Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book (2020)

The Eternal Love of Dream is a drama adapted from the novel the Pillow Book. I am a Pillow Book fan and also a Ten Miles of Peach Blossom fan, so I watched this drama with high expectations. It did not fail me, in fact, it exceeded all that I have expected.

This drama is beautiful, touching, and you get to experience love and trial throughout three different lives. Fengjiu and Donghua story can be recapped as a deep love with shallow fate. Bittersweet.

Story:
10/10. Beautiful story following the two protagonists struggles through three different lives. The drama followed closely with the book, though with different sequencing. The mortal realm arc was slightly lengthy, but it was still worth watching. I’d say it has a slow start, but after episode 20, it evolve to become an unforgettable story.

Acting/Casts:
10/10 There are so many casts from Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms and the familiar faces makes us feel nostalgic in a good sense. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Fengjiu and Dong Hua instead of Vengo and Dilraba. They are perfect couple with amazing chemistry on screen and offscreen. They portray three different characters so well in three different lives, and if anyone says they can’t act, I hope you take a good look at this splendid drama. Side characters like Siming, Liansong, ChengYu trio also did their roles well, providing comedy relief with right timing. Evil characters like Jiheng was able to stimulate all my hatred, so kudo to the actress. Everyone did an amazing job and Yang Mi cameo was one of the best moments to see in the drama.

Music:
10/10 Splendid music. I feel my skin crawls everytime I listened to the opening and I reminisce their love story everytime I listen to the other OST.

Rewatch Value:
10/10 I will definitely go back and watch my favourite scenes, maybe all the scenes from episode 20 onwards. I might leave out the mortal arc, since it isn’t the most enjoyable.

Overall, this drama is splendid and did not fail my expectations. I’m really glad they used the same casts, I cannot imagine how this drama would have went with a different crew. The cinematography is beautiful and I can put this side by side with Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. This deserves the rating it gets, and it’s a must watch within the cdrama community.

Highly recommended.

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This is a drama worth watching. The cast, the story, the costumes, the scenery are totally beautiful. I really enjoy watching this drama. Each character in this drama portrayed their role really well. The CGI is awesome also the music is totally beautiful.

This drama maybe start a little bit slow for some people but for me was cute and funny, not everyone will have the same taste. But if you are patience a little bit you will find the story really interesting. Fengjiu and Donghua story is totally worth and you will melt in sugar every time you watch those two spread love everywhere.

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An Eternal Nightmare

After watching Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms when it first streamed, I was very excited to watch Eternal Love of Dream despite the change in story. However, I was very disappointed in it and found it hard to watch. It took me several months to get through it which rarely happens.

Pros:
- Bringing back Vengo Gao and Dilraba Dilmurat was the best part of the show and frankly the only reason I persisted through it till the end. Their chemistry, as before, was flawless and their acting was on point. No complaints there!
- The cinematography was lovely and I found the sets to overall be more realistic than in TMOPB.
- As always the OST was beautiful.
- Costuming, again, was perfect. I appreciated how each tribe had their own general but unique style without all looking the same.

