This review may contain spoilers
A story about a White Olive Tree
Just finished watching this series. I mean, this is the first time that I felt giddy about a series from start to finish. Every episode is exploding with romance, I mean, for the first few parts. Then came the 0926, where we lost Captain Jiang, whom I liked the most. Then after that, we are in a whole new chapter of overcoming mental battles and PTSD. I like how they tackled this certain point in every soldier's life. Even though LZ is not really a soldier but rather a volunteer. I like how SR fought and was so empathic with the country she's covering.As a journalism graduate myself, it's hard to maintain professionalism in covering cases like East Country because in every story you also have to put a piece of yourself in every article you write just so it could touch other people's own emotions. And also for you to create a wonderful masterpiece. I like how it felt similar to Descendants of the Sun in a way but with a very different story plot. I mean, who would've thought a journalist and a volunteer deminer would get to fall in love, right?
I do believe that the story of Ben and Sasin is much more. I guess this is in my yaoi opinion, but sadly this is a cdrama, so for the series to push through and not be criticized by the government, they have Ben rather dying from unknown reasons than them continuing whatever so-called bromance they have. The reason I said he died from unknown reasons is because I didn't see if he was shot somewhere that he damaged his liver and kidney. But that was his diagnosis, so who am I to judge the scriptwriter, right?! Sasin in the end made Ben his English name just so he wouldn't forget his Benjamin gege.
The OST is so beautiful as well. It adds up to the giddiness I felt for the first few parts, especially the one from Zhou Yuan, If the Wind Has Color. Personally, I use Apple Music, but since I couldn't find it, I had to return to our good 'ol Spotify just so I could listen to it over and over, even until now, when I'm writing this review.
The only mystery to me is what happened to them at the end. When they said they're eloping, they then looked at the White Olive Tree and disappeared. I thought they died or something since SR told their parents that LZ isn't getting any better anymore. So, did they both get admitted to the mental facility or just go somewhere? We just don't know where. I was a bit confused, but all in all, this series is a must-watch.
By the way the filming location of this series is at Leshan, Sichuan in China. The production did a great job making Leshan looks something from the far eastern countries or somewhere from europe.
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