Review: Blossoms of Power (2026) 百花杀
Summary: Zhaoning County Princess Shen Xi He (ft Meng Ziyi), is ambushed and killed but wakes up in her own body carrying the memories of Gu Qingzhi, the deceased wife of the Prince of Xin. Now with memories of both women, Shen Xi He arrives at the capital, using her betrothal as a political weapon to seize control of her own fate rather than be a pawn. She crosses paths with the frail but cunning Crown Prince Xiao Hua Yong (He Yu), who was poisoned as a child, and the two form an alliance, unraveling each other’s secrets as they take on the conflicts at court.
Platform: Tencent
Episodes: 36
Airing Date: July 9, 2026
Warnings – Mild violence, bloody scenes
Rating: 6.3/10 [After 20 episodes] – A female dominant costume drama with many familiar tropes. While there’s a solid world building foundation with decently interesting side characters, the wooden acting and lack of chemistry from the main couple and pacing issues prevent this drama from taking off.
Shen Xi He 沈汐和 Meng Zi Yi 孟子义
County Princess Zhao Ning, Daughter of the Duke of Wei
Xiao Hua Yong 萧华雍 He Yu何与
Crown Prince
Bu Shu Lin 步疏林 Fan Shuai Qi 范帅琦
Friend to Shen XI He, disguised as a man
Xiao Chang Qin 萧长卿 Xu Zheng Xi 徐正溪
Prince of Xin
Overall Thoughts
In a sea of mediocre performing summer Chinese dramas where audiences are just not turning up to watch, it moved to the top of the charts very quickly after airing. Comparatively, it was the best performing drama for the middle of July in China. But that doesn’t make this a big “hit.” It has breached 28,000 on Tencent’s popularity index and that looks to be about its peak, as it is now overtaken by Zhang Ling He’s new drama. From a pure numbers perspective, this drama has done decently, but not great by any means. Not a whole lot of trending topics on Weibo for this show and the CP “Ship” hasn’t really taken off.
The problem is, Blossoms of Power is quite reminiscent of Meng Zi Yi’s primary hit Blossom, or 九重紫. It’s another rebirth story, but this time, instead of reliving her entire life, her character imbues the combined souls of 2 people to absolutely dominate at court and be that 大女主 or Strong Female Lead. Unfortunately, this rebirth trope is played out and Blossoms of Power pales in comparison to Blossom. From what I’ve read and seen, people are comparing Blossoms of Power to Blossom and then just dropping it.
This is a drama where you literally cannot think too hard about the plot. When the story moves at a super fast pace and the leads are fighting corruption, or fixing injustice? This is passable. But when you think too hard about the motivations of the characters, why certain plot points happen etc, that’s when the drama falls apart.
More problematic is the poor acting and lack of chemistry between the two leads. Meng Zi Yi and He Yu often look like they’re talking AT each other and just going through the motions to recite lines. There isn’t that spark at all in their eyes. And, a lot of the attraction from the main male lead’s part is monologued his way through to convince the audience and him why he likes the female lead. Which makes it a little less convincing…
What this means is that for once, I’m more interested in the side characters as opposed to the main couple. Xu Zheng Xi’s Prince of Xin acted circles around the main leads, and the separate romance with Bu Shu Lin and Cui Jin Bai was a LOT more entertaining.
I gave it a solid 20 episodes and then gave up. There were moments that I actually enjoyed of the story, but on the whole, this was not great.
What Suffered
The Drama Skips the Groundwork and Expects You to Buy the Payoff
Shen Xi He’s motivation: This revived “Shen Xi He” is not like other rebirth dramas where the main lead literally dies and time reverses. Here, the female lead drowns, and then her soul looks to be combined with both Shen Xi He’s soul and the 3-year-deceased Gu Qing Zhi, wife of the Prince of Xin. But when she wakes up, she has the memories of Shen Xi He, yet her personality is now largely Gu Qing Zhi with her fragrance making skills as well.
Ok, fine. But, I don’t understand what the primary motivation is for this new Shen Xi He. In almost all prior such tropes, like Ashes to Crown and Blossom, the main female lead is killed and she comes back with a vengeance, trying to change fate, etc. But here, no one royally hurt Shen Xi He, or at least from what we see on screen, and Gu Qing Zhi actively chose to die 3 years ago. So I’m not sure why she comes back guns blazing. Seems like her motivation is literally just to not live her life as a pawn and with that newfound power make Shen Xi He’s life easier. Ok? So why is she literally going around with a scorched earth attitude and punishing the crap out of people.