Cons:
-This may seem minor or petty, but I was not fond of some of the recasts, Cheng Yu in particular. The new actress appears significantly younger and some of her scenes with Lian Song just didn't work for me with the obvious age difference, she just seems too young for him. The actress in TMOPB seemed to be a more comparable age and the two actors played off each other much better, in my opinion.
-The plot positively dragged for me. The constant misunderstandings between Feng Jiu and Dong Hua from the very beginning to quite literally the very end got exhausting after a while. The fact that neither seemed to learn from past mistakes was also frustrating and that more than a few of their misunderstandings seemed very forced, that if they had just used some common sense there wouldn't even be an issue, just compounded the issue. A'Lanruo's Dream was a particular challenge to get through. There were aspects that were not explained well and it got confusing at times with what was going on and who was who and what their relationships were. Most of it got ironed out in the end, but in the moment it was confusing and frustrating. I also never got a very clear picture of why A'Lanruo was hated so much by everyone or why she was abandoned as a child. There were hints, but nothing definitive so the blanks within her life were another source of frustration.
- I very much liked Feng Jiu in TMOPB, but I realized very soon after starting this drama that part of that was because she was seen in small doses overall. With her as the lead in this drama, I definitely found her to be a little more over the top and annoying at times. When she's a fox towards the beginning was particularly cringy and a challenge to watch. I would have really liked to see her character develop and mature and mellow from the childishness to a more measured level.
- The side characters were a mixed bunch. Ji Heng in particular annoyed the crap out of me. She was a basically pointless character whose only purpose was to sow discord between Feng Jiu and Dong Hua. Xiao Yan deserved so much better than her whininess. Xiao Yan on the other hand was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing Lian Song and Si Ming back. Chong Li was a welcome addition as was Qing Ti. As a side note, I found the dismissal of the deaths of Meng Shao and his family more than a little irritating. I came to really like Meng Shao and appreciate his character development so the fact that his death was barely mentioned and even then just in passing as part of the royal family was off-putting. He wasn't a main character, but he had enough of a part to deserve a little more recognition.
-The villains were okay but not particularly impressive. Miao Luo's obnoxious evil laugh got old real fast and I never found her to be particularly threatening or interesting. It could be that I'm just forgetting, but I didn't get a real sense for why she was evil or what her motivation was other than because of how she was created. At least with Nie Chuyin his motivation was clearly power and the desire to rule. I honestly would have found it more interesting to have him as the main villain as he was far more compelling and interesting to watch.
- As with pretty much every drama I've watched, the CGI definitely leaves more than a little to be desired. The episodes with Feng Jiu in her fox form were a bit painful to watch, in more ways than one. The bad effects and her behavior combined made those some tough episodes to get through.
-A relatively minor issue, but I always get frustrated with these fantasy dramas and how unclear they make the passage of time. You watch a few episodes and think a few days or months have gone by only to find out that nope, its been a few hundred years. I feel like they could make that a little more clear.

In the end, did I hate it? No. Did I love it? Also no. It wasn't a bad drama, but it wasn't a particularly good one either. It pales hugely in comparison to TMOPB in pretty much all aspects. It's certainly not one that I'll ever have the desire to rewatch but I also don't necessarily regret watching it either. It simply wasn't quite my cup of tea.

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NOT A SEQUEL TO TMOPB.....BUT A MUST WATCH REGARDLESS

I don't have the patience to review a drama unless its absolutely necessary. Its either that drama belongs in the shit house or its a must watch.
I waited 3 years for this and i am glad to say it was worth my wait. For someone to really appreciate this gem and why i waited so long i encourage you to go and watch ten miles of peach blossoms (TMOPB) if you haven't already. First get this clear this drama is NOT a sequel to TMOPB. They are related yes, but with ELOD you will not get a continuation of Bai Feng Jiu (BFJ) and Dong Hua Dijun (DHD)'s love story from TMOPB and neither will you get a continuation of YeHua and Bai Qian's story (BQ cameos only as Bai Qian and thats all and no YeHua/MoYuan). The characters are the same yes BUT its a different story. This story ventures into the love of our two protagonists BFJ and DHD. You can watch it before TMOPB and understand the gist of things fairly easily. I deliberately mentioned TMOPB because i was too heartbroken by how those 2 ended and like many other fans shipped those two so ELOD is a story dedicated to those two and those two alone.
Like i already highlighted i will not spoil the drama its too good to have someone spoil it for you. Another piece of advice the drama is adapted from the book with that same title and the screenwriters did a fantastic job adapting this book. However, they made little changes to the story in the book and in my opinion those little changes did create quite a sizeable loss in terms of the emotions one feels reading the book. The changes didn't affect the overall story and can be ignored. So my advice is if you enjoy reading, read the book first then watch the drama you will thank me later. If you don't have the time or patience then jump right in. You will still love the story.

Okay enough about the storyline. Now to the cast. I gave this drama a 9.5 because of 1 bad apple only. Thankfully that one apple did not spoil the whole basket neither did it take anything away from the drama. This apple happens to be lady who played the role of JiHeng. One expression from the beginning of the drama up to the very last episode. She was just so plain and so pathetic merely narrating lines.
Apart from her the acting was superb. I fell in love with Yan Chiwu and his immaturity from episode 1 to 56. And that walk ????. Nie Chuyun ??.

