Wow! The perfect Season 2 of our beloved "Flourished Peony."
The story continues in the bustling city of Chang’an, where our heroine, He Wei Fang (Yang Zi), thrives as a hub of commerce and beauty. On Jiang Chang Yang's ( Li Xian) path to serving the country, He Wei Fang helps him, and the two ultimately profess their true feelings for each other, turning their fake marriage into a real one. Together, with friends and family (the great ensemble cast) they work to quell a national rebellion and restore harmony to the kingdom.
Here's what I enjoyed most...
**CAUTION: A LOT OF SPOILERS AHEAD.**
The leads truly opened their hearts and confessed their love for each other! It took nearly 70% of the series to get to the confession, but we were rewarded with a lot of heartwarming scenes afterward. The candles, the careless smooches, the fireworks, and the matching hair accessories were just what we needed. Although I was initially annoyed, I realized that if they had given us the confession at the beginning, we might have stopped watching. The tension in the story would have completely disappeared, so I understand why they stretched it out, even if it did lead to some frustrating misunderstandings between the couple. They were too smart for some of those misunderstandings!
The political plotline wrapped up with not just one, but two jaw-dropping showdowns between the prince, our flower envoy, and the emperor! The first showdown, which was the massacre during the induction ceremony of the new civil servants, was heartbreaking enough to make me stop watching for a couple of hours. The emperor's "I can't" sobs haunted me. The second showdown on the battlefield allowed me to forgive the writers for the lack of political intensity in part one of the series. Tu Song Yan really came through in this part of the drama; he was much more believable. There was ruthlessness, scheming, and sinister laughter highlighted by close-ups of his power-corrupted eyes. I forgot all about the endearing father from "Go Ahead."
Let’s not forget the emperor (Jeremy Qu)! We got some comedic and emotional scenes of him awkwardly trying to resolve his relationship issues with his favorite consort (Shen Meng Chen). I am so happy for them, although the empress seemed to disappear—where did she go? Wait... was there ever an empress or did I just assume?
There were some amazing emotional moments between what I would call our second lead couple. Miles Wei and Zhang Ya Qin delivered great performances that made me almost root for the most desperate toxic #cdrama couple I have ever seen! The ending they received was fitting, given that all the men in her life either enabled, used or failed her and he had racked up a lot of enemies using his royal father-in-law's schools of thought to climb those government career ladders.
The OSTs were amazing and well suited to the cinematography; I could listen to many of those songs on repeat for days.
Lastly, what about the General (Ni Han Jin)? Can he get his own spin-off? I would like to see him in a lead role.
You need to watch it, and when you do, tell me in the comments what your favorite moments were.
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