This review may contain spoilers
Started so good and then...
In the beginning I loved the drama for many reasons, it was so good 'female' story about a girl that was brought up to think and act instead of being a passive flower. Her female relatives and their so-normal family relations were so fresh in the field of c custom drama. Acting is good, directing too, overal nice watching experience.Romance was so-so until the moment when the MC finds out that ML spied on her and betrayed her, and her family. What does a smart, educated, capable and independant girl do? She says 'it's ok, his sister claims he is a good man so I guess I should not even look at him fiercely'.
This reaction is so against common sense, family loyalty and last but not least, MC's (supposed) budding love for ML. Niao Niao from LLTG was perhaps too strict, but at least she respected her boundaries.
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Rise From the Ashes
Dropping! So sad, because I really like Zhang Jing Yi.Story:
-we see the cast grow up
-the main leads were very mature, especially fl
-fl is sensible and smart
-healthy relationships
-the sister of the ml was really cute (so is her ship)
-I found all the many, many side couples and ships cute (but time consuming when it was overdone)
-got a tad slow at times
Acting:
-the romance didn't have much chemistry, but the show isn't focusing on that
-I feel sad that Zhang Jing Yi got paired with Hu Yi Tian. Like, Hu Yi Tian is good at fight scenes, but that's kinda it.
-Zhang Jing Yi's acting outshined Hu Yi Tian's a lot.
Music:
-Really good.
-added to my playlist
Why I dropped:
It started feeling too slow and draggy. I couldn't get myself to finish it.
What I mean is, the drama is very good, but, like many dramas, had a draggy middle. Other cdramas caught my interest, and this one was just silently forgotten. However, it is worth rating and watching.
Overall. This drama is meant for people who like to see the main character rise from the ashes. Don't watch this if you want romance, which isn't emphasized here.
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Historical family drama sprinkled with royal court politics
The story had promise and would have been a genuinely great drama had it not morph into a hagiography of the female lead. Built on the premise of an FL with incredibly astute managerial and investment skills, the story revolves around her quest to resurrect a ruined family back to glory and ransom the exiled males of her household.She might feel some trepidation but never fear because Mary Sue's Chinese apprentice is here. You better believe it, with her ever present smile and witty candor, whatever she puts her mind into will be successful and proven correct in the end. Don't even bother going up against her ideas because you'll be left sorry at the end. From her all encompassing compassion for the lowest dregs of society to her pugnacious and confident attitude in front of the emperor. The FL can do it all with her signature wit and million dollar smile.
Set against the backdrop of a ruined noble family the story proceeds into an almost merry go round of the FL starting and successfully growing one business to another while managing the household, repairing or ending family relationships and getting some romantic moments with the ML who could be mistaken for a supporting character here.
Speaking of ghosting supporting characters who hardly shows up. The 2nd ML is hardly seen here , he shows up for the occasional shouting matching with his father but seeing this already halfway even the family butler has had more scenes than him. The 2nd FL is hardly better, she spends her time playing patty cake with 2nd ML younger brother while being completely oblivious to the world around her including the deaths of her father and stepmother. Seriously not even a little acknowledgedment of these major life events.
It's all so silly and superficial taken as a whole. A very unrealistic and flawed story where every successful endeavor or idea solely emanates from the picture perfect FL.
It was an enjoyable drama but hardly the type that induces deep thoughts or illucidates the mind.
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Okay I can see why the rating is stuck in the 8s and not a solid 9/more
Let me start off by saying that I am halfway through the series & it has been...well...pleasantly entertaining, but I can see now why the ratings are still lingering between 8 pointers than a 9 - because until the first 10 episodes I clearly had misgivings on why this series wasn't rated a perfect 9.5 or above.Now onto the actual review ~ The story starts off very strong with turmoil befalling immediately and a great pace pickup since the initial episodes. Yet, soon we can see a perfect Mary Sue formation of our MFC/MC (Main Female Character/Main Character). Now, I am someone who hates storys which try to combine the depiction of realism with idealism - I believe that stories should either find a good balance if they decide to do so or then lean toward only one strongly and there are sparingly few stories I've come across which has managed to do so correctly. Evidently so, until the first 10 episodes, I thought to have found another rare gem that understood this concept and used a perfect balance of idealism to realism portrayal ratio. Our MFC having started off as a strong Mary Sue was balanced out by everything around her which was a potrayal of very realistic depiction of human nature additionally the idealistic nature of MFC made a bit sense as implied in the story that she wasn't brought up traditionally but had already been travelling all over since childhood with her Grandpa earning her greater deal of exposure to various things already at an young age so her head strong nature and quick thinking had some supportive back up. On the other side as the story begins, we could also see how each women in the household deals in their own ways when hardships befalls them, I liked how each character was fleshed out (even the supposed maids of the household) during this period and you could already understand/relate to each one with their mistakes and their growth all seemed so relatable and logical that it was the peak highlight of the story, making one so hooked that you couldn't stop watching.
