Reborn Rookie Review
What can I say? It was perfect as my background drama.
Note that "Reborn Rookie" has been adapted from a web novel named "New Employee Chairman Kang". This is a review from a person who hasn't read it, but I heard that things have been changed...
While watching the drama, I thought it seemed too much like makjang, especially in some of the edits. After looking up who did the screenwriting for the drama, it all makes sense.
I haven't seen the previous work from Go Hye Jin, only her work in "The Light in Your Eyes", where she was the assistant director. Her work was not my favourite, but it has its funny moments, and the editing definitely helped to keep up with the humour of the drama.
Hyun Ji Min is unknown to me as a screenwriter. Her last work, "Pandora: Beneath the Paradise", seems like makjang, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that she co-wrote this with a very well-known ridiculous K-drama writer, Kim Soon Ok.
That is why I believe that Hyun Ji Min was there for serious parts of the drama.
Kim Soon Ok knows her strengths: the hilarious, over-the-top plotlines and cliffhangers, which we had in "Reborn Rookie" too.
It doesn't mean that she always hit it right, but there's definitely some knowledge of how to make makjang drama a good one.
Directing: 7/10
Kang Yong Ho is the chairman of the Choiseong Group, a leading conglomerate in South Korea. One day, he has an unexpected accident. He collides with a young man named Hwang Jun Hyeon. Due to the accident, Chairman Kang Yong Ho's soul is swapped with soccer player Hwang Jun Hyeon's soul.
With Chairman Kang Yong Ho's soul in Hwang Jun Hyeon's body, he applies to the Choiseong Group as a new employee. He begins his unpredictable journey with his soul as an outstanding businessman and the young body of Hwang Jun Hyeon. (MyDramaList)
Spoiler Free Review
Even with the most ridiculous plot holes and some of its plot twists, "Reborn Rookie" can still be quite fun to watch.
Even if some moments can seem a bit slow, the writer makes it more fun with a twist and knows when to add something for the viewer to feel engaged. This is how I felt most of the time. It wasn't the best: the plot, especially the politics, can drag on, but the fun parts still kept me watching.
However, that fun has gone with the last episode. It did not make sense for the drama, and it took a lot of fun from it.
The characters are the biggest weakness of the drama. It was hard to get emotionally invested in them, and it focused on shocking people rather than doing a good job creating them.
Most of the characters in the drama are stereotypical. The chairman, who doesn't have feelings, now has to learn how it impacted everyone around him. It includes a chaebol family with a cunning sibling, a dumb child and the youngest, who is usually the protagonist.
The real Hwang Jun Hyeon is completely forgotten till the last two episodes, where they try to give him some sort of an ending.
To conclude, this drama is fun to watch if you switch your brain or have it in the background without focusing much on things.
Now let's dip into the spoiler...
Overall: 6/10
The start of the drama was quite boring and only caught my attention on the third or fourth episode. However, the silly and ridiculous moments are what kept me watching.
There would be a moment where it seems too prolonged, like the scene where they are firing people, and something goes crazy, and Jae Gyeong will accuse her brother of wanting to murder her.
Or the moment in episode 8, where everything seems to turn back, and I'm just a curious girl who wants to know!
As much as I understand that this is mostly a comedy/makjang drama, I still could not overlook the plot holes. Even the very simple ones, like Hwang Jun Hyeon being able to run normally even though he literally just was in the car accident where they said he would never be able to play football.
A few days later, it's all healed, and he can even fight now!
Grandma doesn't have dementia after a few episodes. She was in hospital and did need a caretaker in the first episodes, but now she's all good because she drinks her medicine!
A lot of political things were happening in the background (for me, there was actually a lot of company politics), but it seemed like the screenwriters didn't know how to finish the drama.
That's why we got Jae Gyeong in a mental institution with amnesia, and everyone else is doing fine? It would have made more sense if they at least killed Kang Yong Ho, and then she forgets everything. Now, I kind of feel bad for this woman, who only did evil.
Story: 7/10
Hwang Jun Hyeon's arc was interesting, and he was fun to watch as the chairman; however, as the person Hwang Jun Hyeon, there wasn't much focus on him after the body swap.
That's why the romance between him and Kim Bang Geul felt weird.
At first it was fun and games. Understandably, she would look closely at a person who takes care of her, but she NEVER gets to find out about the body swap, which makes it even weirder.
When they swap bodies back again, Hwang Jun Hyeon doesn't feel like himself anymore.
The way he performs for the stock people and is not afraid to raise his voice. I understand that he has Yong Ho in his ear saying things back to him, but it's a very nice performance from Lee Jun Young, not Hwang Jun Hyeon.
Kang Yong Ho is an interesting character, but nothing we haven't seen before. A simple chairman who only thinks about his company, and now that he's in another man's body, he comes to conclusions about his life.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun to watch him try to get accustomed to the poor life; he's a great leader, and we can see that. His relationship with Bang Geul improved, but aside from that, I found him boring.
Kang Bang Geul was a great character in the series and was the most interesting. Her backstory clearly showed where she came from and why she loved-hated this family. Her relationship with her mother, father and others was the most amusing to watch.
There is always this prototype in chaebol dramas: smart and cunning sibling, dumb, comedic relief sibling and of course the youngest child or just the one we're actually focusing on.
This is what happened with the villains; well, at least, Jae Gyeong had a quite nice backstory, and you could feel loneliness radiating from her. To draw that point even better, it would have been nice if they had shown more scenes with her husband or the child in it.
Kang Jae Seong is that dumb sibling, and stays that way throughout the drama. It drew me a bit by heartstrings to see him suffering so much because he chose the wrong lover, but other than that, I didn't care for him.
The other villain doesn't even matter because he was also boring and predictable.
Other characters are fun to watch at times, for example, Park Bong Gi, the manager who suddenly got swept up by two rookies. The romance between Yong Ho and Cho Seon Ho was also sweet to watch, as well as the friendship between Yong Ho and his right-hand man, Lee Sang Jae.
Characters: 4/10
It doesn't have a lot of songs, so I feel a bit bad rating it.
However, Close Your Eyes "I'm, Runnin'" was very addictive and memorable, even though I will never finish the song (it gets annoying).
The other two were not that memorable, but it is always nice to hear Kang Seung Yoon's voice. I'm kind of curious why Jun Young didn't do the OST for the drama; usually, singer-actors do it.
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