K-drama: Cinderella and the Four Knights

Synopsis: After losing her mother in a tragic accident, Ha Won feels distant from her new family and after a series of fateful events winds up living in a mansion with four handsome men.

My Thoughts: well… meh. It was fun to watch, and it was adorable in a many moments, but it isn’t a drama that would stick to me as a favorite.

We begin with Ha Won, a girl that lost her mother at young age and lives with her stepmother and half-sister. However, she is frequently mistreated by them, being forced to live in a kind of deposit room and work as a slave, since her father is always away working and the money he gave to them would go to her half-sister’s and her mother’s whims. So she is our Cinderella, obviously.

Then one day, when her father comes home, she gets kicked out all of a sudden, and has nowhere else to go but the place where her mother is resting. In order to survive, she takes a job to help a playboy ruin his grandparent’s wedding, but it goes all wrong when she discovers what it was all about, and makes the guy pays for his disobedience in front of the invited. The grandfather, that is the owner of a huge company in Korea, was so impressed by the way Ha Won handled the situation that offers her a job: she would have to live in the family mansion and make his grandsons into a family of sorts. So she goes to this mansion – that looks like a modern castle, because it’s HU-GE – and finds out that she would have to live with three super-rich guys, that kind of hate each other. How to make a family out of that?

Well, that’s it. Every time the grandfather wants her to do something, he would assign her a mission that, if she accomplished, would grant her enough money to allow her to get to the university – her biggest dream. The three grandsons are Hyun Min, the playboy that “hired” her first; Seo Woo, a famous musician in Korea; and Ji Woon, the rebel that couldn’t accept his new family because of his past. They are the knights (the fourth knight was the butler and right arm of the grandfather, named Yoon Sung).

Although it was funny and all, the guys weren’t NEARLY close to what a cute prince/knight in shining armor would be. Comparing them to the actors that I’ve watched so far, between the cousins, only Ji Woon was reasonable – and to me he was more charming than handsome.

Also, I JUST COULDN’T TAKE HYUN MIN SERIOUSLY. I mean, he wore LIP BALM the entire show. IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS, WHAT?! He was very weird indeed, and he and the protagonist had no chemistry whatsoever.

Seo Woo was cute. He didn’t stand a chance against his other cousins, but he was charming and adorable and very romantic – he even wrote a song or two to Ha Won. He would be the safe choice for her, if she were to choose any of them.

Yoon Sung was the kind of “knight” that fit every aspect: he was handsome, stylist, hard-working and very respectful. But he was the same as a plant, their chemistry was as good as dead. OBVIOUSLY if Seo Woo had little chance with Ha Won, Sung had NONE, he was too stiff toward her! I shipped them nonetheless, because he was the only one that FOR ME filled what was necessary for a “knight” and was what would match the protagonist best.

Last, but not least, Ji Woon. In these dramas, they usually get the rebel and bad boy to fall for the girl, and vice-versa. I liked their chemistry – it was faaaaar better than with the others – and he was kind of cute, especially when he smiled – that was his best. And they make a cute and funny couple. Their moments were the funniest for me: for example, when Ha Won breaks her leg and tries to wash her hair, but fails completely and fall inside the bathtub, Ji Woon goes there and helps her out, and even washes her hair for her, which was cute. Also, he wore no lip balm whatsoever, which was a VERY IMPORTANT thing (I seriously couldn’t handle that shiny lip for a guy, judge me, it was too strange! Even I don’t use lip balm as daily basis!).

I liked the actress that played Ha Won. She was cute, funny, clumsy and adorable, and was very true to her character. She was effortless, and we could really feel her pain and her joy when she was playing.

Anyway, as I said above, it wasn’t memorable. The soundtrack also wasn’t the big of a deal, and the sound effects used were – to say the least – laughable. I cringed every time the goddamn angel song came when something “romantic” happened: whether it was an embrace by her waist, or a brush of hands between her and one of the knights. You know when you are in front of the man/woman of your dreams, and you say you “can hear the bells ringing”? It was like that. I think it was too forced and unreal: it was like as if they were trying their best to create an ambiance, but honey IT WAS NOT HAPPENING!

Also, I didn’t like the grandfather character. His attempt to control his family choices, for the sake of the family, was horrible and very mean. I tried to understand his reasons: he lost his three sons because of his controlling behavior, so I believe that he was trying to redeem himself by doing whatever he could for his grandsons. But he shouldn’t – and ought not to – control their lives. First, because they are already of age, so they can make their choices by themselves. Second, because it won’t redeem yourself: at the very least, you’ll drive your loved ones away from you. And Third, he was just repeating his mistakes by trying to again control his relatives decisions. As a grandparent – and as the only reference his grandsons have/had – he should support and counsel them, first and foremost.  

Overall, if I could give a word to this drama, it would probably be cute. And if it was a sentence… Best luck next time. I watched until the end, and near the end it was veeery cute and adorable, they finally got the hand of it. There were no sex scenes, however, but the number of kissing was higher, so you can say that got balanced in that point specifically.

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