In Blossom (2024)

A (perhaps) unpopular take on the 2nd m/f lead relationship…

A lot’s been written about the plot and the leads that I agree with, and I wasn’t going to write a review but look, I finished this show last night. I am now working and out of nowhere, tears sprang to my eyes because one scene in particular popped into my head: 2FL drops her head back, fighting back tears, after she opens 2ML’s fist to find a piece of candy.

Sorry, guys, but the relationship between 2FL and 2ML may not be the storybook prettiest, but it is definitely the most REAL. It happens like that, sometimes the guy ends up with the backup girl, sometimes they find comfort in each other, and sometimes that winds up being the best thing for both of them. Sometimes it ends badly.

In the end, I can honestly say that their story, even over the main leads’, is what moved me. As much for its realness as for it being cut short before either of them had an opportunity to figure it all out together.

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A mixed feeling of "ahh!" and "huh?" and "oh.."

This drama gave me a mixed feeling of "ahhh!" and "huh?" and "oh...". While going through the first few episodes, I felt this drama had potential... But as the drama rolled on, I actually took a break from it and came back because I wanted to know what happened to our second lead couple. The drama follows Yang Caiwei (played by Zhang He Hui Zi in the beginning 2 episodes and then Jujin Yi later as the main role), who became a coroner after the downfall of her family. Life was quiet, until Pan Yue ( Liu Xue Yi) popped back into her life to fulfill the engagement promise during their childhood years. Caiwei finally gave into her heart and said yes to Pan Yue, but fate had other plans in store for them. Zealous Shangguan Zhi decided to kidnap Yang Caiwei on the day of her wedding and swapped their faces to marry Pan Yue, but was murdered shortly after. This murder case will eventually pull our main leads together as they find more clues towards a bigger conspiracy.
The storyline was acceptable, but not enough to awe me. I didn't care much about the cases they were solving because it was there mainly to keep the storyline moving for the next clue.
Yang Caiwei's character was a bit confusing for me to accept after the third episode. I believe it would've flow much better if they just use the same actress from the beginning to the end for our female lead. It was a little hard for me to accept Jujin Yi as Yang Caiwei throughout the drama after the first actor because Zhang He Hui Zi was great as Yang Caiwei in the first two episodes and left an strong image of Yang Caiwei's character. When Jujin Yi jumped in to fill the role, she felt like a different Yang Caiwei.
One thing the writers did correctly was Pan Yue. He's character was consistent with the flow of the story and his feelings and actions made sense. One of the many reasons I kept watching was to see Pan Yue's battle with himself trying to understand why he's suddenly falling in love with a woman whom he loathe in the beginning. His arch made me realize that we fall in love with the soul and not the flesh.
Our second lead couple was cute to watch despite the limited screen time they have. One reason I came back to finish the drama. Their love was like a seed that sprouted but didn't end satisfactory.
Overall, this drama is "eh". Will I rewatch it? Nope, once is enough (Not unless they add a new side story of Bai Xiao Shang and Zhuo Lan Jiang .^_^.)

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A Near Hit But A Miss All The Same

In Blossom is a murder mystery historical fantasy drama in the same vein as Mysterious Lotus Casebook, so it grabbed my attention from the start. As it is a dark fantasy, it features witchcraft and body-swapping, although it doesn't dwell too much on it, much to my disappointment. It focuses rather on the theme of inner beauty and a love that transcends physical appearance. The female lead is a coroner and the male lead is the town's magistrate, and together they solve crime mysteries and bring criminals to justice. It's basically an episodic type of series with an overarching plot just like Mysterious Lotus Casebook. I loved that drama, so I thought this would really hit the spot.

It has spectacular gothic cinematography that I found edgy and enthralling. The sets and costumes do not look cheap, so I assume that this is not a low budget series. I especially love the look of the male leads in their intricately embroidered garments of dark blues and blacks, highlighting their tall and slim figures and making them look regal and statuesque. Great choice of costumes indeed! The soundtrack and musical scores are also pretty impressive, especially the theme used for Zhuo Lanjiang and the Silver Rain Terrace.

