Cinderella and the Four Knights (2016)

Lost it's momentum

The show started incredibly well. The plot revolves around Ha-Won accepting a job from a rich old man to help his four grandsons come together as a family. She receives "missions" from him, and after completing each mission she would receive a bonus to help her get closer to her dream of attending to college and becoming a teacher.

The grandsons are the usual, generic kdrama fare. You have the ladies man, the quiet sullen one, the forgettable one and the music one. I wish Seo-Woo (the music one) had more screentime, since as the episodes dragged on he was the only character not tied up in a generic, show-stalling kdrama plotline.

7 or 8 episodes in, I expected the story would continue to be a series of story arcs revolving around each "mission," where the characters learn lessons and improve as people, as well as deepen their bonds and relationships. This, I thought, would be a great format for the series. I was strapped in.

Then, after the (not really a spoiler since every kdrama seems to have this for some reason) vacation arc, the story just stops. There's an entire episode - 1/16th of the damn show - where no one leaves the mansion and everyone keeps going into each other's rooms and enacting the same scene over and over.

Person A walks into person B's room; person A says some dramatic line and leaves the room dramatically; Person B is left in his room looking constipated for five minutes while sad music plays. Then Person B enters Person C's room and the same scene happens. Repeat for about an hour.

Everything I enjoyed about the show just stops. I'm at episode 12 now (and subsequently dropping the show) and for the last 3-4 episodes no-one mentions a "mission." The format of the show changes, like whiplash, into every cruddy Kdrama I've ever dropped.

Everyone spends hours dilly-dallying about who loves who; the main character's IQ drops about 70 points as her laser-sharp wit is dulled; the show just loses its momentum and its focus.

Part of the reason this happens is because the vacation arc changes the focus of the story from Ha-Won to the secondary female lead, Hye-Ji.

Hye-Ji is a great example of how k-drama writers like to add in an emotionless tertiary female character whose only existence is to slow an otherwise good show to a screeching halt. Almost every scene with her ends with her mumbling something, then leaving the scene so one of the two angsty manchildren in the love hexagon can look slightly sad while time slows down, the camera goes crazy, and a loud power ballad plays with the singer screaming "Without you!" 26 times.

The showrunners could have replaced Hye-Ji with a cardboard cutout of a girl with a speakerphone attached and her actress' robotic performance might have actually been better.

Now the show is adding a bunch of side-storylines to muddy the already-slowed-down show into an icicle's pace. The show started amazingly, built up a great format for its story, then hit a wall and never recovered. Out of the 12 episodes I watched, 4 of them should have been cut. I'm not going to dare wasting my time on the other four.

Lire davantage

To start, I've watched this drama over and over and even went so far as to buy the DVD (which I RARELY do). I loved all the characters, especially Cinderella and her "four knights" (tho truthfully there only seemed to be 3). Park So-dam as Eun Ha-won, the lead female character, was spot on! Not too cutesy, not too brassy, she truly represented someone who despite her struggles was able to stand alone, independent, and was able to still find the joy in life. The 3 Knights: Jung Il-woo as Kang Ji-woon, the middle cousin, was terrific! The right amount of handsomeness, arrogance - but because of past hurts not because he thought of himself as better than anyone - and fun! And he had great chemistry with Park So-dam. Ahn Jae-hyun as Kang Hyun-min, the eldest cousin, was hilarious! So full of himself, but also dealing with deep hurt inside. He and Park so-dam had sparks & their relationship was such fun to watch. Then there's Lee Jung-shin as Kang Seo-woo, the youngest cousin, a popular singer-songwriter and top star. His was the most "real" relationship with Park So-dam, IMHO, and they sparked like brother & sister. He was such a good guy - and he and his Mom together were PRICELESS! Choi Min as butler Lee Yoon-Sung was so cool but so funny when confronted with Eun Ha Won's independence! And I LOVED Ms Beolgyu who was the cook & maid. The guys who played Kang Hyun-min's friends were perfect, too. LOVED THE ENTIRE CAST! This is funny, light, engaging & just plain enjoyable to watch! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Lire davantage

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.

Lire davantage

The four men that made up the four knights are easy on the eyes, but none of them except for the 2nd male lead had chemistry with the female lead. The beginning of the show was promising as it set up Hyun Min and Ha Won as the main couple, and their bantering was engaging. I shipped this couple until things suddenly turned 180 degrees and apparently Hyun Min has this repressed love for the 2nd female lead who takes the crown for the neediest person on the planet who doesn't have a clue when to get lost.

The middle episodes were slow and I wouldn't not have gone through the torture if it were not for my curiosity. The ending revelations came too fast and suddenly all loose ends tied up even forcing some relationships to rebound without rhyme or reason.

