The White Olive Tree

I saw the angst and the trauma yet I marched on anyway

The Ending I actually thought it would be a Happy one how silly of me!
some points I would like to talk about in here because I finished this yesterday and I couldn't get the Ending out of my head!

~ This whole series is so filled with details I didn't know it would be like this ,, the way they have showcased the real victims of the war the people the ones who couldn't afford to leave ! who didn't want to leave their land to go and feel like an outcast in another country that will never acknowledge them as a citizen of their own.

~The way they have talked about the effects of those of have survived ( survival guilt ) and how people wish they haven't even made it they didn't want that type of luck because they felt they survived but at what cost? they have lost everything they cherished and what a burden it is to be the one who lived on solely because someone had sacrificed their own life .

~ *The scenery* of the whole Drama and all the green in the Drama it shows that there is in fact some new sprouts getting to grow so perhaps hope shouldn't be all lost .But so much beauty had to be destroyed because of the greedy people who were never concerned with anything but their own gains .

~ The Characters even the supporting ones have been written well and displayed in a manner that led to us sympathizing with them in such environment it doesn't really had to have a big scene some matters are spoken about in between the lines like daughters being sold in war times like a pawn. or when meals being had could be the last. a person who could sense the suffering of another and stand up for them even if it could harm the latter.

~in spite of the main leads being both introverts both of them have tried their best even tho they were both broken and had heavy hearts, feeling like their hands are tied and could not offer their hand to those who are in dire need of help. How could they help a whole nation ? when they are only two humans right? No, they gave it all they could which have in conclusion led to their demise. one who can't function properly and the other unable to let go of the love of their life, thus making them go to such extreme measures.

that's a lot of words if you've made it this far please give it a go and I hope it is to your liking

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Heartwrenching Reality

After arriving at this dramas conclusion I had to take some time to clear out my emotions. I cried a lot after the ml and fl returned to China. For the losses they experienced, the atrocities they witnessed, the terrorism the experienced first hand and the beating their emotions took over their last few days in the East Country.

A lot of the reviews I have read complained of the pace being too slow, not appreciating the leads, etc. But being a person who has not been diagnosed with PTSD but has experienced a great deal of trauma in my years on earth, the storyline grabbed my heart and squeezed hard.

The development of the relationship of the leads was heartwarming and painful. That’s the way that strong but kind and considerate people fall in love. Love requires them to step out of their personal world and learn to communicate, tolerate and embrace the quirks and faults of the one chosen to be loved. Tgis script gave the characters plenty of time to develop personally and as a couple. There wasn’t much time spent on the side couples which I found refreshing. There wasn’t any bff with bitter experiences handing out advice or crazy childhood sweethearts turned manipulative stalker trying to break them apart. Only one competitive woman that worked with the fl who wanted to outdo the fl in every area. Her machinations were wasted and didn’t last long.

I have to say that CZY was impressive in his role. A kind and gentle man who wanted to help the residents of East Country be liberated from those trying to wipe them out and destroy everything and every one in their path. He had a strong personality that was humble and understated which caused respect and admiration from everyone he encountered. He was quick to protect those he cared about and didn’t think twice about saving others even if it meant harming himself to assure their safety.

The fl appeared to be easy to bully, but she was strong and wisely kept her thoughts and opinions to herself until it was necessary to speak and act. She was a little self-absorbed and stubborn to the point of her detriment on several occasions. One minute wise beyond her years and stubborn when there was no need for it.

Their personalities were well suited and their chemistry combined with meeting their “person” helped them slide into becoming a couple - even after a short break-up happened because they both were afraid to admit their weakness as they saw it that caused them both to have PTSD.

The sloppy way the fl was diagnosed with depression and then given a tranquilizer to cope during daylight hours was so off the mark. And it was hard to believe that a trained and educated mental health doctor wasn’t able to distinguish that the fl had PTSD showed a lack of research on the scriptwriters side. I do not know how it was addressed in the novel, but this was poorly represented. Also the fact that being “cured” so quickly was another mark against the script. While the doctor misdiagnosed the fl, she was quick to determine the severity of the ml’s PTSD and offered little advice to family and friends in how to come alongside someone with this diagnosis. This may be an accurate reflection on mental health practices as well. Most treatments and findings come from cases involving male patients and females are often overlooked or misdiagnosed as they are presented differently in women than men. It was a bad diagnosis for the fl and poorly executed therapy for both.

