Cinderella and the Four Knights (2016)

I watched this expecting some things not to make sense, just wanting a light-hearted silly rom-com with a happy ending. And I got what I came for, so I can't complain.
I like the story itself, it's a nice re-version of Cinderella, although ther were a few things I couldn't really stand, and by a few things, I mean Hawon's father. The man won shittiest father of the year, even to the grandfather of the Kang cousins. I was also surprised when I noticed her stepmother actually loved him, like, why wase she so mean to the daughter of the man she genuinely loved? I was expecting makjang, but that storyline doesn't make sense in any world.
The romance was cute, I wasn't much into the main couple at first, but honestly they won me over being cute after they get together. I wasn't very fond of the second couple tbh.
I didn't care about the acting, as I was expecting it to be a bit over-the-top and silly, but I have to say I couldn't stand Son Naeun's performance, her character was a bit annoying at times (and likeable at others), but I always felt like punching her when she spoke (I like her as an idol though!!). Ahn Jaehyun's facial expressions were terrible, but he made me laugh a lot with them and I'm not sure it was on purpose, as it's my first time watching him and I've read good comments about him, so I'll let it slide lol. Park Sodam was lovely, she fit perfectly into this silly world while still feeling like an actual person. And I also enjoyed Lee Jungshin a lot, I only realized he was from CNBlue after he made the joke lol.
The OST was meh, honestly. I love BTOB, but this song kinda wasn't it for me. Jessi's song kinda got me on my nerves whenever it started playing, I'm not sure why.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. The pace of the story was pretty good, something that doesn't happen often on this kind of shows. As long as I didn't take it seriously, I laughed a lot. I feel like it's a good comfort show to re-watch when you need to get your mind off of things.

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Cinderella didn't choose the best guy this time

I love all Cinderella movies and every possible version of it, so when this title appeared in the suggestions on my Netflix, I couldn't resist! It took me 5 days to see the whole thing and it was a beautiful week.

Female lead is independent and does not give a shit. It was very refreshing point of view on Cinderella. Also this type of female character seems to be quite rare in k-drama and Ha-Won stands out 😅💪 She is strong mentally and with her body 😍 I liked from the first moments of the drama and didn't lose it even when she was a bit annoying by the end of the drama. I found an comment calling her situation a "reversed harem" and that was so accurate!

Sweet chemistry between the leads was inevitable as they had many cute moments. But because the sentance that was the most often said between these two was not "I love you" but "fuck off" 😂💜 makes their love story funny. Seo-Woo is one of my most liked characters as he has his own life and is not unneccesarily mean to others but his carees is just thrown onto spectators and never explained how, what and why. I personally think that he would be a better partner for Cinderella.

Big minus - Cinderella is surounded with Four Knights only in a theory. She lives with 3 of them and fourth (?) is coming and going and we also know shit about him. The title completly doesn't corespod with that is actually going on in the drama.

Maybe drama has a few shortcomings but fortunately the drama is well put together so they are not bothersome. Personally, I liked the drama because it is a fresh look at the Cinderella story and I would rate the series 6/10 - it's not over the top but also not boring 👌😋 It has a good balance.

Till this day I have never even thought of searching for the soundtrack of a drama. Even though I loved many song in various productions, I had never downloaded it but "For You" from BTOB and "I Believe" of Younha had to be the exceptions. Those songs are so fantastic that I had to have them on my good-morning playlist.

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One of my all time favorites

10/10 is my rating. A 2016 South Korean television series with 16, 60 minute episodes. It is based on a novel that had the same title and the basic elements of the story draws some parallels with Boys Over Flowers (2009).

The "Cinderella" in this story is Eun Ha Won (Park So-dam) who is hard working and mature for her age. She lost her mother and her father remarried but is rarely home. She lives with her stepmother and step sisters who do not consider her family and are selfish with the limited resources the family has. Ha Won is working multiple part-time jobs to save up for college. Her mother, when alive, encouraged Ha Won to be a teacher and that is her life goal.
Circumstances lead her into the realm of three rich, spoiled, heirs to an empire and the Grandfather thinks she might be just the one to get the boys into shape. This is after he saw her "discipline" one of his grandsons who was not treating his elder or her with respect.The grandfather strikes a deal with her and gets her to move in with his handsome nephews as sort of an adult nanny. Before moving in, Ha Won already had encounters with lady's man and playboy Kang Hyun Min (Ahn Jae-hyun) and the "gangsterish" rebel Kang Ji Woon (Jung ll-Woo). Kang Seo Woo (Lee Jung-shin) is not immediately on Ha Won's radar but the grandfather does not think much of his music career. The fourth knight is the grandson's live in bodyguard Lee Yoon Sung (Choi Min). Park Hye Ji (Son Na-eun) is a childhood friend of Kang Hyun Min and Kang Ji Woon has designated himself as her protector. Hye Ji sees herself marrying into the Kang family and often uses one of the cousins to get the attention of another.

