REVIEW: ‘The Impossible Heir’ Episodes 1-2

Conglomerate succession wars are a popular storyline within Kdramas. Usually, they make up the more dramatic tension-filled portion of an overarching story, for example, the more recent My Demon and King The Land series. Depending on other elements, these succession storylines can get dark quickly, providing a look into the most sinister side of conglomerate politics. This appears to be the direction The Impossible Heir (Royallodeo) is gearing towards in Disney+’s latest Kdrama venture.

Starring Lee Jae-Wook, Lee Jun-Young, and Hong Su-Zu, The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-2 establishes the background and goals for its core characters. In The Impossible Heir Episode 1, events occur first in high school. Han Tae-Oh (Lee Jae-Wook) is a poor high school student with a dark past. His father is a murderer and still has his sights set on Tae-Oh, even while in prison. Tae-Oh returns to his mother’s hometown, facing the troublemaker Kang In-Ha (Lee Jun-Young).

In-Ha is the illegitimate son of the Kango Group. He is either ignored by his half-siblings, met with cold indifference by his father, or belittled by his father’s wife, Jang Geum-Seok (Kim Ho-Jung). In-Ha, in an attempt to feel something, constantly causes trouble at school and around the town. Tae-Oh is the only one who challenges him. At first, their energy towards each other is full of animosity. But, throughout The Impossible Heir Episode 1, the two gradually soften towards one another as they learn where they both come from.

Tae-Oh and In-Ha may come from different backgrounds but they desire similar things. Success is their driving motivation. Despite bullying from Geum-Seok, In-Ha desires to take over the Kango Group one day. It would be an ultimate middle finger to the family that has always looked down on him. Tae-Oh wants to become strong enough to protect himself from his father and succeed at all costs. These goals are just broad enough that they give plenty for writer Choi Won to play around with in the series.

The Impossible Heir Episode 1 then jumps forward to when they study at university. There is a stark difference between the two men, highlighting how their backgrounds differ. Tae-Oh is working multiple jobs to support himself and succeeding massively. A proposal he writes draws the attention of a professor, who eventually submits the proposal to the second son of the Kango Group, Kang Seong-ju (Lee Ji-Hoon), in Episode 2. Tae-Oh is aware of his professor’s intentions, and rather than accept money for his proposal, he asks for a favor to cash in on later.

Comparatively, In-Ha isn’t doing much. Tae-Oh helps him with his studies, but he’s mostly at university for the vibes. While it’s clear that they’re still friends, Tae-Oh is the more dominant of the two. At least as it pertains to their shared plans. It’s too early to say, but the friendship reads more transactional through dialogue and Lee Jae-Wook’s closed-off approach to Tae-Oh. This makes sense, given Tae-Ha’s background. The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-2 highlights Tae-Ha’s experience with domestic violence and his evolved hyper-independence. So, the friendship coming across as weaker on Tae-Ha’s end is a smart decision if intentional.

The crack in their friendship develops in The Impossible Heir Episode 1-2. This weakness manifests itself in Na Hye-Won (Hong Su-Zu). A fellow student, Tae-Oh, is drawn to her and their similarities. Enough so that In-Ha comments on it. In Episode 1, Hye-Won and Tae-Oh lean on each other after Hye-Won’s mother shows up and steals money from her. After offering Hye-Won an umbrella and a place to share her thoughts, Hye-Won points out that she thinks that he is using In-Ha. She also asks if she’ll help him use In-Ha, which presents many opportunities to explore story-wise.

Tae-Oh won’t help her with her goal, but he also won’t stop her from it either. What happens will happen, and, as it turns out, Tae-Oh didn’t need to help anyway. Throughout The Impossible Heir Episode 2, In-Ha expresses increased interest in Hye-Won. A triangle soon forms, and the two men are caught in their growing feelings for Hye-Won. Tae-Oh is in denial until the end of the episode, but In-Ha is familiar enough with his feelings to know what he wants.

If Tae-Oh doesn’t have enough to deal with, he finds himself the target of an unrequited crush in The Impossible Heir Episode 2. He tutors In-Ha’s half-sister, Kang Hee-Ju (Choi Hee-Jin), but she has no boundaries. His refusal to cater to her silly antics results in the crush. Her interest in Tae-Oh and her continued push to involve In-Ha in the family inadvertently puts a target on Tae-Oh’s back. Upon learning Tae-Oh is In-Ha’s friend, Geumseuk has the tutor fired.

Tae-Oh continues to maintain the boundary of tutor with Hee-Ju, but she doesn’t get it until she confronts him at school. He reminds her he is only an employee and she is the employer. Hee-Ju doesn’t take the rejection well, but this moment further highlights how Tae-Oh sees himself. Whether or not this transfers over to In-Ha and the blurring of the friendship down the road remains to be seen. This also potentially highlights how Tae-Oh may view relationships as needing an equal over anything else.

This may explain his attraction to Hye-Won as well as his protectiveness. Tae-Oh steps in when loan sharks appear at the school to confront Hye-Won over her mother’s actions. In-Ha also tries to find ways to protect Hye-Won, but it’s almost like a knight protecting a princess. Tae-Oh witnesses In-Ha intimately interacting with Hye-Won after the loan shark incident and finds himself bothered.

Ultimately, In-Ha gets between the two of these like-minded individuals. Hye-Won gives Tae-Oh a choice – choose her or choose In-Ha. She warns him that he will regret losing In-Ha if he chooses her. She is right despite a rather dramatic change of heart by Hye-Won at the end of The Impossible Heir Episode 2. Tae-Oh chooses In-Ha over her.

The end of The Impossible Heir Episode 2 shows In-Ha and Tae-Oh in the present day. The Co-Prosperity Cooperation Center, originally proposed by Tae-Oh in a paper all those years ago, is successful. Both In-Ha and Tae-Oh are shown to be working there, revealing that this is just the beginning of their plans to take over Kango Group.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-2 serves as a strong, albeit a tad choppy, introduction to Tae-Oh, In-Ha, and Hye-Won. Tae-Oh is the most fleshed out, with In-Ha coming in second. There’s an interesting dichotomy built into their friendship due to the similarities and differences in their background. It poses the question of whether or not friendship can be strong enough to overcome class differences. Tae-Oh’s friendship with In-Ha remains strong, but the business world can change that in a heartbeat. It’s early days yet.

Because of the time jumps, the beginning of Episode 1 suffers a bit from choppy writing and editing to get from Point A to Point B. It creates an effect, more so in the high school section of The Impossible Heir, of bouncing around, making it a little bit harder to track. Particularly regarding the situation surrounding Tae-Oh, his father, and his mother. Thankfully, things become smoother when the story transitions to the college years.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-2 immediately capture the viewer’s attention with the intriguingly complicated friendship between Tae-Oh and In-Ha. Now that the story has caught up to their professional lives, it’ll be interesting to see what moves both Tae-Oh and In-Ha make toward their goals.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-2 are now available on Disney+ and Hulu, with new episodes premiering on Wednesdays and Thursdays.