The First Frost

A Strong Romance That Takes Its Time

I’ll start by saying that First Frost is a great drama overall, even if it occasionally goes in circles. The story sometimes lingers too long on repeated emotional beats, which can slow the pacing, but it still manages to deliver plenty of heartfelt moments.

Both leads have rather cold personalities, which can be frustrating at times, yet also surprisingly heartwarming once their vulnerabilities start to show. Their reserved nature adds tension to the romance, and the shy, softer moments between them are some of the most enjoyable parts of the show.

One of my biggest issues lies with the male lead. For much of the drama, he feels more like an accessory to the female lead rather than a fully realized character. His personal arcs are barely explored, making him feel somewhat shallow. The classic “cold, rich prince who can do everything” trope is pushed a bit too far here. While the story does attempt to give him more depth toward the end, it feels like it comes too late. I would have appreciated more focus on his life outside of the romance ~ especially his relationships with family and friends, where his behavior often comes across as unnecessarily harsh.

On the other hand, the supporting cast is a pleasant surprise. Many of them receive stronger and more complete character arcs, and in some cases, they are more compelling than the male lead. Their stories add variety and emotional depth to the overall narrative. They built a world and it does show.

There are also some lighter elements sprinkled throughout fun moments, romantic tension, and shy interactions that balance the heavier themes. However, the pushy rival character feels unnecessary and mostly serves as an annoyance rather than adding meaningful conflict.

It’s also worth noting that the drama touches on some darker themes, including sexual assault and other heavy themes. These elements add emotional weight to the story but may be difficult for some viewers.

Overall, First Frost delivers a strong romantic drama with memorable moments, even if certain characters ~ especially the male lead ~ could have been explored more deeply.

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A Green-Forest-Man Dream Brought to Life

This drama is a gem for anyone yearning for the ultimate green-forest-man fantasy. Sang Yan, brought to life by Bai Jingting’s sweet and grounded performance, absolutely lives up to the hype. His warmth, patience, and unwavering loyalty make him the kind of male lead people dream about. On the other hand, it’s impossible to hate Wen Yi Fan, especially with Zhang Ruonan embodying her so perfectly as the epitome of fragile beauty. Once you understand her backstory, every hesitation and fear she carries makes sense.

Honestly, this drama sells the dream: it’s the hope that every broken girl can someday find someone who makes love feel safe enough to heal. Sang Yan represents that kind of love; steady, loyal, and healing. Raised in a warm, loving family, he naturally has so much care and stability to offer. The kind of love every wounded heart hopes to find.

My only issue is the later breakup arc. Watching Sang Yan suffer all over again because of Wen Yi Fan’s trauma-driven anxiety felt like unnecessary pain for a man who had already given so much. But aside from that, the drama still gives us the full package: strong chemistry, healing romance, and a sweet ending that feels worth celebrating.

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Love, Sacrifice, and Redemption: *First Frost* Takes You on an Emotional Rollercoaster

⭐ *First Frost* – C-Drama Review (9/10) ⭐

*First Frost* isn’t your typical light and fluffy romance—it’s a dark, deeply emotional journey filled with trauma, resilience, and redemption. At its core, the drama thrives on the unwavering love of the male lead, whose devotion remains steadfast despite pain, distance, and harsh words. Meanwhile, the female lead’s quiet strength and selflessness make her a deeply compelling character, constantly putting others before herself even at her own expense.

One of the most interesting questions this drama poses is: *Would I rather be brave like our female lead, who sacrifices so much for others, or like our male lead, whose love never wavers even in the face of heartbreak?*

I also think *First Frost* suffers from inevitable comparisons to *Hidden Love* (which aired first despite being the second book in the series). This shapes audience expectations rather than allowing the drama to stand on its own. While *Hidden Love* offers a soft, comforting romance, *First Frost* is a much heavier, more emotionally intense story about love that endures through darkness.

The only drawback for me? The music didn’t leave a strong impression—none of the songs made it onto my Spotify list. But that’s a minor gripe in an otherwise powerful drama.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Just be ready for an emotional journey, not a lighthearted love story.

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Emotional

The drama is highly emotional; however, the chemistry between the leads made it watchable. Their love story and his dedication while chasing her showed unconditional love. A good one!

I liked the second leads too. The drama also highlights the injustice faced by girls who are already struggling to find their way. Some get justice, while others do not. It also explores how people around them react—some are selfish, some are controlled by powerful influences, and some choose to stay out of the mess and refuse to help.

Despite all this, some girls refuse to give up and continue to fight for their rights. The drama also beautifully portrays how true love never lets go of its partner’s hand.

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I am not satisfied with the character development of the male lead

One of the stupidest character development of male lead I have ever seen in drama history. It's take him 26 episodes just to know that something is bothering the female lead. If he knows that she is not courageous inof to tell about her mental health,just ask bro. He is a game developer . He is smart inof to ask questions right. Just ask what happened,why is she always upset. The drama could have ended in 10 episodes. Just Wasting producer's money . Don't make these types of drama ,I wasted my 2 sleepless days for this. When I was watching this, I was so frustrated because of male lead . If I honestly speak about other characters, they are pretty good and well developed through out the episodes, specially the female lead. Female lead's character development was so good and I like her acting also . If I honestly rate this drama then it's a 4 .

