I Saw You in My Dream (2024)

a unique premise with a slow burn

Overall: I was torn between a 7.5 and 8 for this series - one aspect in the finale made me rate it 7.5. I have not read the book this is based on and I reviewed the series on its own merits. 12 episodes about 45 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (except: Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Philippines) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4579/i-saw-you-in-my-dream-2024-e01 and WeTV https://wetv.vip/en/play/w52tycxawaajel4-I%20Saw%20You%20In%20My%20Dream/w4100e6rju9-EP0A%3A%20I%20Saw%20You%20In%20My%20Dream

Content Warnings: attempted murder, violence, blood, past death/grief, vomiting, groping/non con touching/sexual assault, stalking, non con picture taking, trespassing

Watch Suggestions (to skip some of the love rival stuff and slow pacing)
- watch episodes 1-5
- watch episode 6 14:30-14:45, then 22:45-40min
- watch episode 7 13:30-end
- watch episodes 8-10
- watch episode 11 beginning to 15 or could even skip and watch 44-47
- watch episode 12

What I Liked
- good that a character apologized and promised to tone it down
- supportive friends
- supportive family
- sweet/caring moments
- intimacy/kissing done well
- consent
- showed how abusers can and do play the victim
- actual consequences instead of the "oh he learned his lesson" bs we normally see

Room For Improvement
- the character exposition dump to start the series
- comedy sound effects that detracted from the comedy
- Yu continued to prank Ai after what happened and Ai not telling Yu why he was really afraid of the dark for years, Yu didn't clarify his relationship in episode 10 which caused unneeded distress and then Yu still tried to prank Ai at the end of the series, Yu overall feels a bit too immature which is why I knocked it down to 7.5
- cringey guitar playing, time jump in the finale
- love rival aspect went on too long/the pacing was too slow
- too much blur filter
- nonsense stuff: a character didn't like the dark but then was cooking in a very dark kitchen, a character should have told another character about their experience at age 20, I don't think there would have been that many/severe injuries from that in ep 12
- episode 11 was so slow that it blunted the suspense aspect
- should have put the beginning of ep 12 in chronological order in ep 11
- the worldbuilding/supernatural aspect was kind of meh, could have been done better

Leia Mais

I Can Still Hear Ai going... P'YUUU...

Peoples, we got a rapping confession, followed by a guitar scene confession. It was a two-in-one double kill. I almost didn't make it out alive. It was brutal. Also, did anyone want to reach into the screen and shake P-Yu when he was treating his ex-girlfriend like precious cargo right in front of Ai's salad?

Well, that ending was super anticlimactic, after all that dreaming that was it? A pull out knife, and a neck brace? Arite then. It was also very criminal how we didn't get a last moment between Yo and Ing, we were robbed and I wanna have words with whoever was in charge of the script.

Anyway, can we talk about how dirty they did Wan. Sure, the dude just couldn't take a hint that Ai wasn't interested, and Yo misguided way to help backfired, but damn, did they have to do my man like that? Screaming on top of your lungs that you don't like him was just wild. Poor dude, he better than me though, still helping Ai, me, I'd have never shown my face to him again.

This show is one of those that grows on you. When it started I was like, meh, really? But along the way it became my comfort show, it was wholesome and I enjoyed watching it. The two pairs had good chemistry, the plot, when the writers remembers their main objective wasn't bad, and I had a few chuckles. Oh, and the parents were really kind, which was refreshing to see.

Listen, the writers had a good plot, however, they did not execute it to its full potential. At some point it felt like they forgot the main plot-line, so they had all those floating dreams to fill the gap. They even forgot how Ai was playing some investigator or another with that closet wall full of drawings and stuff. They could have done so much more with this plot, instead they tiptoed around it to show us a whole episode with Yu's ex, Pan.

No, cuz what in the random arse was them dedicating a whole episode to Yu's ex for? When she returned I was like, 'oh, you still in this show?' then they gave her a whole episode as a result of things that didn't happen on screen. Who even cared about that character? Sure they needed that side-story for that Ice fellow to play a part in the finale, but a whole arse episode for characters no one cares about is wild.

And she only added to my anger. Yes, I felt bad for her, was even rolling my eyes at that annoying Ice and going 'how about you go melt somewhere creep.' but at the same time, let's be honest, she put herself in that situation. She had a good boyfriend, living in a big arse mansion (how they pay for that house? or did their parents leave them stack of paper in the bank?) who loved her, and she broke up with him, so she could go fake date someone and became famous. I felt bad for her, but the whole time when she was there and Yu was treating her like a newborn baby, feeding her and making my blood pressure go up, I was like, yeah, Sharon, you walked into that one yourself.

YU AND AI
These two were cute when they were bickering in the beginning of the show. And their little church scenes. P'Yu always somehow managed to make Ai angry. I did like their friendship, and when they got together as well. I assumed Ai was gonna be passive in the relationship, but he wasn't, episode 10 ending had me going... ooo... so this is where we are at? okaii. I liked how protective of each other they were. I also really love how it seemed like they lived in two houses, just going from one to the other, and the parents were so chill about the whole thing.

However, these two needed to communicate. Ai putting himself in constant danger was not it, all of those could have been avoided if he'd communicated with Yu. Sure he didn't want him to worry by keeping his dreams a secret, still, feels like trusting the one you love is better than keeping secrets that are putting you in harms way.

Yu had me until he decided to be a good guy and help his ex-girlfriend. Yes, yes, I understand, and in reality if an ex needed help, I'd have done the same, but damnnnn that episode made me glare at him over my popcorn and wine. Another place I was glaring was when Ai took all those pills. Child, you cannot be this stupid, sure your friend gave you a bad advice, but surely, Ai knew how dangerous it was, no? And to think nothing happened to him. They shook him a bit and he woke up. #facepalm.

But all in all, cute couple, wholesome-ish, it was nice seeing their friendship grow into love. They did well as leads and had me invested in their story. I really liked how they felt like a happy family with the rest of the cast, all those eating together scene was very heart-warming.

YO AND ING
Now, we were all rooting for them, seeing as anyone with eyes could see that Yo liked Ing back. What I didn't like was Ing's attitude when he confessed and more-or-less got rejected. Yes, it was frustrating to see Yo pretend, but when all was said and done, it felt like Ing somehow forced Yo to accept his feelings? I don't know, he deserved to be angry, but stopping to be his friend, and all that anger was not it. Still I was happy when Yo finally accepted his feelings and they got together. I cringed so hard during that rapping scene, was it cute, perhaps, but I watched it between my fingers out of secondhand embarrassment so...but anyway, glad they figured out their stuff and got together. Cute and whatnot.

All-in-all a nice show. It wasn't the greatest, but it grew on me, and it had its moment. I'll recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different other than school setting as a main focus. I'll definitely be checking out the future work of the cast.

Leia Mais