Nothing special, no memorable quotes and yet... enjoyable and refreshing
If you skip this drama, you won't lose anything in your life. But if you need something to watch to relax, something that won't irritate you, something still sufficiently interesting that won't make you drop it, well, this drama is perfect for you.The writer of the synopsis didn't make justice to introduce us to the plot, so, I'll repair it. This is a (not particularly defined) period ensemble drama which rotates around a young couple with their own struggles. FL is struggling to keep what remained of her family afloat, after the seizure of assets and exile of male members from the capital. Her struggle is a struggle of female empowerment. ML is a side member of the imperial family who struggles to figure out complicated relations in his own family. Favoured by his uncle, a wicked emperor who can't stand anyone who contradicts him, he is appointed the Commander of the Secret Bureau, a ruthless Agency that responds only to him with the power to take down any other force (including nobles, royals etc) aspiring to the power. The struggles of these two persons entagle in interesting way and they fall for each other.
Although it lacks in memorable quotes and has many elements of unlikeliness, the plot is solidly based on a well-written dialogues, a rarity in C-dramaworld. Tbh, they are not brilliant, but they abound in details, double meanings, premonitions/hints that make the story logical in cause-effect sequence. What enhance to make the story believable is a genuine romance between the main leads, displayed originally for this type of drama: calm discussions to overcome misunderstandings, no screeming or scheming, no knives, poisons or bloodspitting. If you can pass over the fact that the ML is a super-fighter and the FL a business genius, for the rest, the two are totally normal people. The scenes engaging other people, and they are many, are also well developed, at least in the 4/5 of episodes. These are the reason I've highly rated "the story" - I'd like to encourage the two scriptwriters to follow this path in the future (and to forget completely the mess they've combined with TTEOM). But I also couldn't rate more, because they've also comitted huge mistakes (due to the original novel, I suppose), such as... introducing a new villain in last 5 eps. The audience "likes" villains, too: we want to know what made them villains, we like to grow up some (negative) affection to the villains, too.
Generally speaking, all the actors delievered the story, but not on the same level. Who delievered better were support characters: Hai Yi Tian as that sick-in-his-head emperor, Lu Yu Xiao as a traumatised PTSP girl (this actress really knows her job!) in process of healing, Myolie Wu as Madam Xia. The leads were good in delivering their main traits (described above: fighter-businesswoman), but nothing more than that.
Direction: How did Chu Yui Bun restrain himself from all his "weird experiments" with lights, filters, camera spinning... is a mystery. I suppose, his assistants constantly kept an eye on him. Untill the last minute in post-production. They've thought they've wrapped it all and left him alone. Being unwatched, he simply decided to add some CGI dolphins in that sort of homage to the Titanic. Both dolphins and Titanic-homage were wrong ideas, assistants, please,, don't leave him unchecked ever more.
Music was nothing special, the reason of high rating is: it's fine because it wasn't invasive.
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This review may contain spoilers
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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Dull
This took me a while to get to the halfway point of this show. The story is dull. I think the biggest fault I had with this show is the characters lack depth and everything seems surface level with the main 2 characters are just going through the motions of the script.The Good
It has some decent acting from some of the supporting cast. It was one of the reasons I kept watching. I was hoping they would give more story to some of the other characters. The main characters were mature and had a healthy relationship up to episode 23. Although there was the cliche hidden identity storyline, it got resolved quickly once it was out in the open. There were decent fight scenes for the few I saw.
The Bad
The two leads were the most problematic characters. Both were dull, almost robotic with their scenes. Neither of them displayed more than 2 emotions and/or facial expressions. Their characters didn’t feel like real characters in the story, whereas others like Shao Yao did. I couldn’t connect with them at all, their love story was uninteresting. They didn’t seem like they would be a couple unless someone told them to be, no chemistry. Almost seemed awkward. Both characters were predictable in how they handled situations, no fluctuation or deviations. It became repetitive. The next problem was the lack of character building with most of the other characters. There were so many characters in this show but who are they really!? After 23 episodes, we know hardly anything about any of these character’s stories and motivations. Lastly, there is no actual world building, we only see them in like 4-5 limited view places; the dungeon, palace hall, Prince Ling’s meditation room, the tree, and Hua residence. This limited view makes us have to rely on the characters but they barely built that up so it all falls flat. Barely any interaction out in the town or world. This isn’t always a bad thing but can be if they don’t build up the characters. Production value was basic and not much to talk about.
