This review may contain spoilers
the ultimate slowburn...
This was Yi Fan's story, first and foremost. She's such a captivating character. I think that you have to like her and root for her to truly enjoy this. She's quiet, and she takes a while to open up. But I love that over time she learns to stand up for herself and open up. And I loved watching the show just to see that side of her.So it makes sense that the romance is a super slow burn. It takes time for Yi Fan to open up, but Sang Yan is the most selfless and enduring character. Maybe that's unrealistic, but I don't mind that much. They did a perfect job drawing the line and learning to become friends again before anything romantic happened. I think that watching just 1 or 2 episodes a day really helped in enjoying the character progression.
And while I loved the romance, I do think that the story pacing could've been better. Some episodes and plot lines were dragged out, while the Hong Kong plot felt rushed. And it did feel like only Yi Fan was really fleshed out, I would've loved to see Sang Yan outside of his relationship. All that is to say that I loved the characters. This is a character-driven story, so for all the slowburn yearning lovers out there, this is for us!
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Its an amazing C-drama I would 100% recommend it
IT WAS SO CUTE! I MEAN, WATCHING THIS AFTER HL AND WIFTY WAS SO MUCH FUN. I LOVED THE ACTING AND THE WAY THE ACTORS DREW ME IN, BUT I DON'T THINK I WOULD REWATCH IT. I MEAN IT WAS AMAZING, BUT I THINK IT'S SOMETHING YOU CAN ONLY WATCH ONCE CUZ OF HOW LONG IT IS, BUT OVERALL, I ABSOLUTELY ADORED ITWas this review helpful to you?
Captivating!
I enjoyed every single minute of The First Frost! The love story was absolutely breathtaking—almost unreal, just like something out of a dream. The chemistry between the leads was incredible, making every moment feel magical. Every stolen glance, every heartfelt confession, and every bittersweet moment was so beautifully portrayed that it felt like I was experiencing their emotions firsthand.The cinematography was stunning, perfectly capturing the quiet beauty of winter and the warmth of their love. The soundtrack complemented the emotions so well, making every scene even more poignant. It’s the kind of drama that lingers in your heart long after the final episode. A truly captivating and unforgettable watch! Highly recommend it!
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This drama is memorable ❤️💐🌸🌟⭐✨🌹🍀
I really like Sang Yan's character ☆☆☆☆☆♡♡♡♡♡🥹😭🥹✨🫶🏻 his behavior is caring and guarding, his heart is cheerful only for people he likes & not friendly to all women, his love is truly sincere ✨ and he is a real man ☆☆☆☆☆♡♡♡♡♡
Sang Yan when he smiles and his act of service is immediatly dar der dor makes you excited 🤩( ꈍᴗꈍ)
Indonesian :
sukaa banget sama karakter Sang Yan 🥹😭🥹✨🫶🏻 tingkahnya perhatian dan menjaga, hatinya setiaaa cuman buat orang yg dia suka & tidak friendly ke semua wanita, Cintanya sungguh tulus dan dia adalah pria sejati ⭐ ✨
Beuhh Sang Yan kalo udh senyum dan act of service nya itu langsung dar der dor bikin excited 🤩
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A Drama That Hits Where It Hurts and Heals Where It Matters
I don't even know where to begin because this drama didn’t just tell a story—it lived in my head, rent-free, taking over my thoughts, my emotions, and my ability to function like a normal person. Every episode had something that hit me straight in the heart, whether it was making me giggle uncontrollably or cry until I couldn’t see properly.This isn't just a romance. It’s about them. Two people with wounds, regrets, and history—navigating love not as a fairytale, but as something raw, messy, and painfully real. And yet, in all that, there’s tenderness. There’s patience. There’s Sang Yan, who, for all his teasing and bravado, is so painfully gone for her. And Wen Yifan, who deserves softness after everything life has thrown at her.
The way they look at each other? The way they hold onto each other without saying much? The way he believes in them even when she hesitates? It’s the kind of love that feels like home. The kind that makes you believe in love again.
Even when things got heavy—even when past wounds resurfaced—their relationship wasn’t about dramatic misunderstandings or unnecessary angst. It was about choosing each other, again and again, in the quiet moments, in the loud ones, in the in-betweens.
