In Blossom (2024)

story takes center stage

I don't quite have time or mindset for a detailed review, but I'll just say this drama was a pleasant surprise. In Blossom is a show that lets the story take center stage. It's a complex murder mystery intertwined with an almost equally complex romantic tale of two friends from noble families, betrothed by royal assent since childhood, working together to uncover a deep political conspiracy involving the imperial court. The writing was very good & the show kept me guessing right until the very last episode with a cliffhanger ending highly suggestive of a sequel. There's comedy as well as tragedy. Highly enjoyable.

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Good vs evil in Heyang

Within this story is a potentially really great one if the drama had dared to push the boundaries of its storytelling a bit more. Set against the "evil" city of Heyang, where bad deeds go unpunished, our righteous male lead Pan Yue seeks to find his long-lost beloved Yang Caiwei and to right the wrongs of the past. Along the way, we meet a multitude of characters including the charismatic if headstrong Zhuo Lanjiang and Caiwei's plucky friend Bai Xiaosheng -- and solve some murder mysteries.

It turns out that with each case solved, we are closer to solving the ultimate mystery -- who is the mastermind behind the deaths of Caiwei's parents and the dark deeds in Heyang? That, unfortunately, is never fully fleshed out. Our villains' motivations are presented only in broad strokes, making the ultimate confrontation a bit of a letdown both thematically and dramatically.

Which is not to say the drama is terrible -- far from it. Some of the stories within the main tale are quite moving such as the case of the Gu family and that of the twins and the academy. They show quite effectively the potential darkness within people and the struggle to overcome it without resorting to too much exposition, which is unfortunately present in other cases and parts of the show. If the drama had explored this theme than just at the surface level - the complexities of humankind and our capacity to do both great good and evil - it would have made for a very compelling drama.

As it is, this drama is worth the watch for the interesting cases (which actually are nicely interwoven with the overarching plot and our characters' arcs), a well-paced romance story, and some great performances from both main and guest/supporting cast alike. Liu Xueyi as Pan Yue and Li Geyang as Zhuo Lanjiang were standouts to me.

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A Phenomenal Journey Throughout

A Youku original (albeit not an adaptation), this historical is definitely one of the best written scripts in a long time. Featuring Liu Xue Yi & Ju Jing Yi in lead roles, the storyline focuses on the resurrection of the female lead (who escapes death twice, miraculously). Once in childhood when her entire family is massacred and next on her wedding night, when the female antagonist does a face swap. As I have already mentioned in the “First Impressions”, face swap doesn’t make much sense; I’m still calling it “Soul Swapping”. The newly resurrected female protagonist Yang Cai Wei makes use of her beautiful face, and rich lifestyle to seek revenge. Easy concept right? Nope, it is easier said than done. The 32 episodes romantic saga takes us on a revenge journey where our odd couple counter each other, become allies, fall in love again and conquer the evil villain. This was a phenomenal joyride and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/04/03/in-blossom-series-review/#more-706

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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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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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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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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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**NEWSFLASH** JJY can act better than academic Yang Mi, so take that~!

1) TRIPLE THREAT: JJY is a triple threat, like JLO, who can act/sing/dance;
2) MUCH BETTER ACTING THAN YANG MI!-->JJY may not be a great actress, but she's not wooden, unlike lots of other actresses, because she can act with lots of eye/facial/crying movement/emotions, like she can emote, unlike lots of these other A-listers without any real emotion or wooden faces, i.e. stiff-acting Zhao Liying in Shen Li [very disappointing, i.e. I like Kenny Lin's acting's far better than hers!] or as a mindlessly lethargic spy, Yang Mi in The Name of The Brother;
3) BANKABLE STAR: JJY is the main star here, even listed even above LXY, so it should be her vehicle to start & finish, not the guest ZHHZ, like guest-FL was a mere underwhelming stand-in for 1.5 EPs, out of 32, like ZHHZ's simple acting was the least memorable & should not be a deterrence from a soul-like face-swapping trope;
4) PER AVENUEX: Bad script writing is backward, like JJY s/b the main FL, right out of the gate, versus this other guest/ZHHZ, so this is not JJY's fault, but those 10-yr-in-the-making 3rd rated scriptwriters!
5) MOST RIDICULOUS: Trolls are bashing JJY by boasting ZHHZ- guest appearance more than its worth, from insisting that her next drama be modern w/ more serious acting emphasis since she transitioned over from singing/dancing, unlike Yang Mi's academic acting pedigree failing her dramas miserably, so apparently, acting in itself in C-dramaland ain't worth much to these retarded trolls any which way, i.e. just a mental haranguing case of bitter-hateful jealousy of those hapless toxic obnoxious trolls when paired up w/ LXY.
6) NICE BINGING: This drama is worthy binge watching overall, but the subpar 3rd rated scriptwriters fail to emphasize FL JJY's SZ to start the face-swapping trope from the get-go & a cliffhanger open-ended with missing Token No. 1 without any reasonable explanation, leaving plot holes everywhere when it took them 10 yrs to write it in the 1st place, like whassup w/ all the rush?!
7) DEMAND FOR MORE: Since they've a low budget production for this season, but with great profit margin, they should re-invest in S2, hello to Youku?!?!?!