Spoiler 🚨 I was actually surprised with how much I loved this movie. Ha Won was everything I love in a lead female character she was feisty at times, sweet and nice to most, fun, positive. I really loved the way she slowly transformed the rich, spoiled heirs. I love bromances and developing relationships. I wasn't disappointed in any aspect of this movie - it was pretty much perfect to me.

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Totally deserve watching!!

Highly recommended, Actually before starting this drama i didn't have much expectations from it but while watching 2-3 episodes i was like no this is something else l, it's something which i was finding for a long time. It's just like the dramas which are for so loved by the watchers like boys over flowers, Love O2O, Descendants of the sun. OST, music, acting, story, cast are just the perfectly put in this. Also, it's my first time writing this much long review to any drama and the reason is becoz i am far so impressed by it and i want more people to watch and becoz it's so underrated drama on MDL it's just got rating of 7.8 overall and on IMDb not quite good too so I'm expecting it to get atleast more than 8.5 star rating becoz it really deserves. Also, if it didn't i also won't be here writing this review becoz i know i never wrote for any. Lastly, very sorry if there's any grammatical mistakes you see i am very excited so i didn't care about those. I am just writing whatever i'm feeling like. So please go watch it, if you didn't by now, becoz really you're missing a masterpiece. Thankyou!!

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Cinderella and Four Knights (2016) - I like most of the characters in the drama but the storyline is just really meh for me. It's too usual, there is nothing new that I felt bad for the characters and the actors playing them. All I could remember is how I used to complain about this drama.

The acting is great for me. Both leads especially have been good actors and I have seen them in other dramas so no complain to that. The title is misleading for me since there were no 4 knights that was what I was expecting.

The music is not memorable.

I would not rewatch. I would not recommend this to others as well.

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I really enjoyed this drama and I've rewatched it twice. It's cute and I ship the main couple SO HARD.

The story was good. It's a mediocre concept, but they carried it out quite well. There's this one scene (I'm not gonna spoil) but all of the main characters are in it and it's funny asf.

The acting was good, not great. There were some highs and lows, but like I said... I LOVE THE MAIN COUPLE.

The music SLAPS. I'm a Jessi fan so My Romeo had me jamming in my blanket. I honestly looked up the OST on Spotify because I loved it so much.

As I said before, I've rewatched this twice so the rewatch value is a solid 10. I really love this drama.

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Un reverse harem divertissant

L'histoire serait inspiré d'un manga/webtoon que ça ne m'etonnerait pas car l'intrigue fait vraiment reverse harem, c'est à dire une rencontre d'un lead (féminin) avec plusieurs leads masculins qui vont la faire reussir/grandir/ découvrir l'amour. Le genre harem étant ciblé pour des lycéens (ou adultes libidineux allez savoir), j'avais longtemps évité ce genre de titres. L'été aidant peut être, j'ai regardé cette série sans trop avoir d'attente.
J'ai été agréablement surprise par la qualité du jeu et des éléments comiques.
Cendrillon et ses chevaliers, tout était déjà annoncé dans le titre.
Une petite romance sans prétention avec une trame classique. Si on passe les défauts habituels : destins croisés, souvenirs d'enfance bisounours à gogo ) je trouve que celui-ci tient la route.
Les personnages sont attachants. Le prince bad boys est tout à fait crédible, les autres cousins Kang sont drôles aussi. Ils ne sont pas particulièrement "beaux" je trouve mais ils dégagent du charme par leur jeu d'acteur. Park So dam alias Cendrillon, petite miséreuse parmi les riches, porte tout le drama à elle seule, avec beaucoup de sincérité et je me prends à sourire à chacune de ses apparitions. Je suis séduite par son côté garçonne et fée clochette à la fois, elle n'en fait pas des tonnes. Elle est dans mon top 5 des Cendrillon revisitées !
Les moments comiques sont très réussis surtout dans les premiers épisodes. Marivaudages et quiproquos jouissifs, avex les réseaux sociaux qui amplifient le tout.
Cendrillon a t elle eu ce qu'elle voulait? Peut elle se libérer des considerations matérialistes pour vivre enfin sa vie? Pas vraiment...

"""
Ils vécurent tous heureux, grâce au PDG grand-père richissime à la fin de l'histoire. Bon le Cendrillon de Perrault a bien le prince et le palais et tout ce qui va avec... alors pourquoi pas.
"""
Tout serait resté dans la comédie et ce serait absolument parfait. Mais on a ajouté cette second lead féminin qui passe son temps à pleurer sur le cousin Kang play-boy et donc des scènes larmoyantes totalement inutiles et mal jouées. Aussi une tentative de prise de pourvoir de la boîte de Papy qui n'avait pas grand intérêt. Les romances tirent en longueur vers la fin et ne sont pas vraiment convaincants non plus.

