Ski into Love

Hibernating King Claims His Crown

This is a super fluffy, cutesy (at times cringey), easy watch for when you’re not in the mood for something heavy or that requires a lot of brainpower. I liked what I read in the synopsis for it as I find snowboarding enjoyable to watch, plus I enjoy both the lead actors so I was excited to watch this as it aired. And while it didn’t quite meet my expectations, I still found it entertaining & liked it for the most part. {{And let me say right away that I know nothing about the validity of the snowboarding aspect. I don’t participate in the sport myself nor have any knowledge of its different “styles” or whatnot.}}

I found our Leads to be really cute together. Their relationship progressed much faster than I expected but I heard the drama got like 10-15eps cut off so it then made sense to me why things moved at the rate they did. And it’s not that they became a couple right away, I was just surprised at how early they claimed one another without making it official. It didn’t at all bother me, though, since I actually prefer when they get together early on so we get lots of eps with them as a couple. 😉

The ML was once a top competitor in professional snowboarding, but an injury caused his early retirement. He could’ve continued competing, but his parents were terrified of another tragedy happening to him like it did to his younger sister, so to ease their worries he chose to retire. He can’t fully let go of his passion, though, so he travels between different cities as a local coach with his fellow boarders & friends. His experience & talents make him almost god-like on the slopes, earning him a well deserved reputation as the best. He appears content & adjusted to his new life, but he secretly still dreams of participating in the Olympics one day.

And while he’s going through the motions from day-to-day, a girl crashes into his world, lighting up his life & reigniting his passion…

There’s an incident that causes the ML to be a bit “cold” towards the FL initially, but he’s still extremely protective of her, which I really enjoyed. His words were saying one thing, but his actions were saying another. Rest assured, he’s never cruel to her, he just picks on her & teases her a lot, but never maliciously. He has a crush on her from moment one, so despite his plans to make things a bit rough on her, he never fully follows through since he cares about her.

For the FL’s part, she has no idea that her new snowboarding coach is her idol & the inspiration for her latest comic idea, so there’s a little bit of that hidden identity trope if you’re a a fan of that. I don’t usually like it, but this one got cleared up fairly quickly so I didn’t mind. She’s a very optimistic, bubbly, friendly girl who just wants to be allowed to chase her dream & live her life how she wants. Only her best friend knows the pain her smile hides. Despite her parents’ disapproval & lack of support, she remains dedicated to following her own path. When a scandal breaks out & she’s framed, resulting in the loss of her pen name & job, she’s disheartened & unsure what to do next. Then she sees a clip of a snowboarder performing incredible tricks & she’s encouraged to keep moving forward. To do that, she books a trip to the slopes to gather material for her new comic. Unknowingly putting herself on a path to meet a man who’s going to change her life in so many ways…

Like I said, I think this duo is super cute together. Their interactions were both comical & endearing. I smiled a lot at their antics, from their initial trading of sarcastic comments to their mutual attraction & flirtations. They have a lot of funny & memorable scenes throughout the whole drama. Some of my favs are:
- The switch from the green turtle to pink. IYKYK. 🐢
- Him being her “uber” down the slopes. Their positions, her sheer joy, his continued glances to check on her… 🫠
- The whole hospital scene: her expressions, him cradling her head, the adorable piggyback ride 🫶🏻
- Unexpectedly meeting at his home. The surprise that quickly turns to delight. 💖
- The landslide & all that followed. Her frantic search, their relieved hug, their mutual care & support. ✅
- The confession. Their happiness was so believable & I couldn’t stop grinning. And the kiss!! 💋
- Their first meeting after the breakup. I was so happy to finally have them back on the screen together again! 🙌🏻
- The make up scene. The apologies. Choosing to face the obstacles together. Him trusting that who he was, right then, was already good enough for her. ❤️‍🩹
-Their mutual successes. Their hard work being recognized & rewarded. Their efforts paying off & their pure joy at accomplishing their dreams. 🏆
- The whole proposal fiasco. Oh my goodness, the poor man was trying so hard & it was not going well!! But then it finally happened & wow - it was beautiful & so perfect for them! 💕

Since I mentioned their breakup in that list let me just say that those episodes are where the show took a drop for me. Not simply because of the breakup, though I always prefer my couples to not do that, but because it felt so out of character for the ML to make that choice. And while I do sorta understand where he was coming from, I don’t understand why they had to officially break up. They weren’t talking about marriage right then anyways, so why couldn’t he continue to prove himself to her parents while staying by her side, ya know? The breakup just didn’t make sense.

And speaking of her parents - ick. I did NOT like her mother. What a controlling & judgmental woman. The dad was initially fine, but once he decided to confront the ML alone he was on my “dislike” list. Yes, their actions are all explained later & “reasoned away” but, for me personally, they never redeemed themselves enough after the way they initially looked down on the ML. Just… no.

