This review may contain spoilers
I pushed my way through the entire series because there were some sweet moments that made it really worth watching, yet I still feel like I'm writing this review to criticize more than compliment.But let's start with a compliment:
I enjoyed the lead female character. This kind of nice, independent, no-nonsense lead female character has been a rare item in the Korean drama industry. I'm saying she's strong as in not TOO comically strong or bratty as well. Eun Hawon character is really likable, and it's the only part that makes sense why this kind of reverse harem plot works. The boys in the house genuinely like her, and I accept it. Most of the Korean dramas that go for either this generic reverse harem plot or the strong lead girl plot usually fail to deliver them naturally. I grew fond of her the most and her character made me stick around.
Another good point that somehow kept me around was the sweet moments and the chemistry between the lead characters. I could feel that they really care for each other. Nothing was forced. The love story wasn't rushed. I enjoyed it. Sometimes the sub plots dragged on for too long and their sweet moments would restore my faith for this show.
Now onto the bad part:
From the title: Cinderella and Four Knights, there are no four knights at all. They're trying to sell that this is a reverse harem kind of story, with one lead girl and four lead guys and such, but it only lasted probably up to the first few episodes. The first few episodes promised you a love triangle which was cliche but still entertaining.
From somewhere early in the series, however, out of *four* knights: 1) one of them loses complete interest in the lead female and goes back to the second lead female he ditched long ago for unexplained reasons, 2) one of them grows to like the lead female yet takes care of the second lead female to an unreasonable extent, 3) one of them likes the lead female genuinely but, of course, the plot won't allow them to even meet and talk properly, 4) and the last one of them leaves the *knight* title ever so quickly and branches out to his own super cliche sub plot although he has so much potential in everything from acting to his looks to his chemistry with the lead female.
It felt so much like the writers lured us into such F4 - Boys Over Flowers kind of settings, then ditched us to an extremely cliche plot that revolved more around the second lead female – who I have to use the word "annoyingly boring" to describe. I like Son Naeun as a member of A Pink, but I believe her acting is very bad – or this character does not shine a light on her as an actress at all. Her character is an "I-only-look-at-you" kind of pitiful(?) girl, but somehow the story (or her acting) made her evil. I thought she was going to grow into a likable second female lead because she was one of a few second leads that don't act evil towards the lead female character. However, her damsel-in-distress situations only turned her into a "I don't care if I look evil, I just want to own one of these rich guys" kind of character.
She has the looks and she's from a well-raised background. She was also incredibly stubborn for (literally) unsaid reasons while she could just go out and have a happy life while forgetting these main guys. Plus, her interest in fashion design seemed useless. It played no part in the plot, and I wish writers would stop stereotyping fashion design major as a "high class" thing. Beautiful barbie-like female characters don't need to like fashion to look sophisticated. Try harder.
Likewise, I didn't enjoy the stereotypes in this story at all. Jung Ilwoo's character (Kang Jiwoon) was built around a quiet, rebellious guy with a troubled past, so they gave him a street-racer persona while in the story it was just him fidgeting with his toy cars from time to time. It didn't look cool and rebellious. It looked pathetic.
Ahn Jaehyun's character (Kang Hyunmin) – the playboy successor of Haneul Group – can he be even more cliche than this? I mean, playboy chaebols are fun to have in a story, but this characteristic of him progressed to nowhere. He was out with random girls for only 2 or 3 episodes at the beginning. At the same time, he's a supposed successor of their family business, but I see him lazing around inside the mansion the *entire* series. In fact, he doesn't seem very aloof. He has a heart, but they didn't make use of it at all.
Lee Jungshin's character (Kang Seowoo) is a musician. Why? There's no back story to his characteristics. He's popular and is a good singer and he's very nice. Rich and romantic, yet he seemed the most unattached to the entire chaebol family. Again, there's nothing bad about this, I just feel like this musician character is very stereotypical. And again, for a chaebol grandson who's *finally* nice and decent, he's out of the picture from the first half of the series. He likes the main girl alone, feels sad alone, and lets her go alone. His music plays almost no part in putting his character together with the main girl or other guys, and despite that, there's no explanation in why he fails to convey his love to the main girl at all. (Oh, wait, why? Because the writer doesn't want that. Then WHY did they even make his character up at all?)
