In Blossom (2024)

Diluido.

Debo empezar la reseña con una confesión: nunca imaginé que iba a ver un drama de Ju Jing Yi de principio a fin. La verdad es que tenía razón en evitarlos, peeeero este rol no era demasiado exigente lo que la lleva a tener menos chances de fallar. La verdad es que fue un aditivo a pesar de ser la protagonista principal ya que la trama era interesante y se vio atravesada por ella sin pena ni gloria. Literal. Su rango actoral es ínfimo, poco variado, no se llega a meter en personaje, las expresiones no concuerda con todo lo que está pasando y se encuentra limitada a verse bien en cámara y nada más.

Spoilers a partir de acá.

Hay varias cosas que me parecen desaciertos totales a la hora de contar la historia.

Primero: si me vas a dar realismo mágico, dame realismo mágico. Tenemos en 32 capítulos solo dos episodios de realismo mágico: cuando Shangguan Zhi hace el ritual para cambiarse al cuerpo de Yang CaiWei y Sheng Ci que se "comunica" con los animales. Ambos casos están escuetamente desarrollados (nunca vemos el ritual o a Sheng Ci comunicandose) así que te lo cuentan los personajes mientras hablan del caso lo cual le deja un gusto medio a nada a los hechos. "Bueno, agregamos esto de que la protagonista cambia de cuerpo para hacerlo más interesante y estamos". Son maneras de contar las cosas que vacían de sentido a la trama. Al final siento que fue una excusa para cambiar a la protagonista principal y ya. Sobretodo porque cuando se devela que en el cuerpo de Shangguan Zhi está Yang CaiWei, todos se quedan como "ah bueno, piola". Hola???? Ninguna repercusión¿¿¿¿¿??? Cuando se lo dicen al hermano de SGZ el tipo se enoja pero al capítulo siguiente lo tenés colaborando con el protagonista principal. FLACO MATARON A TU HERMANA. Y cuando se revela en el juicio, todos los que están presentes también lo aceptan y ya. O sea les chupa un huevo que les mientan en la cara o no tienen miedo de que una loca de mierda venga y les robe la identidad. Es todo muy wtf. A la única que le importo era a la sirvienta de SGZ que se dió cuenta al toque y celebró que su Ama ya no la trataba mal. El premio a la vara baja.

Segundo: que pérdida enorme para la profundidad de la trama no haber contado más sobre Bai XiaoSheng (PJ-Femenino) ni la relación de Pan Yue(PJ-Principal) con su madre. Le ponés al personaje femenino secundario una historia de superación tremenda y nunca la contás en detalle, no me decís como es que su pasado afecta a su presente, ni como en consecuencia se relaciona con su entorno. La mina vivió una infancia rodeada de recaudadores de deuda porque su madre era adicta al juego, después me decís que la madre la vendió a un chabón con guita, tenés el tupé de comentarme al pasar que la mina se escapó para juntar plata y pagar por su libertad Y NADA DE TODO ESTO LA AFECTA??? Tenemos pequeñas ventanas a su trauma nada más, como que la chabona estafa gente para acumular guita y se siente tocada cuando el segundo protagonista dice que confía en ella, pero ya. Después nos muestran a quien la compró cuando era chica solo para ser rescatada por el segundo protagonista y así darle a ella otro motivo para enamorarse y listo. Ahí queda durante toda la serie. Encima Wu Jia Yi actuó re bien. Haganme el favor de darle más diálogo y aprovechen que tienenuna buena actriz con un personaje super complejo. Pero no.

Y pasó lo mismo con lo de Pan Yue y el suicidio de su madre respecto a que él era en realidad un hijo ilegítimo del matrimonio porque la esposa había engañado al padre. Tenemos una sola escena donde al tipo le da un ataque de /algo/ por recordar una escena de su pasado pero esto solo sirve para que la protagonista ponga ojitos tristes y diga "uh bueno al final no superó esto que sucedió, quizá no deba desconfiar de él" Y YA ESTÁ. LISTO. FLACO SE SUICIDA TU VIEJA POR RUMORES Y SIENDO DETECTIVE NO SE TE OCURRE, NO SÉ, DESMENTIRLO? No, lo primero que haces en un lugar de poder es ir a buscar a la pibita con la que el emperador te matcheó cuando tenías 13 años así te casas. Al final al pibe lo único que le importaba era ponerla.

Tercero: Innecesaria la muerte de Zhuo Lan Jiang. Super innecesario. Retomo un poco del segundo punto respecto a este personaje. Nos lo presentan primero como un don nadie que es salvado por la protagonista femenina y después como un Joven Señorito de una organización criminal. Hay un salto enorme entre esas dos personalidades, sean amables y desarrollen un poquito más. Se la pasa en contra de una organización (Water-no-recuerdo-qué) pero medio a la mitad de la serie esa organización desaparece/se fusiona con otra, es medio confuso. Se entera de traiciones, ve morir al padre, se escapa a la capital a vengarse se garcha a Bai XiaoSheng y se muere. Siento que quisieron hacer un personaje medio misterioso o frío, pero chanchero y se les mezclaron los tantos. Terminaron con un personaje super dulce que no termina de mostrarse herido ni decidido. Como todos los demás sigue la corriente de la trama y ya. Tenían mucho más para explorar ahí.

La cinematoagrafía está interesante, buen ritmo visual, decisiones que enaltecen a la trama. A veces siento que fallaba el manejo de luz pero en líneas generales 10/10.

Siento que todo eso que eligieron no contar terminó en diluir una trama que de por sí era super interesante, con personajes que podrían haberse complejizado y desaprovechando a los 3/4 de actores que estaban a la altura de los papeles que interpretaban. Me gustó, es entretenida. Seguiré de cerca los pasos de Wu Jia Yi.

