Midas (2011)

Balancing genius, intuition & healthy grounding in an elite jungle of an addictive financial world

How far can you go? The focus of these KDramas is greed for BIG money, which has long since lost any reasonable connection to life and people. It's about stock deals by the super-rich, insider trading, short selling, mergers and acquisitions.

Hiding behind the title "Midas" is the legendary story of the ancient King Midas. It is said that as a child, ants would put grains of wheat in his mouth while he was sleeping. He was later granted a wish by Dionysus, wishing that everything he touched would turn to gold. The consequences though were life-threatening, because actually everything he came into contact with turned to gold, including food and drinks... The story of the KDrama operates both with the dictum "to have a golden hand", which is inspired by this legend, and with the psychoanalytic concept "Midas complex", which has proven itself in connection with pathological greed.

The protagonists in "Midas" have an offensive urge, almost addictive, to make even more profit with daring investment strategies, sometimes risking to lose the ground under their feet and maneuver themself into existential situations. This KDrama is about the challenge of balancing genius, intuition and a healthy grounding within the elite jungle of an addictive financial world. Thrilling story, complex character studies and emotional rollercoaster are guaranteed. In this world where money, intelligence and high speed set the tone, the intuitive feeling for the right timing prevails. "Midas" broadens the horizon from the (rather usual) Jaebeol family intrigues and inheritance disputes, which also have their place here, to - without regard to losses - partly illegal machinations in the financial world.

"Midas" is sketching a world of high risk and high numbers - abstract, fast pace, fashionable, cold. Yet it is an emotionally intense in-depth study about temptation, including space and time for morals. However, a spot here and there, where the warm and tender wind blows, is given, too. Some call it love...

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This would have been a perfect 10 if the second half of the story had been shorter. The intrigue in the first half was unrelenting. The crosses and double crosses were great. You had to figure out who was siding with who in the family and the business.

The romance was just a small part of the story, but it was essential for the storyine. There was one smoking hot scene in the motel between Jan Hyuk and Lee Ming Jung that should not be missed.

The goofy scenes with the father and stepbrother should have been left out entirely. The comedy aspect totally detracted from the serious wheeling and dealing.

This is Jang Hyuk's best acting, in my opinion, and made me really respect him as an actor. Of course he is superb in everything he's been in. There's a little quirky part to his personality that he brings to his characters that is unique.

The acting was fantastic by all the characters, especially No Min Woo and Kim Hee Ae.

My husband hates Kdramas, but he watched this and loved it. A lot of drama viewers, like myself, veer towards the romantic themes and totally miss great serious dramas. This one should not be bypassed. The suspense will keep you in the game.

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I just finished watching this drama and I am not exactly sure where to start. Midas definitely had its moments of intrigue, action and fun. There were times when I watched that I could feel the tension and build up to the conclusion. But overall this drama ended up disappointing me. I hate to say it because I do love Jang Hyuk. His acting truly blew me away in Chuno and I really liked him in Robbers and Thank You as well. Plus...he is just so gorgeous. I will try and pinpoint the problems I had with Midas.

1) If you are going to create a drama with the premise of greed and its consequences then give us some payoff for those actions. Why did the antagonist truly have no commuppance in the end? Why shift the burden of guilt? (I cant say more or I will spoil it!)

2) If you are going to create a love story in the middle of all this intrigue that makes the protagonist feel the burden of his greedy ways, give me something rich and make the love a little more palpable.

I did not feel the chemistry at all. I understand this show was not a romance but the writers are the ones who placed that romance there. They made the loss of that love and the possible redemption of the protagonist through that love a plot point. I expected a bit more drama, a lot more emotional weight from that.

3) If you are going to set up all these intrigues, money games and power plays...Go For It! Go Out with a BANG..not a wimper. I wish they would have had more build up with Do Hyun being immersed in the world of selling his soul for money and his immersion in the greed for more and waited until closer to the end for him to feel the consequences. Or if not...as he was plotting and scheming in the second half I wish they would have kept up the intrigue. When that part of the action started I was excited for where it might lead. It held me for a few episodes then fizzled. The set up at the end with several scenarios and character story lines could have been played out a lot better. I can not describe them or it would be adding spoilers to this review. I can't blame the whole "going out with a whimper" thing on the extended episode because I felt the real tension and drama waning long before episode 21.

I wish this would have been better. Again it had some fun moments but mere moments are not enough to give this better than an average score.

I look forward to others reviews on this to see their take on this drama. **also...This drama is 21 episodes, not 16.

