Notable Actors/Actresses
Song Yang: Yuan Bu Jie
Wang He Run: Chen Si
Sun Yi Ning: Bai Ling Xi
Scriptwriter
Chen Shu Ling, Zhou You
Chinese Title
潛夢追兇
Yuan Bu Jie is the dream-reader. He's been in quite the depression for years since the love of his life died because of this drug. The recent cases are also related to this drug and so begins his partnership with Chen Si. Since he has stopped dreaming for a long time (probably sine the death of his love), he requires Chen Si to dream in order to enter the dreams of others. Dreams cannot predict the future but it can reveal that person's past and subconscious thoughts. Together with Chen Si, they have the same goals to catch the same masked man. He's just as smart as her and perhaps even smarter. I like his charisma. He doesn't need to do much to have a lot of presence.
[Ep10] Bai Ling Xi continues to flirt with Fang De Sheng. This guy is practically an angel. The nicer Fang De Sheng is, the more wary I am of him.
Chen Si and Guan Yun Qi (another officer) have a conflict over the case that’s still unsolved (the lives of the children are still in peril). They holler at each other and in comes a calm Yuan Bu Jie who innocently asks, “Am I interrupting something?” Naw~
[Ep12] A bank is robbed. Chen Si's mentor, Huo Dong, is in town.
[Ep13] Yuan Bu Jie and Chen Si enter Huo Dong’s dream to decipher the passcode for the vault in order to save the other hostages. His dream is full of Chen Si. It’s pretty obvious he likes her. Yuan Bu Jie slightly teases her for it but she ignores it. Through the dream they also find out his student that he trained had betrayed him. Huo Dong was in charge of the espionage unit and he had to kill the traitor with his own hand. Before Yuan Bu Jie and Chen Si escape his dream, Chen Si realizes the passcode to the bank vault is her own police ID number: 1987.
Chen Si tells all of the above (her secret) to the lady who has them hostage to keep Yuan Bu Jie alive.
Everyone's safe (who are good that is). However, General Bai is about to kill his guard over dinner for his incompetence in retrieving the money from the bank robbers. He lost half the money. Bai Ling Xi calmly stops her father. She says she needs a new guard. General Bai gives in to her.
Yuan Bu Jie finds it weird that the robbers know exactly how to maneuver around the bank. There’s a mole. The only suspicious person left is Huo Dong. He admits the truth that he lied about his arrival time. He arrived a day early in order to propose to Chen Si. From his pocket, he takes out the ring box. Oh. A fellow police officer (the one who stutters) had to drag Guan Yun Qi away, lol. I take it back, I guess he does like her as a woman. Yuan Bu Jie also takes his sweet time to leave. There aren’t a lot of people happy about this proposal, haha. Does Chen Si accept it?
Chen Si is investigating another case. It’s also related to Guishan Prison. Dou Zi realizes that the symbol they were investigating on the masked man case also looks like the word Gui (癸). Coooool!
Chinese Title
潛夢追兇
Network: Tencent Video
Summary (Ep 1-8)
Chen Si is the new detective in town. She's all business; she's only interested in catching criminals. I really like her first impression. Cool like a cat; not arrogant, just doing her job.
[Ep7] Yuan Bu Jie's life might be in danger though. As a dream reader, when his watch (the device he uses to dream travel) sprouts a flower, it's an ominous sign. Yuan Bu Jie, are you going to die? That watch is also special to him. It was the only item he had on him when his master found him. Seems like he has no memory of his past?
Bai Ling Xi is a rich heiress. Her father is a tyrant business man. She's drugged in the first episode and is the first case Chen Si and Yuan Bu Jie solves together. However, she's no damsel in distress. [Ep5] This is the episode she shows her true colours and my gosh does she make me love this drama more. Bai Ling Xi is a damaged soul, psychotic even. Her brother was shot right next to her when she was only a child. His blood splattered all over her. Afterwards, she learned to smile – to smile lots. That way people can't see how her insides have turned rotten. She threatens Doctor Fang De Sheng to give her all the information she wants about Yuan Bu Jie.
[Ep6] Yuan Bu Jie knows Bai Ling Xi ain't simple ever since he entered her dreams from the very first episode. He saw her true self in her dreams: prior to being drug, she had stared at the drug with lust in her eyes. She wanted to be drugged.