I also found the excessive use of tear drops a bit annoying. Sometimes it was like watching rivers pour down their cheeks and due to the emotional content of a lot of the scenes between the leads, the budget for this drama must have earmarked 20% for tear drops alone.

The casting of the extras was beyond odd. There were Chinese, Indian, African, Middle Eastern, Hispanic and Caucasian actors cast (and why does every cdrama cast some of the most unattractive Caucasian extras??) that all spoke English. The dubbing was bad, but could be overlooked if you focus on other things in the scene. And some of the lines of the terrorists we’re downright funny because of the bad dubbing and poor understanding of swear word usage in English. Now back to the main point of the review…

The scenery outside of the two imaginary cities was lovely and had there not been a war going on, their looked to have been a peaceful place.

The sets allowed for war torn cities to have broken down buildings, poor transportation and hotels that were furnished with rescued furnishings added to try to make the rooms more guest friendly.

There’s more I could go into with the side characters, but while they contributed to the overall success of the drama, it was mainly about the horrible affect war has on people physically, economically and emotionally. They all did an excellent job with their roles - even the kind of creepy overly concerned boss of the ml. his character hinted of having feelings for the ml and yet not. It was just a weird role.

The second traumatic event for our couple was horrible. The portrayal of the abduction and torture of both was genuinely hard to watch. Humans can be so cruel and take pleasure in hurting others in every way possible just because they can. The outcome was devastating for the ml and CZY pulled off the complexity of someone suffering from severe PTSD brilliantly. His transformation reached his eyes and face, it wasn’t just in his acting. He should be recognized for his excellence in this role. He was truly outstanding.

The fl is worthy of accolades as well. Even though she suffered from PTSD as well, she took on the role of caretaker and loved him well. She protected, defended, took care of his personal needs without making him feel like a burden. She was able to communicate with him as her partner without treating him like an invalid incapable of doing anything for himself. This showed how much she truly loved him and respected him as a man.

I was glad that they decided to marry and then to go somewhere far away from the pressure and stress of living in society that focuses so much on perfectionism and shows little empathy or concern for any kind of physical or mental illness.

I still need to decompress from the emotions stirred up from this drama, as I would like to read the novel and watch it again.

If you’re on the fence because of negative reviews, watch this anyway. And watch it without the negativity that some wrote, and put yourself into the story. You will be moved in many ways, and despite the heaviness of the story at times, enjoy the moments of beauty found in even the most terrible situations. And do the same with your circumstances. Love isn’t always sunshine and roses. Sometimes it is bitter, ugly, painful and frustrating. But to love someone truly takes the act of putting your beloved and their needs above your own, talking about hard things, and working together to get through the horrors life can throw at you, no matter how hard it gets or how long it takes.

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Love in the midst of harsh reality

Let me just start by congratulating both the actor chen zen yuan and actress liang jie for the superb and commendable job they have done and giving the life to the character of the drama so beautifully so fabulously that I lived story with them. Chemistry was top notch.. I wish they had more intense scenes.

Now talk about the storyline.. story could have been better I felt liZan loved song ran but not as much she loved him.

Somewhere I blame ml character for the agony they went through because female character was never his first priority and that hurt me the most.

I would definitely recommend to watch it once because I am sure for second time you wont have the courage to watch it after crying your heart out and to go through the pain again.

Hope both actors will have more drama together where they can have happy ending..

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ONE OF THE BEST CDRAMAS IN A WHILE!

The drama makes you feel like you're reading a book. You're completely immersed in the story. The acting and chemistry between the leads is what lifts this story. There are a lot of dramas where the acting is just meh but this one. . .the acting has been amazing, especially for the main leads. The ML always has a smile on his face but behind that smile is sadness, and despair and the actor delivers it so beautifully. The same with the actress, her eye acting conveys so much that it feels like I'm in the story.

The plot hasn't been completely established yet but it's a 38-episode drama and we're only on episode 8 now. I don't expect it to pick up immediately so I don't mind the slow pace of things. If it's too fast pace, it doesn't feel authentic to me.

