Platinum Fox

Did you notice in The Double the scene where one of Duke Su's bodyguards does a rolling martial arts move over a carriage? It is taken straight out of this drama. Also, the characters diving through windows!

One of the writers stated she wanted to make a drama where the women actually helped each other rather than tore each other apart. She feels women help each other more than hurt each other in real life.

Yes, he is given a concubine by Prince Ning. The girl is Prince Ning's adopted god daughter. She is there to spy on JCY.

This is an investigation story. There is hardly any palace politics. It is mainly the revenge of a daughter against her father. The romance is little to nonexistent, especially if you are looking for hugs and kisses.

If you are looking for a light, fluffy comedy romance, this is not it. The focus of this drama is on revenge. The main couple in fact hate each other much of the drama, but learn to love each other in the end.

I understand. You see Hidden Love as a fluffy, simple love story when in reality it is not. There is more to the story that most viewers do not see. Their relationship has more depth than you think. DJX did not fall for her out of the blue as you say. He actually has loved her since she was 17, he just didn't know it, nor wanted to admit it. Some people have said that Hidden Love is about grooming and that DJX is even a pedophile. However, according to Chinese law (the age of consent), he is not. Hidden Love is actually a social commentary on the age of consent law in China which creates a story with more depth than the than the light, fluffy story people think it is.

It's okay that you like The First Frost more. I just wanted to clarify that Hidden Love is not what you think it is.

I think the reason they didn't focus so much on his trauma was because his was out in the open. People knew his father had killed someone and tried to commit suicide and also that his mother had passed away from cancer. Even though the students were not so nice about it, the teachers I am sure supported him. This kid had already suffered enough and people were well aware of his trauma and supported him, especially the Sang family even before Sang Zhi met him. His trauma was feeling as though no one would love him, and he was trapped in a promise that his mom made to JY's family. When Sang Zhi comes along and gives him a way out of both of these traumas he healed pretty quickly.

On the other hand, Yi Fan's trauma is more on the inside. No one but the immediate family knew about the sexual assault and they tried to hide it. You can hide a sexual assault better than someone killing another person. It is not as out in the open. She runs to Yihe from Nanwa (DJX runs to Nanwa from Yihe). Her trauma is more emotional and the only thing she could do to find closure is taking the uncle to court, but there will always be a part of her asking whether she did something to provoke the uncle. Whereas with DJX, he is in no way responsible for his dad's behavior. He is a victim like his mother.

I understand what you are saying, but I think the two traumas are very different. Also, the focus of Hidden Love was on the love part not the trauma. For me, The First Frost was suppose to be Sang Yan's story, but it really ended up being about Yi Fan.

deepti, I can tell that people viewing this show are not used to other actors playing the same role and do not understand the rules when this happens. I can also tell that the director didn't have much experience in this area either. The screenwriter, on the other hand, did, as he created dialogue that the original Sang Yan character would have said. The screenwriter understood the essence of Sang Yan's character that was portrayed in Hidden Love and what most viewers understood Sang Yan to be (whether that is his true self or not). There is nothing wrong with the way either drama portrayed the character as we are getting two sides to Sang Yan. This makes him a dynamic character rather than a static one.

You're right BJT had the harder job as he must not only be a romantic guy, but he also had to be a brother to Sang Zhi in order for us to believe that he is Sang Yan. What some of us are saying is that BJT nailed the romantic side of Sang Yan, but for whatever reason, the director chose to downplay the loud, goofy, fun Sang Yan that viewers knew and loved. Also, being the more experienced drama actor, BJT should have been able to make this happen when he had a comedic line to deliver, but his delivery was flat and his mannerisms didn't match what we knew Sang Yan to be.

Also, please don't say that singers and rappers aren't actors. They act every time they get up on stage. That's why many of them go into acting when they quit singing. Good singers can transfer that acting skill into their works.

Thank you for the discussion and happy drama watching.

Yes, I know that The First Frost is based on a novel, and I know that it is not Hidden Love's sequel. If in The First Frost novel his character is a mousy, reserved, broody romantic, then the director and BJT nailed that personality. However, you have to take into account that the drama Hidden Love came out first. Viewers expect Sang Yan to be just like he is in Hidden Love, his charming, comedic narcissistic, grumpy, bravado self. It doesn't matter whether people have read The First Frost novel or not which many viewers probably haven't. This is the rule: if a character is played by more than one actor (James Bond, Dr. Who), then the new actor must retain the essence of the character and then turn that character into their own. A good director and actor can do that.

This is why the writer and the director created the scene of the brother and sister in the line. (Is this scene in the novel?) The dialogue in it was something Sang Yan would say, but the behavior did not match up with what viewers knew Sang Yan to be, especially with his sister. I gave many reasons why previous viewers could excuse this personality change, but those excuses did not instill confidence that this character was actually Sang Yan. And as I said in my post, even though Sang Yan is playing a different role here than in HL and we should expect some change in personality, it should not be into a completely different person right at the start. This change in personality should have been gradual as his story unfolds.

Thank you for the discussion.

