Dreams Link

A remake of Qiong Yao's well-known novel Yi Lian You Meng, the series Dreams Link (Chinese: 又见一帘幽梦; literally "Dream Behind the Curtain") stars newcomer Zhang Jiani as the protagonist Wang Ziling and the experienced Alex Fong Chung-sun as her lover, Fei Yunfan. Although only a remake, this highly-publicized series eventually went on to sweep summer ratings in China.

The past years have witnessed a plethora of Mainland remakes (particularly of Jinyong), so naturally my enthusiasm for a Qiong Yao remake was low. Qiong Yao's previous work, "Huan Zhu Ge Ge III", had been an extremely disappointing experience for me as a viewer, so I initially did not have great expectations for this remake. I admit that after a few episodes I was proven wrong.

Storyline and Commentary (3.5/5)
The storyline is essentially very faithful to the original Qiong Yao novel, which means viewers can expect the quintessential love triangles, crushes, and heartaches. This remake had a special twist to it because of Qiong Yao's attempt to modernize the story with laptops and the like, a technique that was neither effective nor particularly detracting. Protagonist Wang Ziling [汪紫菱] takes center stage in this drama as a young girl who grows up in the shadow of her talented sister, the dancer Wang Luping [汪绿萍]. As a teenager, Ziling has a few interests - writing, dreaming, and her sister's boyfriend, Chu Lian [楚濂]. Ziling's unrequited love is undoubtedly a problem for her, but that love becomes more troublesome when it is no longer "unrequited." In love with Ziling, Chu Lian tries to end his relationship with Luping, but an accident that paralyzes Luping causes Chu Lian to marry her out of guilt. For both Chu Lian and Ziling, this choice results in heartache.

Luckily for Ziling, there is a wealthy businessman named Fei Yunfan [费云帆] willing to, in the words of the British rock band Coldplay, "fix" her. Having first met Ziling during one of her excursions to Paris, Yunfan develops strong feelings for Ziling. Although he realizes Ziling's heart still lies with Chu Lian, he takes Ziling to Provence [普罗旺斯], where his company is located, hoping the distance from Chu Lian gives Ziling's heart the opportunity to heal. However, tensions still remain as Ziling is torn between her new life with Yunfan and her memories with Chu Lian. Meanwhile, Chu Lian and Luping's marriage encounters many problems as Luping learns of Chu Lian's relationship with Ziling.

The general conflict in dramas nowadays makes love triangles tiresome and banal. I found this particular one very gripping at first, but I do think the cliche love triangle is one of the major flaws of this drama. The love triangle per se is not the problem; the issue is that it is immensely overplayed in this rather lengthy drama. Eventually it is inevitable that viewers like me will tire of watching Ziling's indecision between Yunfan and Chu Lian, or Luping's efforts to seek revenge over Chu Lian's infidelity. I felt the script did not offer enough to build a convincing relationship between Ziling and Yunfan.

The hackneyed, melodramatic love triangle is balanced, however, by some of the most excellent characterization I have seen. In most series, there are certain characters that everyone is inclined to dislike. On the contrary, this series had characters with multiple layers, which gave them a human-like quality which resonates realism throughout the series. For example, while some might argue that Chu Lian ought to have told Luping earlier about his relationship with Ziling, this is easily defended because he did not want to affect her performance at her next dance recital and obviously did not foresee the car accident.

Acting
Zhang Jiani as Wang Ziling (2.5/5)
Qiong Yao's leading ladies have the tendency to be propelled to fame almost overnight, so there was quite a bit of competition for this role. While I sympathize with the pressure Zhang Jiani underwent making her television series debut in such a coveted role, I felt that her acting skills were not worthy of a greatly desired lead role like Ziling.

Yes, Zhang Jiani was cute, but that was really where her acting merits ended. She managed to pull off Ziling's spunk and youthful exuberance reasonably well, but failed to display the other layers to a character as complex as Ziling. In romance scenes with Yunfan, her expressions seemed too childish, making it hard for me to believe that Yunfan and Ziling could have a deep relationship. The age difference between Yunfan and Ziling is already disturbing enough to the average viewer, and a Ziling lacking in maturity makes the relationship even less believable. I do give Zhang Jiani credit for trying to act, as well as a higher grade because she is a newcomer, but I felt the Ziling character was underdeveloped due to her portrayal.

Qin Lan as Wang Luping (5/5)
Definitely the highlight of this drama, Qin Lan's performance as Wang Luping was nothing short of exceptional. As a more experienced actress, Qin Lan outshone Zhang Jiani, although Qin Lan's character was by far less likable. There were very few moments when I found her portrayal unbelievable, especially towards the end when Luping alternates from pretending to be a pitiful wife in front of the media to being her actual manipulative self. I had a difficult time distinguishing between whether Luping was "acting" or not because of how realistic Qin Lan's portrayal was!

Bao Jianfeng as Chu Lian (4/5)
I am slightly biased towards Bao Jianfeng because I found him the most attractive male of his drama, but I also believe he is a capable actor. Chu Lian is a difficult character to portray; like Luping, Chu Lian is not an audience-friendly role. I thought Bao Jianfeng's Chu Lian was effective in drawing sympathy from the audience, or at least me in this case. Although there were few moments when I found his acting exceptional, it is constant throughout. He does well in both the more light-hearted scenes in the beginning, as well as the serious, dramatic scenes towards the end.