I still forced my way through the end purely because of the lead female character. She was the only decent one in the entire series. The "missions" and "part-time job" that put her in these guys' mansion made me cringe though. And although she's naturally kindhearted, genuinely wanting the boys to reunite as a family was a bit odd, given that she hasn't been raised in a warm *family* as well.
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I started this because of Jung Il Woo. I've seen him for the first time in High End Crush (go watch that!) and fell in love with his natural acting and expressions so I can say I had no expectations about the show to be frustrated.
It was beautifully executed (apart from the slow motion scenes that had me rolling my eyes all the time) and everything that makes this overdramatic (imo) are the headcanons of the Cinderella concept - evil step-mother and step-sister, absent father, diseased mother and a helpless little princess... wait. Helpless? Not so much and that's what I love about Eun Ha Won. Despite of her heart being too good for her own good, she's positive instead of victimizing herself, she goes get it, she stands up for herself and doesn't get oversensitive over things. She hangs it in there alright.
As for the male leads, Seo Woo was kinda cute (never seen an idol with that much free time! lol), Hyun Min is adorable (typical spoiled and arrogant brat we love to not hate) and Ji Woon... ah... now that it's over I kinda wish I had him to myself. At first he really annoyed me but as soon as he started smiling I was sold. Guess that has Il Woo's to blame, though. But honestly, his character is kind, protective, righteous and also stands up for himself and though he has a strong sense of pride, he didn't let it get in the way of his relationship with Ha Won (like it usually goes).
The side characters are appealing too... all but Hye Ji. (And that annoying fangirl but I really can't stand Cho Hye Jung's face so I think that's completely biased, ignore that). Perhaps she would be appealing too if Naeun COULD act at all but she's worse than a paper doll. Very much like Korea's very own Kristen Stewart right there, lol. I'm beyond pissed because she seemed to be doing alright in Twenty Again but in this show... is she perhaps Jaehyun's fangirl? That's why she got so affected? I could understand that...
Jokes aside, I kept telling my cousin how Cinderella and The Four Knights was a guilty pleasure of mine. Not so guilty anymore now. The ending was spot on, it wasn't intense as the others use to be and everything got solved and worked on. I felt completely fulfilled by it. Then again, the show starts out great, I was hooked from the very first episode but it takes a displeasing U turn on the second half that had me postponing it for a bit but the ending completely made up for it so much I had to come here and write a review.
This show isn't anything exceptional, not at all. But people tend to compare shows is different categories and that's unacceptable! If I was to give it a grade based on everything I've watched so far it would get... what?... a 5, perhaps a 6. But that wouldn't be fair at all - or right, for that matter. Cinderella and The Four Knights is a ROM-COM and AS SUCH it did such a WONDERFUL job. It's funny, good paced, has some elements you wish weren't there (but that's a given) and the chemistry between the leads is A M A Z I N G to say the least. I was in love with their chemistry because... I don't know if it's Il Woo's fault again but he generally seems very relaxed in scene. And they look really playful together, it's almost as if I'm seeing through it, as if he's just being spontaneous and surprising So Dam with things his character wasn't supposed to do. It's like I can see them having fun BTS, you know? And that... I really love that because.... even if it's unprofessional, it makes everything look natural and convincing.
