Sir, I don't understand why you're crying as you're the cause of your own misery.

Welcome to the discussion post for In the Name of Blossom (2025), season 2 of Flourished Peony (2024)! Find previous discussion posts here: Ep. 1-4, Ep. 5-8

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. Expect a post every 2-4 days.

Want to learn more about the show? Read the Masterpost.

🚨 PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS FOR ANYTHING BEYOND EPISODE 12 🚨

Discussion Questions

1. What did you think about these episodes?
2. What was your (least) favorite scene?
3. What theories do you have about what will happen next?
4. What questions do you have?

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Personal Thoughts & Musings

Alright, y’all. Fair warning, these last four episodes put me in a pissy mood. I’m going to try really hard not to shit on the scriptwriter but my patience is wearing thin with how they’ve handled Mu Dan and Jiang Chang Yang’s romantic storyline. There’s “slow burn” and then there’s “we need to add every conceivable conflict to extend this drama so we can get more ad revenue”, which is how it feels right now for me. 

Dear Chang Yang: You mean to tell me that after this woman helped you hide your little spy documents from your enemies in court, stuck her neck out to help you impress the foreign envoys with some horticultural witchcraft to prove the glory of this dynasty, sacrificed herself to protect you from a deadly poison--and ALL WITHIN THE SPAN OF TWO EPISODES, mind you--you're going to friend-zone her???

Mu Dan's face was my face in that rejection scene.

You love her, she clearly loves you, and your enemies know she's your weakness. So you're going to reject her, making it more likely that she moves far away from your trifling ass out of self-respect and self-preservation, making it harder for you two to strategize when she indeed becomes a target again, making it more likely that your enemies are going to use her as a bargaining chip to stamp out your important political goals...all as a way to supposedly "protect" her? And then you completely mishandle her desire for revenge against the man who murdered her mother? And the thing that gets me is that all this late stage conflict could have worked BUT the show either didn’t do due diligence with setting up the plot points or it tried to introduce it way too late in the narrative. For example:

When Pei Zhong threatens Chang Yang after attacking Mu Dan with “Everyone knows you are full of evil deeds and have enemies everywhere. Someone like you is destined to harm your wife and friends. Abandoned by all, you will live a lonely life”, IT MAKES SENSE that he’d reject Mu Dan’s heart and not make their fake relationship official so that she wouldn’t get ensnared in another plot against his life. HOWEVER, time and time again they show how fantastic they are at collaborating to solve each other’s problems, and more importantly, how are his enemies supposed to know he doesn’t care about her anymore? To quote a wise Tumblr user, “It's not like you live in the 2000s and you can change your Facebook status to: 'single'”

When Mu Dan finds out that her mother was murdered by Wu Hong and tries to seek revenge, IT MAKES SENSE that Chang Yang would want to stop her because the man is like quasi family to him via his dead mother. This would actually make a really compelling irreconcilable difference between the two. HOWEVER, the writing, particularly in this season, hasn’t emphasized how his mother’s death haunts him like Mu Dan’s mother does her so the emotional stakes feel unbalanced in the scene. Moreover, the idea that he wants her to end the cycle of vengeance could make sense but then the script doesn’t unpack how he’s also the same man that threatened to kill Pei Zhong for hurting Mu Dan. It’s not that the character writing is inconsistent but that the themes of vengeance vs. forgiveness haven’t been fleshed out. SIDE NOTE: That said, I love how the cinematographer had bamboo trunks separating Chang Yang and Mu Dan here. It's the first time they've truly been on opposite sides of a conflict and it appears in the visuals.

Finally, adding injury to insult, Episode 12 ends with Mu Dan accidentally stabbing him. I'm sorry how is this man speaking full sentences like she didn't just stab him in the chest???

Deep breath.

Anywho, let’s end this discussion post with some less annoyed musings and some prettiness:

Ancient porn never fails to make me laugh.

The set design in this drama continues to impress me. I gasped a few times during this scene and the royal banquet before

I respect your game, Mu Dan. Li Xian has great hands and I too would be feeling out his tiger's mouth.

At least the Emperor and Consort Shu were able to make some progress finally

Maybe Chang Yang you should just retire and become a high school theater director. You clearly have a flare for drama.

\"How could I hurt myself over someone like you?\" That was a BAR, Mu Dan.

The way this woman humbles herself for Liu Chang. Girl, find juicier motivations for your evil than this mediocre man.

Prince Ning better watch his back because this man is going to SNAP after his demotion.