The White Olive Tree (2025)

it is not a military drama and waste of time

After I dropped it a while ago , I wanted to give this drama another chance and I have just finished it. Unfortunately , my ideas on this drama have not changed even a little bit. Tbh,I think it is only overrated because of actor's name. Plus , most of the reviews and comments are misleading to me cuz I don't think main theme was not handled very well either as a person who has PTSD AND anxiety. I can count more than twenty dramas who have better script and acting than this one.

Overall story

I know it is a romance with a heavy theme like PTSD but neither their romance nor their PTSD worked for me. Romance part was cringe , draggy and fake. PTSD part was overdramatic and far from the reality. The thing that irritates me most was that every single piece of event or every single character serve main cp and their story. From the car in East to tunnel in city , from the kids who always praise ML and FL to unnecessary sfl. The story only was there to show that our FL and ML are good people and their love is great but it was so badly written and overemphasized that it didn't cross beyond being artifical. I am a person who can easily cry but I couldn't get into this feeling because of main cp's '' Look! We are good characters .'' yellings lmao.

Handling PTSD which is one of the main themes of the drama started bad , went good and ended horrible. I can understand the survival guilt ML has about his friend but their relationship was so off and they spent so little time together that I was like ''Why ? ''. Morever , ML ,who is just a volunteer, getting back to the warzone because of his feeling responsible about the things before or his love for humankind( that part was funny ) was not credible. Normal people who got those of trauma don't act like that. I met lots of people who had in similar situtions and believe me it is not that easy even for people who do dangerous things as their jobs aside from volunteers.

For the romance part , FL's being overdramatic and obsessive about a person who is kind and who only does his job was too much for me. Girl was so ready to fall in love with ML , she didn't hesitate even for a minute. For the ML, I didn't understand why he fell for FL. Their long and illogical spending time together and creating silly reasons to make them closer made me laugh tbh. Their love for each other was not touching even though both of them were depicted self sacrificing , brave and loyal.

Characters
ML was green flag himself but he was not good enough for military part.Carrying gun and running first as if he was a solider or sth seemed odd. He often forgot he was a volunteer and he was in every so called dramatic situation even if it wasn't related with him. Writers created stupid reasons to show him hero.Man even saved a doctor and carried her to show himself and his blood lol. He didn’t have enough interaction with other characters. I didn't believe that he had a close relationship with others. I didn't believe that his so called devotion to the people in warzone. His only aim was to be with FL or defuse a bomb. He usually acted stupid and repeatedly put himself in danger to defuse bomb many times without taking necessary precautions. Plus ,Benjamin's '' We needed volunteers like you.'' made me roll my eyes. I was like '' Are you serious , pal ? Is he really that important while there are thousands of engineers out there ?

FL was the most unbearable part for me. OMG they showed every little part of her including daily routines. She slept in camp , hotel anywhere else. She had breakfasts , she had dinners , she talked , talked and talked. She meddled in every single character’s problem as if she had nothing to do. She stupidly went to dangerous place and ML saved her.That was her only mission. In her remaining time , she just took photos. She was called brave but I didn’t see any brave thing except breaking the rules and puts herself in danger. I like nice , shy but brave FL's but she was useless except crying for ML and others and I had to skip her so called heroic and overdramatic parts after I watched twenty five eps. She was a reporter but I didn’t see any solid evidence that she did her job.Her being lynced in social media was the worst way to show her guilt btw. I felt nothing about it.

The Military Setting

It was short and dumb. Soldiers we’re only there to serve FL and ML’s relationship. Military missions were also dumb , fabricated , short and lacking of emotion. I used to watch Chinese propaganda but this one was so badly directed and acted, I couldn’t watch it without having a second hand embarrassment.There were full of mistakes and I thought that writer was joking with us. I hated the scene ml and fl gave food to the people in there btw. What kind of dramatization is it ? It was so fake and annoying.