Yet, as the story progresses the level of hardships also increases in their intensity, this is where the disconnect in balance started for me (while I enjoyed the Mary Sue idealism of our MFC in the beginning as I understand it's dramatic & entertainment purpose) as things started to get more complicated the MFC still seemed to handle it with similar demure as she did the lesser complex ones - what I mean is, things never in the slightest perpetuated her, and if just to go soley by her reaction to the issues, one wouldn't even understand how some situations were more precarious than the other. What made more sense is rather the reaction of other characters to the same situations, only through them one might be able to understand their gravity. The MFC is the one to always resolve a situation but soon it started to feel like all she had to do is preach some idealism knowledge and give out equally idealistic solution which logically you'd understand wasn't really possible or was something rather needing very serious planning/support - and as other characters start dealing and growing through each situation - our MFC waits in the background and when everyone has their own growth, steps in and woosh'es her magic wand and voila! everything is resolved! Its already halfway through the story and there's not one situation yet which has really stumped the MFC, nor do we get to really see her loose her composure. I've noticed this might've been also an acting flaw, as for me, the actress who plays the MFC very much looks most of the time to be "acting" so it furthers her disconnect with the role. What rather has kept me hooked now are actually all the other characters, in each arc I am more excited to see how all the others would face the situation and grow in their own ways more through it. Looking back you can see a big difference in all the other characters, how they were when it all started, and how through circumstances they've all grown and grown close to eachother as one family, while (for me) the MFC has actually become a rather background character because I honestly see no difference in her nor do I really understand her character and the vagueness is only contributed by the fact that it feels like she can do anything and everything making it so unrelatable that you just have to accept it without trying to find a logic to it, a stark contrast to all the other characters who have been growing at their own pace and have very relatable and complex characteristics that everything about their response to a situation fall perfectly within the bounds of their own flaws and strengths. In this case the MFC truly seems boundless as with no real limiting flaws her possibility seem infinite. Another greater reason for the disconnect is that until now all the situations that this family has faced along with the MFC are so relatable, authentic and reasonable that as a viewer you deeply can relate to each of those issues and also understand the varied graveness and the possible need of a complex solution and so when that issue is solved by our magic welder MFC it literally becomes the case of strong start and low finish. Also the MFC literally looks like someone who has these amazing innovative business ideas stored in her mind and is just reciting them out at needed intervals - the production greatly missed out on opportunities of showing those "aha!" moments which could've salvaged some authenticity to her but again this can be also seen as an acting flaw, as improve of such scenes could highly benifit to the characterisation.
Now coming to the romance line in the story, I am not sure if the Male Lead (ML) really is otherwise good at acting and this role was just not it for him cuz honestly he needs to work a bit more on his acting of serious scenes, his light hearted ones are okay and seem a bit natural but other times where he has to be dead serious (which is quite a lot given his character) I legit felt like he was all along trying to suppress his laughter and to not burst out laughing the very next second...idk why but that's the best discription I have for how his acting seemed then. Now for the Romance part let me say firstly that I understand that this drama's focus isn't on the Romance line but rather plot, main characters and family and Romance seems secondary to all of them which seems like a breath of fresh air in the initial episodes but as there is still some emphasis and plot driven by the Romance line it should've been rather made more authentic because until now all the scenarios seems so idealistically forced that after the whole Grandma's letter exchange with Empress Dowager it almost feels ridiculous. The fact was, I was also very impressed initially how the romantic line didn't follow the same ol' damsel in distress and a strong important ML pairing but that the ML let the MFC suffer but did how much ever he could within his power and didn't outright help her from the get go because why should he jeopardize his whole life for someone he just saw once - ahem unlike so many other dramas. I really did like how his intensity of wanting to help her above and beyond only naturally came after they started to interact more and form some friendship and then romantic feelings. Yet, as I said the way they could even do that/the situations that let them have this chance felt so unauthentic that it in itself kinda ruined the whole naturally falling in love vibe and impacted the authenticity of their romantic chemistry for me. The situations relating to the ML are so forced that even his own arc seems a bit faded and unnecessary compared to what the our Main family is dealing with - not to sound unsympathetic but honestly, the constant change of focus to his arc when it doesn't even really contribute to the main story is almost irritating. I understand his arc is needed to fledge out his character but I mean he is another Mary Sue in the story so...was it really needed when anyways no growth was to be shown there? Also the ML when he revealed his true identity (very important) and instead of a having a bit of anger or misgivings the MFC just was literally okay with it and also gave some wise preaching like some old saint about it which honestly felt really annoying.
