Recap: The Heirs Episode 4

Tan stands in his brother’s shadows, desiring his love. He can see the outline of his brother’s shadow, so large compared to his own. Will he ever be able to grow past that outline and stand equal to his brother? Or even larger one day?

Written before live recap

I wrote my heart out in the comment section yesterday, and with no new information about episode 4, let me just repost a part of my episode 3 comment here.

Tan is 18 in Korean age, which means he is really 17. He may be in his late teens, but deep inside, he is that small child that was told by his brother to not dream before he was exiled to the US. That child, rejected and longing for love, is what comes out to hope for his brother’s welcome, approval, and love. It is that child, who grew up alone in that big house away from his family, standing there in the orchard as Eun Sang comes to comfort him.

Eun Sang is the opposite of Tan, forced to mature quickly by her sister’s abandonment. She’s practical and realistic, knowing very well her situation in life. Tan is dangerous for her-this rich and engaged boy. She calls him and this whole experience a midsummer night’s dream that will be over when she or he wakes up. She doesn’t and won’t dream. How will she survive if she dreams or hopes?

Tan keeps hoping and keeps getting hurt because he is still that child inside who will get up when pushed down and keep wanting what he wants. So he dares to like Eun Sang and dares to go see his brother because he misses him. But his scars and Eun Sang’s hesitation keeps him from grabbing onto that rash courage and moving on ahead into maturity and going against his brother.

I like Tan a lot and see Eun Sang and him as very complimentary. Tan first saw her in her worst moment, and now Eun Sang has seen him in his. Both were rejected and/or abandoned by their older siblings, who stand as a beacon to them. Both are lost and hurt, I hope they both find through each other the courage to dream and take on their life to their fullest potential.

The order will go like this. I can’t post updates while the drama is airing, unless the episode is moving slowly. I will be trying to capture as much as possible while I am watching the episode.  When the episode is over, I will go back to my notes, fix them up a bit and update part by part on each recap post while waiting for the torrents. If you can leave a link here, that would be great. When the full episode is available, I will fill in more blanks and screencaps, and continue to update. Finally, I will leave my comments.

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Character Index

 Kim Tan

 Cha Eun Sang

 Choi Young Do

 Kim Won, Kim Tan’s half-brother, President of Jeguk Group

 Lee Bo Na

 Yoo Ra Hael (Rachael Yoo)

 Yoon Chan Young

 Lee Hyo Shin

 Jo Myung Soo

 Kang Ye Seul

 Jun Hyun Joo

Han Ki Ae -Kim Tan’s birth mom

 Kim Nam Yoon- Kim Tan and Kim Won’s father, Jeguk Group CEO

 Park Hee Nam- Cha Eun Sang’s mom

 Yoon Jae Ho- Yoon Chan Young’s dad, Chief Secretary in Jeguk Group

 Jung Ji Sook- Kim Nam Yoon’s second wife, birth mom to neither Tan or Won.

 Esther Lee- Yoo Ra Hael’s mom, RS International CEO

 Choi Dong Wook- Choi Young Do’s dad, Zeus Hotel CEO

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Episode 4

***When I told Softy I slept two hours yesterday night, and last week one hour, before getting up for a full day of work, she yelled at me. I realize that if I keep doing that, I won’t last the 20 episodes. So while it pains me terribly to not rewrite these live recaps in the format of my other non-live recaps, I am going to use my energy more wisely to simply fill in the important parts and correct errors from the live recap, and also write my comments, which take the most energy out of me. Thank you guys for reading, sharing your thoughts and enthusiasm for this drama. You are my vitamins!

ES walks into airport to see R hugging T. She turns to leave, but Tan sees her and calls out to her. “Cha Eun Sang, stop right there.”

Eun Sang turns around. T says bye to R, and walks over to ES, R completely forgotten now. T yells at ES for not calling. He wants her number from her. ES looks at R. She says to T that she thanked him and already said bye so don’t leave his fiancé like that to ask her something like that. ES walks past T and R. R looks at T, realizing more how much T likes ES already.

Inside the plane, R goes to E who is filling out the entry form. R is waiting for ES to finishing filling out the form. R says to ES that she is getting a sad hunch that they will see each other again. ES says they will not. R says, “You’re saying that because you don’t know Tan. If something sad happens, I think I will want to see you first. But I don’t know anything about you. R takes the form which has ES’s info.

