It looks like Song Joong Ki has carved a niche for himself in playing the intellectually superior man who is perfection personified. We think it started with his role in “The Innocent Man”, solidified with “Descendants of the Sun”, carried into the smash hit that was “Vincenzo,” and is continuing with “Reborn Rich.” He is a true Hallyu star whose easy charm and presence on, and off screen have won him fans across the world. It is a wise move to continue to build on that persona, but creatively, isn’t that getting a little tiring? As a fan who is aware of the range he has exhibited in movies like “Penny Pinchers” and “Space Sweepers”, or a series like “Sungkyunkwan Scandal,” we feel that he has been withholding his potential in the interest of playing it safe. Don’t get us wrong, the first three episodes of “Reborn Rich” are extremely impressive and have us looking forward to the upcoming episodes. But just once, we would like to see him step away from playing the aspirational perfect man and instead play the loveable imperfect one. Anyway, let us see how the three episodes unfold, because they were certainly spectacular.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Reborn Rich’ Episode 1: Recap And Ending
“Reborn Rich” Episode 1 starts with Song Joong Ki, who plays Yoon Hyeon Woo, the senior manager in the Future Asset Management Department of Soonyang Group. He is a trusted employee who doesn’t miss a single beat when it comes to following the orders of his superiors and does everything from repairing toilets to taking care of the seating arrangement, along with being on point with his job profile.
Soonyang Group has recently been under fire for manipulation of stocks, misconduct, and embezzlement, and they are trying to recover from it, especially as it is said that this is the company that runs Korea’s economy. It is the bust unveiling ceremony of the late Chairman Jin Yang Cheol. His grandson Jin Seong Jun who is also the Vice Chairman, storms into his father’s office, who is the current Chairman, Jin Young Ki, and yells at his father about an accident. He tells him that he will be renouncing his inheritance as he wants no part of the “dirty money”. But Jin Young Ki gives him a piece of his mind by reminding him that he is not capable enough of doing something by himself. But Seong Jun is not going to bend to his father’s words and stays firm on his decision. This causes Jin Young Ki to have a heart attack. Watching his father collapse on the floor, Seong Jun panics and flees the scene. Luckily, Do Jun arrives just in time to get him medical help. Now the family must decide on a person to address the media. They tell Hyeon Woo to find Seong Jun and bring him back or forget about his job. He sets out to do so with his junior in the department Shin Gyeong Min. Eventually, he finds him in a hotel nearby, having a complete meltdown and swinging his golf stick around, breaking everything in sight. Hyeon Woo gets injured, but he manages to calm him down and convince him to come back by talking about an incident with a broken vase and the qualities of a good businessman that he needs to emulate. Seong Jun insults him further but returns nonetheless. At the ceremony, he proclaims that from thereon, Soonyang will follow the principles of justice, honesty, and accountability. Later on, when Hyeon Woo is at his job, he is brought some papers by Gyeong Min that show that there have been multiple transactions made over the years to a company called Soonyang Micro. The problem is that it is a shell company. When Hyeon Woo reveals that to Seong Jun, he immediately fires Mr. Kim, who is the manager who had tried to cover it up. He also promotes Hyeon Woo and sends him abroad to retrieve the money that has been syphoned off over the years.
Seong Jun here presents a complicated character. Setting aside the question of his capability as raised by his father, he seems to be someone torn between his morals. Whatever the accident was, it affected him enough that he wanted to renounce being an heir to the biggest company in the country. Yet he lacked the capacity to make strong decisions. His first instinct on seeing his father lying on the ground was to flee. He insulted Hyeon Woo but regretted it later and communicated it in whatever subtle way he could. There is a sadness to him because of the lack of attention he receives from the people around him, which could be what has translated into such violent outbursts in his adulthood. It would be interesting to see how his character plays out in the upcoming episodes.
