The story is full of clichés, some of them infuriatingly abundant in other kdramas as well: rich boy/poor girl, bad boy/good girl, lots of wrist-grabbing and bullying, love against the odds, family issues... yada, yada. It falls apart at times; I couldn't quite figure out why things kept happening in the most painful way for our protagonists - other than, of course, the fact that the show must go on for 20 episodes - since there seemed to be just drama for the sake of drama. I still ate it up like a fool, though: glued to my screen, waiting to see what other plight would befall our poor duo. Sugar cravings, anyone?
The acting is adequate: as many other reviewers have observed, the supporting cast shines through the main characters' bickering. I especially enjoyed Kang Ha Neul and Kang Min Hyuk, who were incidentally two of the least problematic characters in the show. I can't say that Lee Min Ho or Park Shin Hye were bad - they just weren't anything special. (Besides, as far as I'm concerned, nobody can shine through their role if they're dressed like LMH was. Good grief, first the animal prints of City Hunter, and now those tacky dress shirts and fugly sweaters.)
The fact is, I don't believe anyone's role was well fleshed out. The "love triangle" is an archetypical one; the heroine, while showing some pleasant spazz in the beginning, is later being thrown around like a tennis ball; the male protagonist grabs the heroine from the wrist and is rather insistent she obey and follow him around (and she listens!); the third corner of our triangle is the "bad boy" of the group, being shown as a rather despicable human being but having a change of heart midway. In this role, Kim Woo Bin actually did a very good job. I loved to hate him, and although it is clearly shown he can't be forgiven for his shitty behavior, he repents and grows as a character. All the supporting actors had a story of their own, and I could sympathise with them, but it was never shown as much as I wanted; just inferred.
Since, as I said, I literally devoured the episodes one after another, I might have given it an even higher rating, were it not for a tiny little detail: the problematic aspects of the romance. A romance where the heroine almost never follows the male protagonist by her own free will, but is instead constantly forced by wrist-grabbing, as well as a romance where the heroine is constantly acted upon instead of having a say and her own agency, is one of my biggest pet peeves and it took away from my enjoyment. Some might find it romantic; I find it obnoxious and outdated. Another thing is that the love triangle never really worked for me, and the reason is quite simple: no matter how much of a development Kim Woo Bin's character had and how much you root for his happiness, one can never excuse his constant bullying and belittling his classmates and his love interest alike. I mean, even the main love interest was a bit obsessive, but KWB's character takes the cake!
The TL;DR version: Watch for the laughs, be aware of the problems. Drink a shot everytime there's wrist-grabbing, or bad fashion sense, and play a guessing game of when "Love Is The Moment" will start playing out of nowhere - you won't regret it.
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And Kim Woo bin is a great actor and extremely attractive and all and I quite look forward to seeing him in other dramas but theres something a bit too villainous about his features that makes me think it'll be very difficult to make him the sole lead in a successful romantic drama and the comments here about him solely carrying the heirs is just plain ridiculous and dense. Lee Min Ho is as ever, an incredible actor, - as at home in front of the cameras as he is in a suit and Park Shin Hye has become the great actress I'd always known she would grow up to be after watching her in stairway to heaven.
The storyline was simple and cliched, true, but I think that is the beauty of it. Not every drama out there is going to be the next great original work of art - if that is your belief you should give up now. There is nothing wrong with a drama just being entertaining. This show is no City Hunter but its a fascinating new take on something we've all watched a millon times - it is new, mordern, funny, quirky, youthful, sometimes sad, and oh so romantic. It is itself.
It's a great show - my only regret is that it wasn't produced four years ago, when Min Ho was the right age, and Min Ho if you ever see this I hope you've finally graduated from highschool once and for all.
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The Heirs ( i.e. How To Write One Of The Most Overrated Korean Dramas Of All Time)...
Nearly every drama watcher out there will at least once probably ask or seek out advice from more experienced drama watchers for their advice or recommendations on dramas. Whilst this may differ from watcher to watcher ( depending on some of their respected tastes), the common pattern for K-Drama watchers will most likely be one or more the following; Goblin, Strong Woman Do Bong, SKY Castle, Descendants Of The Sun ( and/or) The Heirs.The Heirs. Oh, where do you even begin with this one? The warning flags that SBS had to cast several top-notch romance drama actors Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye and Kim Woo Bin to attract viewer ratings, or the fact that Kim Eun Sook was involved in the scriptwriting for this show, it is hard to tell.
