Not Bad, But Could Have Been Better
I’d rate this drama a 5/10 because, despite some strong moments, the flaws stood out more than the positives.The second couple’s storyline, especially the grandparent plot, felt dull and unnecessary. The emotional payoff for Su Hao An’s character didn’t land, making those scenes feel empty. Sang Yan’s character lacked depth beyond his love for Wen Yi Fan, which came across as obsessive rather than romantic. The Hong Kong arc was another major issue it erased previous character growth and made Sang Yan look weak.
I also wish Duan Jiaxu and Sang Zhi had a bigger presence, as their interactions could have helped develop Sang Yan’s character further.
But this drama isn’t completely bad there were some scenes I genuinely liked. Maybe if I rewatch it in the future, I’ll end up appreciating it more.
Was this review helpful to you?
First love, separation, trauma and undying devotion
Let me just start by saying that this drama absolutely bingeworthy but It doesn'thave much rewatch value for me. I liked A LOT better than hidden love which seemed like it was made for teens. This one is more mature than that. Is it funny and light? Yes! Its mostly light depsite heavy themes.Plot - The plot is about two individuals and their journey from school to being working professionals. Its also about class differences, social deprivation, orphaned children and frienship but most importantly, its about the OLD SCHOOL ROMANCE and EVERLASTING LOVE
My only complaint is, the ML is a fantasy. His objectives aren't convincing enough realistically. However, he is perfectly enjoyable if you see it as a fairytale.
Romantic chemistry- I can see BJT doing heavylifting for the first 14 episodes at least. So, its Slowburn but still very watchable because of the angst. The ML is like the sun 🌞 in a dark and cold forest for her...
Direction and editing - the Style of direction is the highlight of this drama. The colors used gives you a feeling of a cozy blanket on a cold night. The darkness in dingy rooms is used well to describe the horrors and darkness in the character's life. Still, the overall vibe is deliberately kept warm and light. There are certain scenes where violence is not explicitly shown but the director has cleverly used blood and aftermath for impact.
The placement of the past SCHOOL memories is also excellent.
Acting- BJT is good as usual. However, I have seen him performing better in other dramas. The ML is slightly one dimensional for him to fully shine. Will you fall in love with him all over again? Absolutely! He made his character VERY DIFFERENT FROM SANG YAN FROM HIDDEN LOVE but still close to the novel lead. After 16 eps, I can't imagine any other actor doing it. The Female lead is pretty but needs improvement in the acting department. She is perfectly watchable but her character had IMMENSE scope for a good actor. There's so much she could have done. The co actors are all decent but the ones that particularly shine in the acting department are the mom of the FL and the little sister of ML. The LITTLE GIRL has done a fantastic job.
The second lead couple is also cute and enough time has been given for their story to grow properly. I liked that.
Interestingly, i end up dropping many dramas that are slow paced or have 32 episodes, but I KEEP COMING BACK TO THIS ONE. It has that x factor
Was this review helpful to you?
Imagination is indeed better than reality- Third time is not always the charm.
I remember eagerly awaiting this drama, checking and rechecking when it will be released week after week. Back then, this drama was perfect in my mind. Back then, I was better off.The drama can eb easily divided in 2 parts-:
Part 1. Before The HK arc
-> A few flaws but I will ignore/forgive them, close to perfection
Part 2. HK arc and after
-> Absolute shitshow, all those bearable flaws are now glaring issues I can't look past
While I have a *lot* to say about all that happened, all that went wrong and all that should've been shown all I will say here is this- I am happy this came out last so I watched HL and WIFTY with all the love in my heart and I will go back to that perfect world where this didn't exist yet <3
Was this review helpful to you?
Borderline Stalker Ml
Honestly not to be that guy but I have a different perspective on this drama . Sang yan got away with a lot of behavior because he’s good looking .Now I understand that the drama is mainly focused on the fl and how the ml is/has always been there for her but it gets to a point …
The fact that even after she rejected him , he still flew to her school city every month to catch glimpses of her and buy newspapers that she contributed to was weird in my opinion.
I feel him attending her graduation should’ve been enough . I let it go when he constantly followed her around during their high school days but in college too and after college ? That’s too much .
It would’ve been way better if the story was written that after the graduation he continued with his life then they met again and his feelings rekindled . Something along those lines would’ve been way better .
