Blossoms in Adversity (2024)

The importance of family when everything is lost

I was hesitant to watch any more historical dramas because they had been quite repetitious and uninteresting. However, I was hooked on this drama since it was quite good! The cast, including Zhang Jing Yi and Hu Yi Tian, is fantastic as always, and the plot is excellent. It was well worth seeing! I love how this isn't a typical female lead who suddenly knows everything and knows how to solve everything but there was a story behind why she is different from others.

I am so glad that Lu Yu Xiao is getting the recognition she's getting because that girl can act! She is always enjoyable in every drama I have watched her in and I'm glad she's getting more main roles because she deserves it!

The plot revolves around Hua Zhi, a girl in the Hua family who is viewed as nothing more than a disappointment for failing to follow her "female duties," and how she is the main reason for the family's survival when all of the male family members are deported. One of the reasons I loved this drama was that it portrayed the reality of families; sometimes people would just worry about themselves. One of the reasons I enjoyed this drama was because it depicted the truth of families; sometimes people would just think of themselves and spite each other to obtain what they want. The fact that no one got along well with each other, blamed each other and were distrustful of each other, and having Hua Zhi there to bring the family back together while they were going through difficulties, was extremely great to see. Typically, having family members in c-drama assumes there are nasty parents or aunts, but there was none of that. I was initially terrified of Madam Xia since she appeared to be a typical wicked aunt (maybe I had watched too many cdramas), but she was actually very nice and was simply trying to keep the family together. Even the daughters were close by the end, though I was saddened that some of them had passed. I was worried when one of the daughters married Sun Xiang, who had about 8 concubines, but it was incredibly satisfying to watch how such a little girl controlled the entire family and even the guy was afraid of her lol.

The plot flowed incredibly nicely, and these cases fit flawlessly, providing a really wonderful build up. This drama isn't about discovering one actual villain; instead, it's about the Hua family working hard to acquire enough money to reunite their family as the male lead assists her along the way. It is an excellent drama that I would highly suggest to anyone! (There's a happy ending, which is definitely a positive.)

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I recommend

Thanks to the writers of this drama for giving us less common trope filled plot. This is the one drama that the romance being as muted as it was, was actually not bad at all. The focus of the drama was overcoming adversity and doing it with love and our FL did it with such aplomb. Although her family members took sometime to come around to her way of thinking when they finally did the family became unstoppable.
I have seen a lot of horrible emperors in CDramas but this one does take the cake because he was horrible for no reason other than he was d emperor.
Anyways to say I highly recommend this drama will be an understatement.
Happy viewing new viewers, enjoy the ride

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I'm only leaving a review because while I can see why this drama is so popular, I don't believe it deserves the high rating it got. I remember reading the summary of the plot before it aired and feeling very excited. But from the first episodes I noticed something that became a pattern in every single episode from then on, and basically ruined this drama for me. I felt the potential as well as the hard work the actors put in. However, our protagonist --who is played by an actress I really love by the way-- is a very badly written character to put it plainly. She reacts to every situation in the best way possible. Whenever the viewer senses a typical annoying drama moment coming on, she "surprises" everyone by being unbelievably understanding and exceptionally smart. She never overreacts or makes any serious mistakes. She basically barely has a character of her own. As Hua Zhi, some of her traits really sticked, I'll give the writers that, like her forward way of thinking, her wit, her love for her grandfather. But she didn't feel like an actual leal. Same goes for ML. Just two very dull characters. I swear, I thought this drama had so much it could have done with that storyline. But even if they wanted a non-typical FL, she didn't have to turn out this robotic. Basically, for me the leads just didn't feel human enough. Other characters in this drama were written so much better. I was shocked when I saw the rating because compared to so many other great shows, this got a 8.7 which feels very undeserved for me. Having said that, I enjoyed many of the episodes and I do understand if not many are bothered by the things I mentioned.

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Blossoms in Adversity

Hu Yi Tian & Zhang Jing Yi… That’s interesting… Let’s watch.,,,

Story about one girl, Hua Zhi (HZ), that’s quite different from another woman of her time. She’s independent, smart & not so feminine. That’s because from a young age, her grandfather already spoiled her by taking her to many places & teaching her many things that women at that time usually did not learn nor know.

Now at her young adult age (around age 15-20 if I’m not mistaken), she’s betrothed & ready to get married. But one sudden incident regarding the Emperor & HZ’s grandpa made Hua’s family must be stripped from all their positions & their family wealth also confiscated. All the male in the family are sent to the far north for forced labor, but due to HZ’s grandma relationship with Empress Dowager, the women get spared & just need to move from the house. And with all that, the Hua’s family journey & hardship began.

HZ is one amazing woman, although she’s young, she's one capable woman. She’s led all the women in her family to go through hardship with her smart brain, creativity & the braveness to try something new. At first except her grandma, no one trusts her & underestimates her young age, but with time she’s proven herself worthy of her grandma's trust & lead the family from the hardship & poor life.