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Since this was based on the character Sang Yan from Hidden Love, I couldn't wait to watch it. And I really wanted to like this more than I did. But, unfortunately, I felt something was missing.

Granted it started with a disadvantage because I was a fan of Victor Ma (the original Sang Yan in HL) but I came to like the actor Bai Jing Ting in the role, even though he still didn't quite ring true as Sang Yan.

What I had a hard time with was the character Wen Yi Fan's treatment of Sang Yan. Leaving him when she was in high school and breaking his heart might have been understandable but doing it again once they were adults and in a relationship. I had a hard time with it.

One can forgive someone once especially a teenager they do dumb stuff without warning all the time. But as an adult? She could have talked it over with him. At the very least she could have left a proper goodbye.

It did have a happy ending.

All in all not a bad watch but it definitely didn't live up to all the expectations.

Should you watch it? That depends. Are you a fan of Victor Ma? Did you love him as Sang Yan? If you did this one might just grate a bit, because no one can replace an original actor in a role. However if you can set aside that and watch this drama as a standalone unrelated to HL then by all means give it a shot, you just may enjoy it.

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In my opinion this cdrama was well overrated

So I think that this cdrama is pretty good the actors are cute. I wouldn’t say that they had THE best chemistry but it was good enough. To me this drama is overrated because I kept on seeing on social media that the story was insane, however it was pretty basic to me. They were friends for a long time and always loved each other. It is a good and cute story that I enjoyed but there are lots of drama having the same scenario. Even though I think that it is overrated, I liked it, it just didn’t match my expectations. If you love chill and cute romance you will definitely like it.

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The First Frost made me cry, dream… and rant !!!

To be honest, this is one of the most beautiful Chinese dramas I’ve ever watched. You get completely immersed in the story — it’s touching, with so many emotionally moving moments that really got to me. I binged it all in one go. It’s romantic and full of hope. The male lead is simply outstanding — very promising, with a natural acting style, and what’s especially refreshing is that he doesn’t have that "celebrity ego" that you often see in other Chinese actors. The actress is beautiful
Now, about the plot and storytelling: just like Hidden Love, I really enjoyed this drama. You can instantly feel it’s from the same author — with all their strengths and weaknesses. This story has more dark elements, and I love that (since The First Frost is actually part of the same book series as Hidden Love — it’s a prequel). But honestly, it's better not to know that going in, because it can interfere with how you experience The First Frost.

As in Hidden Love, there were also things that emotionally bothered me here. I absolutely love the male lead’s unconditional love, but again, there’s a clear imbalance — the female lead doesn’t show the same level of emotional commitment. Everything the boy did in his life somehow revolved around her… but what has she done for him? Not even a proper “I love you.” Yes, I get it — trauma, emotional wounds… but in that case, the story should’ve leaned more toward a dramatic tone.
I would’ve emphasized this emotional imbalance if the drama had been tonally dramatic. But here, everything remains soft and romantic, and that imbalance is treated like it’s normal — as if it’s supposed to be that way.
Please don’t tell me this coldness is a cultural thing — it gets in the way of true emotional resonance. I wish there had been at least one small gesture, a little sacrifice from her side, or some sharp, heartfelt dialogue. (By the way, the dialogues often felt childish — for example, in episode 27, this was sorely lacking, especially if we’re supposed to treat this as a “literary” work.)

I really liked the second couple. As for the male lead — he’s completely different from his character in Hidden Love. Maybe a slightly “bad boy” persona like the one in Hidden Love would’ve fit better here, given the context. That said, I have nothing against the actor — he’s amazing, very expressive, and makes the character feel soft, sensitive, stylish, and so on. They made a casting that is very very close to Lusi and Chen Zheyuan instead of differentiating

And one more thing — sometimes I couldn’t tell if certain scenes or actions were unnecessary because of how the story was written, or just because they had to stretch it out to 32 episodes.
Ahhh… if only this same story had been told in just 8 episodes — it could’ve been a masterpiece.

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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.

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I am gonna miss this one so badly

Face full of tears, heart aching, soul healed and eyes blessed ( thanks to that fine man). This was the best piece of masterpiece i have watched in a VERYYYYYY LOOOOOONG TIMEEEEEEE. Words can’t describe the feelings im going through rn but the one taking over the most is nostalgia BECAUSE WHY TF DO I ALREADY MISS THEM AMAN. This passed my expectations and sm more and i am so happy i got to watch this. This one definetly got me out of my slump and healed me. Every thing about this was perfection : cast, acting, visuals, plot, ost, LITERALLY EVERYTHING. This couple is now my weakness and i already miss them BRING ME BACK MY BABIES. tbh at first i had a hard time understanding yifan and how “cold” she was but then when you get to know her backround, everything changes. Her calm personnality is so comforting and it actually grows on you, plus as time goes by and when she heals from her past wounds , she became more confident and at peace AND SHE IS SO CUTIE I WANT TO PROTECT HER AT ALL COST. the thing i love about her is the fact that even if she was reserved she always stood up for herself so she made me sooo proud. You can feel shes a genuinely loving person and that her love language is different.

