Hello everyone! It’s time for another What I’m Watching Wednesday post.

Started: Heirs (Episodes 1-8)

This week I finally gave in and started Heirs. There has been a ridiculous amount of buzz about this show. Even though I only just started watching, I felt like I already knew what was happening on a weekly basis thanks to social media. I’m not sure if I like this style of watching, but Heirs isn’t making me excited enough to really care if I saw some spoilers.

Heirs is fine. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. Lee Minho is gorgeous (when is he not?!) and I like Park Shin Hye in her role. The problem lies in the framework. THIS DRAMA IS JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER DRAMA. Heirs is playing by the drama-land rules and I’m not liking their lack of originality.

Sure, they try. There’s about a billion characters and they each have their own set of issues. But you can’t change the fact that Lee Minho is the typical chaebol heir who falls for the poor, hard working girl. His one sided love is nothing new. He was even center stage to this plot in Boys Before Flowers.

I read in an interview that Lee Minho wanted to have one more youthful role before he would be too old to “pull off” the high school look. Awww, that’s kind of sweet, but at the same time, I’m not buying his character’s age. Couldn’t they have at least made him a college student? High school is overrated.

After hours of “research” and hundreds of screen caps, here are some of my thoughts:

Everyone is connected to EVERYONE. That’s some impressive planning. The chart above only overs the top 10 cast members. Drama fever also made a great one here. So many characters, so little time to actually development their roles. Sigh.

Symbols of Love are much too prominent. WE GET IT. The dreamcatcher has MEANING. No need to show it every 5 seconds.

Kim Tan has the typical bitch girlfriend (excuse me, fiancé). Is there any other way to greet a someone other than by throwing her suitcase down the stairs? Talk about jealousy issues. At least the character fits the cookie cutter bitch role so perfectly. I would hate for Heirs to break that golden drama-land rule.

Awww, Kim Tan just wants his brother to love him! This storyline is at least a little interesting. Something big must have happened for the half-brother to fear Kim Tan so much. It’s sweet how much Kim Tan still admires his brother even though his brother clearly wants none of the affection.

Lee Minho is not meant to speak English. It’d be best if he stuck to speaking in Korean.

While a large chunk of the drama takes place at a high school, this is not a high school drama. We’ve only seen a handful of scenes with the characters actually in class, and thus far no one seems to be doing much schoolwork. The high school setting is just for background noise. It also gives the stylists an excuse to dress the cast in super cute uniforms. If anything, this drama can be labeled as a bullying drama. There is a heck of a lot of that.

There’s also an awful amount of footage of long pauses and wistful looks.

This love triangle is alright, but much too predictable. Park Shin Hye is once again playing a rather clueless heroine surrounded by admiring males. I see her past characters from You’re Beautiful and Flower Boy Next Door in this current role.

Talk about a long kiss. How can two people stand with their lips touching for so long and not change position? That’s just weird. Why such the dramatic pause?

How about recreating the “Game Over” kiss from Personal Taste next time?

Are you 5 years old, Kim Tan? Now you’re just being childish.

Park Shin Hye sums up my thoughts about Heirs almost perfectly.

Also, what’s with Kim Tan’s questionable fashion choices? Must ridiculous wealth translate to strange clothing? A pink fuzzy sweater never works on a man, even a man as beautiful as Lee Minho. I do admit that the strange necklace/necktie thing is growing on me.

That’s all for now. Heirs, I hope you step up your game. I’m just waiting for you to surprise me. Please! I really want to love you, but you are making this a very difficult task.

Rachel