Let's Talk: 'The Heirs' episode 1 & 2 *spoiler alert*

So let's talk about the long awaited drama full of pretty faces with genuine acting talent, 'The Heirs'.

Yes, I'd been looking forward to this drama to come for a long time, actually anticipating gloomy month of
October (which I never do) because that's when The Heirs would be beginning. But I just have to say I am quite disappointed in this drama so far. I didn't like episode 1 at all, episode 2 was a little better but...
I don't like the fact that Kim Tan and Eun Sang are in California because there a lot of opportunities to stereotype because of this. I'm talking about the whole stereotype of white American males. Also what's with all the white people; it reinforces the fact that Koreans think America is full of white people and that being American is actually an ethinicity. No it's not. I mean, we all know that L.A. stands for Lots of Asians*.
I really don't like the way white males are depicted in this drama and I'm not even a white male, neither am I white. But I can't believe no one else has picked this up. I am very open minded of how different races of people are stereotyped in the media and this drama is just reaking in nasty stereotypes.
Take for example, Eun Sang's sister's ex-boyfriend just happens to be a down and out mess whose moved on to another girl just as Stella moved out. I was quite surprised at this because I thought they would show perfect successful rich people instead of what was in this drama (sort of like Julien's character of Daniel in 'To The Beautiful You').

And all the sleazy guys that were hitting on Stella left right and center. Where do they get the information that American guys are like this and the rest of the Korean guys in the drama were walking around in their suits being all professional. The "American" guys were just:

running away from a young girl for a bag of "drugs". smh.

I surprised there wasn't a gang of ghetto-looking African Americans chasing Eun Sang for no reason than just to cause trouble and promote a thug-stereotype.

I have to say those fat guys running after Tan and Eun Sang in the second episode were funny though. "I'm gonna kill you." lol. Stella's ex has some funny friends.

Moving away from the depictations and on to the cringeful English. Aigoo... that's what I hate about Kim Eun Sook's dramas. They always contain way too much English and the thing is, it doesn't have to be that way. I can tell the way they're attempting the English is by writing it out for actors in hangul; bear in mind that the hangul alphabet does not have all the components for English pronounciation. There is no f, no v, no z. Lee Minho's English ends up unfortunetly sounding terrible. It was the same with Gil Ra Im and Kim Joo Won in Secret Garden.
There are coaches that can train the actors to pronounce the English in the correct or coherent way but still with a natural accent. Think Memoirs of a Geisha because that is exactly what I'm talking about. Some of those actresses/actors could not speak a word of English in real life yet on screen their English flowed effortlessly. It's not because they wrote it out in their alphabet and learnt it that way. It's because they worked closely with a coach that taught them the correct way to pronounce things. I just wish Kim Eun Sook's drama production would employ a coach like this. Please.
One of the things I just cannot stand in the world is the cringey English like what is in these dramas. Korean people don't sound like that when they speak English. Please, someone, fix this.

No Tan, it's really not. -__-

What I hope is that by the next episode Tan and Eun Sang will somehow find themselves returning to Korea so we can return to the comfortable normality of a korean drama.

Another thing, how the heck is Kim Woo Bin supposed to playing an 18-year-old, he already looks older than he is at 24, does anyone really thinks he can pull off the whole school boy thing anymore especially as he's gained more muscle after School 2013 and the characters are not wearing uniforms yet. Ji Won's character Rachael definitely looks like she should be attending University rather than high school.
I'm really watching this drama for Kim Jiwon and Krystal after woob broke my heart. I was a bit disappointed that Jiwon turned out to be the villain like in To The Beautiful You. I prefer her playing roles like in High Kick 3.
Krystal's character Bo Na, I love. She has a funny character again and I totally ship her with Young Do after the second episode.

Positively, I'm looking forward to seeing how things will go forward with Eun Sang and Chan Young (Minhyuk) as Bo Na (Krystal) is jealous of Eun Sang and Tan is jealous of Chan Young.

Well, we'll see...



credit: stills taken from gooddrama.net