[HanCinema's Drama Review] "The Heirs" Episode 12

The mixed metaphors this drama is putting out are starting to give me a headache. We're still doing the whole will-they-or-won't they thing with Kim Tan and Eun-Sang, and on a literal level, the drama seems to be making the statement that they should totally be together. We didn't even get a single episode of full separation out of the cliffhanger from last time and already we're back to teary romantic stuff.

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But let's pivot around and look at the main subplot this episode, where big bro Kim Won ends up getting in trouble with their dad Nam-Yoon about a situation that is, in many ways, almost identical to the relationship between Kim Tan and Eun-Sang. Right down to the warnings received earlier in the drama which were subsequently ignored- and now the whole thing has turned into a giant, horrific emotionally painful mess.

What's any of this supposed to mean? At first glance it seems like the smart thing for Kim Tan to do would be to stop aggressively pursuing Eun-Sang, given what happened to his brother. But he doesn't. The man seems to interpret every possible sign of dissuasion as being in reality a means of encouragement. This is pretty messed up considering what happens to Kim Won- he ends up hurting the person he cares about a lot, and his own sense of alienation, helplessness and anger is palpable and not at all worthy of emulating.

Alternate theory- all of this is just setting up Nam-Woon as a villain for Kim Tan to take down. This plot hook doesn't really fill me with that much more confidence, because Kim Tan hasn't exactly been effective at fighting Yeong-Do, and Yeong-Do isn't even a real villain. He has no interest in seriously breaking down Kim Tan's sense of self- Yeong-Do just gets off on being a spiteful jerk, that's all. Yeong-Do likes to pretend to be dangerous- Nam-Yoon actually is dangerous.

For all this general excitement, I actually found this episode of "The Heirs" to be one of the more dull ones overall. The drama's general lack of plot has always been a bit of a difficult point, but the story this time is difficult enough to reconcile with any kind of clear theme that it's difficult to get much emotional resonance out of it. I'm not at all sure who we're supposed to be rooting for at this point, or why. For a fight to break out on these terms is, well, it's definitely got my attention, but I'm not sure whether to anticipate or dread wherever the drama's planning on going next.

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.