Flowers that Bloom at Night (2024)

Captivating characters and plot

I would have never thought, that I would end up loving this series. I'm glad I started it, even if I wasn't totally interested in it. This drama makes so many things right and has everything I want in a drama.

What I liked:
- The Characters. They felt real and engaging. They had their own problems and were realistic. I fell in love with them. Especially the two main leads.
- The chemistry was incredibly captivating. Before watching it I was wondering how they would handle the two age gap couples. Because sometimes it can feel a bit forced in dramas. But not in this one. The age didn't matter, no need to think about it. Lee Ha Nee and Lee Jong Won suit each other and they characters were mature and on the same wave length. It was a delight to watch them on the Screen. The fight scenes between them were full of chemistry.
- The acting was phenomenal. All actors and actresses made a great performance. Especially Lee Ha Nee and Lee Jong Won. I saw Lee Jong Won in the Golden Spoon, but that drama was lacking and I barely noticed him. But in this drama... he was outstanding. I never noticed how beautiful he is. He looked ethereal in this one. Props to the costume design. Sageuk dramas suit him. And as for Lee Ha Nee, I never saw her before which is a surprise since she's been around for some time. I loved her acting, it felt experienced and secure.
-The comedy. I am very picky about comedy. But the comedy was great in this one. The timing felt right, the editing and the actors are talented at conveying the comedic scenes.
-The romance. Oh I love a slowburn. No need for a kiss if the characters have this much chemistry. It was way more exciting this way. It just felt natural and made me want to see more.
- I was even interested in the politics and the plot was really good
-The ending was really good and fitting to the characters.

What I disliked:
-I rarely say it but... nothing. Nothing at all. I would have wished for more scenes between the main leads but on the other hand I don't, because it was great the way it was.

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The writer(s) understood the assignment

The cast, especially Lee Ha Nee/Honey Lee, fit their roles perfectly. She plays the comedy and the drama so well and I genuninely feel this role was tailor made for her. I think everyone clicks well.

The show managed to give us a good balance of comedy and drama and it all felt appropriate for the story. No weird tonal shifts.

Even though this is fictional and argubly has fantasical moments, such as Yeo Hwa's jumping skills, it's grounded in reality and people still deal with the realities of the time.

The OST totally fits the drama and is catchy.

The romance(s) are so cute haha. I think they are smile inducing.

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Almost Great

Good drama that just misses greatness, but with main leads that are perfect, though I wished for more focus on their characters and their story. Both actors have eyes that say far more than words can summon—and what they tell us is so touching about the characters and the developing story line that not taking the time is a clear mistake by the director and writer. It’s why the series just misses greatness and causes the plot to struggle in spots. Still, it is good, and I enjoyed it. I also liked the charming second leads and wanted to see them developed more as well. I’m hearing there is a second season planned for Sept, so I’m happy that perhaps they will have time to do more developing of the main story—because these two main characters have far more to say—to each other.

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Não me conformo!

A série era pra ter sido PERFEITA, mas como não colocam um BEIJO? PELO AMOR DE DEUS!
Tá, depois desse desabafo kkkk, é certo que a não perfeição não é totalmente a respeito disso, claro que fiquei indignada, mas, bem no final a história para mim se perdeu um pouco.
Gostei que a PROTA é independente e vai ela mesma buscar suas lutas, sem ficar dependendo de ninguém. Uma mulher fatal num século onde as mesmas não tem vez.
Achei que bem no meio a história foi ficando cansativa, podia ter sido melhor desenvolvida, pois tinha tudo para ter sido perfeita.
O casal tinha uma química maravilhosa, mas ao meu ver não souberam explorar isso! O que é uma pena.

Resumo: um enredo perfeito mas que não souberem desenvolver no final.

