“Dreaming Of A Freaking Fairytale” Episodes 1 And 2 Review- Shockingly Unfunny And Dull

TVING’s latest entry is here! “Dreaming Of A Freaking Fairytale” or “Dreaming of Cinde Fxxxing Rella!” is finally here, let us talk about its premiere and all the reasons I was definitely shocked!

TVING has mostly had great projects across the years, from A Bloody Lucky Day, Death’s Game, Bargain and the most recent success, Pyramid Game, it seems they could only greenlight good scripts, but could this be their biggest miss to this date?

I mostly thought of TVING as a platform that could deliver good projects and I’ve seen most of the projects they’ve exclusively produced across the years [not mentioning the ones airing on tvN]. I believe this is by far their most surprisingly lackluster drama premiere to date.

“Dreaming Of A Freaking Fairytale” is a supposedly modern spin on the classical tale of a modern woman who is looking to escape her life by marrying a rich rich man. Since its airing on TVING, I was sort of expecting this to take a more mature approach and a more surprising one, to my surprise, they didn’t. Since it’s a paid platform similar to Netflix, their dramas are usually 18+ or feature mature content, they supposedly have the freedom to explore mature themes that a drama airing on a Korean broadcasting network would likely not approve of, so why does it feel like it’s a daily drama style editing with some very childish approach sprinkled to it?

In fact, its shockingly filled with kids’-like imagery, very dull jokes, and illustrations that boggled my mind. I was waiting for the kicker or anything to justify why such a script was made, and it was nowhere to be found in this premiere.

I think this is one of my least favorite premieres of a 2024 kdrama thus far. Its in my top 3.

I was thinking about why it was made. And to a degree, I understand why such types of projects are greenlit. Such types of scripts can find immense success and many international netizens love typical romance kdramas no matter how typical and cliché they are, if they’re acted right and the chemistry is there.

I wouldn’t have expected a 30-year-old actress to agree to such a style of content. I would assume the targeted market is teens to early 20s so I am shocked at the use of CGI that resembles something a kid would enjoy.

This is something I’d imagine pre-teens would enjoy, to a degree.

In terms of the script, there is some promise in there. I feel that if this had taken a very mature approach and deconstructed the thing its trying to parody, it would have been very interesting. While I know this was done before, it would’ve been nice to see a Kdrama-life spin on the tale of a Cinderella. Something I felt the screenwriter doesn’t take advantage of. I see why to many modern Korean women, and women in general, some times, the only way out is truly through marrying into a rich family. This is how horrible the system has been for some time, that for anyone to be able to escape hell, they’d need a white knight.

Its an idea worth exploring and its worth exploring what comes after it for the female character too, but I don’t know if this will be the case for this drama based on what I’ve seen… but hey, if I am wrong, this means the project wasn’t so bad.

Lee Jun-Young has had his fair share of ups and downs, he’s often referred to as the scene stealer in several of the best kdramas released in recent memory, and while I believe he knows how to pick projects as a 2^nd lead or a supporting cast member, he’s not the best at picking projects as a 1^st lead.

The weird thing is…. I’d expect him to receive better project offers as a main lead. I’ve seen his growth for the past 6 years so I am really surprised this will be on his resume…. if the drama’s next episodes are similar to the premiere.  

There is almost nothing I personally enjoyed about the premiere. I am all in for campy kdramas, if they’re done right but I just couldn’t feel this one. There isn’t anything I felt I could latch onto, and the chemistry… I just couldn’t feel it between them.

There is a chance this drama could drastically improve in the next episodes, but I am really on the fence and contemplating whether I’d watch the next episode.

Overall, this was a shocking premiere! I’ll say that.