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This review may contain spoilers
Blossoms in AdversityHu 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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Power Couple, Lovely side characters
I came here for LYX, stayed for ZJY. Both Shao Yao and Hua Zhi are loveable characters that stay true to their hearts. HYT did alright with his character however in my personal opinion he lacked a bit of spectrum on his emotional acting. That however is a small demerit to an otherwise beautifully crafted show. Among all recently aired dramas for the first half of 2024 this is definitely one of the top ones on the list. Lovely to binge or to watch slowly while doing other things.Was this review helpful to you?
I wanna like it more but…
Blossoms in Adversity is a welcome departure from the typical disgraced family trope… Instead of the usual set up where the story starts off after a noble family has fallen, we get a show that focuses on the failing of the family in real time.This drama does so many things that I like. The music, cinematography (though it's a bit over the top at times) and action were all pretty good. The ML's action scenes were especially good. You can tell that he's been molded into a ruthless killing machine, who is perfectly capable of beating a man to death with his bare hands, then he demonstrates😆.
BIA shows how women are treated as commodities rather than people in this ancient society. Women and girls are supposed to be looked at, and used not heard. The domestic talents they cultivate are ultimately useless when it's time for them to earn money on their own. The purposeful ignorance they live in can even be a threat to their lives in dire situations.
I really enjoyed everything that had to do with this critique of the traditional family unit and expectations of women… Seeing a group of women overcome the odds over and over was amazing… but….
I don't really like anything else.
The ML’s acting was especially bad. I remember seeing a review mention someone had a “frozen face”, as soon as I saw the ML I knew it was him. Only his eyebrows move, it's hilarious.
The romance lacked chemistry, So I skipped through all their later scenes together…
There is a villian and I hate him because he is stupid. The ending seemed super rushed to me, and all their problems were solved super conveniently…
It was alright, I would recommend it, but I would never watch it again.
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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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1This review may contain spoilers
Classic feminist rags-to-riches tale
This drama was a moving and engaging ride, full of characters with real growth and development. From start to finish, it delivered emotional moments, tension, and satisfying resolutions that made it very enjoyable to watch.📍 Female Lead
The female lead Hwa Zhi was really good, strong, determined, and inspiring. The only fault I found was that she was a bit too perfect, which became slightly boring after a while. Still, I loved seeing her struggles, her drive, and everything that made her who she was. She carried most of the emotional weight in the story, especially in her interactions with the male lead.
📍Male Lead
The male lead was fine, but he often felt like a side character. I didn’t enjoy the actor’s performance as he showed almost no expression, which made some scenes feel awkward. Overall, he didn’t give much to the story, leaving the female lead to do almost all of the work.
📍Villain
The villain was interesting and nuanced. Watching the king become worse and worse over time was compelling, and the angst was very well done. I was worried the family wouldn’t reunite at times, which kept me invested, and I was very happy when he finally died.
📍 Side Characters
The side characters were wholesome and lovable. You found yourself rooting for everyone. Mrs. Jin impressed me the most as she went from one of the most annoying characters to one of my favorites. Their development added warmth and depth to the story. And the family aspect was everything.
📍 Story & Pacing
The story was well-structured, a classic feminist rags-to-riches tale with satisfying character development. Hwa Zhi’s role in taking over family matters and helping everyone was particularly enjoyable. The pacing was generally good, though the last few episodes dragged slightly. Still, they were necessary for closure, and the ending with everyone reunited felt perfect.
