovely up until their arrival in the Eastern Capital and the pacing was amazing. The chemistry and the writing was very believable and it felt like natural people in this time naturally falling in love. The focus on their romance but also the plot was very well balanced here. I could sympathize with the leads and the way their dialogue was written was pretty smooth as well. The fights were fun to watch!

For Eps 19-27: There was a bit of a dip here. I'll be honest that I usually watch historicals for the fights, and I wanted to see more of Gu Qianfan fighting! His defense of Minister Xiao really upped the stakes and the build of the family drama was good, but the pacing started to come in bursts and I think the writers started having a bit of trouble marrying the first plot to the growing plot in the capital. Basically my interest waned after the Hat Demon case.

For Eps 28-35: I'll try to make this short but what?? For a big focus on the main relationship they decided to separate the leads and introduce angst, which isn't always bad but here it was excessive and for way too long. While I am all for strong independant women, the "girl power" plot was very spoonfed and lacked the subtlety of the other 'lessons' previously that it was a little jarring. Also, I could tell the writers didn't know what to do with Gu Qianfan anymore so they just put him in a coma?? I swear this man has been in a coma three times in the show and I feel like this time was completely just for plot convenience so they don't have to deal with him for a bit.

Eps 36-40: The leads' reunion really helped here and the plot picked up a bit more towards the end. I think the ending was a little rushed and a tad unbelievable and the pacing was a little odd, but overall most things were wrapped up welll so not too many complaints.

THE CAST
The main cast honestly in general were really good! I do not have any huge talks about any specific actors but the general main cast I thought brought their characters to life very well! Chen Xiao and Liu Yifei however, had remarkable chemistry. Their eyes at each other were captivating and their kisses were damn well-done! No awkwardness in intimacy and chemistry between them and I applaud that! Dai Xu was gold and I was in love with his portrayal of Chi Pan! He has honestly so much versatility and while this is my second show seeing him in, he has yet to let me down! Very strong character choices.

MUSIC
The music in general was good, and I think I enjoyed both the opening and ending OSTs a lot! The other music choices were good too in general.

REWATCH VALUE
I'd say an 8 for the first half of the show because I loved it so much!

CONCLUSION
I'm gonna note how I watched AvenueX's review of this show and I agree so much with so many of the points. Overall, the show had such a strong first half that had the audience swooning but a dip in the second half, especially Ep 28-35 that proved a bit disappointing. The acting was generally well-done across the board and I watch for the pure chemistry of the leads and the magic they bring to the show together! Overall a really satisfying show :)

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One of top Chinese Drama 2022

Love all the things from this drama:

Interesting Story, Every character get their portion nicely. They also grow as long as the story grow

The Cast, No wonder Liu Yi Fei choose to be Zhao Pan Er. She fit this character and give her best indeed . Love her act so much here. I also like Gu Qian Fan, San Niang and Yinzhang character too. They give awesome act for this drama.

The Costume, set and visual graphic also nice, looks so beautiful and not irritate my eyes, hahahha

Love the OST too, i put one of the OST in my playlist recently.

Overall, The drama left a deep feeling for me.
You must Watch by yourself then u know what i write here ☺

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I've changed religions, Mom. I worship at the shrine of Chen Xiao and Liu Yi Fei now.

I thought this was one of the most well-done productions since The Story of MingLan. The chemistry between the two leads WAS ON FIRE!!! The dialogue was witty and natural; the story, interesting; the costumes, beautiful; the comedy, hilarious (despite being a little slap-stick at times); the characters, complex; and the ending?! You'll have to watch it, hehe. My only complaint is that the ending felt a tad rushed, but as it was capped at 40 episodes, I was amazed at how complete and satisfying the resolution turned out to be. (Oh wait, that's a lie. There was a song I really didn't like, but THAT'S IT!) It was an amazing piece of screen writing and careful plot development, very well-paced within it's given timeframe.

I heard that this was based off an opera, not a book. This made me even more impressed with the director and the screenwriters. The camera work and production alluded very well to it's operatic/theatrical foundation in meaningful ways and the screenwriters (without the assistance of a novel's dialogue) succeeded in making a script that was natural and touching without stepping outside of it's historical period.

I've become a massive fan of all the actors (the show really let all of the characters shine), especially the Liu Yi Fei who played Zhao Pan'er and Chen Xiao who played Gu Qianfan! If they are in a show, regardless of genre, I'll watch it. Their acting was top-shelf quality.

