Cinderella and The Four Knights is a prettily-shot but very cliched "flower boy" drama, in which our protagonist suddenly finds herself the main interest of three(-and-a-half) handsome, eligible men. We have our main lead male, who must of course be rugged, cold and complete with heart-breaking back story; our second lead male(s) who are utterly perfect for our protagonist, either by being "boyfriend goals" material or having a personality that compliments the lead female so well they may as well have been a main character; a second lead female who adds nothing but angst; and various relief characters thrown in to add cutesy side-plot fluffiness, including the loveable puppy-eyed best friend and family members whose sole purpose in the lead female's life is to cause unnecessary drama.
In fact, so many cliches are gone over in this drama that in the second half of the series, one of the main characters crosses a road and I still think it's a genuine miracle they didn't get hit by a car. Or truck. Or bus. (You know the cliche I'm talking about, right?) Like so many other romance k-dramas, the initial premise is always interesting and the first few episodes are laugh-out-loud. Yet by the time you reach the middle of the series you're left with a soup of the same old misunderstandings, plot twists and never-ending flashbacks that you have to sit through until the final few episodes, where everything is miraculously resolved and the designated bad guys get their just deserts.
It's really a shame, as I've only ever seen one other "flower boy" drama and so I was genuinely excited by the idea of this, and loved the parallels to Cinderella in the beginning. However those parallels are quickly lost, and instead of having anything to do with Cinderella it just feels like any other middle-of-the-road K-romance. It's also a shame on the actors too, who all play their parts incredibly well despite the boring storyline (with some standout performances from some of the supporting cast). The only actor I can fault in any way would be the second-lead female, who I don't feel added anything to the story and seemed very uncomfortable on screen. Her parts of the story dragged dreadfully. Everything else negative about this drama I would say comes from the scriptwriters, and not the actors themselves.
So in conclusion? If this will be the first "flower boy" style drama you'll ever watch, maybe give it a go as I think it's something every k-drama fan needs to see once. I'd also definitely recommend the first five or six episodes, as they're great fun and had me laughing out loud. That being said, this isn't a drama I'd recommend overall as I've personally seen much better, and I was very glad for it to be over once the final episode rolled around.
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