Anne: Hello theater lovers! I hope everyone had a good week last week and at least saw some interesting drama. I spent the last week watching a few shows until the end! (I have a patience problem with shows. I hate waiting.) Also, I started my next “home” project. Here are the currently completed items.
Most of the prep work for the “stuff” is complete and I’m starting to assemble the frame of the house. Now…if only I could do that in real life! (Truth be told, I don’t know why I even want a yard with plants/flowers and water features, since I’m allergic to pollen and unintentionally kill living wildlife.)
Ok…enough of my hobbies outside of work…let’s finish watching this week’s dramas.
Blooms in adversity
I started this a little over a week ago and have gone through all the episodes, a total of 40 in less than 10 days. Yes, there was some FFing. My general impression. I love it! It’s very cute, very sweet, and all the secondary characters made this show. This reminds me of how Love like the galaxy, except the emperor in Blossom is an A-HOLE of the highest order…ok, I should clarify that and say the entire royal family, except the 6th prince. Like Galaxy, this is primarily a family drama, but in my opinion, this one gave a lot more development to the supporting characters. This is a very large cast, with just FL’s family numbers: grandparents, 4 uncles, 4 aunts and at least 3 concubines (?) and I lost count of the nieces and nephews, without talk about women’s personal servants. .
The story is about Hua Zhi and how she carried her family through the turbulence of events that engulfed her family when the emperor opposed her grandfather’s criticism and accused them of collusion with the enemy. All men, aged over 10, were exiled north to work in a mining camp, and women were kicked out of their homes. The only reason the women were not sold was because Hua Zhi’s grandmother was a close childhood friend of the Empress Dowager. And even the emperor must give the dowager a certain amount of latitude.
Now…to be clear, this whole thing and all the “stuff” that’s happening is because of an emperor who wanted complete and utter loyalty from everyone and everything. He is a ruler who has almost no compassion, to the point where he “threw away” his youngest son because he was not what the emperor imagines a royal prince to be. There was only one person the emperor loved like a son, his nephew, his brother’s son who had tried to overthrow the throne long before the drama began, Gu Yan Xi. For our ML, he considered the emperor his father, closer than his own father had ever been to him. Understanding this dynamic is the only way for the audience to understand what Yan Xi did for her uncle.
The cutest couple is Hua Zhi’s ex-finance younger brother Shen Huan (Shen Qi) and Shao Yao, Yan Xi’s younger sister. These two are the cutest. The whole scene where Shao Yao stabbed Shen Huan repeatedly with the needle was a highlight of the hate/love relationship between the two.
There are so many side stories that I can’t cover them all. And the story of each couple and each “wedding” was unique and entertaining in its own way. I really like these stories, where the plot develops in different directions with the secondary characters. There aren’t really any very kissy scenes, they were all very G-rated. But they were so cute! A happy ending for almost everyone. So delighted!
Lady Revenger returns from the fire
I started this because I recognized the ML on the poster. With only 4 episodes watched, I like the direction this drama is taking. I hope they can keep up the pace. Now this story of revenge (rebirth) has a face change similar to that of In bloom. The main difference (besides the plot and characters etc.) is that Lady Revenger explained how all this face changing was possible and attempted to explain how one woman became the other.
The story is about Luo Ai Lian who, through her “second” mother, half-sister and second uncle, was “killed” so that they would take over the family business. During her escape, after suffering 2nd degree burns to her face and neck, she was rescued by Shen Zi Shan. In this medical “residence”, Shen Zi Shan has his sick sister whom he was trying to cure. However, the doctor tells her that her sister can no longer be saved and the only way was to transplant another girl’s beating heart. Well… his sister dies, and in order to prevent his father from dying of grief, he decided (along with the doctor) to transfer Shen Dan Qing’s face onto Luo Ai Lian. This served two purposes, keeping his sister “alive” and also hiding Luo Ai Lian’s true identity.
This story setup is not without its flaws, but at least in its “rebirth” it gained new abilities that made its original form physically stronger. Now, I don’t know how many martial arts one can learn from scratch…so I’m just going to assume that she was a quick learner and very determined. I mean, she even learned to “draw” like Shen Dan Qing.
With only 4 episodes, we haven’t really seen much of the ML and most of the story is still focused on FL’s revenge plan, which isn’t really a plan yet. Above all, she is the one who seizes every opportunity she can. Xu Cheng Feng is a general who keeps meeting her. I can’t wait to see how this story develops.
That’s the main thing this week. The only other show I completed was Unknown. I’m happy that the story ended well, that everyone got what they wanted. And the family unit is growing. The other show I watched (this one with my husband) is the Netflix series Kill Eve. There are currently 4 seasons, and we’ve only gotten through 2. The story is quite interesting… about a bored agent who is fascinated by female assassins, and female assassins who have fallen in love with the woman who tries to “catch” him. Season 1 ended with the agent stabbing the assassin and season two ends with the assassin shooting the agent. This is by no means a healthy relationship 😉. We hope everyone finds something interesting to watch in the coming week!