Nat

I went into this drama with very high expectations, primarily because I absolutely love Meng Zi Yi and He Yu from their previous romantic works with different on screen partners. Sadly, it didn’t work.

Blossoms of Power has all the ingredients to be a really great drama. The story follows Gu Qingzhi, a woman who dies and is transported into the body of an entirely different noblewoman named Shen Xihe. Armed with this new identity, Shen Xihe journeys to the imperial capital to marry one of the princes.

Upon her arrival, she immediately crosses paths with her old husband from her past life, Xiao Changqing, while simultaneously navigating intense attention from all other princes, including the brilliant Crown Prince, Xiao Huayong, who has been pretending to be weak all his life, but secretly knows martial arts and has a whole network of spies.

I mean, what’s not to love?
Reincarnation? Check.
Crown Prince with a secret identity? Check.
Multiple brothers fighting over one woman? Check.
Strong female lead? Check.

But oh my God, what a mess... I haven’t been so frustrated watching a historical drama in a very long time.

While Blossoms of Power features a large, interesting cast of characters with an excellent supporting lineup, and obviously assigning leading couple, the writing is completely uneven. Half the time, it is entirely unclear where the story is actually going. The pacing is off. In places it’s so fast that it’s clear a lot has been cut away for screen. Some of the key scenes and important reveals needed to be seen not just talked about. In other places, the pace is extremely slow and dragged down by scenes that didn’t need to be so long, or plotlines that lead absolutely nowhere. The show spends stretches of episodes hyper-focused on one specific issue, completely forget about everything else, and then randomly pivot.

Worse, the writers completely abandoned intriguing setups. For instance, they spent time building a dynamic between Xiao Changying and Shen Yingruo only for it to vanish. If the writers did not intend to continue with the storyline, they should have caught those scenes out and included the ones that needed to be there.

By the end of the show, it is glaringly obvious that the writers simply forgot about multiple storylines and characters, leaving them completely dropped without a single word of explanation. On the contrary, some of the characters that did not spend a lot of time on screen and their storylines were completed earlier in the drama were given longer scenes that made no sense and wasted screen time. For example, second Prince or fourth Prince had bland storylines. Their death scenes shouldn’t have been cut.

Let’s talk about romance now.

The romance between Shen Xihe and Xiao Huayong is a massive slow-burn that ultimately feels unbelievable. Shen Xihe remains extremely cold for three-quarters of the drama, only to suddenly realize she fell for Xiao Huayong out of nowhere. I deeply wish her character had started to warm up much earlier in the timeline.

Furthermore, the romantic chemistry wasn’t what I expected. They are both incredibly fine actors, and I know for a fact that they both can pull off intimacy beautifully. Having seen He Yu’s work with Esther in Speed and Love, so I was incredibly excited to see what he and Meng Zi Yi can give us.

However, she felt detached in some intimate scenes. They both had good kissing scenes, but also not so good. No, I don’t mean to say that the romance is done poorly. On the contrary, I think the romance was still done very well. I think Xiao Huayong was the highlight of the show as a matter of fact, mostly because he was the only character that broad comedic relief to the drama during his pursuit of Shen Xihe. However, I still think that none of the attributes writers gave him at the beginning of the show like his hidden martial arts skills or his hidden identity where utilized to the full potential in the show. Writers kind of screwed up because instead of letting the character reveal his true self with the flair—because there was so much fuss made about keeping it secret—they just let it all fizzle out. Which leaves me with the question why introduce Xiao Huayong secret identity at all? He could have remained a sick Crown Prince, and that would have been enough for the kind of story we received.

Before I move on to the last part, I want to add that the female lead is an absolute badass here. That’s one thing that I truly liked about the drama. Additionally, the relationship between the lead couple outside of romance are interesting. I like that he allows her be herself without tying her down. Relationships between all the brothers and all the sisters are nuanced and written well. However…

A Final Insult of an Ending

The absolute worst part of the drama is the final arc. Xiao Huayong completely disappears for the last four episodes of the series. Well because he dies. Then, in the final two minutes of the drama, he suddenly shows up out of nowhere with absolutely no explanation as to how, why, or where he was, and if this is even true, or if she’s seen another dream.

Frankly, this ending pissed me off. If he was alive the whole time, he essentially left Shen Xihe alone in a den of vipers to fend entirely for herself. This was such a letdown. While the drama has decent production value, a great main cast, and a solid premise, the execution is an absolute mess that leaves you completely unsatisfied.

Would I recommend this drama? Probably if you like any of the actors, or while you’re waiting for something with a much better storyline. But I wouldn’t expect anything extraordinary or well written just because the cast and the production are high-end.