Hello Lily! I feel I have so much to say that is such a disaster about the latter parts of the drama too. I felt the magic was lost around episode 19-20. That is definitely the halfway mark then. I was surprised considering the team's track record with the director and screen writer too, and it always baffles me when there's source material to really fine-tune it, but the mess up still happens somehow. I don't know if they just didn't know how to pace the story overall, and then the political arc was so messy. I felt it could have been written better. If I get around to writing my very long-winded essay about the drama, I will come back as well to complain. I still don't think the uncle did anything wrong if I looked at how things panned out. In another story, he'd be like a Mei Changsu from NIF.
I honestly think that Wei Yan could have been that character if more thought had been put into the last 12 or so episode. The show runners had other priorities I imagine. Nowadays I just feel like I'm not the target audience when the shortcomings are so egregious.
I felt like Wei Yan would have made a believable antagonist if they fleshed him out too. There were so many things that made him seem like a good person, like he had some really tough choices. But ultimately, even with everything and how people tried to explain to me that he's a villain, I absolutely disagree. So much character inconsistencies that just made it hard to believe.
I feel the show runners/team got lost more so. Like was it because they were so tired, all of them, that they just didn't care what the trajectory of the ending parts of the drama would be and carried on with their draft version. I don't think it's you not being the target audience, (am I too naive?) but more so, they're churning out more quantity instead of quality? I had high hopes for this drama, and it lived up to my high expectations in the first half of the drama. The latter parts really fizzled out and felt like a jumbled mess. I remember venting about 'Love Like the Galaxy' and even that fared a bit better than 'Pursuit of Jade' (POJ). The actors in POJ felt like overall they were equipped with acting skills compared to 'Blossom' for example. But if I had to weigh the two, despite the magic of POJ, Blossom would overall be the better drama in terms of overall storytelling. Which is so strange to say, considering what the GREAT potential of POJ had. I seriously felt they could have axed the 3rd couple in POJ (the princess and strategist) and used that to seriously give a more cohesive story overall. I've lots to say still but not enough time to write out my thoughts fully. Thank you for indulging though, Lily.
The reason why I said that I don't think I'm the target audience is the incredible popularity of the show at least as seen online. I'm still astonished at how the showrunners get a pass for the farce that is the last 10 episodes. I don't think I'm that critical a drama viewer -- I watch trashy micro dramas routinely -- but I do expect some effort in the writing of the politics in a higher budget mainstream drama with well-known actors. I don't really think I'm asking for much.
There's definitely a lot of wastage here. Characters like Wei Yan, who could have been a really compelling frenemy just fizzles out at the end. I agree with you that he doesn't come across as a villain. There's not enough to say one way or another. The ultimate enemy is meant to be Qi Min but even he is a non-event at the end. As I said in our podcast, I don't know why Gongsun Yin or the princess were even in this story. They added nothing of value to the larger story arc. There was some attempt to include them in the resolution but that came off hamfisted.
Hello Lily! I feel I have so much to say that is such a disaster about the latter parts of the drama too. I felt the magic was lost around episode 19-20. That is definitely the halfway mark then. I was surprised considering the team's track record with the director and screen writer too, and it always baffles me when there's source material to really fine-tune it, but the mess up still happens somehow. I don't know if they just didn't know how to pace the story overall, and then the political arc was so messy. I felt it could have been written better. If I get around to writing my very long-winded essay about the drama, I will come back as well to complain. I still don't think the uncle did anything wrong if I looked at how things panned out. In another story, he'd be like a Mei Changsu from NIF.
I honestly think that Wei Yan could have been that character if more thought had been put into the last 12 or so episode. The show runners had other priorities I imagine. Nowadays I just feel like I'm not the target audience when the shortcomings are so egregious.
I felt like Wei Yan would have made a believable antagonist if they fleshed him out too. There were so many things that made him seem like a good person, like he had some really tough choices. But ultimately, even with everything and how people tried to explain to me that he's a villain, I absolutely disagree. So much character inconsistencies that just made it hard to believe.
I feel the show runners/team got lost more so. Like was it because they were so tired, all of them, that they just didn't care what the trajectory of the ending parts of the drama would be and carried on with their draft version. I don't think it's you not being the target audience, (am I too naive?) but more so, they're churning out more quantity instead of quality? I had high hopes for this drama, and it lived up to my high expectations in the first half of the drama. The latter parts really fizzled out and felt like a jumbled mess. I remember venting about 'Love Like the Galaxy' and even that fared a bit better than 'Pursuit of Jade' (POJ). The actors in POJ felt like overall they were equipped with acting skills compared to 'Blossom' for example. But if I had to weigh the two, despite the magic of POJ, Blossom would overall be the better drama in terms of overall storytelling. Which is so strange to say, considering what the GREAT potential of POJ had. I seriously felt they could have axed the 3rd couple in POJ (the princess and strategist) and used that to seriously give a more cohesive story overall. I've lots to say still but not enough time to write out my thoughts fully. Thank you for indulging though, Lily.
The reason why I said that I don't think I'm the target audience is the incredible popularity of the show at least as seen online. I'm still astonished at how the showrunners get a pass for the farce that is the last 10 episodes. I don't think I'm that critical a drama viewer -- I watch trashy micro dramas routinely -- but I do expect some effort in the writing of the politics in a higher budget mainstream drama with well-known actors. I don't really think I'm asking for much.
There's definitely a lot of wastage here. Characters like Wei Yan, who could have been a really compelling frenemy just fizzles out at the end. I agree with you that he doesn't come across as a villain. There's not enough to say one way or another. The ultimate enemy is meant to be Qi Min but even he is a non-event at the end. As I said in our podcast, I don't know why Gongsun Yin or the princess were even in this story. They added nothing of value to the larger story arc. There was some attempt to include them in the resolution but that came off hamfisted.