In Blossom

It kinda fell off...

Watching the first half was good, it was interesting. The acting of JJY wasn't as bad this time. However, I don't why, but after the main leads got together finally, it kinda fell flat. The chemistry that they were teasing/building between the main leads in the beginning just wasn't there as you would hope to kind of explode. Plus, is it just me or Pan Yue is not capable of a character, I mean the character is mid, ability wise like in terms of investigating, martial arts, etc. Also, the dynamic between the supporting characters and main leads is not as intriguing, like the friendship is not well maintained nor is deep (I mean it is supposed to be but it is just not well written.)

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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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In Blossom is a great thriller, romance, fantasy drama written within a historical setting. There are some gory scenes, necessary due to the nature of the female lead’s profession, very detailed and smart murder investigation with logical deductions and conclusions that give us glimpses of the leading couple’s strong and intelligent characters. There are very well done action scenes and bloody tortures coming from the antagonist and his henchmen, mysterious and complex characters that help shaped the validity of the plot, a fantasy element that, although it was interesting and the leading actress tried her best in her characterization of Yang Cai Wei I, it is true that the fantasy element would have worked better if they would have chosen an actress for the real Yang Cai Wei whose body was anatomically closer to Ju Jing Yi. The cinematography was well planned and executed with glimpses of Gothic elements and the cast did a good job bringing their characters to life. In the romance department, it would be right to say that it is more about a soulful than a physical connection. Pan Yue, exceptionally portrayed by Liu Xue Yi, is a man with great moral character, integrity, and above all, a man that steadfastly loved the souls of his woman. Ju Jing Yi did great portraying her character as the infatuated and self-centered Shangguan Zhi and she tried her best portraying Yang Cai Wei, but the Ju Jing Yi, although she captured the awareness and ability to express the intelligence of Yang Cai Wei, she didn’t get the body language right. This might have been due to the fact that the casting director failed to recognize that it was just a face swap, not a whole body swap, and Ju Jing Yi’s body is too frail looking compared to Zheng He Hui Zi’s that played Yang Cai Wei in the first two episodes. Besides this oversight, which was just a bit odd, the drama is an excellent thriller, with a heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking steadfast romance, and a very pleasing intellectual connection between the leading couple. The supporting cast did very well and provided side stories that gave mystery and depth to the story. Enjoy it!

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Worth a watch but don’t fall in love with second lead or you’ll be heartbroken

Spoiler alert!!!!!!!




I’ve just got one thing to say….

WHY WOULD YOU KILL OFF JIANG?!??!!!! His death could have easily been avoided if they just never found the ledger on him. Baisheng and Jiang would have had their happy ending too 😭😭😭

Story was pretty good. Liked all the plot twists, it kept it interesting and made you wanna keep watching to see who the mastermind was. Again, ending could have been better if Jiang didn’t die.

Cast was amazing, loved everyone’s acting.

Music was beautiful! Loved the osts.

I wouldn’t rewatch it again because can’t help but be mad that they killed off Jiang. I love him 😭 he deserves a happy ending too!

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about the series

The best TV series I watched after Ingenious One, the plot, music and casting were amazing, I found it exciting until the last episode. Liu Xue Yi's amazing performance was, in my opinion, the best TV series. Also, I had watched two of Ju Jing Yi's TV series before and found them ordinary, and in this series, her performance was top notch. They have brought it up to the level, and they suit each other very well as a duo. The series will have a second season. If they do not deviate from the subject, it will be watched with the same pleasure. We would like to watch more such series in Chinese historical dramas. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the production and broadcasting.

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Face-swap Premise

The series has a great premise idea of face-swapping but because in this series the two main female characters are swapped, the audience is impressed to see a full-body swap, yeah I think the story idea of the author is just face-swapping but because in this series the two main female characters are swapped, the audience can automatically see a full-body swap as well. The series can also be said to be a detective genre as well, because it features many scenes of investigating and solving criminal cases but each case solved is part of the main case of the series. The storyline is fun to watch and follow, we will be invited to be curious to watch the next episode and the series features two main characters (ML and FL) smart but in my opinion if the chemistry between FL and ML is still lacking but not said to be bad either. And if you're a fan of wuxia series, don't have high expectations for the martial arts fight choreography scenes because every fight scene looks less good but this is understandable because this series is not a wuxia series. The series also ends with an epic ending, but there is potential for a season 2 and the director is smart to create scenes that indicate that there will be a season 2 but not to irritate viewers. The series is worth recommending to your friends to watch.

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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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Not interesting

I liked the concept of face swapping. But the way that showed was too unrealistic. In a matter of four hours they easily swapped the face. Secondly the evil was concious and the good one was unconscious and even though she came into sense still she was in the state of dizziness. But the evil was so energetic. I thought it was fine not to use mind, just watch it for the entertainment.
I decided to watch it only because of first male lead but his story was not so interesting with respect to second leads
. I feel captivated more by their love story. But the way the story ended their story , spoil my mood to watch it further. But it was the fact of one more episode to go. So I bared to watch till end.
Personally recommend don't watch it. If you also ship second leads like me then it would waste of time .