Meanwhile, Hyeon Woo goes abroad and retrieves the $600 million. But to his dismay, he is kidnapped and taken to a cliff, likely to be killed. Gyeong Min is there, and he tells him that the person who wants Soonyang Micro is the one who wants him killed. Saying this, he leaves as Hyeon Woo is shot and thrown into the sea. But the story is far from over, as immediately after, Hyeon Woo wakes up in the body of Jin Do Jun, the younger son of the Chairman’s 4th son, Jin Yoon Ki. Do Jun is the youngest grandson, and right now, he is perfectly disoriented at this turn of events. The family reaches the Soonyang residence, named Jeongsimjae, which literally translates to “rightful heart.” Yet, it is the start of four decades of politics and hidden motives where currently, a 40-year-old Hyeon Woo is in the body of 10-year-old Do Jun and trying to make sense of things.
‘Reborn Rich’ Episode 2: Recap And Ending
“Reborn Rich” Episode 2 is about how Do Jun changes the history of his new family. The Chairman’s fourth son, Yoon Ki, is returning home after 10 years. He was cast out as he married, against his father’s wishes, former actress Lee Hae In. The elder daughters-in-law and the sister-in-law sort of bully Hae In when they refuse to let her be a part of the organization of the get-together. Do Jun runs into a younger Seong Jun as he is stealing something and when discovered, accidentally breaks a vase. The parents arrive on the scene, and Do Jun effortlessly proves that he is not the culprit when Seong Jun tries to blame him. The Chairman arrives at the scene and repeats the advice Do Jun knows, word for word, to Seong Jun. Seeing history repeat itself, Do Jun is absolutely overwhelmed, and he runs out of the house. He runs to what he knows to be home from a previous life, which is the Three-Way restaurant. It is owned by his parents, and he sits inside. In “Reborn Rich” Episode 1, we saw that Hyeon Woo was the sole provider of his household for a long time while his brother studied for the Civil Service examination. But when Hyeon Woo had last gone to see them, his brother had gotten a job and had brought a gift for his older brother. His father had encouraged him to settle down with a family, but that had just angered Hyeon Woo. It looked like he blamed his father for not being able to take proper care of his mother, which might have led to her death. But we can’t be sure of that theory until we know more. Currently, Do Jun is located by Yoon Ki and Hae In, and they take him home. But now, he is determined to live a different life. He remembers nothing about Do Jun from the Soonyang Group’s family tree. But that is his only blind spot. The next day, while his grandfather and his uncles are discussing who to support in the coming presidential election, Do Jun shows up and says that Roh Tae Woo is going to win. While he is initially dismissed, the news immediately says that Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, who were the other two candidates, have not formed an alliance, proving that Do Jun’s words have merit. He is immediately called back by his grandfather to explain his reasoning. While at it, he is also given a riddle pertaining to the semiconductor business, which he is unable to answer. Following this, he returns home, where he closely follows the news for an understanding of the current world. His grandfather leaves for Baghdad when Do Jun figures out that his grandfather is talking about the semiconductor business. When he calls him, he lets him know that he is coming back on October 29th on flight CAL 828. The wheels in Do Jun’s head turn, and he remembers that this is the flight that killed the Chairman. He immediately calls him in Baghdad and answers the riddle for him, asking him to come back to Seoul. Luckily, Yang Cheol receives the message just in time and misses the flight that would have been his doom. Right at this point, Do Jun has already changed history.
The next day, he demands to know how Do Jun had the answers to his questions. But his grandson is not really a child and tells his grandfather that he was just giving him the validation he needed for an answer that would present itself in the future. Impressed, his grandfather asks him to name the gift he had previously mentioned. Do Jun replies that he wants the land in Bundang? At that time, it was just neglected land used for pottery, but Do Jun knew the future, and he was playing his cards. He also promises his grandfather that he will get an acceptance letter from a university, which will be their next trade. “Reborn Rich” Episode 2 ends with the Chairman accepting Yoon Ki back into the family and with a grown-up Do Jun having gotten into law school at the top of his class.
