Because I have no one in person that I can rant to about my thoughts on Cinderella and the Four Knights (2016), you guys get to hear my thoughts.
First, I put this show on because I had just finished Tomorrow (2022), and I needed something sappy and full of clichΓ© tropes to help distract me from the emotional trauma. I did my best from episode 1 to try and guess who was endgame for Eun Ha-Won based on all of the stereotypes and the way the interactions between her and the Kang cousins were written, and I feel like my original thoughts wouldβve been a better ending.
Also with the way that the characters were written, they really shouldβve called it Cinderella and the Three Knights because the fourth βknightβ wasnβt even really written to be a Love Interest in spite of him being one of the best characters (until stuff happens with his mother and then itβs like being disappointed by your longtime crush and wanting to smack some sense into them).
My thoughts on the characters, though:
I love her. She deserves the world. She is an absolute ball of sunshine in spite of all the shit sheβs had to deal with and continues to deal with straight through to the final meeting she has with Chairman Kang. I think sheβs gorgeous, and I hate that she thinks sheβs not pretty just because of how the Kang cousins treat her vs Park Hye-Ji. She honestly couldβve made it through the whole show without a Love Interest and I wouldβve liked that more than the actual ending. Sheβs strong physically, mentally, and emotionally. Sheβs very smart and wants to use what she knows to teach others. Sheβs so very devoted to family in spite of how her stepmom and stepsister treat her, and even more so how her dad treated her. I wouldβve tried to woo her myself if I had been in the show.
The bad boy/bully type, the enemies-to-lovers trope, the stalkerβs enabler. This man constantly looks like a crying wet puppy, but not in a cute way. He tries to look so sad and pitiful, and heβs an asshole from the get go. From the very start where he rolls his eyes and tries to give Ha-Won his watch when she asks him to apologize for not buying all the food he asked her to prepare at the convenience store, and then scoffs and immediately assumes sheβd do anything for money (without considering the fact that sheβs dead broke and needs money to survive). You think maybe thereβs a redemption when he gives her a bouquet of white roses on the memorial day (I forget what the actual name of that day is called) of her momβs death. And then you see him being a whiny puppy stuck to the second female lead, enabling her stalker tendencies and hating everyone who doesnβt immediately make Hye-Ji happy. He hates Hyun-Min so much that he also decides to pursue Ha-Won just to make him miserable when he thinks theyβre engaged, not even caring about how it might make Ha-Won feel. He keeps doing sweet and caring things that make you think βoh sheβs finally breaking down his tough exteriorβ, and then he just turns around and is an asshole again. He abandoned both Ha-Won AND Hye-Ji on the side of the road on separate occasions and then thought just saying βoh sorryβ would fix it. I get that his backstory is sad, and I get that Chairman Kang fucked him over and basically forced him to accept the fact that heβs family, but itβs no excuse for the way he treats everyone else. Also, man needs to learn how to comb his hair and maybe take some allergy medication so his eyes stop watering and his nose isnβt always red.
The unrequited love, the pop-star, the male best friend trope. I love him, and I hate that the writers barely gave him a chance. He tried so hard so many times to tell Ha-Won that he liked her. He did so many things to care for her, wrote love songs about her, used his status as a pop-star to help draw crowds away from Ha-Won when she was getting bullied by the girls who thought she was Chairman Kangβs mistress, was a genuinely kind person to everyone including Ha-Wonβs best friend, and tried so many times to confess. I wish the writers wouldβve taken just a couple more lines to have him say βno, Ha-Won, Iβm not writing a love song right now, Iβm telling you how I genuinely feel about youβ and actually given her a chance to consider him. He saw how much Ha-Won hated the spotlight she got while everyone thought she was engaged to Hyun-Min, and he let pictures of himself in a girls uniform go viral just to stop more pictures of Ha-Won from leaking to the press. At any moment, he couldβve just done with Hyun-Min did and asked Ha-Won to play along with the rumors of them dating, but he actually considered Ha-Wonβs feelings (glaring at you, Ji-Woon) and lied about his own feelings to protect her. If I had to choose between the Kang cousins, I would choose Seo-Woo.
