In Blossom

What I would change: The last four episodes (29 to 32)

It's a good story overall, and I've enjoyed it.
My Review contains many spoilers: don't read if you haven't watched the series yet.

The last four episodes (29 to 32) could have been better scripted, as some plot choices feel weak; they don't have any purposes other than to add unnecessary twists & turns.

And the drama’s ending...

Instead of delivering a satisfying conclusion, it forces suspense with an ambiguous scene that lacks context or payoff. Rather than a clever twist, it comes across as empty and confusing. Most viewers, myself included, are left wondering what it was supposed to mean. If the goal was to create an open-ended mystery, it fails because it lacks substance, and instead of a thought-provoking conclusion, it feels like an unresolved, last-minute attempt to appear deep without any real meaning.

So let's start with what I would change to make this a better story!

Ep. 29 - 24:30 min
Why would the princess chose to kill herself? But most importantly, why would she chose to kill herself in such a way that not only endangers Shangguan Zhi but also wastes an opportunity to make her sacrifice meaningful? As someone raised in the palace, she should be resourceful and strategic enough to devise a last-minute plan.

Frankly, this plot twist is unnecessary and leads to even further unnecessary drama, thus it should be erased. Let's examine something else that could prevent her death:

Ep. 28 - 38:00 min
Zhuo LanJiang meeting the mastermind (Jia Quan - identity not yet revealed) and his personal assistant (Zuo Jingfei) at night time in an undisclosed location.

Ep. 30 - 5:30 min
Zhuo LanJiang meeting the mastermind (Jia Quan - identity revealed) and his personal assistant (Zuo Jingfei) during daytime at the "Grand Commandant's Residence".

After comparing both meeting location, we can clearly see the same curtains and the same bookshelves in the background. Thus, we can deduce they meet in the same location.

We know Zhuo Lanjiang's motivations: to avenge his father. He's not there to stretch things nor investigate any further. This said, he had a very good opportunity to do this in Ep. 28's meeting. He could kill both at once swiftly at nighttime and try to escape alive.

But let's say for suspense sake he does not do it just yet. Plus, he gets to witness the presence of Mr. Chen (the organization's accountant who brought the ledgers with him) as he's being escorted to his new room. This opens the plot twist for him to look for those ledgers later which brings us at back at Ep. 29, right before the Princess death scene, the one we want to get rid of.


So here's what should happen:
(This removes all those scenes: princess's death, Shangguan Zhi going to jail, Pan Yue begging his father, Shangguan Zhi's trial + battle, them becoming fugitives, Zhuo LanJiang dying uselessly and in a very stupid way, etc.)

Ep. 29 - from 18:40 to 24:30 min
This is when the princess finds out her sister's husband (Jia Quan) is the great villain she and Pan Yue have been investigating. This triggers him threatening her. But frankly, why would he ask her to kill Shangguan Zhi? That's just plain not plausible considering his shrews character. If he wanted Shangguan Zhi dead, he could have had her dead 100 other ways anytime he wants.

In my opinion, once he made sure to make her understand that he can and will kill her and her sister (and make it look like an accident) if she tries to interfere, his most likely reaction would be to prohibit her to leave the residence and keep her under watch at all times until the completion of his "Grand Marshal" promotion ceremony to ensure she won't leak any information.

Next would come the scene from Ep. 30 - 5:30 min
Zhuo LanJiang meeting the mastermind (Jia Quan - identity revealed) and his personal assistant (Zuo Jingfei) during daytime at the "Grand Commandant's Residence".
But this time, he kills both in stealth mode, then proceeds to look for the ledgers, finds them and escape successfully.

There should be a commotion once Jia Quan's death is being noticed. It should be speculated that it must be related to the assassin that tried to kill Pan Yue the other day. The Princess would later go search for the ledger where she found evidence of Jia Quan's name change, then make a plan to meet with Pan Yue in order to discuss their next move.

Meanwhile, Zhuo LanJiang gives the accounting ledgers to either Pan Yue or Shangguan Zhi (or both, wathever suits the plot), tells them he fulfilled his vengeance (the bad guy is dead) and he plans to head back home with his girlfriend and marry her.

Next, we should obviously see Zhuo LanJiang have some happy romantic reunion with Bai Xiao Sheng.
Then, the princess meeting with Pan Yue and Shangguan Zhi to decide what will be done.

From there, I don't have anything concrete in mind, but I guess the most obvious would be:

- The princess confess everything to her sister.
- The wedding between the princess and Pan Yue gets cancelled.
- The evidence against Jia Quan gets deposited to help close his death's investigation.
- Pan Yue and his father reconcile.
- Pan Yue will confess everything to Shangguan Zhi's brother as promised. She should also have a moment alone with her brother to settle things.
- Pan Yue gets back his Heyang's Magistrate position and finds a way to offer Zhuo LanJiang a good position too in managing the docks (or wathever else that fits his fancy in order to compensate him for shutting down his clan. Maybe letting him reopen his clan/private business?)
- Pan Yue and Shangguan Zhi get married in Heyang at the same time than Zhuo LanJiang and Bai Xiao Sheng (double wedding).


Oh, and another useless scene is this one:

Ep 29: 6 min
Pan Yue's brother revealing to a stanger that Shangguan Zhi is Yang Caiwei.
Only Pan Yue's father should know about this, and this information should not have been revealed to anyone else in the household.

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Switched by the witch.

In Blossom or 花间令/Huā Jiān Lìng (The Flower Order) is a mystery romance with fantasy elements. I checked this out because of Liu Xueyi, an under appreciated actor who is just as good an antagonist as he is a protagonist. Despite some flaws and controversy, this sleeper hit won Liu Xueyi high praise for his good looks and compelling acting.