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Good plot

I gave this a try because the plot intrigued me. I am biased to costume mystery so I decided to watch this.
Best thing I can say about this series that I like is casting Lee Ha Nee. I am glad to see an Asian drama series that portrays a woman that fit the role to a tee. (I don't know her before watching this series, and found out she was once crowned Ms. Korea. She also led me to Phantom - another series I added on my watch list.)
First episode didn't grab me at all. From experience, I learned to watch at least 3 episodes before deciding to drop or continue. It is slow, and probably due to it being a low budget series, some of the lighting, scenes, and props are not as how I see it with high budget series. Nevertheless, I stayed for the plot and for the character portrayal of the female lead. She is quite interesting, and related to the character well. She really carried this series along with the other casts, in my opinion.
I like the change of watching Korean costume drama that doesn't revolve around the royal family for its entirety and this is one of them.
The relationship dynamics of the two male leads is also intriguing. It made me anticipate understanding the story behind it which came to light as the series progressed.
Overall, I will recommend this for those who like light costume drama that comes with humor, with no heavy conflict/ drama, and has interesting real life characters. I enjoyed this series and most likely will include on the list of my "Long weekend girlfriend's pajama party" binge watching list.(Shout out to my LoWeGiPaPa Members)

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Female Zorro

This is a refreshing drama, even if the women situations is well described and tough to watch.
Widow the day, Zorro at night this is our FL. Widow the day is an awful situation : she never saw her husband, dead the morning of the wedding, and since then, she lives the terrible life of the widows in that era, "managed" by her step-mother .
But at night she helps the poor and the underprivileged.
She will meet the guards captain in a fight and a slow romance will start.
And of course there is a political plot, well built
I liked :
actors and acting, all great
happy ending
fight scenes
the plot

I disliked :
-the widow condition of the female character at start is a bit too much, after 15 years it s a bit incredible to see what she has to endure without saying a word...
- the ending is too soft for the villains !
- the happy ending is too short

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La Romance à la coréenne de retour!

Je l'ai attendue. Depuis 2019? Je ne sais plus. Cette impression désagréable d'avoir perdu quelque chose depuis quelques années me tenaillait et m'importunait. Je ne suis sûrement pas de ces vétérans qui ont vécu les balbutiements des dramas coréens. Pourtant 14 ans de visionnage acharné me faisaient penser que le déclin était bel et bien en route. En effet, à une exception prés ( Missing, the other side, Taxi drive saison 1, Happiness ou encore one dollar lawyer) j'ai été de déception en déception....allant jusqu'à pester contre mes scénaristes de coeur (le dernier des soeurs Hong...) ou contre mon chéri (My dearest...)...Tout cela, oui, oui, je blablate beaucoup, pour clamer enfin mon soulagement....Enfin un drama made in Korea, drôle, frais, léger ( oui par ce que je trouve que ces dernières années les Kdramas sont lourds, malsains, dur à regarder) avec un romance super adorable!
Alors soit, cela ne casse pas des briques et ne vous attendez pas au drama du siècle. Par contre, si vous recherchez une histoire simple avec une héroïne super attachante et drôle, une femme forte et fragile à la fois ( oui, par ce que je le dis haut et fort, une femme forte c'est super top, mais qui n'a aucune faiblesse, avec un mélange d'arrogance et de mauvais tempérament c'est assez casse-bonbon...), donc une femme qui sait s'opposer sans peur mais qui se fragilise face à celui qu'elle aime, face à ses peurs et ses angoisses, face à ses attentes, mais qui continue d'avancer, perso, j'adore.
Face à elle, un protagoniste ultra adorable (gros coup de coeur). Nous fondons en même temps que lui et c'est un pur délice que de les voir interagir avec maladresse et pourtant avec une sincérité et une complicité intense.
Certes, ici pas de passion charnel, pas d'intensité à vous faire battre le coeur. Mais peu importe, cette simplicité et ce retour au source est plus que bienvenu!

Si je le recommande? oui, car sourire et sentir son coeur fondre pour un couple plus qu'adorable, c'est une nécessité pour survivre à une semaine chargée au bureau. Alors n'hésitez plus et fondez sans remords à ce bonbon acidulé!