Yea, it’s super satisfying, and I’m not saying it’s not entertaining… but why??? I read somewhere it’s that you didn’t see her suffer first to understand her motivation for revenge. And I think that’s exactly it. You hear monologues of how this person impacted her mother or what not, but none of that happened to her directly. So you don’t really get the satisfying feeling of bringing someone down because you weren’t impacted by that person.
In this life, I have no idea why Shen Xi He is so angry and attacking everyone. Nor do I understand why Gu Qing Zhi is so upset. Her entire family is dead. So for the two souls combined into one – so what is this new Shen Xi He’s motivation?
It just feels like this is a 大女主 or girlbossdrama because the source novel and the genre demand one and not because Shen Xi He’s story actually earns it. She goes scorched-earth on people because that’s what a 大女主female dominating lead does, not because we’ve seen a reason for her to. I didn’t read the book the drama was based off of but it feels like this drama tried to check the box and have you accept it without building the character underneath. That’s the real problem with this drama’s 人设: it’s not that Shen Xi He is badly written in a vacuum, it’s that she’s executing an aesthetic she was never given the motivation to actually earn.
The main romance: Do I just have a heart of stone or something? For the life of me, I do not understand where a lot of the attraction for the main female lead comes from. The 9th prince, the Prince of Lie, falls in love with her in the first 2 episodes just because she saves him, and we have that slow-motion camera movement again. Ok whatever.
For most of the attraction coming from He Yu’s Crown Prince, the phrase that came to mind was 莫名其妙, as in, totally random/weird. It’s almost as though he willed himself into liking her just because she’s the female lead, and not because there’s real chemistry or attraction. He pretty much monologues his way into liking her. At one point he says that a love-addled crown prince is the best cover, and then the next moment he is actually head over heels in love with her? Where did that come from? Same problem as the revenge plot: the drama wants you to feel the payoff without ever earning it. If just accept that? It seems cute. But otherwise, I’m like…what???
Wooden Acting From the Leads → No Chemistry
What kills me is that I feel like I could’ve forgiven a lot of the weaknesses in the story and motivation if there was better acting from the main leads. The characters of the Crown Prince and Shen Xi He for the most part are fine as is. Unfortunately, He Yu doesn’t seem to have the capability to bring out the depth and nuance of a character like the Crown Prince and Meng Zi Yi seems to be acting like this is just a paycheck for her. In many of their scenes, it just feels like they’re talking AT each other, or just reciting lines and getting it over with. Meng Zi Yi stares with her giant eyes at her co-stars or the camera with very little change in facial features. Most of the work is actually done by the voice dubs to add that emotional nuance, as well as the background music to add swells and intensity. But from the actors themselves? Very little.
What this also means is that the leads had absolutely NO chemistry in this drama. I understand that the characterization is that she’s cold-hearted and walled off her emotions, but there’s no sexual tension between them at all. Most of the romance is done by the Crown Prince but again, through plot devices, not necessarily by acting. I’m now tempted to go back to watch Jiu Chong Zi or Blossom to see why I don’t feel the urge to “chase” this and figure out what the problem is in the lack of CP or chemistry.
Pacing Problems
The drama’s best moments were actually when a big conflict arises that Shen Xi He and/or the Crown Prince has to solve. Whether that’s a corruption case, trying to establish authority in a household, figuring out who sent assassins, etc. That’s the “shuang ju,” the satisfying moments that come to play. The first 4-5 episodes move at a really brisk pace and it was actually a breeze to watch, BECAUSE of how fast-paced everything moves.
BUT that comes with its own problems because they move SOOOO fast that it’s almost blink and you miss it. It’s like Boom Boom Boom, conflict then badass resolution. A million things happen in half an episode. Which is okaayy to watch and not pay attention. However, this means that many characters come and go so quickly (they may only have 1 episode of screen time) that you forget who or what they were doing in the first place, which really undermines many emotional beats of the story as a whole because you don’t build a relationship to the characters.
And then, the romance parts of the drama are SIGNIFICANTLY slower paced vs. the problem-solving piece of the show. So you’re gallivanting at a super fast pace to solve a problem, then BAM, you hit a wall. That really detracts from the experience of the show. It’s also made worse because the leads can’t act, and I just wanted to fast forward their scenes together. Lol.
What I Liked
Overall World Building and characterization.
There are a LOT of characters in this drama and surprisingly, most of them are actually quite well rounded or there’s a good amount of depth to them. Despite criticizing Shen Xi He’s motivation earlier on, I didn’t mind her as a character. She had a well rounded family and could carry on on her own. The Crown Prince as well, his motivations were quite clear. The myriad of princes are unique enough and even many of the secondary characters have interesting side stories to help build a deep world with which to engage with this drama. I just wish there was more time given to some of the different characters because again, due to pacing issues, you meet them for a hot second and then forget them because the story moves somewhere completely different.
