A Dream of Splendor (2022)

The interaction between the main leads is just so adorable!

Loved all the moments between the main leads. Like the FL said many times, the ML could spout jokes with such a straight face and he was charming doing it. Chen Xiao was such a perfect choice for this character, he was a bit churlish but also sweet.

There that one time when you want to hit him on the head and tell him to go tell her the trust instead of hiding like a coward, but he just behaves like one for a long time. Thankfully, its not that long and we have a smart FL who figures it out.

All the women in this show were so powerful. It was beautiful to watch them focus on success of their businesses. They each had a dream and they found a way to achieve those despite all the obstacles standing in their ways. They even changed things for future.

The scene where the FL gets flogged is so sad, yet somehow added more more meaning to her fight.

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Not all sweet dreams have silver linings

I am impressed with the production quality of this show. The set looked lived in and organic. The story is engaging, and the actors’ visuals are spot on. You can sense the chemistry between the leads even during their meet-cute. The story generally moved along at a good pace with some troubling and hard-hitting plots that really set up the backstories of the three female leads and what drove them to make a new life in the Song Dynasty’s Eastern Capital.

I really appreciate the Show's attention to detail with some very elaborate sets and costumes. Both arts and crafts are well featured and referenced. The tea ceremony and banquet entertainment are most impressive. The one exception is the pipa performances. There is only so much you can alter reality. ;)

Scenes also have a more natural feel by shooting under natural lights and weather conditions. This dedication to authenticity did slip a little towards the end but it is still impressive.

In terms of the main plot, it is very much built upon the strong bonds between the three female leads and their struggles. Ancient China is not built on equality. Gender inequality and a rigid class system is institutionalised (look up 3 obediences/4 virtues). The Show's feminist and class struggle messages are unmistakable. I do appreciate the effort but it can get a bit heavy handed and you start to feel that our FL’s are the divine agents of change.

Running alongside this are the love lines between the OTP and a cute/comedic older 2OTP (there is a junior 3OTP). As I mentioned before, the chemistry of the OTP is strong. While we have the usual push-pull, it was handled with maturity resulting in meaningful conversations and straightforwardness, an uncommon sight in dramas. There is also a decent amount of skinship and it felt natural and playful. I for one am happy that the confession happened sooner rather than later, and we were treated to some nice swoon worthy moments before . . . the tropey plot took over.

I know tropes are inescapable. The first half was so engrossing that you took them in your stride. However, around the 2/3 mark, the show seemed to hit a fork and the writer grafted a big branching plot onto the story and doubled down on the tropes thus creating a lot of angst for all involved. This was further compounded by the ML going MIA and then flashed the Noble Idiot card. Is the Show trying to pad out the length? You can put a fence around this and excise it and there will be minimal impact to the overall story. I would have scored the Show higher if we were spared this “distraction”.

Speaking of distractions, the palace intrigue subplots was all prevailing, but it didn’t do much for me. It just seemed to be there to create agitation. In the end, the “intrigue” was fairly humdrum.

To fault the acting of the main cast is to nit-pick. I’m particularly impressed by Dai Xu. He played a bumbling bully and a loveable rogue with great comedic timing and a deft touch. The pairing of our OTP was perfect. Liu Yifei and Chen Xiao could have stepped out of a history book. The other main cast members pull their weights. The main antagonist is a tragic figure whose downfall was foretold but his retribution did left me with a sour taste.

This is one of the best historical drama I have seen for some time. OST is wonderful. 40 episodes is a tad long for a rewatch but I would definitely enjoy a swoon-y highlight reel, especially the ending.

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Beautiful drama in terms of setting etc

Pls don’t be offended as I’m just being completely honest.

The location for this is def beautiful. It seems to be an open location shoot rather than in a warehouse with green screens.
The actors are excellent as well. Great chemistry, personalities etc.
OST is great as well. Kinda what you would expect from this type of drama but in a good way.

The storyline itself is where I eh have a bit of an issue with. I felt like there’s some things that really weren’t fully explained to the viewers. It’s as if a scene was cut out. Although it was overall put together good just little things that happens and then not explained.

I do like the fact there’s no usual misunderstanding between the main couple. If there was it was easily resolved with communicate. That’s a bit rare to find in ancient china dramas. Therefore there was no need to add endless fillers avoiding the issues.

I liked how they showed females working together and stepping out of the homemaker role.. However I felt that realistically, some things wouldn’t have gone that well. Obviously with other dramas a lot of situations and characters wouldn’t have been sooo exaggerated. However they did it a bit too much and almost over the top. There was always a side story that they twisted where it showed diff male characters as being sleazy, causing issues, blaming females(for their own mishaps) etc. Then how the female leads would be able to quickly overcome it and be stronger after . It almost seemed that they literally could resolve world hunger with just a few smart moves.

