Blossoms in Adversity / Xī Huā Zhǐ/惜花芷 is the story of superwoman Hua Zhi's feel-good romp through feudal China. When Imperial Censor Hua dares to criticize the monarch, he is exiled along with all the men in his family. A bevy of helpless women and young children are left to fend for themselves. Hua Zhi takes charge and rallies the women together to triumph against overwhelming odds. When she flexes her buns of steel, no feat is beyond Hua Zhi! She parleys a candied hawthorn business into a pastry and restaurant empire, picks up stray royal children, foils a few palace plots, build schools and a canal, rescues the Hua family men and even manages to find time to fall in love! All in the space of a 2-3 years!!! Phew! Even superwoman would surely stagger from sheer exhaustion!

This narrative paints a distressing picture of how oppressive life was for women in hierarchical ancient Chinese patriarchal society. The best part of this drama is how in order to survive, the women defy social conventions, set aside petty differences, learn to trust each other and work together towards shared goals. While the sheer scale of their financial and other achievements are preposterous, there is something very cathartic and satisfying about how flamboyantly they flourish. The storytelling is squarely centered on Hua Zhi and speeds through many of the supporting character arcs, leaving their motivations and struggles under-developed. This is a pity because family dramas like this are most compelling when important supporting characters are given enough agency to be the main characters of their own arcs.

This is one of those dramas that is best enjoyed superficially and with heavy suspension of disbelief. Upon closer scrutiny, the overarching empowerment theme is contradicted by some of the sub-plots. I was disturbed by the different treatment of domestic abuse in Hua Jing and Hua Xian's case. But what I disliked most was what happens to Hua Rong and her child. It is as if she learned nothing from her family's struggles about resilience in the face of adversity. There are a few poorly developed sub-plots like this that the writers raced through without thinking carefully about the messaging.

As much as I like Zhang Jingyi, this is not her best role. Her interpretation of Hua Zhi is too perfect, too calm, too understanding and too reasonable. This has led to many Mary Sue comments about the character. But Hua Zhi is actually written to have many flaws - she can be over confident, she cannot mind her own business, she is reckless and like her grandfather, she cannot hold her tongue. In the canal arc, she is the architect of her own downfall but because everyone unites around her, she never suffers any consequences for her actions. This character has too much plot armor and is already so smart and capable that she shows virtually no growth from beginning to end.

Hua Zhi's relationship with Gu Yanxi is similarly whitewashed to the extent that it appears too ideal to be true; it lacks passion, conflict and intensity. Hua Zhi lets Gu Yanxi off too easily for deceiving her in the beginning when any normal person would be at least a little bit angry at him. She also never communicates any discomfort with his role at the Security Bureau; indeed she seems quite happy to use his authority there to serve her purposes. Thus, it came as much as a surprise to me as it must have to Yanxi that it could be a deal breaker for her! So much for their so called mature, open and communicative relationship! I don't know why young actors like to make their characters so perfect all the time and have such a hard time embracing more complex but perfectly natural human relationship dynamics and emotions.

Hu Yitian delivers a more nuanced portrayal of Gu Yanxi as the emperor's sharpest knife. His fight scenes are phenomenal and he is menacing and ruthless as the commander. He shows us he is a different person; more open, at ease and happier when he is with Hua Zhi. While this is one of Hu Yitian's better roles to date, he shies away from showing us the true extent of his affection for the emperor and his inner conflict. This is a missed opportunity because Hai Yitian delivers a compelling portrayal of the lonely, paranoid and manipulative emperor. Because Hu Yitian's portrayal of Gu Yanxi does not meet him halfway, the emperor's affection for his nephew comes across as borderline obsessive and a lot more one sided than it really is.

Even though it seems her character Shaoyao is dumbed down from the novel, Lu Yuxiao is once again a scene stealer in this drama. This kind of beguilingly innocent, simple minded savant kind of character is extremely difficult to portray well but Lu Yuxiao pulls it off brilliantly. She doesn't get enough screen time to steal the show but I was more invested in her character than I was in Hua Zhi who is too perfect to be relatable.

The ending of this drama really cracked me up. It is one of the few times that the villain actually saves the day by doing what Hua Zhi and Gu Yanxi could never have done. Although it is also possible that Gu Yanxi learned his lesson not to look for needles in hair stacks and had the good sense to show up a just a tad late at the ceremony. Despite some flaws, this is a very appealing feel-good drama for those seeking light entertainment. My rating 8/10.