Herança Brilhante

Shining Inheritance was a riches to rags to find-yourself drama that was well written and acted. Our heroine is plucky, the stepmother / stepdaughter are quite the evil pair and our male leads, the rich heir (starts spoiled and evolves) and selfless friend, are both worthy of love. The Grandmother, who has the inheritance, shakes up her sheltered spoiled family when she strips them of money to teach them about life.

What I liked about the show a) writer So Hyun-kyung crafted 28 episodes of interwoven characters with surprises along the way. His evil characters had nuances. He also wrote the top-notch intriguing 49 Days (2011 kdrama) that I rate as better than Shining Inheritance. b) male lead Lee Seung-gi as heir Hwan, in his first male lead role, whose evolution from spoiled heir to caring person was a joy to watch. I also loved him as the male lead in 2010's My Girlfriend is Gumiho. c) Yeon Joon-seok as autistic brother Go Eun-woo was perfect and you rooted for him to be reunited with big sister. d) loved store Manager Lee who was terse but fair and put up with Hwan's initially hostile reluctance to do his job with patient dignity.

What I did not like about the show a) this drama was extended by 4 episodes and you can feel the storyline stretch. I bet is difficult for a writer to revamp during production when a drama is extended because it is garnering great ratings. b) the evil stepmother, while nuanced, grated on me and I tended to skip her scenes to alleviate the irritation. c) multiple hairstyle-challenged characters; female lead Go Eun-sung mushroom cap pageboy hair bugged me. She looked so much better with the bangs off the face. The Grandmother character had a terrible helmet-head gray wig and don't get me started on the factory worker with the gray pageboy wig.

I'm a regular viewer of kdramas, some I love some questionable. This was nice to watch but in my opinion, 28 episodes was too long. Sometimes by my own admittance I can have a short time span unless the story is really rivetting. Although the storyline had a good premise, I quite couldn't agree with the ending and therefore slightly disappointed. Unless there are Koreans out there can guide me, I'm from the UK, but I find, taking into account they are fictional stories but with a sense of how your culture is coming across to a westerner, alittle proud, sometimes harsh, humourous (a bit like ours) and seem to go by honour. Going back to this drama, for me thought the way the step daughter was treated in the end was quite harsh, a bit of compassion wouldn't have come amiss. Mother was a nightmare so can understand the characters turning against her. Was disappointed the daughter didn't end up with the restaurant guy, he's so sweet and lovely. The grandson's character was not very attractive at all, in real life he'd be someone I wouldn't touch with a bargepole! Lol. Well acted by everyone.

When Seungi acts arrogantly, I really hate the character. But he is really good in romantic scenes too coz he acts naturally. I rewatched this again after 4 years since I forgot the details. I raised my rating to 8 coz I don't know him yet when I first watched this kdrama. But now after vagabond, hwayugi and others I liked him better than watching this drama before.

I binged this on Netflix. I love the plots and twists with kdrama This is a good one

Even though this series is from 2009 it is still worth watching many years later because it's exciting and the lead actors are endearing. A girl and her autistic brother get kicked out penniless after her father dies. But she does a good deed and gets help from the wealthy woman she saved. There are lots of elements to keep you watching in this 28 episode show and it's exciting all the way to the well wrapped up grand finale.

Han Hyo Joo is very pretty and gives a winsome performance as the optimistic girl with many wrongs against her to set right. She doesn't overact. Lee Seung Gi has the central role of spoiled brat heir who has lots of lessons to learn along the way and it is done in a laugh out loud funny way that isn't preachy. The secondary leads are memorable too. Moon Chae Won is quite symathetic as the step sister who tries to do the right thing first gets dragged into the wrong path by her mother. The wicked step mother is one of the memorable villains in K drama because she is so cunningly evil. Bae Soo Bin is quite good too as the secondary male lead who is so good to the heroine but the heart wants what the heart wants. Even grandma is quite a watchable character because she isn't a fool. It is so funny the way her ungrateful daughter in law and grandkids go through the hilarious learning process and character development.

It's no wonder this show beat Boys over Flowers in the ratings that year - the story is much better.