All joking aside The Heirs is probably what most can classify as a '' hot mess'' ; the show has a brilliant cast of very successful actors and ( whilst Eun Sook's writing can be hit or miss) it did have the potential to actually be a well-written satire upon the wealthy debutants of Korean society. Instead the show rode too heavily upon many cliches and thus lead to too many gender, racial and unrealistic stereotypes within the drama.
In the beginning of the show, the usage of LA as a setting is used as '' exotic'' eye candy for Korean viewers, however, there are two notable things here for international watchers; the first being out of all the beautiful and intriguing cities in the world, they had to chose LA in hope of appeasing the satisfaction and interest of ''young'' audiences. The second most notable trait ( even for non-Americans) is that there are some notable racial stereotypes towards foreigners being a little too ''assertive'' and ''laidback'' as well. Whilst it should be noted that a lot of this setting is used to glorify our hero Kim Tan rather than focus on details of racism, ( as an older comment has mentioned) there is also the notable problem of "sweetening" the reality of youth culture as well.
This is particularly seen of course with Kim Tan. Considering that he spent a lot of time in the U.S. and his backstory is far from being a fairytale, you would still perhaps consider that he would have turned to '' other'' methods ( i.e. drugs or alcohol ) or at least had some signs of realistic emotional trauma considering his upbringing. This isn't to glorify or disrespect elements of modesty in Korean culture, however, Kim Tan is most prominently a character in the story who is an '' outcast'' amongst his family. With years of emotional gaslighting and manipulation (particularly by his brother and father), it was hard to actually see Kim-Tan as being a genuinely developed or well-written male lead, especially towards actually developing a bond with someone as cluelessly naive as Eun Sang.
Our female lead Cha Eun Sang ( Park Shin Hye) was sadly just as badly-written as a character. Female leads don't need to be '' sassy'' or '' fighters'' to be well-written and rounded characters. Instead Eun- Sang was more of a ''ragdoll'' between the two bratty male leads Kim Tan and seeming '' dangerous bad boy'' Choi Yeong Do ( Kim Woo Bin- perhaps one of the few likeable actors and characters in the show, until they did viewers over with that usage of terrible story progression) who just happily let her seams be ripped apart by emotional manipulation rather than actually being something called an '' individual'' and putting her foot down when both characters crossed the line. In fact to make this matter worse, it wasn't just the male leads who stepped over her as Rachel ( Kim Ji Won) slowly allowed Eun- Sang to become her own sandbag of bullying and the dreaded and stereotyped female animosity as well. Perhaps my one note of praise does go to the portrayal of the unusual friendship between Eun- Sung's mute mother Park Hee-nam (Kim Mi Kyung) and Kim Tan's mother Han Ki-ae (Kim Sung-ryung) over the course of the show, which was endearingly more intriguing and heart-rendering than any of our main couples.
As countless reviews have stressed this fact before, however, The Heirs is incredibly overrated for what it is actually worth; a good cast goes to waste with poor story writing, characterisation, inconsistencies , cliches and tropes. The Heirs is no more than Boys Over Flowers repackaged with a couple of tweaks here and there by Eun Sook ( well, about from Lee Min Ho) and more headaches for sensible drama watchers as we try to guide ourselves of sixteen episodes through something which is just a hot mess even in the beginning episode. Certainly a waste of time.
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Story : 6.0
I hear that the plot of a poor girl meeting a rich guy falling in love is pretty common among the romance genre. Nothing too unique, but I'm not saying that this wasn't done well. The drama itself can be called identical, yet completely different to something like Boys Over Flowers. Yes, the plot is the same, but they're done in completely different ways and it's easy to see that they stand apart from each other. If you're biased thinking you're just going to be re-watching 'Boys Over Flowers' again, you're wrong. The cliché plot was executed in an entertaining manner, thus it isn't rated as low as others have rated it in the past. Sadly, the last two or three episodes were very hard to get through as I felt they dragged along. The ending, however, was what saved the show for me. The ending has received mixed reviews, but I for one was a fan of it.