Yang Caiwei is a scarred, inauspicious undertaker shunned by citizens of the sinful city of Heyang. She finds herself embroiled in a murder case with the new magistrate Pan Yue, the most handsome gentleman in the capital. As it turns out, before misfortune befell her family, she was engaged to Pan Yue and he seems determined to honor their betrothal. On their wedding day, she is switched by the witch Shangguan Zhi using dark magic. She finds herself in Shangguan Zhi's body right before "Yang Caiwei" is murdered and suspects Pan Yue of doing the deed! Assuming Shangguan Zhi's identity, she investigates her own murder by working for Pan Yue at the yamen in the hope of finding evidence of his complicity. Body swapping is the only fantasy aspect and it is readily accepted without that much disbelief by the characters in this story.

This production drew early criticism because Zheng Hehuizi guest starred as Yang Caiwei for two episodes and impressed viewers with how she interpreted the role. Her Yang Caiwei is a solemn character; a child whose world was shattered overnight and endured nine years of hardship. She finds meaning in following her shifu's footsteps as a coroner, obtaining justice for victims of foul play. This characterization of Yang Caiwei makes sense to me but unfortunately, there was no meeting of the minds in how the role should be portrayed. Although Ju Jingyi delivers an adequate performance, her depiction lacks depth and gravitas. Her Yang Caiwei is literally only Shangguan Zhi; a happy, pampered young lady who never suffered a day in her life. She is so un-serious as a coroner I just scoffed at her autopsies. Still, she didn't quite ruin the show for me as she is so pretty and charismatic I always have a soft spot for her. I just sigh for the opportunity missed because Yang Caiwei is one of the better written female roles and Liu Xueyi is a fantastic actor to be paired up with. She could have impressed enough with a more layered performance to break her out of her usual typecasting but sadly she did not approach this role thoughtfully enough.

While I watched this for the suspense plot, both romances are nicely written. Liu Xueyi and Ju Jingyi look so gorgeous as a couple that their visuals alone deflect many flaws. To me, Pan Yue’s early obsession with Yang Caiwei was not healthy or well founded but I enjoyed how he fell for her against his better instincts thinking she was the detestable Shangguan Zhi. I never faulted Pan Yue for taking so long to figure out she was Yang Caiwei because both actresses failed to show me of they are the same girl. I like how Zhuo Lanjiang is written to be as capable and powerful in his own way as Pan Yue. He is a credible love rival that does not descend into delusional archetypes. But I wasn't that invested in his romance either.

After the big letdown of Youku's big budget Judge Dee's Mystery, this much more modest production satisfied my craving for a good mystery. The cases, beginning with Yang Caiwei's own murder hooked me from the get go. I enjoyed how each case pulls at threads to reveal links initially to the four major clans of Heyang and ultimately a far wider conspiracy that goes back many years. This familiar formula used in many other investigative series is quite well executed. Despite small plot holes, the focus on the human tragedy aspect of these side cases made me either empathize with the victims or at times even the perpetrators. This is something both Judge Dee's Mystery and Mysterious Lotus Casebook failed to do. The main villain is neither too obvious nor revealed too early, which was my biggest gripe with Mysterious Lotus Casebook. This one does well in keeping us guessing right up till the end. However, this is achieved by concealing information from the viewer instead of hiding all the clues in plain sight.

The narrative hiccups in the final arc back at the capital. It seems like a different writer took over. The villain is revealed shortly after they show up onscreen instead of building suspense for a bit. The final villain is not that smart and only gains an upper hand because two hitherto smart characters are thrown under the bus and exercised their free will in unintelligent ways. It always makes me angry to see good characters get undeserved outcomes so I am not happy with how this ends. Good characters were literally wasted just to squeeze some tears from the audience. Instead of ending on a big reveal, it just descends into melodrama. The chilling ending epilogue however is well done but to avoid spoilers I will elaborate on that below. All things considered, this is still an enjoyable watch. I would have rated it 8.0/10 were it not for the ending. My final rating is 7.5/10.0.









ENDING SPOILER COMMENTS

The ending epilogue is a nice chilling way to end regardless of whether Season 2 gets the go ahead. If there is no Season 2, it suggests that #1 is some kind of arch nemesis of Pan Yue, like Moriarty to Holmes who is still out there; that organizations like The Flower Order are not that easy to wipe out. Note there are actually 9 tokens in total in the end scene.

If there is a Season 2, the mastermind is either someone we already met or someone that has not yet appeared onscreen. Recall #2 only shows up in the final arc so this writer does not play fair with the audience. In that case, it is not useful to speculate further. If however, the mastermind is someone we already met, I think it is most likely Shangguan Lan. It is evident from the plain cyan sleeves that it is a man and while the cloth is rich, there is no elaborate embroidery on the sleeve like the nobles and high officials like Pan Yue and Minister Pan wear. The Shangguan family keeps a private army and they have the vast resources and network to be behind this kind of clandestine organization. They also have links to witch doctors and dark magic, which is how Shangguan Zhi swapped bodies with Yang Caiwei. So it would not be surprising that they worship pagan gods like the ram god. I initially ruled out Shangguan Lan due to his age, but he could have inherited the token from his father.

There is also a possibility the mastermind is a woman because the Chinese title is The Flower Order. In that case, it could either be The Empress or Qingdi, who now pretty much controls Heyang after Pan Yue effectively eliminated all her rivals for her.







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