This review may contain spoilers
Who needs depth when there's mood boards to bring to life
To me, the most important parts of a story are consistency in the plot and developed characters. Hierarchy had all the ingredients: the setup, the characters, the world, the aesthetics. Yet somehow it all felt empty. Like the people behind it cared more about how it looked than how it felt. Which they did, it's obvious.
They didn’t seem to understand how to give the characters real emotions or motivations. Things just happened without enough reason or buildup. They romanticized everything — the heartbreak, the obsession, the pain — but didn’t do the work to earn it.
We’re told these characters feel things, but we're not shown how in a way that sticks. And that emotional depth is what makes a story hit. They had this idea for Rian and Jaei in which they're tragically meant for each other no matter who comes between them. One scene in which they are younger running around in a house doesn't tell me about the deep unexplainable bond they're supposed to have.
But that's also the thing. I love that deep unexplainable bond they have. I saw the same in Tempted and I was happy to see it here too. Jaei and Rian had something real, and if they’d taken the time to show us the layers of their connection, it could’ve been unforgettable. Instead, it ended up being surface-level — beautiful, but lacking the backbone to really make me believe it.
That being said — the visuals? Insane. This show is visually stunning. The styling, the cinematography, the whole vibe — unforgettable really. And I genuinely liked the characters, even if they didn’t get the depth they deserved. Well, at least some of them(Jaei's father and brother, i'm looking at your evil asses).
Speaking of, it was kind of refreshing seeing just plain evil characters. Sure, it's always better if they have motives, tragic backstories and stuff but seeing pure evilness sometimes everytime Jaei's brother appeared on screen, brought back memories when characters on tv shows used to be absolute menaces with no excuses.
I do wish we got more from the friend group too. I wanted to see more of their dynamics and how their relationships actually worked — but with only 7 episodes, I get that there wasn’t much room.
And also, if you haven't noticed already, I just chose to exclude the main character from my review completely because it was clear they were trying to remake Elite's Samuel but instead, we got a main character with unclear morals, failed and I don't know if even attempted revenge story, and a love triangle with Jaei which was extremely illogical because of the whole revenge attempt. I don't even know if I can call it a love triangle really.
Hierarchy was a show I wanted to fall in love with and for a long time I thought I did. But being pretty isn't enough. Next time, I hope they focus less on creating a mood board and more on creating a story with soul.
They didn’t seem to understand how to give the characters real emotions or motivations. Things just happened without enough reason or buildup. They romanticized everything — the heartbreak, the obsession, the pain — but didn’t do the work to earn it.
We’re told these characters feel things, but we're not shown how in a way that sticks. And that emotional depth is what makes a story hit. They had this idea for Rian and Jaei in which they're tragically meant for each other no matter who comes between them. One scene in which they are younger running around in a house doesn't tell me about the deep unexplainable bond they're supposed to have.
But that's also the thing. I love that deep unexplainable bond they have. I saw the same in Tempted and I was happy to see it here too. Jaei and Rian had something real, and if they’d taken the time to show us the layers of their connection, it could’ve been unforgettable. Instead, it ended up being surface-level — beautiful, but lacking the backbone to really make me believe it.
That being said — the visuals? Insane. This show is visually stunning. The styling, the cinematography, the whole vibe — unforgettable really. And I genuinely liked the characters, even if they didn’t get the depth they deserved. Well, at least some of them(Jaei's father and brother, i'm looking at your evil asses).
Speaking of, it was kind of refreshing seeing just plain evil characters. Sure, it's always better if they have motives, tragic backstories and stuff but seeing pure evilness sometimes everytime Jaei's brother appeared on screen, brought back memories when characters on tv shows used to be absolute menaces with no excuses.
I do wish we got more from the friend group too. I wanted to see more of their dynamics and how their relationships actually worked — but with only 7 episodes, I get that there wasn’t much room.
And also, if you haven't noticed already, I just chose to exclude the main character from my review completely because it was clear they were trying to remake Elite's Samuel but instead, we got a main character with unclear morals, failed and I don't know if even attempted revenge story, and a love triangle with Jaei which was extremely illogical because of the whole revenge attempt. I don't even know if I can call it a love triangle really.
Hierarchy was a show I wanted to fall in love with and for a long time I thought I did. But being pretty isn't enough. Next time, I hope they focus less on creating a mood board and more on creating a story with soul.
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