Drama Raves Pt. 2: The Heirs
- Lindsey
- Nov 28, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 20, 2020
Have you ever wondered what living a rich teenage life would be like? Or falling for the son of a rich family? Well, this drama is the one for you.
The Heirs is a 2013 South Korean drama, which I started watching in 2014, but only just recently finished this year *smiles uncomfortably*.
Just like its name, The Heirs focuses on privileged heirs and heiresses of rich families. Our protagonist, Cha Eun-sang, is a normal girl who somehow meets her love interest, and heir to a large conglomerate, Kim Tan, while visiting her sister in the US.
No matter how cliché it sounds, Kim Tan is not your normal, average high school boy. And this isn't just because he's the heir to a big company, but also because of his past and the complexity of it.
Of course, after the two meet, there's a feeling of interest towards each other, which only grew even after they both went back to South Korea separately. This is when the audience, us, realises that these two human beings' fates are intertwined. But what are you going to get when the son of a rich family who's probably betrothed to someone from another renowned family falls in love with a person who is considered as lower than him in terms of status? (Long question, but oh well...)
You get conflict. Because apparently, a rich man falling head over heels for a poor woman (and vice versa) is frowned upon. The woman, or whoever wants to be with someone rich is seen as a gold-digger and also an opportunist.
More conflict then arises when Tan and Eun-sang end up going to the same high school, where Tan's former best friend, Choi Young Do, basically terrorises her to get under Tan's nerves.
As the story goes along, we do learn about the significant characters' pasts (which for me is Eun-sang, Tan and Young-do). However, snippets of backstory can also be seen for each character in the drama through flashbacks and dialogue.
For me, this drama emphasises the idea of flawed perfection. When you're rich, you're seen as an individual having everything, but underneath that glamour, there are broken shards of glass: infidelity, lies, deceit... Not everything is perfect in the world of the rich and not all of them are happy either.
The families in this drama try so hard to show the public that everything is alright, which only causes them to display the opposite. This strive for perfection through wealth is damaging because no one seems to realise that perfection is never going to be achievable; mistakes are almost seen as sins.
Yet, Tan and Eun-sang plough through it all, despite the temptation of giving up - there was a scene where she left to live a normal life. Somehow, he still found her and they still gravitated back towards each other.
Tan learnt to push aside society's opinions and the materialistic things for love, embracing true happiness with the woman he loves.
Message attained: fight for who you want to be and for whoever brings out the best in you; never give up due to obstacles.
Rating: 7/10 <3
First episode and the rest can be found on YouTube:
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