Reborn Rich

Gripping!!

Full of twists and turns....you think you've got the story figured out, you think it's predictable, then bam!....something unexpected changes with the storyline. This one kept me glued to the screen. Amazing writing, amazing cast, and well produced. You think you're watching a storyline about getting revenge, but it's so much deeper and more meaningful, only you won't realize it until you watch it to the very end. One of the best laid out and thought out plot lines I've seen in quite awhile. The kind of drama that has South Korean entertainment taking over the world. I highly recommend this series. Congrats to all the cast and crew on this one!!

Read More

Some people don’t get time travel. Please let me break down this brilliant drama.

Here is my head talk and concluding comments from the excellent Korean drama YSOAG/Reborn Rich, as I watched the finale in Episode 16. Contains Spoilers.

Quote: Revenge is for those with power, and not for those who have been wronged.

I had to rewind the first six minutes of episode 16 three times before I noticed the name of the guy on the passport was not Conglomerate grandson Jin Do Jun. Jin Do Jun had reverted back to the future/present to Yoon Hyun-woo. It happened so quickly that I was dazed and confused.

Yoon Hyun-woo went back in time to right two wrongful deaths, his and that of Jin Do Jun. He was not able to save one.

Yoon Hyun-woo used the secrets of History and Business of the future to get ahead in business in the past, when he was reborn rich. Then Yoon Hyun-woo/Jin Do Jun used the secrets of the past to right the wrongs in the future/present for the sins of the past.

Yoon Hyun-woo was still in love with the Prosecutor Seo Min-young when he changed out from Jin Do Jun to Yoon Hyun-woo. The Prosecutor Seo Min-young saved him from jail in the past and saved him from jail in the future/present.

Yoon Hyun-woo/Jin Do Jun still turned to “donut man” Oh Se-hyeon/Mason Oh for help and business wisdom in the future/present.

The timeline connection broke at the death of Jin Do Jun. Therefore, it threw out a “time correction”, as the history met up with the future/present.

Song Joong Ki gave a great performance. There was incredible acting by most all of the cast. Great acting ran deep.

Wow! Yoon Hyun-woo was an unintentional accomplice in the murder of the Conglomerate grandson Jin Do Jun. He was dispensable from the start, when it came to the Conglomerates. After the death of Jin Do Jun, Yoon Hyun-woo was offered a job at Soonyang, even though he was not qualified. He got a high position at Soonyang with just a High School degree. Payoff. It becomes significant then that Yoon Hyun-woo always was that smart. He did well in the University while he was in the past as Jin Do Jun. If Yoon Hyun-woo could have stayed at the University in the future/present, he might have been great on his own. He left the University and his studies to support his family.

The Prosecutor saved Yoon Hyun-woo from death in the present. That was not fully explained how.

Yoon Hyun-woo was endearing to and fond of his two mothers (birth mother and adopted mother in the past), as if there were two people inhabiting his body.

The old company Jin Do Jun founded, Miracle Investments, did not change out his desk for over 20 years after his death. That blue computer on his desk looked like an E One. It was still there.


Getting down to business. . . . I am sorry that this drama is over.

A mainstay feature of the “Korean discount” is avoiding inheritance tax, due to Conglomerate Succession .

In the present day, Donut Man Oh Se-hyeon/Mason Oh tries to beat the Conglomerate system, getting around the Conglomerate Succession position by consolidating minority shareholders into a voting block. These shareholders are the ones who do not vote, because they think that their small vote is meaningless. However, together they tried to form a voting block through the shareholder’s solidarity conference.

Conglomerate owner’s can save billions in inheritance tax [at 38- minute episode 16. See article below]. The hope of Donut Man was to strip management of their rights through the voting block. The little guy against the big guy. The block gave the minority shareholders power over the Conglomerate, because of the huge power of the solidarity voting block. Famous last words of the Conglomerate, “Ignore David. We are Goliath”. Round one went to Goliath. Management secretly paid off the minority shareholders, who were easily swayed by gifted money. In round two, Donut Man went after bigger fish. Round one flushed out the one who was the owner of the slush fund and who killed the YSOAG.

