After thoroughly enjoying this show’s previous teasers, I’m almost disappointed that this latest one actually includes clips from the episodes themselves, instead of more tongue-in-cheek depictions of part-time jobs. It is nice to finally see Gong Myung (Bride of the Water God 2017) join leads Choi Siwon (She Was Pretty) and Kang So-ra (Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho) in character for upcoming Revolutionary Love, though.
The teaser begins with a hilarious narration that Byun Hyuk (Choi Siwon) is “destined for greatness.” It’s not really all that funny as a standalone statement, but the accompanying scenes of the third generation chaebol heir throwing fits as he’s carried out by hotel staff and of him crying quite pathetically on the floor had me snorting at the prediction. There is a qualifier though, saying that it all depends “on what woman he meets.”
This woman is, of course, Kang So-ra’s character Baek Joon, the part-timer extraordinaire with the high-level education and experience that could easily get her a full-time job, but she chooses not to. I’m looking forward to her character the most, because Joon is described as the charismatic type to refreshingly say what she has to say without hesitation. I’m sure her forthrightness has gotten her into trouble more than once, though, as we can see from her hair-pulling catfight in the teaser with a hotel customer. I love that Hyuk looks smitten as she wins, and gives the evilest smirk.
But Baek Joon has her moments of weakness, and when Gong Myung’s character Kwon Jae-hoon asks how long she’ll continue to live this way, she cries that it’s hard for her too. Just watching that montage of her at her various part-time jobs gives me sympathy fatigue. Perhaps Jae-hoon is really asking because of his own frustrations with his position, as someone snidely comments offscreen that it must be hard taking care of the messes caused by Hyuk, and asks why he lives like this.
Aw, I want this bromance between Hyuk and Jae-hoon to survive; they look so cute as Jae-hoon straightens Hyuk’s hair and tie for a press conference. But, Jae-hoon has a pretty cynical mind underneath all of his mother-henning: “People get designated a value depending on what they do.” To be honest, I would get tired of being essentially the janitor who cleans up after Hyuk, too. I mean, even his poster shows him holding a book promising 101 tips on how to handle accidents and messes. The teaser ends as Hyuk grabs Joon and asks whether she’ll take him up on an undisclosed offer. Hmm, does that offer have anything to do with you getting kicked out and stripped of your chaebol privileges after getting into major trouble?
I look forward to watching Revolutionary Love, not just because this is the comeback vehicle for Choi Siwon, who left for army duty on a high with a winning performance in She Was Pretty, but also because I’m a fan of director PD Song Hyun-wook (Oh Hae-young Again, Marriage Not Dating), who has a knack for clever plot feints and subverting tropes. This is also apparent in the individual posters, which I love for the little details that belie what we’d expect of these characters from their on-paper descriptions. Like Choi Siwon’s, which has him very properly eating with a fork and spoon, only the noodles aren’t pasta, but ramyun. Or Kang So-ra’s, who at first glance looks like she’s dressed for the office and enjoying a cup of coffee at work, but is actually busing at a coffee shop.
Thankfully, there’s not much of a wait left until we see the errant chaebol, his babysitter, and the hot-tempered part-timer as they get up to hijinks. Revolutionary Love will premiere on October 14 and will take over tvN’s weekend slot from Live Up to Your Name.