I know they def wanted to empower female.

This has nothing to do with my own personal feelings or having issues against anyone. I just felt it was one after another non stop. The finale also felt rushed…

Other than that it def was a very good drama that didn’t cause a lot of the frustrating and stress others would.

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Chemistry on fire??

My rating according to my new rating scale:
- **Story/Plot**: 2.25/3
1. Synopsis (0.25)✅
2. Initial Impression (2eps) (0.25)✅
3. Genre Adherence (0.25)✅
4. Emotional Engagement (0.25)✅
5. Logic (0.25)❌
6. Plot Coherence (0.25)❌
7. Dialogue (0.25)✅
8. Pacing (0.25)❌
9. Character building/Development (0.25)✅
10. Story Richness (0.25)✅
11. Plot Twists (0.25)✅
12. Messages (0.25)✅
- **CAST/Acting**: 2/2
1. Lead Actor Performance (0.25)✅
2. Lead Actress Performance (0.25)✅
3. Main Cast Chemistry (0.25)✅
4. Supporting Actors/Actresses Performance (0.25)✅
5. Casting Precision (0.5)✅
6. Character Transformation (0.25)✅
7. Scene Stealers (0.25)✅
- **Directing/Camerawork**: 1.25/2
1. Camera Movement (0.25)✅
2. Editing (0.25)❌
3. Continuity (0.25)❌
4. Visual Effects (0.25)❌
5. Visual Details (0.25)✅
6. Cinematic Tension (0.25)✅
7. Lighting (0.25)✅
8. Flashback Integration (0.25)✅
- **OST (Original Soundtrack)**: 0.75/1
1. Opening Song (0.25)✅
2. Ending Song (0.25)✅
3. Background OST (0.25)❌
4. Overall OST (0.25)✅
- **Style**: 0.75/1
1. Costumes (0.25)✅
2. Set Design (0.25)✅
3. Colors (0.25)✅
4. Poster (0.25)❌
- **Ending**: 1/1
1. Closure (0.25)✅
2. Emotional Impact (0.25)✅
3. Logic (0.25)✅
4. Personal Satisfaction (0.25)✅

Total Rating: 8/10 +0.5Bonus
>>>>Final Rating: 8.5/10

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Beautiful and gentle, with lots of love and girl power

At first, I only watched for Liu yifei since she has not acted in a drama for a while. Turns out I ended loving everyone in it. Acting is superb and I really could feel each character evolve in their own ways. For example, Yingzhang, jelly lins character went from a naughty, naive little girl to a strong women that was not afraid to face her fears.

I enjoy that the story not only focuses on romance, but also sisterhood and friendship, how valuable that is.

I love the backstory of each character, how they really carve in every little detail. Like sanniangs characters family life and how her son was a bit naughty. The sets are also very very well done. Breathtaking and detailed. Love that the story also included much about girls, and how mistreated they were. Underlooked and neglected.


The music is splendid, caning and the lyrics are heart touching.

Overall, this is really a dream of splendor.

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a love romance with passion and strengh

the story is about a woman, dance entertainer, who has fallen into pariah class for her father's fault and HOW she will stand up high again after that. my feelings after watching the drama are joy and relieve.
there are a lot of good things to view in this drama: costumes, poetry, songs, dialogues, fights, political plots, views of ancient life in China, view of women condition in ancient China. I loved the subtle way the main characters seduced each others and behaved with one another. I also loved how smart the main female character is.
violence: in my opinion there are 2 major violent scenes, (ep24, 39th min until beginning ep 25 4th min) and (ep37, 18th minute). I would keep children under 12 away, and definitely explain to all under age children why that's not ok.
sex: that's a very family friendly show.
when to watch: with your family or your lover. there are definitely too much love scenes for friends' entertainment. the show is relaxing enough to be watched on after work's basis. it is catching and you'll have sometimes hard time stopping. but keep some good stuffs for tomorrow my friend!
have fun!

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A Hard-Hitting Tale of the realities of Low Class Women in Ancient China

I liked this show; what a moving depiction of the struggles of the low class, especially women in historical China. The music and production put the icing on the cake of a good story and great acting.

I really must dub my hat to the writers: 3 women tied together by their experiences but all with distinct personalities and heart-wrenching stories.

My props to the actors for bringing the story to life. Ouyang Xu is definitely going up on my list of vile antagonists.

The story's pacing was pretty good except for a few episodes in the middle between 25-32—otherwise a great watching experience.

