'Revolutionary Love' - Episode 11

OMFG THAT KIMCHI LOOKS SO GOOD LIKE GIMME SOME RAI NOW (This drama does this to you very often.)

The point of this Kim ahjusshi story arc is to bring to light the issue surrounding professionals and veterans in their work field who are forced to retire too early, and giving them a chance to rejuvenate their careers while using their old skills to good use. However, we start with Kim ahjusshi earning his second chance at his career all thanks to chaebol Hyuk's free wish from his father. And then, in his position as a rookie member of the office team, Kim ahjusshi faces the challenge of formulating a new school lunch ingredient list to be distributed out by the company. Kim ahjusshi is a father of three daughters so of course he wants to make sure that school lunches are composed of healthy, natural ingredients, and the entirety of episode 11 focusses on Kim ahjusshi and his posse, and their mission to reduce the cost of these said healthy ingredients, so that Kim ahjusshi's list suggestion can meet cost margins and receive the green light. 

Okay at this point the director is just in the editing room pointing fingers being like, "DON'T FORGET THE FOOD PORN TO TORTURE THE VIEWERS."

Sadly for Kim ahjusshi and our protagonist crew, we all know that this concept of trying new things, choosing more moral options, and thinking of the humanitarian side never works out in the workplace in the real world. It all depends on cost and cost alone, and the way Kim ahjusshi, Baek Jun (played by Kang So Ra), and the whole cleaning department posse went out to try and reduce the costs directly from the farms, just had me shaking my head. It's both unrealistic and immoral to try to get farmers to reduce the price of raw ingredients. Sure, by the end of the episode, Kim ahjusshi wasn't able to reduce the farm produce prices down to the right amount to meet margins, but the chief decided to use Kim ahjusshi's ingredients anyway. This doesn't change the fact that the story simply chose an unrealistic route and achieved the "right" outcomes using methods that people out in real society will not be able to apply. 

Swimming in a pile of money on someone else's bed is NOT recommended for adults, children, or elders, do NOT try this at home, folks. 

On the other hand, Kwon Jae Hoon (played by Gong Myung) got in some solid screen time this episode! His sharp criticism toward Hyuk's actions for rashly asking for Kim ahjusshi's employment as a wish was honestly the most realistic thing about episode 11. Watching Jae Hoon giving critique and scolding like that made me think, that everyone might need a person like that in their lives to act as a voice of reason every once in a while. A lot of times, friends, family members, and even close co-workers, choose not to speak up critically toward one another, for fear of severing relationships. But with Jae Hoon, he manages to come across as a character who can be sharp and mean to his friends, but still keep them close by. And at this point in the story, Jae Hoon has even moved on from shutting down all of Hyuk's actions or Jun's opinions as incorrect. He now values their choices in matters, but also advices them of his own thoughts. In the blink of an eye (okay no more like 11 whopping episodes), Kwon Jae Hoon has changed for the better in a lot of ways!

So are they kissing or wrestling?

Lastly, it seemed to me that Byun Hyuk really played no critical or important role in this Kim ahjusshi story arc, other than his first trump card, which of course had everything to do with his rich, born status as the son of the Kang Soo Group president. The kind of more "realistic" problem solving that I've been asking for from this series for the last 11 episodes has yet to make an appearance, so 'Revolutionary Love' continues to stay in the mid-to-low score range. But it looks like next episode, Hyuk will tackle a bigger issue dealing with the return of the evil President Min.