Renascendo Rico (2022)

An ambitious drama... but maybe too ambitious

I'll start this review by admitting that I am normally not a big fan of plots about greedy rich family members fighting over power positions but once I saw Song Joong Ki I knew I would have to watch this. He never disappoints, even in dramas I don't love, and this unfortunately was one of those dramas. Don't get me wrong, there are some really great things about "Born Rich" and I say this knowing nothing about the book it's based on. The rivalries are intense and keeping up with the lead character's wins and losses flavored with Korean nostalgia was fun each week. This was largely due to Lee Sung Min as Jin Yang Cheol, the family patriarch at the center of all the greed and corruption.

Jin Do Joon and Jin Yang Cheol's relationship are what makes this drama so exciting. There are other great characters as well but watching them match wits eclipses everything else. The main story is a pretty standard revenge plot with a retro twist, and clever Do Joon is easy to root for, but what I liked more was the feeling of watching an intense game of chess between two fierce rivals who clearly admire each other. I was less interested in the war between siblings, even with some impressive actors in those roles. The terrible rich people being terrible trope is just not as engaging after a while, and too many of the family members were 2 dimmensional awful people.

One part of the story that really did not work well is the romance plot. I think in this case it wasn't just the writing but Shin Hyun Bin's performance that made this storyline fall flat. Her choice to play Seo Min Young as cold, guarded, and robotic throughout left no room for any romance scenario that made sense. I felt myself rolling my eyes whenever her character showed up, and that's not a good look for a love interest.

Another problem I had with "Born Rich" is that there were a lot of times I had a hard time following what was going on and who was who. There are a lot of characters with agendas, and a lot of agendas conflict and overlap. Add to that a lot of significant Korean history moments going over my head and me likely missing a lot of important details. Thankfully the music helped me know when something sinister was about to go down. lol

Would I watch this again? Maybe. Now that I know the ending I would be slightly interested in seeing it from the beginning with that in mind. However, the episodes are so long that I think without the suspense they may not be fun to watch anymore. I was satified with seeing the main character's evolution and I think that's enough for me to move on from this for now. I know a lot of people didn't like the direction the story went towards the end but I appreciated the twist and what it said about the blind pursuit of wealth and power.

Overall, "Born Rich" didn't disappoint but it did fall a little short. It just felt too inconsistent. By the end of episode 15, I was really excited about this drama's ending, but it kinda fizzled and turned predictable by the very end. Is it worth watching just to watch Song Joong Ki? Yes. Is this as good as some of his other famous roles? Definitely not. Even his infamous charming smirks seemed more low key in this one. If you didn't read the synopsis, good! Don't! I'm glad I started watching knowing nothing from the very beginning. The conflict for me is that I liked the story more than how it was told. I loved the suspense and cliff hangers but hated the repetitive scenes with shadey characters staring suspiciously at each other. Be aware that this is a plot that stays true to one genre and focuses on Politics, Power, and Revenge. If you find people discussing plots and schemes tedious this is not the drama for you.

Leia Mais

Good show but ending could've been better.

I won't dissect whole drama so no deep dive. All I want to throw light on is, the ending epi.
Everything was going so fine and great but just that ending epi was a bit unnecessary and unsatisfying. This is just my thought but if they had not killed Do Jun, and showed that he took over sooyang and got married and lived a life happily, that would've been enough. I mean, I don't think so viewers were even looking for a closure for Yoon Hyun Woo's death. People were already satisfied with how he got reincarnated and became more powerful.
But idk what came into the story writer's mind that he chose a vague ending.
It's not like I am in the position to judge someone's work but it's just a viewer's perspective.
Well, it is fine. I've watched so many kdramas and a lot of them (including the good ones) suffer a terrible ending.

Also, it is pretty obvious that there will no s2, so to even think about that is futile.

Leia Mais

Edge of my seat!

