K-drama Review: Cinderella and the Four Knights

Cinderella and the Four Knights is a cute story which doesn't take itself too seriously. While it employs a lot of cliches, it's charming and fun to watch.

English Title: Cinderella and the Four Knights (2016)

Writers: Min Ji-eun / Won Young-sil

Director: Kwon Hyuk-chan / Lee Min-woo

Length: 16 Episodes

Tropes: Cinderella, Wicked Stepmother, Roommates, Fake Relationship, Love Triangle (or Love Square?) 

My Score: 4/5

Description: Struggling student Eun Ha-won (Park So-dam) is hired by a rich businessman to bring his three estranged grandsons together. His only rule: no dating. Forced to live together in their grandfather's mansion, Ha-won and the three cousins navigate their past traumas and romantic entanglements to become a true family.

If you enjoyed this show, then watch: Business Proposal, Love to Hate You, King the Land, or The Heirs.

Cinderella and the Four Knights is a light, funny, escapist watch with some laugh-out-loud moments. It is a very tropey rom-com, complete with all the trappings of nasty, self-centred stepmother and stepsister, a fancy pair of shoes, and the midnight deadline at the ball (or rather at the grandfather's 5th wedding) - and that's just the first episode! But many of the tropes are subverted or used in fresh ways. In this show it's the three cousins who go from enemies to friends, rather than the usual Enemies-to-Lovers trope.

This isn't the typical Cinderella story in which the poor girl wins Prince Charming's heart, nor is it the classic K-drama love triangle, as this Cinderella has four potential suitors - the three estranged cousins, with a fourth in Secretary Lee, the grandfather's assistant who keeps a watchful eye over them all. Definitely a wish fulfilment story for women!

Cinderella and the Four Knights is a faster-paced, less aggressive, and more mature version of the classic 2009 Boys Over Flowers. Like BOF, this one has its own chaebol F4, and the same bullied poor girl who works a bunch of part-time jobs before being taken under the wing of the chaebol heirs. At first, the chaebol heirs are resistant to her presence and rude to her, but they gradually soften as she works her irrepressible charm on them. Other similarities include the whiny, spoilt girl and the trip away (admittedly this is just a vacation home rather than BOF's trips to New Caledonia and Macau - but clearly every bit as much a paid-for vacation ad.) 

Like all K-dramas, there's always some bitter to balance out the sweet (or in darker stories like Vincenzo and When the Phone Rings, some light to balance out the dark.) In this story, there are some heavier themes explored, like dysfunctional families, grief and loss, abandonment, and neglect, but the good triumphs over the bad, with love, friendship, family (and found family) triumphing over all the negatives.

The show manages to keep the viewer guessing which of the four potential suitors is the one that Eun Ha-won will end up with. I wasn't even sure until well past the show's midpoint who I wanted her to pick! For the first six episodes, I even thought the best man for her could be the outlier, Secretary Lee.

All four men turn out to be green flags, though it takes some of them a while to get there, as they all have issues to deal with: Playboy Kang Hyun-min (Ahn Jae-hyun) has yet to come to terms with a big loss in his childhood, rebellious loner Kang Ji-woon (Jung Il-woo) is an orphan who resents the family that abandoned him and his mother, and Secretary Lee (Choi Min) is also dealing with childhood neglect and mommy issues. Sweet, sensitive pop idol Kang Seo-woo (played by Lee Jung-shin, a real life pop idol with the band CNBlue) is the most well-adjusted of the four, but he too has a character arc, albeit a smaller one than the other main characters.

Rounding out the lead cast is the secondary female lead (2FL) Park Hye-ji (Son Na-eun of girl group Apink), a childhood friend of Hyun-min's who has had an unrequited crush on him for years. This character annoyed me on my first watch of the show, and did not improve with a second watch. She constantly mopes around, gets jealous and possessive (and sometimes even downright nasty) because her one-sided love isn't returned, and she even feels that Hyun-min "owes" her because they have history together. I wasn't happy for them to end up together on either watch.

While the show contains many cliches, and an annoying 2FL, there are more reasons to love it than to hate it. What did I love about Cinderella and the Four Knights?

• Lead actress Park So-dam. She's a very talented actress who won international praise for her role in the Oscar-winning black comedy, Parasite, and she's also delightful to watch in Record of Youth. She manages to make this Cinderella likeable, relatable, feisty and quirky, and also brings a depth to the role that prevents her from veering into Mary Sue territory. 
• The Easter eggs. I love self-referential nods to fans (like Melomance's song from Business Proposal which plays the first moment we meet Jinu in K-pop Demon Hunters.) This show includes references to CNBlue and other inside jokes. Easter eggs are rare in western TV series, as they're usually written well in advance of casting - and as they often take themselves far too seriously to pamper to fans. K-drama scripts, however, are often written after the cast has been confirmed (and sometimes even during the production!) so they're able to include these secret messages for fans.
• It has very little obvious product placement. I barely noticed anything that resembled a commercial, unlike many more recent dramas. (The King: Eternal Monarch, much as I loved it, had at least two to three very obvious ads built into each episode!)
• One of the things I love best about K-dramas is the wholesome "green flag" energy of the male characters. (And it's how you can tell many of these K-dramas are written by women!) Unless they're villains, like in Something in the Rain or One Spring Night, they're generally nice guys. In this show, we see the men bond with each other in healthy ways, and we feel that the heroine could be safe and happy with any of them. What could be more escapist and wish fulfilling than being surrounded by men who are safe for women to be around?

In summary, Cinderella and the Four Knights is a good choice to watch when you're looking for a low-angst show that won't make you cry too much or think too hard, but which will warm your heart and leave you with a smile.

Have you watched Cinderella and the Four Knights? If you haven't yet watched it, this clip from episode 5 in which Eun Ha-won teases Kang Ji-woon might just tempt you to give it a try. (Hint: There's some nice eye candy!)