I love this drama seriously and Harabagi is KILLING IT.. Like seriously the actor playing the grandpa has me watching the drama as much for him as SJK!!

I am still partially convinced that SJK is the true villain of this story because he is causing the chaos that will lead to his eventual demise. But, we shall see on that.

Honestly, the AUNT messed up BIG TIME when she screwed with JDJ 2nd mom.. I was like OMG he is going to DESTROY her for that stunt.. Its sad the grandpa cannot see how great his 4th son is, isnt it? I mean his 4th son ( JDJ dad) was the ONLY one to actually make it on his on without Dad's help. He is also the most normal of his children.
I am GLAD SOMEONE pointed out that JDJ is just like grandpa.. I was like Grandpa needs to look in the mirror because JDJ is literally a younger reflection of him.. JDJ is also the only one who loves SoonYoung as much as grandpa does. Ironically, I wonder if its going to be the grandma who puts the hit out of JDJ.. Its doubtful but I wouldnt rule her out.. its always the nice ones.

As for our female lead, OMG, the writing team is doing her so dirty... I mean she has ZERO storyline.. what is with that.. its totally unfair.. because I actually like her and think she would be good for JDJ.. Now my question is do you think JDJ is really smarter than everyone else? I mean he does have an unfair advantage of knowing the future and I must admit, Eldest grandson is not dumb.. he is actually very smart just not as good as JDJ.. as for his fiance, she is so annoying.. everyone likes her so much but she is greedy, ambitious, vain, controlling, and think she is smarter than everyone else.. basically a Korean Cersei Lannister... honestly, i cant wait to we get to the modern times because that is when I feel like the game will begin again.. so many theories bouncing around my head.. but one hope is that the real JDJ doesnt die and I really hope he embraces his 2nd family because they really love him and he has been with them for like 15-20 years so far... Cant wait till next week..

I totally agree about how even if Do Jun had tried to win Chairman Jin's favor, it wouldn't have worked. The chairman was resolute that nothing except the birth order matter regarding inheriting the business.

Oh, I truly hate how people who are mistreated just try to be optimistic and go back for more mistreatment. When Hae In said she felt like she was finally starting to feel like maybe she was being included/accepted into the family, it just hurt my heart. And I don't even understand why she's being so looked down on; she was a successful actress. She made her own money and she had acclaim which is more than any of the 3 Soonyang heirs have done. Everything they're fighting over and feel entitled to are due to Chairman Jin.

The same way Chairman Jin was all "I have no 4th son", I wish Do Jun and his family would just cut ties with all the Soonyang folks including the mom. Ugh fake kindness, love, and compassion just feels a special kind of gross and painful to me. At least all the other women are upfront with their meanness.

I liked how Do Jun's family relate to each other. It's such a breath of fresh air after the toxicity of the Soonyang folks. To see people who actually care about each other's well being and support Do Jun unconditionally, it's enough to make me teary eyed haha

I thought Hyun Min was interested in Do Jun because she was attracted to his business savvy and intellect but she just wanted him as her big name puppet? Why? And then she marries a guy she isn't able to completely control. I don't understand anything haha

All I know is they're both as uninterested in each other at the start of their relationship as they are when Hyeon Woo is killed. Maybe there's even more bitterness and resentment but yeah, I don't know they could possibly be a "team" of any kind since it seems the only way to do that is for one of them to bend and neither is willing.

I did like the transition of her reaching for the thrown tiara only to end up holding hands with Seong Jun. I thought was nice.

I'm so enjoying this show.
DJ isn't getting everything his own way, I liked when his grandfather pulled the TV broadcasters away from the Digital City project and forced him to think on his feet. I also liked that it was his brother (again) who gave him the idea of the shopping channels. That guy is an undiscovered genius 😄.
My favourite scene has to be that of the after wedding dinner. It was fantastic. Grandfather throws a grenade into the middle of the family when they all thought it would be a coronation. I'm not sure who my favourite character is, grandfather or DJ.
Regarding HWs demise, I'm looking forward to that after what she did to DJs mum. And given he told her to sell the stocks, it leaves him squeaky clean.
It's starting to look to me that this is not DJs first reincarnation. I think he may have started out as DJ, was reincarnated into HW and then back to DJ when it didn't work. I think this was mentioned by another beanie last week, but I'll be more surprised if it isn't the case rather than if it is.

I felt the Aunt's mistreatment of Hae-in was sort of shoe-horned in. She's not done anything particularly evil so far after all. The show needed Do-jun to start taking over the businesses within Soonyang but also wanted to make it seem driven by righteous anger. Even if the Aunt had not mistreated Hae-in, Do-jun would still try taking over the business. She's the easiest target after all.

The FL still hasn't had much to do but it looks like that will change next week. I remember some early reports of the show had called Shin Hyun-bin's character Do-jun's fiancée so it'd be fun to see if Do-jun manages to change the Jin family's history that far.

