Real Life Fanny Price, Wannabe Jane Bennet

Dou Zhao comes into her second life with the knowledge that, in order to live a long and peaceful life, she cannot comply with the many people looking to oppress her - and she is also punished frequently for being capable and straightforward, whether framing Ying Xue out for poisoning her before she actually can do so, refusing to marry Wei Ting Yu, and spending her childhood being raised by her grandmother who, despite maintaining her own property, chose solidarity to her maidservant over her rapist husband; along with her friends that themselves buck convention - business-minded Susu being the main breadwinner for her family and bold Zhang Ru being so prized by her father that any potential husband would be expected to marry into their family. Zhang Ru's father is one of the few positively-portayed fathers in the narrative, the other being the Duke of Ding, both of whom stand up for their sisters against the betrayals of their husbands.

Susu prioritizes survival not in romance, but in her relationship with her family; she knows that, without her, they are not willing or capable to provide for themselves. Their survival overrides her own desires, with the implied 'reward' being that she marries for love - except she ends up with Song Han, an initially passive turned cruel person who refuses to understand the complexity of her feelings, and destroys his own family/their relationship because of his patriarchal values of entitlement and power through violent domination. Susu ends the show with one of the most politically-inclined characters at her side, having seemingly given up on marriage for the stability and support of trusted women in her life.

These values are present in many of the men of the series. Thus, Dou Zhao initially believes that marrying again would come at the cost of her freedom, and that love does not prevent betrayal. We know this is a logical conclusion, as we see that her mother and father's genuine relationship did not prevent him from cheating with Ying Xue; and that her main role model after her mother's death is that of her grandmother, who lives a peaceful and financially stable life only because of losing her relationship with the rest of her family.

Ming is doomed by the narrative because of her refusal to acknowledge the reality of her situation, assuming love will be enough to invalidate the consequences of class and gender politics. While she makes a bold decision to take DZ's place in the wedding, it results in severe abuse by her sister-in-law - which is initially dismissed by her husband due to misogynistic expectations that she must perform wifehood, that her sister-in-law is right to 'train' her to proper standards, and that as the outsider coming into a 'new' family she must suffer to earn respect. The consequence of a miscarriage is shrouded in gender politics - Ting Zhen bemoans that she wouldn't have been so harsh had she known it would have caused the death of 'her brother's first son'. Ming is encouraged multiple times by Dou Zhao and her mother, two characters who fully see her as human, to consider divorcing WTY. We even see Ying Xue give her a bracelet as an implied escape fund at the wedding. While everyone can easily see that Wei Ting Yu is an incapable life partner, it is the other women of the narrative who fully understand the potential consequence. But unlike Ying Xue, Dou Zhao offers support and solidarity to other women, following her grandmother's example.

Ying Xue weaponizes misogyny and its violent outcomes many times in the series - she tries to have her nephew rape Dou Zhao to force her into an honor-saving marriage, attempts to have her caught in a compromising position with Wei Ting Yu, and attempts to give Dou Zhao's money to placate the angry Ting Zhen with the full knowledge that it would leave Dou Zhao with no opportunity to marry a high-ranking (aka, safe and well-providing) partner in the future.

Ying Xue clearly demonstrates a clear awareness of her and her daughter's precarious situation, and sees her crueller actions (stealing her best friend's husband, commiting financial fraud for decades) as necessary in the same way as degrading her own status through selling soup earlier in life. Like several of the other villianous women in the series, she presents her case as ends justifying the means - to marry the man she loves, the first wife must get out of the way. This misogyny, prioritizing herself over others, is what dooms her to eternal unhappiness - instead of setting the bandits up to be caught by Wei Ting Yu, which would have ensured her daughter a well-respected husband and resolved her own problem, she sets them on the city in an attempt to rob and potentially murder Dou Zhao. In doing so, Ming dies for it. By taking the life of Ming's maidservant and surrogate mother to hide her crimes, she dooms herself.

The Empress is another character who prioritizes power at the expense of other women in the narrative, and is doomed for it. While the Emperor's betrayal of her is itself deeply misogynistic and the root of many of the show's problems, her manipulation of Su Yan and utilizing all of the capital women as hostages - despite a clear understanding that they are all in similar positions under the patriarchy - dooms her and her son's plot for the throne. Just as her husband assumes that, despite knowing how intelligent she is, that she would never be clever or direct enough to poison him, she herself assumes the other women of the narrative do not have complex motivations balancing love with intent to survive. Dou Zhao and Song Mo's anguished expressions of love are something to be mocked, despite the fact that they are the main couple of the show to care for and honor one another outside of the strict expectations of the patriarchal world. The Empress' masterplan appears much like trying to win a patriarchal prize, playing by patriarchal rules - but the fact is that a woman winning at patriarchy is still patriarchy and still requires disenfranchising women, especially those of the subjugated class - after all, who suffers most in times of war? Power over - who?

The Empress' granting of Song Mo's request, to allow Dou Zhao to reject marriage if she so desires, is a powerful moment in hindsight, because it shows what could have been. The Empress' power does exist within the story, and could have been used to better the situation of many other women who are forced into arranged marriages with dangerous or incapable partners.