📍 Production & Technical Aspects
Cinematography was good and a bit different from most dramas, which I really liked.
OSTs and BGMs were nice, though nothing particularly memorable.
The audio was a little uneven at times as dialogues were sometimes too quiet sometimes too loud, screams were cut off, or there was only background noise without music, which felt off.
📍 Acting
The female lead actress delivered an excellent performance.
The male lead actor was weak and had limited expression.
The actress who played Aunt Qin was not convincing and the other actors gave outstanding performances overall.
✨️ Final Thoughts
This drama is everything what "Blossom" hoped to be. Very good and moved me a lot. It conveyed a wide range of feelings 🥹 and offered a story with meaningful characters and growth. The adventure, struggles, and triumphs of the characters made it a truly enjoyable watch. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a heartfelt, well-developed drama about family and everything about being human.
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A feel-good show about female empowerment
First of all, do not expect anything resembling realism when it comes to the female lead’s abilities or accomplishments. I read some other reviews beforehand which set my expectations appropriately, and this contributed greatly to my happiness. Do not wonder too hard if time runs differently in this universe, or how xyz is even remotely possible. Just sit back and enjoy the satisfaction of watching these women kick butt.Now, let us begin.
While the overarching story sets the premise, this show is broken into many smaller standalone story arcs, some as short as a couple of episodes. I didn’t like every story arc, but overall I liked this structure because it meant lots of satisfying closures, and some room to breathe in between.
The theme of female empowerment is embedded throughout. There is a conscious focus on presenting women as their own people beyond their relationships to men (the point of the Bechdel test, actually). Sisterhood stands strong; we do get some typical cattiness, but the women in this story mostly end up very supportive of each other. The extent of societal sexism portrayed at times felt a bit overdone, like they were selling righteous indignation; but as intended, it makes it even more satisfying to watch our characters succeed.
Hua Zhi, the eponymous (Chinese title) FL, is smart, confident, fearless, and kind. She has lots of ideas, and everything she tries goes well. She is a great character to root for because you won’t lose. It’s gratifying to watch her constantly handle situations with skill and heart. But on the flipside, I wasn’t that emotionally invested in her. I was never worried about her; she’s got a ton of plot armor and it’s somehow really obvious from the tone of the show that she always wins.
I was more invested in many of the side characters. A strength of this show is its plethora of likable, multidimensional, and interesting female characters. Many of them get decent development in one or more story arcs, but disappear for the rest. I did hope to see some of my favorites a bit more, but there were enough characters to care about that I didn’t dwell too much.
We also get a lot of side couples, as different members of the household find their matches. A variety of different types of relationships and outcomes are shown. Happily, the show is free of silly love triangles, except the main one.
Not surprisingly, the male protagonists are all allies who support their women. At the beginning I was all for our poor SML, Shen Qi, who did everything he could. For whatever reason, he then went on to disappear for a long time, so I forgot about him. I do feel like he deserved a bit more screentime.
The male lead, Gu Yanxi, is a typical ML combo of badass but kind and supportive. I really liked his relationship with Hua Zhi. Many dramas have an overprotective, overdevoted ML, which I always found a bit much. Gu Yanxi and Hua Zhi seem more normal; they are supportive while each having their own lives. Their very healthy relationship is also impressively drama-free, even when you think there might be some drama.
That said, while I liked Gu Yanxi enough, I actually never felt that interested in him. And so, although I liked the dynamics of their relationship, it was two characters I was not totally invested in, so I wasn’t quite oogling over them.
As for villains… the emperor is the source of problems, but I’d hesitate to call him the villain. The ML is on his side, while Hua Zhi treats him more like a force of nature than an enemy. This emperor is a psychopath with too much power, a bad ruler and a bad father, but he’s also so… human. He’s an interesting character with an interesting role, and I liked that this show does not have a typical good-vs-evil plot.
