Yong An Dream (2024)

Solid entertainment with a few good laughs

I went into this drama with very few expectations as it pairs Jeremy Tsui with yet another, much younger actress with very little acting experience. The slapstick-type initial trailer didn’t help at all because in the meantime I had started reading the novel and I really hate it when scriptwriters change the whole tone of the source material.
I was therefore very pleasantly surprised by the first few episodes that were mostly serious and showed an FL whose acting wasn’t on par with everyone else, but at least tolerable. The heart-clutching and fainting spells were hilarious and just at the point when I thought that they were getting a bit too much, they stopped.

The pace was really good right from the start, getting the viewers into the mystery around the collapse of the West Canal and whatever wider conspiracy was brewing. The secondary couple looked charming and perfect for each other and for once, both Lu Yan’s attendant, Yang Zong and Shen Zhen’s maid were allowed to be clever servants. Although, poor Yang Zong had an unfortunate talent to show up at the wrong moment and disturb “couple time”. I was really impressed by the actor’s comedic talent!
Another support actor absolutely worth mentioning was the one playing Shen Zhen’s father who had impressive screen presence and made the most of his few short scenes.

The initial villain of the story, Li Di played by Liu Hai Kuan had the delightful intensity of a character that we all love to hate. Sadly, his plot line was just dropped in the middle of nowhere as the story moved towards the mastermind behind it all. All the villains had a proper motivation for what they were doing, other than just being evil because the script said so.

Compared to the novel, the conspiracy was one of the weakest points of the drama. It could have been so much more complex and intriguing if they had used some more material from the novel instead of giving wasting time on this totally nonsensical amnesia plot in the last episode. Although this plot gave us the opportunity to see a sterner version of Lu Yan which Jeremy Tsui portrayed in a very nuanced manner, it felt rather superfluous.

Another weak point were the dreams which never really served any purpose. While in the novel the ML uses these dreams to gain intel on what his enemies were plotting and to develop counter strategies, this role of the dreams probably fell victim to censorship rules. Therefore, if these dreams as memories of a past life had been replaced by some nightmares that showed the ML’s fear of losing the FL it would have caused far less confusion among the viewers.

I was pondering a long time how to rate this drama. It had solid acting overall with the FL being the weakest link by a mile (although she wasn’t terrible) and the story avoided many of the usual lame tropes, it made me laugh and kept me entertained. The many fight scenes were well choreographed and executed and the ending was decent as well. Normally, this would have been an 8.5 in my books. However, in light of recent events that offer us a glimpse into just how much Jeremy Tsui must have suffered, both emotionally and intellectually, at having to film yet another idol drama with a trainee actress (who got first billing just to add insult to injury) and to counterbalance the hate-rating of a few obvious non-viewers, I am going to rate this a solid 10.

Read More

A good decent watch

Life is short and should not be wasted.
Be in love and make love, the world will come to an end someday.

Funny scenes, Romance.., Suspense.. , fight scenes, some lovable and some hated characters, ... .

Shen Zhen and Lu shi Yan did not end up together in their past life.
Now we get to see their happy ending in this life.
Shen Zhen's struggle's to save his father won my heart.

I admit that the emperor and specially the empress should have had more screen time.

It was my first time seeing Jeremy Tsui . His acting is good . The Fl although tried her best, still has room for improvement.
The actress who played the second Fl (Shen Zhen's sister) did a great job. Somehow her romance plot with Zhou Su An kept the story rolling in some eps.


It's true that the past life is not explained in detail, but in my opinion It was enough.

The last episode was a bit quick and easy (lame).
Also It left us with some questions about some supporting roles.
Surely I did not like some episodes and scenes.
But Wholly I enjoyed this drama. It was a quite fun watch and I recommend it to you.

Read More

Light and entertaining but a missed opportunity

I was initially attracted to Yong'an Dream because at that time, I was craving something fluffy but it also appealed to my darkness-loving soul because had a mysterious and near-tragic edge. However, while I was mostly positive about Yong'an Dream in the beginning, I ended up fast-forwarding most of it by episode 12. So, what happened?
First, the positives.