The Conglomerate Firstborn Son planted evidence at the scene of Jin Do Jun’s murder/accident to make it look like his own son killed Jin Do Jun. Was it the father, who then bargained away his jail time and placed it on his son?

By being forced to live in the body of the one he helped kill, Yoon Hyun-woo developed empathy and compassion for Conglomerate grandson Jin Do Jun.

YSOAC WAS FIXATED ON CHANGING THE RULE OF CONGLOMERATE SECESSION. They believed that this rule really hurt business in the long run.

Quote: When I first met Do Jun seven years ago, the young man who was still in his teens said he’d buy Soonyang. I should tell you why I risked my whole career to move to Korea based on that absurd statement. On the New York Stock Exchange, if companies are at similar levels and one is Korean, it goes for a lower price, because of the Korean Discount rule. Then you must also know the reason why there is a Korea Discount. It is because of the Conglomerate succession rule. Business is conducted like selecting a national team of athletes based solely on whether the parents of the candidates were medal winner. Regardless of how competitive the candidates are. Management ability isn’t something that is genetically passed down in the family. We at at Miracle Investments want to show this reasoning to the Korean Market. (They believed that it was hurting Korean business in general).

Repartee between donut man and the second son at time 27-30 minutes in episode 15. In a nutshell, this appears to me to be the basis of this drama. A commentary on Conglomerate Success and how it can be detrimental to business and society.

Quote: It was not about possession or Time Travel. It was about repentance.

In the end, Yoon Hyun-woo did not get the girl, but inherited Jin Do Jun’s business and the sense of business. The Universe was righted.

€€€

Following the death of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho last week, the inheritance tax his bereaved family will have to pay is in the spotlight, with estimates suggesting as much as 200 billion won ($175 million).

According to analysts, the lofty taxes could shrink the owner family’s stake. However, they also note that it is unlikely, reminding that the high inheritance tax rate is actually what drives the obsessive culture of family-monopolized management among conglomerates here.

[News Analysis] High inheritance tax fuels chaebol monopoly

Read More

Reborn Rich (2022) - it was an ease watching this drama since it just flows. I’m satisfied with the whole drama but I felt like the love story in the drama is just a filler, and nothing special, I didn’t feel any spark whatsoever between them. I like that the drama revolves around the main lead and his victories more compared to his failures. I’m satisfied with the ending since I could really use my imagination to understand how it all turned out. There are just a lot of characters in the drama but it's fine as long as you really follow through with the drama.

Read More

Intrigante. Cast eccezionale

Storia ben costruita con tanti colpi di scena.
cast eccezionale soprattutto il protagonista e il nonno, veramente carismatici!
Non è proprio il mio genere, con la parte romantica sempre in disparte, ma in sé la storia incentrata su giochi di poteri è molto intrigante e tiene col fiato sospeso in ogni puntata.
interessante come nessuno dei protagonisti abbia tratti completamenti cattivi o completamente buoni. Basti pensare al nonno, certamente non giusto, avido e pronto a far di tutto per la sua societá, che per sua stessa ammissione è il figlio a cui tiene di piú... eppure non si riesce a non simpatizzare per lui.


SPOILER:


Il finale é sicuramente inaspettato: il giusto coronamento di un ciclo, un ricollegamento e una conclusione per entrambe le due vite del protagonista. Ció che lo rende sorprendente é che il drama di vendetta si trasformi in una storia di perdono verso se stessi, di espiazione.
Mi ha lasciato un po' l'amaro in bocca, pensare che la vita di Jin Do Joon sia finita cosí, ma la vita non ti permette mai una seconda possibilitá e il passato non si puó cambiare, bisogna solo accettare le nostre responsabilitá.