And now that it’s over? I feel empty. The good kind of empty. The kind that lingers, that makes you want to rewatch, relive, and hold onto every second a little longer.
If you haven’t watched this drama yet, let me warn you: you will be ruined. But in the best way possible.
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A drama wrapped in meancholy
This was an angsty drama from start to finish. For me personally Wen yifan was like that one tragic xianxia character that suffers all her life with no way out. Name any abuse she has suffered it and yet bravely faced the reality and went for the so called life. She was an experience. The whole story is presented so brilliantly that I'm afraid this is the new standard. From story to acting to casting you can really feel the dedication of this team. The count of days at the beggining of each episodes to how they wrapped each and every single details of the drama makes it untouchable.I need to write a whole paragraph on sang yan. One fact that sets him apart from any other ML is that he never intruded on yifan's past. No matter how much he loved he respected her private matters, this she didn't wanted to say. That doesn't happen a lot even in drama let alone real life. He was there for her in silent. He never crossed some lines which made my respect for this character go higher than mount everest. Yifan needed to make peace with her own past and sang yan was the pillar she could rely on whenever she needed. Someone like sang yan can only be in real life when one grows up in a family of love and understanding.
Be the Sang Yan of your own life till you find one. With this I'm wrapping my humble opinion
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Best C-Drama I've ever watched
Honestly, I’m not a big fan of C-Dramas and have only watched a few. Even when I started watching this drama, I had no expectations. All I knew was that it shared the same universe as Hidden Love, which I had already watched. I didn’t know much about the lead actors either, as I initially started watching this out of curiosity after seeing a circulating teaser.But who would’ve thought that this drama would be so amazing! It even surpassed my expectations. To be honest, it has become one of my all-time favorite dramas, even though I usually only watch K-dramas. The first thing that impressed me was the chemistry between the two lead actors. Their chemistry was so strong that even just by looking at each other, you could feel it. Additionally, their chemistry when they hugged made me, as a viewer, feel the warmth and sincerity between them. In short, their chemistry was extraordinary! In all the dramas I’ve watched, I’ve rarely seen a couple with such strong chemistry.
Secondly, the storyline. For those who don’t like slow-paced plots, they might get bored, but in my opinion, this pace was just right. It helped me understand the characters of Wen Yifan and Sang Yan even better. I could see how Yifan dealt with the trauma he experienced, and how Sang Yan stayed by his side, understanding his character, and eventually helping Yifan overcome his trauma.
Maybe some novel readers were annoyed with the plot changes, especially when Yifan ran away for the second time. But for me, that was the most realistic and best plot decision. Yifan left with the intention of protecting Sang Yan and wanting to become a better person, someone more worthy of Sang Yan. It’s not easy for someone with trauma to share their burdens with others because they fear that the people around them will suffer because of them.
Thirdly, the acting of the main leads. In my opinion, the casting of Zhang Rounan and Bai Jingting was perfect. They did an excellent job portraying their characters and truly understood them. Their acting felt so natural and real. I really want to appreciate them because their tears were so heartfelt and truly expressed their emotions, whether they were sad or happy.
One of the best scenes in this drama was the proposal scene. It felt so real that I even doubted whether they were really acting, because every gesture seemed so genuine. This proposal scene, in my opinion, is the best I’ve ever seen. I haven’t found a better proposal scene in any other drama.
In short, this drama is extraordinary. I don’t usually cry while watching romance dramas, but in this one, I cried a lot, especially during their proposal scene, which was truly legendary.
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This review may contain spoilers
I wanna hug Yi Fan and completely shower her with gift!!!!!!
Okay so watching this because of the Hidden Love series made me think it was going to be a light hearted romance drama but I was definitely wrong...WARNING I TALK ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT + ABUSE
Female Lead:
Never in my life have I cried this much literally every episode and all my tears were for Yi Fan . We are first introduced to her as a character that is a victim of sexual assault and it affects her daily life, her life seems boring and tasteless. You can tell that Yi Fan is currently carrying a lot of unhealed trauma from her living conditions to her reaction to certain behaviours. One thing that I was very grateful for this show was that Yi Fan's trauma was meticulously written as her trauma wasn't glossed over or written with the intend of romance. This show clearly depicted how Yi Fan's actions are impacted from this, for example her zero tolerance for any type of harassment despite the 'mildness' of it or any unconsented and unpredictable physical touch from the opposite gender. From this she's seen as having an hard exterior for her willingness to fight justice and knowing who to cut off and set strict boundaries for herself. Her healing of trauma was centred around her meeting her high school classmate Sang Yan, who she had known before her incident, when she was an innocent child and stopped contact after the incident. This truly made her relook into the past with someone from her past and relook at the wholesome memories that were overshadowed by the trauma she faced. She also managed to find a special someone to care for her and reassure her that she should never doubt the intense things she had to face.
