Wong Kar Wai is one of the rare filmmakers who can properly be termed iconic. Not only has the Hong Kong auteur made a slew of classic movies—In the Mood for Love ranked fifth in Sight and Sound’s 2022 poll of The Greatest Films of All Time—he was a leading figure in opening Asian pop culture up to the West. He has influenced an entire era with his distinctive style, characterized by leaping time frames, yearning wrapped in beauty, and poetic interweaving of music and images. His DNA can be found in everything from award-winning movies like Lost in Translation to Everything Everywhere All at Once to the acclaimed TV show Mad Men (whose opening shot of Don Draper was inspired by the first shot of Tony Leung in In the Mood for Love).
A smash hit when it played in China, Blossoms Shanghai is WKW’s first television series and first major work since 2013’s The Grandmaster. The story takes place during China’s Roaring Nineties, when the Communist Party opened up the economy and the whole country dreamed of getting rich.
Freely riffing on a 2013 novel by Jin Yucheng, the show is bursting with dramatic action: broken hearts, bitter rivalries, hit-and-runs, financial shenanigans, tragic misunderstandings, shattered friendships, paradises found and lost. Over thirty episodes—this is no dinky limited series—Wong serves up a cornucopia of characters, from brassy restaurateurs and womanizing fish brokers to rigid government officials and cutthroat finance guys to scheming waitresses, black-market thugs, and garrulous kiosk owners (worthy of 1930s Warner Bros.) who serve as a kind of Greek chorus. They all have their separate destinies in the new China—some sad, some funny, some triumphant. At the show’s center is an enigmatic tycoon who embodies the go-for-broke spirit of the age. [John Powers, who has cowritten with WKW]
繁花 blossoms shanghai coming to the criterion channel 11.24.2025
Timestamps are approximate: for the first thirteen (13) episodes they are based off of the official YouTube videos posted by China Zone, after which I swapped to a player that included the OP&ED in the runtime. (I plan on remedying this eventually.)
Now, without further ado…
01. [01:00] traumatic flashback: falling from cliff; death of parent*** … [01:10] wakes up from nightmare … [28:00] discussion of mortality/illness
***this flashback is shown many times so I won't bother with mentioning it every time
02. [32:30–35:50] watery eyes/tearing up (nostalgic melancholy)
03. [08:00] attack attempt (thwarted)
04.
05. [14:40] wheezing cough; bracing himself against a wall … [16:35] sitting, collapsed against wall; concern for him
06.
07. [14:10] traumatic flashback: falling from cliff; death of parent
29. [02:40] wheezing cough … [05:30] wheezing cough … [07:00] wheezing cough … [33:30] sick? ill pallor; doctor gives him medicine … [38:00] wheezing cough
30. [28:20] acupuncture therapy; illness worsened; bedridden and unconscious
31. [02:00] ill; peerpressured into staying in bed and getting rest … [18:30] acupuncture therapy (unconscious/bedridden) … [27:20] scene continued
32. [10:30] briefly awake to take medicine … [21:30] fei liu holding vigil while playing with his toys practically on top of the sleeping mei changsu <3
33. [06:10] wheezing cough … [13:00] collapses trying to stand up … [15:20] unsteady on his feet; helped to walk; they try to stop him from defying doctor's orders by going out … [41:25] wheezing cough
34.
35.
36.
37. [33:00] imprisoned … [35:00] interrogated and threatened (uninjured)
38. [01:30] interrogation continued … [09:50] grabbed; falls to knees in pain … [23:20] face grabbed (intending to force feed him poison) … [29:30] grabbed and thrown/held against a column (arm pressed into his throat) … [30:10] thrown to the ground/into a stone stool; force-fed a poison pill; punched in the chest; wheezing cough … [31:30] wheezing cough
39. [10:00] huddled in blanket in prison cell, coughing … [15:10] assassination attempt (thwarted) … [24:40] helped to walk … [25:00] poisoning hinted at … [26:30] helped to walk; stumbles … [33:40] violently coughing up blood; bedridden; seen by a doctor … [41:30] bedridden; startled when someone tries to tuck him in; hands shaking
40. [20:30] poisoning reveal (meng only) … [22:20] wheezing cough; still bedridden; weak; administered medicine; checked by doctor; unconscious (comatose?) … [26:10] acupuncture therapy (unconscious) … [29:50] POISONING REVEAL (everyone) … [34:20] still comatose; more doctor examinations (blood test)
41. [01:40] helped to stand up … [26:30] drinks medicine
42. [20:00] flashback: bloody; falling from cliff … [22:20] watery eyes … [40:40] hot tea spilled on his arm/hand
43. [02:15] pulse examined by consort jing (she starts crying, hand shaking) … [06:40] info about frostfire poison and its treatment revealed
44.
