Herederos (2013)

I'm actually really disappointed with this drama. It comes from a writer I love with a cast full of actors I love and somehow ended up royally sucking (sorry if that sounds harsh).

In retrospect, there were some good moments, humorous times, gorgeous shots, and even a few character developments that were touching and honest. But the story was clichéd to the extreme and full of recycled plot(s) (both from other similar shows and from itself...) and to be really honest here I was bored most of the time.

So, why did I keep on watching until the bitter end? I just kept expecting it to get better. I'm a little blown away that Kim Eun Sook actually penned this to the point where I'm actually considering the possibly that she has an intern who secretly wrote a majority of the scenes. I know writers can have "bad days" so to speak but I'm fairly confident that Kim Eun Sook has established a solid reputation and career off of having well plotted and witty dramas (that can, at times--admittedly--be a bit dull) but the long drawn out scenes of characters just staring at each other that happened over and over again (while pretty at first) where not only a waste of screen time but a huge waste of the viewer's time as well.

One of the only things that remained consistent with Kim Eun Sook's previous works was her spot on perfect hero Kim Tan (or "flawless namja" as my friend and I like to call him). If there is one thing that I've always been impressed with in Kim Eun Sook's shows, it's how amazingly perfect all of her leading men tend to be (even the ones that also make you want to punch them in the face).

But anyway, I don't understand the hype for Heirs and I certainly can't relate or agree with anyone who enjoyed this drama (though to each his/her own). I CAN say that I'm living in South Korea right now (at the time of this review) and it's extremely popular here so it must have done something right. I think it all boils down to:

Pros: Great cast, cute character interactions

Cons: poor plot, long boring scenes, humorously-cliché, eye-roll inducing moments, very little character development (exception: Yong-do and Kim Tan's mom), HORRIBLE SOUNDTRACK (?love is the mooooment?), cheesy dialogue, and unnecessary angst.

Watch at your own risk.

Leer más

What did I just watch?

When I finished the Heirs the first thing I said to myself was what did I just watch? This was such an overrated drama. It was ridiculous. I watched this because of Lee Min Ho but I gave up at episode 5. I fast forwarded through the rest of the episodes and the later episodes only dragged and got worse. This drama never picked up the pace or got better like ??!

Story: Here's how I'll summarize this story:
How many cliches would you like to stuff in this--
Author: yes.

Acting/Cast: Park Shin Hye and her typical role as the pathetic poor girl whose main hobby is sobbing and getting comfort from the main guy...

Music: Maybe it would have been better without any music, ha.

Rewatch Value: Don't even mention it.

Overall Value: This is so overrated, don't watch it. What a waste of time. Ridiculous.

The reason I gave this a 4 because I don't give any dramas that I've finished below a 4 since I don't really know what the difference between a 2 rating and a 4 rating anymore lol.

Leer más

What Was This Drama About?

I started this drama back when DramaFever existed and it was on air. I'd wait the week for DF to get it and would watch. I could remember the first episode clear as day and only bits of the second episode. At first, I thought I had watched the whole drama and my aging mind didn't remember. I looked back at my notes (aka, my old school K-Drama tumblr), and realized that I had stopped because I couldn't get through it. Painfully finishing this drama, I now realize why.

The story ... what even was the story? With a title like "The Heirs", you'd think you'd get some sort of family or conglomerate battle for owner of the company when Appa kicks the bucket. IF NOT THAT, than a conglomerate war where they two mains started as BFFs (or lovers), but could no longer be because their companies were at war for the top. You get absolutely NONE of that. Instead, you get a bunch of angsty teens fighting each other for each other in a weird "coming of age" type story, but it even failed at that. On top of all of that, they tried covering all of these characters, but then lost them by trying to go back to others, which leads to a terrible ending of explaining what happened to each character, in a very poor manner.

I don't have much to say about the cast. I watched it for Lee Min Ho because I was just coming off of the Boys over Flowers high at the time. To me, the drama is so terrible, the acting matches it, so it could be that the acting is great because for what terrible writing was fed, the actors delivered it perfectly? I didn't feel the chemistry between Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye at all. The relationship was awkward and forced, almost. Kim Woo Bin and Kim Ji Won definitely deliver as the antagonists. As terrible as the writing was, you still wanted to strangle their characters.

