Heirs episode 1 - Dramatic Review

After months of anticipation and teaser images and dying because Lee Min Ho was in freaking California like a few days after I was (noooooo!!!!!!!!!) and just down the street from my friend that lives there and is also obsessed with him but was freaking out of state the whole time they were in her neighborhood (nooooooooo noooooooo nooooooooooooo~~~!!!!), it's finally here - the premier of the new drama Heirs staring Lee Min Hottness and Park Shin Hye-I-better-kiss-better-in-this-one-than-in-my-last-one-or-a-certain-redheaded-blogger-may-just-show-up-in-Korea-to-teach-me-a-thing-or-two-because-if-Lee-Min-Ho-lips-go-to-waste-an-intervention-will-certainly-be-required.  And some other people.  And some really, really, really lousy white people.  Seriously - why?  We're talking Hollywood-adjacent here folks - do you really mean to tell me that this was the best you could cast???  I bet you could just take the entire waitstaff at any Hollywood cafe and get a more talented crew of American actors than that mess you dragged up.  Sure, the girls have bikinis and boobs and the guys...beer?  Crazy hair and eyes and a penchant for stealing drugs from poor foreign girls sobbing on the sidewalk?  What do you take us all for?  Are we really just partiers that can't speak our own language intelligibly?  So completely cringe-worthy every moment with every American actor.  Other than that though, I have no complaints about the opening episode of this drama.  Oh my goodness - Lee Min Ho is gorgeous!  I die.  I chincha chincha die.  Lee Min Ho in a wetsuit and surfing???  No point in killing me now because I'm already ded.  From the very opening sequence.  I didn't even need the shower scene (though I thank you for it all the same - it was, of course, lovely), just that first view alone...sigh.  Beautiful, beautiful man who I am so happy to be reviewing again.  But I'm getting ahead of myself as always.  Let's back up here and give this a proper introduction as a brand new drama deserves.

Hi and welcome!  With new dramas often come new readers for us here on The Crazy Ahjummas.  So, whether you've been with us before or are just checking us out for the first time, we're happy to have you here!  My name is Dongsaeng.  My Unnie is around here somewhere.  I'm sure you'll get to meet her very soon.  She says hi.  I will forgo a formal introduction to us personally because it's already been said, up there ^ at the top of the page under our About Us and Unnie and Dongsaeng tabs.  Besides, you're not here to learn about us, you're here for the drama.  And the eye candy we get to dish about.  And all the fun fangirling.  You're here because you have an addicKtion and need someone who understands.  Come on in, pull up a chair and get cozy.  We get you.  We understand.  We've been there.  We're still there and we'll always be there.  Hooked on these gems we love so very much.  These dramas that we welcome into our lives, even knowing that they can and probably will bring tears and a wide assortment of feelings, often so overwhelming that we find ourselves yelling at the screen or trying to tell others about the transcendence we just experienced, only to find our raw emotional expressions fall on deaf ears.  Oh the tragedy.  The feeling of being so alone.  See, we know.  We've experienced it time and time again, so allow us to be counselors in your addicKtion.  Or enablers - however you want to look at it.  We're here to support, not cure. This is a safe place for you to let it out and fangirl/boy to your squeeing heart's content.   


Now, in the past few dramas that I have reviewed, I have used a bullet-point type system as I tend to ramble and get very wordy.  It helps keep things organized and a little shorter.  It also stifles the creative process a bit though so I'm not sure yet how these Heirs reviews will be formatted.  I'm still trying to find my groove in an area that, well, has never exactly been my groove.  I don't read reviews and, before blogging, never wrote reviews.  {{{*nervous laughter* hahaha...I mean...I'm like totally a professional here you guys.  I totally got this.  Easy peasy.}}}  For this particular first review, I'm honestly just in the mood to chat about it, bullet-point free, and see where we go from here on subsequent reviews.  Hey, I'm a free spirit that way, what can I say?  The first couple of episodes are all just build-up anyway and there aren't a lot of specifics to focus on, just kind of a general "get-to-know-you" as the story is set up.  Perfect for rambling using a free-form style.  So here we go!

