[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Heirs" Episode 7

The adults in this drama are pretty easy to spook. On multiple occasions in the Kim household we see characters panic just because some unfamiliar person shows up. Never mind that in both cases, the unfamiliar person has every possible reason to be in the house. It says quite a bit about their quilty consciences that even in their own extremely safe homes they panic at the thought of the unexpected happening.

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This takes on depressing dimensions when taken in the context of Kim Won. Kim Tan wants to reconcile with his big brother so badly it hurts- I'm impressed at the little bro's tenacity. He's been given every possible reason to resent his older brother. And it's equally clear that Kim Won feels very uncomfortable around Kim Tan and just wants to separate. But this little bro just won't give up, and I'm surprised at the lengths this drama will go to to make Kim Won sympathetic when it would be all too easy to frame him as an antagonist.

That particular narrative role instead falls to Yeong-Do, who continues his reign of terror of bullying unrelated classmates solely in an effort to get at Eun-Sang. What's becoming increasongly unclear is why Yeong-Do keeps pursuing her like this. I doubt at this point that his intentions are romantic ones. It seems like he's smart enough to know that she didn't like him to start out with, and that his actions only serve to make him look more repulsive. But it's hard to tell for sure.

The romantic plot between Kim Tan and Eun-Sang cools a little, as he makes a fairly deliberate point in helping her in ways that don't obviously benefit him. Well, obviously there's the whole thing about the hair. Interestingly, while in the original context it just seems like an excuse to touch her, as we see later on there's a good reason why Eun-Sang needs to keep her hair down that has nothing to do with making it sparkle in the sunlight. It's an effective visual metaphor for class consciousness- one that isn't particularly obvious to Eun-Sang or the audience until it's explicitly pointed out.

The only part of "The Heirs" that could reasonably be described as a problem at this point is a lack of plot. Characters certainly have goals, but the stakes are relatively low- the main tension right now is over Eun-Sang's ability to survive at the high school, which is a pretty mild storyline considering the financial power every other cast member has. But personally, I prefer these sorts of subtle commentaries and character developments over overt dramatics. These characters are more interesting as characters than they would be as mere pawns.

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.