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I loved this drama.
Yes, this drama is indeed about business and it contains a lot of business terms and so on, but everything is explained. Actually ,you don‘t have to understand things related to business to like this drama.
Love, revenge, death, falseness and a lot of tension – you will see/feel that in Midas.
I think that many of you could be intrested in this drama because of No Min Woo (I was, too). You won‘t see him in the 1st ep, I think he‘ll show up in the 3rd or maybe 2nd. The drama doesn‘t focus on him, so you won‘t be seeing him that often, but believe me, you won‘t need that. Jang Hyuk ,who plays the main role, is a great actor and he portrayed the ambitious Kim Do Hyun very good.
The music , all the osts fit the drama perfectly.
I‘ve never thought this kind of drama will be in my top 5, but it is :)

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Had potential, completely wasted it.

Skip through every Jang Hyuk&Kim Hee Ae scene and you'll be watching a decent show. (I say this as a Jang hyuk fan). The entire plot with Jang Hyuk&Kim Hee Ae both alone and together is so uninteresting I don't know how anyone could enjoy it. However: the entire plot with Lee Min Jung&Noh Min Woo is pretty good. I feel you could stretch Lee Min Jung's entire story into a 50-episode makjang where she's the sole lead, everyone else a supporting character, and it would be thoroughly enjoyable. The first 10 episodes feel like a great set up for that. We have her ideal happy ending squashed and her want for revenge on the woman who did so. I feel as though they should have grouped Jang Hyuk's character in on that. She should want revenge on both, and fall in love with Noh Min Woo's character along the way. If I didn't know Jang Hyuk as the leading man he is I honestly would've expected the actual story to flow this way. Because by halfway through, she dislikes Jang Hyuk's character and has developed a lovely relationship with Noh Min Woo's. It may seem like I'm making up a story of what I would have preferred, but for a moment it actually made logical sense for the story to go the way I thought.

Now, if I enjoyed everything with Lee Min Jung why have I rated it so low? Well, while she is the female lead, Jang Hyuk&Kim Hee Ae are the other 2 leads, and they take up probably 90% of the show. So I didn't get to enjoy much (again, I am a Jang Hyuk fan).

Any other positives?
• We get a lovely Once Again (2021) reunion with Lee Min Jung&Lee Sang Yeob, and not something tiny but they actually have a few scenes/conversations with one another.
• Kim Sung Oh&Choi Hye Jin's characters and character's relationship with one another was cute.

I would only recommend if you don't mind getting SLS, though be warned: you'll have to sit through a horrible plotline with the other characters.

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Don't let the financial terms scare you

I was torn between giving Midas a 7.5 or an 8 but I rounded up because I think the overall rating on MDL should be higher. This is a pretty tightly plotted drama about the battle between Jang Hyuk's character, a person who grew up poor and became a brilliant financial broker, and his mentor, a woman who's a Wall Street veteran from a chaebol family who has no scruples and a heart of ice.

The drama's main focus is on the financial battles and it's obvious that whoever wrote the script did their homework since it's stuffed with terms like M&A, financial holding companies, hostile takeovers, white knight investors, etc. I don't think you need to understand all the terms to understand what's going on because it's generally explained in the context of the drama but I can see why this might turn off viewers. I personally found it interesting because the stakes throughout are sky high with family betrayals, stints in prison, affairs and even a few murders.

Jang Hyuk is uncharacteristically restrained here. You won't see him screaming or fighting (much) or taking off his shirt (except for one memorable sauna scene). It's still a good performance as you see the cogs turning in his brain as he tries to outwit the woman he once worshipped but who betrayed him and is now trying to destroy him.

Kim Hee Ae is terrific as the rich bitch who seems to have everything under control until she becomes locked in a battle with Jang Hyuk and is threatened by her partners, the owners of a shadowy hedge fund that launders money from illegal sources. She and JH had great chemistry and I wish her character had been romantically involved with him instead of Lee Min Jung. A love to hate story would've been a lot more interesting than the anemic romance we got (more on that below).

I enjoyed the chaebol family betrayals between Kim Hee Ae and her older brothers as their father pits them against one another to get a piece of his fortune. But the youngest brother was completely useless. You could completely cut him out of the story and you wouldn't miss a thing. I'd say the youngest sister is pretty useless too except there's a plot twist involving her that becomes very important to the story in the end.

The only thing I really disliked was Lee Min Jung as the female lead. Her character was boring and self righteous and spent most of the drama lecturing Jang Hyuk. I've enjoyed this actress in other dramas so I think it was mostly a writing problem but the actress also had zero chemistry with JH, which really became noticeable when contrasted with the sexual tension between JH and Kim Hee Ae.

A lot of people disliked the ending because it wasn't the typical "bad guys get punished" ending but I thought it worked for this drama.

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