Everything that is wrong with Heirs

A graphical representation of why I am watching the Korean drama, Heirs:

I went into this drama expecting something....more. After all, it had Lee Min Ho AND Park Shin Hye in it. How could you possibly go wrong with a show starring Mr Sexy-Short-Pants (star of City Hunter and the infamous Boys Over Flowers) and the girl-boy from You're Beautiful. It's like, statistically impossible.

While the drama isn't the worst one out there, in my opinion, it's definitely not that great either (and for sure does not live up to the hype). I waited about 3 episodes for that crack-drama feeling to kick in. When that didn't happen, I lowered my expectations and decided to leave my brain at the door while going along for the ride. But then stuff happened and I just ugh.

So without further ado, here are my list of complaints against Heirs. If you happen to like the drama, I apologise for offending you. These are just my thoughts (and usually they're not very intelligent ones).

1. Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Abs Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Money Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Daddy Issues Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Abs Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst  Angst. LIKE PLEASE FUCKING STOP WITH THE ANGST ALREADY.

I have seen dramas where people spent 99% of their time crying. But in most of these cases, the crying was warranted. Lives were at stake. Loved ones were separated. People were betrayed. Revenge was being sought. These are all examples of it being okay to cry and angst your heart out. But in this drama? I don't even know why you are unhappy. Okay fine, you've got Daddy issues, I get it. But that doesn't mean you have to be a psychopathic, in-need-of-a-restraining-order asshole (Young Do, I'm looking at you). Are you all broody because the girl you love is of a different social class? That would be okay if I actually believed your relationship. What do Eun Sang and Tan have that I can't see? I find their relationship neither cute nor believable. Therefore your angst is irrelevant.

2. What does he see in her?

Eun Sang needs to grow a backbone. Or drink a sass potion. 'Cause girl, could you be anymore bland? Geum Jan Di from Boys Over Flowers was an idiot. But at least she was a sassy idiot who stood up to bullies. You? Do you do anything else besides cry and make this face?

 

Stand up for yourself once in a while. It's really not that hard. Just repeat after me: "No. Don't come near me anymore. If you do, I will kick you in the balls and report you for sexual harassment and stalking." See? It's not that hard! Also, if you like a guy, you probably should stop running away from him. It gives the wrong impression.

 

3. Tan. As mentioned over at dramabeans.com, giving a girl some space DOES NOT equate to watching her every move through CCTV footage. Please take notes.

 

4. Choi Young Do, you are an asshole and not the kind of asshole that has redeeming qualities. (Okay fine, the abs are great but still.) Grow up man. There is a difference between banter/teasing and straight out terrorising. You do not purposefully trip a girl just to enforce your male dominance. Neither do you corner her next to her locker and threaten to expose her poverty-status if she doesn't go out with you. That, my dear children, is called sexual harassment and it is frowned upon in most societies.

 

 

 

5. Yes, Eun Sang is bland and has about as much personality as a potato. But that doesn't mean you should treat her like an inanimate object you can drag along with you whenever you feel like it. I get that both the lead guys have issues that they need to sought out but the girl shouldn't have to be a pawn in the game. You don't have to prove your manliness by trying to get the girl. Like just whip it out and measure already. Then we can move on with the story.

 

6. Cultural Appropriation in the first few episodes. Never thought I would use this phrase when speaking of Americans but that's exactly what happened in the episodes set in California. God, the stereotypes were everywhere. Also, American does not necessarily equal white. There are other races in the US as well you know? (I would mention the Engrish but I suppose the Korean actors can't really help it if they're not fluent in the language).

 

7. Directing and cinematography aren't that great. And don't tell me that there is no such thing as good cinematography in a Korean drama because I could provide you with a whole list right now where this has been done well. The sets in "Heirs" are elaborate but there is more to shooting a drama than having nice locations. You've got to vary your shots, try out different angles. Have smooth transitions that don't look like transitions at all. I really hate it when you can tell it's the beginning of a shot just because of how awkward the line delivery from the actor sounds.

