I agree that this is a show marketed and made for young girls which is what bothers me the most about it. The fact that there are so many impressionable girls watching this show and enjoying the romance is worrisome. I don't dislike the show just because it's bad cliche riddled soup with way too many staring contests but because on top of those things, it is sending a very dangerous message in it's depiction of Eun Sang and Kim Tan. I've had issues in the past with the way women in Korean dramas are treated by their suitors and how they in turn react to this treatment (especially with this writer) but most of those shows were not geared towards as young of an audience as I think Heirs is. think the best shows, even those geared at young audiences, are not afraid to explore themes surrounding unhealthy relationships and complex characters. But when the relationship is depicted as "romantic" and the character who should be complex are one dimensional- then we've got a problem.
In general, the characters in Heirs are not complex- they are inconsistent and poorly written. Their actions are to be taken at face value. Kim Tan is the Prince Charming, Eun Sang the Cinderella. Except Kim Tan is an immature, self involved Prince Charming and Eun Sang is a whiny and bland noodle of a Cinderella. If the writer had meant to write these characters as so unlikable that could be an interesting twist. but…no, that's not what this is.
The fact that Kim Tan is the hero of this show is…ugh. It's not that I'm not down with some dark heroes with shades of grey in terms of morality (duh, Young Do is my favorite character) BUT not when it isn't explored or even acknowledged. We're supposed to believe that Kim Tan used to a bully (and why he was a bully? who knows) but now he's a nice, decent guy. Except he's not. He set up Young Do to get beat by his dad and then smirked as he walked out. He treats almost everyone with indifference, and doesn't seem to care about inconveniencing or bothering others. He drags Eun Sang around by the wrist, barricades her in rooms, and orders her around like a dog. And Eun Sang puts up with it which is equally troubling. The message this sends is that this is what is is to be passionate, and the girl should just let herself be treated that way because it's love?
I think the blame is both on the writer and Lee Min Ho's portrayal of Kim Tan but in spite of being a pretty anal retentive and controlling ass he is also so, so boring and the character I least care about.
Meanwhile, Eun Sang is not much better. She has just lost all my respect as a heroine and like another poster said, I don't even believe her as a character anymore. Eun Sang has confronted Young Do for his mistreatment of her and I'm glad she has. But meanwhile…she puts up with Kim Tan because…she likes him? And why is that again? How could Eun Sang and Kim Tan have such awesome moms yet be so lame?
Maybe if they actually seemed to like each other I'd at least feel somewhat interested in what happens to them. I don't know if it's their negative chemistry or what but you know it's a bad sign when you're fast forwarding through all the scenes with your main couple because they are the least interesting part of the show.
Whatever. I wish they could just run off together and disappear so the rest of the show would just be centered around Bo-na and Chang Young on vacation with Young Do.