To wrap this up THIS IS A MUST WATCH. A 10/10 for me. Definitely worth your while if you are into wuxia, costume, fantasy dramas and if you watched TMOPB (our ship finally sailed ?)
This story will melt your heart.
Am i going to rewatch this again? YES DEFINITELY.

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A whole lot of nothing

This is like cotton candy -- too sweet and dissolves instantly. There is nothing of depth, substance or real interest in this drama. The characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. The acting is subpar. They are going through the motions of pining, cuteness, jealousy, protectiveness, sacrifice, all without any real tangible grounding in anything. Why is anyone doing anything? Why do they love each other? What is the plot? The only reason it has a rating higher than 2 stars is that it is not toxic/disgusting. So it technically is rewatchable if you want your brain to melt out your ears.

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Do yourself a great favour and watch this drama!

There are already so many reviews, but I felt compelled to add mine since this is now one of my top favourite Chinese dramas. Now, I have not seen Eternal Love, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms After Story, nor have I read the novel, so my review is entirely based on the show alone.

I didn't expect this show to be so addictive! I was so reluctant to watch the last few episodes, and I even waited for a couple of weeks before I finally finished it. I just did not want it to end. It is also my first show that is longer than 50 episodes. I have a habit of needing to complete any show (and not dropping it), so I tend to avoid long period dramas. However, I made an exception this time because of the great chemistry between the main leads. The trailers drew me in, and my only regret is that I did not watch it sooner. I really love the story! Even though some reviews stated that certain parts got draggy, I truly enjoyed the different arcs - from when Feng Jiu became Dong Hua's pet fox to the final battle at the end. Of course, fortunately for me, the ending was a satisfying one; otherwise, I would be so heartbroken that I would probably swear off Chinese period dramas for good.

Dilraba and Vengo really nailed their characters! I cannot imagine anyone else playing Feng Jiu with so much sass. Dilraba is mesmerizing, and it is completely believable when the character was described as a legendary beauty. She portrayed the future Queen of Qing Qiu with such grace and I love that Feng Jiu was also intelligent (albeit naive at times), good in martial arts and weapon making, and her culinary skills so exceptional that it won Dong Hua's attention. The same thing with Vengo - he played Dong Hua Di Jun with perfection. His acting range shone as he switched from icy handsome god to adorable pouty lover with endearing, smoldering looks reserved just for Feng Jiu. Also, while I have not seen that many period dramas, I cannot think of anyone else who looked so attractive in white hair (other than his own offspring)!

I also look for micro-expressions when it comes to acting skills, and both of them pulled it off so well. After all, they each had to portray three different character personalities, and they went through so many emotional periods of different levels across the various realms. The chemistry between these two was off the chart, and I truly enjoyed watching them fall in love even when they did not realize that their relationship was forming. I usually keep my interest strictly within Dramaland, but this is one of the very very few couples so far where I hope would become one from reel to real. I totally ship them together.

As for the rest of the cast - major applause! All of them did amazingly and so many good looking ones all in a one show :-) I was genuinely interested in the different characters - Lian Song, Cheng Yu, Chi Wu, Si Ming, super cute Ah Li, Zhe Yan (Baron!!!), Su Mo Ye, Qing Ti, Meng Shao and the list goes on! These characters completed the show. And yes, I have to mention Ji Heng, who was the one character I hated, not the actress who did a good job but the character - boy was I upset with her actions towards the end!

Other than that, the CGI effects were fantastic. It was obvious that they put a lot of thought and effort into creating the various realms and worlds. The fox was so well done, and I could not find any bad effects. Music-wise, also well-done! I have already added the OST soundtrack to my playlist.

The rewatch value is high for me since I am already rewatching it. Haha! As I said, this show is addictive!

Lire davantage

Apart form the different setting, this series is very much like the eternal love series . I like how it shows the background story of their love, and how it came to be what it is. It’s really beautiful and the scenery it’s espectacular, more like breath taking. What a fresh and new concept and the colors is so vibrant and gorgeous. Overall I’m very pleased with the few episodes that have been released and I hope and look forward to a great series.


