Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Although I'm not such a big fan of Korean dramas but I cannot deny Brilliant Legacy was one series that got me haunted.  I remembered viewing this series under the title "Shining Inheritance" which for me, was a real charming series.  It presents a very three dimensional view of characters especially for Hwan (who goes from the character you hate to a character you'll love midway) to the villains who aren't exactly villains either.  So what made Brilliant Legacy fun to watch?  I simply focused too much on Hwan who goes from "Heck you deserve not to get your inheritance." to "Man, he deserves it." in a steady pace you can easily accept he's changing for better. What I liked about Brilliant Legacy was how Go Eunsung and Sun Woowhuan were acted by really great actors.  For one, Sun Woohwan or simply "Hwan" is acted by Lee Seunggi (he looks like the Japanese actor Hidenori Iura who played as Prince/Shuichi in Bioman) who really ca...

One of the reasons why Brilliant Legacy amazed me is because how the hero of the story, is not what you expect.  So it's not exactly explained to why he became like that until later in the series, when we learn there was that unresolved trauma.  All we know is that he has had some hiding insecurities causing him to bully people like that, which led his paternal grandmother, Jang Sak Ja wanting to give the inheritance or what she calls her legacy, her life principles to Eun Sung whose kindness exceeds most of the people in South Korea. I would admit that yes, Hwan is a spoiled brat because of his mom.  This is one of the rarer cases where the grandparent doesn't spoil the grandchild but it's the mother's fault.  I mean the earlier episodes makes you want to ring Hwan's neck.  He doesn't want to go to work, he is ungrateful for his grandmother's beef soup business that got him all the money he throws, he doesn't know the value of money because he is spo...

I may normally not be a fan of Korean drama but Brilliant Legacy actually took my attention because it was showing how wrong decisions can lead to disasters.  So what's the real point?  Although set in South Korea but it does show how pampering destroys the family.  So first meet the Sun Woo family.  Jang Sak Ja as charitable as she is, however has two pampered grandchildren namely Sun Woo Hwan (the anti-hero whose character is far more complex than the main character Go Eun Sung, acted by Han Hyo Joo) and Sun Woo Jung (who for me is extremely annoying that I could imagine her do more damage than Hwan ever did).  So how it happened may be because Jang Sak Ja committed the mistake of not dealing with their mistakes way earlier than she should causing her to make extremely difficult decisions later.  Typical grandma complex if you ask me.  Man seriously do have to wait until your grandson punches your company manager or you realize he's turning into a pa...