The stewardess won’t let ES go to the front of the plane where R is sitting to get back her entry form.

YD is waiting for R at the airport, holding a sarcastic sign welcoming his “stepsister.” The two fight, both unhappy to see each other. Woobin is pretty awesome here as YD. I love his facial expression and the air of disdain, anger, and pride he gives off.

ES has arrived in Korea too.

Inside car, YD and R fight over the music playing.  R says, “You must be dying to know about Tan. He is doing well.” She says Tan asked if YD is doing well too so she told him that YD is living well as usual, and as evil as usual- “like the fox acting like he  the king in the cave lacking its tiger.” YD gets mad at R’s implication that he is the fox and Tan is the tiger. He says to R, “Did you ever wonder why the tiger is not in his cave? Perhaps it was pretending to be a tiger too. That perhaps it ran away scared it might be found out that he is not really a tiger.” Ooh, I love this allegory. R doesn’t really get what YD is talking about. YD leaves the car, clearly still very sensitive to the mention of Tan.

ES is back home. There is no one there or any furniture. Landowner tells ES that her mom packed up to live as the inhouse maid. ES asks for a cellphone to call her mom.

Mom tells ES to stay a sauna place since the master of the house is not feeling well.  “Come tomorrow to the house.” ES sits alone in the dark, empty house.

Tan checks if ES has updated her status. She hasn’t. He looks at her picture and sighs.

Hyun Joo is being told to not show any skin or perfume or manicure when she is tutoring Hyo Shin.

HS asks if HJ doesn’t get mad at his family’s rules. HJ says yes but she is getting paid well and she needs the money.

HS comments that he likes all the things that his mom told her not to wear, like shorts, skirts, perfume, and manicure. HJ says she likes them too, but she won’t wear them since the person who pays is always right.

HJ gets a call from Won. HS asks why she isn’t picking up the phone and if it is her boyfriend. She doesn’t answer him.

Won asks for a necklace, not ring, at the jewelers. He likes the wishbone necklace. Oh my, Choi Jin Hyuk’s voice makes me melt. 

ES finds out her mom took out the deposit for their house to give to the sister. Sister called to confess that the marriage was fake and apologize. ES is angry mom didn’t yell at sister, but mom says, “How am I supposed to while tapping on the phone?” She slaps ES for calling her sister names. Mom tells ES to wait outside while she goes inside. In the meantime JS comes home and notices ES.

Mom (HN) asks Ki Ae how the affair trap for JS is going. Mom is basically threatening KA to let her daughter stay at the house. Love their dynamic. HN knows how to work KA.

Mom instructs ES to change into clean clothes. They are going to live here from now on.

JS and KA are fighting. JS is mad that KA didn’t tell her about T’s dad being sick.  KA and JS argue with JS giving a jab at KS for not being on the family registry (only being a mistress) and JS gives one right back saying KS can’t have children.

JS says that both she and KA both don’t have children since Tan is not here by KA’s side anyway. KA says blood is thicker than water. JS slaps KA.

Won comes home so they stop fighting.

After Won is gone, KA says to JS, “You’re right. Blood is thicker but remember that Won, his dad, and Tan share blood. So let’s see how well T protects his mom against Won.”

ES brings medicine to Tan’s dad.  Won sees her standing in front of the door so he wordlessly motions her in. ES introduces herself to Tan’s dad as Hee Nam’s daughter. She leaves.

Won tells dad that he met Tan. But dad says that no one at the party talked about Tan, implying he knows that Won didn’t let Tan stay. “Free Tan from his exile.  Or I will. I know you were hurt, so in order to be fair, I looked away when you hurt Tan. But it has been going on for too long. This isn’t fair.” Won retorts, “Is the pain weighing the same fairness it your eyes?” Dad: “I didn’t hug Tan once because of you. I’m thinking I will regret it if it continues like this.” Won: “You make it sound like you raised me with love. Are you confident you will have no regrets regarding me?” Dad says he is not asking for Won’s opinion.

KA is wallowing in anger and self-pity, so she says to HN she is luck to be poor so she doesn’t have to experience things like this. No, wait, she takes that back. KA also remembers that Won said he went to the US.