‘Reborn Rich’ Episode 3: Recap And Ending
The land in Bundang that Do Jun was gifted nine years ago is now valued at 24 billion. He converts it into US dollars and goes with his father to the New York Film Festival. While there, he advises him to invest in the distribution of “Titanic,” just as he had trusted his son’s “instincts” and invested in “Home Alone” for Christmas, which resulted in huge profits for their business. While over there, he also runs into Mason Oh, one of the investors at Power Shares, who picks profitable ventures to pour money into. Do Jun proves his value to him by correctly guessing the winner in the chess championship between Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. Do Jun want his help in investing in companies in the US. With his knowledge of the future and Mason Oh’s knack for analysis, he anticipates a friendship that will be extremely profitable in the future.
Back in Korea, Do Jun starts college, and his grandfather sends a chauffeur for him, likely to keep him under surveillance. Do Jun catches on to that but play along for the time being? He runs into Seo Min Yeong, the woman he had met in his previous life when she was a prosecutor determined to take down Soonyang. Right now, he sees a completely different side of her, one that is crying because her favorite boy band has disbanded. Other than that, he is approached in college by members of an exclusive club for the rich and privileged, and they ask him to join them for dinner later. Do Jun agrees and persuades Min Yeong to come with him by promising to tell her if Seo Tae Ji would ever make a comeback. Min Yeong seems to like him and agrees, but she clearly isn’t aware of where she is going. She tells Do Jun that she is not one of them because she is not privileged. Obviously, she is coming from a moral high ground, but Do Jun gives her a reality check on her privilege soon enough. It would help to remember from “Reborn Rich” Episode 1 that Hyeon Woo was recruited right off high school, and he used to skip sleep to study and meals to work better. He had to resign himself to a life of constant indignities just because he was not born into privilege. Compared to his previous life, Min Yeong had a lot more in life, and it was nothing but a privilege.
Why Does Jin Do Jun Buy Hando Steel?
Throughout the “Reborn Rich” Episode 3, Hando Steel has been a point of debate in the Soonyang household. The Chairman tells his son to acquire the company without using money. This is his test to see whether he is capable of being his successor. So far, he does not seem to be living up to it. Yang Cheol wants his successor to be someone who can think like him, and he wants to find out who best fits the bill. When Do Jun comes back from the US and sees the Hando file on his grandfather’s desk, the wheels in his head turn. Towards the end of “Reborn Rich” Episode 3, we see that it was he who had set up Mason Oh to buy out the company that was on the verge of bankruptcy at an estimated value of $500 billion. People are baffled, but the explanation given is that it’s the “future value.” The statement is cryptic, and currently, only the Chairman has the foresight to ponder over it. However, he has understood that the person behind the purchase is someone who is not in the best interests of Soonyang. Do Jun admit as much to Mason when he asks him why he did not let the company go to his uncle? We expect the exact details of it to be revealed going forward, but for now, we can guess that Hando Steel in the hands of his uncle would have given him a lot of power, which would have seriously hampered Do Jun’s future prospects. Think about it: now that he has gone back in time, there is no saying if he will ever find out who tried to kill him since he is actively changing history. But his ultimate revenge would be the possession of the very power and wealth whose lack had been the foundation of every disadvantage he had faced in his previous life. For that reason, he let Hando Steel slip out of Soonyang’s hands so that in the future, he could control Soonyang.
What To Expect From ‘Reborn Rich’ Episode 4?
There could probably not be a better choice to play a 40-year-old in the body of a 20-year-old than the baby-faced Song Joong Ki. The man doesn’t age, and we see how he is such an ideal fit for the role of Jin Do Jun. Going forward, we are likely to see more political battles that will put Do Jun in the running to take over Soonyang. We might also see Seong Jun make a return and witness the relationship between him and his father. There could be some romance with Min Yeong, but it would be better if her story went beyond being the love interest of Do Jun. We remember the debacle that was Hong Cha Young’s character in “Vincenzo” and how utterly wasted she was. We hope Min Yeong is dealt a better fate. Also, wouldn’t it be interesting to see Do Jun make a mistake? We mean, he hasn’t been guessing the future; he knows it. And when he is actively changing history, there are bound to be variations. What if one time, he gives the wrong answer? What could the consequences of that be? These are questions that future episodes of “Reborn Rich” must answer, and we are waiting for them with bated breath.
