The Impossible Heir – K-drama Episode 11 Recap & Review

Malice

Episode 11 of The Impossible Heir begins with Tae-oh preventing In-ha from killing the chairman. At the rooftop, Tae-oh confronts In-ha about his actions but In-ha proclaims that he isn’t the old In-ha that Tae-oh knew. The two, then, proceed to threaten each other before Tae-oh leaves. 

Meanwhile, Mo Gi-jun is patiently waiting to hear from In-ha in the prison. A prison guard calls him and takes him to the meeting room where In-ha’s call is waiting for him. In-ha apologises to him for the delay and Gi-jun offers to take all the blame but expresses that it won’t be long that he gets a death sentence and that he’s scared.

The next scene has the prison guard murdering Gi-jun on In-ha’s command, where he throws a toothbrush to indicate that the murder is done by a fellow prisoner. 

Meanwhile, Tae-oh and his team are working on their move regarding Gold H Investment. It’s revealed that the chairman knew about the paper company founded by Tae-oh where Tae-oh expressed that the company would protect Kang-oh shares from hostile parties that might attack the chairman. Seong-ju sends Sunwo that he wants to meet Michael Chang. 

Hee-ju meets with In-ju’s wife and Hee-ju emphasises that she should use her shares to support the Kang family and not the other way round. They part on a sour note.

Meanwhile, Geum-suk and Seong-ju are discussing about Gold H Investment and how important it is for them to get their shares on Seong-ju’s side. 

On the other hand, In-ha tells Park Sa-jin about the new development regarding Gold H Investment and conveys that this company might pose a threat PY Holdings (Sa-jin’s venture). Sa-jin is displeased with the news and reiterates that he can leave In-ha’s side if In-ha isn’t useful. 

Geum-suk, Seong-ju and In-ha are invited for a meeting by Gold H Investment. As they wait for Michael Chang, Tae-oh appears instead. He introduces himself as Gold H Investment’s co-CEO much to everyone’s surprise. Later, In-ha approaches Tae-oh in the basement and threatens him once again. Elsewhere, Tae-oh and his team party on this new development. 

Elsewhere, In-ju’s wife proposes collaboration with In-ha, unaware that it was In-ha who killed his own brother. 

Geum-suk invites In-ha for dinner at the Kang residence. When In-ha arrives, Tae-oh was already seated, highlighting that the three: Geum-suk, Seong-ju and Tae-oh are in cahoots with each other. It seems that Geum-suk invited In-ha only for him to be displeased. This is what exactly happens and In-ha leaves.

In the next scene, we witness a flashback where Tae-oh had told In-ha that his mother was killed by his step-father. Back in the present, In-ha contacts the prison commissioner and asks him to release Tae-oh’s step-father. Tae-oh’s step-father is temporarily released, along with a location of Tae-oh’s mother, and he straight away visits the temple where his mother is disguised as a monk. As he asks her to come with him, she trips on the stairs and dies. 

Meanwhile, Geum-suk asks Seong-ju to hold a press conference. While on their way to the venue, Geum-suk, along with Geum-suk’s secretary, are faced with charges of disposing of a corpse and embezzlement. We don’t really know the background of these charges.

While Geum-suk is forcibly taken by the police, she asks Seong-ju to attend the conference but he decides to be with his mother. It’s revealed later that In-ha provided the evidence for the hit-and-run case and embezzlement. Later on, we see that Kang In-ju was involved in the hit and run case. It is In-ha who addresses the conference and declares himself the acting chairman. 

Elsewhere, Sunwoo Wan shows Tae-oh a picture of his step-father outside the prison. He finds that his mother is dead. At the same time, Heeju confronts In-ha about his actions, especially against her mother and leaves saying that In-ha has changed. 

Chae Dong-wook can finally take his revenge against Seong-ju. Not only does he ghost Seong-ju but also turns Seong-ju’s aide, the congressman, against him. 

In-ha visits Seong-ju, only to get a punched by Seong-ju. We later find that Park Sa-jin, the congressman, Chae Dong-wook and In-ha are all working together, now that In-ha has become the acting chairman. 

Seong-ju visits Tae-oh’s mother’s funeral, emphasising that they need to work together against a common enemy: In-ha. 

The next day, In-ha reaches work as the acting chairman, only for the prosecution to arrest him for the murder of In-ju and Gi-jun. Tae-oh is behind the arrest. 

The Episode Review

Right off the bat, there are inconsistencies in this episode. In-ha mentions that he isn’t the old In-ha anymore so it isn’t really clear who the real In-ha is – the one who bullied Tae-oh or the one who pretended to be friends with Tae-oh.

From the many hints about his character, we were sure that In-ha was just using Tae-oh so his statement feels a bit inconsistent. Hee-ju also mentions that he changed, but did he? One of the recurring issue with the show is the weak characterisation which often makes us questions the character motive and which often seeps into the disastrous plot progression. 

Elsewhere, Tae-oh comments that Na hye-won is back because she is too busy to care about other people. This statement is again quite off since Hye-won never did care about anyone. Even with In-ha, she just pretended to like him. In short, it feels like the writer’s vision for the characters is inconsistent. 

Furthermore, it is now clear how In-ha could declare himself as an acting chairman unilaterally. Considering that Gold H Investment have a majority of stocks and In-ha previously signed a waiver where he had forgone all his inherited shares, it isn’t clear what gives In-ha the authority to take such a step. 

Moreover, we have a scene of Tae-oh’s mother dying quite conveniently and though the show wanted to make it an emotional scene, but considering we had barely any scenes of Tae-oh and his mother’s relationship, it fails to do its objective. On top of it, the background music during the funeral is more upbeat than emotional which further distances us from the scene. 

All in all, the episode was uninteresting and monotonous without many connections and also seemed hurried so that the show can be wrapped up in the next episode.