 

8. Everything is so unbelievable. I've heard stories about how Korean high schools are really cut-throat and wealth is a big factor in how your peers view you as a person. But this drama takes it too far. It's almost comical how judgy and arrogant everyone is. I know that dramas aren't supposed to be realistic but you could at least vary your characters a little bit. Not every rich girl has to be a bitch and not every poor person has to have a heart of gold. And I am saying this from the perspective of a girl from the Western suburbs of NSW.

 

9. This drama does that thing where they build up the conflict but when you get to the actual scene, it just seems to... fall a bit flat. For example, most episodes end with the two guys having a stare off and the girl just gets caught in the middle. Am I supposed to feel something here? Are you aiming for suspense? Cause mostly I just feel annoyed that the girl has been objectified again.

 

10. Basically everything is boring and nothing happens.

 

Anyhow, my bitching ends here. Sorry for making you sit through all that. I just have a lot of thoughts and as you can tell, Korean dramas get me all riled up haha. If you're looking for a drama that ticks all the boxes (acting, storyline, directing), I think you should check out Queen In Hyun's Man and maybe even I Hear Your Voice. By far the two best ones I watched this year. They gave me that crack-drama feeling that turned into epic withdrawal after the series had finished. Everything made sense and the characters were believable and kickass.

 

After all that negativity, I feel it's only fair to end on a positive note. So here you go. Have a picture of the abs:

 

 

(Source)

 

You're welcome. 

 

List of Random

Two posts in one day? Gee Cynthia, you haven't been this active on Blogger since your C'sReverie Year 9 days! Speaking of C'sReverie, I recently took a look at the stats on the old blog and it's now got a whopping 36,088 views (of which 50% - I'm pretty sure - came from spam sites and google searches). I posted the weirdest shit on that thing. Maybe I should do something about it.

Onwards to the list of random!

1. Angelfall - that book I blogged about a while ago - is going to be made into a movie. The news was announced on the author's website on Thursday and to be honest, my heart kind of sunk when I heard about it. Brilliant book - don't get me wrong. In fact, it was probably the best Young Adult book I read all year (let's ignore the fact that I only read about 4 in 2013). My heart sunk because I didn't think they'd be able to do justice to it. Nothing is ever as good as the book. Not The Hunger Games and not Harry Potter. I'm excited for The Book Thief and Catching Fire but I doubt they will amaze me. Oh well. Perhaps at least this little indie gem will get the big name exposure it deserves. (It's being produced by the people behind the Spider Man trilogy and the executive producer was at the helm of The Hunger Games movie.)

(Source)

 

2. Flashback time! To that Aaron Carter episode on Lizzie McGuire (because I saw this picture on buzzfeed and it brought back warm fuzzy feelings and now I'm spreading the warm fuzzies to you).

 

 

3. There were dwarves in my garden this morning!

 

 

4. A colour reversed image of that thing I drew. My phone did something strange when I took a picture of it.

 

 

 

5. We tried to be Gossip Girl but failed miserably.

 

6. Saw this on the bbc.co.uk news site (which is supposed to reflect quality journalism). Looks like somebody needs to get their facts straight.

What type of person doesn't know that 'K Pop' is a genre, not a band's name? Come on. Have you been living under a rock these last few years?

 

7. They want to know if I'm willing to have my contract extended. I want to know whether they're going to start giving me an allowance to cover travel and food costs :( Please? I don't ask for anything and I'm there 17 hours a week.

 

8. Nancy, this could have been you.

 

 

9. I wish more episodes of Heirs was out so I can finally start the darned series. Come on... just a few more weeks to go.

 

10. I am officially on holidays! Yaaaaay! First year or uni done and dusted. I have very mixed feelings about this year so I might do a ~serious~ blog post later down the track just talking about my experiences and how this whole year out of high school has done strange things to my mental wellbeing. Okay, it sounds like I'm just joking around when I say it like that but honestly, this year has been so traumatic and confusing, I don't even know where to begin. But we'll save that for later.

 

Cynthia, out!