45. [20:20] eyes watery … [26:00] teary eyes; choked up voice … [26:30] hug 🫂 … [29:20] traces of his blood in a cup and a bandage wrapped around his arm … [36:40] secretly gives his last heart pill away … [39:10] weak; wheezing cough; bent over, clutching his head; friend discovers he's out of medicine; panic over him; helped to lie down … [40:00] weak; tries and fails to sit up; faint … [41:00] examined by consort jing; acupuncture; out of it/murmuring in his half-conscious state; uneven breathing
46. [01:30] scene continued … [04:30] wakes up (fei liu has been holding vigil); helped to sit up … [20:50] helped to walk
47. [16:40] examined by doctor … [36:00] frostfire poison explained … [38:10] flashback: bandages removed; friends realize he got frostfire poison and is probably dying and has been endangering himself
48. [06:00] mention of past suffering … [06:40] discussion of terminal illness and life expectancy/impending death … [08:10] collapses … [09:00] discussion of life expectancy/impending death … [11:55] wheezing cough … [27:45] doctor exam … [28:25] jabbed in pressure point (pain) … [31:50] xia dong finds out that he's dying … [37:25] pain; out of breath
49. [31:20] attack attempt (thwarted)
50. [01:30] helped to walk … [09:40] laid down in bed and tucked in (presumed offscreen loss of consciousness); vague discussion of risky procedure; princess nihuang holds his hand and cries over him … [12:25] unconscious; watched over … [33:20] wheezing cough while trying not to laugh
51. [16:50] friends talk about potential cure and being willing to give their lives to save his, however it would need consent he would never give (not present at first)
52. [15:50] discussion of illness … [24:50] quick pulse check
53. [10:10] murder attempt (bodily guarded) ((prince jing whump)) … [23:40–37:05] emotional conversation between emperor and mei changsu (eyes watering)
54. [08:00] visits ancestral shrine (mourning) … [09:35] crying (audible) … [18:00] discussion of his mortality/life expectancy and impending death; watery eyes … [33:35] offscreen death … [34:45] montage of the past
...if you noticed the formatting of this whumplist changing repeatedly no you didn't.
I come with you hoping that this fandom isn't as dead as Mei Changsu (ಥ_ಥ still not over it), and with a little project I've had in mind for a few years.
What you see up top are postcards, shittily scanned as they are in reality of truly great quality, like it's crazy how shitty my scanner is I'm shocked. They're truly beautiful and not pixelized I swear! I received these when I ordered the Nirvana in Fire books a few years ago and I've never found any use to them, so why not use them now!?
What I offer: if you'd like to receive one of these postcards, free of charge as it's just for my personal pleasure to spread the NiF love, send me a DM with the one (or ones) you'd like and we'll work on figuring out how to get it to you :)))
4/10 postcards picked (will be edited)
That's it, I think? Thank you for reading this post and I hope people will be interested!
Can I say my heart is absolutely broken? I just finished this and what a soul-crushing show. My heart can't forever be appeased.
I love it so much and hate how how life has treated the main characters, so many people, mei changsu/lin shu, jingyan, prince qi, entire lin family.....my heart goes out to how mei changsu could tolerate 13 years of planning without taking any action....my heart is ripped by jingyan and lin shu, so much love, despair, and restraint buried there...so much sacrifice (how could that stupid emperor even ask for that promise, im baffled and hurt even tho i know regardless of him asking the ending would have been the same, but it's just stomping at my heart atp....my heart is absolutely broken for ni huang, so much care and affection, willing to put her life at stake for Lin shu but we know it's doomed. Even nirvana in fire sequel with these two again can't appease my heart. Cuz wdym, he is the smartest man and has the right morals and did everything for his best friend to get the throne cuz he has the country in his heart, and cleared his clan and his soldiers names only to never be part of the future that is peaceful and prosperous. Cuz wdym the only guy who deserves it, doesn't get it...pls...Why can't he grow old with Nihuang and be the cool uncle to jingyan's kids?