[Ep8] Bai Ling Xi also has a loyal guard (Zi Ling) whom she may or may not have a deeper sexual/romantic relationship with. He definitely likes her but she's...questionable. He suspiciously dies. Bai Ling Xi's stepmother comforts her about losing Zi Ling. Bai Ling Xi ends up glaring at her so called stepmother and reminds her only purpose in this house is to warm her father's bed. She threatens this "bed-warmer” that if she ever mentions Zi Ling again, she will rip her mouth apart.
I swear it's only been a day since Zi Ling's death and Bai Ling Xi seduces Fang De Sheng by calling him over after she purposely cuts herself (it's not paper-cut level but deep into the tissue). While they're having sex, her father is ambushed. But he's fine; he's got a security team at his side at all times.
By the way, I find this Dr. Fang De Sheng weird too. He’s making out with her like that after she threatened him like that?
Mini Recaps
[Ep9] Third case is a child abduction one. Two innocent children are pulled into a man’s revenge.
Meanwhile Yuan Bu Jie continues to investigate into his own case. He finds a long time acquaintance and enters his dream. Yuan Bu Jie is able to enter on his own but his life may be at risk. When he finds the mastermind (culprit) in the dream, Yuan Bu Jie is shocked at the masked man. It’s Chen Si. But the it’s also Feng Sheng De. Phew. It’s all fake. However, this dream is too odd. The acquaintance isn’t who he think he is but Yuan Bu Jie faints before he gets to see who he is.
Meanwhile Yuan Bu Jie continues to investigate into his own case. He finds a long time acquaintance and enters his dream. Yuan Bu Jie is able to enter on his own but his life may be at risk. When he finds the mastermind (culprit) in the dream, Yuan Bu Jie is shocked at the masked man. It’s Chen Si. But the it’s also Feng Sheng De. Phew. It’s all fake. However, this dream is too odd. The acquaintance isn’t who he think he is but Yuan Bu Jie faints before he gets to see who he is.
[Ep10] Bai Ling Xi continues to flirt with Fang De Sheng. This guy is practically an angel. The nicer Fang De Sheng is, the more wary I am of him.
Chen Si and Guan Yun Qi (another officer) have a conflict over the case that’s still unsolved (the lives of the children are still in peril). They holler at each other and in comes a calm Yuan Bu Jie who innocently asks, “Am I interrupting something?” Naw~
[Ep11] The case is solved with the help of Yuan Bu Jie; the kids are safe. The police department have a gathering to celebrate. A drunk Guan Yun Qi tell Chen Si he likes her (not exactly in a romantic sense). She reminds him she pointed a gun to his head twice. He still likes her because of the change she brought to the department. He asks her to never change; stay righteous and fight for justice. But he doesn’t like Yuan Bu Jie.
Bai Ling Xi’s father (Bai Meng Han; General Bai) makes this man die. General Bai has no reason to kill this man except that he cannot let a man whose wife he had killed live. With the son of this man as hostage, the man succumbs and tells his son that General Bai is a good man. Bai father and daughter are creepy.
Bai Ling Xi’s father (Bai Meng Han; General Bai) makes this man die. General Bai has no reason to kill this man except that he cannot let a man whose wife he had killed live. With the son of this man as hostage, the man succumbs and tells his son that General Bai is a good man. Bai father and daughter are creepy.
[Ep12] A bank is robbed. Chen Si's mentor, Huo Dong, is in town.
[Ep13] Yuan Bu Jie and Chen Si enter Huo Dong’s dream to decipher the passcode for the vault in order to save the other hostages. His dream is full of Chen Si. It’s pretty obvious he likes her. Yuan Bu Jie slightly teases her for it but she ignores it. Through the dream they also find out his student that he trained had betrayed him. Huo Dong was in charge of the espionage unit and he had to kill the traitor with his own hand. Before Yuan Bu Jie and Chen Si escape his dream, Chen Si realizes the passcode to the bank vault is her own police ID number: 1987.
[Ep14] Chen Si might have an inherited disease. The disease is a terminal one at the age of 30. By 25, if she has the disease, symptoms will show where there will be significant motor degradation. Her father died at 30. The disease has a 50% inheritance. Instead of waiting for her death, she chose to live her life with meaning. That is why she’s a police officer, helping others in need. This is her way of choosing her life instead of her life controlling her. However, she doesn’t have the courage to plan for the future, like love.
Chen Si tells all of the above (her secret) to the lady who has them hostage to keep Yuan Bu Jie alive.
Everyone's safe (who are good that is). However, General Bai is about to kill his guard over dinner for his incompetence in retrieving the money from the bank robbers. He lost half the money. Bai Ling Xi calmly stops her father. She says she needs a new guard. General Bai gives in to her.