I love this week episode. The execution is so intense

Chills. That knowing smile at the end had me calling back to Vincenzo, and not in a bad way. I know that some folks want more meat for SJK, but I’ll be honest, I would watch a whole show that was just him larking around outsmarting everyone and smirking while he did it.

The red wedding in Game of Thrones had nothing on that one. Eesh, what a way to show your displeasure with your grandson. I almost felt bad for Hyun-min. Almost. I think it’s been clear he loves Soonyang the best, of all his children, but it was still pretty jarring to hear him say it like that. I knew that Kim Nam-hee could be terrifying (see Mr. Sunshine), but we hadn’t really seen it in this show until this week. I don’t think he’s as calculating as his wife, but the way his face changes in an instant (and the way he practiced putting his smile back on as he left her dressing room) was something else.

Ep. 8 was the one where I finally realized what I was watching: The Count of Monte Cristo. Edmond Dantes doesn’t actually kill or ruin anyone in the main part of that story, he just goes around having conversations that he knows will be overheard, poking at peoples’ pride, loaning them dangerous books, and they slowly tear themselves apart through their own greed and ambition and pettiness. That’s exactly what’s happening here. He’s been on a clear offensive path, but as soon as the announcement about the succession happened, he just had to step back, whisper a few things in peoples’ ears (sometimes by proxy) and allow his family to be their worst selves.

I appreciated the way the writer presented Jin Do-jun’s cleverness to us. It was unquestionably believable for me, to the point that if we had 5 different characters with similar set of advantages that Do-jun had (deep understanding about Soonyang inner people, knowledge of the world and Korean’s future up to 2022, tons of money and power to use as a chaebol’s youngest grandson), I’m pretty sure not everyone could combine those disparate things into a powerful tool for his own goal.

I love how unpredictable Do-jun was, how he always tried to approach the unexpected problems that came his way with out-of-the-box solutions. How he could take inspiration from literally everyone in his life. How he always used his future cheat sheet in different configurations or against different people. It kept things interesting instead of boringly repetitive as he hopped from one scheme to another.

Speaking of interesting, that announcement from Chairman Jin was a heck of a surprise. I didn’t see it coming. Given how stubborn he was (and the typical way he dealt with his various guilt), I never even imagined that he would change his own primogeniture rule. Not under any influence, not even because of his fatal illness. But apparently, Do-jun’s meddling was just life-changing enough for the Chairman to reawaken him of the reality and rethink his own decision.

Now the war is on!!
I dig the new skirmishes that would surely sprout after this hell of an announcement, because we will finally see everyone’s true face. This is going to be bloody, dangerous, and very very satisfying. What really sold this conflict to me, though, was how Chairman Jin was ultimately the one who created this Jin Do-jun monster that now wrecked havoc in everybody’s lives. Nothing is scarier than someone with nothing to lose, and we all know that Do-jun was the embodiment of that sentiment. With his family all settled down, he has a lot of room to plan elaborate, untraceable revenge schemes. And I freaking love the fact that everyone else outside of Chairman Jin was so ready to cast Do-jun under the simplified “too young to be threatening” tag. They were so stupidly arrogant and I’m here, having too much fun anticipating the disaster that would befall them in a few eps.

I really enjoyed Episode 8. Maybe I’ve been watching too many cooking shows lately because the word that comes to mind is delicious. A delicious pot of revenge.
Lee Sung-min continues to shine, the man has few equals, but I think my favorite part this week was how Do-joon capitalized on Hwa-young’s greed and played her like a fiddle. Well played, Do-joon, well played.
🎻👏🏼👏🏼

I am even more sure now that this is a how we got here. He crossed too many people. His father is actually the one I am most curious about. His mother is clearly looking for her child, but the father, randomly being illegitimate, also seems to know what happened to Do Jun. Also primogeniture is stupid, especially when you run a business, but I understand that is what Haraboji is used to. Pick the best man or woman for the job, not your child just because s/he is your child. As for Hwa young, she is insecure and greedy, which is a terrible combination. Instead of forging the way with her husband and becoming a huge political power. She is stuck trying to get her terrible father's attention. She deserves, as do all the siblings, and the father whatever terrible thing is coming for them in the way of Do Jun.

I like everything about this drama except the forced love story, but I'm hoping that will payoff in the second half and Shin Hyun-bin will get something of substance to do.

The wedding dinner was great.

I had Sung-joon pegged as not entirely sane but kind of a lightweight after the first episode, but he's smarter and scarier than I thought.

There is nothing like weddings to bring out the family drama. Ep8 did a fantastic job in using the wedding to trigger the family explosion and war of inheritance.

So far in this show, the grandfather / Chairman (brilliantly portrayed by Lee Sungmin) has been the most dynamic and well-rounded character, in the sense that you see all of his contradictory sides. He's abusive, greedy, and cruel, but he is also pitiful and sad. The writing and acting makes you sympathize with him. Everyone else in the show, including the protagonist, has been fairly one dimensional in comparison.

