[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Heirs" Episode 11

Yeong-do has finally shown what he can offer Eun-sang in terms of a romantic partner. Hatred and spite toward fellow human beings. That probably doesn't sound like a good thing- but the argument he makes is surprisingly persuasive. Eun-sang has, for pretty much the entire series, been living in fear of constant disaster and has had to act in a placating way to try and avert it. But these attempts always fail and this episode is no exception to that rule.

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As if inspired to prove Yeong-do wrong, for example, Eun-sang tries to head off Kim Tan's latest romantic advances by being more affectionate and kind in her rebuff this time around. This fails quite spectacularly, as Kim Tan ends up so emboldened by this move that he accidentally exposes the romantic entanglement to the one person who should absolutely not be made aware of it under any circumstances.

Technically speaking the storyline of "The Heirs" is kind of repetitive- we see this conflict play out between Kim Tan and Eun-sang repeatedly, and there's never anything that could be called a meaniningful rupture in the relationship. Cliffhanger notwithstanding, I'm somewhat doubtful that the drama is actually going to go anywhere with it this time.

But I still like "The Heirs" because it's able to go about it with such style. Even when the main Kim Tan and Eun-sang plot gets tiring the adventures of the various characters always makes for a good breather, as more fights break out where aggressive business-like behavior is a clear asset. If the drama is trying to signal that Yeong-do's way of thinking is preferable to Kim Tan's brand of heroic romanticism, the argument it presents is a fairly compelling one- even as the occasional moment where we see that even heirs need friends every once in awhile.

At the same time, I do need to acknowledge at this point that "The Heirs" might not be as clever as it seems. Orion's column last week defines a specific kind of problematic narrative in Korean dramas wherein a poor girl who was supposedly competent before now becomes weak in the face of her romantic partner- and I have to admit that Eun-sang's story hews pretty close to that kind of story framework. The main point in the drama's favor is that Eun-sang is clearly resisting these efforts to be defined as the girl in a Cinderella story, and while her success has been limited, that's been more a result of her attitude rather than a contrivance of the script.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Heirs" is directed by Kang Sin-hyo and written by Kim Eun-sook and features Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, Kim Woo-bin and Jung Soo-jung.