As for the support cast:
- the ML’s fellow snowboarders are aces. I liked all of them. I appreciated that there were no love rivals in the bunch, just supportive friends who always had the ML’s (& FL’s by association) back.
- the FL’s colleagues. I liked the ones who were loyal, but I do not at all understand the welcoming back of the one who betrayed them. I understand she was in a difficult position, but guess what - so were the others. She’s the only one who made horrible choices. I’m okay with them forgiving her, but for them to trust her so fully & quickly again? Seemed a bit unrealistic to me.
- The FL’s bestie. I had mixed feelings about her. I liked her relationship with the FL, but her personality outside of that was a bit off putting. Especially the way she treated the ML’s friend. She was very dismissive of his feelings after their fling (that he didn’t realize was just a fling) which was very unattractive to me.
- The male love rival. Whoa was he super annoying at first. I’ve said it before & I know I’ll say it again, but seriously - are people really that delulu?? FL was so obviously not interested in him & he was so incredibly obtuse to her rejections. BUT he totally endeared himself to me in the way he handled finding out about the FL & ML. He didn’t rant or try to sabotage them, but rather went off by himself to grieve. When he returned, he was kind & supportive, accepting the ML’s position as her boyfriend & vowing that he’d only see the FL as a little sister from then on. So while I initially found him completely dislikable, in the end he was a welcome member to the friends group.
- The ML’s sister. Utterly adorable & inspiring. Despite the tragedy she endured, she remained an optimistic & happy girl. And her relationship with the ML’s old teammate was so cute. On the one hand that guy was irritating because of his constant attempts to beat the ML, but on the other hand he was absolutely precious in his interactions with his girlfriend.

So my enjoyment dropped due to the breakup drama, overall I did really enjoy this drama. I know I’ll rewatch it again & simply skip those painful episodes.

I’ll finish my review with this since I know there’s been a lot of haters - if you don’t like the FL actresses voice or when she acts cutesy/“babyish”, then just skip this drama. Don’t watch it just to hate on her. 1) she’s doing her job. 2) it’s not our place to call her fake since we only know her virtually. And 3) most importantly, she’s a human with feelings so hearing/reading malicious comments must hurt her just like it does the rest of us.
While I’m saying this specifically about Esther Yu right now, it applies to all celebrities. Why do we build these stars up just to watch them burn out? Must we raise them so high just to tear them down? One would think, aafter all the tragic suic!des, we’d learn to stop being so cruel…

Sorry, but I find it sad when viewers share harsh opinions with no care as to how it affects the actors/actresses. 😔

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-⬇️ S P O I L E R S 🚫 B E L O W ⬇️-


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The things I always want to know 😏😉…
- First(real)Kiss : ep.13💋
- Together : ep.13 👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏻
- BreakUp : ep.17 💔
- BackTogether : ep.22❤️‍🩹

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a quick fix for romance, but not something to rewatch

This show is honestly an average romance drama, I can't necessarily pinpoint anything that makes it vastly different from others I've seen. Personally, I found the plot pretty predictable as well. I must say that the supporting couples were more interesting to me. While watching the main leads, I found it hard to watch Wei Zhi, as the cute acting felt too excessive and forced, causing me to skip many scenes. Also, each time new episodes were released, I found myself needing to rewatch the previous episode to remember what happened because the story was very forgettable. Overall, I'd still say that it has somewhat nice romance and you can watch it if you're craving a simple romance drama, but it's definitely not something to rewatch.

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Hush,The king is in hibernation.

A drama with a winter sports theme and a snowy atmosphere is really interesting and visually flawless because the snow itself gives beauty to the scenes and everything has a romantic and desirable feel. First of all, I really appreciate the efforts of the crew and actors because I know it must have been hard work. It is exhausting to work in sub-zero temperatures, but they filmed it so beautifully without any excuses.
The series is about continuing even if you fail many times. It doesn't matter if you are rich or average, just remember to follow your goals and don't let anything stop you. The snow is a reminder of the hardships that come after the earth comes back to life in the spring after the cold weather. The actors were also chosen perfectly. Esther is really capable. She has a complete command of her facial expressions and has cute and lovely facial expressions. Along with Sean Chung's cold look, they complement each other.
I've enjoyed it so far, so join us and don't deprive yourself of this beautiful atmosphere...🌹🌹🙏🏻❤️❄️☃️

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A good drama isn't just by goof actors

I like Lin Yi and Esther. I have seen many of their dramas and I loved some and hated some. So I can say that my dislike for this drama does not stem from the actors, I think they did their jobs well.

The writers and director, however, could've been a lot better. The repeated comments on body, weight, body-shaming were too much to tolerate, let alone ignore. You can't really show a person thinner than a pole and just go on and on about how fat they are, its disingenuous as well as problematic.

I'm also quite tired of the trope where people force a person to go back to doing something they did before an accident/near death incident. I never finished the show so I don't know what SC did but the way Dou and the coach kept harping on him got on my nerve.
Almost in the same vein, Wei Zhi and her dismissive attitude towards the scandal annoyed me too, it reeked of money and privilege. I can't understand how an artist would let themselves be blamed for AI, lose their life's work, find out their friend/assistant is still profiting off and then do nothing?? Yeah right

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Comforting!