The music was surprisingly catchy. I did find myself humming along when the intro came on, sang along when the dramatic pauses happened, and jammed out when the ending came. The intro reminded me of an early 90's sitcom.

There is zero rewatch value for me. The whole thing was absolutely painful to get through. Knowing that I had tried to get it through it one time and couldn't, definitely solidifies the no rewatch.

Overall, for me, it was a big pile of fluff. There was no substance. I was not given a reason to relate or fall in love with the characters because the drama was going everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. There wasn't a strong story, the love triangle was poor and the main protagonists relationship was even worse.

Leer más

So many characters will confused u at first, but the more episodes will bring u to know their growing characters, quite fun movie with many good looking actors and actress..
I acknowledge Kim Ji Won from this movie. I really like her character as Rachel on first several episodes,,but her character didn't get enough space to grow, unfortunately.. And she has cute bangs, kinda reminds me to chiaki kuriyama and Joo Young of After school group, and much cuter than the main role (sorry Eun Sang fans..)
The chemistry of the three main roles are quite good. I'm a bit fall in love with Young Do. He could be easily loveable on another teen story with that loner and meddlesome character, but the script is not on his side,,

Leer más

The story is not new, it is the typical romance between the poor girl and the chaebol; but the characters are changed in some ways that make the story seem more fresh. Somehow those small changes in the typical characters made the story interesting enough to keep it watching it; bad part is that the pace is really slow xD U feel nothing important happened in the ep, but still you want to watch next ep to see what is going to happen..The ending is well done

The cast is really good, even the idols have really good acting skills; and everything seems more fresh and lighthearted since they are all young :P...The comic points are awesomely done by Lee Bona (Krystal) and Myung So (Hyunshik) and it is perfect, they are cute an d funny! also Tan's mom and tha main girl's mom are awesomely funny together

Mainly I´m watching it because of Kim Woobin awesome acting skills

Leer más

Ok, I m probably rating this high because I watched it at a time I wanted an easy non serious predictable drama to kill time but it wasn't that bad to me, I mean the last 10 episodes were ok,, the first 10 were very tiring for me to watch but maybe a 7 would be more appropriate rating considering that. but all in all, I didn't absolutely hate it like a lot of people did, not even the "love is feeling" song that some hated. it wasn't that horrible to me, it wasn't an awesome song but it wasn't terrible or unhearable, it was just there for me I guess, a bit catchy actually but not the best or worst ost of the year. All in all, it was an easy watch, very predictable drama with very little happening but it worked for me. I wasn't a big young do fan as most people were though, don't get me wrong kim woo bin is an awesome actor and nailed the character but I didn't like the character either. To me he seemed like a poor imitation of his character as park heung soo in school 2013, except heung soo was better and had a more legit reason for his anger and acting out, young do on the other to felt like his was throwing a kid tantrum and his reason for being mad at kim tan was not legit and was totally his own fault and him knowing/ realizing it and still doing it anyway doesn't make him seem any better to me, it just made him more pitiful,he was as immature as kim tan if not more.but for me kim tans pain was more legit, his brother hated him for something he didn't even want, his step mother too, his father saw him as an object and the only one he had was his mother who he wasn't even allowed to acknowledge and when he told his best friend about it, he practically insulted him, his mother and turned his back on him leaving him more alone, and then threatened I'm with the information too and then being exiled abroad all alone. He seemed more pitiful to me but still that didn't excuse his immaturity for me either, I didn't like his character much either. and the main girl annoyed me a lot too as well I mean freaking make up your mind and stop crying over everything. as for most of the other characters, i didn't like them much either, I wasn't attached or even interested in any of the characters, maybe Krystal's boyfriends but that's mainly because he is cute, and not much to do with his character. Actually the only character I could say I liked was the senior, the rest of them were just a mess for me.

The music was ok, not that bad, the acting was ok too, it's just the characters themselves I didn't like. The story was mediocre, average, done too many times. The Americans were horrible, the whole scene abroad was just really bad for me. I might re watch it ifI have nothing better to do and not from the beginning and by skipping through a lot but I m probably not going to re watch anytime soon.

This is done solely on my opinion and not meant to influence any other persons opinion. I recommend every one give it a chance to see if they like it before they decide because we all have different taste and opinion but never watch it if you are int he mood for action, thriller, something to keep you on the edge of your seat full of surprises. This is awesome to watch for a lazy day.