Liu Xueyi as Pan Yue is the epitome of a romantic hero, devastatingly handsome, loyal, honest, kind, valiant, and wise. Xueyi is one of the most versatile Chinese actors I've seen thus far, transitioning from protagonist to antagonist and vice versa with ease. Pan Yue is definitely his best role yet as he was able to showcase his dramatic abilities as well as his physicality in the fight scenes.

The second male lead played by Li Ge Yang is also impressive. I never thought that this idol could possess some serious acting chops. I greatly enjoyed his interactions with Xueyi that I started to ship them. His character's relationship with the second female lead also helped draw me in because it started out as an unrequited love and I'm such a sucker for that. I watched the drama for Xueyi, but stayed for him. This kid will go places if he continues to get good roles that will allow him to show his skills.

Unfortunately, this is not a perfect drama and I do have some gripes. First off, the casting of the female lead was definitely not inspired. Ju Jingyi is quite possibly the worst Chinese actress I've seen. I first saw her in The Blooms At Ruyi Pavilion and the girl has the acting range of a potato. I thought that her then co-star, Zhang Zhehan, completely overshadowed her in dramatic scenes and Zhehan is not even on the same level as Liu Xueyi in terms of acting skills. So her being paired with Xueyi in this drama is an absolute travesty. She looks stiff as a board next to Xueyi in their intense and dramatic scenes. The disparity between their acting skills is glaringly obvious. Then her long spider-like eyelashes, glittery eyeshadow, and glossy lipstick just take me out of the drama. Girl, those things didn't exist in ancient China!

Another major beef I have with this drama is the pacing and editing. The first part is pretty solid imho, but with 10 episodes left, it lost me. They could've ended this drama with just 25 episodes. I am convinced that C-dramas have difficulty sticking the landing. Most C-dramas I've seen have questionable endings. This is probably because they always want to have an open ending for the possibility of a season 2. But it kinda sucks when you watched 50 episodes only to find out that the series ends with no resolution. I think this is the C-drama curse that they just can't seem to shake. As far as I can remember, I've only seen a couple of C-dramas that gave me satisfactory endings.

The fight choreography in this is only passable. But I suppose it's understandable considering it is not a wuxia drama unlike Mysterious Lotus Casebook and Word of Honor. But I do wish they invested more in the action scenes because Li Ge Yang and Liu Xueyi can definitely pass for martial artists. This was a wasted opportunity imho.

Overall, In Blossom is an entertaining drama full of suspense and intrigue. But it lost its steam right at the end and the less than desirable acting of its female lead left a sour taste in my mouth. This could've been so much better had they opted for a different actress and shortened the series. I would rate this a generous 6.5 out of 10.

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Great start!

I love love loved this plot! I was hooked by episode 3. FL has swapped bodies with a woman the ML can’t stand. It was very interesting, because we know he’ll want nothing to do with her- which leaves lots of room for development in their relationship. I liked most of the characters too, both leading and supporting.

While watching I did notice a large amount of comments regarding the FL’s acting and how “horrible” it was. I must say, I don’t understand this at all. She was perfectly fine to me. I’d say she was on par with the ML if not better at times. Perhaps she’s had a poor performance in a past series that gave people the bias to criticize her now, but from her portrayal here I did not see anything wrong with her. She is also GORGEOUS, her hairstyles and outfits here are all so pretty.

My main flaw would be it’s runtime. I think it should have been condensed down to 24 episodes. With the 32 we got it feels very long and drawn out sometimes, especially during their investigations. I didn’t mind the romance being a slow burn, but the rest of the story did not need so much space. By the final 10 episodes I began to feel numb to all that was going on, it was very hard for me to stay focused. But the first 2/3rds of it were fairly good. I initially had it at an 8 while watching, but as it lost it’s footing a bit I’ve decided to drop it down to a 7.

It’s good enough!

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Great romantic chemistry

This is a romance drama with some gothic fantasy elements. The production and acting was great and the story was very entertaining.

Caiwei was a young woman with a troubled past . She was a serious character who lived quietly as a coroner and inadvertently found herself mixed up in murder mystery. After the face swap, this characterization was completely gone. It's not that Ju Jing Yi (JJY) is a bad actress. She is typecast to play a specific character. So, herein lies the problem with characterization by JJY where she portrayed a variation of Fu Rong and Yunxi, instead of a solemn girl introduced by Zheng He Hui Zi. Curiously enough, her characterization of the original Shangguan Zhi was on point. The showrunners should've done a better job at coaching her about the role because she obviously can act outside her usual stereotype.