Acting/Cast : 7.5
Oh, MAN. Both of the dramas I've seen now have had Lee Min Ho playing one of the lead characters. I wasn't disappointed. I felt all of the were played nicely. Looking back I don't know how I got used to Geum Jan Di and her overly exaggerated expressions.. (Bleh..) Nevertheless, Kim Woo Bin has gained another fangirl with his bad-boy-with-a-kind-heart persona in this drama! Yes, the lead Cha Eun Sang, had very little to no character development, but I suppose this ties into the story. Their poverty keeps them strong and stubborn in the lands of change! I also developed feelings for Rachel and pretty much all of the characters as the drama went on as their characters were very enticing and snagged you in. This drama had some really great scenes that can't be ignored!
Music : 5.0
Oh.. Oh my god..
The first couple times the various songs played throughout the drama were okay. I thought they went along well with the scene and it was all good and fun. By the end of the drama these songs were so overused I'm just sitting there with a blank expression on my face. "GOD, JUST LET THIS SCENE BE DONE!" Good song choice. I wish there were more soundtracks in dramas period so they aren't forced to be using the same couple songs over and over and over again.
Rewatch Value : 7.0
Despite all of the flaws and faults this drama may have, I'd certainly rewatch it. Yes, it's a little long, but I felt that it was good enough to deserve to be rewatched later on in the future. I hope you find the drama good enough to reach that standard as well.
Overall : 8.0 / 10.00
I hope you found my first review helpful. Please enjoy the drama!
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For me the story isn't something new, Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang's lovline is so predictable. But I adore the side characters soooo much.
I like Lee Bona- Chan Yoong couple, brokenhearted fiancee, Rachel, cold-heartedd and super hot brother, Won Hyung, and of course the hottest second lead male >> Choi Young Do. I'm #teamYoungdo by the way. XD
I even amused by all their parents. All of them are strong character and I couldn't wait for their scene in every episodes.
Although I didn't really enjoy watching the final episode, I think this drama has should be appreciated.
*spreading love to all #teamYoungdo* Hahaha
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Heirs isn't a bad drama, but it isn't a good drama tho. Personally I didn't like it so much and didn't give a high score to this drama because it lacked so many things and didn't reach the expections I had for it...
I hated what Kim Eun Sook did with this story, she created amazing characters but she put them all together in a typical, cliche, irrational and boring story. To me the whole suffering and crying and dragging just didn't make sense, I was waiting for something daebak! but she gave me something just "bleh!" (I've seen this before and I've seen it done better). The 1st episode of this drama felt like a punch in da face to me, I wanted -literally- to go to a corner and cry the entire week. I love Lee Min Ho and I was waiting for his new drama so bad and I was so excited because all the hype of Heirs and then they make this 1st episode and I was like O.o "What the heck am I supposed to do with my life now?" Poor storyline, this drama was just full of "moments" that held the story, but the story itself was really bad.
Then... What makes "Heirs" a watchable drama? Lee Min Ho, Kim Woo Bin, Krystal Jung, Kang Min Hyuk and the rest of the cast. What an amazing job they did! it worths every second of this dragging drama, their acting is pure gold :')
So.. should you guys watch or not watch Heirs? Well, if you're able to stand 20 episodes of irrational situations, a poor storyline, "? Looove is the mooooment? " and want to see LMH and KWB hotness no matter what, then watch it, you'll enjoy it for sure ^_^
If you want a strong story that makes you be at the edge of your chair then DON'T
Did I enjoy "The Heirs"? I did enjoy it, because at the end is impossible not to love the actors job. So...
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Now for the story. It moves nicely there are a few dead spot, but overall good. One of the best school dramas I've watched in a while. It might be the best school drama of the year for me.
