In the world of Korean Dramas, certain shows have an everlasting impact on the future of Kdramas. The Heirs is one of them. The drama is in itself an iconic one; it also brought together an exceptional cast led by Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, and Kim Woo Bin. The worldwide audience loved and cherished this drama from the beginning and it’s still on their favorite list as it deeply resonates with the story and characters. I will not drag it more, let’s jump into The Heirs full review, a drama that captured the hearts of millions of fans and became a cultural phenomenon, fueling the Hallyu Wave across borders.
Plot Summary
The Heirs is a story of love, friendship and rivalry between a group of young people.
Kim Tan is the heir of a renowned company called Jeguk Group. He is a high school student but is exiled to the US by his elder brother because he doesn’t want to share the authority over their family company, but despite all this Kim Tan loves his brother the most. When he was in the US, he met Cha Eun Sang and she attracted Kim Tan’s attention because she was different from other girls. He instantly falls for her. But Kim Tan was already engaged with Yoo Rachel by that time. Yoo Rachel also belongs to a very wealthy family. Kim Tan then returns to Korea and here we can see another character called Choi Young Do. Choi Young Do is also a chaebol or you can say an heir of a wealthy family, previously, Young Do and Kim were best friends but things changed and now they are each other’s biggest enemies. There are some other important characters in the drama and all are connected to each other with their school. All the privileged heirs are ready to take over families’ business empires but in this journey, they learn love, friendship and other emotions and become a better person at the end of the drama.
This drama is iconic in many ways which we are going to talk about soon.
Main Characters and Performances
To know this drama more we are going to discuss the main and the supporting characters of this drama who are very much important to making it an iconic and an evergreen classical drama. Because every character holds a different aspect of emotion like love, ambition, struggle and many more and they make themselves relatable and forever memorable.
Kim Tan (Played by Lee Min Ho)
The handsome and veteran actor Lee Min Ho played the role of Kim Tan who is the protagonist of our drama The Heirs. Kim Tan is a charismatic yet conflicted young man who is also an heir of the Jeguk Group which is one of South Korea’s most powerful conglomerates. He has everything in his life including wealth and a handsome face but still, he feels a hollowness in him as he is sent to the US by his half-brother who thinks of him as his competitor. In his family, no one is that close to him who can give him comfort. At his young age, he is engaged to another heiress of a wealthy family. He struggles in his life emotionally and at that point of his life he meets a normal-looking girl who is completely different from him.
As for performance, Lee Min Ho skillfully presents the vulnerable side of Kim Tan who struggles with her inner conflict choosing between love and duty. The on-screen chemistry between him and Park Shin Hye was so good, and with this drama, Lee Min Ho made his career even stronger.
Cha Eun Sang (Played by Park Shin Hye)
Cha Eun-sang is the female protagonist of our drama who is the most relatable character in this drama. She belongs to a middle-class family who somehow ended up living in the shadows of Korea’s elite society. Park Shin Hye played this role so well that Cha Eun Sang became one of the brightest milestones in her entire career. Cha Eun Sang is hardworking and full of self-respect. Her personality and class is in direct contrast to Kim Tan. Still they fall in love and fight for their love till the very end.
Park Shin Hye became one of Korea’s most beloved actresses of all time by playing this role. She skillfully delivered a heartfelt performance, balancing Cha Eun Sang’s vulnerability with her inner strength.
Choi Young Do (Played by Kim Woo Bin)
Choi Young Do is the rival of Kim Tan both in school and love. On the outside he is a ‘bad boy’ but in actuality, he is so sweet and kind and a lover boy. When he was young he lost his mother and his relationship was not so good with his father which made him a rebellious kid who longs for love.
Kim Woo Bin played this role so well that made Choi Young Do one of the most remembered characters and a beloved second lead.
Supporting Cast:
In this drama, there are some supporting characters without whose presence this drama is incomplete, and some of them are:
Rachel Yoo (Kim Ji Won):
This character is so elegant and yet has jealousy in her. She is officially engaged to Kim Tan but Tan never liked her like a woman. You also can call her the second lead female character who is a competition to the main female lead.
Yoon Chan Young (Kang Min Hyuk) and Lee Bo Na (Krystal):
This couple is the cutest couple in this drama. They can be considered to be the refreshing and lighthearted subplot of this drama. Yoon Chan Young is the calm and smart boyfriend while Lee Bo Na is the hyper one, she is so pretty and so jealous of the other girls around her boyfriend.
Kim Won (Choi Jin Hyuk):
Kim Won is the half-brother of Kim Tan. He is so insecure about her position in their family business so he separates himself from his younger brother and sends him to the US. But later he understands his brother and embraces him again like their childhood.