People are only letting it go because he’s good looking and she liked him . But if it was real life , that would be very scary and almost look like obsession . So good thing it’s a fictional story .
I hated how much the second leads story was so deeply intertwined with the grandparents. I honestly ended up skipping through all their scenes and didn’t even care about whatever they were discussing.
Asides these points I’ve listed out , I think it’s a lovely story and it’s nice to see a story that focuses on the fl and her life struggles .
The main couple had great chemistry .
Overall I think 24 episodes would’ve been enough if they had cut out all the unnecessary scenes from other characters.
It’s a memorable drama but I don’t think it’s something I’d like to rewatch but maybe if a cut version that shows only the main couple is released, I’d rewatch it .
Bye guys and thank you for reading to the end .
I’m glad I watched it while it aired as I got to connect with others online and see new edits with new episodes ❤️
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Pure garbage and nothing compared to Hidden love
I’m not sure where to begin, but the headline says it all. I can’t understand how people are even comparing this mess to Hidden Love. Sang Yan’s character takes a complete 180—he turns into a borderline stalker, lies about his parents not caring about him, and his entire personality revolves around the FL. The sleepwalking kisses, repeated flashbacks, and awkward acting, paired with subpar music, made it impossible for me to sit through more than a few episodes. The story dragged on endlessly. Honestly, the only redeeming part might be the second ML and FL’s storyline and acting.Was this review helpful to you?
Promising Start, Disappointing Execution
The First Frost is a beautifully crafted drama with strong emotions and a heartfelt portrayal of Sang Yan, who was a well-written and devoted character. His love for FL was touching, though at times, her emotional detachment made it hard to connect with her. Her sudden decision to leave for Hong Kong, which wasn’t in the novel, felt unnecessary and frustrating. Another aspect that didn’t work for me was the focus on the grandpa, SL, and the second male lead. Their storylines felt unnecessary and took away valuable screen time that could have been used to further develop ML and FL’s relationship. The drama excelled in exploring family struggles, and the leads had great chemistry, but a stronger focus on their journey instead of secondary plots would have made it even more impactful.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Highly Recommended, Worth it Drama of 2025
I was, at first doubtful about this adaptation since I watched HL, and they change SY(I love Victor) but since my Baobei's Rounan and Miaoyi was part of the cast, I gave this a chance and boy, that was the best decision I ever made. It exceeded all the expectations that I had.The actors, the chemistry, the depth of the story, the cinematography, the OST's, the posters, I love everything about it❄️?❤️. It easily became my top 1 cdrama, next to 2.L&P, 3. WIFTY, 4. HL 5. ELM. It made me sign up on XHS and recover my account on Weibo just so I can get updates and watch clips, it even made me signed up for MDL and IMDB, just so I can rate and leave a review, and that's coming from a lazy 4ss person?, that is how good this drama is. Since this is an ongoing drama, the waiting game for every ep is so painful but it was worth it.
As a manhwa and a novel reader, Zhang Rounan and Bai Jingting did justice to the characters??. They really embodied the characters and the acting was natural and top notch. The chemistry and the visual was overflowing, my eyes was so blessed. Everytime I watched their moments, my mouth hurts from smiling and they just made me melt into a puddle. Adding my baby Diandian(?)was the cherry on top.
I was initially disappointed about the plot change, which became a heated discussion on every platforms, which also made people criticize the FL, but I eventually came to understand why the director had to change it, the drama is not just about rainbows and butterflies, it also tackles and portrayed how some people deal with their trauma, that some people needs some time to heal and have different ways to cope, it is not the typical drama cliche where love heals the trauma, everything is okay again and happy ending. It shows how the FL deals with her trauma, how it affected her life and how she overcomes it. I even came to like the drama version more than the novel (sorry Zhuyi) after reading some reviews and get better understanding about the FL. Some people may still not like it but I think it added a nice touch to the plot, which made it much better than the novel.
Sangyan? is also whole green forest for never giving up on Shuangjiang❄️, he never blames my girl for her decisions but instead, chose to understand her, that is pure love right there. My girl is also a very brave person for overcoming what she had gone through and even after everything that happened to her, she is still a pure and loving person, that's a girl worth waiting and never giving up for. I truly understand why Sangyan is such a loser for her❤️. They both deserve the best which is why they definitely deserve each other. These 2 losers are the epitome of first loves.