KA wants to talk about Tan with Won. She is worried about Tan. Did he ask about her? Won asks, “You don’t have his number?” KA: “Won won’t pick up.” KA wants Won to let Tan come back. He is only 18. Won says “At 18, I was the heir to Jeguk and was a major stock holder.” KA starts to confess that she feels bad for being a bad mom to Tan. He tells her this is not a church. KA leaves saying she is Buddhist. Ha!

There is a photo of Won sitting at the same beach Tan is sitting in now. These scenes fade into one another, and Tan remembers what Won said to him at the farm, asking him if all he did was grow taller.

Mom (HN) explains to ES the complicated Kim family relationship. KA comes in and tell ES to not let anything about this house be known outside. KA says something mean about mom not being able to speak, but ES keeps her temper down and is nice and polite to KA, which is what HN wants.

ES finishes washing the dishes and finds her mom falling asleep ironing. ES tucks her mom in.

Next morning. ES has made herself at home. She give mom the souvenir from the US- the almonds. ES will work hard with her part time job, while mom eats a lot of the almonds, lose weight, find a rich guy, so they can leave this house.

ES cries and apologizes to mom for abandoning her. Mom just hugs ES, patting her on the back. She cries too and ES keeps apologizing.

ES works hard at the café and the chicken place. Tan looks at the Hollywood sign. At the university, he doesn’t see ES’s note on the bulletin board, which has been covered up by other notes. Poor Tan eats alone and poor Eun sang is working harder than ever to earn money.

ES calls CY to say she is going to pay him back. CY tells her he is coming back since vacation is about to be over.

KA wakes up. She says she hasn’t sleep well because she was worried about Tan. Dad says KA was snoring. He asks KA if Tan wants to come back. KA points out that Tan didn’t  want to leave for the U.S. in the first place. Dad hints that he would like to have both Tan and Won here. Ka gets the hint and sees it as permission for Tan to come back. She wants Dad to fend off Won’s disapproval. Dad says it’s better if Tan doesn’t come if he can’t come back because he is afraid of his brother.

KA calls Tan. Tan doesn’t answer. Voiceover- “I always imagined about the people who are lonely because I exist. I wished that those people felt lonely because I wasn’t there.” To his imagination of his aging father, “I want to come home, dad.” To his pathetic mother, “I miss you, mom.” To the image of his brother forever imprinted in his mind, “I want to believe that you felt pain deeply at least once after sending me away like that.” Tan calls Secretary Yoon. Gah, I want to cry.

Tan gives his professor his essay book. Thanks him and bye! Tan wrote in his book “One who wants to wear the crown, bear the crown.” Does anyone else think the person who wrote the script is actually a girl? It looks like a girl’s handwriting.

Tan is in Korea. Secretary Yoon has come to greet him.  Yoon says Tan grew tall. Says KA called four times. Also, his dad will be happy to see him. Tan says he will go see Won first.

Won is surprised to see Tan. First thing Won asks is how long Tan’s stay will be. Tan says he is here to stay. He missed his family. Won calls him a whiner. Tan promises to just fool around here in Korea. He assures him that the things Won fears won’t happen Won says the things that he is worried about are not things a mere child of a mistress can say will or won’t happen. He says Tan threw away the chance Won gave him for them to have a good relationship.”You don’t want to go back? Then stay. What can I do to you since everyone is on your side.”

Outside, Won wants Yoon to find a hotel room for him. That man Choi Jin Hyuk does things to me. Guh. 

KA is happy to see Tan. Dad doesn’t look at Tan, and Tan looks disappointed. He just calmly and coldly tells Tan to sit.

Dad asks him about his house. Was it a nice place to live? Tan says his house was too big. It was too bright in the day and  too dark in the night. See, I told you that house was too big *weeps* Dad says in the dark you can see the stars better. Dad asks what Tan learned there. Tan says he just played around. Dad and mom look disappointed. Dad tells Won to just go rest now in his room.

Tan looks happy to be back in his room. KA comes in and she asks if he made a lot of blond friends. Tan replies, “Friends with large chests.” She asks, worried, “You didn’t touch drugs, did you?” Tan once again casually replies, “It is too expensive.” KA gives a sigh of relief. She asks about R, but Tan avoids the question.