So it's to my surprise that ep7 and 8 heralded the arrival of another well-rounded character, one I didn't expect - Mo Hyunmin. I was really impressed by Hyunmin's characterization and portrayal. I admired her ambition, cunning, and drive, and I felt awful for her because of her powerlessness (to a degree) in the face of an arranged marriage and societal expectations. Hyunmin tried to do the best with the hand of cards she was dealt with (attempted to find a husband that was most malleable), and when she came up short, she acknowledged reality and adjusted to it quickly.

I understood why HM became the person she was in ep1. When you're married into such a family, with a monster of a husband, and terrible in-laws, you either survive or die (spiritually). Park Jihyun is killing the role and if this continues, she's going to be a breakout star of the show.

The only real kid for Chairman Jin is Soonyang. The others ones are just there for Soonyang. It's sad that their only value for their father is what they bring to the family business.

The aunt was stupid to attack directly Do-Joon. He proved that he was pretty good at this game.

Jin Sung-Joon and Mo Hyun-Min's relationship is pretty toxic. They both want to use the other and doesn't respect each other...

I wonder why they casted Song Joong-Ki for this role, he spent the most of his time to play a man in his 20's...

Great recap, @mistyisles, thank you!

I'm on the edge of my seat watching this. I have never been so riveted by corporate takeovers and share structures! Writers are doing a great job of giving us just enough information to understand what's going on, and then showing the personal, emotional impact of every financial attack and counter-attack.

This is actually a saeguk: Chairman Jin is the king, his sons are the princes fighting for the throne, and Do-joon is the clever strategist playing the long revenge game. (Count of Monte Christo, indeed!)

The actors are all killing it. I am absolutely in this to watch SJK "larking around outsmarting everyone and smirking while he did it." (great line, @jls943!) But everyone is compelling to watch. I'm loving how they're all managing to be sympathetic, rounded characters, and yet hateful enough that it's so enjoyable to watch Do-joon twisting the knife!

And Grandma! Oooh, love seeing your depths!

Favourite character is definitely Do-joon's brother, though: hope he's the one left standing at the end! (Gah: hope he survives somehow!)

That family reception was intense. Chairman Jin stared right at Do-joon during his ending primogeniture announcement. This is much more exciting with Do-joon fighting the family out in the open than pulling the strings behind the scenes. With Chairman Jin's brain arteriovenous malformation, Do-joon's going to kill his own grandfather.

Hwa-young humiliating Do-joon's mother was a low move, but it just gives him more motivation to take down the whole family. He is going to bankrupt her and take her shares. Finally, someone brought up that Hwa-young and Chang-je have no children.

Aww at how Do-joon's parents support him. Hyung-joon is his muse with the home shopping channel. I wonder who Yoon-ki's mother is, and if Chairman Jin had an affair. But Grandma was so good to Do-joon as a child.

Song Joong-ki has more chemistry with Park Ji-hyun than Shin Hyun-been. I rolled my eyes when Min-young ran after Do-joon's car in front of the coffee shop. "Y'all can see each other at school."

I love this drama.
Quick question. What happened to Jin Ye-joon (Jin Dong-ki's only child and the eldest granddaughter of the Sunyang family) in this timeline? I

A belated analysis of sorts on Seo Min-young’s first half appearance.

Given that we haven’t seen any plot point in this drama told from her POV, the only possible way to get any insight on her character was basing it from Jin Do-jun’s POV. I have to admit that I always found Do-jun’s borderline obsession on her to be puzzling. Coming from his character who was always preoccupied with one scheme after another, his fixation felt out of place, especially considering the non-existent relationship between them (as far as we know) in the 2022 timeline. They were only passing acquaintances at best, so where did his persistent tendency to linger in her vicinity and that underlying sentimentality came from?

This is purely conjecture on my front because even halfway through, we knew far too little about this relationship. I kept thinking that this wasn’t the classic case of unacknowledged love or even crush on Do-jun’s part. Then I realized that Seo Min-yong has inadvertently occupied the position as the only person from Do-jun’s past with whom he had “good relationship” with.

Come to think of it, the majority of people that closely tied to Do-jun’s past life can only be grouped into 3 categories: his coworkers who wouldn’t have anything to do with him in this timeline given his new background, Soonyang people with whom he only built rotten relationships, and his birth family whom he couldn’t get in touch with as Jin Do-jun. And then there was Min-young. They might stood on opposite sides then because of their respective jobs, but he clearly admired her as someone good and they did have comparably decent interactions. In this new timeline where everything was upside-down and frighteningly unfamiliar for Do-jun, Min-young was the only person who brought with her a speck of familiarity, the barest sense of homecoming. From that POV, I could see Do-jun’s feelings for her as something both simpler and more complicated, and I appreciate that.

Obviously I look forward to her having a more active role to play in the second half (and given the glimpse from the preview, that seemed to be the case). But I don’t mind her taking a back seat in the beginning, as she tried to level up to stand as Soonyang’s equal. I love the idea of underestimated heroine, and I have a feeling that she would fill in that role perfectly. Soonyang wouldn’t know what hit them, and I’m here for all that chaos.