Youngest Son of a Conglomerate (2022)

An Underwhelming Ending

The ending of this otherwise excellent drama was not worth the paper it's written on. All I can take away from the ending is Sung Joon screaming his head off...lol. Production ruined it by giving an alternative ending that, like cinderella's gleaming coach, turned to a pumpkin at the stroke of a writer's pen. It's Do Joon's revenge from the grave but poorly done.

This drama deserved a dramatic, unforgettable, ginormous ending. Open ending for this drama is a cop out and a very lazy way of telling the audience that the drama needs to end so the writer and production threw ideas on the wall to see what would stick. Boo!!!!!!! If it's the best production can do, they should have just followed the ending in the original story in the manwha.

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Amazing drama with stellar performance let down by ending

Story: Story of a guy who works for a company is betrayed by his employer who then wakes up in the body of the youngest grandson of that's company's founder. There he starts his plan of revenge which is to take control of that company.

Acting: LSM: What an amazing actor is he. He was so perfect for the chairman's role, every scenes of his was a standout. He played a tough, distrust, cunning and a vulnerable guy so well.
SJK: Loved his acting so much, I think he definitely went beyond his peak acting for this. Such a good actor that he has good chemistry with a newbie actor(Tiffany).
SHB: Honestly I didn't enjoyed her acting at all, she was good for some time but most of her acting felt plain. I think the role was not suitable for her.
Other actors: All the other actors did an amazing acting, they were so good in displaying every emotion they were being told to show. Their cunning smile, villianious laugh, desperate cry, distraught everything they showed were perfect and on point.

Characters: JDJ/HW: He is smart and cunning as he knows the future but also knows what to do with that information, he is good at manipulation and would take a bait if it means it would destroy his enemy. His relationship with grandfather goes from him not getting acknowledge as a part of family by the grand father to him being his favourite grandson whom he can relate to most.
JYC: Founder and head of the family who loves his company and goes on saying that his company is his favourite child. Always being assertive and doesn't back down from his problem. Even without the future knowledge he is a very tough and unpredictable person.
JSJ: Eldest grandson who always put up a fake mask of smile, righteous and cool guy infront of other but he would do anything to make the company his.
HM: Wife of JSJ who is loyal to her husband only if he can secure the chairman position for him and would pass down to their so. She is extremely cunning and well connected who has given a good competition to DJ.
LPO: The grandmother who everyone thinks is a nice person is actually a women who would go to extreme length to make sure her real son/grandson succeed the company.
JHY: Only daughter of the chairman.Not so smart and gets greedy easily to the point that she ignores that she is harming herself.
JYK: Eldest son of the chairman who is a pushover and always desperate to show his father that he is a capable person.
JDK: Middle son and only among the three siblings who has some knowledge of business though he gets tricked. He is also desperate to get acknowledgement from his father as he thinks he is more deserving than his older brother.
CCJ: From prosecutor who was under the shadow of his wife(JHY) and her family to a law minister. He is not capable of making his own decisions, he does what has been told by whoever that will benefit him.
OSY: An investor and a loyal partner and a friend.
SMY: She is prosecutor who gets in relationship with JDJ and is also one who goes against his rich family. She doesn't gives up and is smart to know what actually is happening.

Likes: There are so many things to like, some are listed below:
• Amazing acting by the cast especially LSM and SJK
• The grand father-grand son duo was so amazing to watch.
• "Good guys" didn't always win, they faced some loss too which only made the story more interesting.
• How JDJ manipulative his whole family and plays them against eachother.
• Even though it was for one episode the child actor playing JDJ did an amazing job.
• Antagonists are cunning but also show some stupidity in the moment of heat.
• JDJ's relationship with his mother, father and brother is very wholesome, they are the few of the good guys by his side. A supporting and caring mother, a father who is willing to become a bad guy to help his son and a funny brother who is the heart of their small family.
• How the bad guys are taken down in every couple of episodes is very satisfying to watch.
• Music and OST is so beautiful, energetic and thrilling too
There are other things too that I have not mentioned.

Dislikes:•The ending episode, if felt a totally different episode from rest of others which is written by someone else.
• Ending doesn't make that much of a sense, is very unsatisfying and maked the episodes 2 to 15 unnecessary.
• FL and the actor: The character is very under utilised even for a one character centric drama. Also the acting felt off and not that good compared to other actors.
• Romance: As the FL and ML had little screentime together their romance felt off or maybe unnecessary.
• Role of the granddaughter is very minimal, as she is actually a smart person she could have been a good match against or even in favour of JDJ.