Saxin's being soldier and getting into mission was dumb. How can a reporter join special forces and go to the dangerous place so easily ? He didn't need to be a soldier to show his loyalty to his nation or get revenge of his mom.Plus, I must say that he almost did nothing being grumpy , noisy and troublesome for Benjamin. He was useless as a character and he was also the worst candidant to show brotherhood , bromance or whatever writer tried to tell. Jiang Lin , Li Zan and Benjamin had higher potential about that. Ben's and Saxin's scenes only existed to catch BL tendency which was lame but they were so far away from bromance or sth and they were so arfical and forced that , I was like ''here we go again '' whenever they had scene together. They both didn't act like soldiers btw. They were irresponsible and had no military discipline. Like main cp , they went this or that that place how their so called bromance is good.

General thought
Boring and overdramatic romance , useless side characters , draggy and too much slow motion scenes , badly handled trauma , overfocused main cp , irrational and stupid military scenes.

Music

It was also overused . I skipped every slow and musical part. I didn't even remember any of them.

Side characters
Jiang Lin was only there to serve ML/FL relationship. He must have stayed longer. His death was supposed to be traumatic for ML but they didn’t even show how he died except a flashback. Poor guy was unlucky to have such a stupid volunteer/friend lmao.

Benjamin started nice but later was only used to praise ML or FL or their relationship. He was mercenary at first and he suddenly and easily joined special forces. Both actor and character were only used to promote fangirly and imaginary BL fancy. He was the most incompetent soldier I have ever seen. He just said cool words , walked around , acted flirty and playful. He liked Dr. Pei but their dialouges were not enough to prove they have sth. Both actor and actress were nice and had a good chemistry but I didn't understand why the writer gave them a story if s/he had no intention to improve them. Ben didn't deserve a woman like Dr.Pei btw. Man didn't save the woman he likes when she was in danger. He was ready to wait Dr.Pei at the bar every night but he wasn't worried abour her situation. He was my fav at the beginning but I didn't feel bad about his death in the end.


Dr.Pei was barely seen on the screen but she was the most consistant and watchable character for me. She was brave enough to keep working in a warzone permanently as a doctor. She was a smart and confident woman and didn't fall for Ben's flirty things at first.She was nice to everyone and it wasn't fake. I wish we could have seen her instead of FL's daily routine. Her letting her guard down to Ben but losing him in the end was sad but I am glad that she is alive.

Note : Not showing Ben and Pei together but hinting that they spend time together and doing it more than once was disrespectful to the people who watch the drama for them.

Another note : Saxin and Ben are bros. It is not a BL. It is not even hinted.

Rewatch Value

I was waiting for this o because of military setting and the story but it was very disappointing to me. I don’t think I will watch it again. If you really want to watch it , you should take off your brain to let it have a rest for a while. I am giving 2 For Dr. Pei character and the rest of the plot is waste of time. For the PTSD problem , you can check My Dear Guardian. They handled it better than this drama.

Edit : Saying that TWOT is a military drama is shameful to other ones cuz it has no business with the military overall. I can’t understand how people praise it or rate it 9 and 10 since it has lots of defos. It doesn’t even deserve 5.

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Their acting is outstanding

For me this is a very good drama i am glad because i have found a drama as good as this and the love story of azan ranran makes me touched maybe it is hard to find a love story that is equal like theirs. What made me watch this drama until the end is the acting of liang jie and chen zheyuan which is undeniable this drama is carried by their acting i like how good their microexpressions are and their hugs make me really touched i see a lot of scenes with hugs but for this drama their hugs make me feel the feelings they feel it is very touching and their love story is very beautiful this drama clearly tells the love story of people who have pure hearts so they love each other and give equal sincerity.
The ost of this drama is very good i really like how the ost is included in the scene and for me this is a drama that gives the impression of pure love and in the novel it is explained how the love and sincerity of azan and ranran make them forget all the suffering and slowly build their love life even though this can't last long but they have tried their best. I always hope for happiness and eternity for them because they have found and loved each other and in the next life only a happy life for them forever
But what makes me a little annoyed is how the director and producer edit the drama i know slowmotion scenes is good to explain the atmosphere of the players and the story but here the producer includes too many slowmotion that make me annoyed.
Some people think this story is bad just because they don't like the female lead makes me upset I know people have different tastes but it doesn't have to be said and try to see the drama as a drama and enjoy it and take what you think is good and leave the good criticism without any hate.
-The End-

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If I could give this 0 star I would! Go read the novel instead and support the original writer!

