Choi Siwon’s Revolution in Revolutionary Love

When one path ends
Another path opens

When a door closes
Another door opens

When the winter is deep
The spring will come

When I get destroyed
A better version of me stands

The best ending is a true beginning
Honest despair is the beginning of hope

Revolutionary Love was like the Strongest Deliveryman’s baby, where Siwon’s role was modeled on that of Kim Sun Ho. This brought the story of  a spoiled third generation chaebol  to the forefront, adding another kind of insight into a character trope that has often been taken for granted in Korean dramas. It really helped a lot to make an idol actor like Choi Siwon take up the role of Byun Hyuk as the man has the chops for acting like an absolute fool, while maintaining a level of seriousness while in a role.

I don’t believe I need to explain the basic plot of this story, because the characters themselves spoke volumes about the direction the show eventually took, so therefore, in order to understand Byun Hyuk, I must shed light on the people around him. Since Byun Hyuk is spoiled to the core, he is prone to causing meaningless problems that bring him into the eyes of the public far too many times. Therefore, he is forced to stay low and not reveal his identity because if he causes a mess, then it will be another embarrassment in the list of embarrassments he has caused his family. While staying at a hotel, he has another incident and ends up getting involved with one of the cleaning staff, Baek Joon (played by Kang Sora). Hyuk is smitten as soon as he sets eyes on her, and experiences her generosity and goodwill. Joon, thinking that he is a homeless beggar, because of his appearance forces him to go do odd jobs with her in order to earn money and learn the importance of hard work. This world of the underprivileged is one Hyuk has never experienced before and as his eyes widen to the injustices, he takes it upon himself to set things right. With Joon by his side, Hyuk continues to improve his obnoxious ways and become a better person.

The last addition to the main cast is Kwon Jae Hoon (played by Gong Myung), who is the voice of rationality, rather than emotions, serving as the perfect foil to Hyuk’s emotional character. This has got to be Gong Myung’s best role after Drinking Solo, and I enjoyed it so so much. The way he owned his beat up face in the later episodes just brought out some incredibly raw acting which I enjoyed a whole lot. Having spent his entire life along with his father as almost a slave for Hyuk’s family, Jae Hoon is unable to have any affection for his age fellow who still treats him with love and calls him his ‘friend’. Their bitter bromance was more realistic than was Hyuk’s with his elder brother. The pain that Jae Hoon’s tortured facial expressions caused me throughout the show were pangs I have rarely felt for second leads. It’s probably because the psychological trauma that Jae Hoon went through was just incredibly painful to watch, especially when I could see Hyuk dealing with the same trauma in a completely different manner.

The constant quoting of poems by Hyuk hint at his sensitivity, purity and innocence under all the chaos he causes on the surface and it warms my heart to see this. I feel like he’s not just talking about Hyuk as a character, but rather all idols and other ‘privileged’ people in society. He seems to be talking about the misunderstanding that is experienced by everyone at the hands of the ‘underprivileged’, who only see society through the injustices done against them, rather than realizing the stress that they may cause the ‘privileged’ through their unnecessary censure and condemnation. Lastly, I feel like Revolutionary Love and Byun Hyuk, were a look into Siwon’s soul, and I also think I could see him experiencing a catharsis through the character considering the scandal he was involved in recently. I even sensed the ethos of One More Chance by Super Junior in the poem that Siwon quoted at the end. However, I actually did not think I would enjoy such a thoroughly makjang plot so much. I really think it’s Siwon’s magic as an actor and he really made me fall in love with him all over again. Here I was thinking I wouldn’t get over his ‘Jeejuz Christ’ in King of Dramas and ‘JACKSON’ in She Was Pretty, yet I was in awe once again. Here’s to hoping he gets another role and fast.