The maid finds ES’s sock in Tan’s luggage and takes it to do laundry. Tan hangs up the dream catcher in his window.

ES sits outside. She takes a picture of the plane stub to upload onto her SNS account. She types, “Like there is no way to prove that I was in the dream yesterday, that place is like that for me too. Was I really there?” She and Tan stare at the sky.

Next day, Tan recognizes the sneakers hanging out to dry as familiar. He cocks his head. Eating breakfast, he hears ES’s ringtone. He just misses seeing her, only catching her disappearing back. ES misses seeing Tan full on too, only learning that the second son is in the house.

At the crack of dawn, Mom tells ES to leave the house right now and not come home until dark since the mood in the house is bad, with Won not coming home. Dad is upset by that, which means KA is worse than usual.

Myung Soo runs into ES coming out of Tan’s door. Seems he was out partying with YD all night. MS wonders if Tan‘s family  moved.

At the convenience store, YD wait for his instant ramen to be ready. He sees ES, walking into the store with her eyes barely open, drinking the water and falling asleep outside. He takes his ramen outside to eat in front of her, curious.

Two little kids come nearby, fighting with each other. YD tells the kids that they are too loud, not wanting to wake up this strange being in front of him. Someone is sleeping here! The kids start to cry for mom so ES gets up and walks away, not even noticing  YD. YD says to the kids that they are making fun of him for not having a mom, as the kids are crying “MOM!” He used to have a mom like they do as that age.

MS comes back, and he jokes around with YD, asking him if he got hurt anywhere because of those kids. YD says “Heart” while he looks at Eun Sang’s disappearing figure.

BN is in the TV station, searching for her dad.  She runs into Kim Hee chul of Super Junior, making a cameo appearance in this drama as himself. He asks her if she like Heechul or Kyuhyun (another Super Junior member) better, to which BN replies she likes CY. Heechul asks if CY is her boyfriend or hostage. BN completely ignores Heechul after getting message from CY and seeing him here in Korea. The two argue about who missed each other more. Oh my god, these two are disgustingly sweet. BN: “Don’t go anywhere from now on.” CY: “Let’s go anywhere together from now on.” BN has forgotten all about looking for her dad since CY is here.

BN, CY, and dad eat together at CY’s house. CY and his dad make the dinner. I wish I was BN watching these two and getting fed by them. Sitting down to dinner,  CY teases dad about getting a girlfriend of his own.

Dad remarks that he knows CY met Tan in the US. CY casually talks about him, but BN is nervous, pretending she doesn’t know him. CY finds this cute.

Whining to MS, BN thinks CY might break up with her because he might know that she and Tan once dated. She tells that that CY and Tan met in the US. MS jokes that those two fell in love and that is why CY is breaking up with her. Pfft. BN wonders what Tan said to CY about her- “He definitely wouldn’t have forgotten about me. It seems like they fought physically too.” Ah, BN thinks way to highly about herself, and way too imaginative. She warns MS to not take the side of someone who is Rachel’s.

Tan hasn’t logged out of ES’s SNS account and he sees her new status update. He types, “You were really there. I can stand witness to that.” ES realizes it is Tan and texts him to log out of her account. The two text back and forth, Tan teasing ES about her healthy kidneys again. She calls his bluff, saying he should try to take them if can. Tan texts, “Tell me the truth. You really want me to appear, right?”

And fake out. They miss seeing each other. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tan wonders why ES has stopped texting back. She has come back after buying cheese. While waiting for Eun Sang’s reply, he sees HN wearing an “I love California” shirt.

KA is practicing English. ES has bought cheese for KA.  She notices KA wearing familiar socks. HN brings in the wrong wine, and KA asks if HN can’t use her eyes either. ES volunteers to bring the correct wine. KA says “Sure, you need to earn your keep.” HN wants to stop ES, but ES signs to HN that she has to earn her keep.

ES goes down into the wine cellar. She looks at the wine and sadly says,  “Even wine is living in luxury.”

