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Flourished Peony chinese drama review
Ongoing 32/32
Flourished Peony
0 people found this review helpful
by jem4202
3 days ago
32 of 32 episodes seen
Ongoing
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

it was good ep 1 - 4 and 18 plus. and this is not a stand alone with out season 2.

The first episodes with the husband and princess were quite riveting. But then it leveled off. The ML and FL had no chemistry or honest moments until ep 17. Before that there was smirky sarcastic banter, which is ok, I guess but for 16 episodes, it got old. A that point I really didn't care about whether or not they got together.
And I really didn't care at all about the ML.

The characters that had me riveted were the husband -- actor did a FANTASTIC job, and he stole every scene he was in; at first I wanted her to start to like him, until the horrible things that came out of his mouth (tiny spoiler: "Why are you so upset that a servant died?") You really can't come back from that. Later I was riveted to the domestic abuse victim and her husband. Actors portrayed those roles brilliantly in stark, heartbreaking reality.

Finally in Ep 27 it got up to my standard of 7 to 8ish for one of these big dramas, but I still can't forgive it for being dull from ep 4 through 17.

The ex-husband? Remember when I said a minute ago (8 episodes ago in my time) that I wanted him to be likeable? Yeah. That ended in the ep 20s. He deserves every slice of hell he goes through. Idiot refuses to walk on his own two feet and make his own decisions. Always upset that mummy, daddy and princess are making him do what he doesn't want to do....you know what cures that?? STOP DOING IT! But NO! He caves AGAIN!!! How many times is this? How long must viewers endure??? But that shows you how well the 2ML actor killed it for me to be able to hate his GUTS! (I've only ever seen that actor play a mild mannered ceo or teacher. He must have enjoyed doing this role.)

By the end of the drama, we see a variety of women dealing with various circumstances and ill treatment, due to rampant misogyny, and how they tried to survive or overcome their circumstance using a variety of methods. But again, up until ep 20, I wasn't really riveted to their stories. Maybe because the early ones were more lighthearted. they are not all happy endings wrapped up in a bow. The writers show us the especially when the FLs are given a choice that would set them free, but because of self loathing, fear of society (rape, slavery, domestic abuse), fear of succeeding, they choose not to do it. Some of the stories are quite powerful. When we're screaming at the TV, "TAKE DOOR A!!!!! TAKE THE FREEDOM!!!! GO!!!! DO IT NOW!!!" and they don't, you can only imagine a tiny bit how terrifying it would have been for a woman in those days. The FL? I can't say she's one of my favorite characters or actresses but whenever she is subjected to evil -- and it's a lot -- she OWNS the screen -- and survives and turns it in her favor.

For the poor suckers who watched this then had to wait for "Season 2" aka In the Name of Blossom - the Sequel, I feel for them. It is not a proper story without season 2. It just stops. No cliffhanger no nothing. For those on the fence, if you can bear the middle episodes, I'd recommend it. In 3rd episode of the sequel now and it's quite good.
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