The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 1-2 Review
Director: Yoon Young-bin
Date Created: 2026-09-12 15:46
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The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 1-2 Review: Directed by Yoon Young-bin and adapted from Seo In-ha’s web novel Lotto Winner Also Goes to Work, 로또1등도 출근합니다 stars Lee Jun-hyuk as Gong Eun-tae, Seo Hyeon-woo as Yang Jun-ho, Oh Dae-hwan as Jung Seon-hyeok and others.
The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 1 Recap
In episode 1 of The Ordinary Jackpot, we see the character of Gong Eun-tae as the manager of Hongsung International Company. In the first lines of his monologue, where he thinks about time controlling him, we have a hint of the level of frustration with which he is living his life. Things are not much better in his workplace either, as the assistant manager, Yang Jun-ho, who is older than Gong Eun-tae, doesn’t really treat him as his boss. Jung Seon-hyeok sees this situation and remarks that it can be because of their age difference.
It becomes even more difficult when Eun-tae and Seon-hyeok are called for a meeting with the company’s managers. They are told that they need to have someone who will be responsible for Laknes, an expensive brand which earlier did not succeed in the South Korean market. As expected, none of the managers wants to do the job. Finally, the job falls to Eun-tae and his colleagues since the management believes that, being younger, he knows better about the current brands. He is also asked to give up some of the brands he was managing to focus on Laknes.
However, later in the scene, Seon-hyeok expresses his frustrations to the roof about the politics of the company managers. In the meantime, Jun-ho invites Ji-hye and Gi-tae for dinner. In this case, it is important to note that Ji-hye, who is a contract worker, even receives a guarantee that Jun-ho will help her get a permanent position at the firm. However, Eun-tae is invited but does not agree to go out for dinner. Instead, after the workday ends, he finds himself drinking with Hae-joo from the legal department. At the same time, Eun-tae says that he cannot stand Jun-ho but tolerates him if the job is done.
It also focuses on the repetition involved in Eun-tae’s everyday routine. Eun-tae has worked hard to get into a good university and now holds a position in a big company, hoping that it would make him happy. Instead, his life has become a monotonous cycle. When a dry cleaner takes his shirt by mistake, he shows no emotion at all and even wonders when he stopped getting angry. Pressure mounts even more when Jun-ho accuses him of doing something wrong with brand reorganization of the company. Jun-ho feels like their team always gets tough brands and makes them successful, and then it is taken away from them.
And finally comes the event that shakes everything up. As Eun-tae attempts to purchase two beers, he is gifted a lottery ticket by a store attendant since there is no more money. He is burdened with his economic problems as he is asked by his mother to send some money to his brother, Eun-seok, due to a brawl he was in, which left him paying some medical bills. Eun-tae accepts even though he does not have much money. At the end of The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 1, on one of his weekends, during which he attends his French classes and also works, he checks the lottery ticket and wins 1.9 billion won.
The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 2 Recap
The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 2 continues straight after Eun-tae wins the lottery. He can’t believe his good fortune and computes the probability of winning the lottery, only to realise how incredibly lucky he was. The total amount he has won is 1.9 billion won prior to taxes, but after the deduction, he ends up having approximately 1.3 billion won. It means that the man who has been concerned about the expenses of ordinary people in the past episode now imagines a totally new life for himself.
Rather than rushing straight out of his workplace, Eun-tae decides to take a leave of only the first part of the day and goes straight to the bank. Here, he stands in a queue with one more lucky winner – an old woman. When Eun-tae asks her what she will do with the money, she answers in such a way that Eun-tae starts thinking about what he is going to do with the money too. Eventually, he comes up with a decision and gets his own account, where he can see all 1.3 billion won. After that, he takes a walk in a cafe and talks about his problems without telling everything.
Next, Eun-tae goes to work early and finds that Jun-ho has taken the group out for an early lunch. He gets scolded by another manager for being too late since his employees are not adhering to the rules regarding working hours set out by the organisation. Eun-tae gives a call to Gi-tae and tells everyone to come back in five minutes. While on his way back, he starts thinking about what the older man who won the lottery told him. He has never gotten angry even when others have crossed his limits, but now he does not need to hold himself back anymore.
