Herdeiros (2013)

Spoiler-free, just pure appreciation for the drama!!

I'm quite new in MDL but has watched The Heirs about 4 times now probably and since a lot aren't satisfied I decided to give an honest review from someone who genuinely likes this drama. This is gonna be long!!

So first off, the story. I do agree that a lot of cliches are packed in here but the presentation was good IMO. This was aired in 2013 when themes like these are the trend, so there's that. I gave it a 9.5 because if you put critical thinking aside and watch it as it is, you might absorb the life lessons they want to convey better. The story is the main reason I find myself coming back, quite ironic since apparently a lot of people here don't like it TT. The drama tackles about serious societal issues ie family problems, bullying, social classes/norms, mental health issues (which is quite brave since this was 2013 and it's 2021 now, I think mental health issues are still not taken seriously in SK)...all wrapped up in colorful candy wrappers presented as your typical teenage romance drama. There are some inconsistencies and loose ends but they're not too bothersome for me. Some actions of characters might be unreasonable and overly dramatic too, ie Eun Sang, but for me, as they're playing 18 year olds...it's quite realistic. A lot of our actions as teens are often brushed off by adults as a "phase" simply because they can't and won't understand. The Heirs honestly helped me a lot with my own perception of the world when I was in my teens so that's probably why this drama left a mark in my heart. (I still cry about Kim Tan and Kim Won's arc, also Kim Tan and Young Do's, and Hyo Shin.)

Second, the cast. Admit or not, this type of role is Lee Min Ho's forte. Most of them are quite obviously past 18 but weirdly enough, I like it that way. They have experience in acting (probably not much for some) and that's why most characters affect me especially Kim Tan, Young Do, Rachel and Hyo Shin. I think Young Do's character wouldn't be much appreciated if it weren't for Woo Bin's superb acting. Of course, the actors who portrayed their parents and bro did amazing! As for the leads' chemistry, it's not as profound to me but it's there.

Third, the OST. I guess because I'm familiar with Kpop, some grammatically incorrect English phrases being thrown about in Korean songs don't throw me off anymore. I'm just here to appreciate the vocals, and they delivered! I especially love Lee Hong Ki's "I'm Saying", his vocals are insane!

Lastly, its rewatch value for me is obviously 10/10!! The issues are ever timely, I just have to set myself in the mood to watch 18 year-olds' romance played by actors in their early to mid-twenties lol. I recently watched this again with my 62 year-old aunt who watched this for the first time, and my heart warmed everytime she said "That's true, it happens..." or "It's funny but it's actually sad when you think about it..." so it didn't surprise me when she also said "Let's watch this again, ok?"

Leia Mais

Easily forgettable, watchable only for the cast with a plot that doesn’t deliver.

The moment I knew the story will go downhill? The first scenes set in America. Honestly, I couldn’t see what the point of them was! Every time I saw Tan interact with Americans, I cringed and wanted to stop watching. I couldn’t wait for Tan to move back because because they were super exaggerated and so cringey.

Basically it’s a high school drama focused on rich kids, whose only aim in life is to form connections and brag about how rich they are and eventually take over after their parents. And of course, no chaebol drama can exist without a poor girl to rescue. Heirs has every trope associated with rich guy/poor girl drama. With this, you’ve to deal with angsty romance of two teenagers who have to fight against the world (basically Tan’s rich family) to get their love approved. There is no plot, everything that happens is too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Albeit, the last episodes do have some content but nothing so good that it can redeem the show. This show highlights bullying and the constant references to their past were somewhat hilarious. How bad were they at 15 that their behaviour when they are 18 is them being milder version of their past???

And majority of the romantic scenes were not romantic at all. It was Kim Tan imposing on Cha Eun Sang until she says yes. It was frustrating to hear “Love is the moment” (I ended up hating this song) play every time he forced her into reciprocating his feelings without really receiving her consent in any form.

Anyway, the saving grace of this drama was Kim Woo Bin as Choi Yeong Do. Yes, we love a bad boy who’s a softie underneath and Woo Bin takes it up the notch. Not because he learns how to and gets better, but because even when he’s being a little shit and knows he’s being one, he still owns it and does it. It’s almost like a child seeking for attention, trying to see how others around him will react. Despite the multiple layers in his character and the amazing acting by KWB, his character does a lot of problematic things which are beyond borderline assault. With Eun Sung, it’s passed off as cute romantic interest in the girl. And yet I found his behaviour with CES, as the story progressed, to be more respectful that Tan’s.

