This review may contain spoilers
Is this really a spin off of Hidden Love??
While watching The First Frost...i really wondered,would this drama be this much popular if it wasn’t connected to Hidden Love?
Cause if you enjoyed Hidden Love,this drama compels you to compare both of them and guess what,Hidden love wins and its not even close! When I watched Hidden Love, everything got me hooked to the screen,the story,acting,chemistry,direction,cinematography... everything. I could see Sang Zhi's yearning for Duan Jiaxu,her slowly turning from a rebellious teen to a mature adult who can definitely be a support to Jiaxu....Jiaxu's perspective changing when he realized its not the same girl he once saw,she has grown as a woman,as a person,She's strong and can take care of him and thats where the story shone. You can see them growing as person,being in love from both sides,building a very healthy relationship.Everything was evident,the innocence, the yearning, the support,the care,the love,the understanding... everything. This is where TFF falls flat,this drama couldn’t show the depth of the bonding between Sang Yan and Wen Yifan.
The plot in TFF is quite darker than HL... and thats what bothered me in the first place,why making this dark story into a sunshine rainbow with so many filters when it itself had the capacity to stand strong as it originally is?It could become much more touching,heart wrenching love story if everything didnt look so perfect, so polished, so much filtered.Wouldn’t it be so much better if they made it into a more dramatic way instead of following the same filtered dreamy tone??
If i come to character writing, both male and female lead lacks substance. Male lead had no other personality, character arc except being in love and it became boring after some episodes. He's arrogant, cocky but in a middle school teenager way.His whole life revolves around Yifan,he does everything only for Yifan.He spent his whole high school and uni life travelling to Yifans city,he took a job for Yifan, opened restaurant for Yifan, cooks for Yifan, leaves his family meetings for Yifan,plays games for Yifan,is left heartbtoken by Yifan, waits for Yifan,looks for Yifan.... in his life,there's nothing but Yifan which is really unrealistic and very much one dimensional character writing.It wasnt clear why he became so obsessed with Yifan in the first place when female lead was practically showing no emotions towards him in their early age..It really felt like a one sided love story cause it was all him,always him,yearning,loving,caring,living with broken heart still never forgetting and always forgiving.
Female lead is a victim of sexual assault and many other abuse in her extremely traumatic life.... But somehow this drama made her without personality too with little to no expression. She leaves whenever she wants without explaining anything.... she cant express herself,she can't talk,she lacks emotion... At some point you will feel bad for Sang Yan for being so much invested in her... like,why??? Sang Yans emotions towards her could be felt to some extent,he possibly did everything to be with her,but I couldn’t feel the same emotional attachment from Yifan.Even the dialogues doesn’t deliver anything, you can't feel the depth of Sang Yan's desperation or Yifan's communication... There is not even a proper I love you from Yifan's side when Sang Yan was ready to burn the whole world only to save her. She was cold to Sang Yan's action, lost in her thoughts...and mostly unsure. Everything that happened between them will leave you in confusion about the base and depth of their relationship.
I couldn’t care less about the grandpa plot or second lead couple or that annoying ass intern... They're just not entertaining. Had to skip Everytime they showed up on the screen.They also wasted so many times of the show which could be used to make a better plotline for main leads.
Another thing that was really annoying was the amount of repetitive flashbacks they used....it became boring and hard to focus at some point.And the slow pacing wasn’t helping either.Many things happened for no reason,could've avoided easily and added nothing to the story. The whole thing would be much much better if ended within 25 episodes.
Also,was the Hong Kong arc really necessary?? Haven’t yifan and sang yan suffered enough already that they had to give them more sufferings? There could be thousand more possible better ways to show the character development of the female lead than her just leaving everything and running away. This part really bothered me. Sang Yan is right there,she could just always talk,at least try to talk.Its understandable her trauma took a huge toll on her and the way she expresses herself...but this plotline really made me question the whole buildup of their relationship... wasn’t there any other way?? What was the need??Sang Yan had every reason to be angry with her....I really wish there was at least one scene of him being angry with her. When she did it first time,understandable, she was helpless, probably couldn’t think of anything else. But doing the same thing again without any explanation.... So unnecessary... The story writing had no logic here.
I really wish this drama was made by the same team of Hidden Love. The story had potential, it really did. But poor direction,screenplay,lack of depth of the characters,dialogue writing ... everything made a hot mess.Its not a bad drama,not at all. I could see the actors trying to make the best out of whatever they're given which is really appreciable. Many people enjoyed it, i also tried. But just couldnt.