The romance was nicely written. Pen Yue's original obsession with Caiwei was a bit off-putting. But as he rediscovered the "new" and "improved" Shangguan Zhi (SZ), he slowly started falling in love with her. The writers did a good job showing the personality change, that SZ was no longer a mean-spirited woman, but a very nice person. I loved Pen Yue's and SZ's interactions and situations they were thrown in where Pen Yue gradually started seeing the differences between the old SZ and the new SZ drawing similarities between the new SZ and Caiwei. I also liked that Pen Yue went through internal struggle feeling guilt over the fact that he started developing feelings for SZ while still mourning his dead wife. Not to mention, the chemistry between the actors was amazing. This is one of the fewer romance dramas where adults act like actual adults, instead of awkward teenagers.

I did not love the ending. Some good characters were wasted just to draw an emotional reaction from the audience. And, instead of tying up all the loose ends, it ended on a giant cliff hanger not revealing who the actual mastermind was. Will this lead to a sequel or are we just supposed to wonder? Who knows.

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CSI Meets Crime Solving in 16th Century China

A disfigured woman is shunned by society due to her “ugly” looks and knack for reading the dead becomes a lead investigator in unraveling a myriad of conspiracies in the town of Heyang. The cases and her investigative methods (along with the help of her love interest, the ML) were interesting as were the layers surrounding the crimes that revealed a bigger conspiracy.

Even better was the big conspiracy was simple, yet intriguing. However, in the last 10 episodes the story started to lose steam. The episodes begin to drag and spent too much time on story threads that were boring or made the main story thread more complicated than it needed to be.

Though the leads were passible as a couple, they looked good together. I actually preferred the ML with the original actress who played the FL when she was scarred and “ugly.” They had good chemistry and I liked the idea of the FL not being this raving beauty. When the storyline called for the FL’s face to change it took several episodes for me to warm up to the new actress in the role. Moreover, when I did warm up to her, I begin to find interest in her interactions with the SML. I liked the potential that was their relationship. It was too bad that there was no chance for them to explore a romance considering their natural chemistry, which wasn’t quite there with the ML.

The acting was good from everyone. Both FLs were the strongest actresses out of the younger cast. The actor who played the ML struggled, at times, when he had to get emotional. The “love” story was anemic at best. I think the leads worked best when they were in that mode of distance and “sexual” (though there wasn’t much sexiness going on. lol) tension rather than when they became a couple. Some of their “romantic” interactions were awkward. I think because their chemistry was mediocre at best.

Thankfully the series didn’t spend much time on their “love” as the focus was on solving the conspiracies at hand. The show started off really good but meandered towards the end on unnecessary storylines. The story could’ve been tightened and completed in 18-20 episodes, rather than 32. That said, this was worth watching. Is it worth a rewatch? Maybe.

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I nearly missed out on this drama because of you-know-who

I was here for ML after Blood of Youth and Destined, but I hesitated because of You-know-who, but was assured in the comment section that she's "improved'.
She has indeed improved, but I'm not sure whether is for good or worst.
What I'm trying to say is, this drama is a good one, give it a chance. ML and the rest of the cast really shouldered the show properly.
I wish the original actress was kept instead of.... because that face swap thing doesn't make sense at all, what with body figure (one was obsessed with being thin), voice, height even but we get the reason behind the switch. Hmmm.

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Worst but Fanciest Coroner ever

The first few episodes were good but after the character switch it went downhill. FL cannot act- she’s pretty but is so cringy to watch. She acts in one mode only- over dramatic. The ML started out smart & intriguing but then became stupider and stupider as the drama continued to make the FL look like the smartest person in the room. I especially hated when she did the autopsy w/her flowing hair and beautiful dress- who does that?? Hahaha. It’s not her fault but the director who wants to showcase her beauty - unless it’s in her contract to never have a bad shot? I FF to finish cuz I wanted to see how much more stupid it could get but I couple even do that- really skipped whole episodes to get to the end. Lame show.

