Cinderella's Sister: Fuck you all, she doesn't fucking want your glass slippers.
Cinderella Unni
This drama is about the horrors of a life where everyone wants to be nice to you. You're just a teenage misanthrope who wants to be left alone, but people insist on giving you things and wanting to like you! AUGH! The only solution is to hate yourself and wear a lot of plaid.
It gets even funnier when you weigh its angst against other kdramas. Like, say you're watching IRIS and you're thinking "wow, it must suck when your boyfriend is a PTSD-ridden assassin dodging bullets and helicopter missiles." You can then turn to Cinderella Unni and think "wow, your stepsister made you a cake... that... that's really awful..."
This is Eun Jo. She can kill puppies and wilt flowers with a single glare.
What Eun Jo thinks of your opinion.
When her mother remarries, Eun Jo finds herself with a new stepsister -- the bright, perky Hyo Sun, who wants to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!
You can imagine how that turns out.
Fuck you, Hyo Sun! Fuck you and your DELICIOUS CANDY!
This is Ki Hoon (♥), a cheerful worker at the family winery.
Ki Hoon is sweet and smiley and he doesn't care that Eun Jo is a marshmallow stuffed with razors. Once he even makes her laugh out loud (and then makes it even cuter by marveling at his victory like "Oh!! You laughed! With sound! There was sound!" and Eun Jo lifts her chin and walks away and he's just like "With sound and everything! Wow!")
They also have amazing chemistry. Like the kind of chemistry where their eyes meet across the room and the rug spontaneously melts. He can say her name -- in that voice of his -- and she'll stop dead in her tracks. Unf.
The only problem?
Hyo Sun's in love with him too.
Of course, this is a kdrama, so they sit down and have an open, honest discussion of their feelings and how to resolve the conflict without affecting their bonds of sisterhoo...
FUUUUUUUUUUUU--
EIGHT YEARS LATER, Ki Hoon has become a businessman, Hyo Sun is beautiful and brittle, and Eun Jo?
Eun Jo still doesn't care about your opinion.
Their relationship isn't any warmer than where it left off, especially considering Ki Hoon's disappearance and subsequent eight-year old aversion to cellphones. Commence sister drama!
Arguing!
Getting drunk and talking about how much they hate each other!
Moments of tentative friendship!
Ki Hoon undergoes an interesting transformation, one I haven't seen in many dramas -- in the beginning he's the Nice Guy, but post-timeskip he's shifted into the Emotionally Unavailable Hero with someone else picking up the slack for Wonderful Secondary Guy:
It's Jung Woo, master of plot!
Jung Woo is an ADORABLE PUPPY who just so happens to have muscles like a pro wrestler and skin so smooth he could be a gift from God. He's also a childhood friend of Eun Jo's, which lets him get away with things no other man would attempt.
Making her smile!
Giving her a lift!
Eun Jo tormented by fun.
He loves her with no shame whatsoever, and though her heart belongs to Ki Hoon, she still has...well... eyes.
The face of a woman who already has a buffet but wouldn't mind the dessert table.
Ki Hoon isn't pleased with their closeness, so he unleashes the full force of his business suits and passive-aggression. But Jung Woo is like "sucker, have you seen my arms?" so the fight for Eun Jo is on.
No one actually cares about Hyo Sun.
Should've baked better cakes, bitch.
The triangle-square grows into an epic clusterfuck, giving us scenes like this one, where Hyo Sun and Eun Jo are fighting and Hyo Sun bites her, which makes Jung Woo intervene and rip her off, which brings Ki Hoon into the fray where Eun Jo gets knocked down, so Jung Woo gets pissed and punches Ki Hoon, which infuriates Hyo Sun who slaps Jung Woo, who grabs her wrist, leading Ki Hoon to grab his wrist.
It would've been easier to just pee on her, but I suppose Korea thought this was more romantic.
I wasn't kidding about the crying, btw. This drama loves tears, and Ki Hoon broods so hard that he could churn butter with the force of his furrowed brow.
It gets to the point where you can set a clock by their weeping...
The shoulders hunching...
The eyebrows shutting down...
"MY PAIN IS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH!"
The real kicker? Cinderella Unni isn't even that tragic! There are no dead girlfriends, no one has cancer, no one is in love with their sister. They just cry about their feelings! All the time. Ah, Korea.
