[mslee's thoughts] Episode 1 HEIRS - Fighting Their Own Battle

October 11, 2013

Heirs - a story of young men and women of today. The characters are mostly wealthy kids living their lives the way they want but struggling inside, emotionally. A story that will tell time and again that money is not the be all and end all of all things. Somethings are much more important and deserve pondering about.

The story started with Kim Tan, a son of a wealthy family from Seoul. He may be rich but that did not made him any happier. For some time now he was exiled, his own words, to US specifically L.A. to live on his own farther from his family. His own hyung or brother wants him out of reach, for reasons I have yet to understand. Kim Won, his hyung is currently managing the company. But of course, Kim Tan continue to live as carefree as he wants, in comfort but from time to time he is wondering about his life and it's meaning. He is sad but he keeps that to himself.

He is engaged to Rachel Yoo, another rich kid but has a broken family. Her mother is on her 2nd marriage to Choi Young Do's father, another business man. Both will be going to be step siblings if the marriage will push through. Both also are having their own troubles. Both are a bit arrogant, spoiled and used to getting their own way. Choi Young Do is into bullying weak kids and enjoy having power over them. Guess it was a result of not having sole attention in the family.

One character that is so lovable is Yoon Chang Young. He is living a comfortable life with his father. And they have a good relationship. They can tease each other and talk freely but with respect. He has a girlfriend, Lee Bo Na, another girl who wants to have sole attention from her boyfriend. But then she just have to accept Cha Eun Sang's presence in Yoon Chang Young's life. They grew up together and keep their friendship, despite Eun Chang's tough life. But what's cute is that Eun Sang is never intimidated with Bo Na, even throwing words with her. And Chang Young is just there, amused, looking at both.

Cha Eun Sang has been living her life day to day doing part time jobs to save money. She has a sister living in the states, and though she misses her, she envies her life, thinking she is having a grand time studying there. Her mother has a speaking disability, she convey her words through writing in a notebook. She is working as house help, attending to the needs of Kim Tan's family.

It's a tough life but they tried to keep up with what comes their way. Eun Sang feels tired and also want to enjoy life. A call from her sister asking money for her marriage. Eun Chang against her mother's will went to US, wanting to talk to her sister. But when she arrives, surprised that all were lies from the start. She is not living comfortably, not even studying and the man she was supposed to marry already has a new woman in the house. She saw her serving food at the restaurant where Kim Tan is a regular and that time he witnessed how she and her sister fight. In the end, her sister run away with her money. Not caring if she was left there in the streets. I think her sister is a selfish one. Or maybe too embarrassed of what happened to her fate.

With all the battles these different characters in the story is facing, the most hard one is being destitute. And Eun Sang is clearly not on the same level of Kim Tan and Rachel who had gone to L.A. and followed him. Their lifestyles is just a dream for Eun Sang.

But fate brought them together. Kim Tan helped Eun Sang when she was accosted by the police. The american friend of Kim Tan played with her powdered beans that caused allergy to him. And the police is investigating if it was drugs. To make it worse, Kim Tan acknowledge her as his GF when she was having a hard time understanding English words. And by reputation, Kim Tan seems to have it bad with the police, resulting to confiscating her passport for a while.

At the end of the day, there was nowhere she could stay, the house her sister lives is empty, no one answering. Kim Tan came back and offered her his house as her temporary shelter.

The story is ordinary. The usual teenage stories and problems of wealthy families. And in the midst of all these is the start of friendship between Kim Tan and Cha Eun Sang. He connected with her. Maybe in his soul searching, writings, he finds something in her that can lead him to the answers he has been seeking.