A Camellia Romance Review

I decided to watch A Camellia Romance (许纯纯的茶花运) while waiting for Novoland: Pearl Eclipse to complete. This is one of those filler dramas that you watch to fill your time rather than something that you would really look forward to. That is not to say it is unwatchable but neither is it a drama that will offer much in terms of plot, cinematography, and cast. Sometimes, you may encounter a gem despite the lower budget accorded to these dramas. But this is not really one of them. Find out why in the A Camellia Romance review below.

My rating: 6.5/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Romance
Aired: September 2021
Images Credit: iQIYI

The Cast Of A Camellia Romance

• Guo Zi Fan as Zhou Jun Jue
• Li Mo Zhi as Xu Chun Chun
• Peng Chu Yue as Ni Dong Ling
• Mao Na as Xi Er
• Wang Yu as Ye Chang Qing
• Joy Sheng Lang Xi as Lan Cai Die

Main Characters

Zhou Jun Jue

Jun Jue is a tea merchant and the richest man in Fuchun city. He is good in martial arts and a skilled businessman. He also has many female admirers due to his good looks and status. His mother is pressuring him to settle down but he has no interest in getting married.

Xu Chun Chun

Chun Chun is good at making pastry and desserts. She wants to make a lot of money through her skills and become a successful businesswoman. Her parents have died and she is being controlled by her stepmother. But Chun Chun is assertive and independent with a determined personality.

Supporting Characters

Ni Dong Ling

Dong Ling is a playboy and Jun Jue’s best friend. He regards Jun Jue as his big brother and does his bidding. Dong Ling can be a little silly but has good martial art skills.

Xi Er

Xi Er sees herself as a warrior. She is a newcomer to the city and becomes Chun Chun’s best friend. Xi Er also likes to bicker with Dong Ling with her straightforward personality.

Ye Chang Qing

Ye Chang Qing is a scholar who is subsequently promoted to be the Governor. He is Chun Chun’s childhood friend and has feelings for her.

Lan Cai Die

Cai Die is a successful businesswoman in the capital city. She also runs a dessert shop and her social circle consists of those in the upper class of society. Cai Die is secretly in love with Jun Jue who is her ex-schoolmate.

Lin Pei Lan / Lan Er

Lan Er is Jun Jue’s cousin. She appears as a lady with good upbringing but is actually a selfish schemer who wants to marry Jun Jue.

Princess Xin Ning

Princess Xin Ning is the spoiled and willful daughter of the Emperor. She has a cruel streak in her and also develops a crush on Jun Jue.

Synopsis

Jun Jue is a wealthy tea merchant who runs into Chun Chun while investigating his father’s death. At about the same time, Jun Jue’s mother meets Chun Chun by chance and immediately takes a liking for her. She strikes a deal with Chun Chun’s greedy stepmother for a betrothal between their 2 children. When Jun Jue and Chun Chun learn about the betrothal, they try various ways to get out of the agreement.

However, Jun Jue begins to fall for Chun Chun after a while. He helps her to start her dessert business and pursues her in his own way. Just when they start to discover their love for each other, jealous third parties try to break them apart including Jun Jue’s cousin and Chun Chun’s childhood friend. Jun Jue’s business rival is also creating problems for him and hindering his investigation into his father’s death which involved a tea tribute to the palace.

A Camellia Romance Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

A Camellia Romance has a happy ending. The last few scenes show a time lapse of a year. Chun Chun’s dessert business is flourishing and is even bigger than Jun Jue’s tea trading. She even receives a plaque from the Emperor who recognizes her ability. Her dessert recipe book is also in high demand.

Both Chun Chun and Xi Er are pregnant. Xi Er is at the late stage of pregnancy with Dong Ling by her side and Chun Chun will be the baby’s godmother. In the last scene, Chun Chun is seen with Jun Jue as they exchange sweet words with each other in a garden. The drama ends with the couple kissing.

Is There Any Breakup?

