Blossoms in Adversity (2024)

This couple killed it

This drama is about a whole lot more than romance, but I will start by showing some love in honor of the lead couple, Gu Yanxi and Hua Zhi. They were classy in their cuteness and made our hearts flutter with every interaction. The chemistry was undeniable; whether they were adorably close or longingly apart, they were always in tune with each other. They understood each other, supported one another, and sacrificed for the other. From potential enemies to friends to lovers, they became each other's greatest allies. What I appreciate the most though, is the strong communication and the unbreakable trust between them. This delightful duo embodied how love can endure, even in the face of conflict and circumstance.

Apart from our leads, the other couples have also left a memorable impression on me, and I truly enjoyed watching how the relationships developed and blossomed. Even when romance did not always lead to the happiest of endings, the stories were touching and, at times, really tugged at my heartstrings.

When Blossoms in Adversity started airing, I had high expectations because of the director, Chu Yui Bun, and the cast, and the show delivered more. There was a strong theme of female empowerment, and a quote by Goethe came to mind, "The Eternal-Feminine draws us upward". Almost all the women characters had character development for the better, but sadly, most of the male characters did not. Save for a handful, most of the male characters were a disappointing lot.

Zhang Jing Yi's Hua Zhi was solid, and she proved again to be an excellent actress. ZJY portrayed an FL who was plucky, intelligent, precocious, quick-witted, but also very human. With her entire family thrown into chaos when a power-tripping Emperor exiled all the men, HZ had to grow up quickly. Through HZ's struggles and triumphs, the show provided a lesson: in times of need, we can step up and be the kind of person others need us to be.

I threw shade at Hu Yi Tian in the beginning saying that ZJY was carrying the show, but in the end, I was won over yet again by our handsome ML. He shone in his fight scenes, and his usual stoic expression fit his role as Gu Yan Xi. This ML was also brilliant and was a skilled fighter. As the Commander of the Security Bureau, he was savage with everyone who deserved it but so gentle with the FL and the ones important to him. GYX started out conflicted, torn between gratitude to his uncle and his affection for Hua Zhi. Ultimately, he became a source of strength for HZ as he gradually determined that any amount of gratitude did not warrant the blind loyalty demanded of him.

GYX had background music dedicated to him, one that played whenever he turned up, ready to take the bad guys down, and it was just so bad-ass enjoyable. HYT should consider more historical dramas since this role is my favorite of his to date.

The supporting cast was terrific too, notably Lu Yu Xiao, who showed off how versatile she was. While Caesar Wu did not appear as often as I would like, he nailed his character as the overly earnest, idealistic Shen Qi. Bian Cheng as Shen Huan is someone to watch out for, and as the Emperor who demanded nothing less than everything, Hai Yi Tian delivered a great performance that had all of us wanting to see a painful death for him.

Apart from being amazingly acted, this drama was well-written and nicely executed. I applaud the show for keeping most of us engaged until the very end, throwing in something unpredictable just when I thought I figured out what would happen next. That said, the show didn't fall into the trap of using plot twists for the sake of creating last-minute melodrama.

The pacing was interesting to me in a good way. The plot went through the ups and downs of the characters lives so smoothly and quickly that angsty moments were not that dramatic and happy moments were more like normal events. No one really has an opportunity to dwell on the good or bad.Even with 40 episodes, the show never felt draggy, and best of all, it stuck its landing. I for one, am satisfied with how the show ended. It wrapped up the characters' journeys nicely and sent them off in such a way that left me feeling that this drama was well worth the watch.

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Buns of Steel.

Blossoms in Adversity / Xī Huā Zhǐ/惜花芷 is the story of superwoman Hua Zhi's feel-good romp through feudal China. When Imperial Censor Hua dares to criticize the monarch, he is exiled along with all the men in his family. A bevy of helpless women and young children are left to fend for themselves. Hua Zhi takes charge and rallies the women together to triumph against overwhelming odds. When she flexes her buns of steel, no feat is beyond Hua Zhi! She parleys a candied hawthorn business into a pastry and restaurant empire, picks up stray royal children, foils a few palace plots, build schools and a canal, rescues the Hua family men and even manages to find time to fall in love! All in the space of a 2-3 years!!! Phew! Even superwoman would surely stagger from sheer exhaustion!

