REVIEW: ‘The Impossible Heir’ Episodes 9-10

As The Impossible Heir heads to its finale, resolving storylines and sticking the landing is important. For a series that has been frustrating to watch, The Impossible Heir Episodes 9-10 does little to foster hope. Questionable decisions read out of character for some, further highlighting the subpar writing in the series. With only two episodes left to go, we’re nowhere near figuring out who actually is the titular “impossible” heir.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 9-10 begin the slow descent of Kang In-Ha’s (Lee Jun-Young) loss of power. The start of Episode 9 reveals that Lee Jae-Wook’s Han Tae-Oh is missing. In-Ha believes he has successfully killed off his friend, but this news cracks his villainous confidence. But he still has an upper hand. Seonu Wan (Jang Ma-Ru) is at his mercy. If the hacker strays, In-Ha will kill him off. Seemingly motivated by money, Seonu sticks things out.

As it turns out, Kang Joong-Mo (Choi Jin-Ho) is the one responsible for Tae-Oh’s rescue. With the help of his men, Joong-Mo realizes that Mo Gi-Jun’s (Kwon Hyuk) oh-too-coincidental appearances didn’t add up. Joong-Mo figures out that In-Ha is the ringleader, which Tae-Oh all but verifies. Through his time with Joong-Mo, Tae-Oh pieces together his memory from the night Kang In-Ju (Han Sang-Jin) died. He remembers In-Ha being there, bringing the friendship and betrayal fully into perspective.

Together, the two piece together the puzzle and figure out the rest of In-Ha’s master plan involving Joong-Mo’s rival and using the funds that Hye-Won (Hong Su-Zu) can access through the Kango Foundation. In-Ha’s main goal? To split the Kango Group. Tae-Oh admits to designing the blueprint for this plan, so he guestimates the next steps. Tae-Oh tells Joong-Mo he needs to get Hye-Won on his side. If he does, they may be able to foil parts of In-Ha’s plan.

Hye-Won tries to locate Tae-Oh herself. In an out-of-character lapse in judgment, she reaches out to her mother for help. Unfortunately, she overestimates her mother’s greed. After calling her mother to assist her in finding a tracker, Hye-Won’s mother calls In-Ha to inform him. This results in Hye-Won being forcibly institutionalized. She shares an emotional exchange with him, but he clearly has the upper hand. If Hye-Won doesn’t submit to his will, she will be locked in the institution for however long he desires.

The Impossible Heir Episode 9 ends with Joong-Mo lying unconscious in a bathtub. This reveal is no surprise, given Writer Choi Won’s penchant for dramatic episode endings. Moments before this cliffhanger, Joong-Mo informs his rival one-on-one that he will remove In-Ha from the family. Since his rival ultimately partnered with In-Ha because he needed a Kang heir to fulfill his plans, Joong-Mo aims to rid himself of In-Ha instead. The episode ending is predictable in both execution and shock value.

The Impossible Heir Episode 10 starts with a flashback, filling in the blanks between Joong-Mo’s meeting with his rival to his discovery in the bathtub. In-Ha hears from the rival that his father plans to kick him out of the family. This prompts him to visit his father, culminating in an intense emotional argument between the two. Joong-Mo reveals he knows In-Ha killed In-Ju and rebukes him as a son. But Joong-Mo’s heart starts to act up, culminating in him collapsing in the bathtub. In-Ha only watches him struggle before whispering shocking parting words to his father before gently pushing him back in.

Thanks to Kang Hee-Ju (Choi Hee-Jin), Joong-Mo is still alive. This shocks In-Ha when he receives the call. With the knowledge of his father’s fate, In-Ha focuses further on trying to find Tae-Oh. The following days, he discovers Hye-Won has left him. She leaves her wedding ring behind as a parting gift. For her part, The Impossible Heir Episode 10 is Hye-Won’s moment to finally crawl out from In-Ha’s and her mother’s shadows.

Tae-Oh is zeroing in on how to expose In-Ha. He recalls a video recording of the night In-Ju was murdered and manages to find it in the hotel room. In-Ha turns himself into the prosecutor Ha Myung-Jin (Huh Nam-Jun), revealing the evidence that will allow him to put Gi-Jun behind bars. This will not only help Myung-Jin get reinstated into his former position but will possibly allow him to discover who is truly behind the murders. Unfortunately, Gi-Jun will not reveal In-Ha’s culpability when questioned. Instead, the former bodyguard stands firm in his statements.

Regardless, Gi-Jun’s confession allows Tae-Oh to be released from prison and his record expunged. But while he’s been focusing on getting out of jail, Hye-Won has been operating behind the scenes on his behalf. In prison, Tae-Oh ran into a former adversary, Boss Tak (Sung Ji-Ru). They become friends in prison despite their past squabbles. Before the prison releases Tae-Oh, he informs Tak of a paper company he established in Hong Kong. Tae-Oh puts this company in place without telling In-Ha. As luck (or writing) would have it, this paper company, titled Gold H Investment, becomes Tae-Oh’s secret weapon.

After Tak is released from prison, Hye-Won orchestrates a meeting with him, revealing that Tae-Oh has made Tak the honorary CEO of Gold H Investment. This paper company will take over Kango Group, at least, if Tae-Oh’s plans are successful. Using shares from Kango Group, Gold H Investment surprises the remaining family members of Kango by coming out of nowhere. The sudden arrival of this mysterious group prompts In-Ha to ask someone to look into it. Nervous and slowly unraveling, In-Ha visits his father, admitting that things would be easier if he died. The Impossible Heir Episode 10 ends with Tae-Oh stopping In-Ha as he slowly reaches over to try to kill his father again.

The series continues to frustrate with its attempts at sensationalism that now prove to be more predictable than surprising. The Impossible Heir Episodes 9-10 is now barrelling towards the finish line, which inadvertently means that the foot is on the gas. Episode 10, in particular, forces the viewer to try to catch up whilst waiting for the inevitable ex-machina-like save to kick into effect. In this case, the save this time is Tae-Oh’s paper company. Unfortunately, throughout the course of the series, the twists are a normal part of the story. As such, little can surprise here.

Hye-Won suffers from a lack of development still. Unfortunately, because of a lack of investment in her character development on page and screen, her decisions in Episode 9 come across as out-of-character. At least as it pertains to her mother. She tries to escape her mother, but her mother is an abusive leech. When Hye-Won goes to her mother for help, after never really seeking her out throughout the entire series, it begs the question: why? After all this time avoiding her, putting herself through school, and getting herself to where she now is, why is Hye-Won choosing to reach out? A lack of writing and development explains why this answer is difficult to find.

What continues to make The Impossible Heir worth watching is the acting. Everyone is trying their best with the material they have been provided, for better or worse. The women, unfortunately, are still incredibly underdeveloped, but most make what use they can out of their limited screen time. The only notable lackluster standout is Hong Su-Zu’s Hye-Won. Unfortunately, whether due to skill or writing, there’s not enough happening with her to make her stand out in her scenes with others.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 9-10 pushes us toward an ending that can’t come soon enough. Despite the strength of its cast, the writing proves that drama can’t always be used as a buffer to disguise poor storytelling. In this case, it only enhances the glaring issues and further frustrates.

The Impossible Heir Episodes 1-10 are now available on Disney+ and Hulu, with new episodes premiering on Wednesdays.