In the Name of Blossom (Flourished Peony S2): Ep. 1-4
Their little backyard chats soothe me.
Welcome to the discussion post for In the Name of Blossom (2025), season 2 of Flourished Peony (2024)!
NOTE: I'll try to upload a discussion post for every 4 episodes to give folks time to catch up according to the Viki airing schedule. What this means is I'll be posting every 2-3 days not everyday ☺️
Want to learn more about the show? Read the Masterpost.
🚨 PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS FOR ANYTHING BEYOND EPISODE 4 🚨
S1 Recap
If, like me, you have the memory of a goldfish and need a refresher of what happened in Season 1, check the recap at the beginning of Ep. 1. It’s relatively comprehensive for the purposes of this season. Still have questions about what happened in S1? Drop them in the chat!
Discussion Questions
- What did you think about these episodes?
- What was your (least) favorite scene?
- What theories do you have about what will happen next?
- What questions do you have?
My Personal Thoughts & Musings
- We’re back! There’s something about this drama that makes it so easy to return to even after some time away. Seeing Mu Dan, Jiang Chang Yang, Zhu Fu, Chuan Yu, etc. felt like catching up with old friends.
- The feminism! It was also great seeing that the drama still felt female-centric. I teared up a bit at Geng Chun’s impassioned speech to her father: "May I ask, Father, was my mother not virtuous enough? Where was her happiness? … You buried my mothers life. Are you now going to bury mine too?” Look, Flourished Peony can definitely get heavy handed with the female empowerment theme, BUT I'd argue one thing it does really well is give space for these historical women to vocalize how their oppression made them feel. The drama is not the typical revisionist story that asks "what would happen if a woman rejected all gender norms of the time?" but instead "what would happen if we actually empathized with what women had to say about their situation?" What could be if we cared about what enrages them, disappoints them, or destroys them? And in modern times like these where we constantly see women vote against their own sociopolitical interests, seeing these women fight not just for their own betterment but the betterment of the other women in their lives even if they don’t care for them (Lian Zhou babygirl I hope you see the light soon and start your own fashion company) feels even more necessary.
- The romance! I will always appreciate how Mu Dan and Chang Yang’s relationship is based on friendship and how the slow burn is lovingly crafted, but I need her to confront her feelings and not just brush them away. His pining is so obvious despite him trying to follow her lead to avoid crossing her boundaries that it’s starting to feel like a comedy skit when she keeps not “getting” it. I’m ok if she remains somewhat guarded and slowly throws out feelers but the self-awareness needed to happen yesterday. Side Note: Fu and Chuan Yu's budding relationship is cute but why do I get the feeling it will be doomed?
- The villains! I’m SO here for Liu Chang’s villain era. He always saw himself as a martyr but now he’s replaced his pity parties and obsession with explicit cruelty and delusions of grandeur. Him suggesting to kill Consort Shu in order to control the future Crown Prince with Prince Ning nodding approvingly? Cold.
- The villains Part 2! I've seen a few folks criticize that the first few episodes of this season felt like a rehash of last with Mu Dan (or really Geng Chun) being publicly accused of malpractice and I agree. Part of me wonders if that was the scriptwriter intentionally attempting to show how incessant but ineffectual Liu Chang and Princess Li’s harassment towards Mu Dan has been to contrast it with the higher stakes of involving the royals? It’s clear the Princess is tired and is somewhat wary of continuing to target Chang Yang so I wonder what will be her breaking point.
- And finally the production design has really been elevated this season! I can't wait for more scenes in the palace. Here are some of my favorite shots from these last four episodes:
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Posted Jul 3, 2025, 1:26 AM UTC
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