I hate this drama. Yes, hate is a strong word, but it's also accurate. I had to force myself to finish this, and the last 2 episodes were barely watchable. I can hardly remember the first few episodes, when this drama slowly started to grow on me, and gave me some Boys over Flowers type feels... Now all I have left is the wish that I had given up on this drama much sooner. Where do I even begin?
The plot makes no sense. A rich guy finds his 3 dead son's sons and forces them to live in a fancy home together, even though they don't get along. His solution is to hire a weird poor girl to move in and trick them into getting along, just as long as she doesn't date them? What???!!! Obviously the premise is just a set up to put her in close proximity with 3 cute guys (4 if you count the hot secretary), and honestly I was willing to forgive the implausibility of it all just to watch that often repeated k-drama dynamic of "which cute guy do I choose?"- but unfortunately the show dared to introduce another female lead which literally killed any joy I found watching the show. Once they tried to force feed that story into the plot, the show lost it's charm, and that brought my attention to how dumb the rest of the plot really was. Oh, and the flashbacks... waaaaaaay too many flashbacks filling up the time. Each flashback seemed to say "remember that part that you liked" as a way to distract from how bad the current story was.
As for the cast, it took me a while to warm up to Park So Dam as Ha Won. She bored me at first, the same way she initially bored me in Beautiful Mind, but eventually I started to root for her. She's quirky, and kinda naive, yet outspoken, and honest. She was definitely giving me Jan Di from BoF flashbacks. She is matched with the 3 leads, and had cute chemistry with each of them. Playboy Hyun Min had great second lead potential in the beginning. I liked many of their early scenes together. Seo Woo is super sweet, and a cute match to watch throughout the show, although they spend less time together as the show progresses. Then of course there's Jung Il Woo as Ji Woon... the reason I kept watching. He has great charisma, and his smirk won me over early on. There were moments where he and Park So Dam looked like they really could be dating, that's how cute they were together. That's also what tricked me into sticking with this show... every time I was about to quit watching they would have a moment that sucked me back in. I should also mention the cute secretary (I guess he's prince #4) who's character, and storyline, seemed like an afterthought, but I really liked him a lot (I personally would have chosen him).
So if most of the main cast was pretty good, why such a low score? The answer is Son Na Eun as Hye Ji. She is not just bad, she is a ruiner of scenes. Not only is her character terribly written... they try to make you empathize with a crazy ex who can't let go, and it did not work for me... She is also just not a great actress at all. Her expressions were bland, her emotions felt fake (tears of the crocodile variety), and I'm not an A Pink fangirl so I don't get her appeal. I felt like groaning every time she was on screen, which was more and more as the show progressed. She ruined any love I had for the show, and by the end her scenes became moments to take bathroom breaks, or check messages or my email... I wish the show was half as long and omitted her entire storyline (which also made no sense, but I won't spoil it). A good rival should add to the plot, not make you want to never watch again. Grandpa CEO was also a terrible character, and frustrating to watch, but his acting wasn't terrible so it worked. Other parents were equally annoying, but still not as bad as Na Eun (and had much less screen time). The only character who annoyed me as much is Ja Yeong, the BFF of Ha Won. I guess I was supposed to find her creepy fangirl personality cute, but she annoyed me. The forced romance implications were also not working for me. Ahh, forced romance... that brings me to the end... ugh!
I honestly wanted to see how it would all be resolved, but the ending felt so forced, and overly romantic, that I would have rather had a tragic sappy ending where everyone died. The ending scene was so incredibly cheesy that I couldn't take it. The only thing I liked was the surprise (totally predictable) backstory between Ji Woon and Ha Won, that I wish was the main focus of the show in the first place. Of course they add unnecessary drama to the final moments too, but there are no surprises, so I don't recommend forcing yourself to stick it out to the end.
The soundtrack is not my favorite, but it's the best part of the show after the main kissing scenes.
Would I watch this again? Never. I'm still wondering why I didn't stop watching weeks ago!
Overall this show is bad... really bad, in spite the cute moments that I wish could be pieced together to form it's own mini show. If you start it, you will probably be tempted to keep watching, but let me assure you that once it starts going down hill it will only get worse. Just watch youtube clips of the best scenes from the show, and don't bother trying to make sense of the messy storyline, or care who the characters are... clearly the writer didn't care either. I can't believe this is based on a book, and I wonder how much this show misses the mark.
I wish I could go back in time and drop this drama. If you're wondering if it's better to watch and drop, or to never watch at all, I would say both choices are better than forcing yourself to watch the whole thing. I give the show a 4 - one point for each of the 4 prince cuties interactioning with the lead. That's basically all the show has to offer, and that's not enough to fill 16 episodes. With soooo many cinderella themed k-dramas out there, this literal one is the one you should miss.
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