This review may contain spoilers
A Promise To Always Be By Your Side
"Did my dad send you to take care of me? No I volunteered."The First Frost is based off of a novel of the same name by Zhu Yi who has given us a number of great dramas with beautiful portrayals of youth, love and friendship but this one takes the cake for its lovely showcase of healthy relationships, trauma and healing.
The female lead Wen Yifan had been hurt over and over again, abandoned by those she considered family and had a lot of trauma, but for her all her flaws and inhibitions she had someone who loved her irrespective and vowed to be by her side no matter what. Sang Yan, was a proud and aloof teenager who seemed to have no real interest in the world or people until he met Yifan and she changed his world forever. He gained dreams, motivation, purpose and most of all he learnt what it means to love someone. Their issues tore them apart but the tightly wound red string of fate brought them together once more to fall in love and understand both each other and themselves.
Story: Since it was based off a novel I hold very close to my heart, I had huge expectations for the drama adaptation of the story, and for the most part they did a great job. While a good number of changes were made, most controversially changing the most pivotal plot scene, the team did what they could to display their love story in its most raw visual form. Naturally, the expression between written and visual material is bound to be different and this drama covered a lot of those points very well. The heartfelt conversation between the leads and the slow progression of their dynamic was a pleasure to see. The drama team also made an inclusion with the story of the second couple, which I personally found a little draggy but the concept of love as a healing agent was still very much present.
Acting: This was possibly the best thing about this drama and the delicacy and finesse with which all the actors played their roles was lovely to see. Zhang Ruonan's Wen Yifan was exactly how I had pictured her to be, with all the subtle nuances and soft yet tough character who let most things go but could stand up for herself when she needed to. Bai Jingting as Sang Yan was amazing as he showed the yearning and careful approach to let her feel comfortable. His cheekiness and laid back confident aura was also very well portrayed.
Music and Cinematography: The cinematography of this drama really really elevated it and brought out its emotional undertones in an incredible way. The passage of time and seasons, the constancy of their love, the light to their shadows were all very well portrayed and gave it such a pleasant viewing experience. The soundtrack was also amazing and perfectly complemented the scene onscreen and the lyrics spoke their minds.
All in all, this is a drama I will cherish for a long time and will always recommend for the healing experience it gives not just to its characters but to its viewers who are losing faith in themselves and relationships to show that there really is light at the end of the tunnel. There will always be someone who accepts you for who you are and no matter how desperate things may seem, you will always be worth it. This wasn't a story of second chances, it was a story of a love that never stopped and continued to flow despite the changing seasons. It wasn't a story claiming love to be a cure-all but a guiding light on the path to cure. It was a story of promises to always be there for the people who matter the most.
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This review may contain spoilers
genuinely would like to have a word with the writer
The Impossible Heir was a drama that I went into with extremely high expectations because of the main leads and trailers, however, I was left with even more disappointment. It lacked ingenuity altogether and at no point in the duration of the show were certain plot devices fully explained or even utilised.The Good:
Honestly, there isn't much to this list, but i'm gonna try anyways
1. Eye candy- as usual the actors are definitely a pleasure to see on the screen, but whether the script did justice to their abilities is highly questionable
2. New talent- I loved seeing actors I haven't been introduced/haven't seen much of. Choi heejin was an absolute scene stealer and I kept waiting for more plot presence for her. Jang maru was another actor I'm looking forward to and he did well in the role of sunwoo wan.
The Not-So-Good:
This drama had a number of fatal flaws that made it a tiring watch and I really hope the writer takes fan feedback.
1. The lack of character building- rather than a lack of character development, I feel this drama lacked in its character building. At no point during the first half of the drama did I understand the characters and their motives. The generic and yet terribly explained trauma said nothing about the characters and the time skips were too large to grasp the development of their dynamic. Even after the show had established a certain narrative, I was unable to understand the need for the initial premise of taeoh and inha's friendship. taeoh climbing up to his position was his own effort and clearly his fathers wrongdoings didnt seem to be a scratch on him. so what really was the need for the collaboration bw the two.
2. The FL- contrary to popular opinion here, the FLs acting-while stiff- didn't really bother me as much as her character did. Her character was practically useless-she contributed just about nothing to the groups plans after a point, wasnt of any help to taeohs final plan and the drive to marry inha made no sense either considering her talent was being acknowledged at her workplace. The kiss was entirely unnecessary and only became taeoh's weakness.
3. Unexplored plot devices- So many characters in this drama seemed to be there solely for the sake of adding characters and deluding the viewers to believe in the complexity of the situation. taeoh's dad existed solely as a set up and at no point did the 'murderers son' title matter except for a few minutes in ep 11. Similarly, hyewons mother only existed for the betrayal point to show that inha wasnt into hyewon. Heeju's existence seemed like a filler at her character never seemed to have any purpose.
4. The unnecessary romance- much like other parts of this drama, hyewon and taeohs romantic affection had no proper explanation, elaboration or even appropriate closure and was a distraction from the main plot that was getting unnecessarily tangled by their absurd romance line.
There is definitely a lot to unwrap when talking about where the drama fell short but all in all it seemed like a concept that started to birth a 20 episode makjang but was forced into the mould of a 12 ep drama. Was most definitely disappointed at the choice of script for the MLs and would not recommend this to someone who isn't an avid fan of either.
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