[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Heirs" Episode 5

This drama has a really weird take on romance that I'm still not totally sure how to compartmentalize. Multiple new romantic subplots manage to pop out of nowhere, and we even get a moment to remember that, hey, technically, the parents of the two crabbiest heirs are in a romantic subplot, too. It's just not something that comes up that much because for the most part this drama is, appropriately enough, about "The Heirs".

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Except when it's about Eun-Sang, of course, and I must admit I'm impressed at how well she works as a perspective character while being the only teenager in this entire cast who doesn't stand to inherit a massive family fortune. Whenever other characters start casually discussing in the most casual terms ridiculous sums of money like they were nothing, well, what other reaction is there? Fate has conspired once again to put Eun-Sang on a collision course with the overly ambitious society she really dislikes, and I particularly like the scene where Eun-Sang just spells out why the whole thing makes her uncomfortable even though she knows it shouldn't.

The main character to demand attention this episode, though, is Kim Nam-Yoon (played by Jung Dong-hwan), who has decided for reasons as yet unclear that he will be the one who forces the plot to move forward regardless of Eun-Sang's wishes. Likewise, we finally get a good look at who Han Gi-Ae (played by Kim Sung-ryung) is in the context of dealing with her son.

Neither of these portraits are terribly reassuring ones. Kim Tan is a pretty messed-up kid, and his filial relations are a pretty big part of that. It's practically a running joke at this point that, even though Kim Tan now lives in the same house as Eun-Sang, she's completely clueless, and only knows him abstractly as "the second son". The way Kim Tan continues to play through this farce, while obviously funny, also reveals a discomforting part of his character. His very indirect, deliberately witty way of interacting with Eun-Sang is terribly off-putting.

Of course, all of "The Heirs" can be described in similar fashion. It's textually revealed this episode that Eun-Sang is, in fact, a very intelligent girl in addition to being such a hard worker. But for the most part she has little patience for the brand of verbal repartee all these rich kids engage in on a daily basis- more than anything else she just wants to relax and calm down. And in that respect, her struggles are only just beginning.

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.