'Cashero' Netflix Review: Is Korea’s Final Show For 2025 Worth Your Time? 

Lee Jun-Ho has had a shockingly good 2025. Ever since he did King The Land, it’s like the public has a rejuvenated love for him. Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s always been a superhit amongst local fans thanks to his run as an idol. I mean, 2PM has produced some excellent stars, and they’ve all been successful as both performers and actors. Jun-Ho seemingly becoming the most successful of the lot, considering now he’s a certified superhero, eh? The concept of Cashero is great. It’s a show that combines the problems of regular people like you and me, but in SK specifically, with the power to be good people. It’s a classic case of morals and the pressure of being a “superhero” instead of a person who selfishly chooses themselves over all else. 

Cashero tells the story of Kang Sang-Ung, a civil servant who suddenly inherits, or rather is forced to inherit, a superpower from his father, whom he has not for one second appreciated. It seems Sang-Ung’s plight came from the fact that his father seemed to be obsessed with cash and was never around for him. He only ever wanted to steal from him, whether it was a childhood piggybank or some actual hard cash when he became an adult. Turns out, he needed all this cash because his power comes from them. The more cash he has, the stronger he gets, but as soon as he uses that strength, he runs out of cash. It’s quite the moral dilemma. If he chooses to help someone, he’ll be cashless by the end of the day. 

But to make matters worse, Sang-Ung is ready to get married right now to the love of his life, Min-Suk, but the big problem is that their credit isn’t good enough for them to purchase real estate. But how will it get better if he can’t keep cash on himself? This is a great start to the show, but it soon fizzles out into a good vs evil superhero drama that doesn’t really resolve a lot of these conflicts. The ending of the show is half decent, but in between, it’s so focused on making a massive impact with the strength of its superhero characters that there’s no time for the personal vs. superhero debate to be explored. Sang-Ung isn’t the only superhero, either. There’s a whole society of them, but they all become Sang-Ung’s lackeys, though why, I don’t really understand. Each of their strengths is different, and they’re all pretty cool, so why then do they not get to be the main characters as well? We’re not looking for another “Avengers, assemble.” The thing is, Sang-Ung doesn’t even act as a leader. He’s the newest superhero of the lot, so how could he lead the pack? 

The cast of the show is fantastic, and Kang Han-Na returns as a villain again, the kind of role she always shines in, though really she doesn’t get to do much here because of the poorly written character. I think because there are only 8 episodes in the show, there’s no time to explore each character’s motivations and their backgrounds, so we genuinely feel no empathy for anyone outside of Sang-Ung himself. Honestly, if some of the action sequences were cut down on, there would be enough time to do all of this exploration and actually make a compelling show about how the grass is always greener on the other side, i.e., understand truly why these superhumans are unhappy and miserable. 

I don’t think you can compare this show with Uncanny Encounter, because that was a really well-rounded superhero show that paired the emotional with the supernatural, making for an exciting dose of all things superhero. However, Cashero gets confused about what it’s trying to say at the end of the day, and everything remains quite unfinished. The show would’ve been great if it focused more on the whys than it did on the hows. It really tries too hard to be a big-scale production superhero show, which is where it lacks depth and anything worth remembering. 

The pacing of the show is a bit here and there, and because the whole superhero vs. interpersonal relationship aspect of the thing is divided up into bits and pieces, it never feels complete. However, I will admit the chemistry between the cast members is a good excuse to watch the show. Really, it’s Jun-Ho, Kim Hye-Jun, Kim Byung-Chul, and Kim Hyang-Gi who keep the show alive for the most part. As villains, I already spoke about Han-Na, but Lee Chae-Min is also excellent. There’s some meanness in his appearance, thanks to those model-like looks, which make him a compelling villain whose hate for everybody is believable. 

I think at the end of the day, disappointingly, nothing about Cashero is really memorable. Sure, it’s bingeable, and the actors are all worth looking at (there’s a cameo by another famous actress, but I won’t name names). Still, I don’t think I’d go as far as to recommend the show because I think it’s pretty subpar, especially for something having come out in the last couple of days of the whole year. I don’t think you’d want to be spending the year-end watching mediocrity. Unless you feel like it’ll keep you hopeful for the next year. 

Cashero was a great idea, but the execution was quite dull, and that’s what makes it so hard to rate it. I don’t want to hate on it unnecessarily, but with such an excellent lineup of cast, a lot more could’ve been explored with this story. So, for that reason, I’d give the show 2.5 out of 5 stars. A middle average, because it’s a good attempt but ultimately fails to be striking.