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I really love this series. It's not a complex drama that drives you crazy with twists and turns, but it tackles women's empowerment. Also, the cinematography is so damn great and comparable to The Longest Day of Chang'an. Showcasing the culture back in the Song Dynasty captivates me. Undeniably, I love the Song Dynasty, their costumes, delicacies, music, paintings, etc. Furthermore, what makes me keep on watching this series is the chemistry between Pan'er and Qianfan and other central characters throughout the entire series. They have overflowing chemistry and their eyes speak with emotions that fit the scenes. The osts are good too, because they have deep meanings. Honestly, I don't like Yinzhang because she irritated me a lot with her personality, but it's a good thing she has a character development at the end. Ouyang Xu really drives me insanely. Gosh, he fucked up at the end and he deserved it. Also, the emperor is doing well because it's rare to find a character in a comedy that is not scheming and heartless. This time he listens. Other supporting roles are doing well, and I can proudly say that I love Chen Xiao as Qianfan. He's such a gem and underrated in INTL, but damn his acting skills are great. Same with Liu Yifei. If given a chance again to work in the future, I will support them because their tandem is one of the best. They've lived up to their hype in China and have gotten high scores and ratings. Some may find it boring or have draggy episodes. Well, it's natural because we all have different tastes, and it's really normal for the series to receive negative feedback.

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Appealing Story

This show gets a good solid 7 from me. I really enjoyed the first 20 or so episodes and the characters were fun and interesting. The cinematography was quite lovely and the music was well done. I have become a big Chen Xiao fan lately and like Liu Yi Fei. I think she is quite lovely and he is so expressive with just his eyes and gaze. The side characters were good and the strong women banding together theme was refreshing to see in a c-drama. It really captivated me and I was loving it until I was not. The writers just could not help themselves from throwing in a few tropes that were entirely unnecessary. Mainly the I am breaking up with you for your own good trope. I think that was thrown in as a filler to get through 7-8 episodes. Definately not needed. It was a 9 for me until episode 27 or so and then it digressed. The last 13 episodes were to me poorly written. The ending was a total letdown. I almost gave it a 6 but just love Chen Xiao so upped it to a 7. It is definatley one of the better c-dramas out there these days but why oh why can the writers of these dramas not learn the lesson that sometimes less is more?

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New Meaning to “Woman” Power

The love story between Pa’ner and Qianfan was so well done. I liked how they almost immediately got thrown into each other’s orbits due to circumstance and as a result started to heavily rely on each other which eventually evolved into love. They had their issues in the beginning, mainly with trust from Pa’ner due to the hurt she’d experienced in her previous relationship but they were able to move on from that and have a healthy relationship until the past, which had nothing to do with either of them, nearly destroyed their relationship. What I liked about Qianfan is that he was tough, smart and could kick butt, but he was at his core a good man.

This series was good and different in the way it presented the FL and her friends. They were all independent women, during a time when women should not have had independence and were determined to make their own way. They were smart, innovative and most importantly resilient. They went through it due to their status and some of the men in their lives who were horrible people but they persevered. I really liked how the plight of the FL aligned so much with the Empress. The latter made some horrible mistakes which did not reflect well on her character at all, but I understood why she made those choices considering there were several people at Court who were trying to destroy her simply because of her less than honorable past.

The storyline with the FL’s ex-fiancé was a bit much. He seemed to go from a half way descent guy to a mustache twirling villain who would kill anybody who got in his way, simply for plot purposes. Also I found it odd that Ru Zhao disappeared from the story after what he was doing was discovered by Song Yinzhang. He was an official who was well known in the Capital. I would’ve thought him drugging and raping women would’ve resulted in him being destroyed by the community and his destruction would’ve played out, at least a little on screen. But that didn’t happen. After Yinzhang caught him in the act of trying to rape her that was the last we saw him on screen, even though the show spent quite a bit of time on their relationship.

There were other plot holes which I won’t get into, but despite those storyline issues, this was a really good series. My biggest gripe though with the writing is that the writers spent all that time on Pa’ner and Qianfan talking about getting married and their plans after marriage only for us not to see the wedding. The series ended with the audience not knowing whether they got married or not. Huge ball dropped there. Still a good series and worth watching.

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A Must Watch!

The last review I wrote was a rant about how bad the series was. This is the total opposite. Everything about this series was wonderful. I particularly liked the fact that the story was woman-centered, showing three strong women during a time when it was exceptionally difficult to be a single woman.

The acting was extremely well-performed, with not only the ML/FL having real chemistry but also the other roles being particularly well-done. It is also one of the few series when I haven't pressed fast-forward in any episode. The pacing was excellent.

All in all, this might just be the series that overtakes "The Wolf" as my favourite series, perhaps because I'm a sucker for a good ending and, boy, was the resolution good.

If I have one small gripe, it's that no effort whatsoever is made to make the pipa playing look anything like real. I don't know anything about playing this instrument but she even seems to be holding it very differently from more historical series that I've seen but, oh well, you can't ask for everything.

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