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 coolly 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 errand to retrieve funds from an illegal paper-company slush fund. But who can be trusted? A car-foot chase ensues. A shady Sherlock-esque network of kids drugs 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 reborn as the youngest grandson of the untouchable Soonyang Group. These are the makings of a great drama.

The bulk of the story takes place during a major financial downturn in Korea 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 as so expendable, but who’s going to stop them? People really go missing for a few hours after 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 alive 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 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 was refusing to release footage of his grandfather during 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 struggled 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?

My unpopular opinion is that he simply became too arrogant, drunk off each escalating win, and forgot exactly how evil the family could be.

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’s sake.

It surely wouldn’t put the company in a worse light than it already was.

Hear me out.

The youngest grandson sees the plight of a struggling student burdened with debt and destined to live hand-to-mouth, so he chooses to help. The public would herald him as a man of the people and it would certainly win the company brownie points.

Yes, it might put more eyes on his back, but at least his real family would be taken care of.

And ultimately, his mother would never have taken her life.

Maybe that seems far-fetched, but as clever as he was, why didn’t he do something?

Don’t like that answer?

You could say:

“But his life has to follow a certain trajectory. No matter what he did, his mother had to die.”

Then I would say this story is pretty stupid and quit watching.

Just kidding.

No, I would concede to that fact and proceed to line the pockets of my real self before passing.

Obviously, he knew he was going to die young anyway because, while he was his real self, he knew the family tree like the back of his hand. He knew that in his reality the youngest grandson died.

So why didn’t he create some kind of fund in his real self’s name before he died?

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 admiring.

He’s petty and miserly, but the conflict is that he actually cares about his family—he just doesn’t trust them.

He’s that meme that says:

“When the problem asks what the problem is.”

The crazy part is that the inheritance rule probably would’ve 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?

The issue is people don’t want peace.

They want problems.

Always.

Lols.

Anypoops, I give this drama a fresh rose straight out of Queen Mirai’s private garden.

Noooo!

Lols, just kidding.