The Heirs

Here I am again, deviating from my usual order of posting to write my review of this drama while my brain is still buzzing from the high after binge-watching this for 3 days.

This series is relatively old. Not the "oldest" Korean drama that I've watched (that honor goes to Moon Embracing the Sun), but this was shown on October to December 2013. It starred Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, and Kim Woo-bin and written by Kim Eun-sook (yep, same writer of Goblin and Descendants of the Sun).

The story follows a group of rich, privileged kids who are trained to take over the businesses of their parents (thus, the title) and their daily struggles to become what their parents want to be and what at the same time, be what they want to be.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT

Lee Min-ho

He was 26 years old when this series was shot and he played an 18-year old. If there's one thing I can say about the Korean race (actually, even the Chinese and Japanese people), they truly have good skin.

His character, Kim Tan, was exiled to the US (I laughed when I realized this as apparently, it's a shared "best practice" among dramas. The shows here in the Philippines send their erring children to the US too. Hehe) by his brother, Kim Won. It took time for me to figure out why but Won wanted to avoid fighting with his brother over the ownership of the family company.

Tan struggled while he was in California as he missed his family and friends. It was refreshing for him to meet Eun-sang and he fell in love with her (and this was when he already has a fiancee *eye-roll*). I liked how he pursued Eun-sang even when she pushed him away because of the disparity of their respective backgrounds. Never did his love waver even when they broke up.

Let's not forget the kissing scene!



This is his second drama that I've watched and I have yet to tackle Boys Over Flowers where he really became well-known. But I prefer a mature LMH so it might take time before I will watch that.

He is indeed so charming. He even sang a song which was included in the drama's OST. Here's a video of him singing the song during one of his fan meets in Beijing. And looks like he sang it live. Heart! Heart! Heart!




Kim Woo-bin

Kim Woo-bin
(Pic from DramaFever)

I've heard of friends rave over him and watching this, I now understand why. He really grows on you. It's sad though that he's currently on hiatus due to his illness. Last I heard, he's currently on the mend so I hope he does recuperate soon.

I like his bad boy look in The Heirs before he took down his bangs to make it look that he changed. I still can't get the hang out of the bangs hairstyle that is favored among oppas. What is wrong with your foreheads?

But truthfully, I liked how his character developed and changed throughout the series. He started off as a bad boy but there was still goodness in him as evidenced by him falling in love with Eun-sang. I even found their first meeting touching. Eun-sang left the house where they were staying and was still half-sleep. She sleep-walked her way to the nearby convenience store when she drank something and went out to sit outside and sleep. Young-do sat with her and watched over her as she slept. A couple of rowdy boys passed by and he even scolded them as Eun-sang was sleeping.

I'm actually shipping him more with Park Shin-hye. They look better more together. Check out the BTS below that I found in Youtube.





The Story--sort off

As noted above, the series was written by Kim Eun-sook and she's known to have written quality and good dramas. So far, this is the third drama of hers that I've watched. One thing I noticed about her work is that she likes writing settings outside of Korea. Goblin started off in Canada. Descendants of the Sun, most of the story was set in a fictional town of Uruk--which was actually filmed in Greece (somewhere in the Middle East). As for this one, the series started off in California with a very tanned Lee Min-ho.

Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) and Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye) played star-crossed lovers where the former is a chaebol heir while the latter is the daughter of a housemaid. With the hierarchical system in Korean society, calling their relationship "stormy" is an understatement to the nth degree.

Eun-sang went to California to visit her sister who was supposed to get married to her American boyfriend. However, when she got there, she discovered that her sister has been lying to them all along. After getting her passport confiscated due to a misunderstanding, she was left in the mercies of Tan who has been living in the Orange State for the past 3 years in exile.

Long story short, Tan and Eun-sang met again in Korea wherein Eun-sang's mother happened to be a maid of the Kim family. The father of Tan discovered the relationship of the two teenagers and wanting to put the girl in her place, sponsored her scholarship to their exclusive family-owned school to make her realize the hopelessness of their relationship.

Eun-sang met Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) in school (but he actually saw her previously without her knowing) and he bullied her because of her relationship with Kim Tan, his long-time enemy. In the long run, he found himself falling in love with her as well.

As it's a non-tragic drama, Eun-sang ended up with Kim Tan with all loose ends tied up.

Though I'm not comfortable with the concept of young passionate love (please see my note on what I DON'T LIKE ABOUT IT below), I appreciated the underlying theme of the drama. In the second episode, one of Tan's professors said this line:

The British council conducted a survey of 102 non-english speaking countries about what was the the most beautiful English word in the world. The word that took first place was MOTHER.

I wondered why Eun-sook included that line in the drama and I figured out later on why.