And their kiss scenes... ooooooh boy. I don't know about the previous ones (except the drunk smooches that were the cutest I've ever witnessed *-*) but those on the couple last episodes are BREATHTAKING! I was squealing like a fangirl wishing I was So Dam bc damn, lol. Love the attitude and the natural look they have unlike any other kiss in every drama I've watched so far - all of them. *sighs* I wish I could kiss Il Woo too. hahahahaha I'm so sorry, don't mind me. x_x
Anywayz... I would SO recommend this drama if you're into rom-coms. Nothing new for sure neither did it intend to be (I'm guessing that from the title lol), but totally worth watching. ^-^
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even it is hard to watch all those cringe scene and script but i manage to pull through this drama solely for park so dam and jung il woo.. i always love their drama..
the character was meehhh~~ but i did jump like 6 y/o when those cute scene between ha won and ji won.. the hardest character that i was forced to accept was hyeji, my god~~!!!! the development of the character was shit!!! i'm wondering what are the writers thinking during the development of the character.. it's like the writer are so diligent in the 1st halve of the drama and gettin lazy by the end of it~~
well, the most character that i like is *drum rolls* YOONSUNGie~~~~ why?? because he just too gorgeous when he smile.. not to mention, among 4 of them, he is the truest knight (for me) XD
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The plot makes no sense. A rich guy finds his 3 dead son's sons and forces them to live in a fancy home together, even though they don't get along. His solution is to hire a weird poor girl to move in and trick them into getting along, just as long as she doesn't date them? What???!!! Obviously the premise is just a set up to put her in close proximity with 3 cute guys (4 if you count the hot secretary), and honestly I was willing to forgive the implausibility of it all just to watch that often repeated k-drama dynamic of "which cute guy do I choose?"- but unfortunately the show dared to introduce another female lead which literally killed any joy I found watching the show. Once they tried to force feed that story into the plot, the show lost it's charm, and that brought my attention to how dumb the rest of the plot really was. Oh, and the flashbacks... waaaaaaay too many flashbacks filling up the time. Each flashback seemed to say "remember that part that you liked" as a way to distract from how bad the current story was.
As for the cast, it took me a while to warm up to Park So Dam as Ha Won. She bored me at first, the same way she initially bored me in Beautiful Mind, but eventually I started to root for her. She's quirky, and kinda naive, yet outspoken, and honest. She was definitely giving me Jan Di from BoF flashbacks. She is matched with the 3 leads, and had cute chemistry with each of them. Playboy Hyun Min had great second lead potential in the beginning. I liked many of their early scenes together. Seo Woo is super sweet, and a cute match to watch throughout the show, although they spend less time together as the show progresses. Then of course there's Jung Il Woo as Ji Woon... the reason I kept watching. He has great charisma, and his smirk won me over early on. There were moments where he and Park So Dam looked like they really could be dating, that's how cute they were together. That's also what tricked me into sticking with this show... every time I was about to quit watching they would have a moment that sucked me back in. I should also mention the cute secretary (I guess he's prince #4) who's character, and storyline, seemed like an afterthought, but I really liked him a lot (I personally would have chosen him).
So if most of the main cast was pretty good, why such a low score? The answer is Son Na Eun as Hye Ji. She is not just bad, she is a ruiner of scenes. Not only is her character terribly written... they try to make you empathize with a crazy ex who can't let go, and it did not work for me... She is also just not a great actress at all. Her expressions were bland, her emotions felt fake (tears of the crocodile variety), and I'm not an A Pink fangirl so I don't get her appeal. I felt like groaning every time she was on screen, which was more and more as the show progressed. She ruined any love I had for the show, and by the end her scenes became moments to take bathroom breaks, or check messages or my email... I wish the show was half as long and omitted her entire storyline (which also made no sense, but I won't spoil it). A good rival should add to the plot, not make you want to never watch again. Grandpa CEO was also a terrible character, and frustrating to watch, but his acting wasn't terrible so it worked. Other parents were equally annoying, but still not as bad as Na Eun (and had much less screen time). The only character who annoyed me as much is Ja Yeong, the BFF of Ha Won. I guess I was supposed to find her creepy fangirl personality cute, but she annoyed me. The forced romance implications were also not working for me. Ahh, forced romance... that brings me to the end... ugh!
