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Satisfied.!
I’m years late watching this drama but am happy I did I love Chen, Xiao! Ever since I saw him in Ingenious Ones I was hooked. A strong quiet, heroic character is always a turn on . I really liked this drama. After watching so many dramas with scheming, conniving characters this was definitely a more mature smart show, also I love a happy ending. I’d be okay if every show had a happy ending.Was this review helpful to you?
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. Was this review helpful to you?
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?Was this review helpful to you?
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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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S'okay
Will someone please deliver C drama from the curse of useless misunderstandings between the leads?This is a woman who wants complete independence yet her business is largely funded by a man
She wants to expand her business and instead of saving up she expects the male lead to fork over a very large sum of money and when a mistake happens, she automatically writes him off and then turns to another man to dig her out of the mess she made all by herself.
I swear I wasn’t sure if the creators of this drama were poking fun at women’s independence or celebrating it cause all this series does is show that women could only have anything bc men allowed or funded it.
I did enjoy eps one through 16 but the FL stood too long on her soapbox and compounded that by making avoidable mistakes for no reason whatsoever.
Now, let’s talk about the male lead.
That the wind blew the mortgage receipt was all due to the idiocy of the ML. So fucking what if your father caused harm to the FL’s family? That was not a good reason or time to play the avoidance game when all he had to do was tell her the relationship was done. Avoiding her was a convenient plot device that allowed the producers drag the series by an additional fifteen episodes. It was all about the money otherwise A Dream of Splendor should have only had 20 episodes.
If you want a show with true female empowerment then watch “New Life Begins”. The women in that series truly support each other and funded their businesses themselves.
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I did not like this drama like all the hyped it was received
I don't know why Douban rated "A Dream of Splendor" 8.8 ratings. WTF. I have watched 30 episodes already, and it was dull, boring, stupid, and dragging, and the plot is suck.I am unsure if I will finish this drama; aside from having a good-looking cast, the cinematography and coloring of the show are good.
I don't think this drama even deserves 5.5 ratings, and I don't understand what all the raves are about, and disappointed in AvenueX assessments of this drama as well. Grrr.......
The male lead (Chen Xiao) disappears in episodes 30-32, and his on-screen chemistry with Crystal Liu is not great. I don't like the FL character. I like San Niang better.
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Sweet mature Romance
Gorgeous Leads,Convincing love story,
Off the charts chemistry,
Beautiful female friendships,
Well, It has been a while since a drama captivated me. This story reminds me of good old days of genuine romance and heartaches. I have a major girl crush on the female Lead, Crystal Liu. She is living that character, effortlessly beautiful, elegant and strong. Such a treat to my eyes. The male lead is great as well, the way he steals glances at her is adorable but at the same time his expressions at few other scenes are a bit blank. Anyway there are some lovely, magical moments between the couple that looks like a gorgeous moving painting.
The progression of the story is good, it's exciting, no cliche tropes. Writers have done a wonderful job here, the characters show real human emotions, quite relatable unlike the recent dramas that mock viewers intelligence.
Loving it so far.
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girlbossing their way into being considered a feminist show lmao
this show definitely received a lot of hype and was often recommended to me as well for being a 'feminist' show, though i think it ultimately fell quite flat for me in regards to that. i wouldn't even be able to say that i felt it explored the plight of 'jianji' in the song dynasty particularly well, much less feminism. what it IS is fluffy, generally light hearted, cute romances and sisterly bonding, which is also p good and enjoyable.one of the strong points of this show is how it presents the lives of common people in the song dynasty, the beauty and art in every day life is extremely nice and refreshing. As opposed to how most shows tend to focus on the lives of the imperial family, or on nobility, it's very nice to be amongst normal business people and scholars. the sets, design, costuming and specific little details about every day life feel very rich and enjoyable. i love the slide of life vibe, and seeing the tea house and then the restaurant, i LOVE chi pan and i think he's absolutely adorable and SO funny. this show shines when it's about the average every day trials and tribulations of common people, such as the squabbles with chi pan, the competition the tea house has to enter with the other tea shops, creating the flower moon banquet, etc. etc. and this show is at its worst when trying to talk about the political issues and frankly anything to do w gu qianfan's storyline. i've seen countless palace intrigue and court drama that get all of the plotting down to an art... what's the point of even trying if you can't follow through with it and create an intriguing plot? the court drama stuff honestly just didn't really make that much sense with the rest of the show and ultimately didn't really amount to anything? like im not sure why any of it mattered, because none of it really even had anything to do with gu qianfan's character anyway. he starts out a good but hard man who hates and doesn't trust his dad and ends basically exactly the same. not sure what was the point of all of this other than to make him seem complex, but there was no complexity actually written. his dad is shitty and can't be trusted, even if he loves qianfan, so nothing matters, these relationship dynamics don't change? qianfan still hates him and doesn't want anything to do with him by the end? honestly it all just feels v pointless and everything hard that qianfan goes through seems to be for the purpose of creating the aesthetic of a brutal, hard man who tortures others without batting an eye, while not actually giving a shit about him as a character, or caring about the story of this kind of violent brutal man? you can always tell when the writers care or not and i find it overwhelmingly clear that the writers did not give a shit about him. what matters is the dichotomy of how cruel and brutal he can be, how much pain he can endure, and then how sweet and cute he is with pan'er. they just wanted a man who can kill his best friend in one scene, and in the next he can bashfully blush and flirt w pan'er. im totally good w this duality, i just wish that the writing could actually back it up and make me feel anything for him and his storyline!