The only flaw of the drama was the side stories. I just wished that there was less screentime for the side characters and more focus on our leads, I honestly skipped all of the parts where Yifan or Sangyan is not part of(sorry Miaoyi). Wish they had use those time instead for more moments of our leads. But overall, it was an amazing watch.
I'm so sad to let this drama and my SangYifan go tomorrow but on the bright side, I can finally rewatch the completed episodes a million more times. I hope to see ZNR and BJT on another drama again❤️❤️我喜欢你❤️❤️
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Unfortunately, very flat...
DISCLAIMER: I have read Zhu Yi's original novel in Mandarin and understand many of the story's flaws are directly copied from there.With that being said, I think this drama is pretty overhyped. It's not bad by any means, but I'd compare it to a less "gritty" and "real" Lighter & Princess (which comparatively, I prefer), where the male and female roles are flipped (and the trauma comes from something besides SA).
Some good things about it:
1. Acting was pretty good. For what the script offers, Bai Jingting portrays a nuanced Sang Yan, and Zhang Ruonan absolutely fits the mold of how I imagined Wen Yifan. Zhang Miaoyi is always wonderful, as is Edward Chen.
2. A LOT of different OSTs. I enjoyed many of them a lot.
3. Sang Yan's deadpans are always comedic relief. I have never seen somebody actually existing with that level of confidence.
4. Explores a lot of themes that tend to go ignored in Chinese society. I appreciate the attempt at depth which really isn't that present in Zhu Yi's other novel to drama adaptations.
Anyhow, I did find myself (someone who typically isn't too bothered by plot holes) seeing a lot of problems with this drama.
1. I don't think the characters themselves and their interactions had a lot of depth. I understand that Sang Yan is written in the novel as the character he is here, but there's no real explanation (besides the fact that she's beautiful) for why Sang Yan has such unrequited love for Wen Yifan for so long. The "angelic" BGM for whenever he sees Wen Yifan is pretty overused and corny too, in a way. Additionally— for two supposedly incredibly intelligent characters— Sang Yan and Wen Yifan do not have very many intelligent/interesting interactions that aren't corny or sweet (I actually think that Hidden Love had more reasonable development, in this respect. I understood how Duan Jiaxu started liking Sang Zhi a little better, and the characters just felt more consistent).
2. The pacing felt a little messy to me. I think a lot of scenes could be cut short, especially since so many are just focused on Sang Yan obsessing over Wen Yifan. Additionally, the Su Hao'an and Zhong Siqiao side couple seemed to divert focus from the main leads... I think the amount of ideas that the directing/producing team tried to put into this were great though not incredibly well-executed.
3. The script felt awkward. I think a lot of it is immediately adapted from Zhu Yi's novel, though. I didn't have this problem with "When I Fly Towards You" (which I think is still the best Zhu Yi novel to drama adaptation to date).
4. Some of the plots just don't make enough sense for me to believe them. When Wen Yifan escapes for 1.5 years in Hong Kong just to avoid hurting the people she loves, the way she gets back together with her friends and Sang Yan one miraculous day (after ~400 more with NO change of mind) felt rushed. There was no arc or development to the story here, which made the character feel shallow and "unalive."
4. I love Zhang Ruonan's acting... But, I think they could've gotten a dancer to do the dancing scenes (which were a little awkward, especially for a professional ballerina). This really broke some of the immersion and believability in the storytelling.
I know many people really appreciated this drama, so if you're into this sort of thing, I'd give it a try. But considering how long I waited for this (after Hidden Love and WIFTY I was expecting something exceptional), I felt a little underwhelmed : _ )
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Expectations Verse Reality
First let me preface this review by saying that I liked and enjoyed this drama. There were many things that I love(d) about watching this adaptation. Frist and foremost, the performances by Bai Jing Ting and Shang Ruo Nan as Sang Yan and Wen Yi Fan(Wen Shuang Jiang) respectively were amazing and should be praised. Not only did their physical appearance, wardrobe, and over all styling match the characters, but the emotions that they conveyed matched that of Sang Yan and Wen Yi Fan. The only time it didn't match were when the writer-director deviated from the source material for in my opinion, fan service. More on this later in my review.I liked the balance that was kept throughout the show of both mains' perspectives being shown. There were certain aspects to Sang Yan's character that were sprinkled in early on that would pay off much later in the drama, just like it did in the novel. There were even a few things that they held off on revealing until a bit later in the drama than in the original source material which I feel worked better.