Male Lead:
So San Yang was someone I did not really like at all in the majority beginning of the show. This was mainly because of his lack of awareness of what potentially Yi Fan must have gone through. Especially throughout high school, he literally witnessed her being abused and neglected by her family. His ego was to big and when they reunited he was to focused of the fact that Yi Fan left him. However, it was so satisfying when throughout the show it actually presented why San Yang actually thought like this. One of the main reasons was because he grew up in a very loving family that made him oblivious to how much Yi Fan's family impacted her. His ego grew each time he helped Yi Fan out, for example when he overheard her family say she doesn't deserve food her provides her food and thought that was enough to make sure she's the happiest, which is all good intentions but he thought she wouldn't be impacted from the absence of love from her family because of the love he showed her. Therefore when she breaks their promise of going to the same uni San Yang is truly heart broken since he has done all of this for his love for Yi Fan however she replied with going to a different uni. This point is thoroughly explained when San Yang took accountability and apologised for holding such a big ego and had not considered her feeling at all (this scene literally made me sooooo happy cause I was still a little stingy about his character). Falling in love with Yi Fan 'again' was the main route of his character development since it made him question why she choice to leave and cut off contact and genially improved him as a person.
Yi Fan's relationship with her family:
Okay so one of my biggest pet peeve that is apparent in many shows is how despite all the terrible and sometimes criminal act a family does, at the end of the show it's all happy happy and all is forgiven. But in First Frost, it is finally handled realistically and how it should always be handled. Yi Fan and her mother possess a very difficult and strained relationship since after Yi Fan's dad died, her mother needed time alone and made Yi Fan lack a mother figure and made her stay with her neglectful Aunt and that despicable being of a person. Despite all of Yi Fan's plead to be taken back and even opening about how that that despicable being of a person has been sexually assaulting her, her mother brushed it off and was too centred around her life, she neglected Yi Fan. Now Yi Fan's older and her mother has 'settled down' the mother finally wants to start to rebuild the relationship. However, Yi Fan decides to cut off her whole family, including her mother at the end of the show, to symbolise has she's moved from the past and has people she loves now and cares for her. This ending was really satisfying because she clearly states to the mother that when she needed her to most, she wasn't there. Yi Fan says that her mother's daughter has been killed and saying that made a weight leave from Yi Fan's chest.
Yi Fan's dream was to be in ballet, however after that incident that injured her ankles, she is physically unable to reach that dream. In the later episodes when she ran away to Hongkong, she becomes a temporary ballet teacher. This is when us as viewers sees a woman who is so close yet so far from their dreams. This truly made me ugly cry from how much one person can impact ones life. How many people in the world have gone through such intense traumas and still haven't received justice or even allowed to call themselves a victim.
Disadvantage:
I found myself skipping all the scenes with the side couple because it was just so basic, boring and predictable it actually annoyed me how much screen time they took. Also that whole grandpa thingy literally took nearly a whole episode. It was just a really random topic to focus in and did NOTHING to the main plot. Also I genially felt like Yi Fan's and Si Qiao's friendship should have been covered a lot more since this show mainly only focused on romantic relationships and kind of only bought up their friendship when it was convenient. Like when Yi Fan was opening Si Qiao, it was literally cut out and jumped straight into Si Qiao telling Yi Fan she went through a lot and that was it. Also San Yang as a character had literal to no personality or hobbies and kind of just existed for Yi Fan, but this bever bothered me as much because this show was all about Yi Fan and her journey.
Ending:
Okay so despite this being a 'happy ending' I think it is more of a bitter sweet ending. Because yes Yi Fan's perpetrator got arrested, she established her relationship with her family and got with San Yang and even opened up to him. However, this still makes me highly emotionally because despite all her efforts this trauma is still with in her. She still lived through all of this.