What I liked
- Jeremy Tsui was appropriately menacing as Liu Shi Yan. He had the bearing and gravitas to be the arrogant court official who is thinks he knows everything.
- The second and third lead couples were actually fascinating. Shen Ran is a married woman, but how is she and the Zhou Su An supposed to act on their attraction? Su Heng is besotted with Shen Ran, but at least he thinks he is until he meets the beautiful but tom boyish woman who is supposed to be matched with Shi Yan. I legit want a CDrama centred around these two couples!
What I didn't like
- Zilch chemistry between our lead couple. I kept waiting for it to happen, and found it ironic that I was far more interested in the second and third lead couples!
- Jeremy Tsui was good as usual, but sadly Ouyang Nana, while not awful, was not good enough to elevate her very stereotypical, bright and perky, blandly-written character to something special.
- The unnecessary roadblocks to our main couple's happiness mid point. It was an eyerolling, lazy way to create drama and tension in the story. This was when I began to check out.
- The dreams that Shi Yan gets about an alternate life with Shen Zhen was never coherently explained. If I hadn't known about the novel's plot, I wouldn't have any idea what to make of it. Is it prophetic? Hallucinations from too much mushrooms? No idea.
- The whole "she cries and he ends up in pain" schtick got old really quick. I highly suspect it's because Jeremy Tsui's comedic timing is less than stellar, and Ouyang Nana's performance wasn't great. These were cringey more than funny.

Final thoughts

All in all, watching Yong'an Dream is like eating a cake, expecting it to be as delicious at it looks, only to end up finding out that beneath the frosting, the cake was made of cardboard.
I really felt sad for Jeremy, especially after hearing that he's retiring from acting. (He made this announcement while this drama was airing.)
Jeremy is an actor I felt has lots of potential but is quickly aging out from the idol dramas he's always starring in. There are rumors that his agency was pressurising him to act in these dramas and blocking his efforts to branch out, so I don't blame him for quitting if this is true. But as these are rumours, I guess we'll never fully know the truth.
Yong'an Dream was not a drama I want him to end his career with. Fortunately, he has more dramas coming out. So, I hope they will be much better than this one and that he ends his acting career memorably rather than with a whimper.

As usual, this is an excerpt from my blog post review of the drama: https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/03/22/yongan-dream-review/

Read More

the crybaby official

The series started well. It tells the story of the events that happen to the two daughters of a Minister whose name is involved in corruption, in order to prove their father's innocence. It started as such a story. Afterwards, the story turned mysterious and turned into a conspiracy high up in the palace. A number of events took place to reach the conspirators. While this was happening, the Minister's two daughters also established relationships with the leaders of the palace's investigation teams. These relationships turned into love. Now they started to act together. It was a very nice flowing story. It was also decorated with various events. Its mysteriousness lasted until the last two episodes. Also, the action scenes were good. In my opinion, these were well-done and meticulous scenes. We felt the drama as well as a little bit of the love. However, in my opinion, too many coincidences and simplicities in the flow of events overshadowed the beauty of the story. It took some events away from authenticity. The dreams, fires, I know, I don't know scenes piled up in the last chapters were not compatible with the story at all. He diluted it. In my opinion, it spoiled the beautiful series. I was thinking of giving it 9 out of 10, but unfortunately I lowered my rating to 8 due to these negativities. For example, the people they established relationships with and saved from negative events in a border town. After them, they suddenly came to the Capital and took part in the games there. What was the reason? Was this necessary? It is debatable. While watching, I felt as if they were going to help the bad people who were caught. I said what does it matter? One turned out to be a doctor. It was like a concubine. She was a girl who was sold on this. The doctor came out. Others came to help as a team. All the way from there. They joined the game. So credibility is lost. Simplicity has been avoided.
Judging by the players, they were good. With his experience, Jeremy Tsui is already a sought-after name in such TV series. It was fine. I watched Ouyang Nana for the first time. She is a Taiwanese actress. Let me say it wasn't bad. It had to be better. His face looks very swollen. He needs to take good care of himself. He is an actor who is very prone to obesity. I say he should improve himself. Xia Nan, on the other hand, is a name I know for her evil female roles. She is an actress who portrays the villain, that is, the person opposite the leading character, in the best way and whose face is more suitable for evil. By the way, his face is completely white. Her skin is beautiful. But he is not an actor of good roles. Although here she plays a despotic sister. It suits the role. The smiling and snippy style of play is not his style of play. It suits being serious. I like. I also liked Sun Jian. Our supporting roles were also very good. Experienced players were very good. I also liked our director and the production. Well done to those who contributed.

Read More

Romantic, Fun & Feel Good

They rarely make dramas like this now. It’s a fun and fast paced imperial whodunnit with plenty of romance in the form of multiple couple story lines. There wasn’t a single episode that dragged for me, thus increasing the rewatchability. The ending also wrapped most everything up.