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Witchcraft and Face Swap in a Thriller-Packed Drama

Hi guys, I'm back again after hiatus for quite some time due to final exams and lack of spare time. I've done watching In Blossom some time ago, but I only get my time to work on this review today. In Blossom is not a drama that I expected very much, I was obsessed in Burning Flames and didn't plan to watch this beforehand. After scrolling through the comments, I decided to try it and check out my review below.

In Blossom tells a bittersweet story between two childhood sweethearts, Pan Yue and Yang Caiwei. Yang Caiwei was in a disgraced situation after having escaped from the attempted murder which successfully killed her parents. Subsequently, she went to the Pan Mansion and wanted to meet Pan Yue. But Pan Yue wasn't there, and his father refused to let her in. Filled with grief and resentment, Yang Caiwei wandered around Heyang City and was taken in by a retired coroner, who worked as corpse taker now. Together with her lunatic master, Yang Caiwei became a corpse taker and did everything to relieve her master's burden.

She accidentally encountered Pan Yue again. Originally, Yang Caiwei gave him a cold shoulder and ignored him as possible. Pan Yue, of course, didn't give up and tried his best to woo her back, even wanted to marry her. A spoiled and pampered girl of the wealthy Shangguan family, Shangguan Zhi, witnessed this event and was furious. The day before their marriage, Shangguan Zhi used witchcraft to switch her face with Yang Caiwei's. After that, she pushed Yang Caiwei and her subordinates to a narrow cliff, thinking that she had erased every trace of her evil deeds.

Things became more and more unexpected. Shangguan Zhi (in Yang Caiwei's persona) was suddenly murdered which aroused fear and suspicion. Yang Caiwei soon learned about her 'own death' and vowed to find the culprit and uphold justice for Shangguan Zhi despite the latter's treatment towards her.

In order to investigate her murder, Yang Caiwei had to work with Pan Yue in the county yamen. Originally, they were at odds because Pan Yue didn't like Shangguan Zhi before, not knowing that the latter has swapped her face with Yang Caiwei. Thus, their sweet love story began.

So far, the plot is woven in intrigue and mystery, which can attract the audiences to skim in, especially mystery and thriller lovers. However, after the case of Gu Shan, I started to fast forward and skipped a lot of the main leads' scenes. Don't get me started at the capital arc. That arc was rather boring and dull. Even with skipping, I could still grab some details of the case and in short, I didn't lose anything from skipping here and there.

The acting is so-so. This is my third time watching Liu Xueyi after 'The Blood of Youth' and 'Love and Redemption'. I think he did pretty well in this drama and his persistent love towards Yang Caiwei was one of the best aspects of him. You could see him conveying his eye expression when he was staring at Yang Caiwei and you'll know why. Meanwhile, Ju Jingyi's acting is a bit of lackluster. Like other reviewers, I also prefer Zheng He Hui Zi's portrayal as the real Yang Caiwei. Ju Jingyi's Yang Caiwei is a little spoiled but thank goodness they didn't make her into a damsel-in-distress (she's still as intelligent as her old self).

Personally, I'm rooting for the second couple (Zhuo Lanjiang and Bai Xiaosheng) than the main couple. They're a cute bickering couple and help the leads to solve cases too. My only complaint is why should they KILL OFF Ah Jiang. He didn't deserve it and should have got a happy ending with Bai Xiaosheng.

OSTs are nothing special, but still commendable.

Is there any rewatch value? Nah, that will depend on yourselves. The plot is good in the first half but falls in the second half. I myself won't be rewatching this drama as this is a one-time watch for me. Nonetheless, I'll give this nine out of ten stars for the great plot and the case solving. Give this a try if you want some case-solving drama, but you can skip the rest of the scenes if they've arrived at the capital. Happy watching!!!

SPOILER ALERT:
The real murderer of Yang Caiwei points to Shangguan Zhi's brother, Shangguan Lan. I'm not entirely sure of this, but given that the Shangguan family has good connection, a private army, and witches, everything is possible for them. To please Shangguan Zhi, her brother must have intended to kill off Yang Caiwei from the beginning so that Shangguan Zhi can marry Pan Yue - and that's the only reasonable thing to do (in my opinion).

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Strong plot, mediocre everything else

First things first, the plot was well thought out. Things made sense and especially when dramas are in the mystery/problem-solving category, that is the most important part. I also really liked that the character dynamics between the four main characters made sense and was nicely done. So from a purely mystery-writing perspective, they nailed it.

