[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Cinderella and the Four Knights" Episode 11

As anticipated, Hye-ji moving into Sky House causes problems, especially because her passive aggressive behavior towards Ha-won is rather viperous. The Kang cousins have trouble adjusting to her presence and the awkwardness makes Ha-won not only feel self-conscious, but lonely for the first time since she entered Sky House. That loneliness is such an interesting twist in her story.

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Ha-won came to Sky House feeling utterly alone in the world. She'd been discarded by her step mother and step-sister, verbally disowned by her father, and isolated from her peers because she worked so much to make ends meet and to earn money to go to college. Sky House was food for the soul because she had friends who cared for her. The entrance of Hye-ji changed that. Luckily, the Kang cousins slowly realize their negligence and remedy it, but the parallel back to how Ha-won began is poetic.

Hye-ji is an absolute ego case. She lays claim to Ji-woon as though he were a piece of land, pretending to be nice, but manipulating beneath the surface. Ha-won is too kind to truly fight back and as a result she suffers. What Hye-ji does inspire is a desire in Ha-won to explore her feminine side. She definitely leaves an impression on Seo-woo and Ji-woon, but more importantly, it makes her feel good. Unfortunately, Ha-won doesn't have long to revel before her supposed biological father steps onto the scene, acting shifty and terrifying Ha-won who already felt distanced from the father she grew up with. That emotional weight is so powerful in comparison to the issues Hyun-min and Hye-ji are going through. Those two are just frustrating because of their lack of communication. They bottle everything up and spew cruelties at each other. In their case, I really like that Ji-woon calls Hyun-min out on his ridiculous behavior, caring for Hye-ji via Ji-woon. "Just do it yourself", Ji-woon says. I agree. Do it yourself and stop stretching this silly love line out. It's completely lackluster.

A few other issues floated around the episode. CEO Grandpa realizes his new wife isn't as honest as she claims to be and unknowingly throws Yoon-seong in the middle of them by having him track her. I wonder how long Yoon-seong will hold his tongue before informing the CEO of their relationship. I hope it's soon so that he can start forging new relationships with the Kang cousins.

My favorite part of this episode was when Ha-won, despite working on false information from Hye-ji, tells Ji-woon to stop playing around with her feelings. He had been wavering over his confession to Ha-won because Hye-ji was in the way, at least it seemed that way. I like that she's so forthcoming, especially when so many other people in the show are not. Eventually Ji-woon does right by her, but the outcome must wait to be seen until next episode.

Despite this show's failings, I'm really enjoying the true romcom nature of it. It has serious subjects around which the romances center, but they don't weight the drama down. The main pairing is delightful and brimming with fun and chemistry.

Written by: Lisa Espinosa AKA Raine from 'Raine's Dichotomy'

"Cinderella and the Four Knights" is directed by Kwon Hyeok-chan, written by Min Ji-eun and Won Yeong-sil, and starring Park So-dam, Jung Il-woo, Ahn Jae-hyun, Lee Jung-shin, and Choi Sang.