it's extremely clear that the only characters the writer actually cares abt are zhao pan'er, song yinzhang, and sun sanniang. and there's nothing wrong w that! i just wish we didn't have to waste any time at all on qianfan and his absolutely pointless storyline that goes nowhere!! the most stand out scenes in the whole show to me are the ones that focus on pan'er's character and how she's been shaped by being a jianji, and how she's been hurt, in particular the convo she has w sanniang about worrying about whether or not qianfan likes her, as well as the one about how much of a workaholic she is (which i found extremely relatable hahaha). pan'er is definitely the most well developed character of the series, but even so i still wanted more? i feel like more could've been said with this character and her arc could've been better developed. like she spends so much energy trying to prove herself as an outstanding person worthy of value who can't be bullied or hurt and by the end i still don't know how much she actually has truly accepted herself?
the relationship between pan'er and qianfan is also one of the highlights of the show! liu yifei is great and breathes a specific natural, easy life into the character, and the banter and flirting between the two of them is *chefs kiss* it's rare that i like something specifically for the way the romance is portrayed, but they just have wonderful chemistry! their relationship feels very fresh, very cute, without a lot of the usual silly tropes in romantic dramas, and it's absolutely very modern lmao. i like that chen xiao isn't the usual type of idol beauty, and in fact i wouldn't consider him particularly handsome at all LMAO but that's a good thing! i also think their very first conflict as an official couple was really well done. i was already annoyed at pan'er assuming the worst of qianfan after overhearing him and i thought it was going to be bad writing, but then qianfan called her out on it!! and it made sense why she would react that way once they discussed it and they solved it like adults. this is the sort of relationship writing that i really enjoy and want to see. i had high hopes after seeing that scene, however all was dashed when their major conflict appeared like 3/4 of the way thru the show which was based NOT on any sort of real conflict between their characters, like a clashing of values or personalities, but because of a stupid ass information reveal that doesn't hold any weight and qianfan RUNNING AWAY for like 8 episodes because he 'couldn't face her'??? this is some lazy ass writing if i've ever seen it. give me a real fight, don't give me information reveals that have to do w characters who dont reflect the actions and decisions of the main couple!! don't give me misunderstandings and lack of communication!! honestly why the hell is qianfan doing this to her when he knows how much she's been hurt by shitty men tossing her aside!! just write her a letter or get chen lian to tell her he cant talk rn he's processing or smth MY GOD. i hate this sort of meaningless conflict more than anything else in this series, it's conflict for the sake of conflict, made by lazy writers forcing it to happen. very lame and disappointing typical c-drama shit, ESPECIALLY the whole 'my dad killed your dad so we can't be together.' like that is simply not a real reason you can't work out especially when gu qianfan hates his dad lol and it's especially not a reason that the audience would find any stakes in, any real side to take, with 0 complexity for either of the characters.