In this hard life, HZ & her family find true friends & family, the one that’s still willing to stay by their side, friends & servant, that’s not abandoning nor fooling their family. HZ also found comfort in one particular gentleman, Gu Yan Xi (YX), one man that at first we don’t know good or bad (due to his relationship & loyalty to the emperor), but over time proved himself that he really meant well for HZ & Hua family.

Ok. That's about the story… Now what I like & don’t like.

What I like:
+ The chemistry between Hu Yi Tian & Zhang Jing Yi is good. Although not fiery, but I can see them as a couple
HZ & YX relationship. How they build their relationship & trust toward each other.
+ The family that’s built from the hardship. How every woman in Hua’s family finds their place within the family. Really funny when the men come back to their life & find the women (wife) are changing.
+ The cute Shao Yao (SY) & Shen Huan (SH). Although we can see there’s something wrong with SY, She's one smart & loyal woman. I really like how SH never underestimates nor condescends SY. I really like the moment when SY finally realizes her feelings for SH.
+ Not everything runs smoothly for the Hua family. They are several times hit by setbacks & trouble, but the writer or the director do not try to hide it or erase it totally. Of course if we cut several unimportant incidents, maybe the episode can be shorter.

What I don’t like:
- The stupid separation. Oh that’s one stupid separation between YX & HZ. I know how hard the emperor tried to separate them. But for HZ to come to that conclusion is stupid & she kinda acknowledges it when she wants to get back to YX.
- The crazy emperor. Oh he’s one crazy emperor that wants all YX’s loyalty only lies to him. Several time I want to shake YX to wake up or just to kill the emperor himself.

Overall this really one good drama to watch

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Women empowerment!!

Before starting the review,I am glad that I watched a wonderful drama which is very inspiring,has values,morals and principles and teaches us to be determined and never get depressed even in the gravest situations of our life.I am really impressed with the way the drama was handled without any boring moment.
Now going into the story,the Hua family faces the wrath of the emperor,after which all the men above 10years old,are exiled to the north,while the women and children are forced out of the city to a house in the outskirts where the facilities are lacking.Tgey don't have food,money,even blankets with them.
Here comes our female lead,Hua zhi,played by Zhang Jingyi, the eldest granddaughter of the Hua family,who never loses her confidence,is determined to earn money,provide food and bed for her women family and bring the men of their household back from exile and rebuilt their lost house.
Though she faces criticisms from the rest of the women in her family, gradually she gains the support of her grandmother and becomes the head of the family.As the head in charge of the family,she comes with a lot of ideas to earn money and never minds what others think of her.Gradually she gains the support of her family,and in course,all the women and children become very close and affectionate with each other.
She falls in love with Gu Yanxi,played by Hu Yitian,who is the commander of the security bureau and also a prince.
I liked his constant support to her in all her endeavours and their romance track was decent.
All the actors excelled in their roles and the plot is very good.
The concept of not losing confidence,not getting depressed even when life becomes upside down, determination to live,ideas to earn money were all depicted well.
What I liked the most was the character developments of each and every family member(women)as the story progresses and how they stood for each other by the end of the drama.
Also,I liked how the Hua family,despite their circumstances,still helped many people who were in distress like them and made them a part of their family,be it Shaoyao,or the teacher,or the sixth prince.
Also,the Hua family women protect their kith and kin and even go a large extent for them just like their second aunt.
Finally,I highly recommend this drama.It is worth watching.
Bottom line-an inspiring and warm drama.!!

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A mature slice of life drama. Bring some tissues.

A mature (writing) show with character growth. Drama like these aren't my cup of tea because Im more into wuxia: you fly here, you fly there, find martial art manuals kind of drama lol. However, I am glad I gave this a chance because it deserved the rating.

Don't think of this as a romance, revenge, or scheming type of drama, but think of it as a slice of life that is set in older days China with servants, masters, rulers and subjects, etc. The Hua's family went through tribulations and each members had character growth. Knowing their short coming, their greed, having family disputes, hierarchy's, betrayal and much more. No true villain or deep scheming, but really just everyone tries to live the best life that they possibly can with what they have.

I thought the supporting cast were all fantastic. They did what they could with the material and made it an amazing show. Lu Yu Xiao, first saw her in My Journey to You, thought she was amazing. She nailed this role too. First time seeing Zhang Jing Yi project, great actress, she's also very very pretty. The male lead, I am not sure but maybe they miscast the role as I don't see a general who went through countless battles in the North to keep the borders clean, or a ruthless Commander. as he looks kind of naive, kind or harsher way to put it -a blank face-, it was not convincing.

The show is different from what I am used to, maybe that's why I liked it. I think everyone definitely should give this a try.

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Great ensemble cast and female characters

Blossoms in Adversity is a historical drama with a strong Girl Power feel. The main story seems to revolve around the way the women in the extended family come together and find their voices. The female lead, Hua Zhi, is everything one would want in a female main character--smart, brave, morally upright, and hard working. Yanxi, the male lead, has similar qualities, but also killer martial arts skills, beautiful hands, and a cute, bouncing ponytail. Together they make an ideal couple, who actually talk things out with each other. (Maybe this is less of a historical drama and more of a fairy tale.)

