Heirs Introduces the Love Triangle of Kim Won, Teacher Hyun Joo and Student President Hyo Shin

Wow, there sure is a lot of characters I don’t care about in Heirs in this post. Funnily enough, it’s all actors I like ranging from Choi Jin Hyuk to Im Joo Eun to Kang Ha Neul. At a certain point the drama narrative kicks in and like or not like an actor, the character is what reigns supreme at the end of the day. It may be a celebrity chef behind the wheel, but it’s the dish that matters. In Heirs, the potential love triangle (if any) between Kim Won, Empire High teacher Hyun Joo, and student body president Hyo Shin, is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Let me explain. Right now Hyo Shin has as much screen presence as a cardboard cut-out. Not Kang Na Neul’s fault, his character is literally there to fill space and time. Coming from an overachieving family does not make his stress interesting. His interest in Hyun Joo seems falls into the K-drama penchant for titillating teacher-student romance, except without any stakes because Hyun Joo barely acknowledges his presence as a human boy much less a man. Not that the real man around her is any prize either. Won is just a jackass if ever there was one, there is no excuse or justification for his ill-treatment of Tan, who is blameless since when did he make the choice to be born into that family. Hyun Joo is zero impact so far with 3 scenes in 6 episodes and no clear explanation as to her history with Won. It’s clear from Chairman Kim’s intentions towards Eun Sang to make her Hyun Joo v.2, i.e. attend Empire High and come to the self-realization that she is never ever going to have a future with the uber-rich heirs like Won or Tan. This is redundant narratively since we don’t need an older version hanging around to understand the obstacles facing Tan and Eun Sang falling for each other. I wish more care would be spend on Won and Hyun Joo so that I would care about them, much like I’m caring about Tan and Eun Sang. Instead the drama wastes time with the Esther-Secretary Yoon flirtation, which makes as much sense as the Snow Queen wanting to make out with the Head Elf. My adoration of Heirs really is quite inexplicable, but who needs to overthink it when an hour whizzes by and I end up pleasantly satisfied by the end.


Comments

Heirs Introduces the Love Triangle of Kim Won, Teacher Hyun Joo and Student President Hyo Shin — 20 Comments

  1. Totally not interested in this triangle love line. I think they’re just fillers.
    Definitely want to see more development on the main leads triangular love line. We know a force kiss is coming up but would love another force kiss from Young Do on Eun Sang to even things up.

    • I agree with you, too many people to fill air time that I don’t care. I’m considering dropping this drama because of this. Seems like a weekend familiar drama, where we have like 20 characters and the OTP only gets five minutes.

    • I’m with you on this. Seems like the celebrated screenwriter was a bit over ambitious with this drama of a thousand characters. It’d be less frustrating and boring for the viewers to just pare it down a bit instead of surface skimming into other story branches. Given that there’s only 20 episodes barring any dragged out extensions, I’d opt for quality instead of a crowded drama-clown car.

  2. For a show with SO MANY characters, I only care about one and I couldn’t care less about the OTP either. I wish the bad characters aren’t so textbook bad. I find them all so dull and annoying.

  3. The irony for me is that thes are the only people (oh yeah, I also love me some Secretary Yoon) I do care about. I cannot get excited about the OTP even though I feel sorry for both of them. This is also probably why I am not interested in the show; I do not have enough interest in the main characters and the people I want to find out more about (because there are so MANY people) are only stuck in the stock character mode–mean,older brother, good-hearted but tough tutor girl (anyone getting “My Tutor Friend” vibes here?), school-boy crush kid that will (maybe?) get his heart broken.

  4. That’s it! I was trying to figure out why I’m watching all these oldies playing high school kids…”the hour whizzes by.”

  5. I am more interested in what those 3 will do than in the OTP kiss and this Doomed Couple (I have no illusion) is floating my boat. It’s surely because I prefer the actors and also because of the mystery surrounding those secondary characters. The parents may be ridiculous or bitchy at times but they are the reason why their kids behave the way they do: It’s also them who take all the decisions and we need them in the story.

  6. I feel so much reminded about Hana Yori Dango. Too much characters and too little happens. But I like to see IJE again. I really like her.

  7. Considering that the ONLY reason I ever gave “Heirs” a chance was precisely these 3 actors… I’m severely disappointed!

    Their characters are so boring and they only get like… 3 seconds of screen time.

    I feel bad for the actors, really.

  8. Hmm. I don’t agree than Tan/EunSang are just Won/HyunJoo part 2. I think episode 6 made it clear that it is Won’s choice to treat his job as priority #1, and that his relationships are a distant second. Hyun Joo knows this, which is why she is unhappy with him and wants to stay far away from him. Tan is exactly the opposite – for him, those he loves are #1 in his life, which is going to give his relationship with EunSang a different dynamic (surprise dad! kids aren’t the same!).
    And while Won/Hyun Joo have had criminally little screen time, I think they’ve done a lot with what they had; I think I understand their relationship, very well. I think they started out a lot like Tan and Eun Sang, but that Won’s priorities quickly turned things sour. That is why she is so unhappy, asks to not see him, and leaves as soon as his back is turned – because she is not his life, Jeguk is.

    • Won didn’t seem to stand up for HJ even though he likes her. But, Tan will stand up for ES and that will make Won to take notice that his little bro is not same like him. When Tan & ES becomes Won & HJ 2.0, Tan will put Won to shame for his own attitude toward HJ & his greed for Jeguk.

  9. I haven’t seen the ep. yet, but I seriously wanted HS to kiss her, steal a kiss from her. I know they won’t happen, however, I think they would have been interesting. Though, with HS becoming a public servant, he would have to be careful about who he dates, and eventually marry. So yeah, too bad, they couldn’t happen. The chemistry is there though, ouf…

  10. at least these three ppl are only filling time and space…..The trio of BoNa, ChanYoung and MyungSoo are overcrowding time and space…>.<~

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