ok onto the 'feminism'.......... i think that personally i just do not consider girlboss narratives the height of feminism, nor do they say anything interesting or transgressive. like okay women can succeed and be business owners? obviously? for me to respect a work as feminist is if they actually do something transgressive, but this show is LESS progressive than the work it's adapted from where pan'er and yinzhang are actually sex workers. it's extremely easy to make a show with agreeable politics if its characters are just talented dancers and musicians who are pariahs for it. like, pan'er, yinzhang, and sanniang are all remarkable, talented, hard working women who are smart, beautiful, morally pure, capable and basically nothing short of perfect. pan'er isn't even born a jianji, she's the daughter of a military official and comes from a noble and distinguished background that values the arts! and they have to constantly remind you of this to say that the system is fucked, not that it's wrong for just existing anyway! nothing about them actually challenges audience perception of who is deserving of being treated with value by society, which is also disappointing because it's such a modern show. and even in a historical context i don't think the show truly explores the plight of the jianji and the way they are oppressed in society, other than how it has affected yinzhang and pan'er's characters. like?? i don't feel like i actually know how hard it is to be a jianji, other than generally being looked down upon. give me actual beggars and prostitutes? society is still fucked for treating them like shit, it doesn't only matter if it's beautiful, perfect and talented women like pan'er. the amount of times the main characters have to say they're better than sex workers and that 'they're treated like prostitutes and beggars'... girl guess what they should be treated with respect too!!! give me girls who are ugly or fat or disabled or actually gender nonconforming(EXTREMELY disappointed that zhaodi ends the series in girl clothes) or even just girls who aren't perfectly talented and capable! show me that they have value and deserve respect too! but no china isn't ready for that!!!!! it's just very frustrating after a certain point to see such a focus on selling the show as feminist, to see pan'er and co. fighting SO hard against and SO obsessed w their caste and patriarchy when it can only deliver the most tepid girl power girlboss message. it's an extremely modern show w modern characters and relationships with an aesthetic historical background, so it's very frustrating that instead of having modern day struggles against patriarchy, they have historical struggles against the historical caste system that put musicians and performers and craftspeople as the lowest class. all of these people are easily given respect in modern day times! i think shen ruzhuo was the most interesting part in the show in terms of showing misogyny, and his nonstop 'nice guy' act while continuously guilting, pressuring and overriding yinzhang's boundaries was well done. i really wish that if the show is here to talk about feminism that there was more of this! show me more of how insidious patriarchy is in the average everyday, it doesn't have to just be tying a girl up to a tree and beating her! i guess i do have v high expectations of the media i consider feminist, and sometimes when i'm reminded of just how bad patriarchy is, and how for some people, even this show is still doing something good or changing the way they think, im more able to accept it. it's just hard for me personally to enjoy any of those aspects of this show. i will say though, that female friendship and solidarity were really nice throughout the show, and the real strength of these feminist values. like there basically isn't a single Real female villain, and especially none who are acting in the interest of their love for a man. which is ACTUALLY new and revolutionary for c-drama. i love that gao hui was set up to be a conniving scheming villain, and then she turned out to be totally normal and becomes friends with pan'er. zhang haohao is jealous of yinzhang, but she still puts that aside to warn her against the rapist. gao hui's nainiang is scheming and murderous but because she loves gao hui. and one of the times that did actually kind of get me emotionally was at the end when the empress comes in, and she learns that pan'er deceived the emperor for her, just because she's a woman like her who was once a jianji. that was a really nice moment of solidarity, between an average, everyday woman and the most powerful woman in the nation, and it really drives home the show's message about the power of friendship and solidarity between women.
ultimately this show is quite mid to good for me. it's enjoyable and fluffy, the romances are sweet and the characters are all pretty cute and funny. some moments are quite well written and striking. but ultimately it still falls flat in terms of any sort of complex character writing, nor does it say anything that would be particularly transgressive to modern society as a 'feminist' show.
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Did I watch the same show as everyone else?
I had a lot of hope for this one, it started out strong, I really like Gu Qian Fan and I thought him and the FL had great chemistry. But as time wore on it got harder and harder to watch. I just didn't find most of the characters or storylines that interesting past about episode 8, when it really started to drag for me. It also started getting annoying that the main characters seemed to just be amazing at everything. Stories aren't very interesting when you're already at the top and there's no real growth to be had.I've seen numerous times the main couple being referred to as "adults" in a "mature" relationship. For me the reason I watch C-dramas is because they aren't like Western entertainment, which tries to tell people it is depicting love when it is really depicting a toxic and sometimes borderline abusive relationship, with mind games and emotionally manipulative behaviour. C-dramas can be hit or miss but I love their depiction of loyalty, honesty, and unconditional love. The West, by comparison, doesn't even know the meaning of love. Or chemistry. Or empathy. Personally, I watch C-dramas to help alleviate the pain of living in a culture that mimics its entertainment.
This show had a very Western flavour to how the leads were behaving towards each other. They were not acting like emotionally mature adults, who understand and respect differences of opinion. GQF would get angry at Pan'er for the smallest thing and make it out like she was the problem or there was something wrong with how she saw things. He seemed controlling and I was disturbed by how casually the topic of him torturing people was handled. At times they seemed to be belittling each others' perspectives and he blamed Pan'er for how he felt at times. There's a difference between banter and shaming someone, this was the latter and it left a sour taste in my mouth. There's also a difference between honest vulnerability, and using honesty as an excuse to be a jerk and then hiding behind it when it begins to erode the trust in the relationship.
Everyone has different preferences, to some this is a desirable dynamic, for me I've had enough of this kind of dynamic for a lifetime.
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