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Cinderella and the Four Knights korean drama review
Completed
Cinderella and the Four Knights
0 people found this review helpful
by Zhang Qiling
Apr 7, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 6.5
This review may contain spoilers

Painfully unrealistic and dramatic but has very likeable leads and sweet romance.

Well, overall this was a pretty enjoyable and fun drama. Also it got the 2000s Kdrama vibe to it, even though it was aired in 2016 which I really liked. I actually liked all the four "knights". I Expected them to be overly toxic and misogynic (Like most of male characters in older Kdramas) or something, but they weren't really that bad, more on the funny and cute side thankfully. The Sky house is beautiful, I love these houses and interior designs that gives a bit of a sci fi/futuristic style. The OSTs were beautiful.

I really liked the FL, the actress is adorable and has a very loveable aura. All the guys were hot, and the 2nd FL is really beautiful but I fucking hated her character, she was always so depressing and gloomy, agonizing over the playboy and acting all pitiful and obsessed. Crying every darn episode multiple times (Which reminded me of the FL of Hwarang who also cried all the freaking time! I get sometimes we need to cry obviously, all humans do, but that is just too much!), and her acting was weak. Since her role is overly emotional, she must be good at acting for it. They liked each other as literal kids, didn't even start dating properly after growing up a bit and yet they acted as if they were a couple for years, playing Romeo and Juliet, as if the FL and Ji Woon weren't having melodramatic enough.

Her whole personality trait was her love for him and nothing else, I thought her being a fashion designer might be used to show her passion and desire to make a name for herself and have more of a personality, but it wasn't, it was just added for no reason, they barley showed her do anything related to fashion designing, just mentioned it and that's all, and to make her even more tragic they added the whole unnecessary drama about her father to make a reason for playboy to get closer with her again...

she seriously pissed me off so much that I wish Ji Woon just let her get hit by that truck in the first few episodes lol I know she isn't really evil or tries to harm Eun Ha Won greatly, but she gives the vibe of an attention seeker princess who likes to have all men spoil her while constantly acting like a victim, she liked Hyun Min, yet also want Ji Woon to be there for her all the time and don't wanna share him with anyone else even after realizing that Eun Ha Won is into him and that he is into her too.

Why the hell was Ji Woon acting all protective of her?! I thought he loved her, but he was clearly more interested in FL that way, and to make it worse Hye Ji or whatever her name was decides to latch to Ji Woon all of a sudden after she made it clear she is so into playboy and just wants to date Ji Woon to get over him, not out of genuine feelings, and she confessed in a way that makes it hard for him to reject her instantly in front of Hyun Min or he would feel like a jerk when she is the one who is wrong, cause apparently she will die if she doesn't stick to some guy all the time (Which is proven by her also hanging out with that Joon Soo dude).

I despise her cause I hate women like her a lot, the ones who are willing to discard their brain and dignity just to be with a man, and would act as if they aren't worthy of living nor respect without a lover by their side). The whole love triangle made me uncomfortable. I was proud that Ji Woon faced her, told her about his feelings for Eun Ha Won and told her he knew she stuck to him just cause she needed someone to get over Hyun Min.

Of course main leads had to be tied by fate, with the whole thing about their shared tragic past of their mothers and them meeting as kids lol

Love how the grandpa said he felt sorry for Ji Woon, yet he still wanted to repeat the same bullshit with him and Eun Ha Won, that was the reason of Ji woon and his parents ending in that miserable way. "He is your family, you're related by blood, so you should always give them a chance and don't abandon them no matter what" that's one hell of a toxic mentality.

Just cause people are related by blood or whatever, it doesn't mean that you gotta forgive them, handle their abuse and wrong doings, and force yourself to interact with them. Family aren't necessarily people related by blood, who gives a fuck about blood, family are the people who make you feel loved and supported, who care for you, not try to control and torture you till death. That's why many adoptive parents can be way more parent like than biological ones who might not deserve to be called parents in first place due to their neglect for their kids. The fact that Ji Woon knew he could die after the surgery, yet still done it anyways for a geezer who made him and his parents miserable, and didn't bother showing up in his life until he became an adult just to annoy and control him was quite illogical.

The humor was nice, everyone got very nice fashion style (Mostly the guys like usual in every drama I watch, it might be because I'm more into male clothes), loved the drunk scene in ep 8, it was my first time liking a drunk female scene in a drama (Since they always make the girls act in a very over the top ways and get themselves into serious trouble which make the guys forced to take care of them as if they are toddlers or the girls look pathetic and do tons of embarrassing and dangerous stuff like end up having sex with some random guy by mistake. I mean I get maybe kissing, but going all the way to have sex...anyway the kiss scenes were adorable), but the plot writing could be better and of course there were some cringe moments here and there.