I've never written a review for a show before. Made an account just to write this one because I couldn't believe the rating was still at an 8.5 since the start of the show. If you loved The Story of MingLan, Eternal Love, Ancient Love Poetry, Royal Nirvana, Rise of the Phoenixes, Blue Whisper, and the like - you'll love this show.

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A beautiful, action filled story of second chances at love and life . . . truly transcends its budget

This story has a strong point of view as it follows three women from their more rural hometown into the capital city. All have lost, but they come together to remake themselves on the backs of their considerable talent. There's plenty of romance, but the romance does fade to a secondary plot as it wears on. Technically, many plot lines are just dropped, but I enjoyed the plots that remained so much I hardly noticed.

The three 'sisters' are all strong, endearing actors and show some pure brilliance. The male leads are less strong. But, the main couple have a fun compatibility as they slide from dislike, to teasing, to him falling clearly and deeply first. In the second half, however, Chen Xiao's storylines start disappearing, and he literally spends strings of episodes off screen or in a coma and truly becomes a bit of a wooden blockhead.

One piece of ornamental music was very haunting: slowing the pace of the show down so that Zhao Pan Er seems suspended in time. Also, when Song Yinzhang first plays the pippa revenge song, it was so striking and cinematic, that I started looking up pippa music, and that music was such a well-done turning point for the character.

A few scenes really stand out to rewatch: there's these moments where the joy of being alive, even in very difficult times shines through, and in the end I was really sorry to leave this universe behind.

I grade on other criteria:

Complex Themes: 10
We all deserve second chances and the chance to thrive throughout our lives- women just as much as anyone else. Living a life without regret, requires staring reality in the face. Suffering comes from an inability to accept and adapt to reality. Bad luck can strike more than once in a lifetime. Found families can provide comfort where biological families are gone or lacking. Always prepare for the worst and be careful of those who makes easy promises.

Character Growth/Complex Characters: 8.5
Song Yinzhang displays the most character growth going from someone who is timid and looking for a rescuer, to standing firmly on her own two feet. Zhao Pan Er more gains complexity with time then truly transforms, and credit to the writers all of the top 10 featured characters to do grow quite a bit. A point off for a cartoonish villain and the half baked court adviser villains.

Complex Female Characters/Relationships:9.5
It's a true joy to see fully fleshed out women in their complexity pursuing ambition and friendship and the good life together. It was perhaps a tad too idyllic, but I didn't mind.

Cinematography/Production Values: 8.5
Really punches above its weight. There was very beautiful cinematic work in scenes that really stick with you changes in pacing and lighting and moving from wide angles to close ups. More creative than shows with double the budget.

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A Quality Watch

As of episode 20, these are my thoughts:

High-quality drama with excellent writing, good pacing, exciting plots, positive female roles, gorgeous visuals, top-tier production, and beautiful cinematography. The smart female lead and the warm, supportive female friendships surrounding her make this drama a delight. The way the women overcome mistreatment, misfortune, and injustice is moving. Their strength—inspiring. The tension that builds as the male lead navigates his precarious position as a double agent fighting corruption keeps the drama from becoming estrogen-overload. Action, romance, intrigue—something for everyone.

The slow-burn romance between the lead couple is one of most healthy and healing relationships I’ve seen (at least, as of episode 20). Of course, our male lead is still hiding some key details about himself because of the nature of his work; but, they are still beautiful to watch because of their excellent communication. They don’t allow misunderstandings to drag on too long. She earnestly explains her fears and worries instead of expecting him to read her mind. The male lead truly tries to understand his lady’s vicissitudes, goals, aspirations, and needs. He provides her the emotional security a woman desires and supports her in her endeavors. Their kisses are swoon-worthy and heart-fluttering, yet tastefully done.

Overall, a quality watch thus far!

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MUST WATCH: pretty people, flawless acting, MAKES LOGICAL SENSE!!

The production quality is so good! The song dynasty hair and clothes are elegant; you can see that there is a lot of effort put into the visuals. They are so good at using the props for better camera work. Everyone is so good looking and I can't find flaws in the acting. The chemistry between the main leads is phenomenal; it doesn't look like they are acting in love but are actually in love. My favorite part is the story makes logical sense! There are no juicy tropes or cringy scenes; it just shows the struggles of actual humans and how to story is told is so realistic. The main leads don't just suddenly fall in love for no reason but there is the actual build-up that leads to them falling in love. The story doesn't just make a smooth path for the male and female leads to walk on, but there are ups and downs!! A drama with the combination of such pretty people, flawless acting, and JUST MAKING SENSE, is so hard to find; but, this drama just gets what the audience wants!!!!!!

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