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a Makjang Historical Drama with Everything You Would Ever Want

I fell in love with this show. It just had everything.From comedy,to drama,to thriller,to romance,to action,to historical,to betrayal,to revenge...
First,I loved how they made poison from the flower petals, that was so cool .I loved the chemistry between the leads, the return of the husband and the filming location. The writing of each character was amazing and the comedy with Honey was so funny .I would laugh every second she did something funny. All the actors performed their roles perfectly ,especially the elder ones,like Kim Mi Kyung, the lady who poisoned her husband,her brother,and Yeo Hwa's father-in-law.( I don't know their names well).
This is an underrated masterpiece with only 10,000 watchers .

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Strong female character who is a super hero level martial artist

10/10 is my rating. This is a 2024 South Korean period costume comedy romance drama with 12, 64-72 minute episodes. Based on a webtoon.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Cho Yeo Hwa (Lee ha nee) was widowed after never even seeing her husband on her wedding day. As the daughter-in-law of of the most prestigious noble family, her mother-in-law forces her to follow the most strict rules that applied to widows of the era she must spend many hours at the shrine honoring her husband and cover herself modestly in public. She cannot wear anything but the drab mourning attire and must always conduct herself in such a way to be beyond reproach. That is the day time version of Yeo Hwa, At night she dons ninja like attire and rights injustices. After 15 years of keeping her night persona a secret, she runs across Park Soo ho (Lee Jong won) a by the book military officer who does not appreciate Yeo Hwa’s vigilante ways. At first he is determined to bring that masked menace to justice until he discovers the man is actually a woman and a very attractive and intriguing one at that. The more Soo ho learns about the mysterious martial artist and that her actions are actually noble, the more he finds himself helping her. They also share commonalities around events in the tragedies of the past. Intrigue turns to like then possibly something more.

Review

This is one of the best historical dramas I have seen because the focus isn’t on the politics, even though the politics are a part of the plot there’s so many other interesting things going on that it isn’t central. If you like action dramas with strong central characters and leads that are very interesting in their back stories, this would be a good one for you. The romance element is there but it’s certainly not highlighted and that could be a plus or a minus depending on how strong you want the romantic element to be. The series ends well and happy with all major plot points resolved.

I highly recommend this series and will likely watch it again.

Spoilers

The only critique I have of this, as somebody who likes romance, is they never fully kiss. That disappointed the romantic in me. I like displays of affection, to see chemistry, or lack there of. In the end they’re together, but it’s not like any level of commitment is made. She just reappears and it’s pretty obvious they’re going to be together from that point forward, but you only get to see just a few seconds of that reunion. After waiting through all of the episodes for them to be together, only getting a few seconds at the end of the final episode, just wasn’t enough to satisfy my desire for strong romance. Honestly, the show was so good though I couldn’t decrease how I rated it based on that small aspect. It was just something that would’ve made it even better if they had given a little more time for the satisfying union of the two main characters.


I felt so sorry for the widows in this and I was curious how real the severity of the social restrictions were. I’m sure some of it was accurate but I’m not sure how overblown the sacrifices they had to make in this series were. I have the sense that it could be individuals’ families deciding how the widow could behave. I was glad Yeo Hwa helped the other widow escape with the man she loved. I also liked that she broke free if that miserable existence.

Personally, I really like characters that are strong physically and I enjoy complex martial art scenes were the good guy defeat the bad guys believably and repeatedly. Yeo Hwa was super hero status in her martial arts ability and it was fun to watch.

#KnightFlower

#LeeHanee

#LeeJongWon

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best way to start 2024

historical dramas lately follow the "text book" to the T. everything feels the same so this was a breath of fresh air
the good,
strong female character
sweet adorable male lead
great noona romance*
secondary couple*
*yeah romance wasn't the focus, and non romance genres have the best romances ;(
everyone was smart
no unnecessary misunderstandings
the bad guy being nice to his family, I actually had a hard time because old historical "ministers" looked the same, so when he was nice at home and evil at work, it took me a while to realizes that was him
the husband was a cutie ;(

the bad
it was short
the ending felt a bit rushed
not enough romance

the grey
the "age gaps" were great in both couples, but becasue the fl was strong and independent, the ml was overshadowed, though it gave us a great "fl saves the day", I wish he had more scenes with his work to highlight him more, though they did highlight his pure heart well

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