Yuan Bu Jie finds it weird that the robbers know exactly how to maneuver around the bank. There’s a mole. The only suspicious person left is Huo Dong. He admits the truth that he lied about his arrival time. He arrived a day early in order to propose to Chen Si. From his pocket, he takes out the ring box. Oh. A fellow police officer (the one who stutters) had to drag Guan Yun Qi away, lol. I take it back, I guess he does like her as a woman. Yuan Bu Jie also takes his sweet time to leave. There aren’t a lot of people happy about this proposal, haha. Does Chen Si accept it?
[Ep15] Chen Si doesn’t accept but Hou Dong tells her that he’ll wait for her at the harbour until midnight.
Dou Zi analyzes the current love tangles. He’s certain Yuan Bu Jie likes Chen Si but Hou Dong isn’t his biggest rival. It might be Guan Yun Qi. Duo Zi is telling all this to Liu Zi Ren (the forensics). Following his logic, Liu Zhi Ren asks Duo Zi if he (Liu) likes Chen Si too. Duo Zi says that Liu Zhi Ren does like her. Just a bit. Lol.
Bai Ling Xi brainwashes the officer (whom she saved the previous episode) to overcome her father’s reign. Feng De Sheng also proposes to her but that turns her off.
Bai Ling Xi: You are mine but don’t think of possessing me.
She doesn’t want to belong to anyone, just as she doesn’t want to belong to her father and be a Princess Bai. She wants to be Queen Bai.
Yuan Bu Jie visits Chen Si at her home. He sits down on the one chair and looks at her standing. He realizes there’s only one chair in her home. He tells her what he sees in this home: her loneliness. She has nothing else but work. He’s grateful for her so he’ll let her go if ever she wants to live her life. It sounds like he’s convincing her to leave with Huo Dong. But he’s not. He wants her to stay not to help him solve his case but for another reason. It’s to arrest Huo Dong. Although in his dream there was another spy who betrayed, it was actually himself who betrayed the police. He was fooling himself. Yuan Bu Jie was able to decipher it from the fact that he’s right handed.
Hou Dong is a sad soul too. He was in this spy business for too long. His love for Chen Si was real though. At the last moment, he gives her a fair warning before aiming his gun at her. She’s faster at shooting the bullet. When he’s shot he sees his past with Chen Si before his eyes. I guess it’s a happy ending for him to die in her hands.
Chen Si breaks down. She yells at Yuan Bu Jie that he won. There’s no one she can trust in this dark world. Yuan Bu Jie hugs her telling her that no matter how dark the day is, the sun will rise the next day.
Yuan Bu Jie: Don’t let darkness engulf you. You will save a lot people. Perhaps also me.
Yuan Bu Jie returns home and the girl he loves in his dream sits in the corner of the room. So creepy. She coldly tells him that Chen Si is a good girl, “Will you forget me because of her?”
[Ep16] It's the Dragon Boat Festival. Chen Si drags Yuan Bu Jie to celebrate it at Dou Zi's place. He has four younger siblings to raise. His parents died in war. When Chen Si sees his family celebrate, she thinks it's happiness. Any regular person would think seeing children smile and laugh is happiness. However, to Yuan Bu Jie, he sees their gloomy future. They'll be poor and hungry. Chen Si calls him hypocritical. She knows he's lying to his own heart. She knows he has hope for this dark world and for its people. Otherwise he wouldn’t have saved all those victims with her. Otherwise he wouldn’t have hugged her.
Chen Si: If you think the world is dark and you don't want to walk anymore. Then take my hand –holds onto his sleeve– I will help you just like how you helped me.
Yuan Bu Jie shakes her off and walks away.
Bai Ling Xi invites Yuan Bu Jie to dinner. He flatly refuses but she has a gift for him. It's a ring. It's the ring of the girl in his dreams. There's a creepy memory he recalls where that hand is cut off and is buried with the ring...
At the dinner, Bai Ling Xi doesn't hide her psychotic nature. She likes him because he is the only one who can see her so transparently. She doesn't hide her greed to grow her business. She thinks her father is feeble. Seriously? She doesn't hide her psychotic nature. Yuan Bu Jie doesn't know what she wants. Neither do I. But she knows what Yuan Bu Jie wants: Wu Chu's whereabouts. When Fang De Sheng arrives, she introduces him to Yuan Bu Jie as her boyfriend. She also gets straight to the point and asks Yuan Bu Jie to enter her father's dream. He's been waking up from nightmares. Fang De Sheng reacts to the mention of her father. Omg I have no idea what these characters want. During dinner, Bai Ling Xi tells the men she used to like playing with fire as a kid and one time she accidentally set the storage on fire. She had one thought in her mind: it was beautiful. As she says this, her foot is seductively travelling up Fang De Sheng's leg.
