Yong’an Dream (review)

Yong’an Dream came to me at a time when I was craving something fluffy. It didn’t seem 100% fluffy, however. It had a mysterious and near-tragic edge that piqued my interest.

The story

Shen Wen Qi, the Minister of Works ends up in prison when the West Canal of Yong’an collapses. His daughters, Shen Ran, and Shen Zhen, fall from grace as a result. Shen Zhen, the youngest daughter, had always led a sheltered life. Unfortunately, she has now caught the attention of Lu Shi Yan, the imperial prosecutor responsible for investigating the case.

But Lu Shi Yan is interested in her for another reason – he has been having dreams about Shen Zhen. About an alternate life where she was both a lover and an enemy …

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 thinks he knows everything.
• The second and third lead couples were actually fascinating. Shen Ran is a married woman, but how is she and Zhou Su An supposed to act on their attraction? Su Heng is besotted with Shen Zhen, 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 would watch a CDrama centered around these two couples.

Now, 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? Let me count the ways.

What I didn’t like

• I don’t sense any chemistry between our lead couple at all. 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 the Ouyang Nana, while not awful, was not good enough to elevate her very stereotypical, bright and perky, blandly-written character to something special.
• Some characters end up being unnecessary roadblocks to our main couple’s happiness. It was an eye-rolling, 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 are 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 many mushrooms? No idea. I understand that censorship prevents the second life trope from happening, but surely they have more creative ways to explain the dreams besides sticking it there and hoping we would get it?
• The whole “she cries and he ends up in pain” schtick got old really quick.

Final rating: 7

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 wanted 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.