Lastly, this one is a bit humorous for me, but the most ridiculous imbalance of realism and idealism for me in this story is the timeline! And they had a perfect measuring clock for checking on the timeline through a character itself! The MFC's sister in law! who was pregnant from the very start of their turmoil situation until ep. 22 - if this already doesn't tell you enough let me break it down for y'all. Considering the gestation period in this era was the same as now (9 months) and let's for the sake consider that she was pregnant right from the very day of when the MFC's family is banished by the emperor - then from there on the Family first goes to the outskirts where there is a - "supposedly rundown" house. There they manage to tackle initial issues of settling in, then trying to make money by initial business, now here they also start paying their maids as employees along with all the other members, then they slowly start another business of supplying sweets to restaurants which already we know (since its mentioned) first is offered for free of cost for 3 months! and then starts with payments, after all of which our MFC saves enough money to buy a new house in thier town again - small (but not really) and then manages to start their own academy of teaching for her niece and nephews then buys few shops and opens her own shop for selling sweets and some crafty apples for now. All of this and only after they settle down comfortably with few more bigger problems being tackled does finally the sister is law gives birth... meaning all this happened in a matter of 9 months which although seems long enough time yet compared to everything its very unrealistically compressed - unless it was actually that easy to earn such lum-sum wealth in such a short time in olden days and since we are stuck in such a greedy money grabbing capitalistic era my brains cannot comprehend such leaps and bounds of progress in prosperity over such an short interval. Either way I still think 9 months for all this to happen is still too short.
All in all, if now the other half of this drama negates all these above points I shall gladly reedit my ratings and opinions but I am not sure if I would religiously from here out continue watching as my interest has dimmed but for now if I do continue then its to see which of my other characters have the most amazing development and the side couples funny and light romantic build up. So far I really like Aunty Xia Jin E's charcter and am most excited to see her go through all this until the end (hope she doesn't d*e 💀). Until then thank you for reading my review!
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A Visual and Emotional Feast
"Blossoms in Adversity" captivates with its stunning visuals and heartfelt performances. The costume design is breathtaking, transporting viewers to an era of elegance and cultural richness. Each scene feels like a work of art, meticulously crafted to evoke both beauty and emotional depth.What stood out most was the complexity of the characters. The heroine's journey of resilience and self-discovery is inspiring without feeling forced, and the chemistry between the leads is palpable yet understated. The themes of loyalty and betrayal are woven seamlessly into the narrative, keeping you emotionally invested from start to finish.
While the pacing occasionally falters, especially in the midsection, the story's emotional core remains intact. If you enjoy dramas that blend historical intrigue with personal growth and romance, this one is not to be missed.
little to zero angst!!! tho the emperor is soo bipolar I hated him one second and then loved but then hated him!
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Another Must Watch cdrama of 2024
First if do not be misled by the poster, the love triangle thingy has negligent presence in the story so do not be deterred by it.My cons would be ML's acting, it wasn't too bad but it should have been a lot more. FL killed it though, her voice, her expressions they were perfection. Shaoyao girlie was amazing too.
The ending: one of the best cdrama endings out there, better than The Double in many aspects <3
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Blossoms in Adversity
Blossom in Adversity is a woman-positive Chinese drama that is very well written and acted. There are so many females who are positive role models in Blossoms in Adversity. The main protagonist is portrayed as a young intelligent female who can figure out how to survive and thrive in spite of adversity.A strong teen pulls a politically ostracized former noble household of 35+ women and children out of poverty, by using good business sense and radical thinking. To get the indentured servants among her entourage to work happily in the household, she sets them all free and makes them a social equal and equal business partners in her thriving newly formed business. Having no money and just a roof over her head, she uses what some people would throw away and makes good business profit.