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Typical rom-com

I watched this a couple of years ago and decided to give it another go so I could review it. Loved the cast, loved the house, and there were numerous moments of cuteness. However, the second female lead going back and forth between the two men, the main lead watching out for her, I had a hard time knowing if he liked her or not. I wish they had written the ML with stronger feelings. Him constantly running to help the second female, really made it hard solidify the relationship between the leads.

The development of the relationship between the men was interesting to watch. They went from hating one another to having each other's backs, and they weren't even aware of it. There is a scene of the three men at the hospital sitting together that is really cute.

The second to last episode was absolutely the best, but as seems to be normal, for Korean dramas, the ending was rushed/minimal.

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I liked watching it but I can't say that it's good

The story is good in theory. Clichéd? Yes. Unrealistic, even by K-Drama standards? Yes. But it's a fine story to have these characters interact with each other. However it's lacking substances and sense at times. Characters say things just because. Suggested feelings disappear suddenly (Hyun Min not being interesting in Ha Won suddenly was a total mind-f*ck for me. They set up another person to like, which is a mess of a plot by itself, but they have big relationship moments for the first quarter of the series before it's dropped). The title is misleading as there is no 4th Knight. None at all. It's a clever name but it makes no sense. It's not even hinted at as a possibility either. The family abuse plot is irritating for all the wrong reasons. I swear it was only there to draw further comparisons to the title name. One thing I do think is done well is Ji Woon's arc. Whether it be the main relationship with Ha Won or his struggle to accept that he is now apart of a rich family and has expecations to uphold, I thought that was something that you could bite on. The bastard child trying to reject his family instead of the opposite is an interesting plot. He and Ha Won work best out of the three potential guys too. Again, the Ha Won/Hyun Min plot is dropped in a jarring way to the point where the love triangle no longer exists past episode 5/6 but they went the right choice for who is more suitable. Seo Woo is a cool character. He's talented, smart, has good intentions but he does feel like a lost wheel and unnecessary as a whole. The plot is just riddled with problems. The characters are fine enough to keep you engaged for the whole runtime, even if they aren't given much depth. Oh well, at least we have Kim Yong Gun in his natural role as the malignant CEO Kang to keep some consistency.

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Are you sure there were four khights?

When I was looking for a drama to watch, I noticed the title of this series several times, but because of the tacky name I didn't want to watch it. One boring day, following a mysterous motive for me, i decided to watch the first episode.

When the heroine (Park So-dam as Eun Ha-won) was presented, I thought: "She must be really cool". From the begining she made me curious. She is a woman who can inspire with her will and good heart. The plot began to be more and more interesting when Kang's cousins and Eun Ha-won were brought together.

I have to admit that from the begining I have been supporting the main female character and Kang Hyun-min, from whom it all started. I liked very much the scences of the fans' hearts beating faster. I was a little disappointed when I saw that the love stories was supposed to look different. I have to admit that I missed some scenes because the threads of the grandfather and his new wife weren't interesting to me. In my view quite interesting was the plot related to Eun Ha-won's father. The viewer at one point was confused and nothing was obvious anymore.

As usual in drama, I was annoyed by the excess of buying things that are not used later. For example the scene of leaving three packages of ramen open distracted me a lot. There was too much shopping in the drama, too many moments when a man took the initiative. In this way the character of the heroine, which the drama director tried to emphasize at the beginning, was not so intriguing. I was glad that she didn't always react with great enthusiasm and above all she wanted to prove to herself and others that she was able to take care of herself.

Drama has good moments, but unfortunately, it also has a lot of broken patterns. Despite the title I don't consider het to be Cinderella, who was graciously saved by a horse on a white prince.

I realize that some fans had doubts about the title and wondered who was the fourth knight. In my opinion the secretary should not be the one, as the drama's producers intented. According to their logic, the knight should be a person who has a particular sympathy or interest in Eun Ha-won.

I thing the soundtrack is quite okay. I especially like the songs:
- "For You" (BTOB),
- "My Romeo" (Jessi),
- "I believe" (Younha),

If someone hasn't got hight expectations for drama and likes to look at decent acting, I can recommend this drama.

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Not worth watching

Very unrealistic storyline. Nothing makes sense, especially when the second male lead loses complete interest in the female lead for no reason. I also hated the male lead and his annoying immature personality. The female lead had WAY better chemistry with the second male lead, in my opinion,

And what’s up with the weird music playing whenever they touch each other? Lol I cringed the whole time watching this series.

Although boys over flowers is considered similar but I enjoyed it more than this one. I was not able to feel the emotions of the lead characters in this show compared to BOF.

Myabe if I was 12 years old I would’ve liked this series, unfortunately I’m 27 :D

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