This week’s series on the chopping block is none other than Reborn Rich. Unless you’ve been living under a rock as I have, you’ve probably already heard of this popular series, and if so pretend like you haven’t! Let’s dive in!

Literally setting the stage, the scene opens with our hero showing the new guy the ropes as he cooly points out that the Chairman is allergic to peaches. Oh so smooth, so sexy. Company dog and whistle-blower extraordinaire, Yoon Hyeon-Woo is sent on a 600 million dollar errand to retrieve funds from an illegal paper company. But who can be trusted? A car-foot chase ensues. Shady Sherlock-esque network of kids drug him. And finally a bullet in the back of the head. Wow, I’m hooked! But first I have some questions: who pulled him out of the water? Why? And how did he survive? Now let’s time travel back to 1987 and be born as the youngest of an untouchable conglomerate, the Soonyang Group.

The bulk of the story takes place during a major financial downturn in Korea in the past and slowly works its way back to the present. The powers that be that granted Hyeon-Woo a second chance at life also allowed him to retain his memories of global events, and he uses this knowledge to destroy the family that destroyed his. And I’m here for it!!

First, I wouldn’t want to piss off someone who knows all my sins, just saying. It’s frightening the way they treat people so expendably, but who’s going to stop them? People really go missing for a few hours messing with this family. But I digress. Hyeon-Woo is reborn as Jin Do-Jun, the company’s youngest grandson, and he goes ham giving the Soonyang Group their just desserts.

A Balance Game
Yeah, having the money is nice, but sometimes the life of the super-wealthy isn’t worth it. If it’s not the public eye then the children’s lives are heavily managed. This brings me to my first pain point: choosing between the two male love interests is a game of lesser evils. Not that Mo Hyeon-Min had a chance anyway, but sis sure did try her hand at Do Jun.
A loser from the start, Jin Seong-Jun solely relied on the fact that he was the unchallenged inheritor of the company, so he never exercised that muscle between his ears. If Hyeon Min hadn’t stepped in he would’ve been eaten by his father. Let’s not pretend Do Jun is Mr. Moral, he continuously uses his girlfriend as a chess piece throughout the story. Not to mention he let Lee Pil-Ok, his murderous grandmother, get away scot-free when it served him. I agree he may not be as bad, but to get back at them he had to become just as dirty. His only redeeming act, in my eyes, was that he refused to release footage of his grandfather in his final hours of lunacy, but even that managed to bite him in the end.

I know when Hyeon-Woo as Do Jun, saw the profits from the land sale, 14 billion Won, he was weeping inside. He had to hide his poverty, because- Oh! Lord! This man suffered in his previous life! Which brings me to my final pain point. As entertaining as Reborn Rich was I couldn’t help but feel most, if not all, of Hyeon-Woo’s problems could’ve been avoided had he simply put aside some money for his former self. Grand opening, grand closing. Another case of the stupid genius or the largest plot hole in the story? You could say that’s too suspicious and might raise alarm bells among the family, especially his grandfather. The shrewd old bastard would question why he’s giving money away freely and especially to this person? What’s the connection? And my response would be for piety sake. It surely wouldn’t put the company in a worse light. Hear me out, the youngest grandson sees the plight of a fellow struggling student burdened with debts destined to live hand to mouth, and he chooses to help. The public would herald him a man of the people and certainly win the company brownie points with the public. Yes, it might put more eyes on his back but at least his real family would be taken care of. Maybe that seems far-fetched, but as clever as he was why didn’t he do something?

Or he could have done it privately. That night when they met on the road, when Do Jun drove out to see himself as Hyeon-Woo sitting on the side of the road because he was too dog tired to drive, why didn’t he hand him an unmarked envolope full of free cash?

If in the end Do Jun was destined to die no matter what, if Hyeon-Woo’s mother was any indication that the story has to follow a certain trajectory, atleast Do Jun wouldn’t have died at Hyeon-Woo’ hand. He could have asked himself not to be so obediant, to avoid the Soonyang Group, or simply not to kill him. It would have been an odd request, but that would have change the story some no? Even though Hyeon-Woo’s mother died, he, his brother and his real father would have been taken care of for life. Why didn’t he do that?

My unpopular opinion is that Hyeon-Woo simply became too arrogant, drunk off each escalating win, and it seems he forgot exactly how evil the family could be. We already saw what Pil-Ok was willing to do to her own husband. Hyeon-Woo failed to take heed and he paid for it with Do Jun’s life.

Obviously, Jin Do Jun is a favorite, but the best character in my opinion is his grandfather, Jin Yang-Cheol. The man is frightening. The type of villain you despise, but can’t help but admire his whit. He’s petty and miserly, but the conflict is: he actually cares about his family, but he doesn’t trust them. I’d be distressed too if had to leave my life’s work to those three kids he had, but he created them. He’s that meme that says: when the problem asks what the problem is. The crazy part is that the inheritance rule would have probably worked had that murderous old battleaxe not extended that goodwill olive branch to Jin Yoon-Ki, Do Jun’s father. She clearly hated him as a kid, so why now? Maybe it was their fate to pay for their sins? But what I do know is people don’t want peace, they want problems always. Lols.

Anypoops, I give this drama a fresh rose out of Quing Mirai’s private garden. Noooo! Another precious rose lost to a drama! Lols, just kidding.