Dou Zhao's father not only very obviously betrayed his first wife to serve his own desires; but also mistreated his mother for her leaving an abusive marriage, which is influenced by his father and brother's belief in men's entitlement at the expense of women's safety. He loses his daughter's respect because he does nothing to protect her from the long-term abuse and schemes of his second wife and brother, as he sees DZ largely as an extension of his own regret and shame over her mother's suicide. Him cheating with Ying Xue while he is in the capital taking the scholar's exam ties together his political ambitions with his carelessness as a father/husband.

He disregards the ways his second wife Ying Xue sacrificed her reputation in order to provide for her family, which only further sours their relationship and reinforces her hatred of DZ. Ying Xue's genuine love and desire for him is merely a reflection of his own guilt and shame.

While his and DZ's relationship improves, it is only when he makes committed decisions that prioritize the rights of others over trying to avoid the emotional consequences of his mistakes - depicted by his beating the drum for Song Mo towards the end, choosing the truth over his own reputation.

By dehumanizing women in the narrative, the men of the show feel justified in exploiting, discarding, controlling, and failing them.

Wei Ting Yu is perhaps the best example of this concept - in his first life, he not only degrades his relationship with Dou Zhao by cheating with her sister, but actively participates in a campaign to have her framed and murdered. The justification for this is simply that he resents her capability, and does not have romantic feelings for her - therefore, she ceases to matter as a human being. In his second life, he is less scheming but still dooms both himself and Ming through his constant centering of his own desires and comfort.

Scene after scene depicts his inability to follow through and act with consideration for the object of his romantic intentions. He refuses to complete the hunt, which despite charming Ming on the surface, foreshadows his inability to provide for a family if it is at all uncomfortable. He gives Ming the gold knot and states they could die together if they can't live together - something that we see her actually use to attempt suicide, while he simply mopes his way through his wedding - at least until it's revealed that it is Ming, and not Dou Zhao who completed the ceremony. Ming's courage at stealing her sister's intended husband (unwanted though he was) is not matched by WTY in any way.

When Ming suffers a miscarriage and is contemplating divorce, his apologies still have a self-absorbed flavor - slapping himself in the face and begging her to reconsider, despite being well aware that their options are either poverty or resigning Ming to more abuse at the hands of her sister-in-law. Ming's grief, exhaustion, and pain is secondary to his own desire to ensure she remains his wife.

Despite all of the love he claims to have for Ming, WTY continues to selfishly prioritize his own interests and ego - which not only dooms Ming, but denizens of the city and, in the end, himself.

Song Yi Chun is a more straightforward example - literally discarding, aka murdering, his wife and daughter to uplift the son and woman he truly wanted to be with. He abuses and attempts to frame/murder Song Mo, simply because SM is the son of a woman who was better off dead to him. He considers DZ initially as simply another tool to torture his son with; and, later, a threat due to her rumored pregnancy. The fact his misdeeds are revealed through the testimony of a traumatized maidservant, someone to whom he would never spare a single thought, reinforces the theme of uplifting marginalized voices (a mentally ill working class woman) in order for the happy ending to be possible. Song Yi Chun depicts a dangerous level of entitlement - his wife and her children are inconvenient, and so they are all his to abuse and discard at will.

Song Han inherits his father's beliefs in the worst possible way; initially passive (he asks his father not to let the bandits into DZ's side of the house, but notably refuses to attempt to warn or rescue her), he becomes deeply entitled to the idea of an upper-class position upon the revelation of his true parentage. His request of the Emperor to marry the princess is not outrageous simply because of their class divide, but in that he sees the marriage only in a manner in which he can benefit, with the feelings, personality, and desires of the woman involved to be irrelevant. Miao Ansu being made an honorary princess for the purpose of being his bride demonstrates the ease with which women's roles are defined, and redefined, for the political and social benefit of the male characters.

Song Han takes control of the relationship in many ways, including determining which of her financially abusive family lives or dies, never considering her own thoughts and feelings on the matter. He kisses her suddenly and aggressively. He manipulates her friendship with DZ and physically abuses her, never taking full responsibility over blaming it on paranoia. However, Miao Ansu ends the show by resetting the power dynamic - by taking Song Han's life and allying herself with Dou Zhao. Song Han's claim of love is irrelevant to the ways he has betrayed her.

Notably, Song Han's physical abuse of Ansu is mirrored as Song Mo's worst fear, a vision used to torture him - the idea of harming Dou Zhao. Of all the men in Blossom, Song Mo is the hero because of his consistency in humanizing the women in the show.

Song Mo and Dou Zhao's first encounter in the show, when he is at his most inhuman and yet still comes to her, a stranger's aid, marks feminism as a core value that makes him a hero character. The weapon he carries is his mother's. Saving his uncle's newborn child, at the request of his aunt, is worth risking his and many others' lives for. In an underrated moment, he accurately depicts her handwriting to not only mimic her being forced to use her non-dominant hand, but the character she uses to reference her beloved mother's name - because she is a person who has grieved and sacrificed in ways that so many people don't notice. That's a layer of understanding, of romance, that completely outpaces Wei Ting Yu watching Ming stare at a butterfly.

To protect Dou Zhao from a forced marriage does not mean marrying her himself, but giving her the choice and power to never marry at all. Dou Zhao's happiness, and her future, is a separate thing from his own - unless she decides that the two should be connected.