Ah, this was so cute and fun – exactly what I needed right now! I usually really love Esther’s dramas, and this is no exception, although that one scene at the hospital (when she injured her foot a little) wasn’t my favorite to be honest. The face she made was too much, even for me😫 Other than that, she was as cute as ever! Shan Chong is a true lover boy, and I don’t know how many times I rewatched that scene in episode 2, when he puts his face mask on because he’s petty that Wei Zhi doesn’t recognize him, hihi😍😈 Their relationship pre-actually-being-together was so much fun – I love how unabashedly biased he is towards her, it was lowkey hilarious! I also loved Jiang Nan Feng’s and Wei Zhi’s bestie bond, it was so cute😫😭 This was a comfort watch, loved the couple, loved the winter vibes, the snowboarding and little comic bits at the end of every episode; it was all just all too cute for me to handle!!💛💛

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A Seemingly Unfinished Story

I was hoping my first review was going to be positive, but unfortunately, that won't be the case. Nobody loves love more than I do. I spend half of my time thinking about which drama to watch next on my list, and I spend the other half of my time watching it. I'm not well versed in C-Dramas, but with The First Frost being the most recent C-Drama I had the pleasure of watching, I fear my expectations were set significantly too high.

As episode 23 began to wrap up and the outro begins to play. I grabbed my remote looking for a "Next Episode" button that never came. This feeling of disappointment began to wash over me like water being thrown on a cozy campfire. Even if we disregard that weak proposal (The speech was great, everything else was not) preceded by a time jump with no context, all of the subplot's felt like there was absolutely zero payoff. You're going to try to convince me that the Qualifier was the big payoff when the Olympics are being dangled in front of us like a carrot tied to a stick?

Lao Yan and Jiang Nan Feng? Dai Duo and Shan Shan? Wei Zhi's Parents? None of the "endings" to any of these plots we were given felt anywhere near satisfactory. I haven't needed closure this badly since my last relationship ended.

I don't have much to say about the acting, because it didn't feel like there was much of it. Esther Yu carried this project on her back and did an absolutely wonderful job with her role. Was Wei Zhi sometimes cringy and mildy annoying? Sure, but that was her character. She managed to give us a powerful performance and she felt like one of the only two bright spots in an otherwise mediocre project.

The other bright spot that left me longing for more and deserved recognition was Zeng You Zhen's performance with Shan Shan. She was able to hit those emotional High's and Low's wonderfully, leaving me with tears of sympathy in my eyes more than once.

Random Disconnected thoughts:
This was a freshly baked, still warm chocolate chip cookie that ended up being oatmeal raisin.
Watch it, but discard any expectations you might have before going into it. There are plenty of VERY cute moments.
This was reminiscent of the Kdrama Eve for me, in that I really enjoyed myself until the last episode.

Final Score: A reluctant 6/10.

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Enjoy the Scenery: Mountains, Yi Lin, and Esther Yu

I like sports dramas. I appreciated learning more about snowboarding, but I wish there had been a little more competition shown. Except for two jumps, there was no suspense involving the snowboarding.

There should be an expiration age on full-time aegyo for adult humans, and Esther Yu, approaching 30, has reached it. I didn't mind the childishness in Love Between Fairy and Devil, because aegyo suited the character of an innocent flower fairy. It's different when Esther Yu is playing an adult businesswoman. This is not a criticism of the actress; I like her very much and will happily watch most of her dramas, but I hope she can get more adult-ish roles where she plays an intelligent, competent person without all the toddler, spoiled attitude. What's cute as a toddler just isn't as an adult. I'm not saying she has to take cold, calculated roles, but wouldn't it be fun to see what she could do with a villain role?

When watching this drama, leave logic at the door. FL wore a new snowboarding outfit every day but claimed she couldn't afford to buy fogless snowboard goggles. This from a woman staying at an exclusive resort and taking personal snowboarding lessons. And she carried one suitcase a trip when she wore the equivalent of a complete dress shop. She seriously couldn't get two of her coats in that suitcase, much less all of the boots/shoes/purses/hats/dresses. That suitcase must be like the Tardis: bigger on the inside.

Kudos to the secondary romance of a snowboarder and his ex-skier girlfriend who lost her legs in an accident. Their love story was more interesting to me than the leads. It's not often a disability is done well. Either the person is pitied or made into a saint. The girlfriend was treated like a normal, sweet person with dreams and abilities. The third romance between FL's best friend and snowboarder Lao Yan was weird and unfinished.

Loved the scenery. The mountains were exquisite. It's hot summer where I watched the drama, but I had to cuddle up in a warm blankie to make it through all that snow! Beautiful scenes!

All in all, I'm not mad I watched, but I was a tad disappointed, because I expected more.

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Huge disappointment.

Visually, the costumes and sets were appealing, but the script failed to capture the depth and complexity of the period. The plot relied too heavily on clichés, and some historical details felt inaccurate or oversimplified. Performances were uneven, with certain roles coming across as one-dimensional.

The storyline started with potential but quickly became predictable and repetitive. Character development felt shallow, and many emotional scenes lacked impact due to forced dialogue. The pacing dragged in several episodes, making it hard to stay engaged. Overall, it felt like a missed opportunity.

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