Xu Zheng Xi’s Prince of Xin
UGH if only he was a few years younger. He should’ve been the lead. Out of everyone on screen, he is actually doing his job and ACTING. You feel his love for his departed wife, his devotion to her, his elation and overwhelming emotion at figuring out she could be alive again. See how his eyes well up with tears as he interacts with Shen Xi He. Meng Zi Yi doesn’t respond in kind to that level of acting and is instead quite wooden.
What bothered me for quite a long time in the show is they don’t explain why Shen Xi He (the deceased Gu Qing Zhi) never loved the Prince of Xin. The drama finally does after 15+ episodes, but until then, I was super confused because the Crown Prince was basically glued to Shen Xi He to help build attraction. I didn’t understand why Gu Qing Zhi didn’t find attraction to the Prince of Xin’s devotion as well. For me, this goes back to pacing issues of the drama.
Xu Zheng Xi was actually in a drama as the male lead with Meng Zi Yi a few years back called Royal Rumors. I feel like they had more chemistry and fun in that show.
Other Side characters
For once, there are side plots and characters that I was more interested in. I wanted more screen time with Xu Zheng Xi’s the Prince of Xin because he actually acted, but I also found Bu Jia Lin and Cui Jin Bai’s romance absolutely adorable. Their interactions felt wayyy more natural than the main leads and I was always happy to see them on screen at first teasing and annoying each other and then seeing Bu Jia Lin freak out when Cui Jin Bai declares feelings.
Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised by the female lead’s younger sister. She had confidence and a moral compass that was quite powerful and was not willing to subject herself to the affections of the second prince (who was also a decent actor). She knew her place and didn’t try to cause trouble for her older sister. That was a breath of fresh air.
And how could I forget the Shen Xi He’s father, the Duke of Wei, played by He Ren Dong. He only had an episode or two of screen time in the first 20 episodes but he was absolutely hilarious. My first belly laughs really came from him for this show. But man, it just made me appreciate all the actors I grew up watching 10-15 years ago vs the leads now.
Let's Talk He Yu
I’m sorry but He Yu is simply NOT fit for costume dramas or 古装剧. Say what you will about Yang Yang, but his 仪态, his posture, and how he carries himself, is fantastic. It’s upright and straight, the standard for how a lead should carry himself in this type of costume drama. He Yu doesn’t clear that bar. My 2 big issues with him: he doesn’t stand straight, particularly his neck. if you notice, most of the time, his neck is tilted forward. Even compared to many other princes in THIS drama, he feels a lot more 吊儿郎当 or sloppy, not befitting of a crown prince. And second. Can he PLEASE close his freaking mouth?? Why does he have his mouth hanging open most of the time? He looks like a freaking goldfish when he does that. It’s suuuper distracting because it’s also very evident that his voice dub is CLOSING his mouth during his speech, but He Yu’s mouth is still agape. Ugh.
I dropped it at Ep 18 for the same reason—the main couple’s acting just felt too flat. He Yu did the smitten prince part really well, but I couldn’t see any of the other layers of what was supposed to be a complex character beyond his fondness for the FL. And the FL just seemed to stare blankly through everything. Ugh. I really tried, but I had to drop it.
I completely agree with this review. My biggest problem is that the “two souls in one body” premise is never made emotionally meaningful. Shen Xihe supposedly carries Gu Qingzhi’s memories, personality, skills, and past attachments. Yet even during the final confrontation with Gu Qingshu Gu Qingzhi’s half-sister and last surviving relative, the drama gives her almost no visible grief or emotional conflict. She reacts like a detached strategist eliminating yet another enemy. If she is going to think and behave exactly like Shen Xihe, then what was the point of merging their souls in the first place? She feels less like a human being and more like a robot programmed to outsmart everyone.
The drama also keeps introducing potentially interesting supporting characters, only to kill them off or discard their storylines before they can develop as if the writers are clearing the stage so that everything can revolve around Shen Xihe. Even the dancer’s feelings for the Sixth Prince could have become a moving subplot, but she disappears almost immediately.
The Crown Prince’s color blindness is handled in the same careless way: it is introduced as something significant, and then he suddenly sees colors again when the plot needs him to. The drama moves quickly, but fast pacing is not the same as good storytelling. It repeatedly skips the emotional consequences that would make any of these events matter.