Both main couples’ romances were enjoyable, but I had a soft spot for the elder sister and Zhou Shian due to the extra angst and sweetness.

I actually wouldn’t mind this drama being longer to have more time to look into the side characters’ stories (like Fan finding her sister, and Yang Zong is such a nice guy I want to know what happens to him).

Read More

An Entertaining Watch for a Weekend Binge

When I first started with this drama, it was solely for two purposes, first being Jeremy Tsui. I really enjoyed watching his recent dramas “The Autumn Ballad” and “Royal Rumours”. Secondly, because I had nothing else to watch and the fantasy element got me hooked. The show definitely had a strong start, I binged watched this on a weekend and was thoroughly entertained. Jeremy Tsui as Lu Shiyang has a meaty role; he is the Imperial Inspector tasked to arrest the female protagonist, Shen Zhen’s (Ouyang Nana) father. Yes, their romance begins from a full-blown war; the only catch being Lu Shiyan feels immense pain whenever Shen Zhen sheds tears. Their past life connection resonates throughout the storyline with Lu Shiyan remembering bits & pieces while Shen Zhen remains oblivious to his ordeal. It is this painful reconnection that makes them fall in love again. Let’s get down to reviewing the show in detail!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/03/16/yong-an-dream-series-review/

Read More

For me, a bad experience: poorly written story and unconvincing FL

Sorry to go against the praise given by other viewers, but I didn't like this series at all, watched only because I like Jeremy Tsui's work.

PLOT: The FL, daughter of a minister imprisoned because of a faulty dam, meets the ML, imperial inspector, and works with him to investigate the conspiracy and save her father.

The ML is Jeremy Tsui and it is fortunate ! because I don't like FL at all: she can't even make her character likeable because she is so inexpressive as an actress :( If she really wants to pursue her career, she need to improve her skills.
The other actors are convincing. The 2nd couple is nicer: the FL2 is strong, smart, and the ML2, so devoted, is adorable.
The story is poorly written, with a lot of inconsistencies and plotholes.
The narration is slow and clumsy.
The OSTs are okay but not memorable either.

=> I only got to the end, despite my annoyance, thanks to the FF button.

I hope this won't be Jeremy Tsui's last series before he retires from acting, because even he can't save this drama!

************************************************************
Désolée d'aller à l'encontre des louanges portées par les autres viewers, mais je n'ai pas aimé du tout cette série, regardée parce que j'aime le travail de Jeremy Tsui.

PLOT: La FL, fille de ministre emprisonné à cause d'un barrage défectueux, se retrouve avec le ML, inspecteur impérial, pour enquêter sur le complot et sauver son père.

Le ML est Jeremy Tsui et heureusement qu'il est là, car je n'aime pas du tout la FL : elle n'arrive même pas à rendre son personnage sympathique tellement elle est inexpressive comme actrice :(
Les autres acteurs sont convaincants. Le 2nd couple est plus sympa : la FL2 est strong, smart, et le ML2 si dévoué, est adorable.
La story est mal écrite, avec beaucoup d'incohérences, de plotholes.
La narration est lente, maladroite.
Les OST sont correctes mais pas mémorables non plus.

=> Je ne suis allée au bout, malgré mon agacement, que grâce au bouton FF.
J'espère que cela na sera pas la dernière série de Jeremy Tsui avant sa retraite du métier d'acteur, car même lui n'arrive pas sauver ce drama !

Read More

Good first half, Flat second half, Main couple was actually okay

First off, Oh my god! Finally, a good TV series from Nana. Second, I thought I was gonna be put off by the Age gap, but seeing the characters and how they were written, it wasn't that bad and it kinda checks out actually.

The story was actually good, for the most part. In the beginning, I found it hilarious because of the crying gimmick, good thing they toned it down and the characters used it cleverly to their advantage as the story went on. I didn't really understand the point of the dreams that the ML was having. In the middle of watching this, I watched Dune 2 and they have that same gimmick as well, but what differentiates the two is that in Dune they actually used it to prepare for future events, in here it was just some kind of mumbo jumbo, and did not help in the bigger picture at all. The sideplot of FLs sister is such a car crash love story and I couldn't stand the domestic violence at times, but what comes after that was more interesting than our lead couple.

The mystery was decent. It was interesting. The stake is high for our FL, but I noticed that sometimes, solving each of the mysteries behind it all is smooth sailing for our leads. It would've been better to see them fail so hard. It kinda felt like they've just hit a fence, not a wall, and then next episode they'll be able to cross it.