Key Themes and Story Highlights
The main themes of the drama include love and class struggles, family expectations and burdens, friendship and rivalry and so on.
We see more than one unequal love relationship in this drama of both the Kim brothers, Kim Tan and Kim Won. Kim Tan was already engaged when the drama started. He unexpectedly met Cha Eun Sang, who drew his attention with her simplicity. At first, he was only interested in her but later he really fell in love with her. But their union was not so easy because he was an heir of a renowned company in Korea. On the other hand, Cha Eun Sang’s mother works as a housekeeper in Kim Tan’s house. So it was next to impossible for them to manage their family for marriage. But they stayed strong in their position and made this impossible thing possible and they stayed together with their parents’ blessing. The other couple is Kim Won and his ex-girlfriend who is a school teacher. They loved each other so dearly but couldn’t stay strong for their love.
All the characters except for Cha Eun Song are the heirs of their prestigious families. Their families have some expectations from them that soon they will take over their family business, and they actually force them to do so. But not all the kids want to do so. Like Lee Hyo Shin (played by Jang Ha-neul) who is very smart and his family wants him to be a lawyer, but he never wants to be that. He tries to convince his family but fails so he runs away from home and joins the military.
The most beautiful theme of this drama is friendship. All the friends are loyal to each other and they are super supportive of each other. Though some of them act like rivals deep down, their friendship is so pure like Kim Tan and Choi Young Do. No matter what the situation is, they always protect each other.
Strengths and Weakness of The Heirs
The Heirs is no doubt an evergreen drama as well as an iconic one. But both the fans and the critics have mixed reactions and reviews over this drama. Through detailed analysis, I will show you the reason for both its hype and criticism.
Strengths of The Heirs
There are for sure some strengths in this drama that made it an evergreen drama and those are:
Star-Studded Cast:
This drama highly draws a connection with its star-studded cast. This drama features some of the most popular and talented actors in the K-Drama industry. The hero of this drama, Lee Min Ho, was already a popular name in Korea and outside of Korea after the record breaking success of Boys Over Flowers. Park Shin Hye was at the peak of her career through this drama, she played her role of Cha Eun Sang so well that brought depth and relatability to Cha Eun-sang and that solidified her status as a leading actress. We also have Kim Woo Bin here who played the second lead as well as the antagonist. As for the supporting cast it includes Krystal Jung, Kang Min-hyuk, Kim Ji-won, Park Hyungsik and Choi Jin-hyuk who delivered their unique charm in their performance and made them forever memorable.
This drama deals with some universal themes like love, friendship, career, family and ambition. The relatable themes are the strongest point of this drama that makes it easy to understand the drama and the situation of the characters.
Memorable Soundtrack:
All the soundtracks are so catchy and emotional that made all of them memorable to the fans. The most iconic OSTs of this drama are “Moment” by Changmin and “Love is…” by Park Jang-hyun. The OSTs are actually like those strings that connect one’s heart with the drama and make it close to them.
Criticisms and Weaknesses
This drama is kind of an emotion to so many fans yet to some it’s not totally flawless. Some critics and audiences pointed out some faults in it and those are:
Predictable Tropes:
The story and the idea of this drama were very nice and innovative but one thing that made this effort a bit dull is the overused tropes like love triangles, rich-boy-poor-girl love and emotional girl and short-tempered boy. With this trope, the drama lost uniqueness. The ending became so predictable that some of the audience lost their interest in this drama.
Character Development Issues:
The development of character is a must quality that a drama needs to have in it. This drama also worked hard to get to that place. But some secondary characters were the same from the beginning to the end. They actually did not grow with the story.
The Pacing of the Drama:
There is no doubt how good the drama and the story are but at some point, the plot felt unnecessarily stretched. The unnecessary stretching made this drama slow.
Even if the drama has some flaws in it, if you critically analyze it, its contribution to shaping the drama industry strongly is undeniable. This drama is a true and undeniable legacy of Korean dramas.
The Heirs became a global phenomenon as it attracted so many international fans and created its one fanbase. It also earned record breaking success on many streaming platforms. Again it boosted the Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave) globally and also played an important role in shaping high-school-themed K-Dramas.
To conclude, this drama is a timeless classic. That represents an era of Korean dramas that made the structure of the Hallyu industry strong. This drama is not just a school drama but is a tale of love, ambition, and the struggles that come with privilege and poverty. This drama stands out in the genre with its compelling storyline, unforgettable characters and their performances within the familiar K-Drama tropes.
My suggestion to you is to watch this drama if you want a dose of nostalgia or if you want to know the structure of Korean drama well then please do watch The Heirs and don’t judge this drama in a negative way. That’s all for today.