And that decision results in what may be one of the most fulfilling scenes in the episodes 2. For when Jun-ho comes back and tries to mend his relationship with Eun-tae, Eun-tae finally stands up to him in front of the entire office. And he makes it known that he has been putting up with Jun-ho’s behaviour out of respect, but he will no longer let Jun-ho’s age determine how he should treat him. His confrontation gets noticed by the higher authorities. Deputy Director Jang is tasked by the department head, Park Hyun-sook, to settle their dispute.
Finally, at the end of Episode 2 of The Ordinary Jackpot, Jang treats Eun-tae and Jun-ho to dinner, where they discuss and resolve their conflict. It turns out that Jun-ho is not just a rival but a colleague. He tells Eun-tae that he did not listen to what the team had to say. Moreover, he did not want to ask how things were with the team and why something did not go the way he wanted because he was sure that he could do things better than anyone else.
Eun-tae realises that he did not understand Jun-ho as well. They both ask for forgiveness, yet Jun-ho says that he is going to resign. Eun-tae suggests that they unite because both admit that each one is competent despite all the enmity between them.
The Ordinary Jackpot Episode 1-2 Review
The most surprising thing about the Korean drama The Ordinary Jackpot to me is how fast it was able to make me sympathise with Eun-tae’s irritation. It may sound strange, but The Ordinary Jackpot Ep 1 is very deliberate and slow in showing his monotonous life, but in my opinion, it helps a lot since the jackpot seems to be of great value to him when we realise how limited his freedom is. Eun-tae is not the guy with an interesting life who wins the lottery; he is a normal employee who has become used to suppressing his anger to such an extent that he does not even react to losing his shirt.
Lee Jun-hyuk plays Gong Eun-tae well, as his acting requires a lot of restraint. Episode 1 shows us his facial expressions and restrained reactions to demonstrate how much he has become used to the frustration of the world around him. The Ordinary Jackpot Ep 2 gives him the chance to remove this restraint, and we see how much of a difference it makes. His imagined opportunities after becoming rich make the show funnier and demonstrate that money does not make him greedy; it gives him a chance to dream about having options.
Another successful portrayal is Yang Jun-ho by Seo Hyeon-woo, as this character could easily become an annoying character in the office, but his subsequent dialogue with Eun-tae reveals his deeper character. And Jung Seon-hyeok, played by Oh Dae-hwan, provides an additional level of depth as a character understanding politics of the company.
It was great to see how the show managed the conflict between Eun-tae and Jun-ho. While the rivalry between them could have been dragged on for a long time, the plot goes through it relatively fast and gives both Eun-tae and Jun-ho a chance to admit that they were in the wrong. Jun-ho’s dissatisfaction with Eun-tae isn’t entirely unjustified, whereas Eun-tae’s dissatisfaction with Jun-ho’s attitude is entirely valid. Thus, their dinner talk becomes more significant than just apologising to each other. It is one of the best decisions that the writers made during those early episodes, since now the winnings have created a partnership rather than a pretext for quitting.
However, it is also the main theme that makes this K-drama The Ordinary Jackpot, appealing to me. While 1.3 billion won is not something that would immediately fix everything in Eun-tae’s life, it helps reduce the pressure on him and his actions to some extent. The last real estate scene is also an additional example of whether he is going to let money decide his further actions in life.
The Ordinary Jackpot Review: Summing Up
Overall, I am very interested to see what Eun-tae and Jun-ho will eventually do after making their decision to shake things up at Hongsung International. As we know, Eun-tae had spent many years adapting to all the company’s rules, whereas Jun-ho had spent many years rebelling against those who stood above him in the hierarchy. Now that they have agreed to work together, it is interesting to see whether this collaboration will lead to any changes in the workplace and, most importantly, whether the sudden wealth will help Eun-tae understand what he really wants from life.
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