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The bone structure thing bugged me LOL

Rated= 6~ 25/50 ~ 5
RPG Scene // Fairy leading me off a cliff on the Mountain Pass. I think the Battle Axe is a flower

This started off not bad and I was genuinely enjoying it (and the accidental asmr in episode 2) but once the two characters got together, I kind of lost interest. There was also a disturbing scene that happens in a school that actually shocked me, that the chinese censorships let this through. I think that was my breaking point. I had decided to give it a rest for a while but after some time, I've just genuinely lost interest in the show.

Plot - The face swap thing kind of seemed a bit silly to me. A soul swap would have made more sense. We have a guy who can train bugs and the face swapping seems to have been done by witch doctors/dark arts practitioners anyway, so why not? Just peeling off someone's face isn't going to change bone structure or the body. If it was just her face, she would still have her body but the FL talks as though she is in another body entirely. (Or maybe it was just my subtitles.) So my brain kind of winced at that logic but I went with it. I did however, really love the slight chase between the FL and the ML because that is a perfectly understandable drama there. He thinks the FL, with her new face, killed the love of his life and the FL thinks the ML wanted to kill her.

Once we get through that trial, it becomes more of a build up romance with the leads that you would expect.
I felt like the characters kind of accepted this face swap like they had ran out of milk. It seemed more like an inconvenience than holy snowballs, I have a completely new face and body and along with that a completely new identity and lifestyle. That would really traumatise me and feel like maybe that should have been showcased a little more, esp for the FL. She goes from being a very bullied and hated woman because of her job and scarred face, to being someone who is supposed to be the most beautiful woman around, also from a wealthy family. That's quite a jump that's not really explored fully. For the most part, the FL just mentions that she's stolen the other girls identity and she must be mad for being murdered in her place. Umm, honey, she stole your identity LOL

The side couple was just sad to watch. The side ML was clearly devoted to the FL and suddenly, and the most randomly I've seen so far, the side FL is in love with the side ML and acts jealous. It just comes out of nowhere. It has 'rebound' all over it.
I have read spoilers to the end of the series and if I continued watching, I don't think I would feel sad for the couple. I would feel sadness from a friend perspective.

Acting - The ML is really at good crying. I felt that.
There are complaints about the FL's acting not matching the portrayal of the first actress. I kind of agree to an extent. It does kind of feel like a slight dissonance between them. They tried to use the flower petal plucking as a habit but I feel like they should have used some sort of personal expression to bridge the visual crossover for the audience. Like each girl having a set of habits and expressions that the audience could pick up on, other than good girl and bitch, so when the switch is made, it feels more natural for the viewer to see the character just change faces. Instead, it does feel like there's a personality change as well. The FL as the second actress, although still very intelligent and kind, does seem a lot more outgoing. If this is the character's natural personality, it's not shown very well in the first two episodes.

Music- I remember liking the background tracks to this one, although nothing to add to my playlist.

Rewatch - Since I've decided to drop this, I won't be rewatching.

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I'm not gonna lie, I was really looking forward to his drama. I'm a huge fan of Ju Jingyi, and when I saw the trailer that she was going to play as some bad, evil character I got so excited. Little did I know that she plays that bad character for like 5 minutes in the first episode.

Ju Jingyi's acting skills literally haven't improved. When Ju Jingyi plays as Yang Caiwei, it's very obvious that she plays the role differently. Like it just doesn't feel like. As the original girl who played Yang Caiwei, she did a way much better job. If Ju jingle had stuck to her original Shuanguan Zhi, maybe I would have liked it a little better.

The drama started off pretty interesting, and as I continue to watch, the show starts to get really boring. They add to many characters and bring up lots of past stories of side characters that aren't relevant. Ju Jingyi's acting is just unbearable and it's really not worth your time. Your better off watching Novoland Castle in the Sky, Ju Jingyi's acting skills were way better other there.

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Une croque-mort, un échange de visages/corps et des enquêtes !

L'idée d'une croque-mort qui enquête sur sa propre mort est séduisante, et c'est ce qui m'a poussé vers In Blossom. En plein milieu, j'ai eu une baisse de motivation en raison des mini-enquêtes qui se ressemblent et suivent le même schéma. Cela dit, la plupart des personnages sympathiques m'ont donné envie de le terminer.