Yes, Jun Jue and Chun Chun are forced to break up in Episode 21. The couple discover their love for each other pretty early in the drama. By Episode 8, Jue Jue has confessed his feelings for Chun Chun which she reciprocates. She agrees to marry him in Episode 9 and their wedding is finally held in Episode 13 after overcoming Lan Er’s schemes to break them apart and other problems.

The couple is very loving and trust each other fully until the emergence of Princess Xin Ning who has a crush on Jun Jue. She forces Jun Jue to divorce Chun Chun and marry her instead. Otherwise, she would have Chun Chun killed. Princess Xin Ning also gets the Emperor to order the marriage. Left with no choice, Jun Jue divorces his wife in order to keep her safe.

After the marriage, Jun Jue purposely fools around until the Emperor decrees that he be exiled in Episode 22. This is when Chun Chun learns that Jun Jue has been protecting her. He didn’t abandon her and the breakup is only a pretense on his part.

What Happened To The Love Rivals?

Lan Er fails to attract Jun Jue despite numerous attempts to create a rift between him and Chun Chun. Finally, her mother produces a betrothal agreement which was supposedly written by Jun Jue’s father. But Jun Jue chooses to get flogged instead as punishment for breaking the agreement to marry Lan Er. After the flogging, he tears the agreement apart and reiterates his wish to marry Chun Chun in Episode 9. Lan Er has no choice but to give up and fade away from the story.

Cai Die also plays dirty to try to make Chun Chun feel inadequate for Jun Jue compared to her. When that fails, Cai Die forces Jun Jue to get close to her in exchange for evidence on his father’s case in Episode 16. But the couple trick her by playing pretend that their relationship is on the rocks. Cai Die realizes she has made a mistake after witnessing how much Jun Jue loves Chun Chun. She apologizes to Chun Chun before leaving the city to start anew. They parted as friends in Episode 17.

Princess Xin Ning’s And Ye Chang Qing’s Fate

Princess Xin Ning is angry that Jun Jue and Chun Chun deceive her when he fakes his death to escape from her clutches in Episode 22. Ye Chang Qing reports the deception to her as he selfishly wants Jun Jue out of the way so that he can lay his hands on Chun Chun. Princess Xin Ning then frames Chun Chun for purposely serving the Emperor a banned tea in Episode 24 and nearly kills her and Jun Jue as a result. When her evil deed is exposed, the Emperor ordered her to be grounded in the palace for 2 years while Ye Chang Qing will be exiled.

Ye Chang Qing feels that the punishments are grossly unfair as the princess is easily let off compared to him. He slashes her and takes the Empress hostage. Jun Jue then kills Ye Chang Qing to free the Empress. Princess Xin Ning appears dead but there is no confirmation if that is indeed so in the drama. But Jun Jue’s valor is acknowledged by the Emperor and he is exonerated from the crime of faking his own death.

Jun Jue’s Father’s Death

The President of the Business Chamber killed Jun Jue’s father. They were business rivals in the tea business. President Shi substituted Jun Jue’s father’s tea tribute to the palace which caused the latter to lose his reputation by paying off the corrupted Lord Han. When Jun Jue’s father found out the truth and wanted to expose President Shi, he was killed. This is revealed in Episode 11.

Xi Er And Dong Ling

Xi Er is actually a princess as her father is the 8th Prince. She tells Dong Lin her identity in Episode 12 which makes him hesitant. Dong Ling finally confesses to Xi Er in Episode 16 but her father is against their relationship. This changes in Episode 19 when Dong Ling saves a drowning Xi Er while fending off Lord Han’s attackers. They were fighting over a ledger book which will prove Lord Han’s corruption.

A Camellia Romance Review – Another Jealous Love Rivals Drama

Frankly speaking, I think I chose the wrong drama to watch right after completing Rebirth For You. There are similarities in both with jealousy being a big part of their plot. The only reason I gave A Camellia Romance a slightly higher score is because the drama is much shorter. As such, it is more tolerable as there is only so much jealous third parties that you can take in a story.

I guess if you see this as a filler drama with low expectations given the not so popular cast, then perhaps you might enjoy it better. But if you start hoping for originality and really fluffy romance, this would be a disappointment. It has shades of a rom-com but it is definitely not a angst-free watch like General’s Lady or even Your Sensibility My Destiny. The reason is simple – it uses jealous love rivals to drive the show.

