Here's Dramabeans recap & comments by javabeans of Episode 1:
www.dramabeans.com/2013/10/heirs-episode-1/
Finally—and I mean FINALLY—we see the premiere of the most-hyped drama of the year, Heirs: He Who Wears the Crown, Endure Its Weight, which for purposes of efficiency and just plain sense we will be calling, simply, Heirs.
My biggest concern about Heirs would that it would be all hype, no follow-through. All talk, no action. All big names, no plotular significance. With the massive promo machine accompanying this drama—which got going about seven months in advance of its premiere, which is approximately six months more than the average other drama—you had to wonder if they were building it up to a fever pitch that no reasonable drama would be able to match in execution.
My reaction to the premiere: Measured optimism. I liked it. I know, I’m a little surprised that I did, but also relieved because I was pretty much going to watch this drama regardless. I see flashes of promise here and there, in between the parade of stars and starlets, poking its head out from behind the wall of embarrassing English. (I can NOT wait for the show to head back to Korea.) There are hints at emotional depth and layered characters—well, some of them, but as the ones I refer to are mainly the principal cast I think we’re fine on that score. And perhaps most importantly for a romantic comedy, I really like the leads together. There’s acting talent on both sides, individually, as well as character warmth and depth, and then you add in chemistry to the mix and I think we’re looking at a potential sensation. Just a hunch.
COMMENTS by
There are a lot of characters to get through, and we’ve only gotten through maybe half the main cast. So this first episode presents a lot of setup, and there are a lot of names and relationships to get straight. I do think Heirs does a pretty good job with the introductions, in that I wasn’t frantically flipping through character charts and writing notes to myself to keep everyone straight. (That could be helped by the fact that the setup is, despite all the frills, a very basic one.)
I do have reservations about this writer, but I don’t doubt her ability to create witty dialogue and compelling character relationships, and Heirs has that touch. It also has a nice stylistic moodiness woven in and out of scenes, which I like; we’re given glimpses into characters’ inner lives that belie their outer circumstances, and I like that. A lot. Like how Tan is on the surface a troublemaking rich kid who does nothing but party, but that there’s an internal pull to resist that shell that’s expected of him. More on that in a second.
One of my reservations about the writer is that while she is very good at making hit dramas that start with sparkling romantic banter and are later sprinkled in melo angst (or drowned, in some cases), sometimes I feel like her writing is of a different era. As in, an older, less narratively sophisticated one. Her dramas are all modern gloss, but the themes and conflicts sometimes feel like they belong a couple generations back. It’s actually for this reason that I hoped Heirs might offer something fresh, because by making her characters younger, it actually works with those limitations. In a drama about independent thirtysomething careerwomen, you wonder why they can’t just get over the angst and either make up or break up. But youthful passion mixed with the idea that you don’t quite know yourself yet, that you’re still struggling to make it in the Real World? I think it works.
Heirs actually works on a secondary level for me, and that’s in its invocation of the whole royalty theme. They could have played it as a one-off metaphor and left it there, but as the episode unfolded I felt like I was watching a modernized sageuk drama, and I really liked that.
Consider the family at the center: You have the older chairman on his way out, still in charge but leaving the day-to-day business dealings to his ambitious and competent older son. The drama proper hasn’t outlined the exact family relationships yet but the character descriptions tell us that older brother Won is the son of the first wife, who died when he was young. There was a second wife who has since divorced Dad, and now Madam Han is the young new mistress of the house. The concubine, if you will, who has the safety of a ring on her finger and a son (Tan), but not eternal security for as long as Tan is not registered under her name in the official family registry. That keeps her as an outsider, and she’s putting all her hopes in Tan to grow up, take over the corporation, and change that registry. Taken on its own I might consider the conflict a bit simplistic (archaic even), but seen as a reimagined Joseon-esque power struggle, I actually dig it.
It also explains the brotherly strife, in having the elder son protecting his interests by keeping his younger brother out of the picture. Tan currently has little power, but he could choose to be a rival should he exert himself… so hyung makes sure to keep him far away and occupied with frivolous pursuits. Sound like a few sageuks you’ve seen? Quite a compelling setup.
As for our hero: Who else is glad he’s not the raving asshole (however entertaining) that this writer loves to make popular? I found the heroes of Secret Garden and A Gentleman’s Dignity lots of fun, but when I heard we were getting more chaebols I feared we’d be getting more of the same, and I’m tired of that. Granted, there’s plenty of room for Tan to show some snobbery, but I like that already he’s got some depths—which is particularly interesting because he’s been encouraged not to have them.
I like that his proclivity is to actually be studious and serious, and that the playboy persona seems put-upon, like it’s the only thing he can do with his life. It reminds me a bit of Hong Gil Dong or other stories of disenfranchised heroes who find their preferred paths barred to them by society… although I do suppose it’s a bit perverse in this scenario to have a man of such overwhelming privilege feeling shackled by it. Cry me a freakin’ river, right? Still, it’s a twist on the expected, and so I welcome it.
I am NOT a fan of making Eun-sang such a typical Candy character, because haven’t we hit the ceiling on what you can do with that same ole character? Please prove me wrong on this, but I don’t expect the show to do anything exceptional with her storyline. On the other hand, at least if it had to be done, you got an actress like Park Shin-hye who could make you care about her, who injects some sass into the role anyway.
Most of all, I’m excited about the romance, because there was something about the way Tan looks at Eun-sang that hooked me good. It got me invested right away, and while Lee Min-ho has had his ups and downs as an actor and romantic lead, I am SO READY to fall in love with him… and moreover, to fall in love with him falling in love. C’mon Heirs, be good. You can dooooo eeeeeet! 
