[Drama Review] 'Revolutionary Love' - Episode 8

AKP STAFF

Alright. Unlike the previous episode, which proved to be a smooth leap forward for the plot as well as a nice pick-up in pace, episode 8 of 'Revolutionary Love' did not get us very far.

I personally found that a lot of the romantic feelings and developments that this episode focussed on got in the way of the drama's storyline progression. Not to say that romance isn't or shouldn't be part of the plot, because it very well can be, but a lot of the 3 main characters' romantic feelings this episode just didn't make sense.

Is this the best you can do, tvN?

First, we see Kwon Jae Hoon (played by Gong Myung) unearthing the heavy, hidden past of Baek Jun (played by Kang So Ra) and her father, who used to work for the Kang Soo Group. Admittedly, I had previously suspected that Jae Hoon knew about Jun's history with the Kang Soo Group. It turns out, their friendship didn't run all that deep. In fact, what happened between Jun and Jae Hoon in college, and what kind of relationship they have now, is still a bit foggy. We did learn through a set of flashbacks that after Jun confessed to Jae Hoon, the guy made some attempts to get together with her. He was just... a wuss about it. And after seeing the current Jae Hoon in the past 7 episodes, we can conclude that he really hasn't changed much in terms of being a wuss in the romance field. In summary, all of the scenes which involved Jae Hoon and romance this episode were just all... a very frustrating bundle of held-back emotions and nothing achieved.

Is it me or is Lee Jae Yoon getting scarier and scarier as the evil older brother? He should really consider playing a thug for his next role.

Let's also talk about Jun's feelings. Because, does anyone get her? I sure don't. She's a very confusing case of a character who says things she doesn't mean, confusing both the viewers and the people around her, because her actions are often the complete opposite of what she claimed in speech. I mean, I was starting to believe her when she told Byun Hyuk (played by Super Junior's Siwon) that she just saw him as a friend. But then... we'll get to that later. And then, we never got to see what exactly went down after her college confession to Jae Hoon. Did she get rejected? Was she joking? How can you live in the same building as the guy who rejected you in college, years later?

Siwon's laugh fading out: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Finally, we arrive at our male lead, Byun Hyuk. With his character, it's not that anyone is confused as to whom he likes. Obviously, he likes Jun. But just as he tends to be with issues in his father's company, Hyuk is very, very forward about his feelings - almost forcefully so. The last scene of the episode - the kiss scene between Hyuk and Jun - almost felt to me as if Hyuk cornered Jun into... well, a corner, and forced his feelings onto her. This, I might add, from a guy who was cheated on by a gold-digger girl in episode 1. All in all, none of the romantic developments in this latest episode felt heartwarming, heart-fluttering, or romantic, in my opinion. Just a lot of frustration.

Their faces are like, "Why are you people even in this drama?"

So other than getting tangled up in a big, confusing spider web in the romance area, we have our male lead getting his father's company into trouble, once again. This time, he decides to help a food manufacturing company whose contract with the Kang Soo Group was terminated, to basically use the "Kang Soo" name and sell products without permission. That's... just illegal. No buts or maybes. This is no time for you to be all kissy and lovey-dovey, Siwon. We'll have to see how the scriptwriters manage to resolve this illegality issue next week, without pulling out that "chaebol solves issues by smooth-talking his rich father" card.

The definitive picture of a kiss that nobody quite wanted yet.

The previous episode seemed to be very promising, only for this latest episode to bring us to another stand still with the pace and the plot moving slower than ever. This drama has managed to stay steadily in the 6-7 point score area, so what's gonna give it the boost to make it more worthwhile?