I didn't watch this when it was first released, but I heard a lot of hype around it, as it's one of the top-rated K-Dramas of all time. So, I was concerned it wouldn't live up to the hype, but it did not disappoint at all! I have never had a K-Drama genuinely surprise me with as many plot twists as it had. I was on the edge of my seat each episode and could hardly stop myself from binge-watching. It was so good. Although I've grown tired of the reincarnation and time travel tropes recently, this felt so fresh and unlike any other. It's probably Song Joong Ki's best, but Lee Sung Min as the grandpa stole the show. He delivered such an award-winning performance. Truly had me thinking he was an old man! He somehow made me feel sympathy for this man who hadn't been the best person either. It wasn't just the writes and actors that made this a great drama-- cinematography and OST were brilliant too. Nearly a perfect drama. I felt a little mixed about the ending. Compared to the rest of the show, it was almost anti-climactic. It was not terrible, though. Some might feel differently than I do.

Leia Mais

Episode 1 to 15 is rated 10/10 but Episode 16 is 1/10

This drama is great. Very exciting and compelling from episode 1 to 15 you will get hooked until the last episode that ruin everything. They should have made the Hyun Woo suffer the consequence in the end. That Do Joo, what a poor guy. He did nothing wrong but still die in the end, while Hyun Woo run free, without consequence. And why they are look alike, not explained properly.

I was planning to rewatch it after last episode but after watching the last episode, ahh nevermind. there are other upcoming and ongoing dramas that is good also. I just have to ask, why why why is the ending like that. I felt rob on my time and effort watching this. Well at least I had to commend the acting and music which are all great, 10/10 infact. And as I said its 10/10 from episode 1 to 15. I will never forget this drama because of the ending LOL

Leia Mais

2022 AND ITS ENDING CURSED

Don't know what's up with 2022 and the drama endings ... i mean things are going very well but 16 episode and all in the bucket .
This drama was in my top list drama .... the story.. the acting... the cast.. the music everything was very well made up to top notch but the ending was very unexpected although it made sense, was a logical way to end the drama but it did not satisfied me at all .
The drama could have been one of the best for me but ending left with me an unsatisfied desire although some will find it a LOGICAL due to the repentance way of writer but still i wanted to see the completed revenge arc.
But still it's an top rating drama with a top notch story ,cast and production so give it a try.

Leia Mais

The Ending is Understandable but Underwhelming

Overall, it was a solid drama. I think the only reason why I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending was that the build-up throughout the drama was crazy. I loved the first 12 episodes so so much. I was hooked because I am a b**** for anti-hero plots. I love any story where the main character gets their revenge on the people that looked down on them, and this was exactly the drama that hit those points.

I also love the transmigration genre. I love reading transmigration manhwas, so seeing how this genre was made into a drama with Song Joong Ki... I was sold.

Song Joong Ki sure knows how to pick a good drama. His acting in this one is phenomenal as per usual. He is so expressive and eloquent, which makes every scene so much better. His chemistry with Lee Sung Min was also amazing. They were such a powerful grandfather-grandson duo.

The romance for a bit unnecessary to be honest. This is coming from a person that watches 90% romance dramas. I feel like Do Jun would have been better(?) off focusing on revenge rather than love. This was the one criticism I had with this drama.

As stated in the title of this review, the ending was understandable. I actually did get goosebumps when I finally realized the truth behind the drama and the Hyun Woo/Do Jun situation. I just feel like for how powerful the plot was in the beginning and middle-- the ending was a mood-dropper. Not in a bad way, but it just felt out of place. However, I do hope that people who were disappointed with the ending understand why everything happened the way it did (refer back to Hyun Woo's revelation in the last episode).

Leia Mais

I Hate-Love it

This drama had it all but then blew it at the same time. Everyone had an issue with the ending but for me it was everything else but the ending. There are so many loopholes that made my brain hurt. Whereas the ending I thought was apt for this drama and did justice to the one who needed it the most. Jin Do Jun.


I thought of dropping this drama at episode 10 and checked all the comments here and saw how most of them was angry about the ending. I saw the spoilers and reading from them I had the anger was justifiable. I still went ahead thinking I don't want to quit at episode 10 and see it to the end and but once I was done with this drama I realized this ending was what would have made sense for every other loopholes and unexplained incidents this drama had throughout.

It makes perfect sense that Hyeon Woo ended up in Do Jun's body. HW had the front row seat of having to relive Do Jun's entire life, full fill his dream of being a CEO and fall in love, for all of it to be destroyed by his real self. So it was fated for and karma for Hyeon Woo to feel that angst and loss... and then to wake up to realizes what he had been a part of. This drama was never about Hyeon Woo embarking on revenge for the betrayal but rather for Jin Do Jun getting his justice after 20 years.