This narrative paints a distressing picture of how oppressive life was for women in hierarchical ancient Chinese patriarchal society. The best part of this drama is how in order to survive, the women defy social conventions, set aside petty differences, learn to trust each other and work together towards shared goals. While the sheer scale of their financial and other achievements are preposterous, there is something very cathartic and satisfying about how flamboyantly they flourish. The storytelling is squarely centered on Hua Zhi and speeds through many of the supporting character arcs, leaving their motivations and struggles under-developed. This is a pity because family dramas like this are most compelling when important supporting characters are given enough agency to be the main characters of their own arcs.

This is one of those dramas that is best enjoyed superficially and with heavy suspension of disbelief. Upon closer scrutiny, the overarching empowerment theme is contradicted by some of the sub-plots. I was disturbed by the different treatment of domestic abuse in Hua Jing and Hua Xian's case. But what I disliked most was what happens to Hua Rong and her child. It is as if she learned nothing from her family's struggles about resilience in the face of adversity. There are a few poorly developed sub-plots like this that the writers raced through without thinking carefully about the messaging.

As much as I like Zhang Jingyi, this is not her best role. Her interpretation of Hua Zhi is too perfect, too calm, too understanding and too reasonable. This has led to many Mary Sue comments about the character. But Hua Zhi is actually written to have many flaws - she can be over confident, she cannot mind her own business, she is reckless and like her grandfather, she cannot hold her tongue. In the canal arc, she is the architect of her own downfall but because everyone unites around her, she never suffers any consequences for her actions. This character has too much plot armor and is already so smart and capable that she shows virtually no growth from beginning to end.

Hua Zhi's relationship with Gu Yanxi is similarly whitewashed to the extent that it appears too ideal to be true; it lacks passion, conflict and intensity. Hua Zhi lets Gu Yanxi off too easily for deceiving her in the beginning when any normal person would be at least a little bit angry at him. She also never communicates any discomfort with his role at the Security Bureau; indeed she seems quite happy to use his authority there to serve her purposes. Thus, it came as much as a surprise to me as it must have to Yanxi that it could be a deal breaker for her! So much for their so called mature, open and communicative relationship! I don't know why young actors like to make their characters so perfect all the time and have such a hard time embracing more complex but perfectly natural human relationship dynamics and emotions.

Hu Yitian delivers a more nuanced portrayal of Gu Yanxi as the emperor's sharpest knife. His fight scenes are phenomenal and he is menacing and ruthless as the commander. He shows us he is a different person; more open, at ease and happier when he is with Hua Zhi. While this is one of Hu Yitian's better roles to date, he shies away from showing us the true extent of his affection for the emperor and his inner conflict. This is a missed opportunity because Hai Yitian delivers a compelling portrayal of the lonely, paranoid and manipulative emperor. Because Hu Yitian's portrayal of Gu Yanxi does not meet him halfway, the emperor's affection for his nephew comes across as borderline obsessive and a lot more one sided than it really is.

Even though it seems her character Shaoyao is dumbed down from the novel, Lu Yuxiao is once again a scene stealer in this drama. This kind of beguilingly innocent, simple minded savant kind of character is extremely difficult to portray well but Lu Yuxiao pulls it off brilliantly. She doesn't get enough screen time to steal the show but I was more invested in her character than I was in Hua Zhi who is too perfect to be relatable.

The ending of this drama really cracked me up. It is one of the few times that the villain actually saves the day by doing what Hua Zhi and Gu Yanxi could never have done. Although it is also possible that Gu Yanxi learned his lesson not to look for needles in hair stacks and had the good sense to show up a just a tad late at the ceremony. Despite some flaws, this is a very appealing feel-good drama for those seeking light entertainment. My rating 8/10.

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A beautifully presented story!

This was my first time watching an airing costume drama so in the beginning I was a little hesitant as I thought I may lose interest in the midway. But this drama did not let that happen. I was always anticipated for the new eps and this drama had become my routine everyday.
The chemistry between the leads was amazing. Even tho the drama had minimal skinship but still their chemistry captured our hearts till the end.
This drama has so many positives like there are so many couples that I lost count lol. There is no unnecessary misunderstandings , no love triangle , not a major annoying character.
Now if we talk about the leads the way the FL was shown so mature that she has become one of my favorite characters in a drama. Ofcourse we know that Zhang Jing yi never disappoints. Also the ML's actings has improved so much which was a delight to watch.

I'd like to end my review with the line I liked the most ,
"I hope the wind delivers my love to you."