Leer más

So, because of all the terrible reviews, I was really hesitant about watching this. But I wanted a not-too-deep drama where I wouldn't feel the need to marathon it... Well, that's what I thought for the first couple of episodes. Then, I must admit, it wasn't as easy anymore to stop at the end of the episodes.

So, let me tell you something: This show is by no means great. But it's also not terrible. It's your typical rich guy/poor girl story, with the exception of it taking place in High School. So the only 'plot' happening in this is: Who gets the girl? Who gets the company? The story could definitely have more backbone and substance, as it was quite bland. However, some things were funny, some things were cute, some where a bit sad, but mostly, it was a huge cheese-fest. The amount of cheesiness in this show is no joke. The amount of clichés in this show is to be expected, but I still wish they could have toned it down some. Now, the only thing in this show that was REALLY terrible was the 'love is the moment' theme song, that I felt was haunting me in my nightmares. Thankfully they toned it down in the later episodes, but I couldn't stop cringing each time it came on at all the wrong moments. Urgh.

All in all, Cha Eun Sang proved to be no different (aka, lukewarm and very boring) than most other clichéd female leads, much to my disappointment. The love triangle between her, Tan and Yeong Do was funny at times, and outright infuriating at others. I would say it improved over time. Contrary to many other shows, I felt like the drama didn't get worse as time went on, but stayed about the same.
I am pretty sure I will never watch it again, but I also don't regret having invested the time. Near the end there were actually some moments and developments that touched me (the dead-body drawing explanation for instance, I didn't expect that), and some character-dynamics I really loved (Tan's and Eun Sang's mothers, Yeong Do/Rachel/Hyo Shin, BoNa/Chan Yeong). Choi Yeong Do had the greatest character development, and even though I hated him in the beginning, I could make peace with him in the end.

To sum it up: You might enjoy it if you don't have too high expectations and if you can deal with a very romance-focused and somewhat ridiculous plot and LOADS of crying. At least the supporting characters do somehow make the show worth its while. 6/10

Leer más

One word. Addicting. I could not stop watching this the moment I started it. I loved the tension between all the characters. The jealousy, the revenge, the politics of hierarchy- everything that you can see in a real society in real life. There were certain moments where I actually wanted to slap the director and ask why they made a certain part, but those moments were pretty rare. After The Legend of the Blue Sea, this is my all time favorite. Park Shin Hye slayyyyyyed her character and I am so glad she was casted for the part. The acting was phenomenal and I have rewatched this multiple times.

Leer más

It has a great cast and I was trying to tone down my expectations, as I am a fan of Lee Min Ho (???). But it is still worth the watch.

I actually waited until this series had finished airing being I watched it. It was kind of worth the wait. As far as the plot goes, its the usual low class girl tries her best to not get involved with a rich guy who has a rival who he used to be best friends with. It has a good start with filming in America (why does this country get all the attention... WHAT ABOUT THE UK?!?!?!?!?) But anyway, then they move back to Korean, and Cha Eun Sang gets to experience the wonder world of the high class student. Where even in school there is sensitive social standings. Make one wrong movie and you are the scum of the school.

It was great to see Lee Min Ho and Park Sin Hye acting together as I hadn't seem then acting for a while. So that was good news for me. Yet, my day was made when I realized that the most adorable guy Gang Min Hyeok was in this drama. He was so fun to watch in Heartstrings that I thought at last he was getting another drama! He had a strong supporting character and I was so happy to see another actor I like in this series. Also, why is there additional eye candy in this series? Gang Ha Neul has the most heart melting smile I've seen for a while and I was cheering for his character to get the girl he wanted. But I was happy when it didn't really work out as it meant he was free, and so am I :P

After a while, the series managed to just go a little stale and I was getting a little bored. I didn't feel like I could marathon all the episodes in one go because it was gripping enough. I felt like I lost the connection with the characters and the storyline was jumping about from place to place that I guess I kind of lost interest.

Even the ending where they tried to tie things up and show what it would be like in the future, it just kind of fell flat and it was unnecessary to do it. But I guess they tried.

Overall, its still okay to watch if you follow one or a few of the actor's. But it wasn't as good as it could have been.

Leer más