Now to the criticism. It's mostly related to the main couple's actors. Both were okay but what especially FL lacked was "something more". I can't really describe it. Her acting was fine but I was not interested in her whatsoever. She was very lukewarm. The problem of ML's actor was that he really only had two emotions, which were him serious/investigating or slightly amused. He wasn't bad, but it just made his character very one-dimensional. I think what mostly bothered me is that there was no character development for either character which made both characters meh.
The second couple on the other hand had that. They had character development and chemistry. SML's acting was not amazing but I still liked him a lot. He was very handsome and he had "something more" that FL lacked for example. I did not really like SFL that much, she was okay, but I really liked their romance. I can't believe that she wasn't pregnant by the end though. That would be the typical plot reveal.

One final point is that the last scene really bothered me. The story is finished for me and there's no need for a second season. Also because I really liked SML and he'll be gone. No need to watch another season with one-dimensional characters.

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The lightness of Face Swap

First of all, our series started well. I loved the story. It was beautifully constructed. What I liked most was that there was a mystery. It was intriguing to pursue this. In this respect, I liken it to a detective series. I felt the tension and mystery. The activation scenes were also nice. Everything was suitable. So it was progressing well with a measured distribution. The thing that bothered me the most in these episodes was the face changing incident. It's too fantastic. Let's get over it. It seemed a little strange to me that after changing the face, the person continues the same relationship with another face that replaces the person he wants to marry and is in love with. Maybe this can be said. I loved his soul, not his face. If we look at this, things such as inner beauty, character, approach to events and people, and temperament are the factors that affect the other party. Even though this still convinces us, isn't it possible that the more we look at his face, the more he reminds us of the other person? Can a person love like this? I thought about this often while watching and it didn't seem believable to me. Even though people stand out with their actions, it seemed repulsive to me to see someone else with whom you have the same antipathy, standing in front of you with their face. I deducted a point from the story in this aspect. I should have broken it more, but whatever. Likewise, while everything was going well in terms of plot, towards the end, nonsense started to occur in the processing and flow. It's as if they decided not to make the series this good, let's make it a little worse, let's make it cheaper. For example; Although the character Jiang could have killed the character Jia Quan with a knife in his hand when there was no one around, he does not, but he is in prison, easily captured, and tries to kill him and is killed. It was so ridiculous and simple. Similarly, why does Jia character's assistant, Zuo character, run away and get killed when he could have killed this person hundreds of times? Illogical. He knows everything about the man, and if he tries to do anything bad to him, he will kill the man from thirst. He escapes and is killed when he could have been eliminated so easily. It has zero credibility. If the princess is going to kill herself, why does she bring the character Sima there as a witness? So that he could testify and destroy them? It was an irrational approach. The scriptwriter is literally unconscious, so did he have a hard time writing these, did he make mistakes, did he do things that are thousands of miles away from believability. Doesn't a person read what he writes, and doesn't the person who filmed it say that if you fix this, it doesn't look appropriate at all? They didn't say. Why was there a showdown in the presence of the queen? It's not understandable. According to the story, if the character Jiang was not returning, Pan Yue should have gone looking for him. She had to save him, or if he couldn't, he could have tried to kill the Marshal. Or he could report him to the authorities. Supposedly you need a notebook. They didn't take the notebook while they had it, so while that person was identified at the academy, the man runs away. How does he escape? If you had made a raid as soon as you found out about the incident, you could have obtained everything, including the notebook. The person takes that notebook and brings it to the capital. Pan Yue, who has authority and men in his hands, does nothing. I don't know what his father is. Some help, some don't. It is impossible to understand how difficult it was to prove it. While everything was against the man, there was no proof every time. What a queen. Is there no king? Isn't there a Minister of Justice? The marshal will be given army authority and many royal decorations will be given, there is no king, there is a queen. It hasn't happened before. Afterwards, for some unknown reason, Jiang's body is brought to the place, and through the holes he opened, Cai Wei and Pan Yue with his excellent talent say, "Here is the place of the notebook." Unbelievable. It's a shame for the beautiful series. Screenwriter, I especially hated you. In all TV series, your incompetence in concluding events frustrates and frustrates the audience. Their beginnings were good, but their endings were terrible. He was wrong. It was simple. It hadn't happened. I felt sad while watching it.

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Initially, I found myself a bit puzzled by the storyline, prompting me to pause and backtrack to Episode 2 for clarity. Without revealing any spoilers, I must say, it's a series that truly demands to truly focus on the storyline. Ju JingYi delivered a performance that navigated through complexities effortlessly, portraying a role that could easily befuddled. On the other hand, the lead male actor left me indifferent; historically typecast as a villain, Liu Xue Yi surprised me with his adept portrayal of this character. His convincing performance left me eager to see more of him in virtuous roles. The supporting cast, including Li Gi Yang and W Jia Yi, impeccably brought their characters to life. Special mention must go to the writer for skillfully withholding the villain's identity until the final few episodes. Overall, a job well done to the entire crew.

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