L'unico dubbio che persiste è come sia possibile che Jin Do Joon e Yoon Hyun Woo abbiano lo stesso volto e nessuno se ne renda conto...? o forse noi vediamo la sua anima?🤔

P.S. Come in molti altri drama coreani, la parte fantasy, non viene spiegata e viene lasciata a libera interpretazione del pubblico.
Ma, che sia una divinità o un dio, che opera con cognizione di causa , o un'entità o il tempo, che gioca con i nostri destini, alle volte, non fa bene all'anima sperare che qualcosa intervenga per riportare giustizia? Che ci venga permesso di riparare ai torti subiti e fare ammenda con noi stessi?

Read More

“I must live. I will survive no matter what and find the answer.” – Jin Do Jun.

to make this note short, the beginning and the middle part of the story seems very interesting. But the latter part of the story seems to be off guard. should I say it was kinda rushed? i think some would also say that. But what I liked is how the connection of the soonyang's former chairman, yang cheol and his youngest grandson who would be be the next chairman of soonyang, do joon. I think what it makes me get interest in watching this drama is because song joong ki was part of this drama. The plot was very promising, with time lamps or fantasy-like with politics. Some parts of the drama made me confused since I don't really get interested of watching political kdrama. I get to research terms for me to understand and know, and such.

For the cast, it seems that most of them were surprisingly good enough to portray the characters that they were assigned. Love the connection (again) with some of the main leads, but not interested by the endgame of do joon and min young 20 years before hyun woo incarnated as do joon in the 90's and deeply learned the overall family tree of soonyang motors with the embezzlements and illegal founds made by the grandson of the former chairman of the company. Even if some of the casts were unfamiliar, but few of them are so familiar since I watched them during their 2021 to this year's projects. Like Song Joong Ki, obviously. Including Jo Han Chul which I last saw him from Vincenzo, same as Song Jong Ki's former castmates, park hyuk kwon, park ji hyun, kang gi doong and jo hye hoo as she was known from some other web dramas.

Overall, this drama was pretty interesting from the beginning, except the last episode seems to be too rushed. There were times it was something that I get to learn from this drama.

Recommended, good for binge watch but expect to takes so much time since its pretty long for some episodes. Not beginner friendly I guess. Looking forward to the casts!!! Song Joong Ki, SARANGHAEYOOO!

Read More

Eat the rich! This is the best KDrama of 2022 has to offer.

I watched Reborn Rich three times! On my initial viewing, I felt disgruntled and unsatisfied. It felt like the director, writers, producers, and actors deliberately stole the "revenge" their faithful viewers deserved to see. I was ready to get on my keyboard and furiously write a long essay and why it game of throned itself. Spectacular all throughout except for the last two episodes 6/10, or so I thought. But then I decided to give it a watch and again for the third time. When some vocal minority screams that this series is unwatchable because of the terrible ending I almost believed it the first time. But on the second and third times, I've grown to appreciate the care and effort the whole production team gave. Everything about this show was a work of art.

Reborn Rich takes a knowing shot at the Chaebol culture but surprisingly in a tasteful and informative matter. I mean as an outsider, I beg the question who are these people? Why do some people venerate them like royalty or worse, a deity? Reborn Rich does its job to show this world, not in a glamorous way with snooty dialogues and eye rolls. Instead, the actors showcased the ruggedness and dirtiness of being rich. The camera work even represented this, instead of an UHD shot we got blurriness, smudges, and interesting lighting. For me, the dynamics between the founder, Jin Yang-chul, and his estranged grandson Jin Do-jun is the pinnacle of Korean Drama acting in 2022. I understand that this kind of storytelling is a hit-or-miss for some but as I glued my eyes to the dialogue and subtle details I began to realize who are the characters, what makes them who they are, and why they made their choices. One of the overlooked actors is Kim Nam-hee as Jin Seong-jun, his character felt so real to me, I can see his internal struggles. Overall the cast is memorable, even those with bit roles are easily recognizable. Hoping Reborn Rich gets many awards!

