I started In Blossom with a little hesitation - Ju Jingyi's (JJY) last few shows have been quite underwhelming with all the dangling hair bits. I absolutely enjoyed her performance in Yunxi (and even in In a Class of Her Own) but everything else has been quite lacklustre. Nonetheless, beneath all the focus on beauty, I do think Ju Jingyi has potential, and I have been waiting for her to pull another Yunxi. Is her performance in In Blossom as good as Yunxi? I would say it's much better than everything else she has done recently - I can see the effort she has put in, and I hope that she would pick better projects that allow her to go beyond her comfort zone

That being said, I wish to state this- focusing on JJY alone (with the criticism of her makeup and all) takes away from a very solid original story. Yes, In Blossom starts with another actress and then JJY takes over- the other actress was very good but JJY was by no means bad. I found her chemistry with Liu Xueyi to be very good, and one of the things that I really loved was the love story - the love and respect that the two characters had for each other, particularly Pan Yue's devotion towards Yang Caiwei. This was a slow burn love story - Pan Yue's childhood love and his early marriage to Yang Caiwei (well, to Shangguan Zhi in reality) was borne out of his commitment towards her. However, as we watch the interactions of the two, a true love story emerges - out of a deep understanding and mutual respect. It was a joy to watch these two develop their feelings for each other.

While I enjoyed the love story, the greatest pull was the plot - an original story, very well crafted (although by no means perfect) with some really enjoyable and unpredictable cases which our leads work on. I even shed a tear or two over these cases, with great performances by several guest actors. These cases made the show very engaging - individual cases interwoven into a larger one. The characters were very well-written and acted, and while some actions may not have had much sense I can see why they headed in that direction. Yang Caiwei/Shangguan Zhi is an intelligent woman, although she is no martial artist, and it's enjoyable to watch her crack these cases, together with Pan Yue.

That brings me to Pan Yue, acted perfectly by Liu Xueyi. I was delighted to see Liu Xueyi play this character, as the male lead, so different from the ones he has done in the past (he was brilliant as Wuxin in The Blood of Youth too, and in every role he has played including all the antagonists). Liu Xueyi's performance was nuanced (and I couldn't help saying aww many times he was on screen).

It would have been great to solve the face swapping issue - the show doesn't exactly explain how that happened. Nonetheless I have to say that this was one of the better shows this year - I highly recommend it, particularly for its cases. I greatly enjoyed the story and the beautiful cinematography, the acting and the OST. I happily rate it 8.6/10.