I've decided to call this series of reviews...are you ready for this clever title?... Dongsaeng Splits Heirs.  Get it?  Splits "heirs", like splits "hairs"?  "Oh D-girl, you're so witty and punny. I'm sure this review is just going to be amazing based on that clever title alone!"  "Aw, shucks guys, thanks, but really, it's nothing. Stop embarrassing me in front of the new readers."

 ....

ahem...sorry...where was I? 

We have Lee Min Ho's character, Kim Tan, living in the States pretty much against his will.  His half-brother has exiled him, and we're told in the description box that it is in an effort to take over the family business.  Did I mention that he is a chaebol and therefore stinkin' rich?  Then there is Park Shin Hye's character, Cha Eun Sang, who comes to America looking for her older sister who is supposed to be there going to school and about to get married.  Back home in Korea, life is rough for Eun Sang and her mute mother.  Eun Sang works multiple menial jobs while in high school, from chicken delivery to dish-washing.  Mom works as a housekeeper for a rich chaebol family (of course it just so happens to be Tan's family but we don't officially know that yet) - the matriarch being the 2nd wife and Tan's mother.  Tan is engaged to this girl named Rachel.  Rachel's mother is about to marry the father of Choi Young Do (played by Kim Woo Bin) who is a great big giant jerk and bully.

When Eun Sang reaches California and tracks down her sister's address, the lies that her sister has obviously been telling about her life there begin to unravel.  It all comes to a head when Eun Sang sees big sister working as a waitress and getting constantly hit on by pervs.  Coincidentally enough, Tan is one of her regular customers and is there to witness the confrontation between sisters.  Big Sis ends up stealing what amounts to all of her mother's money that Eun Sang brought for her supposed wedding and running off.  Tan bozo friend, Sir Douchiest Douchebag on the Planet, sees Eun Sang crying on the sidewalk trying to repack all of her belongings that her sister tossed about while digging for the cash and goes up to her.  At first we think he's going to try to flirt with her, but suddenly he steals a bag of bean powder from her suitcase thinking it was drugs and runs off.  Eun Sang chases him, the idiot runs into and gets knocked down by a volleyball net (yes, the same volleyball net that my friend plays volleyball at like all the freaking time! *not that I'm jealous*), snorts some of the "drugs" and goes into anaphylactic shock because Sir DD is allergic to beans.  Moron.

Moron is rushed to the hospital with Tan and Eun Sang accompanying him.  Eun Sang is then questioned by the police about the suspicious contents of the bag.  She of course can't come to her own defense thanks to the language barrier.  Tan tries to help her by intervening, only to discover to his horror and dismay that this particular cop is one that has his eyes set on Tan.  I guess Tan gets in trouble with the law a lot.  Or at least often enough to have become the personal target of this officer.  So now his "help" lands her under greater suspicion and her passport is taken away.  No money, no passport, no phone and a sister that lied and stole her mother's money.  Tan drives her to her sister's house, but not surprisingly, doesn't get in.  She's got no where to go and she's in a scary neighborhood.  I know because there's trash on the street, sirens wailing, and a gang of hoodlums strolling the street.  When Tan comes driving up after just leaving her, I'm sure there was part of her that was relieved.  He's all she has right now, take it or leave it.  He speaks her language.  He invites her to come stay with him.  And that's where the episode ends.

So?  What did I think of it?  I was nervous because of all the hype in the lead up to the premire.  That often spells disaster.  Thankfully this first episode, lousy American actors aside, did not disappoint.  And I don't just say that because LMH looked amazing (he did look amazing though, didn't he? *swoon*).  I am already feeling the chemistry between our two leads, probably mostly due to all the intense staring LMH directed her way as he watched her world crumble thanks to her sister.  How annoying that he has a fiance.  And is a chaebol.  And looks to have some major family drama of his own to deal with.  I suppose rich people can't have normal families.  They always have to have some really horrible relatives to deal with.  Usually parents, but I guess in this case, half-brothers too.  As the episode ended, I can say that I was anxious to push play on the very next one - always a good sign when you start a new drama.  The competition is on though - I also started Medical Top Team today and really liked it too.  Which will win out and be my favorite in the end?  I can't wait to see!  Having two amazing dramas airing simultaneously is always a positive thing in my book.

Let me know what you thought of it.  I'd love to get your take!   And like I said earlier, welcome!  We hope you enjoy your time spent here with us.  Thanks for stopping by!