I honestly wanted to see how it would all be resolved, but the ending felt so forced, and overly romantic, that I would have rather had a tragic sappy ending where everyone died. The ending scene was so incredibly cheesy that I couldn't take it. The only thing I liked was the surprise (totally predictable) backstory between Ji Woon and Ha Won, that I wish was the main focus of the show in the first place. Of course they add unnecessary drama to the final moments too, but there are no surprises, so I don't recommend forcing yourself to stick it out to the end.
The soundtrack is not my favorite, but it's the best part of the show after the main kissing scenes.
Would I watch this again? Never. I'm still wondering why I didn't stop watching weeks ago!
Overall this show is bad... really bad, in spite the cute moments that I wish could be pieced together to form it's own mini show. If you start it, you will probably be tempted to keep watching, but let me assure you that once it starts going down hill it will only get worse. Just watch youtube clips of the best scenes from the show, and don't bother trying to make sense of the messy storyline, or care who the characters are... clearly the writer didn't care either. I can't believe this is based on a book, and I wonder how much this show misses the mark.
I wish I could go back in time and drop this drama. If you're wondering if it's better to watch and drop, or to never watch at all, I would say both choices are better than forcing yourself to watch the whole thing. I give the show a 4 - one point for each of the 4 prince cuties interactioning with the lead. That's basically all the show has to offer, and that's not enough to fill 16 episodes. With soooo many cinderella themed k-dramas out there, this literal one is the one you should miss.
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This review may contain spoilers
What kind of scriptwriting is this? Why is the rating 7.9? This drama is basically as unrealistic as the original “Cinderella” but more agitating. I think this is the first Cinderella story where I find the female lead annoying, and I can say that I’m quite fond of Cinderella stories. The male leads I can overlook how disgustingly selfish they are, they’re rich, many rich people in real life are unimaginably worse than them, but the female lead I can’t get over with.
i hated that the female actors didn’t know her boundaries, why the habit of touching other peoples stuff? The female lead was selfish and yet the story made it like her actions were justified. And what it it with Hye Ji’s obsession with Hyun MIn? It took such a long time for the story to explain their history, then it turns out there wasn’t even a romantic history between them. They were just childhood friends that didn’t see each other for a long time. Like, duh? What made Hye Min think it was even love, if there was even any? And the “not marrying someone that isn’t of our kind” BS is so overused but in this drama, they made it hypocritical. Why did the grandfather marry his latest wife then, when she was a nobody? Did he forget to do a background check?
I watched this drama because of the lockdown and because I was too bored to keep searching for better dramas. I finished it with much teeth gritting, head shaking and eye rolling. I also skipped the “evil” stepmother and stepsister, grandfather and his wife, and Hyun Min-Hye Ji-Ji Woon scenes, because they were either annoying and/or not that significant for me. That’s an additional tip for you if you still wanna keep watching.
***Why does Jung Il Woo look so old here? Ahn Jae Hyun was supposed to be older than him in the drama but JIW looked older than him and the secretary ahjusshi even. And why were his eyes always red?
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama was my crack drama all the way through episode 14 when, for reasons I'm not even sure of anymore (maybe I was abducted by aliens and they messed with my brain? probably just because some of the side plots were draggy and frustrating though), I lost all interest and never finished the last two episodes. I finally went back and watched them this evening, and I can't lie. The obsession I had with this drama when it was airing has significantly cooled. I don't know if that's the drama's fault, time's fault, or my fault, but it is what it is.This is definitely, however, a crack drama with some mild makjang thrown in for good measure, and if you like crack dramas/light makjang, you will like Cinderella and the Four Knights. I don't know that the story holds up to intense scrutiny, and like I said, some of the side plots are draggy and frustrating, but...we're all drama druggie's here. And we'll put up with a lot to get our fix, am I right?
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1. Its MUSIC.
It's mind blowing. All the songs whether they're Sad songs, Title song or Background music.
2. THE CHARACTER OF EUN HA WON:
Very optimistic and real. No over acting. No beauty concepts. We get inspired just by looking at her genuine smile, her hardworking nature and her dignity.
