Love of the Divine Tree Chinese Drama Review

 

Love of the Divine Tree has the most satisfying and happy ending of a costume xianxia Chinese drama in recent memory. I could not even recall what xianxia drama I watched that had a joyful ending like Love of the Divine Tree. Most costume xianxia Chinese dramas' endings in recent years are sad, heartbreaking, and tragic. And if ever there's a happy moment between the main characters it is always in the final two minutes or, worse, only implied lol! But Love of the Divine Tree gave us one whole episode to savor the happy moments of Mu Qingge/Xue Ranran and Su Yishui. 

Most of the scenes in the last three episodes are just so chill and sweet 😄 Even Wei Jiu of the demon sect, which we perceived in the first five episodes as the mortal enemy of the main characters, became a joker in the final moments haha! At least Deng Wei's first main male lead role in a costume drama did not traumatize the viewers so it left a good impression in our minds.

Plot Summary:

Love of the Divine Tree is a costume fantasy (xianxia) drama that tells the love story between Su Yishui (Deng Wei) and Mu Qingge/Xue Ranran (Julia Xiang). When he was still a young boy, Su Yishui had a dark spirit implanted in his heart to turn him into a demon lord someday for his prince father's ambition to dominate the world.

When he grew up, the master of the Wester sect, Mu Qingge, who is on her way to immortality, learned that Su Yishui was the demon child. To prevent catastrophe and destruction of the world, Mu Qingge planned to tame him and seal the dark spirit to the underworld, so she tricked him into being his disciple to "cleanse" his soul.

The other martial sects misunderstood Mu Qingge's intention and they believed she was the demon child predicted to bring chaos to the world so they worked together to kill her. It was too late for Su Yishui to realize that Mu Qingge's intention was to save him. 

He gathered the fragments of her soul and grew a Divine Tree so that she would be reincarnated. He also stripped a strand of his soul to protect Mu Qingge's reincarnation who turned out to be Xue Ranran. When Su Yishui realized that Ranran was Qingge's reincarnation he brought her to the Wester sect as his disciple to keep her safe.

Our Review:

Love of the Divine Tree is a feel-good xianxia, it's not emotionally draining, unlike other xianxia series. There are no annoying antagonists, most villains are tolerable and would not raise your blood pressure 😂 Written by Liu Fang and directed by Yin Tao, it's a well-crafted fantasy drama. This is the same team that gave us The Glory of Tang Dynasty and Love and Redemption, the dramas that catapulted Ren Jialun and Cheng Yi to fame respectively. So you can see how smooth and good they made this drama as Deng Wei's first main male lead role. In other words, it's not traumatizing haha!

The visual effects, CGI, and fight scenes are very good! Highly entertaining action scenes and visual effects. I was impressed with how well-made the CGIs - the cats and dragons looked so real! The plot development is better, it has no subplots, except for the two timelines of the female lead. The flow of the story is consistent from start to finish.

Deng Wei and Julia Xiang delivered strong performances and they have good chemistry! You will instantly drawn to their characters and interactions. Julia is so adorable in both timelines as Mu Qingge and Xue Ranran. I like how she handled her two contrasting characters by giving them separate identities. You can easily tell who is Qingge and who is Ranran. 

Been watching Deng Wei in many costume dramas since his debut in Miss The Dragon in 2021 so I am very familiar with his personality on-screen, And in Love of the Divine Tree he made separation from his other costume drama roles. He really nailed his role as Su Yishui, making sure it would leave a good impression on the viewers. He is so flawless in his performance and in all of his fighting scenes. I like it more when he is angry, he puts a lot of power and energy in his personality.  

This drama did not "torture" the viewers to the core. Instead, it gives a good feeling of empathy because both Su Yishui and Xue Ranran/Mu Qingge are smart, intelligent, brave, and resourceful. They did not suffer big time unlike most xianxia characters haha! They always triumphed in everything they did. I love the dynamic of their relationships as master and disciple. It is not agonizing to watch, in fact, it has plenty of sweet moments rather than sad. 

This drama is really different from other xianxia series. Good direction, the screenplay is well-written,, no annoying villains, and the technical aspects are well-edited. No deaths of major characters except those antagonists. In other words, this drama is less bloody. 

Su Yishui and Xue Ranran enjoy life in peace with their three children

It did not lose momentum and I like how the story was wrapped up. This is also one of the costume series I have watched where the martial arts community is not bloody. They helped each other, even the demon sect - the scarlet flame of Wei Jiu (played by Deng Kai) did not betray them. So obviously, Love of the Divine Tree sends us a message of peace, reconciliation, and renewed hope for a better world. A realization that even in a xianxia drama where blood spitting is common, the ending can still be peaceful, and the martial arts community is a happy place. 

Hope to watch more xianxia series like Love of the Divine Tree because it is not stressful and traumatizing haha! Looking forward to more costume drama projects of Deng Wei and Julia Xiang.