Okay, just watched ep. 23 of Jiu Chong Zi/Blossom, the episode where [spoiler] dies and I have some thoughts! Caveats: I have only seen up to episode 23, and I am not familiar with the original IP the show is based on, so I will be treating the show’s writers as creative decision-makers although I AM AWARE that this may be a simplistic or erroneous view.
Dou Ming’s death is a very obvious boundary marker within the show, launching us, I think I’d argue, into the show’s third act, after the second act moved lots of pieces around and swept a few off the board. I’m gonna use the death of Song Mo’s mother and the resultant fight between him and his dad as the turning point for Act 1, for reference.
First, there’s the karmic aspect of Dou Ming’s death, which I’d say is consistent with the show’s overall themes. I think there’s a very direct parallel to be made between Dou Ming’s death and Dou Zhao’s mother’s death. Both are sympathetic relatives of Dou Zhao who are killed due to the Dou family’s dysfunction. They both die because of Wang Yingxue’s actions. Within the larger narrative, their deaths are clearly meant to be lessons for their loved ones, punishments for those who most wronged them (although obviously neither character held that kind of malice). Dou Zhao’s mother’s death is a punishment for Dou Zhao’s dad, and Dou Ming’s death is a punishment for her mother (this is very obvious). Additionally, Dou Ming herself highlights the karmic nature of her death when she is dying, reminding Wei Tingyu of the oath he’d sworn to only paint her upon pain of sword to the heart, saying that her death is the answer and the resolution of that oath. He has been a terrible husband and the consequence is an unjust death for his wife that could have been prevented by him just not sucking so bad.
Dou Ming’s death also resolves the initial story conflict. In Dou Zhao’s first life, her enemies were her husband, her sister, and her stepmother. I could be wrong about what the story holds in the future, but I don’t expect to see much more out of either WTY or WYX, unless either one goes on a redemption arc (unlikely), or goes full supernova supervillain. This is still more unlikely for me. WTY and WYX are consistent parts of Dou Zhao’s rogue’s gallery, but they aren’t smart enough to really be threats, as Act Two has repeatedly proven. Dou Ming’s death is knelling out the end of their status as important antagonists, cutting them off at the knees in time to introduce the actual villains of the show.
In addition to moving minor villains out of the way so Dou Zhao &co can more directly fight the Evil Brigade, the bandit plot effectively introduces the Evil Brigade’s qualifications for being major antagonists. Dou Ming’s death is the final proof of this. Although the principal goals of the bandit plot (kill Dou Zhao, get Song Mo killed or in trouble) ultimately failed, Dou Ming died, which proves to a watching audience that a) these are the BAD bad guys, because anyone whose actions kill off one of the few likable characters not already in the Song Mo-Dou Zhao camp is clearly not great, and b) even if they were foiled this time, they might have better luck next time, and they’ve already killed off a major secondary character and nerfed two more through their actions. The stakes have been raised! Dou Ming’s death particularly highlights the villainy of Evil Uncle Dou (I cannot. For the life of me. Keeps his and the dad’s names straight. And for like the first half of the show they were both in the bad guys corner so it didn’t matter to me anyways). He’s been terrible the entire time, but Dou Ming has done nothing wrong to anyone ever in this life and he’s like 🤷♂️ about it. It is GALLING to see him react so calmly to his niece’s death, placing all the blame for everything squarely on his sister-in-law, when we the audience know that he orchestrated the bandits getting in, resulting in Dou Ming’s death!!! Well. He wanted his niece dead and he got a niece dead!!
And I want to elaborate a little further on the stakes-raising bit. Killing off a sympathetic character to raise the stakes prior to the third act is a classic writing choice. For instance, in Blood of Youth, Li Xinze’s character (he plays WTY in jcz) is killed off at the end of the second act which I fucking hated but like it was a thing that happened. But unfortunately no one would care if his character died atp in Blossom because WTY sucks! So it’s gotta be someone the audience cares about, a character set that’s fairly thin on the ground. Song Mo already lost Lu Zhen at the end of act 1/start of act 2, so you couuuuulllldddd theoretically kill off one of the advisor guys or one of the maids for like, symmetry, but this lacks any narrative thrust. Dou Ming’s death, on the other hand, is suitably tragic for an act turn, affects a maximum portion of the cast, and carries thematic weight, making her an ideal candidate from a story perspective.
Overall, rip Dou Ming. You wronged no one! Everyone in your life disappointed you! In a kinder story you’d have gotten a nice divorce and lived with your dad or your jiejie in peace 💜

