Shang Ruo Nan really understood Wen Yi Fan's shyness, curiosity, hesitance…and her innocence down. A thing that a lot of people seem to forget is that Yi Fan had to grow up very fast, very suddenly. But with that speed run to adulthood she skipped over a lot of other milestones someone in their late teens and early twenties would experience. She only ever got to experience unconditional love from two people, and both left her early. The one left remaining who was supposed to love her unconditionally then made her feel unlovable/unworthy of unconditional love and care. So the slower pace of the drama lent to the slow progression of Yi Fan coming out of her shell.
Only critique I have is that they didn't hire someone who knows ballet to get Shang Ruo Nan's posture down. So imo it doesn't so much fall on the actress, but production. They could have easily used a foot double for close ups and done medium shots with Shang Ruo Nan...which there were many, but she never held her chest or arms correctly for someone trained in en pointe ballet. A real missed opportunity, imo, for showing Wen Yi Fan's inner world would have been showing her breaking in her pointe shoes, showing her mending the last few pairs she was able to get before her mother cut her off. An example of this filming technique can be found in the movie 'Center Stage' if you are a dancer, chances are you know exactly which scene I'm referring to. I don't think you realized how many and and how expensive pointe ballet shoes are. They come in many sizes and variations and it is extremely important to have pairs that fit you. A professional dancer can go through a pair within less than a week. Also one does not simple jump back into en pointe after 6 years of zero dancing...good way to never walk again. her shoes should have looked more worn and shown her personal touch. They felt sterile and like they just came out of a box.
The director is good at filming the darker in mood scenes. So most of the sleepwalking and trauma related flashbacks. The use of light within the apartment was well done. Using softer practical lights to show warmth and a sense of comfort. He also excels at young love/innocent crush type of casual scenes. Their high school flashback scenes were some of the best shot of the entire series. The color grading was ever so slightly different and I preferred his use of water/reflections during these scenes.
Okay…now to the things that I had some issues with. Leave now if you either already watched the show and don't want anything to pop that bliss bubble, or if you haven't watched the show and have never read the source material/seen Hidden Love. Go watch the drama and form your own opinion. If you start feeling a certain kind of way, by all means revisit this review. I don't want to yuck someone's yum, but a review/critique can sometimes feel like an attack if you aren't ready to hear a different POV.
My expectations were too high for this one, and I was left feeling somewhat disappointed in production(the team that adapts the material aka the bts people). I have a deep love for this story and these characters, and have an eye for production quality that will affect my overall viewing of a drama. I have a background in photography and my special interest is film & television. I'm harsher on this project because it was an extremely sought after IP with a pretty high budget behind it, as well as a great cast.
The story changes made throughout the drama were sometimes strange and other times outright nonsensical. To their credit, some of the changes were well executed and performed, leaving a lasting impression on the viewer.
But, to choose to add more depressing/traumatic things was a strange choice. The side stories they chose to include in a drama that already had a very heavy subject matter at its core tipped what was once a well-balanced melo-romance too far into the melo side of things.
If they wanted to expand the runtime they could have shown more of Sang Yan's inner world outside of Wen Yi Fan. Instead what we got were their friends dealing with a dementia grandpa and a dead dog. We didn't need parallels drawn for us with characters that didn't exist in the source material, that only slowed down the story. Sang Yan and Yi Fan's story was enough for the drama. We did not need a rich orphan with a dead dog and grandparents losing their mind and their love for each other to cut into character development happening with the lead couple/characters. Any other show I would have eaten it up and said thank you, but not in The First Frost.
I don't think this director really understands romantic romance, which is odd, considering he directed the Taiwanese version of It Started With a Kiss/They Kiss Again. He can do suspense and melodrama, but the tension and lightness that comes with love/attraction was lacking in the camera language used. He could do the sadness, but the happiness felt...surface level. (Other than that amazing scene where they used in camera practical projection of images on Wen Yi Fan in her bedroom.)