The only reason it gets even a 1 star is the ML and WTC (Benjamin), they really tried to save this drama but you cant make up for shitty writing. The writers should return all the money they took for this writing or should I say rewriting this script. They did the novel dirty. (The censorship did not help either, the novel writer at least could take more liberties with justifications) They turned a depressed but resilient FL from the novel into a ditzy love smitten reporter. Under normal war circumstances, she would probably get everyone killed in the battlefield itself. And boy oh boy, Liang Jie gets worse with every new drama so I will be actively avoiding watching her! Girl needs to go back to acting school!!! I see so many talented Chinese actresses that get stuck in the second leads while mediocre at best both in terms of looks and acting like Liang Jie keep getting high profile roles. Sigh...
I saw the first 8 episodes and just couldn't take it anymore and dropped it. Saw the end episode and was like WTF!

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using an ongoing war for tv !! + ending that may negatively impact younger people!!

using an on going war and genocide's events for tv is the abolute opposite of what the message behind this show was supposed to be...from the vague olive tree symbolism to the middle eastern food to the fricking tunnels/dungeons they discover in episode 33???? anyone keeping up with the news would notice and it's baffling to me how no one has pointed it out!!!

also the cast is too good....amazing acting wasted on such a story line and bad production!!!

ohh and don't get me started with the ending wdym the characters take their own lives.....people calling this a "tragic ending" is an understatement if i knew what the tragic ending was i would've not watched it i wont even be marking this as spoiler because there are people who NEED to know before they watch it

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rushed finale !

The last episode was a complete disappointment. I watched the last episodes for 10 minutes a day because they were on repeat. I finally finished watching the last episodes. Character developments and emotional conflicts that were handled with great care throughout the series were virtually thrown away in the final episodes and episodes. I think the story was rushed and the writer said: "Let's just finish it and get out of this." I think the side characters have also been officially forgotten. Their stories were half-baked, left unfinished, as if they had never existed. The last episodes and the final episode could not achieve the quality of the previous episodes. The dialogues did not reach the quality of the previous episodes. This became a cliché and the transitions between scenes started to feel artificial. I think even the moments that can create an emotional connection cannot be managed correctly. Finally, let's come to Benajmin and Doctor Pei. They were seen as mere vehicles to carry the story. I wish they had more productive, love-filled scenes like Zen and Ran. It's a shame they aren't allowed to develop as individuals. However, a strong series should invest in supporting characters at least as much as the main characters.

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I dislike the plot and pace of this drama, and it did a very bad portray of PTSD patients.

The White Olive Tree is a melodrama about the life of a military/reporter couple who met in the war zone and fell in love. The drama also deals with PTSD and mental health in an unhealthy way.

I did not like this drama at all. Although I love Zhen Che Yuan's acting, the story and the director did not do justice to the drama.

The onscreen chemistry between him and Liang Jie was not great. I found that Liang Jie is typecast for the same role, where her character is weak, always needs rescue from the male lead, and eventually falls in love with the male protagonist.

The PTSD scenes were good, especially those of Li Zhan's character. But the story is unreal. First, they could create a better fictitious name for the country instead of calling it East Country. It would be better to show the political conflict between China and this country, hence, their enlisting their military efforts to help this corrupted country.

Second, it is unrealistic to send someone who has severe PTSD back to a war zone to feel that they will be healed.

The romance between the two protagonists is slow, draggy, cheesy, and awkward to watch. The supporting cast's acting was not great, especially Gu Zi Cheng, who played Sa Xin's character. I don't get it; why end up killing off all the characters, including the main CP?

Suppose this drama aims to shine some light on mental illness. In that case, it is better to portray a possible ending where they get psychiatric help and live a normal life instead of suicide.

The acting is good, especially Chen Zhe Yuan's, but the script and direction of the drama were bad. I watched it at 2.x speed, and I can't binge-watch more than one episode per day.

