The First Frost

Healing and unconditional love

Marketed second chance romance, it is coded more of a first love story. It's like a warm hug. An endless warmth after a blistering snow storm.

Wei Yifan is so sad and lonely with a painful past, but Sang Yan is just so incredibly caring. He carries a quiet intensity that no matter what life throws at them, he will be the one to keep them afloat. It's funny how it seems like it's the cold ML x naive FL cliche. The dual POVs reveal that their misunderstandings are due to fear to hurt the other when there actually is such a depth of love.

Yifan's trauma is intense and almost triggering. It's understandable why she is the way she is, her strength is quiet but unyielding. Sang Yan is the most chalant nonchalant man I ever witness. He is such a loser in-love that it hurts my eyes.

A second-chance romance that actually is a first love story, Sang Yan had never let go.

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COMPLETE YEARNER PACKAGE RIGHT HERE

“i want to live six years longer than you, that way i can love you for six more years, to make up for the days i left you behind”

i dont think anyone can measure upto the yearning i just watched sang yan do. Its one thing to preach about yearning and then actually doing it to this scale. I loved how every episode had the ‘the story is not over yet’ line and kept showing amazing moments. I know that loving is supposed to be unconditional and pure but this one just tops the chart, its probably the most unconditional and pure love i have seen. Infact i dont think people like sang yan exist in this world.

The side characters are awesome too, they show a depth to the show that cant be easily replaced. Its also so cool to know the the ‘hidden love’ is sang zhi’s story too.

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A 99% unique chinese romance drama

Oh my! After seeing about 10 episodes, I got to know that this drama is a sequal of Hidden Love. Then, everything clicked for me!! A very very VERY good plotline which can be 100% relatable for us girls, soothing visual, background music which sounded like lullaby to me, beautiful acting, specially, a big shoutout to jingting bai, for his VERY MUCH DETAILED ACTING as sang yan [the little trembling while kissing-having passionate moments-proposing!!!!!!!!!!!😭😭😭]- these things got me in tears-shock-awe-butterflies many times while watching this drama. Also, who doesn't want a bestie like siqiao?! 😭💘 A very beautiful chinese drama I got to watch after many many many days. Thanks to the whole team for this.

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His job is just Yifan

My biggest gripe with this show is how ML has absolutely no motivations, goals or personality aside from Wen Yifan. All his hobbies, jobs and interactions are motivated only by FL and getting close to her. He doesn’t seem to care about this family, even lies to Yifan at the beginning saying it’s them who don’t care about him. It’s very sad. And since it’s a modern drama it’s also rather concerning. If he wasn’t considered handsome (I think he’s ok looking but nothing too crazy), he would be called out for being a stalker. But since Yifan likes him, he gets a pass.

I can very easily see the show turning into a triller or horror if she didn’t like him. Maybe it would be more exciting then.

I like Wen Yifan and her backstory. Main actress did a good job in conveying her awkward and stoic personality. Sometimes her awkwardness made it hard to see any chemistry between the leads though. It was rather hard to watch them close when her eyes are shifting. I’ve only ever seen her in Everyone Wants to Meet You but she plays almost the same way there so maybe it’s just her?

First kiss, aka ML kissing FL while she’s sleepwalking is very concerning. Like please, you could have very easily avoided her lips. But it wouldn’t be a straight cdrama without some forced physical contact/borderline harassment presented as romantic.

Yifan’s relationship with her family was straight up heartbreaking, so kudos for trying to portraying such a difficult topic. It’s only a shame that her issues with physical contact never manifested into her relationship with Song Yan. He’s just this special I guess.

I really wish cdramas would stop putting dogs into shows, just to have them dying for some cheap emotional trauma to the characters that will be resolved almost immediately.

2FL was very cute but her plot was so underdeveloped, it’s a missed opportunity. I also liked the grandpa, I think he was very charming. And the music is pleasant enough, I even saved once track for my playlist!