There is a great ending to Blossoms in Adversity as the ruler of the Kingdom, trained through adversity and deprivation, ascend to the throne. Thrilling.
Blossoms in Adversity has such young Chinese star power leading the cast. The Female and Male Leads are actress Zhang Jing Yi (Lighter and Princess) as Hua Zhi and actor Hu Yi Tian (Hello Sharpshooter). Adapted from the web novel "Xi Hua Zhi". Enjoy.
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This review may contain spoilers
Blossoms in Adversity is not a love story but is a magnificent story about love, endurance, and above all, human resilience and growth within continuous adversity. The drama has a strong, intelligent, and quick-witted main couple that exudes a soulful and loving chemistry, even when they are not together. In this drama, even when the leading couple is the axle that holds the other characters together, each supporting character is vital to the flow of the story and, since the drama is female centric, one must say that the female cast did a great job bringing their characters to life. With that been said, all male characters, especially the patriarch of the Hua family, Hua Yi Zheng, played by seasoned actor Eddy Ko, had an important role in the drama that, whether there was a positive or negative influence, led this fantastic group of woman to blossom in adversity. The leading male, Gu Yan Xi, brilliantly played by Hu Yi Tian, is a constant source of trouble and support to the remarkable leading lady Hua Zhi, masterfully played by Zhang Jing Yi. There are extensive reviews about this drama and yes, there are some scenes that might have seemed unnecessary but they pass quickly with the fast pace of the drama. What makes this drama a 9.5 instead of a perfect 10 is the unnecessary breakup for the leading couple that could have used their wits to fool the Emperor and save their friends anyway and the nice but bland ending for the leading couple. That would have been the icing on the cake. Two characters that are worthy of been mentioned are the precious, peculiar, and lovable Shao Yao exceptionally played by Lu Yu Xiao and the tyrannical and selfish emperor that one loves to hate excellently played by Hai Yi Tian. All in all, this drama is a must watch and an excellent example of how “divided we fall united we stand”. Enjoy it! Was this review helpful to you?
the story of Chinese ancient was great ??
i love the story and the cast, i like hu yitian, the way he portray the role, the way he act in action scene are amazing 💯👍🏻,the girl zhang jinghi is a good actress too.. they have a chemistry , their romance scene are amazing, not boring ......hope they have a drama as love team again 💯👍🏻❤️.. some plot of the story which i van relate much.. when Hua Zhi struggling but as a strong young woman she can manage.. at all.. even though there's no men i. their family but they can survived because of her straight, and courage
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Truly a hidden gem!
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Jingyi Zhang was amazing as the lead actress and honestly, the entire female cast did a wonderful job. At first, I was skeptical about Yitian Hu but he proved me wrong real quick. Plus for some reason he kept getting more attractive with each episode.All in all, the pacing of the storytelling helps the audience to truly connect with the background of each character, and the interplay of their relationships makes it even more meaningful. It wasn't just about overcoming hardships and situations of uncertainty but about defying certain norms and expectations that not only limit but divide us.
This show was heartwarming, with just the right amount of humor and suspense. My only regret is that I didn't watch it sooner.
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What A Great Drama to End This Year
I have been eyeing on this drama ever since the day it was still airing, but unfortunately I haven't got to watch it until this December and got a long break from work. This drama didn't disappoint me in EVERYTHING, I'd say they go all out and have given the viewers a really great drama from the casts, storyline, and even the ending. If you like a drama where communication is the key then this is for you, also, the family relationships is good although I was not liking it from the start, but yeah as they say.... Life can really change and shape a person, and they're the testament for that. Overall, it was so nicceeee watching this drama and I would rewatch this if I would have a time again.Was this review helpful to you?
The Hua Family really Blossoms in Adversity!
The drama really is all about the getting up and moving forward when faced with adversity. The Fl really displayed unorthodox behavior in the way she steered the family while facing so many hurdles. I smiled for a long time in each episodes and couldn't stop watching as it kept getting better. Sure there is a villain(s) as a story must but in this drama it's not your typical villain who wants to destroy/murder FL/ML, they are just there to build the story it didn't provoke me at all. The reason I watched was for the business theme, she truly is a great businesswoman, from rags to riches and repeat to ultimate riches. I hate writing reviews, if you look at my watched list out of the 300+ dramas I have written only few. I write this because I was moved by it, Lastly I will say this I was disappointed with death of one of the Hua sisters but I can understand the circumstance that caused it. Overall it great, even the BGM and OST are superb!Was this review helpful to you?