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Beast Mode Activated

Picked this up on a whim when the air date was announced as I had seen HYT (ML) in two republican era detective dramas and this was a totally different genre plus a romance so was interested in how he'd do. I'd heard of ZJY before but never seen her in anything and was familiar with some of our supporting cast especially the main antagonist. This was a female-centric drama about going through hardships and evolving. Not to mention ML's ability to go from quiet and kind to beast mode activated.

Pros: I have to give the martial arts of ML or GYX main pointers here; it gave this review a title. At 6'2 or 6'3, GYX towered over everyone including emperor psycho aka his own uncle (which baffled me when I saw it in the first episode as I had seen the actor who played big bad twice before and thought he was monster sized but here he looked like a mouse in comparison), so when he deployed his martial arts be it sword or fists, he could destroy a human in seconds. This was also funny to me because his fat guard in the brigade who could carry two people at once and the guard he killed upon assuming his post as commander; both actors played bad guys in TLB (ironically the aunt who was raising the kid of the concubine played the main antagonist in TLB too; reunion!), and they were huge there; yet here they paled in comparison. Props to HYT for doing the stunt work himself. The chemistry of the leads was on point as well; they were just too cute together and great partners in crime. Loved how no matter what—even during breakup—he had her back 100%; even if it meant as stealthy Batman. The story was nice about the FL and how she leads her female family out of disaster after disaster while they evolve from dependency on men to independence as the men are exiled north and just in general because once the men returned, they learned of the new normal very quickly. GYX also led the bureau to a change from barbaric to a brotherhood that was united and supported each other. Was also great that his three guards (my favorite was spider monkey guard though CQ was good too), always protected HZ and her family too however they could. It was like the Hua family and them became a massive family. Called the entire bureau the Spider-Man brigade; their ability to assassinate goons in a midst of a food competition at the restaurant while picking up blood drops took the cake. We're talking Cirque du Soleil meets Special Ops action here.

This drama was not short on comedy be it intentional or not. There was always something that made people laugh at any given point. The comment section here was lively. The OSTs and BGM really fit most scenes especially the beast mode ones. Favorite single character was actually very hard but both leads fit, wish we saw more of the SML as he spent like 30 episodes studying lol. The secondary couple (SY and SH) was adorable, SY stole everyone's heart (and boy is her actress versatile; from a cunning seductress spy in MJTY to a young woman with high functioning autism as it seemed here), Ah Jian, empress dowager (who I wish went to the wedding) as mentioned guards, the eunuch (first kind one I’ve seen in any drama next to a nasty emperor), all aunts and cousins of HZ, the maids and their men, one uncle, grandpa and grandma (grandma's death was the saddest thing of the entire show other than Hua Rong's).

Let's talk about our main antagonist; emperor psycho as I dubbed him. Actor never disappoints; you hated his guts from the first episode to the second he died in the last one. Hell has never had a more deserving candidate from a drama. A narcissistic psychopath that only with death could people be free. Though I loved how HZ finally took him to town in 38 and GYX let himself be heard too, the man himself was the absolute monster and played it very well. Costumes and sets were nice as well.

Cons: I wish the script let the leads emote more as HZ was far too perfect and could get through any turmoil without so much as an eyebrow lift. Only saw her really show negative emotions twice, when she was told by the emperor she couldn't redeem the men through money and she went from catatonic to ballistic in under 2 minutes and when GYX took on the palace guards and got himself severely injured, she was shrieking and crying. Same went for GYX, the actor has a difficulty emoting in general apparently as his are very subtle; but when he's fighting, he's not playing around. But his negative or even positive emoting was rare i.e. breakup scene and when emperor psycho croaked were the only two times he cried, I think I saw him really smile maybe three times in the entire show. He smiled more in their BTS when they did the actual scenes; so wonder why director didn't use those scenes.

I had more issues with the script than the acting; though the breakup scene lacked gravitas especially given it was a nobility arc for a change and not a dumb misunderstanding. It just seemed that many important scenes where angst was required, were never given a pause but just rolled along to the next whatever it was. The spy astronomer and last adult prince were more like plot devices to get to the death of emperor psycho; I forgot who that prince even was as he appeared a total of two times prior. Felt very disjointed from the rest of the show. The last 6 episodes were a sprint to the finish line as for a story that large you needed to pack it in. Especially the very last episode. They really sacrificed quality for quantity here, sadly. Instead of focusing on many smaller characters and story lines, they could have chosen less of those and really fleshed out the leads, second couple, SML, a few others and stuck to a more conducive storyline. What we got at the end, was a dizzying amount of people whose loose ends needed to be tied and it was done in 30 seconds or less for each batch while the leads were forgotten for a bit.

