Mid-way Reviews: The Heirs

Written by Kidge.

So I couldn’t help myself. I have to do a mid way review for 'The Heirs' and 'Reply 1994' because I have been faithfully watching both, but they have created extremely different reactions in me. One has been one of my biggest disappointments this year, while the other has been one of the highlights.

So let’s hop to it.

Okay, so if you don’t know what this show is about by now, I feel like you may either be a newbie to K-Drama or alternatively….Wait, there is no alternatively. If you have any interest in K-Drama you will already know about The Heirs with its ridiculously long promotional period and its all-star cast. But just in case you managed to escape the onslaught, the show centres around two teenagers. One comes from a very poor background and the other is the wealthy but illegitimate son of a Chaebol. They fall in love, but social hierarchy problems ensue, not to mention a brewing war between brothers over who will inherit.

If you think this plot line sounds familiar, then you would be forgiven for thinking that, because it has got to be the most common trope of drama land: Chaebol and Candy meet and have to overcome the world in order to be together. Sigh. I blame Cinderella and every girl’s inner dream of being loved by a rich, handsome, wonderful man. Anyway…

So The Heirs was poised to be the hit of the year. With Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, Choi Jin-hyuk, Krystal, Kim Woo-bin, Kang Min-hyuk – I mean the list goes on forever – this young and very popular cast has meant that people have watched the show despite its failings. I like all of these actresses/actors but I am not going to lie, the show has left me feeling like someone gave me a really nice shiny present, only to rip it out of my hands and laugh in my face as I cry in the corner. Is that a little dramatic? I don’t know, but it’s how I feel.

The show began in the US of A, with some of the worst American actors on the planet. Honestly I wanted to rip surfer dudes head off with the way he held out his arms, bugged out his eyes and spoke in the most ridiculous imitation of a stoner voice I have ever heard. But putting that aside, the show held some promise for me with Park Shin-hye’s character actually having a personality and some spunk, and Lee Min-ho portraying a toned down version of the average Chaebol heir, which I found quite refreshing. But then once we headed back to Korea, we reverted to what can only be described as a formulaic, irritating and incredibly slow paced exercise in who can sacrifice more in order to live within the structures of a society that will never let you be together.

Speaking of a society that hates you. Kim Woo-bin. Kim Woo-bin. What happened??? I love this guy and his acting is still great in this show, but I honestly experienced such a serious hatred of this character that I am finding it extremely difficult to come back from that now he has come to a small turning point. I blame the writers for this, because even a cold hearted heir who has habitually bullied people for most of his life is redeemable if you give him genuine reasons for sadness and small hints of a soul underneath it all. But no matter how awful your parents are, it does not give you a right to bully people to the point of them having to leave the school, or to threaten people because you can’t seem to feel any significance as a person without making everyone around you miserable and terrified. I know he has had a hair change, and his inner demons are becoming visible for us to see, but I think it’s all just too little too late. Kim Woo-bin, I applaud you for playing a character I dislike so thoroughly.

Speaking of poorly written characters. Rachel. Why oh why must you exist. I’m sorry but being a bitch is just being a bitch. HE DOESN’T WANT YOU. Please get with the program and find someone who actually gives a crap about how you feel, because Kim Tan is not it. And Kim Tan, if you don’t stop ordering Eun-sang around and grabbing her by the wrist, I may just give you a serious piece of my mind. She is not a doll.

Having said all this, I understand the need to keep watching this show and at the very least find out what happens. The cast is beautiful, there are nuggets of potential gold than have yet to be mined, and seem to have been given very limited time to be explored. Plus there is always Chan-young and Bo-na to lighten everyone’s mood and keep us entertained with their cute and cheerful ways. But overall, I feel like The Heirs hasn’t lived up to its potential. I will keep watching and hope that the last third of the series proves to be less of a killjoy than the first two thirds. Here’s hoping.