Love of the Divine Tree (2025)

Finally A Xianxia with A Proper HE

I could say that about The Legend of Shen Li too but that one I consider to be more fantasy. Anyways, I picked this because of DW as I had seen previously in both LYF's and as a small supporting role in a low budget modern years back. I wanted to see his range of emotions and acting skills in general.

Pros: I think DW or SYS has improved a lot. He was able to be cold and even devilishly evil, jealous, stubborn as well as happy and in love. We all know he can cry and spit blood well lol. His chemistry with the FL or MQG/XRR was on point. I have to say that this plot wasn't new by any means and we figured out fairly quickly who the big bad was even though he technically didn't appear until episode 30. SYS' unconditional love for MQG/XRR was palpable when he did everything within his power to reincarnate her and then also fell in love and vice versa with XRR. The amnesia arc wasn't too bad but I wish it didn't stretch out as long as it did because our leads barely got any together time until the last 3 episodes and a few in between; in order to break the amnesia curse he had to fall for her yet again which he did of course as some part of him still retained memories and feelings; especially his fantasy dreams lol. Though SYS definitely gained ground with 3 kids in 13 years (very much working on a 4th) and with the wedding. This is how a Xianxia should end as opposed to looking at each other from a distance not hugging or anything in the last 5 seconds of the show. They got rid of the bad guy, had a proper wedding and then left the sect in the hands of their friends to travel the world and build their own home around the reincarnation tree.

What I loved about XRR was that she wasn't the damsel in distress type that needed to be saved. She was willing to get in the thick of things to fix a problem; she sacrificed herself the first time around, then helped others, and went after him when he sacrificed himself. She was like ok cry for about five seconds and then get down to business. She was resolutely against just resigning to what fate gave her; willing to challenge heaven's will at every turn. She was bright and airy, made many friends easily and for life. Was always willing to give people a second or third or zillionth chance as long as that person could return to the right path.

I have to say that a huge chunk of the TBOY cast was in this one which was great to see them play different roles. Her 3 friends when she joined the sect post reincarnation, ZY the exasperated other senior who was always keeping SYS in check or trying to. He was the sounding board. The alcohol and other talisman plus medicine sect guys. I called him goofy lukewarm evil WJ was comic relief. You couldn't take him seriously; DK played him very well. ZFH was a good person and even took in batshit crazy MRW at the end. The few other sect people were good as well as the people who they met along the way and helped, returned the favors. Only real good thing about the main antagonist was just how many plans he had to get where he wanted to go. I liked when they went around solving cases DT would throw their way.

Costumes, CGI, and some of the music was pretty decent too. And most importantly, plot never really dragged or you felt the need to skip episodes.

Cons: DT though the big bad that caused a lot of harm; his one note expressions weren't great. Furthermore, this actor is known for playing protagonists, so as the main antagonist, it didn't suit him. The other two villains of the piece were the sister of MQG aka MRW and the crown prince. One was ridiculously jealous because she was just ordinary; wanted all power her sister had. The crown prince was twisted obsessed with MQG and was willing to do whatever to get her to be his including harming others. He got a rather blah redemption arc at the end where he killed a shadow person of SYS and himself so DT's plan ultimately failed. The sister's whole collapse into insanity after watching someone she never cared about but had unrequited love for her die, all of a sudden she wanted that guy. Like what? Didn’t you just spend 30 something episodes trying to get the CP to love you? Just whiplash madness that made no sense. I would have preferred her to die a horrible death for all the harm she caused to her sister and others.

Can they please start writing inner monologues for the FLs in these dramas? XRR spend up to half episodes just walking around the sect talking to herself and then would be all surprised when someone caught her. It was annoying to the point that I had to ffw her a few times. A guy would have maybe say one line out loud and the rest would be inner thoughts, but women had to look like lunatics walking in circles talking to themselves. Furthermore, her voice as XRR was so much higher than MQG and it felt like she was a 12 year old at times not 18 or 19 or whatever it was. I was glad when her memories combined and she started speaking like an adult again.

It was sad that given that Hengdian has such lush forests and scenery they still needed to use fake woods a lot of the times. Not a fan of that. This show could have easily been 35 episodes and still been fine.

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. It was a nice watch and if you're interested in DW's improvement in acting, you'll like him here. Originally, I was going to give this an 8 but upped to an 8.5 because of that awesome ending.

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