Before Yuan Bu Jie leaves, Bai Ling Xi whispers into Yuan Bu Jie's ears: Give me my father's military powers or else I'll destroy you.
Later that night, Yuan Bu Jie continues to dream of his fiancée (Zeng Yun). Meanwhile Chen Si can't hold her cup properly. Is it her disease?
[Ep17] Bai Ling Xi makes Yuan Bu Jie sit through a psychological therapy (hypnosis). In a hypnotic state, Yuan Bu Jie is instructed by the psychologist to answer immediately when he gives him a term. The psychologist gives him the word "Calm", Yuan Bu Jie answers "Sky". "Security" makes Yuan Bu Jie think of "Bamboo Forest". He finds "Cave Holes" disturbing. Black makes him recall a "Go Chess Piece". He's doubtful about his "Past". Yuan Bu Jie tells them his past was sealed by his master who trained him dream interpretation. There’s something his subconsciousness fears.
Yuan Bu Jie shows up late at the police station. He won’t tell them anything related to Bai Ling Xi. Chen Si is furious at him (perhaps it’s jealously) for concealing information when she was completely transparent to him. It goes against their agreement. Yuan Bu Jie is losing his patience too. He exposes her for keeping him around to use him. He’s the only person alive from the fire three years ago (the case she wants to solve). She needs him only as a clue to the case.
Later that night, Yuan Bu Jie enters General Bai’s dreams. In the first segment, he’s still a glorious general. With another blink of an eye, he has become a prisoner in Guishan Prison because of murder.
[Ep18] Yuan Bu Jie finds the secret in General Bai's dream. The dream had a lot of the words Yuan Bu Jie spoke of when he was with the psychologist: big sword, the cave. He tells Bai Ling Xi the location of the treasury cove. Yuan Bu Jie asks Bai Ling Xi why she's keeping him alive. The reason is simple: she really likes Yuan Bu Jie. Creepy.
The case Chen Si is investigating overlaps with General Bai's dream. She updates him that Zhang Jing has died. She's related to Wang Fu. Lu Yi Ming, Song Yan and an unknown prisoner (which we know now as General Bai). These are all the people who survived the fire at Guishan Prison. Chen Si believes the murderer (the masked man) is killing all these survivors and their loved ones. She doesn't understand why the masked man is after Yuan Bu Jie (and his loved one) because he was only a child when the fire happened.
Yuan Bu Jie is emotionless as he listens to all of Chen Si's deductions. He tells her he wants to give up. He doesn’t want to investigate anymore.
As Bai Ling Xi heads towards her father's secret treasure cove, she's surrounded by soldiers. General Bai had seen through her daughter's motives all along. He used Yuan Bu Jie. General Bai is experienced with dream interpretation. Yuan Bu Jie’s master had entered General Bai's dream a decade ago. Yuan Bu Jie doesn’t get to decipher General Bai’s dreams.
Yuan Bu Jie said all those hurtful words to Chen Si to protect her. Their enemy is too strong. Yuan Bu Jie suspects General Bai but him being the masked man also doesn't make sense.
Bai Ling Xi returns home with blood on her face. She sits down on the table and orders everyone to leave but her father. General Bai wipes her face and tells her that she indeed is the heir of Bai Family but she's only the one who will give birth to the heir.
Who will win between this father and daughter? Are they the puppets or the puppeteers? That night General Bai dies. The window is open. On the floor is a rag. I don't know what that cloth is.
[Ep19] Not only does General Bai die, Bai Ling Xi is also missing. No one has witnessed her leaving.
Yuan Bu Jie visits the psychologist so that he can continue his hypnosis to awaken his sealed memories. In that state he finds his master who apologizes for sealing his memory because in his eyes he saw vengeance and hatred. The next moment, he’s in Gui Shan Prison. He hears his mother calling for him. He’s stuck in the prison blazing in flames. Without hesitation the young General Bai attempts to save him . In the next scene he sees his young self standing in ruins. The young him is carrying the mask. Yuan Bu Jie, your name is 'Bu Jie', 'Don’t Solve It’!