I can't wait for the following episodes to see where Li Zan and Song Ran takes us.

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Lack of action and lack of chemistry

The main couple are… boring. There’s no personality, just shyness and sweet glances. The rest of the side characters are more interesting than the main couple!

Also, this is so dragged out. The slow motion, the standing around, the unnecessary close ups. You did not need 38 episodes for this. You could’ve cut out all the almost-tension between the main couple who obviously both like each other and take way too long to get together, and this could’ve been maybe 16 or 18 episodes at the most.

For a show that takes place in a warzone, the action was barely there. Apart from a few scenes that show some actual fighting, the geographical area was quite calm. The most work the soldiers had to do was planting vegetables and ferrying the reporter protagonist around.
And they never did explain why the country was at war and who they were at war with which only goes to show how weak the writing was.

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Script is the weakest link

This drama was so anticipated and so the letdown was major for me.

Chen Zhe Yuan and Liang Jie’s acting was good. Their chemistry was on point. They carried and are still carrying the show as best as they can.

The cinematography is awesome, the stills for this drama are so great and they capture so much emotion.

The direction is ok. Nothing much to complain there. They did make the sets look as real as it possibly could. Making sets look like war torn areas definitely must not have been easy. Maybe they spent too much on sets and side roles because the script is so so bad.

Honestly I wanted so much to like it. I can tolerate a lot of lame dramas, but this one takes the cake. So why is it lame? Every role that is not the FL and the ML are simply tools existing to put the FL and ML together. Take for instance the 2FL, who is the team lead of the FL. her sole purpose in the drama is to one up the FL, she exists solely to take the ML away from the FL. She goes to a war torn country as a journalist to take the ML away from the FL. Let’s not talk about being unprofessional as a journalist or going to a war torn country as a journalist with personal reasons, she goes up to the FL in the first instance she gets and tell the FL that she is going to make sure she wins the ML over. Another instance is when they use some extras to push the FL to the ML for a critical moment for the ML to reach out and hold the FL closely. The moment seems so staged and so unnatural that if it wasn’t for CZY and LJ, it wouldn’t have been pulled off. Last instance is that being in a war torn country, CZY’s team mates are only concerned about the female journalists. It’s all they talk about. I mean the story and the script is so incredibly incredulously weak. Here they have a entire set of a war torn country and they have such a sad script to back it up. It’s honestly rubbish.

Another honorable mention -rant is the speed of their speech. It’s as if the director made them deliberately talk 0.5x the normal speed because all their dialog is so so so slow you really ought to watch the show in 1.5x speed.

Last honorable mention is the music. Granted there are a lot of songs, but please please please get the English right or at least make it sound normal. Most of the songs feature strange English lyrics. Yes, they are English words but the words don’t make sense. It takes you right out of the drama.

I guess I’m writing this because I really need to drop it but I needed some closure because I looked forward to this drama for a long time and I wanted so so much to love it.

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Such a well-made and emotionally rich story.

I always say to myself when I start watching a new series, give it a little time before you make a judgement. Well, with the White Olive Tree, I didn't have to do that, it captivated me from the beginning., and I ended up watching the whole series in less than a week. The story is based on a novel, which I haven't read, but for a truly good series or movie there needs a strong starting point, or base. If the directors, screenwriters, actors and set designers are all very experienced then it is a recipe for something remarkable, in my opinion. The two main leads were exceptional in dealing with such and intense and raw storyline. The supporting actors were all good as well. The setting of war, the feelings of hope and even helplessness, and of course love are all explored in depth with this series. What I like so much about a lot of Chinese series is that they have time to develop the characters, and if the series is exceptionally good, then that makes it like a feast for the heart and mind, in my opinion. Some people have commented on the end of The White Olive Tree, so I did a little research, and, in the book, the two main characters do indeed get married and ended up having two children. About 10 years later Lizan did kill himself and sometime after that Song was killed by a stray bullet while covering another country at war. So, yes, the series ending was short and perhaps quite sad, or enlightening. I think that for me, the fact that they ended up together after so much hardship is testament to true love, one that survives the hardest things. I felt like this was such a rich and emotional story, and I didn't want it to end, but to me the ending was kind of realistic and for that reason it was also satisfying.

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