No, she just comes home after being away for 17 years.

My question is why is it so important that the person have a drama in his/her watch list? Don't you watch dramas that are not on your watch list? I watched this drama because I had questions left from Hidden Love. I received my answers within the first four and half episodes. After that I realized they just reversed Sang Zhi and Sang Yan's roles along with the other two leads being reversed as well. Been there, seen that, give me something new.

My compliments to the Sang parents who raised their children to be compassionate and to really take the time to understand the person they love.

I'm glad that you and others enjoyed it. It was just not my cup of tea. We all have the right to our opinion, including you and the 23 other people who loved your post.

You and I obviously watched different dramas when it comes to Hidden Love and The First Frost. For me, The First Frost is just the reverse of Hidden Love Sang Yan is Sang Zhi and DJX is Yi Fen, The parents of the Sang siblings should be pleased with how they raised their children because both of them really knew how to support their partners who had experienced trauma.

Some of us are not BJT anti-fans. I think why people are getting hung up on why Sang Yan is not Sang Yan is because in this drama he has a different role than in Hidden Love. In Hidden Love he was a brother to Sang Zhi and a friend to DJX. Sang Yan and DJX are foils for each other. In The First Frost, Sang Yan's main role is that of a romantic. His foil must be the Su guy. This is where BJT makes the Sang Yan's character his own as we do not know very much about Sang Yan's romantic side as it is never discussed in Hidden Love. The difficulty in this, is that we still have to believe that he is the brother of Sang Zhi from Hidden Love, and this needs to be done right away within the first few episodes and throughout the entire drama, especially for viewers who watched Hidden Love first. If you watch Hidden Love second, it would be the same story. Who is the real Sang Yan? Both of them, he is just playing a different role in two different stories.

Just from the comments, it seems BJT pulled it off. For me, it wasn't the acting that kept me from watching the rest, it was the story. This story is generic. The Sang Yan character could have been named anything, unlike Hidden Love which had something deeper going on than just the simple story of a young girl's crush on an older guy.

I watched the scenes with Sang Yan and Sang Zhi when they are standing in line in the first episode again. As they are talking you get a hint of the narcissistic Sang Yan when he talks about getting into Nanwu without really studying and saying she is not as good as him and could still study abroad. This is something Sang Yan would say, but Victor Ma's Sang Yan would have cocked his head back and been charmingly grumpy about it, not this quiet, serious, reserved, mousy guy BJT played. This is more DJX's style. We also get a hint of Sang Yan's comedic side when he holds the phone up out of reach to make fun of her height. This is something that Victor Ma's Sang Yan would have done, but in a more comedic way to make people understand that this is what he is doing. I am betting most people probably didn't realize why he was holding the phone so high. It didn't dawn on me either until I watched it again. The audience can explain this difference in personality by saying they are in public, he has just reconnected with his old flame, he has matured, or DJX rubbed off on him, but his character still lacks that fun, confident character that we knew and loved from Hidden Love.

I do not blame this on BJT, he is the actor he follows the direction of the director and the screenwriter. I am glad that others liked it.

Many viewers felt like you with Hidden Love and that is okay. The cringe feeling you got was intentional, so the drama did its job. It is not the fluffy, simple love story people make it out to be. It is actually a very well done social commentary on the age of consent law in China. It is also a cautionary tale. Not every guy is going to be DJX who never once tries to hurt her when she is 14, 17, or 19.

The First Frost is the darker version of Hidden Love. Yi Fan , our main female lead, is sexually assaulted when she is 17/18 by her mother's sister's husband or her uncle by marriage. Sexual assault is hard to prove when a person is 17/18 as they are the age of consent. All the uncle would have to do is say that she consented, and who would argue with him. This is backed up by the assault she suffers when she lives with the family in episode 1 and the men come after her when she goes back to get her belongings. She "runs" when she 17/18 because no one believes her as she is of age.

The author said something to the effect that she wanted to give her own unrequited loves a happy ending. So whether that was with a brother's friend or just some guy I don't know. But the story is based on her life experience.

I haven't seen the ending, but my guess could also be that she really did want someone to love and to have children. She wanted a home to come back to and not just a house with a roof. She never really had that in her life. jmo

I have watched to episode 24. From the very beginning I felt there was something missing from the plot. Someone who had read the novel explained who the characters were in more depth and the father. It sounds like the screenwriter took the names of the characters and a few scenes and created his own story. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with this, but it creates loopholes in the story. Since I have not watched the ending I would not know what the lie is either, but it may have to do with her identity in the novel (she is actually a princess). jmo

Thank you so much. This actually helped a great deal. It explains most of what I was missing. It sounds like the writer took the least significant part of the novel and developed a story around that part.

Could you briefly tell me how it is different? I feel like now every drama is the same with the same message. I just finished watching episode 21 and feel like a part of the drama is missing. It doesn't have to be much.

I think you're right. He has repeatedly said, "All I want to do is survive." Keeping a low profile allows him to do just that. Also, if he is the only one who know where the loot is, then he doesn't have to worry about money.