Overall: It's an amazing drama with high class acting and good twists and turns in the story which keeps the viewer engaged but the ending and the whole last episode could be huge let down.

Ratings: As a critic: 9(10-1 because of last episode).
As a casual viewer: 10.

PS: PJH and JHY(actor playing granddaughter) look really beautiful and hot and they are really talented too. Hope to see them in a first lead role.

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Definitely entertaining, but keep the magnifying glass outside

First off, Lee Sung Min gives a heck of a performance and a lasting impression as Jin Yang Cheol CEO. Song Joong Ki is as suave as ever. There are some good dynamics and relationships that can make you curious, happy, angry and so on. Chaebol makjang that kdramas excel at, with fast-paced business empire knots and tactics. Be prepared to plunge halfway into the world of stock exchange. If you're looking to just get some entertainment, this can definitely do the job and then some.

But if you put it under a magnifying glass, you might find some holes and ditches leaving you disappointed. So don't come to this, if you're looking for a super clever story that has the i's dotted and the t's crossed all wrapped in a pretty bow. This only has the bow.

There is some romance but nothing that'll make the butterflies jump out of the screen. There is some pain and trauma but it didn't leave me bawling. So these are not things you should expect to find here.

I was not looking for these thankfully, so I was quite entertained.

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Excellent, atypical revenge thriller

Song Joong-ki tends to choose his projects wisely, and Reborn Rich is no exception. The series was adapted from the webnovel Chaebol's Youngest Son and is a revenge thriller. What makes it unique is the time loops that involve the main character, which serves for dynamic storytelling.

The first episode begins with a loyal employee, Hyeon Woo, who was recently promoted to a Senior Finance Manager in his firm, Soonyang. Later on, however, on his way back from withdrawing the slush fund of Soonyang, he gets betrayed and is shot in the head.

He ends up living the life of a young Jin Do-jun, who is the youngest grandson of the Soonyang conglomerate, and with his historical knowledge eventually gains enough money for himself to compete with his grandfather.

Before I continue further, the hallmark of this series is the adversarial and complicated relationship between Do-jun and Chairman Jin Yang Cheol (excellently portrayed by Lee Sung-min). Do-jun starts off trying to one-up his grandfather in acquiring Soonyang shares, but eventually their relationship evolves into a begrudging respect, and ultimately, a filial love.
Chairman Jin is a complicated man who loves his business above all, which leads to his children competing to be the next chairperson of Soonyang. Despite many traps and obstacles, the viewer sees Do-jun slowly ascend through Soonyang ranks while also putting the other cutthroats in their place.

Part of what makes the series interesting is the excellent portrayal of an INTJ hero by Song Joong-ki. Armed with a knowledge of history, he uses events and trends to earn even more money so that he could stand to fight for Soonyang's succession. His ability to look into potentialities and transform them into entelechies is a joy to watch. To see Lee Sung-min and Song Joong-ki devour scenes is also a wonderful treat for K-drama viewers.

Executing a series which is a closed time loop is difficult. Many media often resolve this by a restart, which means that a day is experienced over and over again until something is unlocked. Reborn Rich provides a different alternative resolution, which is also quite satisfying.

Without going into spoilers, the writing of the series is tight. It flows like one long movie, because Do-jun has to deal with problems that come up every time he becomes successful. Despite the internecine bloodbath, however, the viewer can't help but root for Do-jun as he tries to right the sinking ship of Soonyang.

Until the ending, it is impressive how the series addressed the closed time loop. Not only is the complex dynamic between Jin Yang Cheol and Do-jun a treat, the friendship between Oh Se-hyun and Do-jun is also enjoyable. If there's a weakness in the series, it has to be the romance between Min-yeong and Do-jun, as that was often shafted to the side. However, the denouement made it so, with good reason. The series comes full circle, and the series ending is, while a bit underwhelming, quite satisfying.

This is definitely one of the best, if not the best series of 2022.

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LSM(grandpa) & SJK carry the whole show, FL's character is a joke, rushed ending.

A time-travel plot can be confusing and tends to have many loopholes. This drama just had too many of them which is disappointing. The story starts off with Yoon Hyun Woo, a loyal servant to the Soonyang Family, gets betrayed by them and "killed". His soul (?) ends up in the body of Jin Yang Cheol's grandson Jin Do Joon. He has knowledge of the future & this family and wants to get revenge on the Soonyang Family with it.