There were few other characters I loved watching: Lee Bo Na (Krystal) — her character grew on me. From jealous girlfriend to being actually warm hearted and sweet underneath who stands up for her friends was a pleasant surprise.

Jo Myung-Soo (Park Hyung Sik) was another character who I wished had more screen time. He seemed to be one of the few people who was not problematic.

Lee Hyo-Shin (Kang Ha Neul) — a character who showed stress from expectations of ones parents, struggling to achieve his own dreams.

The relationship between CES and KT’s mothers was actually fun to watch and wholesome at various points.

I feel like so much of the drama and unnecessary situations could have been avoided had the characters sought therapy. Moral: guys, if you are rich enough like the people in this drama, you can afford therapy to fix your issues.

There’s no reason for me to suggest watching this show in 2021 unless you want to watch it for cast. (But their characters will leave you in a state of frustration!) If not for your love for the cast, you can totally skip it. Not worth 20+ hours of your time.

Leia Mais

Cha Eun Sang is the poor daughter of a mute housemaid. One day, her sister writes from the US that she is getting married. Eun Sang takes the chance and goes there to bring her the money for her wedding. But when she meets her, the older sister takes the money and runs off, leaving back a crying Eun Sang without money and place to stay. That's when she meets Kim Tan, a rich heir, who studies in the US. Somehow he ends up falling in love with her and decides to go back to Korea, to stay with his family and maybe find her. Lucky is on his side, as her mother is actually the maid of his house and they moved in to them, because they have money problems. But a love story between the rich and the poor is never so easy, as there are many people interfering with their personal lifes...

The thing I first thought of when I read about the story was Boys Before Flowers. It basically is a similar story. But I won't judge it for that, since that would have been good. Instead, Eun Sang is a rather weak character, crying all the time and the bully is not the main guy but the second male lead. In general, this is a very basic rich-poor-lovestory. The family make problems, there are many business-related problems, lots of crying and breaking up because of love and so on. I was hoping for more, since this was written by Kim Eun Suk, who also made Secret Garden and A Gentleman's Dignity. But this time, the story is clearly made for a younger audience. Not only because it's a high-school drama, but also because the story just isn't as deep as her other works. But still, I didn't dislike the drama for that. My problem is different.

At some point, I ended up loving almost all the characters, except for Eun Sang. I asked Kim Tan over and over why he would still like her, after she did the same thing again and again and didn't even show her feelings properly. It was really hard to see her cry because of the same thing, over and over. I got annoyed by her behavior and wished that they had taken a strong character like the female lead in Boys Before Flowers was.

Well, but aside from that it had many good points and made me laugh. There were two or three episodes around episode 15 that dragged a bit, but I still enjoyed them, because of the great cast.

Maybe it is not a full 4* drama, because Eun Sang isn't all that great, but for the sake of the others I can rate it like that without feeling bad. If you want a basic romance story set in high-school, you will like this!

Leia Mais

I really wanted to like this because of Lee Minho, I enjoyed boys over flowers and was expecting something similar in terms of entertainment from this drama but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

I'll list the few things that were good:

- I liked some characters: Young Do, Lee Bo na, the two mothers and sometimes Rachel;

- The bromance between Kim Tan and Young Do;

- The relationship between the two mothers.

And that's about it.

Now I'll list the things I disliked which were too many.

- Really plain and cliché main leads and boring romance. They had minimal chemistry, especially in the earlier episodes. Most of their scenes had an awkward aura around it and their romantic interactions looked sorta forced. The fl had more chemistry with the second lead and the ml had better chemistry with some of the other side characters than the fl;

- The fl is the most monotonous main character I've ever seen in a drama so far, she never stood for herself ever the whole drama, all she did was shed tears. I don't know what went wrong, if it was because of the script or the actress, because I've seen another drama of hers and she was sorta boring there as well (no offense);

- The ml is extremely possessive and controlling towards the fl and some scenes were uncomfortable;

- The plot was too uneventful which made the pace really slow;

- There were too many characters, making it confusing to keep up with the plot if you aren't paying close attention;

- I actually felt sorry for Rachel, because even though it was a fake engagement, she had feelings for Kim Tan and he could have, at the very least, treated her better and not humiliated her at any opportunity because of Eun Sang (before they had broken the engagement);

- The actors were all way older than their characters and some scenes made me cringe because of that;

- The ml's outfit choices after he came back from America we're terrible.