Liu Weiwei as Shen Shuixing (3.5/5)
Liu Weiwei had the benefit of portraying a very likable character, but her performance in this role was decent as well. I have a general tendency to dislike "likable" characters due to poor portrayals, and Liu Weiwei succeeded in not making her character unlikable. Judging from visuals alone, Liu Weiwei looks her character and does a good job of showing Shen Shuixing's gentle nature. I felt that she underacted at times, but her character was not too significant so her underacting did not detract from the series as a whole.

Wu Mian as Shun Jian (3/5)
While Wu Mian's portrayal of Luping and Ziling's mother Shun Jian certainly sufficed, she made her role seem more one-dimensional than it actually is. Rather than giving her character layers, Wu Mian basically makes Shun Jian nothing but a selfish woman. Her expressions generally only convey a haughty, selfish personality, and while I understand her character is like that, she could have worked on making her character at least slightly easier to sympathize with.

Zeng Zhiqiao as Liu Yushan/"613" (2.5/5)
Although Liu Yushan has many personality traits that I generally like in a character, her character came off as very annoying to me due to Zeng Zhiqiao's overacting. I understand that she attempted to show the boisterous aspects of Liu Yushan's personality, but she could have done it in a more natural way. Her performance was so overbearing at times that the character was downright annoying. There were a few more serious scenes where I felt Zeng Zhiqiao redeemed herself, but overall this performance could have been done with a bit more thought.

Music (5/5)
Like in most Qiong Yao productions, music was a high point for this series. There is a distinct advantage because Qiong Yao penned many of the lyrics herself so that they truly relate to the actual drama. Despite her tendency to be melodramatic, Qiong Yao writes lovely lyrics that complemented the catchy melodies very well.

The opening theme, "Yi Lian You Meng" [一帘幽梦], is clearly catered for this series and its protagonist, Ziling. The vocals are excellent and the melody is beautiful, depicting the struggle that the main characters undergo in this series. Both of the ending themes are lovely too. "Zhe Zhong Gan Jue Jiu Shi Ai" [这种感觉就是爱] is my personal favorite out of the entire soundtrack. "Xiang Yu De Mo Zhou" [相遇的魔咒], the other ending theme, is also soothing to listen to with thought-provoking lyrics. One of my other favorite songs, "Meng Nu Hai" [梦女孩] is unfortunately not on the soundtrack. I felt that when this song played in the background, it really brought out the playful, naive dreamer in Ziling. Despite the omission of "Meng Nu Hai," I would definitely recommend obtaining a copy of the soundtrack because the music selection in this drama is excellent.

Cinematography (3.5/5)
The scenery was gorgeous, especially the scenes shot in France. I loved the early scenes in Paris, especially at nighttime. I know of multiple girls who dream of living in Provence after watching the drama, and this is reasonable as the scenes in Provence were very beautiful. The beautiful scenery as a whole contributed to the "dream" effect of this series.

A few scenes stood out as particularly well done, especially Ziling and Yunfan's wedding. The fireworks and lighting were beautiful. I also enjoyed the part where Ziling and Yunfan run through pigeons in Paris. The flying pigeons were a nice touch and brought out the playfulness in that particular scene.

Certain scenes were overdone or done in an unrealistic manner, although they were minor enough such that they did not detract from the overall quality of the production. Ziling's recurring dream of falling off a cliff was a nice motif, but the lighting in the entire scene was overdone. The moments where Ziling encountered her savior in her dreams were much too long. Even her falling off the cliff seemed incredibly fake and in this case, too dream-like. Similarly, I thought that Luping's dance scenes in the beginning could have been more enticing. While I understand that Qin Lan probably does not have the dance experience Luping claims to have, the unimpressive dance moves made the audience's praises seem unrealistic.

Despite certain flawed scenes, the one major aspect I liked about this drama was the scenes shot behind the "curtain," which was really made out of long strings of beads. The opening theme showed all the main characters behind this curtain, and this, along with the scenery, brought out the "dream" effect.

As this is not a period drama, costumes are a bit insignificant, but I would like to add that I liked most of Ziling and Luping's clothes, with the exception of the horrible dress Ziling wears while promoting Dreams Link perfume. I was horrified to see that she also wore that dress on the drama's cover!

Best and Worst Scene
BEST: When Ziling tells Yunfan about her lack of talents and abilities, and Yunfan answers each of them going "I don't need that." Then Ziling asks Yunfan "What do you need?" and he replies "you." There were not too many moments between Ziling and Yunfan that I felt emphasized their romance enough, but this was definitely one that did.

WORST: When Luping hits Chu Lian with a magazine out of anger over the situation with Ziling. The magazine, titled "cute," absolutely undermined the seriousness of the scene, at least for viewers like me. I also found it rather comical that the viewers reacted as if Chu Lian's life was at stake because he was being hit by a magazine. The medical scenes were too dramatic in general - another one I can think of is when Ziling scrapes her knees and everyone wants to send her to the hospital.

Overall (3.5/5)
This series definitely has its faults - some over-the-top scenes, some over-the-top acting, and a Qiong Yao style plot we have all seen way too many times. However, as I was watching I felt that there was something special about this drama. It had that intangible element that makes a series gripping, that element that I felt was lacking in so many series I had seen before this one. And that is what I give the series credit for - despite its flaws, it was addictive. Complemented with a few above average performances and an excellent soundtrack, this series ranks as above average in my book.