The spoiled rich kid, the playboy, the fake fiancΓ©, the one afraid to actually love, the object of the stalkerβs affection. I wish he had been endgame. They set it up so well in the beginning for him to be endgame. You could tell from the moment he saw Ha-Won beat up the assholes at the bar/party for not paying for the pizza delivery, he was developing feelings. He couldβve easily gone back on his bet with his friends and asked any other girl to go to Chairman Kangβs wedding with him, but he chose to go after Ha-Won, and even went all the way to the convenience store just to try and get her attention. His shock at hearing about BOGO deals with the ice cream was honestly cute, and he was kind enough to sit down with Ha-Won and enjoy the ice cream in spite of being raised directly under Chairman Kang (who makes it very clear what he thinks of anyone who isnβt rich), and heβs actually nice to her. At the beginning he still has that playboy attitude, but even after offering her money to be his date (and being turned down, good job Ha-Won for holding true to your values), he still tries. He picks her up for the wedding, opens the door for her, treats her the way a gentleman should treat a lady (win for chivalry!), and gives her a chance to feel as beautiful as she is. He also is very up front and adamant with Hye-Ji that he wants nothing to do with her, but she keeps showing up and trying to make him feel guilty for not still liking her after having a crush on her when they were NINE YEARS OLD, and itβs been 10 years (she bugs the hell out of me but weβll get to her). Hyun-Min also is thinking of Ha-Won when he asks Chairman Kang and Secretary Lee to keep it secret from the other Kang cousins that Ha-Won isnβt his real fiancΓ©, because he trusts that they wouldnβt try to pull anything on someone who was already in a relationship (fuck you Ji-Woon for taking that personally and making Ha-Won uncomfortable and confused). He keeps Ha-Won company so she wonβt be alone, he goes along with her missions until his pride gets in the way, he buys her a whole wardrobe of clothes because she keeps wearing the same tracksuit for god knows how many episodes and just genuinely tries to make her feel comfortable and taken care of so she can focus on the things she actually needs to do instead of just surviving. I wish that he had seen Ha-Won when she got dolled up in that black and blue dress, he wouldβve fallen for her all over again. Unfortunately, the writers decided that the βchildhood lovers/first loveβ trope was more important for Hyun-Min and Hye-Ji, and they had him go back to her even though she was being a stalker after he repeatedly said no. Also hella power move that the heir to the Haneul group in his early 20s would go stand before a board of directors and his grandpaβs wife to save his grandpaβs company after being a slacker playboy up until he met Ha-Won. I love him. I wish he had ended up with Ha-Won. Fuck the writers for putting him with his stalker.
The βfourth knightβ, the secretary to the chairman, the by the book character. They never even gave him a chance to be considered a Love Interest, so it kept bothering me that they called it ββ¦Four Knightsβ and then only made 3 of them potential LIs. He is the most efficient and down to earth of all the guys, he does his job exceedingly well, he respects the absolute hell out of Ha-Won and tries his best to make the Kang cousins respect her as well, heβs a master of tae-kwon-do, heβs deeply loyal to the chairman until a bigger issue comes up, and heβs a very obvious fan favorite. I was very disappointed that the writers made him side with Madame Ji even for the time that he did because he had been so against treating her as his mother after she abandoned him with an abusive drunk father 12 years prior, but I am glad his loyalty to the chairman won out. Also very happy that they included him in their friend group at the end, my man needs to learn to relax (but not with alcoholβ¦ my emetophobia did not appreciate the end of the drunk dinnerβ¦).