And it also made perfect sense that Hyeon Woo never ending up with Min Young or disclosing his secret because as he said to her when he was Do Jun, he never deserved her and he knows that he never will. So I am glad that they never gave them the happily ever after.

This drama would have been amazing if it was a tight script but that is wishful thinking in dramaland. I really enjoyed the Lee Seung Min's performance as Chairman Jin... Song Joong Ki and him was a treat to watch onscreen and that was what made me get through this drama. His characters death did make me give it up but just had to see the infamous ending.

Leia Mais

review that has to be 500 words

A wonderful and exciting series and song joongki did a amazing job at playing his role and all of the cast as well did an amazing job but the ending is questionable and thus the reason why overall I gave it a 9.5. There was many moments that just made my heart break and there’s not that much shows that can do that. But once again, I must say that the ending is definitely a ending that’s very controversial.

The writers definitely had guts to finish the show with such an ending. But nevertheless, you should watch the show as the cast work very hard to make the storyline come to life and it was a very fun experience watching and waiting for each episode to come out

Leia Mais

Started off strong and left me with a meh feeling, but overall, okay.

I picked up Reborn Rich because of Song Joong Ki, I loved him in Vincenzo and I will admit the trailer is pretty good. I should preface and say that I’m usually a rom-com kind of gal or a romance melo-drama. I don’t usually pick up dramas that are theme around scheming, taking-down-the-“man” or rich verse poor kind of storyline, but I do watch those shows depending on the casting (i.e. Itaewon class).

I’m glad I watched this drama as it aired because after the first 6 episodes, I’m not sure I could binge watch Reborn Rich. The show is very intense, a lot of up and downs.

The casting was on-point for the drama. It’s a large cast, but everyone played their role very well and you kind of needed all the husbands / wives, aunties / uncles and cousins. It really gave the storyline some depth and a lot of characters to play with.

I liked that it was a historical kind of show, set in the 90’s. I’m 100% the target audience for this drama (late 30 year old). I understood all the major events that took place and I’m a finance major, so the financial part of the drama was my jam and I really enjoyed watching those parts.

I liked the relationship between the Jin Do Joon (ML) and Jin Yang Cheol (the grandfather) the best! Those were probably the best moments of the show. I also liked that the cover focused on these two characters because it truly was the heart of the show.

The romance aspect of the show is (I’m afraid to say) a major joke and shouldn’t have been written in. It was very awkward and cringy, which is sad to say because I love romance dramas.

I found the beginning a little intense and over-the-top, but I get it, it sets the stage on how awful the family is. Once the ML got into his role and the story began, I really enjoyed it. It felt like the underdog was going to get his day and each episode was another obstacle the ML was going to overcome.

Towards the end, I felt like the show was dragging a bit and a lot of things unraveling became tiresome to watch. It felt like there wasn’t any movement and the ML was just hitting brick wall after brick wall, let’s just say a lot of actors were yelling in their scenes.

And then you get the ending, where you will read A LOT of mixed reviews. I will say, this show is artsy and I understand why the actor picked this script, on paper, it sounds really interesting and cool, but to me, it felt a little anti-climatic and you wondered, was the drama worth watching?

I can’t answer that. I gave the drama a 9 rating, because, I did overall, liked most of the drama. I enjoyed the casting and the sets and costumes were really cool. I loved that it took place in the past and the storyline was centered around finances. I’m just not sure how the drama concluded everything, it was a little lack-luster in my opinion.

Leia Mais

Excellent start and journey that didn't stick the landing.

Captivating start and journey which gave a sour taste at the end cause the landing didn't stick for me
Unsatisfying ending (didn't like with the way Do Jin died without getting to see him rub his victory hand in front of those called his family. And...YES one can say life isn't all rosy but still...it bugs me. And the way they treated the older grandson's wife where she had a significant role and then took her back to the backseat. There were others that I didn't enjoy but there were a lot of things that I found enjoyable throughout the time I was watching it.
I'm being generous with my rating because the first 14 (15 for bits we got in it) were captivating.

Leia Mais