L'échange de visage/corps est un élément clé de l'histoire. Au début, Yang Cai Wei (interprétée par Zheng He Hui Zi) nous est présentée comme une femme au visage marqué, mais forte et mature. Par la suite, Yang Cai Wei prend les traits de la jolie Ju Jing Yi et c'est à ce moment que l'histoire prend une nouvelle tournure.
Ju Jing Yi est une actrice que j'avais adoré dans In a Class of Her Own. C'est pour moi une des rares actrices à être convaincantes dans la peau d'un homme - et pourtant, c'est une femme aux traits particulièrement fins, mais qui avait été étonnante dans son rôle. Par la suite, j'avais débuté Beauty of Resilience, mais je l'ai abandonné en cours de route (j'avais sûrement trouvé l'herbe plus verte ailleurs). Malheureusement, sa Yang Cai Wei manque de poigne. Elle a donné du corps à un personnage, mais il ne s'agit pas de Yang Cai Wei. On ne retrouve pas une femme qui a souffert. À la place, Ju Jing Yi ressemble à une princesse gâtée qui se découvre un soudain intérêt dans le fait d'enquêter. Ce détail de côté, sa performance était sympathique, et ses tenues très jolies.

Liu Xue Yi en tant que Pan Yue était élégant et distingué, bien que parfois, il manquait un peu de jugeote. J'ai aimé son personnage, notamment la façon dont il (re)tombe amoureux de Shangguan Zhi / Yang Cai Wei. C'est un homme avec le goût de la justice, acceptant de se mettre à dos un bon nombre de personnes s'il le faut. Je n'ai pas grand chose à dire sur Liu Xue Yi, j'ai adoré ses interactions avec Zhuo Lan Jiang, interprété par Li Ge Yang. Si ce dernier est un rival amoureux pendant un temps, il n'est jamais tombé dans l'absurde, ayant conscience qu'à un moment donné il fallait cesser de courtiser une femme qui ne l'aimerait jamais.

Côté romance, je dois avouer que passé les premiers épisodes, je l'ai quelque peu délaissée. En revanche, j'ai apprécié la seconde. Même si j'ai eu une baisse de motivation en cours de route (ce qui me laisse dire qu'il y a 8 épisodes en trop), les personnages ont fait fonctionner l'ensemble. De plus, les décors et les costumes sont beaux (les tenues noires sont exceptionnelles). D'ailleurs, certains décors étaient également dans My Journey to You.

En bref, c'est un bon drame historique qui suit son fil rouge, mais qui manque un peu de poigne en raison de l'échange d'actrice. Cependant, l'ensemble des personnages donne envie de continuer jusqu'à son épisode final.

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Meh

This started out intriguingly and had my attention for a good while, but after episode 25 I was so done with the show. It was too long in my opinion, and the last episodes had too much filler content that made it boring. I am also disappointed how we didn’t see more of YCW’s autopsy skills as it was barely relevant. The romance was underwhelming to me because the chemistry between the leads was only so-so. To me, the male lead created better tension with the female lead than the other way round. Also, what … was that ending? What was the reason for the last 2 minutes?? ??? Could have lived without that. The settings were very pretty as were the costumes! I also liked the music a lot – specifically the instrumentals! The actuals songs were okay, but not outstanding or memorable to me. I feel like the show was overall a whole of … bland after a while because they just dragged out the ending, and I found the revelation of the bad guy kind of random because we literally meet him so late in the show??‍♀️??‍♀️

Opinions on the acting. While I agree that JJY’s acting/interpretation of YCW is different than the other actress’, I find it a bit harsh to only criticize her. She is not solely responsible for the characterization and development of said character. That is actually the writer’s as well as the director’s job to lead her along the way. Of course, as an actress, she could do a better job (and I only say that because other actresses voice their opinions on how to interpret the character, an example would be Zhao Lu Si, I don’t know how involved JJY really is), but in my opinion, YCW as SGZ is just written differently than the YCW we were introduced with. Sometimes, her actions and behavior don’t align with the character we met in the first two episodes, but again, JJY didn't write the script, so I don’t really understand why she gets flamed so much?

It was okay, but it is not a must watch – to ME. ??‍♀️?

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