Kim Tan had the (mis)fortune of having two mothers--his biological mother, Han Ki-ae (beautifully played by Kim Sung-ryung) who was the mistress of his father; and his mother-on-paper, Jung Ji-suk (Park Joon-geum) the second (legal) wife. He was registered as the "son" of the current wife of the chairman to make Tan a "legal" heir.

Kim Sung-ryung
(Pic from aminoapps)

Han Ki-ae was vain, self-centered and beautiful but her love for her son was unquestioned. She sacrificed her pride and freedom so that her child can have a good life. As she's the mistress, she was given "permission" by Jung Ji-suk to live in the family house. After all, the latter was, by all means and purposes, actually separated already from her husband but chose to remain married for business reasons.

Park Joon-geum
(Pic from dramabeans)

Jung Ji-suk, on the other hand, had no children of her own and agreed to have Kim Tan registered as her son and was known throughout society as his real mother. She's the headmistress of the school where Tan and Eun-sang goes to. She's rather cold and I haven't seen her express any other expression except for disdain and anger. The exact opposite of Tan's biological mother.

Kim Mi-kyung
(Pic from MyDramaList)

Then there's the mother of Eun-sang, Park Hee-nam (Kim Mi-kyung). As the housemaid of the Tan family, she's trusted by Ki-ae as she literally cannot speak thus being unable to tell any secrets of the family. Her love for her daughters was indisputable based on the sacrifices that she made. She used the deposit of their house to send the money to her eldest daughter in the US who needed it. And she agreed to have her youngest daughter go to the high-end school so she'll have a better future with the diploma that she'll earn.

Choi Ji-na
(Pic from Soompi)

Another mother was Yoo Kyung-ran (Choi Ji-na), the eomma of Young-do. Though it was not clear why she left her family (I assume it was due to divorce and her husband's infidelity),  but Young-do missed his chance to have a last meal with her before she disappeared from his life. When the time came for him to be reunited with her, he was immediately unable to face her and when managed to pull himself together, it was quite a tearful reunion.

My take on this is that there are different mothers in this world. We may all rear our children differently but we do so because of love. Moreover, sacrifice is something common for all mothers--giving something up to ensure that our children will have better lives.

This struck a chord in me being the mom of two boys. Ever since I got pregnant with them, it has been one sacrifice after the other and I never did regret my choices. My fervent hope is that they'll grow up to be god-fearing and contributing members of society and be the best version of themselves.

The Supporting Cast

Most of the supporting cast I've already watched in previous shows. It's interesting to see how they were before in the recent dramas.

Park Hyung-sik

Park Hyung-sik was just so lovable here. His character, Jo Myung-soo, was playful and quick-witted, which was like his character in Strong Woman. He would usually act as mediator between Young-do and Tan whenever they would get in fights.

Kang Ha-nuel
(Grabbed from pinterest)

Kang Ha-nuel played Lee Hyo-shin, a senior who got caught in the unwanted dreams of his parents. He suffered from depression which made him almost end his life before if not for the intervention of Tan. His last scene with Tan was so touching when the latter bade him goodbye before he left for the military.

Kim Ji-won
(Pic from Aminoapps)

Kim Ji-woo was Rachel Yoo, the school's "Paris Hilton" and fiancee of Kim Tan. They were engaged by their respective parents which doubled as a business partnership. As the daughter of a fashion giant, she certainly lived and played the part to the hilt. She was sexy and haughty and was bitchy as she can get. This is her third drama that I've watched and I prefer her in Descendants of the Sun more (even if she was second lead).

Choi Won-young
(Pic from Dramabeans)

And Choi Won-young is consistent with his roles. This is also his third drama where he played a "good" supporting cast. I first saw him in Kill Me Heal Me as a secretary of the Chairman. In Hwarang, he played the surrogate father of Park Seo-joon's character. And now, he's a secretary once again.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT IT

Youthful Passionate Love

I'm a mother before a fan and I was uncomfortable with the concept of two teenagers fighting for their young passionate love. They were so in love with each other that they were really going against all odds despite of what other people say. Though I admire Tan's guts for sticking to his resolve and loving the girl up to the point of going against his father, they were just too young!  When I was 18, all I wanted was to graduate from College!

Oh and when Tan and Eun-sang separated, he was so devastated that he was on a path of self-destruction. A part of me really wanted to beat him up so that he'll wake up and get his life in order. He was only 18! He still has a long life ahead of him and he's sulking over a girl. Ugh!

RATING

I give this four tissue boxes. I binge-watched this so it was really riveting. It was just when I reflected about it afterwards that I realized that I didn't like some of the lessons that the drama was imparting.

Watched: September 17-19, 2018