This review may contain spoilers
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!
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!
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