Wish the Jurassic sized CGI dolphins didn't take up the ending of the leads as they were unnecessary and made that scene laughable for the wrong reasons. Continuity and dubbing were also visible issues during the show, the other CGI wasn't that great either though thankfully rarely used and mostly for the background and I wish the music didn’t drown out some of the conversations as well.

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Despite the running around and kinks, it was an enjoyable series and one I would recommend especially if you like female-centric with sweet chemistry types of dramas.

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Women

First of all, I have to say that it was one of the best series I have watched recently. I watched it with curiosity every day. I like it a lot. While I said I liked it, I also criticized it a lot. Especially what was done in the last two episodes gave me the impression that the Chinese scriptwriters had difficulty in connecting the endings.
At first, I came to the conclusion that the author made mistakes while examining some things. But I found it very nice and appropriate that he eliminated them later, corrected them and showed us the results. I took back this criticism. However, I found the fire scene in the last episodes wrong. I found it wrong. I found the king's nonsense wrong. He played with the character a lot. So I couldn't understand what the king was. I don't know whose fault it is. I don't know if the director couldn't fit the character well or if he didn't pay attention to it while writing. A person is either good-natured. Or it is bad-natured. Either he is a despot. Or it shows a more moderate management. This king kills all the time. Afterwards, he showers praise. Not their own children. He loves someone else's child. He employs someone in the palace with a high-ranking title who has done many wrong things, killed and defrauded people, and does not hide it. I found it very ridiculous. He defends himself by saying that if he can make it rain, I will kill him. Of course it will rain one day, in fact it is raining. He gives him a reward. He finds this person wrong, insults the woman who spent all her money on a state dam, and assigns her as a servant to the person who did the dirty work. Ultimately, it turns out that this woman is a rebel who cooperates with the prince to take revenge, but she also kills the king. No matter how you look at it, it's inconsistent. Likewise, I do not want to enter the palace. The child born to the servant who says "I will live my own life" eventually becomes the king. However, the person who provides the most useful services to the kingdom barely escapes from prison. I don't understand where the idea of making someone who doesn't want it and someone who escaped from the palace, a child, a king came from. The fact that neither the beneficial nor the deserving were done was in contrast to the good things this author showed us. So, what he said didn't come true.
I thought it was a women's series. They showed what the family and the victimized women in the family can do when they come together and form a unity. I think it is well thought out. Were there any exaggerations? Could most of these be done under the conditions of that day? No, it couldn't be done. But the author also showed that this can be done. He established a cause and effect relationship. I love family warmth, unity, integrity, brotherhood, even servant behavior, their protection, being seen as one of the family, praising and rewarding success, evaluation of work, evaluation of the product, learnability of trade, that everyone can achieve something by working and persevering, and that only a male-dominated system is dominant. I saw proof that women could do something on their own, even in that period. I understand Love and affection are put in between. I felt good things. There was also hatred. There were also injustices. We saw that those who did these things were also punished. This was reflected beautifully.
If we look at the players; Neither of the two lead actors performed an outstanding performance. Hu Yi Tian especially couldn't play at all. A dull player. He opens his eyes too much. It's like he had a face lift, there are no facial expressions. A straight player. She is tall and has a beautiful face. So. Zhang Jing Yi was better than him. Even though he wasn't very good, he did his part. I liked Lu Yu Xiao. He beautifully portrayed a character who is subject to psychological factors, albeit slightly. It was very good in my opinion. He was also compatible with young actor Bian Cheng. This young man will also be a good player in the future. I think they will be the leading roles. They played well. Myolie Wu made herself felt especially among women. Good player. Well done.Grandmother and Queen Mother were fine. The servant roles were fine. So the supporting roles were played much better. The series was a very high quality series in that respect. I recommend everyone to watch it.

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Watchable Oatmeal, Where was the love

No spoiler review.
So, after a sea of bad writing and horrible endings, the Cdrama industry trolls us with this drama.
Is it watchable? Yes
Worth a rewatch?....nopes

And here's why.

Unconvincing OTP, in the way it should count.
The affection is giving good friends instead, of lovers.
I mean, we got secondary characters pairing up in ways you can feel they, just can't wait to be together.
Even a late entry villain's love line, gives a better "we have to be together" in the few scenes they were given, in comparison.