There were a lot of missed opportunities when it came to filming/editing detail shots. If you've ever watched a slow burn before it's all in the small hand movements, breath, slight dilation of the eyes/nose, getting an intentional medium to close shot of those moments ad weight to a scene that gives anticipation/tension. When those shots did exists some of them were cut short. Messing with the frame rate could have helped as well.
Some of the better moments were them in high school....which would make since with the whole It Started With a Kiss background. When Wen Yi Fan is pursuing Sang Yan very little of her fumbling attempts at flirting were shown. It's a good chunk of the novel and was glazed over in favor of dementia grandpa troubles.
Once they are together in the novel Yi Fan is a very physically affectionate person. She doesn't like it when he carries everything for her because it means he doesn't have a free hand for her to hold onto. THIS was a side of Yi Fan that was missing from this director's screenplay. We only see her like this when she's drunk after the wedding. She will get a look of frustration when she isn't able to express her affection well that Sang Yan finds adorable. We see a little of this in the drama, but they didn't lean into it as I feel they could have.
Major changes to source material that changes the characterizations of Sang Yan and Wen Yi Fan as people….
I mentioned this in the comment section when it happened the first time, but it needs to be said again. I don’t know why they chose to do this, and have only come to the conclusion that they wanted to give fan service to Hidden Love fans, which is weird because it's different actors so no one would honestly care if they do or do not show up on screen. But to include Duan Jia Xu into present day Sang Yan's life prior to the summer Sang Yan visits his sister is…wild for multiple reasons the glaringly obvious one is having him be half naked in Wen Yi Fan's apartment without permission.
Sang Yan was the one to make the house rules so that Wen Yi Fan could feel safe and comfortable. There is no way on god's green earth that Sang Yan, protector of Wen Yi Fan would let a MAN into their shared apartment WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE. All production had to do to rectify this is to show that Sang Yan texted her that his friend was coming over, she could have been busy at work and forgot that she had agreed and THEN run into Duan Jai Xu outside the bathroom. Wen Yi Fan did not need to be surprised multiple times by a strange half-dressed wet man in her private space. She also never would have allowed the intern into her apartment. And the flasher when she met the intern never existed…why are we adding more unwanted interactions with strange men? It became gratuitous.
Another issue with the changes were that of Che Xing De. Instead of him being a drunk brother of her aunt that moved in with them because he couldn't hold down a job, in the drama the apartment became HIS. Instead of being the drunk driver that she reports on late one night, he's just a passenger in the car and then later becomes the security guard for her TV station's building....I'm sorry...what was the reason? It was like the director needed him to be more than just a deadbeat man. The whole point was that even a deadbeat drunk had more power than a helpless teenage girl whose mother abandoned her. They gave the villain more power at the expense of taking agency from the female lead. Instead of being a drunk, loitering outside her office building extort money and then robbing her, he became employed by her company with access to the building she works in late at night....do yall see why this logic does not work?....He had access to the building that she works in, alone, and never acted on it.....she had knowledge of is past behavior and is a reporter and said NOTHING to her co-workers or bosses about the predator "protecting" the building. Wen Yi Fan would NEVER. She might have been a private person, but if he wasn't just a bum harassing her 100% would have told someone else.
And for the largest change to the source material, we come to episode 24-27. In the novel Sang Yan and Yi Fan get into an argument, a small one, right before he leaves for the airport to visit Zhi Zhi in Yihe, leaving his luggage in the car and leaving the car behind for Yi Fan to use. Two days later...a whole 48 hours...Yi Fan has taken 3 days of leave from work and shows up at the airport in Yihe. Sang Yan runs into her at the airport after getting worried when she doesn't answer his call and having decided to fly back early to check on her. SHE GOES TO HIM IN LESS THAN 48 HOURS. She doesn't respond to his texts for a few hours and he gets worried enough to head home from across the country. They NEVER stop communicating once they are together.
So tell me, dear reader, why oh, why did the director decide to change this to Wen Yi Fan ghosting not only Sang Yan, but her friends, colleagues, and CAT, to go off to Hong Kong for 6 MONTHs? And the ONLY reason it wasn't MORE than 6 months was because she gets spotted by her childhood friend and then gets hunted down by her best friend's rich boyfriend....again...WTF?