What I liked:
- The Grandpa and Jin Do Joon characters. How they were able to make you watch this drama if you had no clue about business, stocks/investment.
LSM nailed it with the acting for the grandpa. JYC is such a complex character. I always wondered why JYC's children turned that way when in the first episode he was mentioned in a good way. When he scolded Seong Joon on his 60th birthday party, he told him about how the employee's livelihood depended on them. I took that as the Grandpa being a good person. But later, through Do Joon we find out he is the typical conglomerate's chairman who thinks of his employees as dogs and disregard the lives of poor people. Then we are introduced to his past as a delivery man and understand how hard he worked to become the rich man he is. We also see the tough love he has for his children & grandchildren. Grandpas character was so well done that I couldn't fully hate him. At some times, I pitied his character. I could see why Do Joon's character was also stuck in between. He wanted to destroy Soonyang which is his Grandfather's everything but he also cared for the Grandfather too. The scene where he protects the Grandfather from the oil crisis and covers up the Grandfather when he peed in the elevator. That scene was touching (the expressions were on point!) Then Grandpa's video after death was also very touching.
I liked Do Joon's journey as well. He has motive for revenge, but he hasn't lost all his emotions. He cared for the Grandfather and his family (the way he got revenge on his aunt first because she humiliated his mother). Although he did some things that ruined the lives of poor people because of his revenge, he wasn't completely corrupt.


What I disliked:
- The slight romance forced on us & the FL's character. There was no chemistry at all. It's not convincing at all that they somehow fell in love with each other. They needed the relationship between Seo Min Young & Do Joon as the reason why she's called the Soonyang Grim Reaper. Her first investigation of Soonyang started because of Do Joon (when he was alive and wanted to use her). That was her character's entire purpose to exist. Her character was not developed at all.
- How some of the supporting characters felt the same as the FL's character. Why do they exist? What purpose do they serve?
Example: Ye Joon. She showed up in Episode 1 and then she wasn't seen till like the last 3 episodes? I was wondering the entire time where she was because she was a part of the Soonyang Family that Hyun Woo knew of. She does almost nothing but helps out her father a little and that's it.

What I neither liked/disliked & had mixed feelings:
- What was the point of revenge plot when it would become meaningless? Hyun Woo went to past and we were lead to believe it's for revenge. He was going to have his revenge since he had money and he wasn't poor. His goal to buy Soonyang was for revenge. In the end he died rich, and got his revenge when he was poor. So, his journey was to prove being rich won't solve your problems? If you're poor you can get revenge too?
- Disappearance of supporting characters. After grandma is found to be murderer, she has no role in the story. What happens after that we don't know. She gave up her shares & is a suspect for attempted murder and is never to be seen again. Her role was over & assume to have died of old age. Mr. Lee also disappears after stepping down as CEO & giving Do Joon his shares.



Where I was confused:
- I get some people survive bullets to the head, but fully functional and recover within a week? What part of his head was he shot in? The brain is so complicated each areas have different functions. Are we supposed to believe bullet just went through not damaging a single part of his brain and he is fully functional?
-The ending.
Hyun Woo said he didn't time travel or possess Do Joon. "My repentance for Do Joon." This is where the major hole in time travel is. Are we suppose to take what he said literally or not? In the previous episode he said,"the one who killed me was me." Here he says he basically accepts that he was that version of Do Joon.
In those 20 years, Hyun woo erased the incident about Do Joon's accident from his memories. When he went into Do Joon's body in the past he didn't remember a single thing about Do Joon and you wondered why. Later on, he remembers that Do Joon died. But it doesn't bother him when Do Joon dies or how he dies. He suddenly remembers how Do Joon dies on the day of the accident.
He cannot say he didn't time travel because he indeed changed the past from what he knew. His birth mom died from heart attack, but when he tried to save her and change the past, she died from suicide instead. The Do Joon of the past that was gifted in investing was Hyun Woo knowing the future and using that for his advantage. One day he remembered his past self almost falling asleep as a driver and went to the same spot. But he didn't see himself since it was another "time".
So why would you repent for yourself?
Also how the hell did Hyun Woo have a recording of that call when he was panicking? If Hyun woo kept the evidence of Do joon's accident with himself the entire time, how did he not REMEMBER that he were to die by his own hands.