Was ML paid extra for being wet? I swear he’s either sweating or out from shower every second episode. That would make a good drinking game while binge watching.
The poor cast forced to constantly drink all these yogurts and strawberry beer while eating Pizza Hut and fruit jellies, sponsors could be less obvious.

Overall you get what you would expect from a straight romance drama. It’s not bad, it’s not brilliant. Has some strong sides (FL’s backstory and her struggles of self acceptance and topic of sexual harassment) and some very weak ones (ML’s obsessive behavior and no personality outside of FL). It’s good enough for a background noise and Chinese language immersion.

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You won’t regret watching this!

This is one of the best modern dramas.
As a fan of novel, Bai Jing Ting and Zhang Ruo Nan are amazing to bring the characters alive. Their on screen chemistry is also fire.
Just because it’s Sang Yan’s story, you won’t get the same vibe of HL which is sunshine and fluffy, it’s more like the vibe of slowly healing from sad, gloomy trauma of fl and longing of ml.
As for fans of vibrant, strong willed Fl, you will be a little disappointed because this FL is timid and shy, a little detach, a little gloomy because she has fear of rejection, avoidant, thinks she is unworthy of love and doesn’t deserve good things due to abandonment from her mother, emotional abuse from her relatives, suffered SA every place she went/stay and malicious rumors from her school, work place. So you need a little patience to see her opening up to ml, trying herself to come out of shell to believe in love and to be with ml. (She was distancing herself from ml as he is the best thing ever happened to her and she didn’t believe she deserves ml.)
ML is greenest forest ever. He never forced FL to come to him. He tried to understand her and respected every decision she made even tho it breaks him. He is just waiting patiently and longing silently for her. He is the medicine for fl.
I am loving the story by far.
And the scenes are OMG…. The diary like story telling, episode titles, ml’s pov at the end of every episode are amazing.
The storytelling is superb. It’s so well executed.

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The First Frost: A Slow Burn That Doesn't Fully Ignite

The First Frost has been a highly anticipated show that I’ve been waiting to release ever since I finished Hidden Love. At first, I was bummed that Victor Ma wasn’t playing Sang Yan, but I’m actually really glad Bai Jingting landed the role. This drama is definitely a slow burn between the leads, with their love rekindling ever so slowly as life pushes Sang Yan and Wen Yifan together.

The First Frost touches on sensitive themes that are typically not mentioned in Chinese media, and I think its representation was well done in the way the characters react to the world around them. The OSTs were beautifully crafted and purposefully included throughout the scenes. Bai Jingting absolutely nailed his role with his facial expressions—I honestly don’t think anyone could have done a better job. He truly embodies the character Sang Yan was meant to be. Zhang Ruonan was good for the most part, but I found her a bit bland, and I think her acting could have been better.

To be honest, I found the chemistry a bit forced, and their relationship lacked depth. There is absolutely no context as to why Sang Yan has obsessed over Wen Yifan for years, even to the point of traveling to another city just to catch a glimpse of her. That is weird, and Sang Yan doesn’t really have much of a personality besides "I love Wen Yifan." She has already pushed him away multiple times due to her trauma and circumstances, and I think Sang Yan should have packed his bags a long time ago.

I did enjoy the appearances of Yuan Ye as Mu Chengyun and Zhai Xiaowen as Xiang Liang—they were refreshing additions to the show. I also would have liked to see more of Duan Jiaxu and Sang Zhi. In Hidden Love, they seemed to have a very close relationship with Sang Yan, but they were only sparsely mentioned in The First Frost.

Overall, it’s a good show, and I rate it 7.5/10.

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It got boring due to many filler content

First of all to start off, I didnt really like the main characters. The female lead was very weak and ran off elsewhere instead of communicating with the male lead for once. She had her reasons during the first time since she was very young, but wdym ur going away to protect the ML during the second time also?? Like ur the person who needs protection not the ML. I really hate this self-sacrificing nature of characters. Sometimes u need to be a bit selfish.