Synopsis: During an interview mission in the turbulent East Country, Liang City satellite TV's female reporter Song Ran encounters danger. Fortunately, she is rescued by Li Zan, a Chinese explosive engineer who volunteers in the East Country. Li Zan's gentleness and childlike heart deeply attract Song Ran. Through multiple interactions with Song Ran, Li Zan also realizes that though she appears weak on the outside, she's brave and strong, with a heart filled with justice and kindness. With the same ideals and compatible souls, a spark of love ignites between the two. However, a sudden bombing attack puts a halt to this budding relationship. After returning to China, they hit low points in their lives and even lost contact. They are both suffering physically and mentally as Li Zan feels guilty and blames himself for the death of his friend, who sacrificed his life to save him in the bombing attack. At the same time, Song Ran gets into a controversy due to a photo she took during the bombing attack. By chance, they reunite, and their lives gradually return to normal. Together, they plant the seeds of the white olive tree.

My Reviews:
1. Acting: 7
2, Script: 5
3, Music/OST: 6
4, Production Quality:6
5. Cinematography: 6
6. Rewatchable: 5
7. Onscreen Chemistry:5

Overall Rating: 5.5

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Decent - but slightly frustrating and entirely carried by the leads at times.

I have such mixed feelings about this drama. I've been anticipating this since it was filming, since I'm a huge fan of Chen Zheyuan and not only was I excited to see his performance in a story with more emotional depth than some of his other projects, but I personally enjoy watching dramas that evoke strong emotions, even if they are on the more heartbreaking side.

When the drama first started airing, I was enjoying it a lot. I personally loved the romance between Li Zan and Song Ran and felt like they had really good chemistry, and I feel like there was a good balance of tension and drama while also having some lighter moments with the lead couple. However, my first criticism with this show is that I feel like it suffered from the typical issue I have with a lot of cdramas, which is that it was too long. As with a lot of other cdramas I've watched, it did start to lull at some point around episode 13 or so, and while it did eventually pick back up I do think it would have benefited from losing a few episodes. While I do think this particular story needed some room to be fully fleshed out, I think that 38 episodes was maybe a bit excessive, and a lot of the drama that was happening once the main characters returned to China was just simply uninteresting and annoying - for example, the bullying storyline. I think overall the plot of Li Zan wanting to look out for Jiang Yu was nice, but the entire bullying storyline was silly and a lot of the dialogue in these situations was poorly written.

Also, one of my biggest peeves in dramas is the miscommunication trope. I could have dealt with it for a few episodes or so, but this was a running thread between the leads for the entire drama and it was really frustrating and pointless. It was also irritating to see the leads finally confess to each other that they were both struggling after returning to China and be vulnerable with each other, just for them to continue to not communicate any of their feelings and hide things continuously - and while I did like the character of Song Ran overall, it was an annoying trait for her to get so upset over Li Zan hiding things from her when she was also doing the same thing constantly. This entire narrative got old really fast and it continues for almost the entire show, seemingly just for the convenience of some drama between the leads.

My other big criticism with this drama is the final three episodes. I haven't read the novel, so I wasn't really sure how this would end, but I'm not really sure what the point was of having a 20+ long episode arc of Li Zan suffering with PTSD and trying to overcome it and heal from it was, just to put him through more trauma right at the last minute and rush through both the process of it happening, and also the consequences of it. While it makes sense within the story for the bad guys to want to seek revenge, doing this so late in the show after he had already largely processed all of his trauma just felt weird to me, and the fact that the ending was pretty much just "well, he's never going to recover from this" felt like a strange message to send - especially after spending the entire show focusing on mental health and trying to heal from past traumas. I was also pretty happy with how they'd dealt with both of the leads' mental health issues earlier on in the drama and the fact that they didn't just have them magically heal from it within a couple of episodes, but took a more realistic approach of having good moments and bad moments, so it was quite frustrating to watch them try to cram an entire traumatic experience and recovery process into the final few episodes. Plus it was just a deeply unsatisfying ending as a viewer, since it feels like the leads' stories weren't really fully finished.

As for the performances - overall they were very strong. There were a few side characters I didn't love the casting choices for (Jiang Yu, Luo Zhan, Shen Bei, and Dr Liang specifically), and also some of the English speaking characters weren't very convincing (nor was the dubbing), but these weren't too painful given how much screen time those characters have - and also the leading cast more than made up for it. I personally loved the casting for Song Ran, Li Zan, Benjamin and Saxin and thought they all did a convincing job and very much helped the drama move along in moments where it started to lull or the dialogue was poor.