Ce qui me gêne, ce sont les bonnes questions posées au début du drama (culte de l'apparence, caste très fermé des riches, rêve de carrière de l'héroïne...) qui n'ont pas été répondues à la fin de l'histoire. S'ils avaient supprimé quelques scènes de bisous, on aurait pu y insérer des éléments de réponses. Aussi, tant qu'on y est dans la carricature, pourquoi pas fermer le caquet aux chaebols méprisants pour conclure, créer quelques scandales et quiproqos dans les médias sociaux, comme au début de l'histoire... on est dans un drama pour jeunes, non?
Malgré cela, j'ai croqué à pleines dents dans ce " Il etait une fois" jubilatoire et savoureux. Ce drama vaut le coup d'oeil.

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I was quite suprised

When I decided to watch this drama I already heard so many good things about it. So I expected a lot and wasn't dissappointed.
The storyline made me wanting to know more and I am satisfied with it. However, there are scenes I just skipped through.
I belive actors did amazing job even though I didn't like Naeun acting. And the romance, omg, I love it. The main leads chemistry is on another level.
And a big plus for music. I love all songs especially Romeo by Jessi.
I want to watch this drama again cause for some unknown reason I can't stop thinking about it.

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I suppose the show is aptly named. The plot mainly moves along due to all the males in this show who have a white knight complex and are motivated by a girl’s distress signal.
I enjoyed the show way more than I think it’s worth.
There is nothing much to the plot but before I knew it, I was at the end. So I guess it was entertaining enough to keep me marathoning.

I really liked how the drama showed the three cousins being distant with each other but also getting more comfortable with each other. They remained prickly and antagonistic, but the way the circumstances shoved them together, you could see they were starting to feel more warmth about their dysfunctional relatives.

The step family really makes it feel like Cinderella in the way they are just hopelessly petty. I did appreciate that they really love Ha Won’s dad though.

Ha Won – female lead
Ha Won can be aggressive but she’s polite and easy going too. Her smile is so genuine and sweet. It doesn’t feel like she’s pushing the cheerful heroine, it seems so sincere. This show is so over the top. It has so much high drama. Of course she’s a hard worker like most Kdrama heroines but I liked that her mission was more relational and she had to think about how to win over the boys’ personalities.

My favourite parts were when the boys all had to react to announcement at the same time and how their personalities were so different. It was so fun how they came together for Ha Won’s sake. They all loved her so much. I liked how they were so impacted when Ha Won just casually called them chingu in conversation.

A drama always gets extra points from me where the heroine isn’t belittled for her looks or her brain.

Ji Woon – male lead
I wasn’t confident that I would like this actor because his looks just isn’t my cup of tea. But I really came to like him. This guy seems like the oldest to me because he is so serious. I like that he is distant and isolating. He doesn’t go out of his way to be mean. He just consistently tells her to get lost.  

Romance
Ji Woon has a very nice way of looking at Ha Won. He isn’t the most handsome guy but he does have this aura about him that is very gentle and charismatic. I liked the orphan spin on this drama that both Ha Won and Ji Woon are both very alone in this world. The pair have a subtle way of connecting over their parents.

General Secretary

I love dramas that have that stereotypical stern guy that is uber polite and professional.

Kang Min Young – second male lead (?)

This guy starts out pretty stereotypical but he became such a funny character later on. I like the way he talks. He isn’t the best of actors with the more dramatic scenes. But he is good at skinship. He just looks good when he’s next to a girl.

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A Cheesy Yet Charming Step in Kdrama's Evolution

Having recently finished this, it's evident that kdrama has evolved significantly, especially in terms of writing. The series demonstrates a departure from the over-the-top 80's style melodrama, although not entirely. It’s apparent that many writers have either been replaced or have learned from their past mistakes, leading to generally improved storytelling in contemporary dramas.
The show is riddled with clichés, to the point of being cringeworthy. The "poor girl meets rich boys" trope is painfully overdone, and the predictable plot twists do little to add originality. Watching the show can feel like a checklist of kdrama stereotypes: the aloof chaebol, the kind-hearted heroine, the love triangles, and the obligatory makeover scenes. The formulaic approach makes it hard to take the drama seriously.
Yet, the series has undeniable charm, largely due to its cast. "Cinderella and the Four Knights" has served as a launching pad for many actors, notably the beautiful Park So Dam. Her performance, along with the rest of the ensemble cast, brings a level of charisma that partially compensates for the lackluster script. The actors' chemistry and charm provide some genuine moments of enjoyment amidst the sea of cheese.
Speaking of cheese, this drama has more than a Quattro formaggio pizza. The excessive romantic tropes and overblown emotional scenes can be both entertaining and exhausting. It's the kind of show where you can predict the next line of dialogue or the next plot twist with uncanny accuracy, which might be endearing to some viewers but tiresome to others.
Despite its flaws, it remains watchable, even if only as background noise while doing chores. The light-hearted nature of the show makes it easy to follow without demanding much attention or emotional investment. It's the kind of drama that you can enjoy in a passive way, perfect for multitasking.
In conclusion, it’s a mixed bag. On one hand, it showcases the growth and evolution of kdrama writing. On the other, it clings stubbornly to outdated tropes and clichés. While it might not be groundbreaking or particularly memorable, its likable cast and easy-to-digest format make it a tolerable watch for K-drama enthusiasts and casual viewers alike.

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