Chen Si updates the rest that Yuan Bu Jie has withdrew from the investigations. Guan Yun Qi finds it weird why he stopped helping now of all times. They’re chasing down Lu Yi Ming. Chen Si loses consciousness; Lu Yi Ming runs away but he runs into the masked man. The masked man murders him.
Yuan Bu Jie wakes up from a dream of his mother teaching him how to draw dragons. The drawing looks like the sign. He doesn’t know how he showed up here. The walls suddenly open up. He’s still in a dream. The prison is in fire again. He watches his mother try to save him. The dream world changes again. He’s in the masked man’s clothes.
The investigation details are leaked to the newspaper who emphasize the police’s incompetence in capturing “Jiangcheng’s Nightmare". It narrows down on the serial murder and labels suspect to be Yuan Bu Jie. The police chief barks at Chen Si for leaking the details. Dou Zi cries that it was him. He has been selling the press little details. That’s how he has been raising all his siblings without his colleagues giving him money all the time. However he never told the reporter any other important details. He only mentioned the prison ward (it was the psychologist who exposed Yuan Bu Jie to the press). Guan Yun Qi bellows at the other policemen for singling out Dou Zi. No one in this police office has the right to discriminate his actions because all of them are guilty of receiving bribes here and there.
[Ep20] Guan Yun Qi believes Yuan Bu Jie might have a multiple personality disorder. That would explain it all. He also let Chen Si rest. He knows the person she hates the most right now isn’t Yuan Bu Jie but herself for believing in Yuan Bu Jie.
Even Yuan Bu Jie thinks he might just be "Jiangcheng’s Nightmare". He tries to escape the city (perhaps deep down he doesn’t believe he is the masked man). Chen Si is guarding the city’s exits. She promised the chief if she doesn’t arrest Yuan Bu Jie within three days, she’ll leave.
Yuan Bu Jie hallucinates one of the man he assumes he killed. The hallucination offers him alcohol. Yuan Bu Jie refuses. He no longer believes alcohol is the best thing in the world. He’s unable to discern reality from fantasy. That’s when he realizes the thought of him being the masked man all originated from meeting the psychologist. Yuan Bu Jie confronts the psychologist but he’s dead. In the shadows, Bai Ling Xi appears. She apologizes; she didn’t think the psychologist would report to the press and put him in danger. She tells him someone is waiting for him. This someone wishes he would wake up for good. Bai Ling Xi doesn’t seem like herself as she tells him she’s taking him to see the truth.
There’s a man tied up (Song Yan). Bai Ling Xi tells Yuan Bu Jie to enter this man’s dream and he’ll know the entire truth. In Song Yan's dream, the young Yuan Bu Jie entered a treasure cove. There was an orb that he touched, an aura had entered him and he fainted. A young General Bai entered the cove to save him and he too discovers the treasure. To keep everyone mum about the treasure, they burn the place down. Yuan Bu Jie survives but everyone else who lived are the people who set the fire and murdered his mother. Bai Ling Xi tells Yuan Bu Jie he was the one who murdered them all. She nudges him to kill the last man involved: Song Yan. Yuan Bu Jie takes her gun and shoots it. Song Yan dies.
The masked man appears. It’s Fang De Sheng. He laughs that now they’re the same. They can’t be. Fang is square and Yuan is circle. Yuan Bu Jie tells him they can never be the same. Yuan Bu Jie smirks as he reminds Fang De Sheng that dream interpreters are thirty percent truth and seventy percent lies (lol). When Bai Ling Xi handed him the gun, he had changed the bullets to empty ones. Song Yan is still alive. Bai Ling Xi couldn’t have caught that detail because she’s hypnotized. Chen Si leads the team of police to surround Fang De Sheng but he still has a smile on.
[Ep21] Fang De Sheng is Yuan Bu Jie’s younger brother. He was adopted by the psychologist to Germany. Yuan Bu Jie enters Fang De Sheng’s dream but he too is skilled in dream interpretation and hypnosis. Fang makes Yuan believe that he (Yuan) is the killer. Chen Si is there to remind Yuan Bu Jie of the reality. Fang De Sheng wants to take Yuan Bu Jie deeper in his subconscious; he's also interested in knowing when Yuan Bu Jie learned of his existence. Yuan Bu Jie doesn’t take Chen Si along on this dream; he makes her wake up.