Why did they use the same face for Hyun woo & Do joon. Initially, I thought perhaps face of Do Joon is different & we just see Hyun Woo's face cause he took over Do Joon's body. But in last episode, the alcoholic dementia guy Mr. Ha is only one who recognizes him & says he's Do Joon. Are we supposed to say,"it's a coincidence, he has delirium and thought it was him? "

Honorable mention:
- the truck of death.
It's funny how much it's used in kdramas that everytime I see a truck I always assume someone's gonna die. It's not even a surprise anymore.

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The best adult, mature, business drama I've sen in a while!

This year K-dramas surprise me, not many in real but Tomorrow ( hope there will be a 2 season), Business Proposal and now this one: Reborn Rich.
Reborn Rich until now (episode 9) never made me do forward! The story line is surprising well written, the dialogues are fantastic so good that you want to see what happen next to the ML but also to all of the other characters.

And acting, acting is simple extraordinary if we talk about the Do Jun actors. Even the kid is something!
If you are looking for a well written drama with a theme of revenge and business this is the one!
I'm sure that I will love it until the end and I'm gonna miss this drama when it reach the final

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reborn rich rocks - Don't be put off by the comments

Story - I loved it. The nods to history were amazing and really told us about South Korea at pivotal times in their history. I'd suggest people watch it for this alone. It also highlights how power and money play such an important part in designing fate.

The ending seemed to split the audience but I loved it. It reconciled the stories in a way I hadn't anticipated. So my advise would be not to be put off by the comments you read on here or elsewhere. This story delivered

Acting - this was so good by the supporting cast that I found myself unable to watch some of the scenes. Special mention to the Grandma

The only thing I didn't love was the romance as it felt unnecessary at times but eventually makes sense. Rewatch and OST are low as I don't remember much music and it's hard to rewatch thrillers / dramas like this.

I would highly recommend this as the perfect binge watch. Lucky you not needing to go through weeks of suspense

Enjoy

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After building up the drama about DoJun for 15 episodes and suddenly killing him off towards the end was a bit lousy writing. All this time I was expecting to finally see Dojun buy Soonyang and sit on the throne that he has been fighting for his whole life. Suddenly shifting the plot towards Hyun Woo for one last episode when the entire audience was invested in the story about DoJun was pointless to me. But as Hyun Woo mentioned towards the end the story wasn't about possession or time traveling rather it was about his repentance towards DoJun and himself. So I guess this whole time the plot was from Hyun Woo's perspective, which kind of makes me not dislike the entire drama just for one episode which didn't go as I expected. I mean we all kind of knew DoJun was dead but we still kinda hoped for some sort of miracle lol. Overall, I think it was a great watch, the twists after twists and all the mind games played by the protagonist, and not to forget the outstanding acting and the beautiful relationship between the grandfather and his grandson, so damn wholesome! If I would ever give this drama a rewatch it would only be because of the grandfather and grandson duo. In the end, it wasn't about revenge but rather justice for DoJun and his loved ones. Everyone in Jin's family kind of got the taste of their own medicine which was very satisfactory to watch. But what was the need for identical characters and how come nobody ever noticed how similar they both looked? :/

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Ending left a lot to be desired, but I think I understood the point

Overall, this was one of the best plotted kdramas I’ve watched in a long time. The ending was a tad frustrating, but ultimately, I think I understand what the reason behind it was.

This story digs into generational wealth/poverty and tells the story of the South Korean economy from the 90s-the present. As an American, I learned a lot more about the stock market, South Korean conglomerates and how their legal system changed to accommodate them. On its face, not something I would’ve thought I’d be interested in, but the story weaves in the family plot is of the Jin family empire and it all makes for a really interesting drama. I found myself finishing it much faster than I thought I would.

The only weak parts of this drama (for me anyway) were the romance between DJ/HW and the prosecutor and some of the acting choices. I pitied the prosecutor because I just never thought DJ/HW really cared that much about her. She was constantly an afterthought and she thought about him all the time. To find out she waited so long after their failed romance dating no one and hoping he’d be into her again… that’s just sad. We don’t even really get to see her working cases that weren’t involved with him so it made it look like her life revolved around him.

I also was annoyed at how often someone would say something shock to DJ/HW and he wouldn’t react until they’d already left. They did that several times and the leaning in to whisper intimidation tactic was used a lot, too.