A story that makes sense without misunderstandings, fight scenes that feel fresh, characters that talk out the problems, breakups and crisis resolutions that aren't overtop...All great..But, how did they still manage to give us nothing while doing it?

Exciting bland, just smeared all over the place. The tone is too calm, maybe the colors didn't help. It needed something to give it the push that would've made it perfect.

I believe the problem was with direction, which you will see the main actors could've given that spark needed for key points. The director just didn't let them.

It sad the drama is borderline forgettable when these were good roles for the actors

I recommend this with the warning that i found myself even skip watching the OTP the last 10 episodes and it is entertaining....enough.

A- for the story, C+ for execution, B- for the roller set ponytail.
We all deserve better!

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Quantity doesn't = Quality

Positives:
1. A "Watchable" Frozen Face Hu Yi Tian drama. (yes I'll probably get a lot of hate comments, but I've watched and given up enough of his dramas to conclude his frozen face syndrome)
2. Decent storyline with strong lead characters. Although not unique but it's enjoyable. The pacing of the love developing is very good.
3. Enough good supporting characters (but you'll need to weed them out) One's I actually enjoyed:
ML's sister Shao Yao & Shen Huan
ML's 2 sidekicks (could've used more screen time)
Hua's cook
Prince Xian - a worthy bad guy

Skippable
1. Quantity < Quality. Overloading on non-necessary characters (to fill in 40 episodes) is a HUGE waste of time. Lack of character development for these side characters makes the drama feel draggy.
2. Due to the characters dump, there's a lot of annoying scenes. Plenty Aunts, cousins, maids' repetitive lines make it unbearable at times. Even with the pairing on these excess characters you'll feel nothing because essentially there's no build up.

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Zhang Jingyi is a force to be reckoned with

This review will be kept short.
After finishing this drama, all I'm gonna say is Zhang Jingyi deserves to be recognized. I love her acting and how she uplifts other casts.
Her performance is synergistic and very moving
Her eye acting is topnotch.
She made me excited, had me at the edge of my seat, and the parts where there are no big events are still a main attraction because of her.
Thank you to this drama for making me discover such a talented gem of an actress.
I also would like to commend Hu Yitian. You have performed well in this drama. I would love to see you more in historical dramas.

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So sad its now finished, so am off to watch it again.

I have really really enjoyed watching this series. The story is a simple one of disaster and heartache for a family and how with strong leadership and caring for one another and a willingness to change and work hard together good things can happen.
I really love the strength shown by the ladies of the family to overcome the difficulties even a few bumps in the road did not deter them. The FL and ML developed a brilliant relationship and the actors portrayed there role in a very believable way. It all felt so natural. There were many notable performances enough to say i thought all the cast did an extremely fine job. Of course i have my favourites and i am sure you will to.
The cinematography, OST are first class and made the whole experience of watching the series all the more enjoyable.
many thanks to all the cast and crew for giving us a series that is such a pleasure to watch. Am off to watch the whole series again now.
I wonder if there could be a 2nd series with the same cast of course. That would be great.

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The power of goodwill

After the men of the Hua family are forced into exile and the women and children left to fend for themselves, Hua Zhi, the eldest daughter and our indomitable female lead, takes charge and seeks to bring the family back together against all odds. Her family and her story become entwined with that of Gu Yanxi, nephew to the emperor with his own share of family troubles, albeit of a very different nature being born into the royal bloodline.

There is a lot of story to cover in 40 episodes, and what we are left with in the drama is a bit uneven in pacing and tone. A lot of the first half of the story follows the Hua family's ups and downs in their endeavors to recover from the disaster forced upon them by the paranoid Emperor. Some of the most moving and heartbreaking moments for me occur in the quieter moments within the Hua family household as they learn to brave their hardships and share their triumphs with each other. The latter half features more of the palace/political story. If given enough time, this part of the story may have been able to develop its themes and antagonists better. Instead, things are taken care of far too neatly and swiftly before anything really resonates. Hai Yitian as the complicated Emperor of Daqing makes an impression, but with his arc in the story as a whole and his relationship with Yanxi not fully explored, it is a bit of a shame how it all ends for him.

All in all, this is a heartwarming story worth watching for some great performances from all the cast, including Zhang Jingyi as Hua Zhi and Hu Yitian as Yanxi. I wish they had more to do with their roles as far as range of emotions (we get a little bit towards the end), and I hope to see more of them in period/costume dramas in the future.

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