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This review may contain spoilers
one of the best slow burn romance I’ve seen
I’m not a modern cdrama fan but I was intrigued many are watching this show. so I tried.finished 4 episodes in one sitting. by then, everything, from storytelling, production to acting, it was considered good.
as episodes passed, it became amazing. especially both leads. to the point the actors are the characters themselves.
I don’t mind the lack of plots because the emotional development of the main leads are far more important and interesting. also using non linear storytelling without confusing audience, was really really good.
the slow burn in this drama is just like simmering broth, the longer it takes, more savoury and every single scenes between Yifan and Sang Yan are just chef kiss.
show while showing the romance, never shy to portray the trauma of SA victims, how it shapes their character, the actions they take…
many dislike the HK arc but imo, it’s integral. from yifan pov, we get to see how she deal with things when it goes wrong. this time when sang Yan already involved in her life. and those two years, sang Yan began to figure out what kind of life she lived during those days. because yifan is the type that don’t share such things even with her best friends, what more to sang Yan. this is her personal trauma. she has difficulty letting in people and let them know her struggles. she know running away won’t solve problems but that’s the only way she knows. until she decided that she has to put this to a stop, by herself. not anyone else but her own.
wen yifan struggles and her growth, throughout the show was so amazing. to a point there are aspects that I truly relate with her, and wish to have someone like Sang Yan in my life, as a support, for me to build my own self confidence and fly, soar in the sky.
one thing if show ought to do was to spare some time to expand on Sang Yan’s growth. it’s only through sangzhi’s pov we got to know how he changed, after he lost Yifan.
as for supporting leads, amazing. just the grandpa arc a little bit redundant. I understand that his family is about communication issue after a traumatic event. I’m surprised grandma just went off to travel and assumed grandpa love other woman. backstory only came from Su haoan’s mouth. but I guess they don’t want to do much on their storyline since main story already heavy.
watching this show had me yearn for my own sang Yan. even how fictional this character seems to be, praying for one, at least that’s the best we can hope for.
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Heartfelt, Heartbreaking, and Absolutely Unforgettable
The First Frost took me on an emotional roller coaster, and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover. This drama made me feel everything—from heart-fluttering sweetness that had me smiling like a fool, to frustration and anger that made me want to throw my pillow at the screen, to heartbreak so intense it left me staring into space.The story is beautifully told, pulling me in with every twist and turn. The characters feel so real that their happiness became mine, and their pain hit me like a punch to the gut. And let’s talk about the chemistry—every glance, every touch, every unspoken moment between the leads had my heart racing. It’s the kind of connection that lingers long after the final episode.
But what made this drama even more special was the music. The soundtrack didn’t just complement the emotions—it amplified them. The OST made the sad scenes even more gut-wrenching, while giving every emotional moment so much weight. Even now, hearing those songs brings back all the feelings like a flood.
I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to move on from this. It’s rare to find a drama that leaves such a deep mark, and The First Frost has set the bar impossibly high. Until another drama comes along that can make me feel this much, this one will remain my absolute favourite.
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perfect chemistry
The chemistry of the both leads are perfect. The story is quite ordinary and it has any cores. He kisses her very beautifully and passionately. She looks quite innocent like a fairy but, on the other hand, I sense of seductiveness of her. The female lead in the drama "you are my hero" is not beautiful at all but she is more adorable than her.Was this review helpful to you?
ENDURING LOVE
I rarely give a rating to a drama that I just finished watching. This was my 2nd time rating a drama, the very first drama I rated was "LOVELY RUNNER" because I thought that time that no one could beat that drama from being my #1 spot for a very very veryyy long time, guess I was wrong because this crama without a doubt took the #1 spot for me, ignoring the story of the grandpa and the 2nd lead/couple because I find it sooo unnecessary, it is sooo dragging. Sang Yan and Wen Shuangjiang story is the perfect definition of ENDURING LOVE, that love takes time. You can't love someone who don't even love themselves, their love for each other is so patient, respectful and full of understanding, without even forcing anything. They just understand and respect each other well and they give each other time and space whenever they need it. Eventually, after everything that has happened, they will always find their way back to each other, they don't give up with each other and they will always catch each other. THAT'S LOVE FOR ME 🍃❄️❤️🩹Was this review helpful to you?