They made Wen Yi Fan way more passive than she is in the source material to uplift other male characters…it was a strange choice for a show centered on a woman's struggles and journey to self-love and being able to accept other's love.
I just feel like the director was trying to do a lot of things filming technique wise, but didn't really execute them well. Certain filming techniques were like watching a first year film student test out their camera equipment for the first time and over doing it. I know that sounds very harsh, but to film so many scenes in the exact same manner i.e. through a pane of glass, a mirror, having a lens flare or object out of focus in the foreground while focusing on the background repeatedly when trying to portray different moods was imo a bad use of film language. (please look at Film 'Making Basics: Everything you need to know in 8 minutes' by Alfie Vaughan) It will give you the basics of what I've been looking at when watching shows and may help you understand why I am the way I am. It's not very in depth but yeah.
Anyway, to finish off this very long review. I did have an overall positive viewing experience, but it just didn't meet my expectations for an adaptation of a slow burn romance with it's budget behind it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The story of Sang Yan, the brother from Hidden Love, played by Bai Jing Ting… Of course I need to watch this. Haha…Story about Wen Yi Fan (YF) & Sang Yan (SY), high school friends that had feelings for each other but part ways because YF decided she wanted a clean slate for whatever reason.
Now 8 years later, YF who works as a reporter, went to a bar called Overtime to meet with her best friend, Zhong Si Qiao (SQ). While she was at the bar, she met SY again. SY now is a department manager and one of the owners of Overtime. As the two bump into each other, they just pretend that they don’t know each other.
Since then, they’re been bumping into each other more often. One day some problems occur, and the two accidentally & forcely become housemates. It’s like the universe starts giving them 2nd chances to get to know each other again & close the deal for their relationship. So, will YF & SY take the chance that the universe has given them to take their relationship to the next step…? What exactly was the reason that made YF want to leave at that time?
That's pretty much the story without giving the spoiler. Now what I like and don't.
What I like:
+ Bai Jing Ting & Zhang Ruo Nan are good matches. I quite like their chemistry
+ Zhang Ruo Nan played YF beautifully. I can feel all her pain
+ I fell more in love with SY. His dedication to YF. Ugh… Love him…
+ SQ is a wonderful friend & I’m happy she got together with her partner.
+ It’s really funny to have an inside joke about SY & Duan Jia Xu relationship at one point. You need to watch to understand what scene I mean.
+ I really love how SY announced his relationship with YF to his group at their friend's wedding….
What I don’t like:
- They changed the actor who played Sang Yan…. I still don’t like this fact. Cause for me, unlike Go Go Squid 2, I really like the actor who played Sang Yan. It just feels perfect for the character. But yeah once again, I quite understand why they changed the actor…. That doesn't mean I don’t like Bai Jing Ting here…
- The story is kinda draggy and boring.
Overall I love watching Sang Yan & Yi Fan story, but nothing really a miss if their story never on the screen....
Was this review helpful to you?
I created an account just to rate this drama, and if I could give it a 20, I would.
Last year, after watching Hidden Love, I learned that Sang Yan had his own story, so I frantically searched for the novel and read it. From the very beginning, Wen Yi Fan took my whole heart.I'm relatively new to cdramas, so I'd only watched Zhang Rounan in two previous dramas and I just thought she was really cute, and Baijingting was completely new to me. Then this dropped, and from the first episode, I just knew I would love it. And I wasn’t wrong. 45 minutes went by so fast, and I take that as the sign of truly enjoying a drama.
BJT brought Sang Yan to life: confident, devoted, handsome, and understanding. And let’s talk about ZRN, this girl showed her caliber. She was born to play WFY. ZRN, aside from being obviously GORGEOUS, was cute, elegant, shy, reserved. She embodied WYF perfectly: resilient, timid, vulnerable, yet strong.
I understand those who didn’t agree with the major deviation from the novel, but I don’t think it made the drama any less. You get to see WFY’s reasoning and it was valid, coming from her trauma. The last 4 episodes are truly a treat.