Read More

Binged this on a plane, sadly drama didn't stick the landing like it did

This drama is like if a master chef followed an old and established recipe exactly, using the prime ingredients and the best kitchen to make a delicious soup....only to decide at the last minute it needs more salt, and accidentally unloads half a shaker's worth of stuff into the stew.

Thus ruining the carefully cultivated flavors with an undeniably acrid end.

I don't even like business stories, but I can understand faceslapping, redo stories, and protagonists with foresight in any genre, so that's why Reborn Rich hit all the right notes for me on a long transpacific plane ride. I watched it flying across the Pacific and again flying back, then made up the last few missing episodes online on my own, it got me so hooked. The atmospheric opening song (no lyrics, just a gallery of photographs from the chaebol family staring at the MC's silhouette as he walks by) was super cool and fit the setting, and I liked the traditional trope of "born in a rich family" but set in the 80s that gave everything a refreshing retro look.

All of the characters were vivid and multilayered—they were bad, but not evil, and everyone had their flaws that ultimately contributed to their fall. I was surprised to find myself liking Grandpa so much (I felt genuinely bad for him in that elevator scene and after he died) and every single member of the family had their pitiful or funny sides that made it hard to absolutely hate them. In other words, they felt like real people, albeit slightly selfish caricatures at the same time.

But then what do you do? You get rid of all that and pick a different ending than the webnovel to forcibly bring us back to reality and make it all a dream?! We don't even get the ML telling FL about his experiences (although admittedly the chemistry between them was like 5 points out of 100 at most) and whatever happened to ML's traumatized driver who took to drink? (Remember, that guy used to work as a spy before going over to ML's side! He deserved better than showing up in court to testify before being discredited and dragged out!!)

The last time I saw a drama with similar redo-vibes that ended in "it was all for nothing" was Scent of Time, but the difference in Scent of Time was that you get a sense the FL can heal and move on, and the people she hurt have come to terms with the deaths she caused. In here we still have so many loose ends and grieving, like:

- What about Do Jin's mother and father and brother? Did they get over their youngest's death? Did mom and dad reconcile after mom called dad out for using Do Jin to gain a foothold in the family?
- Wasn't Do Jin supposed to carry out Grandpa's dream? And he would've done well too as a more principled version of Gramps. Or even if he didn't with the family, then pave his own path with Miracle Investment?
- Is the FL just gonna pine forever? (Actually I'm okay with her staying single in this story too the romance just did not sell it for me, they were too busy with work or slight misunderstandings or her snipping at him the uncute way)
- The driver?????
- ML's original dad and brother?? ??? Post-trial family life moments?
- What is crazy oldest brother doing now? ??

It almost makes me feel like they didn't expect the series to end in 16 episodes and had to hurriedly cram in something half-scripted to end it. Sigh, if you were going to half-bake the ending with no clear message (at least to me), I would've preferred the unrealistic power fantasy we were riding for EP. 2-15. At least that was entertaining and not miserable X^(

Overall, still a solid watch. I can't even say "stop watchiing at Ep. 15" because the bad thing happens at the end of it, but maybe stop when Do Jin's in the car riding to inherit his laurels. Then you can either read the webcomic/webnovel or fanfic the rest! Without the last episode this series is a 8 or 8.5, but the last one just drags it down to a 7.5!

Read More

I couldn't get into this drama at first because it got me confused. I decided to come back and try watching it again. I missed a part that was key to the storyline and that is what confused me. This is the kind of drama that needs 100% of your attention. The storyline was very intriguing and a good mystery of who did it and why. So many suspects. The ending was amazing! Song Joong Ki (Jin Do Joon) Yoon Hyun Woo was awesome. This storyline wouldn't have been a success without his acting skills. He is truly a great actor. Lee Sung Min (Jin Yang Cheol) who played the role of the CEO, I need to applaud him as playing a senior, he was awesome. Shin Hyun Bin (Seo Min Young) who played the role of the detective, was more mysterious than the whole drama. I mean she was very good. The character she played had me until the last episode. But so did Song Joong Ki! If you like mysteries, this is a great one to watch. No Martial arts, no fantasy, and a tad bit of romance, I didn't pay attention to the wardrobes or the visuals, I was too busy concentrating on the storyline. This will be a rewatch for me.