Casting was good. I liked all of the actors and actresses, and I thought their acting was good. Lee Minho has really improved since Boys Over Flowers, which I'm very happy to say. Park Shin Hye has gotten better, but I really wish she wouldn't look like the guy has cooties every time she gets kissed on screen. I'm sorry I don't who you are, but if your crush/ bf kiss you, you don't make a ew face. Kim Woobin just yes. Krystal was much better than I thought. Her character was one of my favorites. I loved the cutaways that were between her and her onscreen boyfriend, played by Min Hyuk.
Music was ok. I won't be running out to buy this soundtrack. I got a little sick of Lee Hongki from F.T. Island singing LOVE IS THE MOMENT!!!!!!! in more than half of the scenes. I mean it was played in the background when it didn't make sense to have that song playing. At times it was worse than ALMOST PARADISE!!!!! blaring in Boys Over Flowers. I'm someone that really listens to the music playing in the background of any movie or tv show. It bothers me quite a bit when the music doesn't go with the scene.
I will definitely be watching this again at some point. The plot line wasn't anything that ground breaking, but it's for those days when you want to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Cons:
However, I wish this would have been at a college rather than a high school. I think the majority of the actors and actresses that were supposed to be high schoolers looked too old. In fact I remember about a year ago when it was announced that this drama was going to be made it was going to be in a college not a high school.
In all honesty, this is a must watch. If you're having a marathon with this drama, then you will probably end up singing along with Hongki around episode 7 LOVE IS THE MOMENT!!!! (especially if you sang along with Almost Paradise), and you'll forget that they look like they aren't in high school.
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Welcome to the world of chaebols (super ultra mega rich people), which most of us here aren't part of. The main story plot is a typical love story between the heir of the biggest business empire in South Korea (hence, the title) and his housemaid's daughter. Sounds promising? Sorry to tell you that the screenwriter failed to do so.
Besides the back and forth relationship and break ups, I don't see any story development at all. I still don't understand what's the point of running away from each other (or your parents) so many times, but in the end you'll still do what's expected from you anyway. I thought they'd want to relay message about 'you need to sacrifice something, in order to gain something' kind of feeling, but no. It feels like 'you can do anything you want and still get everything anyway because I pity you' kind of vibe, wth?
The story itself reach to a conclusion only because it has to. At the last four episodes, suddenly all the problems are solved (almost magically) and leave us wondering why and how. All the bad guys (if there any) turn into better people, but gives us no clue about their character development or inner conflicts. That's too bad, since this drama has lots of characters, hence so many possible side story plots, but none are satisfying. Well, maybe except Kim Tan's mother and Eun Sang's mother (LOL my favorite). I wish they would give Kim Won or Choi Young Do bigger portions of the cake.
Well, I survive only because of Lee Min Ho. This drama is a waste of the actors / actresses' talents. Besides famous names such as Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, Kim Woo Bin and Choi Dong Hyuk, I wanna give special appreciation to Krystal. Her acting is so fresh. I wanna see her in more future projects. Oh, and also my favorite is Kim Mi Kyung (as Eun Sang's mute mother), her supporting role is always fun to watch.
Overall, if you wanna watch this drama, don't expect too much. I like the witty dialogue, even if I cannot relate to most of it. This drama is like a friendly reminder of how reckless your life / love when you were / are 18. But it fails to give us hints of how our life can be different / better. Still.. I'm glad that everyone has their (happy) endings.
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4 things that were great in this drama:
- I downloaded 3 songs from this drama which is quite surprising. LMH- Painful Love, Changmin- Moment & Park Jang Hyeo ft Park Hyeon Gyu- Love is. The rest of the songs were good too.
- Lee Bo Na and Yoon Chan Young were so cute
- Choi Young Do, at first I dislike him but I grew to like him and his character as the story moves on. His character is the one that makes sense the most and he is good in portraying it.
- Lee Min Ho, I am still a fan. He did well but not his best but still he so damn good looking. What more can I ask for.
Things I dislike:
- The story sucks. C'mon!
- No originality. There were a lot of "rich boy who fell in love with a poor girl" drama out there but AT LEAST, make something fresh, new, exciting out of it not same old story.
- Its all over the place. Running, crying, chasing here and there up to Episode 18, that's pretty much what I can remember. PSH's character is too weak. What's with her crying all the time?! What's with scenes shoot in America? honestly, IRRELEVANT. When you go that far to shoot a story, at least, it has to be special but what happened can happen even shooting it in Korea.