This drama is about the horrors of a life where everyone wants to be nice to you. You're just a teenage misanthrope who wants to be left alone, but people insist on giving you things and wanting to like you! AUGH! The only solution is to hate yourself and wear a lot of plaid.
It gets even funnier when you weigh its angst against other kdramas. Like, say you're watching IRIS and you're thinking "wow, it must suck when your boyfriend is a PTSD-ridden assassin dodging bullets and helicopter missiles." You can then turn to Cinderella Unni and think "wow, your stepsister made you a cake... that... that's really awful..."
This is Eun Jo. She can kill puppies and wilt flowers with a single glare.
What Eun Jo thinks of your opinion.
When her mother remarries, Eun Jo finds herself with a new stepsister -- the bright, perky Hyo Sun, who wants to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!
You can imagine how that turns out.
Fuck you, Hyo Sun! Fuck you and your DELICIOUS CANDY!
This is Ki Hoon (♥), a cheerful worker at the family winery.
Ki Hoon is sweet and smiley and he doesn't care that Eun Jo is a marshmallow stuffed with razors. Once he even makes her laugh out loud (and then makes it even cuter by marveling at his victory like "Oh!! You laughed! With sound! There was sound!" and Eun Jo lifts her chin and walks away and he's just like "With sound and everything! Wow!")
They also have amazing chemistry. Like the kind of chemistry where their eyes meet across the room and the rug spontaneously melts. He can say her name -- in that voice of his -- and she'll stop dead in her tracks. Unf.
The only problem?
Hyo Sun's in love with him too.
Of course, this is a kdrama, so they sit down and have an open, honest discussion of their feelings and how to resolve the conflict without affecting their bonds of sisterhoo...
FUUUUUUUUUUUU--
EIGHT YEARS LATER, Ki Hoon has become a businessman, Hyo Sun is beautiful and brittle, and Eun Jo?
Eun Jo still doesn't care about your opinion.
Their relationship isn't any warmer than where it left off, especially considering Ki Hoon's disappearance and subsequent eight-year old aversion to cellphones. Commence sister drama!
Arguing!
Getting drunk and talking about how much they hate each other!
Moments of tentative friendship!
Ki Hoon undergoes an interesting transformation, one I haven't seen in many dramas -- in the beginning he's the Nice Guy, but post-timeskip he's shifted into the Emotionally Unavailable Hero with someone else picking up the slack for Wonderful Secondary Guy:
It's Jung Woo, master of plot!
Jung Woo is an ADORABLE PUPPY who just so happens to have muscles like a pro wrestler and skin so smooth he could be a gift from God. He's also a childhood friend of Eun Jo's, which lets him get away with things no other man would attempt.
Making her smile!
Giving her a lift!
Eun Jo tormented by fun.
He loves her with no shame whatsoever, and though her heart belongs to Ki Hoon, she still has...well... eyes.
The face of a woman who already has a buffet but wouldn't mind the dessert table.
Ki Hoon isn't pleased with their closeness, so he unleashes the full force of his business suits and passive-aggression. But Jung Woo is like "sucker, have you seen my arms?" so the fight for Eun Jo is on.
No one actually cares about Hyo Sun.
Should've baked better cakes, bitch.
The triangle-square grows into an epic clusterfuck, giving us scenes like this one, where Hyo Sun and Eun Jo are fighting and Hyo Sun bites her, which makes Jung Woo intervene and rip her off, which brings Ki Hoon into the fray where Eun Jo gets knocked down, so Jung Woo gets pissed and punches Ki Hoon, which infuriates Hyo Sun who slaps Jung Woo, who grabs her wrist, leading Ki Hoon to grab his wrist.
It would've been easier to just pee on her, but I suppose Korea thought this was more romantic.
I wasn't kidding about the crying, btw. This drama loves tears, and Ki Hoon broods so hard that he could churn butter with the force of his furrowed brow.
It gets to the point where you can set a clock by their weeping...
The shoulders hunching...
The eyebrows shutting down...
"MY PAIN IS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH!"
The real kicker? Cinderella Unni isn't even that tragic! There are no dead girlfriends, no one has cancer, no one is in love with their sister. They just cry about their feelings! All the time. Ah, Korea.