Bian Liang Meng Hua Tu (2022)

Justice always triumphs

"A dream of splendor"mainly focuses on women and their struggles to settle in their life.It tells the story of 3 women from Qiantang to the Eastern capital and how they start and run a business successfully and establish themselves in the capital,make friends and eventually find their loved ones.
Liu Yifei as Zhao Pan'er and Chen Xiao as Gu Qianfan were perfect in their roles.Ada Liu is excellent as Sun Sanniang.Jelly Lin as Yinzhang is also good..All the other actors were good.
The drama,to be precise is very practical and also interesting at the same time.
What I liked the most is the background is very bright and all the costumes and sets were very nice.The plot is also grippy with few twists and turns.The locations were scenicl.
Overall it is a worth watching drama which leaves a pleasant impression on our minds.

Citeste mai mult

Women empowerment

Pros:
- The sisterhood is so good—literally, you won’t wanna skip any scene.
- Strong themes of women empowerment, feminism, and challenging patriarchy are woven throughout, giving the show depth.
- The Song dynasty setting? Hard to pull off, but they nailed it. Realistic, solid plot, and it looks amazing.
- The fl is a standout character. The actress really brought it, simple but powerful, a character who understands right from wrong while maintaining a relatable vulnerability. ml is a walking gentleman, everything he says is like “stop, you’re too perfect.”
- Slow-burn romance done right. It’s a mature portrayal of love, where the connection builds gradually, making the tension feel even more authentic.
- No filler convos here. every scene counts, which is super rare for this genre.
- I love how the problems come from everyday life, not some grand political schemes. Makes it more relatable and less heavy.

Cons:
- It’s slow, no steamy romance, and maybe too realistic for some. ik not everyone will love that.
- More people need to watch this, but it’s flying under the radar. Deserves way more hype tbh.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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?

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

A Dream of Splendor is an adaptation from the opera "Zhao Pan Er Feng Yue Jiu Feng Chen". The story, although it has a nice romantic storyline, is more about three woman that are going through trials and tribulations and work together to overcome societal prejudice and injustice. This drama is delivered in a very artistic manner through the strong, smart, beautiful, witty, and charismatic Zhao Pan’er (Liu Yifei) and her lover, Gu Qianfan (Chen Xiao) who is equally intelligent, highly skilled in planning action or policy, and a great protector and benefactor. Their love story is one of mutual admiration, respect, and a beautiful and sweet steadfast love. A Dream of Splendor is an ode to three women that are willing to work together and support each other throughout adversity and good times to walk through life in splendor. Overall, this is a well written drama and the cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. Although the romantic scenes are soft and restrained, the leading couple certainly exudes a great loving chemistry. Enjoy it!

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult

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.

Citeste mai mult