Last night brought us the end of one of the most popular K-Dramas of the year, so it’s only fitting that this weekend’s drama to marathon is none other than SBS’s star-studded melodrama, Heirs.
Starring Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, Kim Woo Bin, Kang Min Hyuk, Choi Jin Hyuk, Kang Ha Neul, Krystal Jung, Park Hyung Sik, Choi Won Young, Yoon Son Ha, Im Joo Eun, Kim Ji Won, Kim Sung Ryung, Kim Mi Kyung and Yoon Jin Suh, Heirs follows a group of wealthy, privileged high school kids as they struggle to find themselves and fall in love amidst the pressures and expectations placed on them as inheritors of some of Korea’s biggest companies.
Like any drama based on the lives of the insanely wealthy, there has to be at least one poor girl thrown into the mix so that the wealthiest of them all can fall for her and that privileged position goes to none other than Park Shin Hye’s character, Cha Eun Sang. For better or worse, Cha Eun Sang finds herself falling as hard for Kim Tan (played by Lee Min Ho) as he falls for her, which means the two of them are doomed to suffer from the very beginning, much like Romeo and Juliet, though thankfully, Eun Sang and Kim Tan aren’t doomed to the same tragic fate. That’s not to say everything between Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang is all sunshine and roses, in fact, almost every episode of Heirs seems to be full of one tragic story after another and tears…lots and lots of tears but don’t let that fact deter you from watching.
What starts out as almost painful to watch (the American actors cast in the first few episodes are SO BAD it makes you wonder if it’s even worth it to keep watching but trust me on this one, everything gets better once everyone is settled back in Korea) develops into a story that reaches far beyond the sufferings of a spoiled rich boy and his poor girlfriend. The best part of Heirs is that there are so many other characters you get to know and love and believe me when I say, by the end of Heirs you’ll love and/or hate every single one of them to one degree or another.
While the basic plot of Heirs isn’t anything new, there’s just something about it that pulls you in and keeps you captive until the very end. Personally, I think it’s the effort of the actors themselves that makes Heirs magic. Seriously, I’ve watched a lot of K-Dramas but very few have been cast so well. It doesn’t take an expert to see that each and every actor in this drama gave 110% to their role. I’ve never fallen so hard for a second male lead than I did for Kim Woo Bin’s wounded bad-guy-hiding-a-heart-of-gold, Choi Young Do and never loved a second couple as much as I did Bo Na and Chan Young…they were just so cute! Granted, it’s a little difficult to believe any of these actors are actually high school students (Lee Min Ho’s twenty-six for Pete’s sake!) but it only requires a small amount of grace to overlook that fact and fall blissfully into this alternate universe where teenagers look and act like adults and the adults act like spoiled children.
There’s a reason everyone’s been talking about this drama and this weekend is the perfect time to find out why. If you’re a fan of tear-filled melodramas, knights in shining armor, wounded villains, family drama, plucky underdogs or just a fan of one (or all) of these actors, you’re going to want to give Heirs a go; I promise, you won’t be disappointed.