Cause if you enjoyed Hidden Love,this drama compels you to compare both of them and guess what,Hidden love wins and its not even close! When I watched Hidden Love, everything got me hooked to the screen,the story,acting,chemistry,direction,cinematography... everything. I could see Sang Zhi's yearning for Duan Jiaxu,her slowly turning from a rebellious teen to a mature adult who can definitely be a support to Jiaxu....Jiaxu's perspective changing when he realized its not the same girl he once saw,she has grown as a woman,as a person,She's strong and can take care of him and thats where the story shone. You can see them growing as person,being in love from both sides,building a very healthy relationship.Everything was evident,the innocence, the yearning, the support,the care,the love,the understanding... everything. This is where TFF falls flat,this drama couldn’t show the depth of the bonding between Sang Yan and Wen Yifan.
The plot in TFF is quite darker than HL... and thats what bothered me in the first place,why making this dark story into a sunshine rainbow with so many filters when it itself had the capacity to stand strong as it originally is?It could become much more touching,heart wrenching love story if everything didnt look so perfect, so polished, so much filtered.Wouldn’t it be so much better if they made it into a more dramatic way instead of following the same filtered dreamy tone??
If i come to character writing, both male and female lead lacks substance. Male lead had no other personality, character arc except being in love and it became boring after some episodes. He's arrogant, cocky but in a middle school teenager way.His whole life revolves around Yifan,he does everything only for Yifan.He spent his whole high school and uni life travelling to Yifans city,he took a job for Yifan, opened restaurant for Yifan, cooks for Yifan, leaves his family meetings for Yifan,plays games for Yifan,is left heartbtoken by Yifan, waits for Yifan,looks for Yifan.... in his life,there's nothing but Yifan which is really unrealistic and very much one dimensional character writing.It wasnt clear why he became so obsessed with Yifan in the first place when female lead was practically showing no emotions towards him in their early age..It really felt like a one sided love story cause it was all him,always him,yearning,loving,caring,living with broken heart still never forgetting and always forgiving.
Female lead is a victim of sexual assault and many other abuse in her extremely traumatic life.... But somehow this drama made her without personality too with little to no expression. She leaves whenever she wants without explaining anything.... she cant express herself,she can't talk,she lacks emotion... At some point you will feel bad for Sang Yan for being so much invested in her... like,why??? Sang Yans emotions towards her could be felt to some extent,he possibly did everything to be with her,but I couldn’t feel the same emotional attachment from Yifan.Even the dialogues doesn’t deliver anything, you can't feel the depth of Sang Yan's desperation or Yifan's communication... There is not even a proper I love you from Yifan's side when Sang Yan was ready to burn the whole world only to save her. She was cold to Sang Yan's action, lost in her thoughts...and mostly unsure. Everything that happened between them will leave you in confusion about the base and depth of their relationship.
I couldn’t care less about the grandpa plot or second lead couple or that annoying ass intern... They're just not entertaining. Had to skip Everytime they showed up on the screen.They also wasted so many times of the show which could be used to make a better plotline for main leads.
Another thing that was really annoying was the amount of repetitive flashbacks they used....it became boring and hard to focus at some point.And the slow pacing wasn’t helping either.Many things happened for no reason,could've avoided easily and added nothing to the story. The whole thing would be much much better if ended within 25 episodes.
Also,was the Hong Kong arc really necessary?? Haven’t yifan and sang yan suffered enough already that they had to give them more sufferings? There could be thousand more possible better ways to show the character development of the female lead than her just leaving everything and running away. This part really bothered me. Sang Yan is right there,she could just always talk,at least try to talk.Its understandable her trauma took a huge toll on her and the way she expresses herself...but this plotline really made me question the whole buildup of their relationship... wasn’t there any other way?? What was the need??Sang Yan had every reason to be angry with her....I really wish there was at least one scene of him being angry with her. When she did it first time,understandable, she was helpless, probably couldn’t think of anything else. But doing the same thing again without any explanation.... So unnecessary... The story writing had no logic here.
I really wish this drama was made by the same team of Hidden Love. The story had potential, it really did. But poor direction,screenplay,lack of depth of the characters,dialogue writing ... everything made a hot mess.Its not a bad drama,not at all. I could see the actors trying to make the best out of whatever they're given which is really appreciable. Many people enjoyed it, i also tried. But just couldnt.
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