The second female lead. I cannot stand her. I hate that the writers even included her past the first couple episodes, and I hate even more than they ended up letting her win with Hyun-Min. Sheβs a very βwoe is meβ character who acts like sheβs entitled to everyoneβs attention, especially Hyun-Minβs, just because he gave her a ring when they were 9 and her family got along with the Kang family before her brother died. This girl spends 10 years pining over Hyun-Min after she has not seen or heard from him AT ALL in those 10 years, shows up at his house unannounced when he returns to Korea from studying abroad, constantly shows up wherever he is in public and just looks at him all sad and pathetic like he belongs to her and is cheating on her, sheβs been told by him numerous times in basically every episode that he does not want her around and that she should give up even to the point where Hyun-Min has to threaten to never acknowledge her again, she hates Ha-Won for being close to Hyun-Min and then later Ji-Woon, she jumps from guy to guy after Hyun-Minβs threat starting with Ji-Woon because she knows itβll piss off Hyun-Min the most, she assumes anyone who is nice to her must be in love with her and feels personally attacked and betrayed when theyβre like βno Iβm just a nice person, I donβt have feelings for youβ, blames Hyun-Min for her being so sad and depressed when sheβs the one who canβt just fucking get over him from when THEY WERE CHILDREN, constantly tries to make moves and get close to Hyun-Min on the trip and after she moves into Haneul House, and then turns around and is like βI never want to see you againβ when Hyun-Min tries to treat her more kindly and tries to explain why he was being such a dick to her. And yet they end up together. Because βchildhood love/first loveβ was more important to the writers than the fact that they made the second female lead a self absorbed entitled stalker. The only thing that comes to mind that puts her in a good light was when she let Ha-Won spend the night, but even that was reluctant and she only started being nice after Ha-Won admitted that the engagement was fake. She shouldβve just taken the fashion scholarship to Paris and finally gotten out of the Kangβs lives. If she was alone in a foreign country she might actually learn to rely on herself instead of always expecting Hyun-Min or Ji-Woon to come running.
Seo-Wooβs biggest fan, Ha-Wonβs best friend, an absolute cupcake of a character. I want her to be my best friend. It did annoy me that at the beginning of the trip, she left Ha-Won to do stuff alone just because Seo-Woo wasnβt joining them, but my girl has Ha-Wonβs back in every other situation. She was even willing to support Ha-Won and Seo-Woo when the scandal article was published saying that they were engaged when they werenβt. She also was determined enough to get close to her favorite pop-star that she came up with a plan to help him escape his fan girls by wearing her school uniform, and she managed to sneak some photos of him crossdressing as well that he later used to help Ha-Won. Sheβs been there for Ha-Won through everything and did whatever she could to help even though she herself didnβt have much. I am so happy for her that she gets to be part of Seo-Wooβs management team in the end.
Classist asshole who values highly skilled and charismatic employees, but continues to treat them like trash if they stop acting like employees. For him, money buys everything including people, and he has almost completely forgotten what itβs like to actually care about someone until Ji-Woon is on his knees in tears begging him to give his blessings to him and Ha-Won, bringing up how the chairman made his mom leave his dad to remind him of the horrible mistake he made in the past. Chairman Kang talks all the time about wanting the Kang cousins to act as a family, but doesnβt even act like a grandpa to them. He acts like a dictator by threatening to cut them off from everyone and everything if they donβt do exactly what he says. He has good instinct not to trust Madame Ji towards the end, but you would think after 4 failed marriages he would have some way of blocking any future wives from trying to take over the company. Iβm glad he finally gave Ha-Won his blessing, but just the wrong cousin.
That being said! In spite of the endgame love interest and the stalker, the interactions were pretty cute and it was entertaining. It was much needed after watching Tomorrow. Iβm going to acknowledge that canon has Ha-Won with Ji-Woon, but in my mind I will always pair Ha-Won with Hyun-Min or Seo-Woo, and believe that Hye-Ji would actually go away (and STAY away) after Hyun-Min rejected her at the wedding.
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