3. Love Isn't Fast:
The love story seems Very real because there's no rush. Love is built slowly so viewers find it quite logical for protagonists to fall in love so naturally. We smile throughout the series while watching these love scenes. Funny scenes as well as emotional scenes make us drentched into the series and the actors'acting.
MAJOR FLAWS:
1. Lack of Focus.
Whenever A good drama is judged, it has the same focus from the start till the end, so the viewer doesn't get bored. But, This drama didn't have a focus. In the start, the focus was on the "So called missions" of Eun Ha Won (female lead) who tries so hard JUST to complete those missions. Then suddenly the focus is shifted to the love story of Eun Ha Won, with the boys in the sky house. The missions are left As they are. Why? It seems unreasonable.
2. WRONG NAME:
I don't know what made the writer to give this story the name CINDERELLA AND FOUR KNIGHTS? There're only three boys in the sky house, fourth one had nothing to do with being her lover or something. Even in these three boys, only two are given a chance of being her lovers and among the two of them, one wasn't given enough time to convey his thoughts about his love (despite being worthy) just because the writer doesn't want. The story doesn't match the name AT ALL.
If you want something lovely and cute, watch it.
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Story:
The plot is not really innovative. Perhaps the most interesting parts was when Ha Won discovered the truth about her father, Ji Woon dealing with his past of poverty, and the strange accident of Hye Ji’s brother and Hyun Min’s best friend. Sadly, none of these conflicts is exploited as much as they could.
A strength were the childhood scenes, these were very nice and convenient.
Finger up because of the strong female lead Ha Won was, finger down because Hye Ji was a totally dependent character.
Cast:
I have to mention that Jae Hyun's performance captivated me, until the writers ruined his character.
Music:
They hit the target with "For you" by BTOB, I still can't get it out of my head. I couldn't help but compare it with T-max's Paradise, sorry about my obsession.
In short, this is a worth-seeing drama if you don’t expect something very original. That is, I could say that I'm not disappointed at all.
PS: The ending reminded me of Secret Garden, I encourage you to find out why.
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Like all other Cinderella stories, this was fluffy and sweet. The 'drama' wasn't overly dramatic and it turned out to be a cute story about four young people getting to know each other and learning how to be friends. The title is misleading, because the inclusion of a fourth knight is a bit sketchy.
I would have liked to see more development of the 'evil stepmother' and 'evil stepsister', who in the end had very small roles considering it is a Cinderella story. Park So Dam is adorable, and Jung Il Woo seems to get younger every time I see him. Ahn Jae Hyeon is just hard for me to watch because I find him to be a strange person in real life. Lee Jung Shin did a solid job with a role that had a lot of lines, well done.
Best scene is hands down the drinking scene. Watch this drama if only for that scene, which may be the cutest drinking scene ever, not to mention an epic vomit episode which left me screaming with laughter (because I'm a runner!).
Don't expect this to be a deep, meaningful drama and you won't be disappointed. It is exactly what it should be... cotton candy and cuteness. Enjoy!
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The heartwarming scenes are all forced too... I can't sympathize at all. I think this drama is overrated too much or just not for me.
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After all they did a great job, as they did what they were told to. But....oh well there are a lot of "buts".
Some of the characters are a little too twisted, and at times there seemed to be two or more personalities per person - switching within seconds!
BUT! I could handle this, I thought.
And then, at the end, the worst and most annyoing part of this show came around the corner: story twists. Twists everywhere! And all of that in the last 4 or 3 episodes. Really? There was even a point where I anticipated one of the characters being run over by a car because hell, why not!? That would have fit perfectly to the course of the story at this point. And it was clearly only to make the show more and more melodramatic. Until these story twists started, I thought the show was perfectly fine, not the best, but okay to watch. All this new story lines and twists - it was just too much in the end. It seems that the creators just wanted to add every possible melodramatic story line into the last few episodes. And that was simply too much.
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