REVIEW: ‘The Impossible Heir’ Episodes 5-6

From the beginning of The Impossible Heir,  Lee Jae-Wook‘s Han Tae-Oh has positioned himself as the right-hand man of either Kang In-Ha (Lee Jun-Young)  or  Kang Joong-Mo (Choi Jin-Ho), Kang In-Ha’s father. While young, he’s been mostly successful in his manipulations behind the scenes. But, at the end of Episode 4, the first sign of trouble coming from In-Ha flared. Now, in The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6, Tae-Oh slowly loses control. For once, we see the cracks in his ego, causing him to make some serious mistakes.

In The Impossible Heir Episode 5, the control Tae-Oh originally built over In-Ha falters. This ultimately results in In-Ha fumbling an opportunity given to him by his father. The beginning of the episode shows Tae-Oh on a high. After covering up the mess Jang Geum-Seok (Kim Ho-Jung) orchestrated in the previous episode, Tae-Oh and In-Ha bask in knowing they’re one step closer to achieving their goals. For In-Ha, his father publicly acknowledges him as his official son, which sweeps through the Kang family like a whirlwind.

Further outraging In-Ha’s brothers, Tae-Oh is promoted to Division Director of the Future Strategy Office. The target on Tae-Oh inadvertently narrows in on him. The eldest son, Kang In-Ju (Han Sang-Jin), becomes incredibly fixated on him and, for the bulk of The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6, steps into the role of the latest adversary for Tae-Oh. But while he doesn’t perceive In-Ju as a threat just yet, Tae-Oh has other issues to contend with. Mainly making sure that In-Ha sticks to the plan.

Joong-Mo gives In-Ha his first major assignment: negotiating the sale of Kango Tech One, the problematic enterprise that has haunted Joong-Mo. Tae-Oh will supervise In-Ha’s efforts but is also meant to keep In-Ha on a tight leash. Unfortunately, as is revealed by the end of the episode, In-Ha decides to go against Tae-Oh’s advice. While the sale itself ultimately turns out to be successful in the end, the dirty tricks In-Ha deploys leave a bad taste. It’s also the first major moment in The Impossible Heir and their friendship where In-Ha refuses to be a puppet. At least, not Tae-Oh’s.

Finding out In-Ha has proposed to Hye-Won (Hong Su-Zu) further throws off Tae-Oh’s game. Her marriage to In-Ha would be highly advantageous for her. But for Tae-Oh, the beating heart of regret flutters. He still has feelings for her. Between this news, the unexpected change of who they’d be negotiating sales with, and In-Ha taking matters into his own hands, The Impossible Heir Episode 5 is not Tae-Oh’s episode. At least, that’s what we think until Episode 6. By the end of Episode 5, Tae-Oh tries to recover from the stress of playing basketball. It is here he is brutally assaulted from behind and left for dead.

The Impossible Heir Episode 6 starts where things ended. Tae-Oh is in critical condition after sustaining a significant head injury. In-Ha and Joong-Mo both agree that the incident must be kept under wraps. Both determine they need to figure out who did it because they realize they can’t help themselves. On Joong-Mo’s end, he realizes that Tae-Oh is resourceful and determined to find the culprit before Tae-Oh does. Regardless of whether or not Tae-Oh wakes up, the culprit’s identity is a focus between the two.

Despite being engaged, Hye-Won frantically goes to the hospital to watch over Tae-Oh. It becomes clear instantly that she is his primary contact for moments like these. Something that The Impossible Heir has done well, even while not utilizing Hye-Won sufficiently, is filling this relationship with tiny details in both performance and storytelling. What is a little more frustrating is the continued use of flashbacks in editing to fill in the gaps, which are most apparent in The Impossible Heir Episode 6. Flashbacks drop to reflect Hye-Won’s and Tae-Oh’s memories of each other, building up the tension for what happens toward the end of the episode.

While Hye-Won and Tae-Oh’s emotions run rampant, they forget to keep their feelings a secret. They also forget that they are not safe from outside view. In-Ha catches them holding hands in Tae-Oh’s hospital bed but does nothing. Instead, when alone, he mentions to Tae-Oh that his father gave his blessing to be wed, pouring salt into the wound. Most notably, and something that’s been hinted at in The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6, is that someone has been hired to take photos of Tae-Oh. This person is In-Ju, who has had a bone to pick with Tae-Oh since he became his father’s righthand man.

After Tae-Oh awakens, he becomes fixated on finding the perpetrator of the assault. He uses his underground hacker friend and quickly locates the culprit – In-Ju’s employee and literal punching bag, Mo Ki-Joon (Kwon Hyuk). He eventually confronts Ki-Joon in a club, wondering why this happened, but the man barely seems flustered. This should have indicated that more was on the horizon, but Tae-Oh doesn’t notice. He’s too emotional.

The Impossible Heir Episode 6 appears to end on a high for In-Ha but a low for In-Ju, Tae-Oh, and Hye-Won. In-Ju has all the audacity and wastes no time in blackmailing Hye-Won at her wedding reception with a photo taken of her and Tae-Oh kissing. He’s been waiting for this moment, and he forces Hye-Won to join him in an elevator. A jump cut leads us to Tae-Oh waking up disoriented in a strange, blood-filled room. Where did the blood come from? In the same room, In-Ju and an unknown woman are lying dead. With no recollection as far as we know, Tae-Oh wakes up in the worst predicament he can encounter.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6 partially fix the problem with gaps in the story’s timeline. Previously, it felt like we were jumping back and forth too much in time. It left much to be desired in both pacing and overall storytelling. Writer Choi Won still relies too much on flashbacks to fill in the gaps, but it feels less like we’re rewinding in these episodes. So, that’s an improvement, even while still vexing as a storytelling crutch.

Tae-Oh has been in control for much of the series so far, even if it is contingent on who he is serving under. His place in the hierarchy of the Kango Group is always reinforced by those around him, with the exception of In-Ha and his sister, Kang Hee-Ju (Choi Hee-Jin). In The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6, he loses control over not only the people around him but also himself. Actor Lee Jae-Wook portrays the slips in control well, with it all spewing out post-head injury. It reveals not only the character’s vulnerability but also highlights his fear of weakness. As a result, he barrels after those who’ve come after him without fully thinking of protecting himself in the process.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 5-6 show a shift in Tae-Oh’s luck as he begins to lose control of what he’s built with major ramifications. It highlights his weaknesses well and also opens up how he is a liability to all of those around him. Future episodes likely will focus on him scrambling to cover things up. So, seeing how things fare for this man when self-preservation is at full throttle will be interesting.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-6 are now available on Disney+ and Hulu, with new episodes premiering on Wednesdays.