The action was pretty cool. I love it. It was well choreographed, paired with good cinematography. I found it funny at first because I'm pretty sure I'm not watching Wuxia, but these characters are flying around when they fight, so It made me realize they are probably going for that style of exaggerated fights.

The romance was pretty interesting. It was slow at first and I don't know about you guys, but when it started sparking, I started grinning as well. I thought I was gonna be put off by the age gap of our leads, but watching the drama, it checks out actually because of the roles. Great job to the director because they did the romance pretty safely, knowing we have a big age gap to keep in mind, so I'd say the romance is as vanilla as you could get, but will still make you smile.

Now, I said that almost all of the story was good. I don't know if it's the same in the novel or not, but after the main story that you were introduced to in the beginning ended, the arc that comes after that feels like the people behind wanted it to keep going. Like it basically ended after the mystery of the collapsed canal concluded and our leads already fell for each other, so where are they taking the from thereon? they went and said, "Hey, there's actually someone even more powerful behind all this". I was fine with it if they managed to do it well, but for almost the entirety of that arc, everything was just too smooth sailing for our main characters. After the characters managed to learn the truth, they went on a few investigations to confirm it, but most of the time, they just kept theorizing who this big boss in the shadows might be and felt kinda bland. And then, of course, they introduced a Rival ML and FL because why not? The rival ML felt a little bit forced and annoying at first. The rival FL makes sense because we know in the first half that MLs mother is opposed to the relationship of our main couple, so it wouldn't be surprising to have one.

The characters. Well, let's start with our main couple. We know they have a big age gap and again, it checks out because of their roles. Even though their romance made me grin at times, I couldn't really get heavily invested because, in the back of my mind, I was on guard that these two were way apart in age, but they managed to form good chemistry you know and the dynamic of their characters are pretty funny. It's my first time watching Jeremy Tsui and I'd say he's a very good actor. I'm also planning on watching Legend of Chongzi because of the FL there and he is there too, so I'm looking forward to his performance. Nana, she's the reason why I'm watching this because I'm a fan. In comparison to all of her past TV series, I'd say this is the best work from her so far. In regards to her acting, Her acting here is far better than all of her past works but still needs more improvement. She's got the happy expression down, but the sad expression needs more work.

The 2nd couple was more interesting the all of the couples because they were written well and they got a good chemistry. 2nd FLs character is great, she's a great actress, I love her as a sister, she's so real when it comes to being protective of her sibling. 2nd ML is also great and a good actor. I was confused as to what his motivation might be in the beginning because he kept giving mixed signals. I loved how his friendship with ML developed, even when the world turned on him, I knew he was on his side.

The 3rd couple or more like the Rival ML and FL. It's funny how rival ML was so annoying because he kept pestering FL over some childhood marriage joke, but when she met rival FL, already they complimented each other and sparks started flying everywhere. Rival FL was at least far more understanding with our main couple and because of that he managed to make our rival ML wake up from his delusion and I loved that because his character developed afterwards.

The music didn't catch me at first, but as I kept hearing it more, I realized that it grew on me. And when a romance scene is about to come, I sometimes expect that they better play the main OST. I even cried at the end.

Overall, a good drama. The last arc kinda fumbled. Depending on your preference you'll either gonna like it or not. I'm torn about recommending this though, but if you're a fan of Nana, you'd better watch it because her acting has improved here.

Read More

Resolving the mystery was why I stayed. Drama was cute but Meh

Resolving the mystery was what kept me watching it. The mystery itself wasnt ground breaking like some other dramas I've watched. Jeremy's acting was also really good! HIS EYES they speak volumes. Overall, a cute fluffy drama! Ending felt a bit rushed? I love all the side couples and am glad that they all had a happily ever after. I've been rooting for Zhou Shu An since the beginning! I've definitely watched more captivating dramas; ones that left me feeling like a piece of me was ripped away. This one wasnt that. I guess I didnt really feel like i got to know the characters personally. It just felt like i was watching a show. I wasnt submerged in the experience. Also, FL cries too much. It is as ML said, she cries about everything. Ive rolled my eyes quite a few times getting through this drama. Some scenes felt too unrealistically cheesey.
Even so. It was enjoyable!

P.S. Im not the kind to rewatch. Take my rewatch value with a grain of salt.
P.S.S. is it normal to pair NaNa with older actors? She was paired with Vengo Gao in Snowfall. It just feels odd to me. Was the age gap a part of the storyline?

Read More