Read More

Wasted Potential

The premise of the show promises revenge, but instead the main vast majority of time spent is a show of fighting for succession in the company. Yoon Hyunwoo awakens as Jin Dojun and shortly after this, mentions that one of the family members killed him. So, it seemed that the direction of the show was going to be that he was going to find out who killed him, and take revenge on that person. Instead, what the vast majority of time spent was watching a succession war play out. Yoon Hyunwoo and Jin Dojun are *technically* the same person, however it never felt that way. Jin Dojun never felt like a poor character masquerading as a rich chaebol son trying to get his revenge. He just felt like a... rich chaebol son who wanted control of his family's company. This was especially highlighted, with how his relationship with his grandfather was portrayed. The relationship between these two was easily the best part of the show, but I just wish that they would have showed more of the emotional struggle Jin Dojun had.

For example:
-Wanting to take revenge on the Jin family vs. coming to actually care for his grandfather
-Having grown up with the identity of someone who was poor vs. straying away from that identity and becoming what he originally vowed to take down
-Using taking over Soonyang as a means for his revenge vs. actually wanting Soonyang for himself

I would have loved to see him struggle with these kinds of things! It would've made for a much more interesting character, and it would've have actually been believable that Yoon Hyunwoo and Jin Dojun were the same person.

Speaking of the last bullet point, I wasn't sure what Jin Dojun's motive was. It felt like Jin Dojun actually wanted control of Soonyang instead of it being a tool for his revenge. It never felt personal. Jin Dojun was just a rich chaebol heir who was playing games like the rest of them.

The ending was incredibly rushed, but I think it could've been perfect if they had actually built up to it. It didn't feel satisfying because Jin Dojun and Yoon Hyunwoo feel like completely different people. You spend the majority of the show with Jin Dojun instead of Yoon Hyunwoo, so going back to Yoon Hyunwoo is like getting the rug pulled out from underneath you. Jin Dojun was about to get Soonyang, which he had been working for the whole entire series! But then, Jin Dojun dies and we go back to Yoon Hyunwoo, who obviously can't take over Soonyang, so he just goes for his revenge instead? If the writers had actually made me believe that Jin Dojoon was just Yoon Hyunwoo the whole time and his goal was revenge then, yes going back to Yoon Hyunwoo would make sense. This could've actually felt satisfying, if they had actually built up to it and hinted at it though.

And then a big thing that bothered me was: why didn't Yoon Hyunwoo remember anything about Jin Dojun? It came as a "twist" at the end that Yoon Hyunwoo accidentally helped kill Jin Dojun, but it makes no sense that he would just forget about it. The only reason he forgot is *because plot*. If the writers wanted this to be the twist, they should have hinted at this more throughout the whole series, so that it actually made sense in the end.

The guy at the end calling Hyunwoo, Jin Dojun made no sense either? It doesn't explain if he actually knows that Yoon Hyunwoo and Jin Dojun are the same person, or if he was just crazy and just somehow randomly right? There was really no reason to put this in there. I also thought this guy was at the first car accident, and not the second one?

The prosecutor was so bland and boring. Her "romance" with Dojun was incredibly forced, and added absolutely nothing. Their relationship was completely overshadowed by the relationship Dojun had with his grandfather.

TL:DR;
This show had so much potential, and I wish they would have developed the character of Yoon Hyunwoo/Jin Dojun better, so that he would've had a satisfying character arc with a satisfying ending. This series would've been GREAT, had they been able to execute it correctly.

Read More