If you were to look at the scores I’ve historically given C-dramas, you’d see that I’m not necessarily a huge fan of them. Up until now, the only two exceptions were “Hidden Love” (4 out of 5 stars) and “When I Fly Towards You” (3.75 out of 5), both on Netflix.
“The First Frost” (also on Netflix) stars Zhang Ruonan and Bai Jingting and is adapted from the Chinese novel of the same name by Zhu Yi. The series revolves around Wen Yifan (Zhang) and Sang Yan (Bai) who went to high school together. Despite having feelings for each other, Wen Yifan suddenly rejects Sang Yan at the end of high school and they don’t reconnect for six years. Upon accidently seeing each other at Sang Yan’s restaurant, they eventually become roommates when Sang Yan loses almost everything in an apartment fire. Sang Yan begins to realize that Wen Yifan is hiding a lot of pain, having suffered an extremely traumatic childhood and repeated sexual assaults/attempts as an adult. The result is that she is very reserved, very private, very self-isolated, and lacks trust. However, as they continue to spend time together, Wen Yifan comes to understand that Sang Yan has always been there for her, and is someone who ceaselessly protects and supports her.
Unbeknownst to me when I began watching “The First Frost,” this is a spin-off of the much loved novel/show “Hidden Love” which was released in 2023. I should have been clued in from the first episode of “Frost” when I heard one of the songs from “Hidden Love” being performed by a musician in the restaurant owned by Sang Yan. But while “Hidden Love” was sweet and cute and relatively innocent in many ways, filmed with bright colors and a gauzy soft haze throughout, “The First Frost” has a darker storyline, moodier lead characters, and was filmed with at times more stark and deeper colors. The result is that “Hidden Love” is puppy love, and “The First Frost” is mature, hard-won love. Both are great, but I liked “Frost” more.
As each episode unraveled Wen Yifan’s back story, it made sense why she always wore baggy clothes, hunched her shoulders, and resisted developing relationships of any kind aside from her one friend Zhong Siquao (adorably played by Zhang Miao Yi (who coincidentally starred in “When I Fly Towards You”)). Consistently betrayed by family, teachers, bosses, and co-workers, she instinctively sought to become invisible. Alternatively, Sang Yan has plenty of friends in his life and a good job, but upon seeing Wen Yifan again discovers he really longs for just one thing: for Wen Yifan to let him back into her life and find out why she left him in the first place.
Zhang Ruonan and Bai Jingting were outstanding. I had previously seen Zhang as the female lead in 2023’s “A Date With the Future” but found that series to be all over the place and very disjointed. She was good, but the show was mediocre at best. I had never seen Bai before so I came in with no pre-conceived notions about him and came away thoroughly impressed. I’ve since added a couple of his previous projects to my “to be watched” list. The entire supporting cast was also good, even if some of them were different casts members than those appearing in “Hidden Love.” I’ve seen commenters complain they felt the leads had no chemistry but I completely disagree, and that tells me those viewers weren’t engaged enough with Wen Yifan’s history and how it informed her behavior.
C-dramas are notorious for being “slow burns,” in that very little might happen across an episode, or even several episodes, as the romantic tension builds. Normally I’m not a fan of pointlessly drawing out a story for seemingly no reason. However, “Frost” deftly left enough on the table during each episode that it made the show (for me) extremely binge-worthy. Most episodes started with a scene in their past, and then jumped forward to the present day, counting up the length of time that Wen Yifan and Sang Yan have spent together as roommates. It was an understated way to show the forward momentum and the time passage involved in their story.
The only issue I had with the show is that needless number of times we’d see a conversation, and then moments later one of the characters would be in another place and imagine that very same conversation. It didn’t negatively affect my enjoyment of the show, but it did feel repetitive and unnecessary. But this is not something that only C-dramas do, ALL _-dramas do it. So because of that I dinked it down half a star.
Other than that the show is near perfection. Despite being a heavier subject matter overall, it is a sublime love story and well worth your time.
My rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars
