Revolutionary Sisters (2021)

Revolutionary Sisters is a great form of emotional therapy, but not for everyone

Revolutionary Sisters is NOT for everyone, I acknowledge that. Even though I ended up absolutely adoring it, it really isn’t for everyone.

The first ~15 episodes are painful - not because they were poorly executed or portrayed poor acting, but because watching the way the characters treat each other is just awful. After the death of the 3 sister’s mother is resolved, the plot really does improve. All of the characters get fleshed out and each one grows and changes for the better. Yes, in the beginning the daughters are particularly awful to their father, but the whole story is about their growth as daughters, sisters, and women. You come to understand them, why they turned out the way they are, and witness their beautiful metamorphosis when they see the faults in their ways. Watching the sister’s feel awful toward their father upon realization of their horrific behavior is the most heartbreaking, yet satisfying part of this drama to watch.

I will be completely honest: the first ~15 episodes had me wondering if I really wanted to watch Revolutionary Sisters. The murder/mystery genre really isn’t my thing - add that on top of the despicable treatment of the father by his 3 daughters and it really was a tough call. But, as shameful as this sounds, it was the affair of the oldest sister’s husband that kept me going. At the time, I was the most angry and disgusted with her (the oldest sister, Gwang Nam) behavior. She was awful to everyone and stuck up. But the affair tears her apart as a person and it destroys her world. She humbles due to the new hardships she must face on her own and really changes into this beautiful person. I identified with her the most and I adored her story with her husband the most.
My husband and I have been together for almost 10 years. I could really sympathize with the feelings that Gwang Nam experienced in her position, as the oldest sibling/daughter and in a long-standing committed relationship. No, my husband and I have never *knocks on wood* had to deal with infidelity, but the raw feelings and struggle this couple experienced, I could feel compassion for.
To be clear, I don’t really care to watch a drama revolving around characters who are cheating, but this was so different. Maria, the woman Gwang Nam’s husband cheated with, took advantage of him once while he was black-out drunk and conceived a baby (let’s say it how it is guys). While he’s not innocent of adultery and lying, he still sincerely loved Gwang Nam, he was just stuck between a rock and a hard place of doing the right thing. And through finding out about her husband’s affair and recognizing her responsibility and role in their failed marriage, Gwang Nam realized how much she still loved her husband. But it was too late. Things couldn’t go back as they were because a baby was now involved. Watching her come to terms with the aftermath of his affair and letting each other go had me sobbing like a baby. I can’t imagine going through that, but the feelings hit right like they should. From there on, I had to know what happened to them.

I next liked the second sister, Gwang Sik. She was the best out of the 3 sisters to start. She was a little too perfect for me, but her flaws, albeit relatively minor compared to her 2 sisters, became more apparent once she became married. Her romance with the aspiring trot star was pretty adorable and left you with mostly happy feels. The way their relationship impacted the prior generation was sad, but I think it turned out right.

And Gwang Tae. I *disliked* her for the majority of Revolutionary Sisters. She was manipulative and conniving. Money was the most important thing to her and I just don’t identify nor sympathize with that. Her constant business with the loan sharks didn’t impress me either. She just came across as you’d expect of the youngest sibling: spoiled, whiny, and used to getting what she wants. BUT in the last ~10 episodes (after her huge blow out with Gwang Sik), she really turned a new leaf (and things kept happening that kept positively impacting her character, which I approve of). I personally feel that her romance was the most shallowly written as I didn’t feel the build up of emotion and feelings as distinctly as I did for the other couples, but by the end, I really liked how they grew together and supported each other despite their flaws. I especially love how she defended her brother-in-law. At least she’s loyal! :D

There are many other characters in Revolutionary Sisters, but since it’s a family drama, that’s too many to analyze in my review here. But there’s someone I’d really like to mention...

Young Hee - the woman who finally makes Appa, Cheol Soo, happy towards the very end of the series. I love her happy demeanor, her loud, but classy style, how she’s attracted to Cheol Soo and how she wants to take care of him. It was so nice to see him happy and treated so warmly considering how poorly he was treated by his wife and how unhappy she made him. I was so happy that Cheol Soo finally found happiness with someone.

The conclusion of the drama was done through multiple time jumps - 8 months later, another year later, etc. I both liked and disliked this because it was a bit odd to have so many time jumps, but seeing the sisters with their families, plus seeing how the other characters and extended family were doing was nice.
Unfortunately, there were 2 loose ends that weren’t resolved to my satisfaction:
What happened with Gwang Nam’s father? Who was he and is it really okay for Gwang Nam to think he’s passed away?
What about Aunt Bong Ja and her love, Dol Se? I know things were complicated with Gwang Sik and Ye Seul being married, but we didn’t even get to see resolution with their matching necklaces...

In regard to music, I enjoyed the music, especially the instrumentals! They were well selected and well placed to really build the scene.

So overall, I *would* recommend Revolutionary Sisters, but warn that the first quarter of the drama is truly difficult to stomach; have patience and it’ll pass. You really need that awful beginning to adequately depict the character changes that occur over the course of the story. If you can get through the beginning, it seriously pays off. I will definitely be rewatching.

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Thirty could have worked

As another reviewer notes, the first quarter of this Drama is AWFUL - the 3 sisters are just unspeakable, especially the eldest. Had I not been watching with the aid of FF, I'd have dropped.

All 3 sisters did grow in meaningful ways through the Drama which is why I'm glad I stuck it out, but the Drama was way too long and filled with too much OTT nonsense. I was going to score it at around 6/10, but the final 6 episodes just went REALLY stupid in terms of the "draaaamaa!" content, with 2 standout black marks being the revelation of what a superhuman saint the long-suffering Dad was AND the resolution of the d-i-l VS m-i-l conflict by the simple means of a drinking match. THAT one really annoyed me because for once in a Drama, the m-i-l had real CAUSE to hae the d-i-l, and the d-i-l's redemption and growth arc was a highlight of the show. For the witers to resort to K Drama standard "get drunk and everything will be fine" really made me mad.

Likewise with the supersaint Dad. It was already unusual enough to portray a father so positively - the resolution of the murder mystery REALLY surprised and impressed me - so there was no need to go so far OTT with the big reveal about his diary.

Overall, I do NOT recommend this Drama. It did have some very interesting things to say about family dynamics and personal growth, but they could, and SHOULD, have been said in 30 episodes, not fifty.

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