Since Chen Zheyuan's performance was the thing I was most looking forward to with this drama, and he did such a fantastic job, it made it a bit easier for me to get through the entire drama. He did such a convincing job of portraying such an emotionally complex character - even down to small facial expressions or mannerisms that showed exactly what he was feeling even when he wasn't speaking. And while I didn't love the direction the story went in for the final few episodes, his performance was absolutely outstanding and full of so much raw emotion. While I didn't necessarily expect any less from him given his previous performances, I really think this is his best performance to date and I hope that we get to see him in more projects that allow him to explore his range the way that this did.

Overall, I think this drama was decent and there were lots of moments that I enjoyed, but it was definitely weakened by poor writing and directing choices at times. The lead cast, and the relationships between their characters, is absolutely the selling point of this drama and at times was it's only saving grace. I'm not sure that this is rewatchable for me, since it's a long drama and it does drag at times, but I'm glad that I watched it at least once - I just can't help but wish that some of the choices made were different, and as somebody who has been waiting a very long time for this drama to air I did feel slightly disappointed by the end of it.

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YOU ARE IN FOR AN ROLLERCOASTER OF EMOTIONS

I started this drama once the first episode came out when I saw an spoiler on TikTok, it had me hooked, the first episode was so captivating that it made me want to watch all the episodes at once but I couldn’t as it was airing still. The whole storyline flowed well in chronological order, moments that we didn’t expect, happy moments, sad moments, moments that had me shivering and crying. Not only was the chemistry of the main leads amazing, the supporting cast storylines also captivated me. I went into this drama expecting some light hearted military romance but I left with sadness and pain as I didn’t want it to end. I’ve seen people have some takes and opinions on the ending but I think it was an happy one, considering everything that they went though, all the trauma. Is it an ending people were expecting? No but I think it worked well with this once and I’m glad they didn’t go for the novel ending cause I would of been shattered. ONE OF THE BEST DRAMAS IVE EVER WATCHED AND WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IT FOR AGES AND AGES. Hopefully these two work together again in the future and we get more dramas with the supporting cast too 💥🥹

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A Great First C-Drama Kickoff of 2025

Kicking off modern C-dramas on a high note with this one.

This is the kind of drama that is absolutely amazing, yet I know I will never rewatch it.
As someone who gets emotionally attached to characters, watching Li Zan suffer so much was painful, and the ending completely broke me. I don’t think I can go through that again.

The plot is heartbreaking, realistic, and emotionally intense—filled with twists that remind you that nothing is as it seems. At the same time, it beautifully portrays dreams of hope and freedom.

I had been anticipating this drama since last year, and it did not disappoint.
Chen Zheyuan delivered his best performance yet, especially in the second half of the series—my applause to him!👏
His chemistry with Liang Jie was also strong, filled with tension and heartfelt moments❤️‍🔥

That bittersweet ending, though—I personally didn’t like it. I prefer either a happy or sad ending, not an open one. I didn’t read the novel beforehand; I evaluated the story based solely on this drama.

Overall, I highly recommend this drama, but be warned: it contains heavy themes, including PTSD, mental illness, blood, and war. It’s intense, but definitely worth watching✨

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Emotions to Relive Forever

If someone asked me to forget this drama and watch it again, I would do it a thousand times over.
It’s a sad, dramatic, and heartbreaking drama, but also incredibly romantic, filled with brotherhood, strong bonds of friendship, and a powerful message of hope and freedom.
The actors were all so amazing in their roles, so real that they conveyed emotions that truly reached our hearts.
It has been a long journey, full of emotions. With this drama, I laughed, I cried, I loved.
Not even for a moment did I feel disappointed by the storyline. It’s a war drama, and from the very first episode, I thought that someone might not make it to the last one—I can’t deny it. But every character and their story, with their contribution, built such a real and chilling narrative.
Everything was beautiful—the story, the actors' performances, the set design, the cinematography, the music, and the direction. A truly remarkable piece of work.

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