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Your Inner Beauty Speaks to Me

Face swap. Murder investigations. Blossoming romance. Gothic cinematography. These are the four ingredients that create this stunning drama. The story is about the female lead who has a scar on her face. On her wedding day, a beautiful and obsessed woman swaps her face with the female lead, in order to marry her husband (the male lead). But ends up being killed the same day. With a new face and body, the female lead begins to investigate her death in the sinful city, alongside her husband who doesn’t know her true identity.

It’s important to mention that the first two episodes are unusual as they give all the screen time to the guest actress who portrays the original body of the female lead (scar face). This is a great exposition in establishing the relationship between the main leads and enhancing their love story. However, the drawback is that when the main actress shows up at episode three, it feels a little off and it takes a few episodes to get used to seeing the same character portrayed by someone else. (I discuss more about this below).

The biggest highlight for me is the wonderful writing of the male lead who truly makes us all believe that he falls in love with the female lead’s personality and that no matter what face or body she possesses, he will always choose her and love her unconditionally. I loved seeing their blossoming romance, which was kind of slow burn but more like steadily built up in a realistic and mature way.

What truly surprised me in this drama is the intricate murder investigation cases which felt real, raw and well developed. They had the right amount of mystery and cool twists to keep the audience engaged. They never felt like filler scenes as they always connected to the main conflict of the plot. The fact is that I absolutely loved the cases despite being someone who rarely watches investigation dramas or even likes them.

MAIN CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Pan Yue (male lead) is written to perfection. You cannot not fall in love with him. He puts personality above looks. He is a great fighter, great poet and probably great lover (hello kiss scenes). The actor Liu Xue Yi has such a strong on-screen presence, he is smoking hot and totally underrated. His character felt well developed especially in showing how he falls in love with the female lead. Perhaps his only flaw is that he might be too perfect but I ain’t complaining.
- Yang Cai Wei / Shangguan Zhi (female lead) is shown as strong-willed, brave, intelligent with a unique forensic skill. My only issue with the way the character is written is the slight inconsistency of her personality after her face is swapped (I’ll discuss in more detail the negative points below). The main actress Ju Jing Yi was fantastic in her role and especially her acting impressed me massively when she portrayed the villain in the first two episodes. I feel she did really well in playing two distinctly different characters and I was easily convinced of the face swap.

POSITIVE:
- Blossoming romance that’s built well and steadily (like a mature and realistic relationship).
- Devilishly handsome male lead with strong on-screen presence.
- Dark and mysterious murder cases that are well written and show the brutality of humanity.
- Male lead falls in love with the female lead’s personality, not her physical looks.
- Smart female lead with unique forensic skills.
- Hot shirtless scenes (yes I said it).
- Hot kiss scene (one but worth the watch).
- Perfect balance between the romance story and the investigation plot. I never felt one overpowered the other.
- Gothic and sexy cinematography.
- Liu Xue Yi (male lead) brilliant acting in every possible way. The way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he walks. He is simply captivating to watch.
- Ju Jing Yi (female lead) portrays two characters beautifully. Her villainous role, although short, is a total scene stealer.
- Engaging and well executed plot.
- Beautiful OST.
- Great support cast and guest actors that stand out with their acting.
- Nice push and pull dynamic between the leads (at the start).

NEGATIVE:
!!! No drama is without flaws and although there are negative points here, none of them took away from my enjoyment. The main issue I had was how the face swap was handled at the beginning of the drama.

- The drama gives all the screen time in the first two episodes to the guest actress (who portrays the original female lead) which creates an awkward emotional bond with the audience when she is suddenly replaced by the main lead at episode three (after the face swap). In terms of the love story, this is great as it emphasised the male lead’s love for the female lead and clearly showed the audience that he did not fall in love with her because she suddenly had a nice face and body. However I feel the actual female lead JJY suffered since the audience had to get used to seeing the same character as her. What would have made it better is, if they had started the drama with JJY (as the villain) and given her more screen time to establish her as the main lead.
- The actual face swap remained a mystery in the whole drama. It was never explained how it was done. In fact it felt very unrealistic that the characters kept referring to it as a face swap when it is very clear that the two actresses have different body types, weight and skin tone. I feel it would have been better if they had chosen an actress similar to JJY or just called it a body/soul swap.
- Personality switch. The original YCW (main character) is shown as mature, calm and level-headed but after the face swap she oddly becomes extremely carefree as SZ. We are told that the character is trying to pretend to be SZ but even when she is alone, we don’t really see her as the original YCW from the first two episodes. Having said that, in the later episodes and especially when her identity is revealed, her personality does appear very similar to the original YCW. So I do blame the writers for this inconsistency. I believe the reason they made her carefree after the switch was to give us light-hearted scenes (especially with the male lead) which meant they sacrificed logic for cuteness.
- Although the drama wraps up well and resolves the main conflict related to the leads, it still leaves it open for a second season. But we all know chinese dramas rarely do second seasons so I kind of wish the last 10 seconds of the drama were cut.

OVERALL:
This is the Best 2024 Historical drama for me so far. Even better, it’s the best 2024 drama for Youku so far too. It has gathered millions of views with a 10,000 heat index by day three of its release. In fact, it became such a huge success that Youku upgraded it to S+ treatment (promotion and live events). I’m very much impressed by what the production has done with an A level (low budget) drama.

If you are looking for a drama with blossoming romance, murder investigations, beautiful gothic cinematography with smart and skillful main leads + a male lead who falls for the female lead’s personality not her looks, watch this drama now.

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