How Yuan Bu Jie remembered Fang De Sheng. Yuan Bu Jie was on the run. Chen Si chased him but let him go (in front of her team) when he told her to meet up later that night. Deep down she believes in him. He wanted her to enter his dream and unseal his memory. He tells her that if his other persona appears, run. Fang De Sheng is watching over this scene as Yuan Bu Jie recalls it for him. He taunts Yuan Bu Jie that this woman loves him and if he were her, she’d be careful because the woman he loves always dies. Chen Si was able to enter Yuan Bu Jie's dream and figure out there were two drawings on the wall. There was another child. Yuan Bu Jie thus remembers Mo Zheng, his younger brother (Fang De Sheng).
How Fang De Sheng became who he is today. Fang De Sheng lived with the memory of his mother dying in the fire. Unlike Yuan Bu Jie who forgot it all. He was tortured with that memory and it turned him into a psychopath. The psychologist adopted another child (to replace him). Fang De Sheng was caught hitting him and in turn he was punished by the psychologist. When he was in Jiangcheng and saw how happy Yuan Bu Jie was with his career, his fiancée, and his friends, Fang De Sheng wasn’t happy, it wasn’t fair. He killed everyone he loves to make him understand that true love only comes from family. Like his mother loved them, he loves him too. Fang De Sheng believes once Yuan Bu Jie realizes this love, he will avenge her death like he did. They will be one and the same. Fang De Sheng taunts Yuan Bu Jie that his fiancee could have been saved but it was him who carried his fiancée to the hospital, he carried him to Fang De Sheng. Fang watched her die on the surgery table and Yuan Bu Jie even thanked him for trying. Fang De Sheng smirks at that memory. Fang De Sheng is trying to trigger Yuan Bu Jie's inner demon to make him (Yuan) kill him. A woman’s voice stops him. It’s his fiancée’s voice.
Yuan Bu Jie won’t become like Fang De Sheng. The Mo Zheng he loved was only the one in the prison. Yuan Bu Jie tells Fang De Sheng he has no where to escape. Bai Ling Xi is after him. And she really does show up. She wants to kill Fang De Sheng on the spot. Her men have a gun aimed at Chen Si’s head (because Chen Si wants Yuan Bu Jie to finish his dream interpretation first). In turn, Liu Zi Ren points a gun to Bai Ling Xi’s head.
[Ep22] Bai Ling Xi gives Chen Si three more days to investigate. After that Chen Si will hand over Fang De Sheng to her. Yuan Bu Jie tell Chen Si that there’s more to Fang De Sheng approaching Bai Ling Xi but he doesn’t know what it is.
Liu Zi Ren looks into the medication that Fang De Sheng has been researching. Fang De Sheng has been mixing all sorts of ingredient together. The purpose is unknown.
Guan Yun Qi guards Fang De Sheng. Guan Yun Qi understands his thoughts. He’s not a demon, he’s crazy. He exacted his revenge on people who committed crimes. He asks Yuan Bu Jie if he’ll want his brother dead tomorrow. To Yuan Bu Jie, the moment Fang De Sheng took the wrong step, he wasn’t his brother anymore.
Yuan Bu Jie had a dream. He sees Bai Ling Xi’s soldiers watching a film. I think they’re hypnotized. The next scene is Feng De Sheng watching the place burn down in flames. I’m reminded of Bai Ling Xi who thought fire was beautiful.
It’s the third day. Fang De Sheng is to be killed in the hands of Bai Ling Xi. Yuan Bu Jie isn’t on the site. He’s looking into Song Yan’s dream who’s in the hospital. Yuan Bu Jie figures it out: it’s dangerous on the site. Chen Si is in danger.
At the site, Fang De Sheng is facing his end.
Fang De Sheng: Now then, let us change this damning world.
Bai Ling Xi takes the gun but instead of shooting Fang De Sheng, she aims at the police. It’s a gun fight the between police and her army.
[Ep23] Among the gun battle, Fang De Sheng and Bai Ling Xi kiss like nothing is happening in the background. Is Bai Lin Xi still hypnotized? Her men have everything in control. Yuan Bu Jie makes it in time to save Chen Si and Guan Yun Qi. Dou Zi suffers a gun wound after helping Yuan Bu Jie save the others. That night, Liu Zhi Ren reads him a book because he’s afraid of sleeping. Oh man is he going to die? Chen Si continues to read the book from there and Dou Zi falls asleep. He dreams of his mother. He dies.
The four of them send off Dou Zi. ): (Camera man, why is my Guan Yun Ci's face covered?)
Fang De Sheng changes the world. Seriously. He’s using Bai Ling Xi’s army to make the wold better. He takes down the rich businesses that are bullying the poor. Jiangcheng is now in Fang De Sheng’s control.