Tan is outside still waiting for ES’s reply. Tan once again barely misses seeing ES, catching only her back again. Inside the house, he see a familiar silhouette. Tan tells mom he keeps seeing this young girl’s back.  KA says it is the maid’s daughter. Getting the name wrong, she says “Cha Eun Sung?” KA says the daughter came here after her sister took the money. Tan wonders if this is his ES,  remembering back to what he saw with ES’ sister. In his room, reading back to ES’s message about wanting Jeguk to go down, Tan texts ES “What are you doing right now? Answer now!”  ES finally answers. “I’m drinking water.”

Tan runs downstairs to the kitchen. He stops outside the door, unsure and his anticipation holding him back- what if it is really ES? Tan slowly opens the door, peeking in as Eun Sang’s figure is fully revealed. It is really Eun Sang.

Preview for Episode 5

Ji Sook to Tan: “You’re all grown now, kicking out your brother as soon as you arrive.”

Eun Sang to Rachel: “Don’t move.” She takes Rachel’s name tag. Rachel: “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” ES to R: “I’m taking your name tag. If you want to get it back, call me.”

Young Do to Eun Sang: “This is your number?”

YD to ES: “To get your number, I am even doing (I can’t understand Woobin. I think he is saying ‘I am even making a Euro transaction’).”

Tan: “Because I became interested.”

ES: “Right. So why?”

Tan: “Because you’re pretty.”

Tan: “You won’t leave my head!”

ES: “School or what not, let’s leave this room and not live hiding like we are sinners.”

YD: “I didn’t introduce you. Starting today, you are mine.”

Someone: In the school of satans, the lucifers have arrived.

Tan: “I missed you, friend.”

YD: “Welcome.”

Comment:

I really loved the first two episodes, relishing the quiet beauty of the California landscape and giving us time to take in the characters. Now we are finally in Korea, and with that, came more energy, and I could hardly perceive how quickly the episode passed when I saw that is was 11PM already and the show about to end. Still, I am happy to say that that show didn’t forget to keep calm. I would say that this episode found a near perfect pace for me.

All those shots of Tan alone in his Malibu house really came together when Tan described the house to his dad. It was beautiful, yes, but too big for one 18-year-old kid, forced to eat sandwiches alone every day. And I nearly cried when we heard Tan’s voiceover- “I always imagined about the people who are lonely because I exist. I wished that those people felt lonely because I wasn’t there.” To his imagination of his aging father, “I want to come home, dad.” To his pathetic mother, “I miss you, mom.” To the image of his brother forever imprinted in his mind, “I want to believe that you felt pain deeply at least once after sending me away like that.”

Won is a huge presence in Tan’s life as evidenced by Tan’s desire to see Won first when he arrived in Korea and his obedience to Won’s instruction for him to just fool around in the US. He is more afraid to disappoint his brother than his father. Tan stands in his brother’s shadows, desiring his love. He can see the outline of his brother’s shadow, so large compared to his own. Will he ever be able to grow past that outline and stand equal to his brother? Or even larger one day?

If Tan has a brother complex, Young Do has a father complex. It is repeatedly brought up that Young Do keeps losing to his father and that he has no mother. Growing under an overbearing and cold father, Young Do is all bristles, defensive and aggressive against the world.

Chan Young and Myung Soo help to keep the pain level down in this drama, with Chan Young’s incredible sweetness and Myung Soo’s humor. Chan Young is just too good to be true, and I would like to order one for myself, please.

We got the hint today that Won might be in love or have some kind of relationship with another poor girl, Hyun Joo. I don’t know how Won would allow himself to be involved with a poor girl since he is so desperate to keep his position. But if he is, it runs as an interesting parallel to his brother’s situation. I can’t wait to see what the writer makes of Hyun Joo and Won’s relationship.

I noticed that while Tan says he misses his mom and feels sympathetic towards her, he is not particularly sweet or nice to her. It’s the burden of her reliance on him that make him distant towards her. Ki Ae relies on Tan too much for her happiness. He sees her as a foolish woman who he needs to take care of, when at this age, he needs her care.

The next episode brings us to school and with all these strong personalities in one location, I’m sure sparks will fly. I can’t wait to see more Young Do and Eun Sang interaction, as well as some Young Do and Tan stare downs. Who is really the tiger and who is really the fox? Only more episodes will tell. Counting down to next week!