Blossoms in Adversity | Open Thread

A woman holds up the whole sky for her man-less family.

Notable Actors/Actresses

Hu Yi Tian: Gu Yan Xi

Zhang Jing Yi: Hua Zhi

Director

Zhu Rui Bin

Chinese Title

惜花芷

Xi (+) Hua Zhi

To Cherish Hua Zhi

Genres: Period, Romance, Sismance, Family, Period Romance

Network: Youku

Year: 2024
Episodes: 40

Jump to Remarks | Reviews | Recs | Comments

Cast

Hu Yi Tian: Gu Yan Xi	Zhang Jing Yi: Hua Zhi
Wu Xi Ze: Shen Qi	Lu Yu Xiao: Shao Yao
Bian Cheng: Shen Huan	Myolie Wu: Xia Jin E

Romcom/Romance Checklist

How much of the plot is angst/romance?

0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

The ML: 

Cold–Lukewarm–Warm / Timid / Falls in Love First / Noble Idiot / CEO / General /

The FL: 

Bold / Cute / Cool & Independent / Falls in Love First / Better than ML / Noble Idiot / 

Describe the Relationship (the tropes):

Bickering Start / Childhood Connection / Cohabitation / Contract Marriage or Fake Couple / Enemies to Lovers / Hidden Identity / School to Adulthood / Love Triangle / Married Couple (Real) / Secretly in Love (F/ML) / Star-Crossed Lovers / 

Relationship Progress (officially together; first (official) kiss; breakup*):

Ep 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33 / 34 / 35 / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40

# of CPs (including main CP):
0 / 1 / 2 / 3

Ending:

Happy / Sad / Open Happy / Open Sad / Bad

Screencaps

[Ep1]

[Ep2]

He slits his face to assure the Emperor that he will not inherit the throne. (ML is the Emperor's nephew)

[Ep3]

[Ep4]

[Ep5]

[Ep6]

I'm loving how this mirrors their Ep1 meeting

And there's a childhood connection.

[Ep7]

This "skin"ship. It's through the curtain, and through his sleeve, and through their hearts~

[Ep8]

[Ep9]

[Ep10]

[Ep11]

[Ep12]

[Ep13]

[Ep14]

[Ep15]

[Ep16]

[Ep17]

[Ep18]

[Ep19]

[Ep20]

[Ep21]

[Ep22]

Their reaction to their indirect kiss ~

[Ep23]

Gu Yan Xi needs a hug after his father died:

Hua Zhi kissed him first!

Zhu Rui Bin triggering bird kiss from The Long Ballad.

Our couple are each other's tree-hole ~ :)

[Ep24]

[Ep25]

[Ep26]

[Ep27]

[Ep28]

[Ep29]

[Ep30]

[Ep31]

[Ep32]

[Ep33]

Shao Yao's cute revenge look

[Ep34]

[Ep35]

[Ep36]

[Ep37]

Girl crush!

How dare Shen Huan shush Shao Yao from dissing the Emperor?

After an outburst, Hua Zhi sweetly holds onto Gu Yan Xi. My rational couple's first real fight resolved with love

🥹🥹🥹

[Ep38]

I have never been happier for a widow! xD

Village's Cow. 

This Emperor is legit the jealous 2FL, hahaha

Romantic. He gives her a calculator. 

[Ep39]

The ladies! <3

....and this guy.

[Ep40]

The Emperor's look of love xD

The ladies running for their men!

ML really is happy and so in love behind his O_O face. Trust.

Hua Qin & Ying Chun xD

You Jump I Jump CP

Remarks

[Drama Info] 

• Zhu Rui Bin is the other director who made a name for himself with his skills (washing machine spins). Reminder: Story of Kunning Palace, The Starry Love, The Long Ballad. 
• He's not so obnoxious here, but you will notice all the dramatic zooming-in and -out
• Btw, we have Wang Li Na as FL's maid. She's from The Starry Love. If you loved the show, I hope you remember Man Man. 

[Ending] Happy!

Reviews

Submit Your Review | Rating Guide

Five (5/5)

Four (4/5)

Reviewer: cynlynn
Date: April 2024
Hearts: ♥♥

A great story – acting is optional, namely one: Hu Yi Tian.
 
The feminism here is refreshing and gave me so many happy tears. The women have unlikable and petty traits, yet I'm fond of all of them. Most are portrayed from that time (obviously not the FL), and Show has found a timeless relatability to them. The show just lets women be women.

It’s finally not a revenge drama. It’s much easier to start a story about revenge (current trend for years now): punishing the bad guys, cutting their heads off, and whatnot. They’re engaging, thrilling, and satiating. On the other hand, good guys being rewarded for doing good deeds is really hard to write because it just doesn’t have a selling point. But Hua Zhi did it. I happy-cried when others returned the favour. It felt so good. She earned it all. 

Chemistry – completely unscientific and varies per person by the way – is there between Zhang Jing Yi and Hu Yi Tian. Even if emoting is a privilege here, and they’re just standing there, they look good together still. Maybe it’s their youth. Maybe it’s the writing that supports their mutual feelings. Maybe ….it’s the director zooming in and out and echoing their every word…. I hate to admit this, but I don’t mind Zhu Rui Bin’s directing that much because it distracted me from their acting and actually elevated the romantic moments. His tricks get irritatingly old, but by that time, I’m already in love with the drama. It’s still hilarious that Zhu Rui Bin is so heavy-handed with his techniques.

Honestly, it's Zhu Rui Bin’s best directed drama. It has nonstop events that reminded me of The Long Ballad, which kept it an entertaining watch. It has the most connected logic of all his dramas, no contest, though that credit should go to the scriptwriter/author. His credit though is definitely visualizing a loaded cast with a story that expanded radially rather than linear. It wasn’t hard to differentiate all the girls, and there were so many: the Hua daughters, the Hua mothers, the Four Season maids. The Hua men also had defining personalities. The eunuchs had their moments too.

I can’t say Shao Yao is my favourite character with Hua Zhi around (who’s just always so rational and proactive), but Shao Yao has a special spot. She makes everyone feel motherly! Hao Yue is a special villain too. When it all ended, I realized I’m on her side. She could have been a Hua Zhi, or better.

The Emperor is interesting to decipher. Show has a lot of characters with depth at every corner. (I’m not really sure about Shen Qi though…….LOL. Do we really need him?)

The main romance is sweet, soothing, and stable. They are each other’s tree holes. Before their feelings reciprocated, they didn’t have that many scenes, but every meeting they did have was meaningful to the growth of their feelings and relationship. I like that a lot. Purposeful.

Lastly, this is how you end a show with a beautiful ensemble. I think the show did more than a full closure. It was a snapshot of everyone’s unexpected (funny) moment in their new, expectedly bright future.

Three (3/5)

Two (2/5)

One (1/5)

Recommendations

Genre List: Scheming / Palace Romances

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