Yuan Bu Jie analyzes Fang De Sheng’s method of world domination. He combined dream interpretation and hypnosis to control Bai Ling Xi putting her in this state where she’s functioning normally but completely under his control. He also hypnotized the army with the movie he played for them each week and with the medication he was using Song Yan as a guinea pig for. Their hypnosis wasn’t activated until that music that played on site on the day he was supposed to be killed. Yuan Bu Jie reveals that Fang De Sheng is treating the world as his enemy as well. It was this rotten world that killed their mother. And now it is Fang De Sheng who killed Dou Zi. Dou Zi was the hope that the world would be good (for Chen Si and Yuan Bu Jie back in Ep16).
Yuan Bu Jie is going to kill Fang De Sheng. Guan Yun Ci, Liu Zhi Ren, and Chen Si will join in on his plans. Yuan Bu Jie is showering that night. Chen Si joins in. She steps into the water, taking careful steps towards him. She kisses him softly. He asks her if it’s worth it (the mission will be dangerous). She just wants him to live. He kisses her. But has he gotten over his fiancée?
Yuan Bu Jie sneaks into Fang De Sheng’s home all alone. He’s captured by Fang De Sheng. He doesn’t want to kill Yuan Bu Jie though. He wants to create a new world with his brother. The first step to join him is for Yuan Bu Jie to personally kill Song Yan. Since Yuan Bu Jie won’t kill, Fang De Sheng will control him to kill. Together, they enter the dream world again.
Yuan Bu Jie had planned this all. Chen Si and others are waiting outside. Their only chance is for Yuan Bu Jie to figure out what the music is to turn off everyone’s hypnosis after entering the dreamworld with Fang De Sheng.
[Ep24] In the dream, Fang De Sheng makes Yuan Bu Jie the masked man but Yuan Bu Jie wins this dream battle. He finds out the musical piece that can turn off the soldier’s hypnosis. Chen Si and others barge in to save Yuan Bu Jie. Liu Zhi Ren plays the musical piece on the piano. Everyone wakes up. Fang De Sheng is detained. Chen Si asks Yuan Bu Jie what his plans are. She wants him to stay. That’s when Yuan Bu Jie looks at the mirror. He sees his reflection as the masked man.
Everything was a dream. Fang De Sheng saw through his plans and allowed him to imagine everything. He makes Yuan Bu Jie kill Liu Zi Ren, Guan Yun Ci, and Chen Si. He shoots them all. Omg. But it was all an imagination. Fang De Sheng and Yuan Bu Jie are still duelling each other. As Fang De Sheng is emotionally riled, his nose starts bleeding. Did he really fail this time? So many dream in a dream in a dream.
As Fang De Sheng is suffering in the dream, Yuan Bu Jie reveals to him he collaborated with the gang that robbed the bank. They have one motive: Bai family (or technically that one soldier). It was them who killed their leader. Chen Si and that lady in charge of the gang take the streets in a cool gun fight. They win over Bai Ling Xi’s men. With Fang De Sheng captured, Bai Ling Xi retreats to retrieve more men. Hence Fang De Sheng never transported Yuan Bu Jie to the auditorium. They were never there. It was all a dream setup by Yuan Bu Jie.
Bai Ling Xi’s men arrive to save Fang De Sheng (they're still under hypnosis). The gang has already retreated. She got her revenge on the soldier; she doesn’t want to go against Bai Family completely Only Chen Si and Guan Yun Ci are left to take down all of Bai Family’s army. Liu Zhi Ren is with Yuan Bu Jie. Yuan Bu Jie finally wakes up and hums the tune Liu Zhi Ren needs to play. Liu Zhi Ren takes his harmonica and broadcasts the melody through the PA system so the entire city can hear it. Everyone is out of Fang De Sheng’s hypnosis. Guan Yun Ci and Chen Si survive.
Bai Ling Xi takes a gun and aims at Fang De Sheng. Yuan Bu Jie quickly blocks her path to save his brother. However, Fang De Sheng is dying on his own. Yuan Bu Jie asks Bai Ling Xi how much she remembers. Not much. The man who died is the man who killed her father. The four in front of her are the people who know too much. These four also killed a lot of Bai soldiers. Yuan Bu Jie corrects her that they saved all of Bai Army. Bai Ling Xi leaves them. Phew, she was this close to killing them.
Yuan Bu Jie reveals to Chen Si that the melody Fang De Sheng used was the song their mother hummed to them. His watch (that he uses to dream-travel with) disappeared. He also has a nosebleed and faints over.