And the list could go on but that's all I can remember now.

What I take from this drama is no matter how romantic they portrayed it, I don't ever want to be stalked, obsessed over, be the target of possessive and control freak behaviour, by any man and be a submissive woman who can't stand for myself.

This may sound harsh but I think this was one of worst dramas I've ever watched if not the worst. The ending was not impactful. Eun Sang's situation never changed, Kim Tan and Young Do didn't become friends again, the brother didn't have a happy ending with the person he loved, and we were just expected to forgive the father because of his illness in the end.

I don't recommend this at all if your looking for a quality drama but you could watch it just to laugh at how messy it is, especially if your watching on Viki with the comments on.

Leia Mais

Amazing characters to fall in love with

Watching this drama was so a delightful, Park Shin-hye and Lee Minho are tremendous actors and the chemistry they had was just so perfect. Yes, I agree it was a little cliché but I think that was what I really needed to watch at this moment (cliché doesn't necessarily mean bad). I fell in love with Lee Minho again, Krystal and Minhyuk's couple too and even Woo Bin somehow managed to win my heart at the end. I really felt every scene, the acting was amazing and the love moments were just precious, the conection between the parents, the couples, the friends, were so well made, the jokes also were funny, Lee Minho and Park Shin-hye were just SO cute together, and all this really made me enjoy this drama a lot. 10/10 for me.

Leia Mais

Get Ready For A Lot of Good Looking People and Great Songs!

I went into this drama not expecting deep logic and scrutiny, but more for the entertainment value, enjoying good looking people, romantic love and every character with a story to tell. And yes, this drama delivered all that I was expecting and the songs rocked!

Yes, it was nice to watch a bunch of rich kids and a poor maid's daughter all acting out their problems in love and life. The fantasy of having Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho) falling madly in love with Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) and pursuing her with real deep passionate love can only happen in my dreams! And to have that shared in a drama was appreciated.

Charming bad guy Cha Young Do (Kim Woo Bin), cool Lee Hyo Shin (Kang Ha Neul), irritable Kim Tan fiance Rachel Yoo (Kim Ji Won), delightful couple Yoon Cha Yoong (Kang Min Hyuk) and Lee Bo Na (Krystal Jung) played out their characters so well that it was fun to watch their behavior in every episode as they lived their daily lives. Kim Tan's brother Kim Won played by Choi Jin Hyuk was so natural that they became really good friends even after the show ended.

The only issue I had was how meek Eun Sang's (Park Shi Hye) character was. I understand it can be overwhelming to be surrounded by all the rich kids, but when you have the love of Kim Tan who gave her 110% of his heart and protection, perhaps a little courage would have perfected the entire drama. However, it came later than it should and kind of felt un-comfortable to watch.

But the songs and music were memorable enough for me to remember Kim Tan and the Heirs for a long time!

Leia Mais

One of all-time fav kdrama of mine

I dont care what others say, I love everything about this drama. I watched it during the live broadcast back in 2013, and I still watch it again and again until now (gadly it's available on netflix). I give 10 points to the OSTs, they are absolutely nice songs. Every sweet and sad scene, I just love it. I was 13 when I watched it, now I'm 20 and this drama still manage to amuse me.

Ofc Lee MinHo and Park ShinHye are the strongest factor why i love watching it. Other than that, the other characters also makes the drama perfect, for example, yoo chanyoung and lee bona they are so cute.