In terms of acting, overall I think Zhang Jingyi did a great job. Her portrayal of Hua Zhi has been criticized for being too “perfect”. I do think there’s some truth to this, but I wouldn’t pin it all on acting. For example, on occasion she does something not-so-bright (eg mouth off unnecessarily to a powerful person). But it comes across as more heroic than anything else. A little remorse or recognition of “mistake”, by herself or anyone, would have gone a long way to making her a more multi-dimensional character. This could have been accomplished through writing, acting, and/or directing.
For Hu Yitian as Gu Yanxi, there were a few times I thought his expression maybe should have been something else. Overall he was fine, but I think he could work more on nuanced facial expressions. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t care much for this character.
Lu Yuxiao as Shaoyao deserves a special shoutout. It seems the show was going for neurodivergent, which is difficult to portray- I don’t really know what’s accurate, but she did SOMETHING well as I was very invested in this character.
But my favorite acting comes from Hai Yitian. His muted depiction of the emperor- lonely but such a difficult person- conveys a complex character that adds depth to the show. I especially love that momentary look of hurt he gets when somebody says something he doesn’t want to hear. It makes us hope again and again that he’s finally reflecting on himself.
In terms of world-building, this story occurs in some unspecified historical time period, which gives lots of leeway, but they couldn’t seem to keep things consistent. For example, for a society so conservative that unmarried women can’t show their faces, Hua Zhi sure goes on a lot of public dates. In fact, what women are and are not allowed to do is rather inconsistent. However, costumes and styling were fairly good… in particular I thought many of the young women looked very pretty.
Also, for a feel-good romp this show was surprisingly brutal and violent. For example, lots of bloody beatings. And background characters get slaughtered left and right… the choreographer was not messing around, the deaths are fairly graphic. Not gruesome per se, just vivid depictions of stabbing or slicing accompanied by little spurts of blood.
Sidebar rant…this show likes to show off the ML’s fighting prowess by pitting him against many enemies all at once. Such fights are notoriously difficult to choreograph, as in real life a person cannot counter all directions at the same time. The solution? He fights with a few people in front of him while everyone else stands around at ready, conveniently out of focus. …come on, let’s just save the bravado and put him in more realistic situations. I did not swoon for this ML winning 1 vs 50, I just rolled my eyes.
Then again, based on other reviews, it seems everyone else swooned. lol. Well… Hu Yitian’s sword technique seemed ok to me, not bad but didn’t stand out (eg it’s still a little sloppy at times, which is understandable with that many sword strokes). His fist fighting is more MMA style which I personally don’t like as much. I won’t say he’s a good or bad fighter, I just am not sure why so many people are raving about his fight scenes.
Finally: I didn’t know where to fit this in, but I loved the music! Especially those beautiful cello solos. I was so happy to find the instrumental BGMs on youtube so I can play them on repeat.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
Of course this uplifting, feel-good show has a happy ending, it’s just a matter of how well it’s pulled off. And I’ll say first off that, in terms of closure, it’s one of the better Cdrama endings I’ve seen. We get a good half episode of wrapping things up and telling you where everyone goes. I was satisfied.
MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD
Shows often like to insert some heartache near the end, and in this case I would say it’s the Hua Rong story arc. Although one couple is a relatively small sacrifice, I still found it extremely upsetting. I was really rooting for them. Her death was unnecessary; it did not even follow the themes and patterns of the rest of the show.
And as for the actual ending… well, I really liked Hao Yue. In this show about female empowerment, it’s only fitting that it’s a woman who packs the final punch. And her tirade against the emperor was so on point.
I’ll admit that, for somebody who played such an important role, she did come a bit out of nowhere. I would have liked to see her developed a bit more, and I really wished for a better ending for her. As is, by the end she is neither friend nor foe- more like a disposable plot tool.
Do I wish that, instead of a random assassin showing up in the last few episodes, the emperor finally came around and reversed his rulings? …sure, but that is totally unrealistic. The emperor is that person in your life who will never apologize, will never even recognize that they need to apologize. It’s so brutally realistic, and I think his death was the only way to solve Hua Zhi’s problems.
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