Captain Hook (OUaT) Appreciation Post

Okay, so apart from the terrible acting, cheesy one-liners and really, really low budget special effects, Once Upon A Time isn't actually that bad. Sure it's got like a gazillion plot holes but who needs logic when you've got Captain Hook?

Let's all take a moment to appreciate this fiiiiiiiiiiine specimen of humanity.

Unnnnfffff.

Last one?

Yeah, okay let's be honest. There is one reason and one reason only that I'm giving Once Upon a Time another go after ditching it last year. And no, it's not because of Henry's fabulous acting.

I think it should be illegal for someone that good-looking to be on a family show. You can tell that the producers are really pushing the boundaries too, judging from those few lines in episode 9:

"Normally, I prefer to do more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back."

And then a few moments later, during his fight with Emma:

"Trust me, if I jab you with my sword...you'll feel it"

Children's show my ass. It's okay kids. He's just talking about....Twister. Funny. Now that I think about it, this could be one of those shows that you watch again as an adult and then realise how many sexual innuendos flew over your head as a child.

So in conclusion, as long as Once Upon a Time keeps delivering on Hook, I will sit through countless hours of cheesy dialogue, tedious lacklustre fight scenes and unnecessary Lost cameos. Yah?
Yah!

And then she looked directly at me.....

Yes it's been awhile, yes I'm apologising again and no I don't think anyone out there really cares but I'll do it anyway. I don't even have a reason for not blogging this time. I can't lie and say I've been busy because whilst everyone has been freaking out over finals, I've been sitting here scrolling endlessly through tumblr. Oh the life of a communications student...

So, a couple of week ago, I went to my first peer networking training session. Did I tell you I made it into peer networking? If you're wondering, it's the volunteer program at university where you don an orange shirt (along with exaggerated enthusiasm for tertiary education) and harass welcome new students on orientation days. If you read my post a couple of weeks earlier, you would've heard how badly I bombed the interview. So as you can imagine, I was very surprised that they took me on.

Well, the mystery has been solved. I now know why they accepted me into the program, and no, it's not because of my superior charm and witty countenance. You see, during the training session, the program coordinator was talking to us about the importance of communication skills and how we had a responsibility to reassure people who had issues at university. At one point in her speech, she said:

"We have chosen you guys because of your confidence , friendliness and clear leadership capabilities. However, I also want to state that some of you were chosen because whilst you may not be as extroverted as most of the people here, we're hoping that shy students will recognise that in you and find you easier to approach and talk to."

And when she said that, I'm pretty sure she looked directly at me.

High five Cynthia. For once in your life, your introvertedness and awkward personality has actually worked in your favour. I hope you know that that's never going to happen again (so you might as well enjoy it now).

I've picked up guitar again and have been learning a few new songs just for the fun of it. Actually, earlier this week, I went through a phase of wanting to play really angry or really bass-heavy songs. Maybe it's because I was sick of doing what I usually do - boring-ass cute pop covers - and I just wanted to experiment with something totally different. Plus I was just angry at the world for no reason (no it's not PMS - you have probably experienced that inexplicable frustration yourself).

I learnt The Pretty Reckless' 'Make Me Wanna Die' and those maaaaaaaaan those low lyrics are like the best thing to belt out, ever. I sound like a total man but I don't even care because Taylor Momsen sounds like a man and she's fucking hot anyway.

And then I learnt that epic rift from Arctic Monkey's 'Do I Wanna Know' and pretended I was totally badass (whilst playing my dad's classical guitar in my pink-coloured bedroom surrounded by furry stuffed animals).

If you haven't seen it, here's the music video:

 

I'm having trouble singing and playing at the same time though. Probably because the lyrics are in such a syncopated rhythm compared to the music.

 

I might try to attempt some Paramore next. It'll probably turn out disastrous though cause my guitar playing still sucks shit and Hayley William's voice is like Hayley William's voice and my voice is like....not Hayley William's voice, y'know?

 

I would like to get a condenser mic sometime in the near future so I can do better covers. I could even attempt some dodgy acapella covers! It'll be fun.