What’s told to the public is that Jiangcheng simply had a dream. Fang De Sheng is said to have died in his home and admitted to all his crime in the letter he left behind. None of the higher ups will reveal what Bai Family has done in the days they were in control.
Guan Yun Ci is the police commander.
Chen Si pays respect to a grave. Whose is it! It belongs to Yuan Bu Jie’s mother and brother. Phew, Yuan Bu Jie’s name isn’t there. Yuan Bu Jie is in the car waiting for her. He asks her, “After I left, what did you say to my mother?”. She tells him it’s a secret. He has a new question: where they’re going now. “To a place that will make beautiful dreams come true.” Yuan Bu Jie sips on his tea. He no longer drinks alcohol.
The End.
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-8)] I like this! It's another dream-reading mystery drama set in the republican era but I find the cases here much more engaging. I can see the big picture. I can follow the hints laid from the beginning and the deductions make sense without it being immediately obvious who the culprits are and what their motives are. It stays very grounded despite relying on something as flimsy as dreams.
Two cases are covered so far. For the first case, I like how the hints for the culprit was right in the beginning. For the second case I appreciate the motive behind it.
Personally, I don't dive into a mystery drama because of how interesting the cases are. The characters have to win me over and so far I like Chen Si and Yuan Bu Jie. They're both pretty business. The character I truly love is Bai Ling Xi. She's crazy – not hysterical crazy but the truly psychotic-crazy. I have my suspicions though that there’s someone more psychotic than her in the lurks.
Note: Ironically, our dream reader who's got a knack for solving things has the name Yuan "Bu Jie" (不解) which means to not solve.
[Actors/Actresses] I mentioned this before when I talked about Sun Yi Ning (as Bai Ling Xi), I never recognize her just by looking at her. I have to click her name and be like oh it's this girl! Her acting is seriously underrated. All her characters are so different and it doesn't even feel like she's acting. I've probably seen Song Yang but I don't remember his characters at all. Weird, because I find him absolutely charismatic here. He's a good looking middle-age man. I hope our female lead, Wang He Run stands her ground against these two.
[Behind the Scenes]
[Ending] Happy?
I don’t know if this is happy. I think Yuan Bu Jie died. There was never a full shot of Yuan Bu Jie and Chen Si together. The shots of the car is caught so awkwardly that we never get to see Yuan Bu Jie in the passenger seat. It’s like he doesn’t exist if Chen Si doesn’t talk to him. When Yuan Bu Jie says “After I left” it sounds like “dying’ in Chinese. Chen Si’s answer of making dreams come true is also worrisome. It’s like Yuan Bu Jie is a dream to her. The gravesite is in the forest which is the place Yuan Bu Jie associates security with. Also, Yuan Bu Jie lost his watch, it's an important item that helps him leave (and enter) dreams. All in all, it looks happy but it feels ominous. The music at the end does not help. It makes me wonder how much of this is a dream. It's certainly an ending that intrigues me. Perhaps he really should have listened to his master and not solve (不解) his past.
Final Review
[Review] Well told mystery using dreams as the theme. I love the dark misty tone to this drama. It’s one of the short mystery thrillers that didn’t let me down; to each their own though (see my ending commentary if you want to be spoiled). I like the buildup and the climax was worth it. The grand reveal of the culprit isn’t last minute and so there’s plenty of time to flesh out his/her motives and destroy his/her grand scheme.
Like most dramas, I love the beginning more than the latter half. The character setup was exceptional. Once I got into the mood and learned of each character’s background, the story winds down to catch the masked man. If you’re a long-time mystery fan, you may be used to this type of drama and might not even be that impressed but for a mini series to establish such characters, flesh out the villain’s motives with hints laid out in the beginning, it’s a series worth praising.
I like how every character had a tiny bit of suspicion making the initial guess of the masked man’s identity harder (hint: if you pay attention to the names you might be able to figure out who the masked man is earlier). My favourite character is Bai Ling Xi. I love how Sun Yi Ning (Amy Sun) portrays her. She looks demure and upright but that’s merely the surface of her character. She’s alluringly dark, absolutely captivating on screen. Yang Ye Ming as Guan Yun Ci is another scene stealer (he’s got a detective drama lined up where he’s the lead; I am totally forward to it). Song Yang (Yuan Bu Jie) looks amazing in that hair and moustache. Unfortunately Wang He Run (Chen Si Yi) was overshadowed.
For romance fans: it is there.
Overall, Dream Detective is a dark misty mystery drama with amazing character setup that might just be better than the mystery itself.
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