Korean title: 왕관을 쓰려는자, 그무게를 견뎌라 - 상속자들
Other titles: The Inheritors or The One Trying to Wear the Crown, Withstands the Weight
20 episodes
Aired on SBS
From 2013 October to December
Main cast:
- Lee Min Ho as Kim Tan
- Park Shin Hye as Cha Eun Sang
- Kim Woo Bin as Choi Young Do
- Kim Ji Won as Yoo Rachel/Yoo Ra He
- Krystal Jung as Lee Bo Na
- Kang Min Hyuk as Yoon Chan Young
- Choi Jin Hyuk as Kim Won
- Kim Sung Ryung as Han Ki Ae
- Jung Dong Hwan as Kim Nam Yoon
- Kim Mi Kyung as Park Hee Nam
- Choi Won Young as Yoon Jae Ho
- Park Joon Geum as Jung Ji Sook
- Yoon Son Ha as Lee Esther R
- Choi Jin Ho as Choi Dong Wook
- Im Joo Eun as Jun Hyun Joo
- Kang Ha Neul as Lee Hyo Shin
- Park Hyung Shik as Jo Myung Soo
- Jun Soo Jin as Kang Ye Sol
Production credits:
- Chief Producer: Choi Moon Suk, Producers: Shin Bong Chul, Lee Sung Hoon, Yoon Ha Rim
- Director: Kang Shin Hyo, Boo Sung Chul, Assistant Director: Lee Kwang Young
- Screenwriter: Kim Eun Sook
Notes:
- I saw Kim Sung Ryung first in Miss Kim makes a million. I loved her in that drama and I love her in this one, in which she's a really different character.
- The screenwriter is also credited for Secret garden... I thinks she's less successful here.
- I started to write this review after watching the drama but I'm just finishing now, years after, from memory.
Review: -/+
Title: Generic. Except for Girl, every young character is heir of a powerful family. Though there is a central love story, other characters' relationships with their family, and especially their status as heirs, are explored.
Boy: He's a typical Lee Min Ho character, which is not a bad thing. He's passionate, protective, hot and cute.
Girl: Ouch. Here's the rub. Girl is the most reluctant Girl I have ever seen. It's like she just wants to be left alone, in a "I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative." way, but for real. I'll get back to it below. Besides that, she's a typical down-on-her-luck girl.
Other boy: He takes "arrogant jerk" straight into "scary jerk" territory.
Other girl: So this is years after, so I don't remember much. She's basically a "Mean girl", you know the popular pretty girl who has minions.
Plot / relationship: The problem with the main couple is that Boy does all the work and Girl is just... there, kinda. I sometimes wondered if she wanted that relationship, was she even in love with him? Luckily, Boy is a very strong character, with an interesting arc, and his feelings are clearly expressed, so you keep watching for him. His relationship with Other boy is also explored.
Other characters: Again, I don't remember much, sorry :(. I liked Girl's mother. I seem to remember that she was mute so they used sign language to talk to each other, which is a good thing to see portrayed in a drama. Boy's family was typical drama rich family but with a twist, which added to Boy's character arc. He also had a group of friends, they had a fun dynamic and as I said, their struggles with their status and the pressure of their family are explored. It can go quite dark.
What the...? I was confused by the characters' age. At first, I thought they were in uni so it was weird to see them in high school.
Also, the drama starts in the US. Its depiction of America was funny.
Clichés: Stalking. Love triangle.
Funny: No.
Music: I didn't like it which almost never happens.
Bottom line: So thinking again of this drama, its issues reminded me of Marrying a Millionaire. Like in this drama, I was really invested in Boy's character but didn't really care for Girl. When you don't actively root for the main couple in a romance drama, there is a lot to compensate, and though everything related to Boy was good, it was not enough for me to give this drama more than a -/+.