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Why "In Blossom"

Blossom, in the context of love symbolizes RENEWAL, growth, beauty, and flourishing of emotions. It represents the DEVELOPMENT and expansion of love over time.

I am just sharing my thought and feelings while watching this drama (writing this after I watched episodes 1-15). The genre tag as fake identity, suspense, and investigation must be taken into consideration before watching it.

I said that I prefer reincarnation or going back from the past than body/soul/face swapping because I feel more connected to the main leads.I'm one of those people who wanted evil Shagguan Zhi must only be evil Shagguan Zhi and same goes to Yang Cai Wei. But I did not conclude too much since the plot is just in its beginning and this is my first time finishing this kind of drama

After the swapping, I admit that it feels weird, and I hate that. I still kept thinking of ZHHZ (only means that she is a good actress) is more likely the lead than JJY especially during the interaction of good SGZ (YCW) and Pan Yue. Of course, I have my sentiments towards JJY because I am a fan. I was sorry because I cannot like the real Yang Cai Wei in Shangguan’s face 😅. Though swapping seems already a norm to them, I was touched to see how BXS and ZLJ accept SGZ (YCW) for whoever she is.

In the proceeding episodes, I started to like the character of the real Yang Cai Wei, and just today I realized that my love for her had already bloomed. I’m deeply engage in the drama to the point that my feelings resonate with theirs. Like Pan Yue right now, he begins to recognize his feelings towards Shangguan Zhi (YCW). I can’t find a proper way to say this that HIS LOVE IS IN BLOSSOM.

He undoubtedly began to fall in love with her and develop feelings for her, not only because she was his childhood sweetheart. It is better in that way (same as one user said here). The problems that they will face together are necessary for their deep connection. Just like a flower that starts as a seed and gradually grows, love begins with a spark and evolves into something beautiful and profound. 🌸

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It could have been much better…

I have a moral aversion to face-swapping plot lines, but I thought I’d give In Blossom a try. For the first few episodes, I enjoyed it enough to keep going, but after a while.. it became tiresome.

There was a lot the writer did not decide to explore. For example, how the parents traumatized all the main characters, how the characters built themselves up from the trauma, and also making sure the characters could stand on their own without attachment to romance.

Pan Yue is obsessed with Yang Caiwei, and it ends up being that this is all we know of his character. It’s a shame, because we get small glimpses into his tough childhood, with his father suspecting Pan Yue of not being his. But alas, the romantic plot is the focus. We lose out on watching Pan Yue become loving and kind after healing from his past.

Yang Caiwei is the only character that develops. She is strong, but very insecure about Pan Yue’s love towards her at the beginning, and at the end. She becomes more self-assured once she realizes that he does care for her. However, Yang Caiwei already had a lot of agency before she met Pan Yue. He simply enhanced this.

Additionally, the SFL and SML relationship was icky to me. I could not romanticize the SFL being second choice for him. It was obvious she was a rebound, and ready to be one, which I think also comes from her parental trauma. She was ready to be used, and I feel really bad for her. Especially because the SML dies.

Overall, I think the characters were not explored as well as they could have been, an it lays in leaning too much into the romantic aspects, when these characters clearly have more depth, that we are given glimpses of.

I do also agree that the FL in the first 2 episodes would be been a better choice, but I still enjoyed JJY performance regardless.

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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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