3 Reasons Why Audiences Enthuse Over ‘Heirs’

Of course we had our expectations. However, we wondered if SBS "Heirs" would record such a high national viewing rate of 20%.

What had our high hopes and expectation on this drama were the fact that it was a work of drama writer Kim Eun Sook, who is a romantic drama guru, and the fact that all hot idol stars and actors made an appearance en masse. On the other hand, we did worry about the drama being the stereotypical high teen romance story. But that was a false alarm.

First off, the high national viewing rate of 20% proved that "Heirs" was not the stereotypical high teen romance story. Secondly, the fans who, after the Thursday's episode ends, wait in desperation and sadness for next Wednesday, prove the popularity of "Heirs."

1. The power of living and moving characters

Out of all actors and actresses who make an appearance in "Heirs," none of them takes up an unimportant role. Whether the character's role is small or big, whether the character speaks one line or many, or whether the character makes an appearance in one scene or more, all characters in "Heirs" make a strong impression on you, and they are all alive and moving. In many other dramas, the main characters are always the cool, good looking, and attractive ones. However, the other supporting characters only stay within their classes or occupations, and are not rounded, developing or multi-dimensional characters. They are always the mother, boss at work, older sister, or maid.

However, in "Heirs," the character of a mother does not stop at being so and so's mother. The mother is cranky at times, cheerful and caring, has a big heart and annoys the son, showing a multi-dimensional characteristics. The same goes with the Empire high school students. In addition to the main characters, Lee Min Ho, Park Shin Hye, and Kim Woo Bin, each and every one of the Empire high school students has a distinguishable character. This power of all characters makes "Heirs" a fun drama to watch not only when the main characters are on the screen, but also when the supporting, and other extra characters are on the screen.

2. Power of an unpredictable, non stereotypical story

One error that dramas with strong characters could make is that only the characters are alive, but not the story. In other words, it could be that characters are doing well and acting is great, but there is no substance to the story or the story is too stereotypical or lacks a tension. In these cases, the characters usually speak out interesting lines or phrases that are in vogue, but the story is too weak that it does not feel like a drama.

However, there is a power of the story in "Heirs." In the beginning, some people criticized whether drama writer Kim Eun Sook only makes self replicating dramas, but it proved not to be true. In addition to the charms of a naïve high teen romance, "Heirs" also brings the weight. Going over the fever like infatuation of the teenagers, "Heirs" also touches upon the social statuses and classes.

3. Unpredictable storyline even when the subject matter is predictable

In addition, although the subject matter of a triangle love relationship among sons of conglomerate families and a poor girl is stereotypical in Korean dramas, "Heirs" makes the next story unpredictable, since the story is always weaved out a little bit different from the audiences' predictions and expectations. Therefore, although it feels as if Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) and Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho) would meet again in a non stereotypical way, audiences cannot predict it, which makes "Heirs" more dramatic and interesting.