For me, everything was perfect: acting - both ZRN and BJT went above and beyond, with those eyes, those tears, those smiles, those kisses; chemistry - nothing to add, you can feel it since their first encounter; script - so many lines from the novel were kept and elevated, it's magical seeing something you read brought to life so perfectly; OST - every single song is sooo good, I have added the playlist on Spotify and listened to it while working lol; visuals - actors, camera work, color palette, scenography, just incredible; flow - good story flow, relevant events to their relationship, there is a little bit of scenes from the 2nd leads that you could skip but it didn't become that annoying to me; the slow burn - no too slow, even if some people disagree, no too fast, the perfect pace for them… you name it. I’ll be rewatching this soon.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Beautifully Heartbreaking Masterpiece
The First Frost is an emotional masterpiece, weaving love, pain, and healing into a story that lingers long after it ends. With breathtaking cinematography, a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, and some of the most emotionally raw performances, this drama is nothing short of unforgettable.Sang Yan – The Greenest Forest, The Deepest Love
I absolutely loved watching Sang Yan. He isn’t just a male lead—he’s a character who carries an immense depth of emotion. His love for Wen Yifan is quiet but intense, steady yet heartbreaking. He never demands love in return, nor does he push beyond what she is willing to give. Instead, he waits, loving her in the only way he knows how—with patience, quiet devotion, and unwavering loyalty.
Sang Yan doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, but the way he looks at Yifan says everything. He’s the kind of person who would rather suffer alone than burden the one he loves. Every scene with him felt like a quiet storm—his love was always present, even in silence. This boy deserves pure love, and watching his pain unfold throughout the drama was absolutely gut-wrenching.
Wen Yifan – A Woman Learning to Love Again
Wen Yifan’s journey is one of the most painful yet rewarding parts of the drama. She carries the weight of her past, her trauma shaping the way she views love. Her pain is deeply ingrained, and sometimes, I found it hard to relate to her expressions. However, that only made her struggles feel more real—she isn’t perfect, and her healing isn’t linear.
Her relationship with Sang Yan was as much about love as it was about healing. His patience, his quiet support, and his willingness to wait allowed her to slowly open up. Watching her learn to trust again, to accept love instead of pushing it away, was one of the most beautifully heartbreaking arcs in the drama.
A Love That Speaks Through Silence
The chemistry between Sang Yan and Wen Yifan is pure magic. It’s not about dramatic declarations or grand gestures—it’s in the way they look at each other, the way their presence alone speaks volumes. Their love story is built on years of unresolved emotions, longing, and pain. Every scene between them feels heavy with unspoken words, yet their connection is undeniable.
Their moments together are soft yet intense, painful yet comforting. They don’t need to say much because their emotions are so deeply embedded in their actions. It’s the kind of love that never truly fades, no matter how much time or distance separates them. Watching them find their way back to each other, step by step, was an emotional journey I didn’t want to end.
Shen Zai & Zhao Mingxi – A Love That Feels Like Home
While the main couple carried the emotional weight of the drama, Shen Zai and Zhao Mingxi were a breath of fresh air. Their love story was lighthearted, full of warmth and playfulness, but still deeply meaningful. They balanced each other perfectly—Shen Zai’s unwavering devotion and Zhao Mingxi’s strong-willed nature made their relationship dynamic and exciting.
Their chemistry was natural, effortless, and full of heart. Unlike Sang Yan and Wen Yifan, whose love was tangled in past pain, Shen Zai and Zhao Mingxi’s love felt freeing. Their moments together brought a sense of relief from the intensity of the main story, yet they were never just a side plot. They had their own struggles, their own emotional depth, and their relationship felt just as real and significant.
I absolutely loved watching them, and honestly, they deserve a drama of their own. The way they supported each other, the way their banter felt so natural—it was impossible not to root for them.
Wen Yifan’s Family – A Pain That Should Be Left Behind
Her mother made my blood boil. The emotional neglect, the complete lack of remorse—it was infuriating to watch. Some families don’t deserve redemption, and this was one of them. Seeing Yifan struggle with the weight of her past, carrying wounds inflicted by the very people who should have protected her, made her story even more heartbreaking.
Final Thoughts
The First Frost isn’t just a drama—it’s an experience. It’s beautifully heartbreaking, with a love story that is both painful and healing. Sang Yan and Wen Yifan’s love is the kind that lingers, while Shen Zai and Zhao Mingxi bring warmth and joy. Together, they create a drama that is emotionally rich, deeply moving, and absolutely unforgettable.
Was this review helpful to you?