I've been waiting for this drama to air. So far it has exceeded my expectation. You don't need to have seen Eternal Love to watch this drama.

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So beautiful (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

My review of "Eternal Love of Dream" a.k.a "Watch God Dong Hua act like a kitten"

Actually I think the main story is the same as in TMOPB. Only the interpretion is different as well as the further story. Feng Jui still falls in love with Dong Hua when he saves her, and she still wants to return the favor by serving him as a maid and follow him to the mortal realm to help his cultivation. But everything else is different. It's more clear, more interesting, more beautiful! Also the cameo of Bai Qai makes this really look like a second season but you can still watch it without having seen TMOPB. The story is more entangled and deep than that. It kept my interest at the highest to figure out those mysteries (like Aranyas Dream).

It is as slow paced as TMOPB at the beginning. The main leads only meet in their real forms like in around ep 20. But that doesn't matter. Again, the story needs the time to unfold - to be told, and I love every single second of it. It's not boring at all. If anything I wish it had even more episodes xD.
AND! In contrast to TMOPB the side chicks aren't as delusional and frustrating! They handled them quite fast and they didn't even got the chance to annoy me xD.

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ACTING&CHARACTERS:
I dont think I have to mention that the acting is outstanding since they all are very good actors. Vengo Gao is playing 3 different characters and I didn't like the 1 of them but loved the other 2. But it's the same actor, lol. So he is amazing at portraying his roles! And Dilraba was great too! :)

I love the character developement here. I always wanted to see a different side of Dong Hua and I wasn't disappointed. He always acted cold, unreachable and distanced but as as he fell for Feng Jui he behaves like a cute mischievous kitten around her. He is so perfect! But also Feng Jui developed a lot and its amazing to see that.

Si Ming is still my favorite side character. Is it too much to wish for a 3d season about him? >.<

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MUSIC ♪
I LOVE the opening. The song is so beautiful. And althought the OSTs aren't my typically taste in music, I love the OSTs! Specially "Pian Pian"! They give the story the mystic and nostalgic feeling it deserves. I think the whole story feels like a secret legend. ♡ The lyrics are so fitting and meaningful - my poor heart..

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NOTES
I want to say that I love the themes and character posters. They are so pretty! (❁´◡`❁)

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FINAL WORDS
I just can't believe how much I love this drama! I mostly watch dramas with fewer episodes since I get bored easily and TMOPB was an exception. So I thought it would be difficult to be as good as this. But I LOVED this so much! One of the best dramas out there. I need some time to get over it. Hope this wasn't the last one. <3

Watch it! Enjoy

Lire davantage

Most of the actors did a good job. Dilraba Dilmurat and Vengo Gao did a great job with their character, the directing and cinematography were good too. I actually like the costumes better than the ones in TMOPB. The happy ending was abrupt with gaps missing connections. The story can be described as pieces of TMOPB broken apart and rearranged with Ye Hua and Bai Qian replaced with Dong Hua and Feng Jiu. The story was not creative nor original. It's like watching a drama that was plagiarized from a drama that's created from a plagiarized novel. I did some fast forwarding in different parts of the story since I know it's pretty much like watching TMOPB. The similarities between TMOPB and TLTWTPB show TangQi GongZi's talent as a writer. Not binge worthy or a rewatch quality.
I had finished watching TMOPB several times before I found out about TQGZ's plagiarism. I decided not to watch TLTWTPB for that reason. Unfortunately, I misunderstood one of the reviewer's comment that the story was true to the original novel and decided to watch the drama. In all fairness to the other talents, I finished watching the drama and gave this review.

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Expected more

So this is gonna be a long review basically because since I watched 10miles Dijun has been my biggest crush in 3L3W and I absolutely love novel’s Fengjiu. So if you’re patient enough to read this, read knowing it’ll be full of comparisons to my expectations (and ofc, spoilers).

* What I liked the most: Reba and Vengo's beauty, the sweetness (those pet moments, nose kisses, forehead kisses… all the fluffiness one may ask for!). Also, how they followed most of the facts. And how they gave us the end we’ve been long asking for! (end with an in coma Fengjiu has always been too cruel, so thank so much for that!).
Not to mention that see words coming to life is always great, and I especially liked to remember things I had forgotten, understand things I hadn't understand and observe things I had passed by (after re-reading my favorite scenes, it was great to clarify many things).