Cliche Plot (Spoilers Alert!)

Basically, A Camellia Romance is about a rich and handsome young man who is a great catch for a husband. However, he only has eyes for one woman who is the love of his life. So, what you will get is 3 jealous women going after our hero with each subsequent one being a bigger threat than the one before. The first woman is the man’s cousin and she appears from Episode 7 to 9. The second one went to school with him and she takes the spotlight from Episode 13 to 17. The last one is a ruthless princess and she wreaks havoc for the main couple from Episode 20 to 24.

On top of that, you will also have a jealous childhood friend of the female lead who can’t stop eyeing her for himself when he appears from Episode 5 onwards. Hence, you can see clearly the focus of this drama. It is all about 4 people breaking the couple apart because they want the man or woman for themselves. These schemes are interspersed with sweet interactions between the leads and the investigation into the male lead’s father’s death.

I think the kisses and sweet moments of the couple do help to make this rom-com more watchable. At least, there are enough of these scenes to balance things out a little because the endless jealousy is annoying to watch. However, it also doesn’t detract from the fact that A Camellia Romance is another rom-com with a cliche plot of jealous love rivals with their wily schemes.

An Independent Female Lead

If there is one good thing worth mentioning about this drama, it would perhaps be the female character, Chun Chun. She is a very independent and assertive lady with an ambition of building her own business. While she is not as matured and smart as the female lead in Jun Jiu Ling, at the very least, she is not someone who is timid and waiting to be rescued. Chun Chun is a woman who knows what she wants and go for it.

As for the male character, he is smart but also tends to hide problems from his beloved in the name of love and protection. You will find this in many romance dramas and the male lead does this a few times in A Camellia Romance. I get why he does it but then, you will also start to feel that all these is yet another romance drama trope that you have watched time and time again if you are an avid Chinese drama viewer.

Chemistry

Guo Zi Fan and Li Mo Zhi have somewhat good chemistry as romantic on-screen partners. To me, it is good enough for a low budget rom-com. If they could feed off each other’s energy better to up the chemistry to a sizzling level, perhaps the drama could be more highly rated. After all, there is no shortage of kisses and hugs for this couple.

Personally, Li Mo Zhi looks slightly more matured than Guo Zi Fan at times in this drama. This is not surprising as she is 4 years older than him in real life. It doesn’t exactly mar the couple’s visuals but you don’t get the feeling that this is a perfect match either unlike the Liang Jie and Xing Zhao Lin pairing in The Eternal Love Season 3 and Dilraba Dilmurat and Leo Wu in The Long Ballad. Simply put, they are passable as a main couple but doesn’t leave a lasting impression once the story comes to an end.

My Verdict – Nothing Special

I have to admit that love triangles and jealousies are not my cup of tea for a romance drama. Hence, I find it annoying watching A Camellia Romance especially towards the last quarter when there have been other possessive love rivals gracing the screen for most of the episodes. So, I’m also thankful that they have kept this short rather than dragging it out for more delusional jealousy and angst for the viewers.

Of course, you might have a different view if you do not share the same bias as me. Furthermore, the ending is nicely wrapped up with no complications or confusion for the viewers. It has a predictable ending but I dare say it is also what most romance drama fans would like to see when the curtain comes down.

Before I end this A Camellia Romance review, perhaps a word of warning would be good. This is not a pure fluff romance drama in case you are looking for one. There will be annoyances and angsts. You might also plough on once you start because you want to see the villains getting just desserts for their evil schemes to break up a loving couple. So, whether you like it or not, you could end up sitting through it because you want the feel good factor of seeing the villains punished even if the story isn’t that great to begin with.

Overall, I would give A Camellia Romance a 6.5/10 score for this review. I don’t think I can rate it any higher give the cliches and a very average production. I guess it is still watchable if you don’t mind the jealousy theme. Otherwise, it is really a waste of time if there are other dramas on your ‘To Watch’ list.