AND WHERE TF DO I NEED TO START ABOUT MY MAN SANG YANG AMAN. melekher : 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚💚 💚 💚 💚 💚 (there was no green flag emoji so im using this). AND MARK MY WORDS BECAUSE THIS TIME I AM NOT PLAYING. usually in these shows when theres conflict or even in general, you get some flaws in the mls, which is human, but this guy wlh wlh wlh has absolutly no damn flaws, not a single one in his bones. He’s so emotionally intelligent, loving, caring and mature. Yes, he may seem cocky, but thats just a facade and thats what i find the most funny about him. words really can’t describe how much i admire him cause now it has reached a whole new level, it’s not just love atp. The way he cares and loves her is truly admirable and touching and i am honestly so overwhelmed writing this that i don’t even know what examples i can use tellement there are too many.

Now for their dynamic you could feel there was sm tension and a deep history between them and i couldn’t wait to find out the reason she left and everything( which was completly understandable) but from the moment they started dating…… omg. PURE CUTESY LOVE, and i am not talking about the classic cute bla bla chemistry otherwise it would be incoherent with their personnalities, especially hers. Their chemistry as a couple was so new and fresh it took me by surprise. Cuz i was a bit scared in case it became weird but not at all, it just made me love them even more. They were so cozy, comforting, simple, mature and caring. It just felt so nice seeing their interactions being natural and simple.

For the rating i was gonna give it a 5 star but the last episode changed everything and made me add the heart. I can officially say this last episode was the most perfect last episode of all the history of last episode. We got to see them with his family, moving in their new appartment, which is his. Even smth as simple as that was well executed, they could have showed them already installed in and living their best lives in it, but we got to see still discovering, getting comfortable with all the boxes around and simply taking in this new change is their life. And finally, where everything changed : the school. I was expecting a classic “yay back to school memories yay” but it was so much deeper. The way they recreated all their high school moments warmed my heart and it really was a nice way for us to recall the old times. BUT THE PROPOSAL HELLO ??????????????????????? i was honestly shocked ( not because they were gonna get married cause we knew) but because the moment was unexpected yet expected. she was taking a nap on the desk and when she woke up they were all wearing their high school uniforms ( currently having tears in my eyes writing this) and when it said marry on the board with the poem, it hit me. even the idea of the videos was so creative AND THE RING BOX PLZZZ basically she loves and she does ballet and back in the day he gifted her a box with a little ballet doll dancing in it and so for the proposal he put the ring inside it AMAAAANNNNNNN. and even that when he tried to turn it on it didnt work cause the battery died and this simple detail just made the moment sm more human and genuine idk how to describe it. AND NOW THE BEST PART, my man’s speech. he was literally SHAKING WITH TEARS IN HIS EYES, his speech wasn’t grandios but those simple words were enough. AND MY BABY YIFAN WAS SO PRETTY CRYING SHE DESERVES THE WORLD. and im so happy it stopped right there because it was absolutly perfect.

SO SHOUTOUT TO MY LOVELY LIAR, THIS IS HOW YOU DO A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL, SO TAKE NOTESSSSSSSSSS

This is the first time i say something like this but ya rabi : may this kind of love find me and may a man like sang yang find me. this is truly the kind of love i aspire to find and i can’t wait for it

IM GONNA MISS U MY BABIES I DONT WANT TO LEAVE LET ME STAY HERE A LITTE LONGER

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Best modern idol drama since lighter & Princess

Update: finally competed the drama and I am ok with how it ended. Dark vibes romance done right.

I am currently @ep25 and have have my initial/current rating on 9.5/10, i am trending towards a 10/10 upon completion barring any decrease in my enjoyment of the drama but I will say this, if this Drama goes the C-Drama “parents can torture, manipulate, also emotionally, mentally & physically abuse their children” but all is forgiven @ the end & its all kumbaya one big happy family because apparently no child has the right to decide to remove themselves from a toxic/harmful relationship because they will be seen as unfilial, no matter what the parents might have put them through all in the name of they are still your parents, it will not only take my review down but will put it @ 1/10 since 0/10 isn’t an option
That uncle is a creep, her aunt and aunt’s husband are evil, useless and complicit but the worst offender amongst them all is her mother, I have seen my fair share of bad parents in CDramaLand but this has to be the worst one yet, even if you don’t believe she was almost raped, she has bruises from her fall and this useless pathetic excuse of not just a mother but a human being, wasn’t even concerned about her injuries but more concerned about inconveniencing her new husband. The more I type the more furious I am about how such a wicked, nasty, useless and evil mother can actually exist. I don’t want kids because I feel like I have zero maternal bone in my body but even I am appalled @ such kind of woman/mother, even animals protect their own and she had the audacity to shed crocodile tears.
The fact that the FL is even having any sort of conversation with that woman calling herself a mother and human being is already pissing me the hell off but If this drama does any sort of reconciliation whatsoever between the FL and her, my final rating would most definitely reflect my great displeasure and anger which as I said earlier would be a 1/10 because there is no 0/10 option, there is no ifs and buts about that

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