Now…
* What I didn't like…
1) Minor points:
a. effects (damn, hehe, not surprising though)
b. the focus on Miao Luo ends up reducing their fight against destiny to another gods x demons. Come on, Dijun is so much more than that! He created the Huiming Realm, and he’s the one to put it back in order!
"To protect the Mortal Realm, Donghua created another world in seven nights to absorb the excess toxins which the Mortal Realm could not withstand. This world was the Huiming Realm
If one day the Miaoyi Huiming Realm were to collapse, it'd be the end of the world as they knew it"
c. some important moments missed: when he denied the book of destiny, when he clearly reject JiHeng back in FH (well, this is only for my personal interest lmao), and others.
d. missed steamy scenes (hohoho)

2) Major points:
a. The childish tone, damn, I almost dropped from the very first ep because of that. I hate that kind of “I’m dumb but cute” voice style, luckily it got better from the mortal realm.
The consequences:
~ I couldn't see the Fengjiu in my mind, that is a strong young woman who gave her everything for her teenager love, but when it didn't work, she moved on. Not that she didn’t love him anymore, but the fascination had passed. The Fengjiu I saw in the entire drama holds the silliness of the baby fox that used to idolize anything about Dijun.
~ Dijun's character got lost in the 2nd half. Yeah, he's shameless, petty, but not that childish, please!!!
b. The fact that Fegjiu knew Xize was Dijun. Why? It blocked their love and character development from both sides!
~ In the drama, we can barely note Fengjiu's loneliness, there’s no need for her to lose her hopes since she knows he was there, she knows he came for her, he confesses, he proposes. She has her teenager love feed and so she keeps it.
The novel is completely different, she feels abandoned again. Actually, if we take the part just after the fire, we can even say she was abandoned by the same man in his 3 versions: she doesn’t know Dijun is there, Chen Ye leaves her to go back home alone just after saving her, Xize, her supposed husband, is too busy worrying about her sister. This absolute solitude would never allow her to keep the same childish love. So the love she gives Xize later on is entirely new, she's ready to love someone else, someone with whom she shared good moments, someone who is there for her. Not a mere idolization. A woman's love.
~ It also blocks Dijun development. This is supposed to be his moment to realize his love, the moment he should face his regret of not knowing about her first, the fear of being too late, the fear of not being loved, the moment to fight for her love. But in the drama everything goes easy for him since she knows who he is and loves him unconditionally. His sadness in ELoD makes him look as a petty drama boy unreasonable jealous of his own shadow. A meme creator.
Sorry if I’m not holding back but I was so angry with that! After the rain scene I lost the rest of the interest and finished the drama like a mission to accomplish.

I’d say the rescue before Aranya’s dream, her breakdown after the fire, and the rain moments are my fav ones. They represent his realization of love and her last hope, her decision to give up, and his fear. They’re all essential moments to me, that I expected with high hopes and unfortunately left me disappointed (maybe exactly because I waited too much).

* Would I recommend the drama? No. The novel? Whenever I get the chance!
* My hopes: that the movie will give us the maturity the novel holds. I might even accept the change for more mature actors to play Dijun and Fengjiu (which was unacceptable for me before). But please note, not because I don’t like or trust Reba and Vengo, I’m sure they just followed directors instructions (easy to see on the different DongFeng we have in 10 miles and ELoD), but it could be hard on them to ask for a change after this.

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Being Honest

I put this on my 'plan to watch' list a while back and was ready to dip into the story like a chicken nugget in some ranch sauce until I realized the nugget was soggy. I did not go in expecting much...but I love these Three Lives Three Worlds dramas and I was willing to give it a try. I will keep it simple...

What I did not like:
Dragging scenes that seemed to be thrown into fill the time
Dilraba's character at the beginning of the series was hard to take
Vego character in the mortal world and one of his role's in the so-called dream.
The demon princesses role- even though I know she negotiated some deal because she owned the rights to the story
No purpose demonic villain

What I liked:
Wayne Liu- Best character ever...I want them to revive this role for a whole new drama/ give him a better person to love and call it a day!

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