The strongest parts of this drama are the scenes with the family. Both DJ’s and HW’s. Watching HW's family struggle, especially what his father went through, was heartbreaking. DJ's relationship with the Miracle Investment team was great. DJ's constant fight with the Jin family was very interesting to watch. Of course, the most outstanding relationship was between DJ and his grandfather. I was surprised by how much this drama made me invested in that relationship.

The ending was not what I wanted. It did feel like a sudden turn to punish HW for things we didn't even know he'd done. I think the writers wanted to say that the solution to his death wasn't being reborn rich and paying it forward. Instead, he had to reconcile with his own actions and greed and take the Jin family down with the resources he had. In a world where rich people don't ever get the punishment they deserve, this ending falls a bit flat because obviously, the desired ending was DJ taking over and having the Jin family see the results of their own actions. Instead, we get a very quick ending that didn't feel nearly as satisfying.

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a big mistake

when i watch a korean drama i fall in love with the story and the acting.
reborn rich it a good drama with a big mistake .....
this korean drama give as the real story about korea or the reborn of korea.
when we talk about car in korea that remember me the birth of a greate car named Hyundai ......the evolution of korean music ...the revolution of movie ......this drama give as not only a story about rich
but give as the story of all korean .
now the big mistake in this show is the end .....i dont like it and i can't accepted .
from the beginning they show us a boy bicome the great leader of His grandfather's property and his wealth, estimated at millions.
at the end he is dead .
sorry but i dont anderstande this end ....

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One of a kind

I don't think I've watched a KDrama that's so heavily focused on economics, historical events and finance this good. There's never a boring moment throughout the drama. When it comes to succession dramas, often times, you'll see a lot of internal politics drama but this one is different. I'm not saying that there's no internal politics, but you get to see the thinking process behind business decisions and also good strategies. There are so many mentions of real historical events and how they have impacted businesses in Korea which is one of the highlights of the drama for me.

I read an article somewhere comparing the plot of this drama with the Samsung's succession drama as well. Long story short, the founder of Samsung, similar to Jin Yang Cheol in the drama, planned to let his eldest son become the successor but the son wasn't really business savvy so he changed his mind and led to a series of events surrounding power fight within the family. I always have a soft spot for dramas which have elements inspired by true events because you can help but think "so it does happen in real life".

Parts I really love:
1. The whole part of how Jin Do Joon took advantage of his knowledge of events to make investment decisions.
2. Jin Do Joon's relationship with Oh Se Hyun. It's really funny how they became such trusty partners after a donut incident in the US.
3. All the details put into business and investment strategies. Is it because Do Joon could see the future? He could confidently make decisions and at the same time make logical sense out of them.

The one part of the drama which I really dislike is Seo Min Young. Sometimes, I feel like the writers wrote her in just to give the actress something to do.

My opinion on the ending:
I see a lot of comments complaining how "ridiculous" the ending is. If you guys have been watching the drama from episode 1, you should know that historical events cannot be changed. Remember when Do Joon tried to save Hyun Woo's mother? He did all sorts of things to avoid her death but she died anyway. In actual fact, Do Joon didn't get to survive the accident. Isn't already expected that at some point, Do Joon will die? Probably because we have been too attached with Do Joon throughout the drama, it is quite upsetting that they have killed off our main character.

There are parts that don't quite make sense to me though. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out the age thing. 20 years had passed since Do Joon died and Hyun Woo still looked the same? How old was he then, when he survived the gunshot? How did he survive the gunshot to the head in the first place?

All in all, I highly recommend this drama. The only reason why I rated this 8.5 is only because other than Jin Do Joon and Jin Yang Cheol, other characters seem to be a little lacking.

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14 Filler episodes

So basically episode 2 - 15 is filler.

How did Do-Jun have knowledge of the future? Why didn't the future change? Why didn't he prepare for the death like he prepared for everything else? Why didn't Do-Jun help his poor family when he had enough money to do so? Surely after nearly dying with has Grand Father he would be smart enough to have better security. But also, how did Hyun-woo record the phone call in like 2005? Why didn't the manager just hang up the phone after talking to Hyun-woo?

Is it worth watching 15 good episodes just to be extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with a horrible ending? Maybe. But it will leave you questioning if it was worth it.

Many plot holes. Story should have gone the same way as the novel. It was still entertaining but it could have been A LOT better. Ending ruined it for me in my opinion.

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