‘Blossoms in Adversity’: Ep. 1 Run-down — Sensible Blossoms, Hopefully

Honestly speaking, a lot of forgettable things happen in the first episode of Blossom in Adversity. The objectives the drama’s going for are: a capable and smart female lead, and a mysterious male lead. At the end of the episode, I would say that neither has been achieved.

But that is not at all a bad thing, because that’s how most dramas are like when they start out too. I was just hoping that after such a long period of making historical dramas, the industry would have come up with something a little more creative.

On the bright side, the female protagonist is quite likeable so far.

EPISODE 1 RECAP

A ship is caught in a storm, a huge, Davy-Jones-level storm that should have sunk this ship a long time ago, but it still prevails.

A man is writing inside the captain’s cabin and only stops when the ship rocks and his stuff fall off the desk.

They all run out to help keep the ship steady, but it seems like none of them knows what to do, they’re heading towards what looks like a maelstrom and the ship can’t be stopped.

At this time, a little girl starts climbing the mast while the men below watch.

I don’t know what her plan is but she just cuts the sails off and the next thing we know, they’re sailing on calm sea again. I mean… I still don’t get it, but ok. What we’re supposed to take away from this scene is that the little girl is brave and resourceful while all the grown… experienced seamen around her are useless.

The little girl grows up to be our female lead — Hua Zhi.

She had been arranged to marry a man from a suitable family. She accepts that arrangement but isn’t happy about it, of course. And she deals with this by not caring about the guy she’s marrying.

One day, she and her maid best friend are strolling around town on a carriage when a group of officers suddenly start yelling and causing chaos, stomping on the city vendors’ stuff and everything.

They’re searching for some rebels, it seems, and Hua Zhi is caught in this messy business.

An officer demands that she step out of the carriage so he can interrogate her.

A man walks by, deems this improper, and pushes his way in to stop the officer from disrespecting her. Or at least he tries to.

The officer throws him to the side easily and almost has him arrested. I guess the chivalric act looked cooler in his head than in real life.

But worry not, another man appears from a corner of the road and goes in for the rescue. You can tell he’s the male lead because the camera zooms in on different parts of his face before showing us his whole face.

He looks like he just turned 18 yesterday. Or is it just the screen filter?

This man, too, is about to deal with the problem with brute. He seems to be more capable than the other dude. A series of “cool” actions happen but then Hua Zhi decides that she has had enough (of useless men doing things in slo-mo, I guess). She gets down from her carriage and starts talking to the officer.

First, she looks at the way the newcomer dresses, then she says her observations out loud. Because he wears this, he must be this. Because his hands have these marks, he must have done this. Because this, therefore that. And so on. It’s like watching a kid who had just read Sherlock Holmes trying to be Sherlock. But I agree, she seems to be the smartest one of the bunch in this scene.

The point is, Hua Zhi reminds the city officers that this man is from a Northern land that their kingdom does not want to mess with. So the officer has no choice but to bow to our super smart leading lady and let all of them go.

In the imperial court, a lot of things are being revealed, and it looks like Hua Zhi’s family is in some kind of trouble. The emperor is played by the actor who played the crown prince in Rise of Phoenixes. Same voice too.

I’m not sure why I associate his face with comedy when his character has a tragic end in Phoenix.

By the way, is there a reason for this scary mask this man has on?

PIC

Back at the Hua residence, the women are also having a gathering of their own. Lots of indirect insults and gossiping. You see that kid who’s eating her snack like she’s not listening to a word they’re saying?

Yeah, that’s me.

COMMENTS

Just kidding. I did listen to what they said in the scene. The point of their interactions is probably to show that these women are taking their privileged lives for granted.