Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #464

Anne: Hello Drama Lovers! Hope everyone had a good week last week and, at least, caught some interesting dramas. I've spent the last week binging watching a couple of shows to the end! (I have a patience problem with shows. I hate waiting.) In addition, I've started my next "house" project. Here are the bits and pieces that are currently completed.

Most of the prep work for the "stuff" are done, and I'm starting to put together the actual frame for the house. Now...if I can only make this in real life! (Truthfully, I don't know why I even want like a courtyard with plants/flowers and water features, since I'm allergic to pollen and I unintentionally kill living fauna.) 

Ok...enough of my hobbies outside of my work...let's wrap up my drama viewing of the week.

Blossoms in Adversity

I started this a little over a week ago, and swept right through all the episodes, which was a total of 40 in under 10 days. Yes, there was some FFing. My over all impression. I LOVE it! It's very cute, very sweet, and all the supporting characters made this show. It reminds me like 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, with the exception of the 6th prince. Like Galaxy, this is mostly 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 the FL's family numbers to grandparents, 4 uncles, 4 aunts, and at least 3 concubines (?) and I lost count of the nieces and nephews, not to mention the female personal servants to the women.  

The story is about Hua Zhi and how she carried her family through the turbulence of events that engulfed her family when the emperor took exception to her grandfather's criticism and accused them of colluding with the enemy. All the men, over 10 years old, were exiled to the north to work at some mining camp, and the women were kicked out of their home. Now, the only reason why the women didn't get sold was because Hua Zhi's grandmother was a close childhood friend of the dowager empress. And even the emperor need to give some leeway to the dowager. 

Now...to be clear, this entire story and all the "stuff" that happens is due to an emperor who wanted complete and total loyalty from everyone and everything. This is a ruler with almost no compassion, to the point that he "threw" away his youngest son because he wasn't what the emperor imagines a royal prince to be. There was only one person whom the emperor loved like a son, his nephew, the son of his brother who tried to overthrow the throne long before the drama began, Gu Yan Xi. For our ML, he regarded the emperor as his father, closer than his own father had ever been to him. Understanding this dynamic is the only way the audience can understand the things that Yan Xi did for his uncle. 

The cutest couple is Shen Huan, the younger brother of Hua Zhi's ex-finance (Shen Qi) and Shao Yao, Yan Xi's younger sister. These two are the cutest. That entire scene when 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 cannot cover them all. And each couple's story and each "marriage" was unique and entertaining in their own way. I really like this stories, where the plot moves into different directions with the supporting characters. There isn'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 in the poster. With only 4 episodes watched, I do like where this drama is going. I hope they can keep up the pace. Now, this story of revenge (rebirth) has a similar face switching thing as In Blossom. The main difference (besides the plot and characters, etc) is the Lady Revenger explained how this whole face switching thing was possible, and made an attempt to explain how one woman became the other. 

The story is about Luo Ai Lian who, through her "second" mother, one half sister, and her second uncle, was "killed" in order for them to take over her family's business. In her escape, after suffering from 2nd degree burns on her face and neck, she was rescued by Shen Zi Shan. At this medical "residence", Shen Zi Shan has her ailing sister whom he was trying to cure. However, the doctor tells him that his sister can longer be saved and the only way was to transplant the beating heart from another girl. Well...his sister dies, and in order to prevent his father from dying of heartache, he decided (along with the doctor) to transfer Shen Dan Qing's face on to Luo Ai Lian. This served two purposes, keeping his sister "alive" and also to hide the real identity of Luo Ai Lian. 

This story setup isn't without its flaws, but at least in her "rebirth" she gain some new abilities that made her original form stronger, physically. Now, I don't now how much martial arts that one can learn from scratch...so I'm just going to assume that she was a fast learner and very determined. I mean, she even learned to "draw" like Shen Dan Qing.

With only 4 episodes, we haven't really seen too much of the ML and most of the story is still focused on the FL's revenge plan, which isn't really much of a plan yet. It's mostly her taking whatever opportunities she can. Xu Cheng Feng is a general who keeps running into her. I'm looking forward to how this story will develop.

This is most of the it for this week. The only other show I've finished was Unknown. I'm glad that the story had a good ending, with everyone getting their heart's desire. And the family unit expands. The other show I've been watching (this one with my husband) is the Netflix series Killing Eve. There ware currently 4 seasons, and we've only gotten through 2 of them. The story is quite interesting...about a bored operative with a fascination for female assassins, and the female assassins who fell in love with the woman who is trying to "catch" her. Season 1 ended with the operative stabbing the assassin and the second season ends with the assassin shotting the operative. It's not a healthy relationship by any means 😉. Here's to wishing everyone find something interesting to watch in the coming week!