And the ML, he was a stalker basically. In the last 2 episodes this hypothesis was cemented coz wdym he went around following her everywhere even in yihe when the FL clearly told she didnt want to see him?? Even during the school days he was relentlessly following her around everywhere even when she asked him to stop multiple times. STALKER PRO MAX. And some of the dialogue in this drama is so unrealistic but hey thats why its fiction lol. Anyway I was struggling to finish after like EP 21. WOuld not rewatch but the music in this drama is so so amazing, they are in my favourites.

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Bai Jing Ting's strong genre, ZRN had left weird impression

I had watched almost all BJT drama, atleast gave them a try of atleast for 5ep, BJT had given best for this drama, for me, his strength is in acting helpless,caring,pity,fomo and jealousy, and SY has it all, living completely for his loved, So it kept me driving till the end and more, but I had mixed feelings on ZRN as WYF/WSJ her emotional scenes were almost killing me but her reactions before and after acting shyness,walking style, dumbness were very weird, which became better from ep 16, I didn't feel the character needed that dumb flavor becuz she is prominent reporter which would require fine and pleasant reactions, although the costume designer did a decent job, few choices would have been perfect, you can give it a try if u like BJT work in you are my hero, new life begins etc

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Wen Yi Fan's story : Freeing herself from her past and embracing her light.

After leaving for more than 6 years, Wen Yi Fan decides to go back to Nanwu. After some events, she becomes roommates with her first love Sang Yan. This new proximity brings back painful memories, regrets and a loved buried for years…


What I like
- WYF and her growth. This story is about her freeing herself from past trauma. The journey to feel worthy of love again is not easy and WYF learned it. As a viewer, we saw all this growth and can only be proud about it. Big up to Zhang Ruo Nan who did such a good job interpreting WYF!

- Friendship of WYF and ZSQ. Loved their friendship.

- Main leads romance : Chemistry wise, they were cute but also so hot. This second chance romance was well done. Flashbacks and present scenes complements well. So, we can see the difference between the past and present slowly. Learning from their past mistakes and becoming each other's light again. Also loved WYF's declaration to SY about pursuing him. She was so cute!

- The mother and daughter relationship. Sharing the same blood isn't enough to build a family. WYF and her mother is the perfect example. They shared the same blood but it didn't stop WYF's mother to choose a new family without her. And at the end of the drama, it won't stop WYF to choose her new family. I also want to add that it's quite refreshing to see they didn't patch up at the end of the drama. Their relationship has reached the point of no return and it was just not believable for them to reconcile.

- The villains. I loved the actors' performance because I hated their character so much.

- Really good OST.

- Actors' styling. I have to say it their best styling till now.


What I didn't like
- The number of sexual harassment she went through was a bit too much. I saw somewhere she went through two sexual harassments in the novel which is quite a lot already. It didn't need more to make us understand her trauma.

- The lack of characterization for SY. He is WYF's light and the person she loves the most. And vice-versa, WYF is his whole world. All his thoughts, his life is centered on WYF and her happiness. While as a lover, he is the best match for WYF. However as a character, he is uninteresting. Except for his devoted love, the character is blank. He has no life, no hobbies, no dreams and it so unrealistic! This lack of characterization can be seen in his interactions with his friends for example. There isn't a lot but when they are hanging out together, it's awkward and you can see they have nothing to talk about.

- Some irrelevant characters. The intern and Xiang Lang. Their scenes wasn't necessary and didn't bring much for the plot. They could cut out his scenes and everything would still be the same.

- The grandpa story as catalysis for the second leads story. The whole grandpa story was quite cute at first but they dragged it out too long. This plot could have been a good idea to make the second lead closer and see the good in each other. However, it wasn't done right so it impacted the second leads' love line. And when the grandpa story was over I wasn't invested in them anymore. It's quite unfortunate because the start was so promising.


Overall
This drama is a good watch. WYF's story and her growth is really touching. Unfortunately, it didn't need 32 eps. You can see the production team wanted to fill 32 worth of eps by extending some irrelevant stories.

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