Last episodes were overly dramatic, with shit going downhill left and right, even in the freaking last episode, and the main leads having endless hurdles in their path, but since the ending is happy (A bit too happy even) I guess it's all cool (Though why did all the guys end up with a girl?!). The thing about Ha Won's father was weird, like in that case, the first thing someone should ask for is a DNA test, then she decides what to do afterwards, obviously not just anyone who appears out of the blue and says they are related to you are honest, but even if he is her father, I personally wouldn't want to have anything to do with him after all these years.
I know she had a past with him and that he treated her well back when she was a kid, but doesn't mean she should just easily believe him. Like why would he appear at that exact moment other than for taking advantage of her, it's painfully clear. The four guys had some of the most typical character tropes you expect to see in many romance Kdramas and shoujo animes:

1- The arrogant, prince charming, wannabe playboy who decided to become a playboy cause he had some sort of bad love experience with his first love or whatever. Why the hell did he even act that way with Hye Ji if he liked her?! Cause her brother supposedly died because of him? Seriously?! That's dumb!

2- The "bad" boy who acts rude, cold (At first but turns all romantic and nice later after interacting with FL for long time or when she manages to "cure" his mental issues somehow), rebellious, and is great at fighting (I was surprised he didn't have a big black motorcycle or something to complete his bad boy persona lmao I guess they decided to give him more of a car racer style than the usual gangster/delinquent one).

3- The cute, sweet, and cheerful guy (Who happens to be a singer, but for some reason him being a singer felt pointless in the story). Why did he hide his feelings about Eun Ha Won though? Cause he is a celebrity? Who cares, and he can hide it from fans since they already live together and all so they can be lovey dovey in the house (Of course if the contract thing didn't exist in that case) . Yeah, other cousins might also be into her, but he could confess and let her decide if she wants him or not. He had many moments to confess to her before her and Ji Woon became a thing.

4- The manly, serious, and classy dude who barley had attention when it came to the whole romance surrounding FL. Instead he had his own subplot with his annoying mother (I get she done all that as a response to the abuse and misery they went through by her past husband, but taking advantage of another man and plotting against his grandchildren isn't the best solution). The chairman treated him well from what I have seen, yet he tries to betray him...and for his stupd mother who didn't treat him well, then she says it's all for him. If that's the case then wh she wasn't honest since the start and tell him about her plan from the start.

I'm not against any of these tropes or anything, not like it's easy to write many non one dimensional and unique characters in one story and I did like them all.

Also the step mother and sister were overly cartoonish and lame, I knew since the plot is inspired by Cinderella's fairy tale obviously they will be evil and hate on FL, but still they acted like retards and felt like filler/pointless/badly written comic relief characters, they barley had existence. The step mother's hairstyle pissed me off like crazy, it's so freaking ugly! She also overly spoiled her daughter, like I have never seen a woman who does nail polish on toes of her grown ass daughter like that, maybe if she was a child yes, but not a girl that should be about 18-20 years old, and overall she acted more like her slave/servant than mother.

Glad the grandfather's wife got her fired and the stupid father of FL finally realized his mistakes. If he wanted to make sure if Eun Ha Won was his daughter or not, he could just do a DNA test behind her back instead of saying all that crap and hating on her and his ex wife for years. The wife of chairman was more evil than the step mother of FL ironically (How exactly did she hide that the secretary is her son and that she was married before, even saying she is a virgin from the chairman?!) and her lips shape bothered me for some reason, that lipstick which she always used was awful on her. The FL handled the whole thing with her and Ji Woon in the most dense way you could ever think of. Acting all guilty and letting the wife treat her that way, also not talking to Ji Woon properly.

I also hate the "We are dating now, but lets hide our relationship from everyone" thing. Especially when it's for very pointless reasons like the fear of getting teased by others like in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (I would personally be mad if my lover asked me to hide our love for each other, that's not something to act ashamed and secretive about), and they both acted very obvious that the grandfather and everyone saw them acting lovey dovey from the start, yet they thought they hid it well...also even after that geezer gave them their blessing the FL insists to stay away so that both of her and Ji Woon stay miserable, why?! Then the other guys have to play cupid role to make her stop acting stupid.

I get here they done it over the contract thing (Which is highly illogical, like the grandfather put a young cute girl in a house with his three equally young grandsons and he expects nothing to happen?! Even if she sticks to her words and doesn't try to chase any of the guys, it doesn't mean they wouldn't view her that way. Besides if that's the case then they are adults, both of her and Ji Woon could say fuck you to the grandfather and leave Sky House, not like he owns his grandsons, they aren't his slaves.

I really expected all guys would fall for FL, and then she will have to pick one since they made it seem this drama is supposed to be a pure reversed harem concept, but it wasn't really that way in the end and that damn 2nd FL got too much attention for my liking...even more than the actual FL herself. Ha Won's friend wasn't painfully annoying, glad she wasn't too creepy (Considering she is the singer's fan, I kinda thought she would try to harass him/try to make him fall for her by force like the step sister, or something since she got many chances to meet him thanks to FL, but she was mostly chill. Her telling him to not like anyone cause of his fans was irksome tho, I really hate this logic that celebrities are owned by their fans romantically).

Although Ji Woon was my favorite both visual and personality-wise, I still would be okay with the FL ending with any of the guys honestly if they all were into her to begin with. I wanted to really give this drama a high rating of 9-9.5/10 cause I really liked all the main characters (Except 2nd FL), but the last badly written episodes were exhausting to watch. The FL was painfully tragic, also very dense and naïve sometimes, and tragic love stories tire and suffocate me pretty quick. I kinda forced myself to finish the drama at some point.
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