Leia Mais

I have to say this

As a person who starts shows for it's cast. I started this show because Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, Kim Woo Bin and Kim Jiwon were acting, i had been watching Dr. Slump at the time and thought it would be interesting to see her in a younger role.

i have to say, it wasn't fully convinced, i mean in the very beginning it was okay, i liked how they worked with Lee Min ho and Park Shin Hye in america and then Jiwon's entry and the starting was great the high school drama was also tolerable and funny to an extent.

until it all went downhill. i mean i can't say it like that, but yeah, there were some really interesting characters, like my personal favourite, Lee Hyo Shin seonbae, who could have been really well developed but had little to no screen time at all, he was a really underdeveloped character but ultimately an all time favourite, another character i wish they had developed more was Kim Won, Kim Tan's brother, i mean while they were using the "i hate my younger sibling because he might steal my throne in the company" trope they could have atleast tried to give us some flashbacks of Tan and Won's relationship before Tan went to America.

like i said it had it's fun and heart-fluttering moments, but in the end i felt like they used that up to cover up the bad stroywriting, i mean the plot really had no closure to the point that during the 17, 18, 19 episodes i was wondering how they were going to wrap the story up. i mean if they are going to make 20 episodes of something there should be more tiem to make a well defined plot, but no, they use that time to keep going back and forth between Tan and Eun Sang.

that's another thing that was kinda annoying, the show could have been better if they hadn't spent sooooo much time doing nothing with Tan and Eun Sang, like they didn't make any move at all until like the 15-16 episode and the wait wasn't really worth it because in the end they both just end up going to school like any other day, ther problems were not resolved and they were just. there.

the high-school theme was nice enough, there were the rich kids and they were looking down on the non-rich kids, there were the cliches the friend circles, your classic high school. i personally liked their friend group actually. Eun Sang's best friend Chan Young was really just that supportive best friends that everyone needs and there was really just that playful banter you come to really enjoy. Chan Young's girlfriend Lee Bo Na, starts off as Eun Sang;s enemy because she thinks she may be her rival, but they end up being really good friends and you just end up absolutely loving how adorable she is (one of the things that i really loved was the way Kim Tan kept "act" flirting with Bo Na because that wa really funny to watch, [we all fall for Min Ho's boyish smile admit it] it was like a breath of fresh air when i felt like the episodes were dragging for to long)

the only character they took the time to develop was Choi Young Do. and again, AGAIN WHY DO THEY KEEP MISUSING THIS TROPE? this og "bad guy" who falls for the girl, he's reckless and agitated an dhas scars that just won't heal, give him a motorbike and a biker jacket (and some daddy issues how could I forget?) and BAM! you have your classic second male lead. and obviously he tries to become the better person thanks to our fl and the rest is history.

i'm not saying it's not worth the watch because yeah, the actors somehow managed to salvage this run-of-the-mill plot, they managed to give life to these 2D characters and i have to say i was really impressed by their acting in some scenes, i just wish it had been better written, if you want to watch it i say go for it, it's good enough for a one time watch

p.s :
gosh that kiss at Lee Bo Na's party was literally the only thing i stayed for should have given us more of that

p.p.s :

i'm giving the OST 8.5 because god i couldn't get "LOOOOVVEEE ISSS THEEE MOOOMMMENNNNTTT" out of my head for almost a week

Leia Mais

I was looking forward to writing this review for well... actually, I don't quite understand myself. I can definitely state that this drama was one of those that weren't worth my time, but I felt obligated to finish it no matter what. Probably because I was told that it's one of the best Lee Min Ho and Kim Woo Bin performances of all time.

The Heirs is a perfect equivalent to the famous American TV series "Gossip Girl" if I were to describe it. It shows the ugly side of the wealthy and how, pretty much, every rich person is arrogant and evil. There were so many cheesy, cliche, cringe-worthy scenes that were absolutely absurd. Especially the very talked about American scenes and how americans are portrayed by the ridiculous stereotypes. I have to admit that the American accent in the USA + the surfer boy doing drugs scene left me speechless. I'd re-watch this drama again for a good laugh, seriously. Regarding the business and family matters, I couldn't comprehend who's screwing up who and there are still many unanswered questions in my head that left me confused. I just can't see this drama as realistic, it reminds me more of a shojo anime than a serious drama.

If you're a big fan of shows that focus on school and family relationships, you might like this one. But I feel as though this story just doesn't belong in the Korean drama world. Honestly, Americans do this genre of drama better.

Leia Mais