Quite often, I am asked to share information about an artist’s new project, a company’s upcoming product, or maybe something in between. Most of the time I take a pass for a variety of reasons: the subject matter may not interest me, I have no outlet for it to run in, or — most often — I just don’t have time to dig into it.
But I’m sharing this one with you because it’s about K-dramas and, just as importantly, it’s free (for a few days, anyhow)!
VIKI is celebrating its third annual K-Drama Day by removing the paywall from 10 popular shows on the streaming site. Three of those shows, by the way, have been included on my best of lists: “Lovely Runner,” “Reborn Rich,” and “Study Group.
Viewers only have five days to take advantage of this promotion. The shows will be behind paywalls again as of October 1. So if you’re interested in watching them for free, do it before Wednesday!
* And because someone inevitably will ask, I did not receive compensation to share this news. (The companies that pay me are the publications that I write for. And with K-Culture with Jae-Ha Kim, the people who pay me are, well, some of you! So thank you!)
재벌집 막내아들
☆☆☆½
Jin Do-joon / Yoon Hyun-woo (played by Song Joong-ki)
Jin Yang-chul (played by Lee Sung-min)
Seo Min-young (played by Shin Hyun-been)
Rachel (played by Tiffany Young)
Describing “Reborn Rich” is tricky without giving away the ending. Is this K-drama a time-traveling thriller? Or a revenge series with the poor battling the obscenely wealthy? Maybe it’s a tale of repentance?
The answer is: It’s all that and more. There’s a reason why this was most-watched K-drama of 2022 in South Korea. Smart and calculated without resorting to tired tropes, “Reborn Rich” offers powerhouse performances by Song Joong-ki (in two roles) and master actor Lee Sung-min (“Misaeng“), who at just 54, convincingly portrays the former’s mercurial-tempered grandfather.
When we first meet Hyun-woo, he is the perfect employee. Smart (but poor and uneducated), he is made to believe he is lucky to have a corporate job at Soonyang, one of South Korea’s most powerful companies. As he advises an underling, his job is to complete any and all orders from his superiors without question. This includes everything from swapping out a hotel toilet seat for the wife of the chairman’s eldest son, to traveling overseas to reclaim the company’s slush funds.
This isn’t much of a spoiler since it is advertised in the series synopsis, but still … stop reading if you don’t want to know more. (I’ll write about the major spoilers beneath the trailer below.)
During this trip, he is set up, shot and falls from a cliff. The knowledge he possesses about the family’s dirty deeds have been protected by his death.
In the next vignette, we meet Do-joon, the youngest grandson of the Soonyang Group family. (The literal translation of the Korean series title 재벌집 막내아들 is The Youngest Son of a Chaebol House.) He is about 10 years old and confused. Because Hyun-woo’s spirit and mind are now in the little boy’s body.
From that point on, Hyun-woo begins to plot his revenge. But as is pointed out in the series, revenge isn’t for those who have been wronged. Only those with power can truly get retribution in any meaningful way. So he carefully plots out his future, knowing what he knows from having lived it and from having read his grandfather’s biography (which hasn’t been published yet in the era he’s currently living).
Acting aside, “Reborn Rich” is a fascinating look at South Korea’s modern history, when South Korean cars were viewed as cheap automobiles that could never enter the international market. And its electronics and goods weren’t of comparable quality to products made in the United States, Germany or Japan. It deals with the ramifications of the IMF crisis, when leaders were asking its citizens to donate all their gold jewelry (including wedding bands and babies’ dol rings and bracelets) for the good of the nation. And in Episode 13, there’s a fun reminder of how well South Korea performed two decades ago at the 2002 World Cup, before eventually losing to Germany (1-0) in the semi-finals.
I have seen a few things on social media where fans are upset at the finale. For me, it was a satisfying end to a well-crafted show that felt natural and hopeful. Surviving is an act of courage in and of itself. While it’s not a sexy happily ever after, there is definitive closure and repentance.
(If you want to read spoilers for “Reborn Rich,” you may find that in my longer, full-length review here.)
If you’re inadvertently reading this on a content-scraping plagiarism site (e.g. europesays(dot)com etc.), please know that they stole my copyrighted work. They have no legal rights to present my writing as their own. —Jae-Ha Kim
“Study Group”
스터디그룹
☆☆☆½
Yoon Ga-min (played by Hwang Min-hyun)
Kim Se-hyeon (played by Lee Jong-hyun)
Lee Han-kyung (played by Han Ji-eun)
Ga-min’s love for academics is as strong as his grades are weak. Even as a middle school student, none of his classmates would cram with him. They feared they might do worse on exams just by being in his proximity. In high school, the studious but grade-challenged teen (played by Hwang Min-hyun) hopes to better his chances to get into a good university by transferring to a less prestigious and academically easier high school, but his grades are still at the bottom.
So he puts that effort into forming a study group and finding classmates who will join him, in a testament to his determination to better himself. Study Group also is a fast-moving action series where teenagers fight nonstop and rank each other by who can beat up everyone else. Like Clark Kent, who turns into Superman when he removes his glasses, Ga-min proves to be a skilled martial artist who can take down anyone when he removes his. Shout out to Ga-min’s mother, who unlike other K-drama parents push academic excellence above all else. “Who cares if you don’t do well on tests,” she tells him. “That’s not the important thing.” (This capsule review originally ran in Teen Vogue)
“Lovely Runner”
선재 업고 튀어
☆☆☆
Ryu Sun-jae (played by Byeon Woo-seok)
Im Sol (played by Kim Hye-yoon)
“Lovely Runner” is full of action and intrigue, but at its core, it’s a story of undying love and sacrifice. Sun-jae (played by Byeon Woo-seok) is an isolated superstar, and Im-sol (Kim Hye-yoon) is an uber fan who would do anything to support him. Both are 34 and wishing their lives had played out differently. The plot reveals that the unlikely pair has a history together that is centered on doing whatever it takes to protect each other. This includes traveling through time, knowing they may not be able to return home, or even see each other again.
Unlike many K-pop idols who also act (IU, Bae Suzy, Rowoon, Yoona, Cha Eun-woo, D.O.), the male lead here is not a trained singer. But Byeon portrays the leader of the fictional boy band Eclipse well enough that “Sudden Shower,” the drama’s recurring OST song that he sings, charted on Billboard in real life. (This review originally ran in TODAY. If you would like to read spoilers for “Lovely Runner,” you may find that in my longer, full-length review here.)
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