I do have some quibbles. There are a number of unrealistic elements, such as the way that Hua Zhi gets away with mouthing off at people in power, the speed with which the Hua family claws its way out from ruin, and the repeated use of poor but virtuous and grateful commoners as plot points. Thank goodness for the emperor, who adds some much needed ambiguity and malevolence to the story.

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Life is unpredictable!

Blossoms in Adversity main focus isn't really about the love story, the focus is moreso on the family and their growth through difficulties.

Due to a petty king, Hua Family was exiled and reduce to commoners from their high wealth status.
Their oldest granddaughter, Hua Zhi, eventually becomes the head of the family to take control of their lifestyle. Zhang Jingyi played Hua Zhi quite well and very convincing. I've seen several of her dramas, and honestly she's not phenomenal but she has improved from her early day until now. Hua Zhi is a very strong-willed, independent main female character. She knows what she wants, she holds her family together through difficulties and hardships. She is quite smart and I love that she doesn't care about what the public thopught of her and her family. At the end of the day, what motivates her are is her family and bringing home the exiled family members. I have watched a few of Zhang Jingyi's dramas over the years, I think she's a natural actress, everything she has acted in was quite natural and conforms nicely to the character she plays.

The love interest of Hua Zhi is Gu Yan Xi acted by Hu Yi Tian. Gu Yan Xi lives a double life in this drama, or tries to. Although one would think he's evil to the core but from the get-go you can see that he's someone who stands up for what is right. Unfortuantely, he also has to protect someone because he has no autonomy otherwise he would be slaughtered like most of his family. His love for Hua Zhi was seen from the beginning, you would see it in his actions where he would always be her shining knight in armor.
Hu Yi TIan's acting was quite a disappointment but not a surprise. I've seen him in other dramas, he has not changed from his early years to this drama. Hu does not use his facial muscles like other actors who also plays stoic characters. You would think there's some eye acting, but not really. His face is just.. .BLANK majority of the time. He has three distiguishable faces: pokeface aka blank face, smile happy face, and finally the shooketh face which literally looks like this every time he's shocked O_O. Sometimes when there's something that is shocking, his face doesn't even do anything. It was really HORRENDOUS to watch him. He was the reason why I did not want to watch this drama when it first came out because I would be very annoyed with the way he "acts." At this rate, he's more of a eye candy actor, not an actual actor. Fortunately, the martial choreography was quite nice and the storyline isn't really focused on his character compare to the females'.

A character that stood out to me is Shao Yao (Lu Yu Xiao) because she not only went through something traumatic, it seems she was also on the spectrum. It reminded me of how Park Eun Bi acted as an autistic character. Lu Yu Xiao nailed her role quite well. This is the second drama I've watched of hers, and we all know how amazing she was in MJTY and in this drama as well. I really hope she is one of the rare actresses who is willing to try out different roles, because so far it definitely showcased a lot of her acting abilities. I digress, Shao Yao is such an adorable character, she's also self aware of how her brother, Gu Yan Xi, and Hua family treats her: like a porcelein doll. However, she managed to find a very nice friend, Shen Huan (Biang Cheng), who didn't treat as such, and treated her like a normal human being, a friend. It was very heartwarming to see Shao Yao light up whenever Shen Huan shows up because their relationship was so innocent and adorable. I was rooting for the happy ending more than the main leads. lol

There were several veterans in this drama, most notably Myolie Wu. I honestly thought her character was going to be so annoying throughout the drama. lol The king in this drama was very annoying, he's very paranoid and petty so I will jsut leave at that.
I think the moral of this drama has taught me resilience is the best form of survival through difficult times. There will always be a solution even if you've fallen from the top. Which is exactly what Hua Zhi did to get her family back on their feet.

I would like to highlight how much i LOVE the OSTs in this drama, I haven't been hearing good music from cdramas for the past couple of months and this drama definitely have one of the bests OSTs out there, imo.

Blossoms of Adversity is definitely a must watch if you love 2010s cdramas of focusing on a female character's life through hardships to get to the top of the pyramid. It's a female centered drama where all the men are exiled, and the women needs to fend for themselves lest death of starvation.

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Snailing Its Way to Victory

This is a painfully slow drama at first. I was so bored that I skipped to the 7th or 8th episode, waiting for something to happen. I obviously didn't miss much, as I was easily able to follow the story from there. The characters do a lot of exposè in their dialogue, so you can't really miss what has already occured.

Once the drama finally picked up, it was very enjoyable to watch. The female lead was a good girl, but she wasn't saccharine. She was smart and stubborn, and a truth teller. She could have maybe done well to have an actual character flaw, not like an "I'm so quirky, I trip over myself", type of thing. Just like something to make her a bit less perfect than she is. The actress that plays her is stunning. The ML is a stone-faced, icy, archetypal hero. No real character at all. That just meant that the secondary characters shone through. The older actors stole the show, really. I loved that they featured heavily in it, as they deserved.

The story structure itself was quite good. Yes, way too slow in the beginning, but it speeded up and got more exciting as it went along. Overall, I did find this to be a satisfying watch. The story of a girl that finds her place as the head of the family. The opening scene of her climbing the mast of the ship as a child, being the perfect metaphor for guiding her family back to safety and health.

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