The first autumn batch of K-dramas are beginning to air. For Total Variety Network (tvN), their K-drama is titled Cinderella and Four Knights , which stars Park So Dam, Jung Il Woo, Ahn Jae Hyeon, Lee Jung Shin, and Choi Min Sung.
Prior to its airing, the drama garnered a lot of attention from the K-drama community because it was being promoted as Boys Over Flowers for a newer generation of K-drama fans. Boys Over Flowers was an extremely popular K-drama airing back in the first golden year for Hallyu, 2009. It is recognized of catapulting the acting careers of Ku Hye Sun, Kim Hyun Joong, and Lee Min Ho.
Because Cinderella and Four Knights borrows the concept of one lead female character finding a potential suitor among four lead male characters from Boys Over Flowers , there is a high probability some K-drama fans will experience second lead syndrome. This means K-drama fans hope one of the main lead characters ends up with a specific second lead character because they are “better” for them but still knows that he or she will end up with the other main lead character. For example, in the K-drama She Was Pretty , Kim Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum) ends up with Ji Sung Joon (Park Seo Joon) though many viewers wanted her to end up with Kim Shin Hyuk (Siwon).
With four episodes of Cinderella and Four Knights aired, there is a growing second lead syndrome fan base in which they hope the female lead character Eun Ha Won ends up with a specific male lead character, Lee Yoon Sung.
To understand why some K-drama fans are wanting Eun Ha Won to end up with Lee Yoon Sung, it is best to detail a synopsis for Cinderella and Four Knights . Ha Won (Park So Dam), through coincidence and happenstance, is hired by Chairman Kang (Kim Yong Gun), the president of Sky Group, to live at Sky House and accomplish missions to help train Chairman Kang’s three grandsons. Ha Won moves into Sky House where she lives alongside the three Kang Grandsons, Kang Ji Woon (Jung Il Woo), Kang Hyun Min (Ahn Jae Hyun), and Kang Seo Woo (Lee Jung Shin). To help her accomplish her missions, she is assisted by the Sky Group’s general secretary, Lee Yoon Sung (Choi Min).
Take note that in the title of the K-drama Cinderella has not three but four knights. It seems obvious the three Kang Grandsons would be three of the four. That leaves Lee Yoon Sung. First and foremost, Yoon Sung is the most mature and level-headed of the four knights. He comes off a bit cold but genuinely cares about the Kang Family and apparently, he cares about Eun Ha Won too even if he keeps on saying “Chairman Kang ordered him to.”
Certain moments between Eun Ha Won and Lee Yoon Sung foreshadow a relationship in which they will probably be best suited for each other.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
In Episode 3, for example, Ha Won was hungry since she was kicked out of her house during suppertime. Yoon Sung goes out of his way to cook her not just something simple to satisfy her appetite but a full meal, beautifully prepared just for her. In multiple examples in Episode 4, Yoon Sung argues on Ha Won’s behalf to Chairman Kang claiming the time limit Chairman Kang gave Ha Won was too tight, and Yoon Sung assists Ha Won multiple times in helping her accomplish her mission. Let’s not forget that Yoon Sung was the first “knight” to take Ha Won clothes shopping.
Popularity-wise, Cinderella and Four Knights started out decently for a K-drama on a cable channel or on pay television. There was a bit of a drop in viewership in both episodes three and four collectively compared to episodes one and two collectively, but once it starts to utilize more of the Boys Over Flower concepts and formula, it is expected for viewership to go up.
Cinderella and Four Knights airs on tvN on Fridays and Saturdays at 11 p.m. KST. For those who do not have access to Korean channels, the series can be seen for free, with ads, on DramaFever pending region.
[Image via tvN]