- No chemistry. PSH and LMH, it doesn't work for me. Love-hate relationship of Kim Woo Bin and LMH is much, much better - it has chemistry. Lee Bo NA and Yoon Chang Young- that is chemistry.
- Totally disappointed. The drama is overrated maybe because its an all start cast-understandable because I was able to finish watching it because I am such a big fan of LMH. That's it.
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But there were a lot of not-so-awesome parts in it too. The storyline is the worst part. Have you seen Boys Over Flowers? Good, then you've seen about 2/5 of this show, except this time the cast is way too old to pull of the high school scene. Seriously, I just made it college in my mind to get through it since there was NO WAY those people were 17-18. The bullying, the fights, the petty bickering, even much of Lee Min Ho's relationship with the girl - it all comes right out of BoF. Although, Eun Sang has nothing on Jan Di; I didn't feel like she felt anything for Kim Tan until at least 3/4 of the way through the show.
Worst, the ending completely and totally sucks. Seriously, Korean dramas are infamous for leaving webs unwoven, but what was up with this drama? There were so many unfinished plot threads, it drove me nuts! What happened to the mistress and dad? Is Young-Do's father going to be okay-and does this mean their relationship is going to survive or at least improve? Is Hyo-Shin really, really okay? What about Myung-Soo? They introduced the idea that he's suffering there at the end but never explained why or how it might be resolved. What about Young-Do? Is he not alone anymore, because Gosh-Darn-it, I want him to have someone to hug! What about Kim Tan's mom? How is she going to survive? And will the dad finally realize what he's about to lose? What about the company? Was Won's loss all for nothing, or will his enemies now back off? Perhaps the worst of it all, I still wish Kim Tan had a better girlfriend than Cha Eun Song.
Kim Tan is one of the very few characters who truly deserves the best that life can provide him. He's good-hearted, determined, caring, and generous to those around him. Other than his lack of drive or ambition/inability to do a decent day's work, he's pretty awesome. And I don't feel like it's resolved at the end. After all the times she's run off and ditched him without warning, I don't feel like you can trust Eun Song (or anyone else in his life) not to do it again. I suppose I feel like Won is going to be there for him now, but that brings me back to Won and the way the show completely ruined him. I hated where they left him and I'll never forgive this show for that. Or the way it left the other characters. Yeah, the ending just sucked.
Anyway, the message expressed was actually pretty good and kind of interesting. It seemed to be based on the theme "be careful what you wish for." If you put Fame and Fortune at the top of your list, you may not be happy when you get it. Conversely, sometimes love and passion just isn't enough. You have got to think about the people around you, not just your love for one individual. It's a story about bad parents and children left to raise themselves. A story about becoming a man, but not rushing to grow up too soon. About loving family, because they may be all you have left.
The actual acting and technical elements were AWFUL in the beginning, while it was set in America. It makes the Americans look like either drug-addicted, violent, wife-abusing criminals or fat, stupid, drug-addicted criminals. To be honest, I wasn't real impressed with the first few episodes. Between the bad acting, the plot holes, the completely unbelievable coincidences, and other random annoyances, I didn't really get into it until after he was back in Korea (which took a few episodes). Then it smoothed out and got a more well made (until the awful ending).
Would I recommend it? Maybe. . . If you liked Boys over Flowers, it reminds me a lot of that show. But I would almost recommend you stop it about two episodes early. It picked up a ton of unnecessary angst just to drag the show out and it completely ruined the story. If you do pick this up, don't stop until after he's back in Korea. You don't get a feel for the drama until after that; everything before is just cheap intro.
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I really liked the cast as such and the story, as well as how it developed. The chemistry between the actors was really great and I did believe them everything. Also the funny moments made me laugh really hard.
Sometimes it became a little tiring because of the back and forth between Kim Tan and Ch Eun Sang. I also would have loved to see some more kisses ;) But apart from that it was great!
I hope that there will be a second season sometime as there are so many story strings that can still be developed! Until then I will just rewatch it over and over again!
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