This special review is dedicated to actor Ahn Bo Hyun who has successfully made a remarkable transformation to the charismatic villain in Itaewon Class.
His portrayal of Jang Geun Won has changed my perspective on villainous roles being just one-dimensional.
From researching on the original webtoon, to putting in conscientious effort for every line and scene, the final product left viewers in awe.
He once mentioned during “Radio Star” that he has more tenacity and undying passion than most peers. Indeed, opportunities belong to those who are well-prepared.
This is definitely a milestone and turning point in Ahn Bo Hyun’s acting career. The tall, hunky good-looker from “Descendants of the Sun” days has finally clinched a role that people can put his name to. The underrated actor has successfully garnered attention and piqued viewers’ interest in both domestic and international markets.
Let’s get down to analyzing this character in greater depth, and discuss some of the most memorable and impactful scenes.
Multi-faceted Villain
Jang Geun Won is a multi-faceted villain whom Ahn Bo Hyun has conscientiously injected so much life, depth and layers into. He added much spice to the drama and excelled portraying the dark but also the vulnerable side of a villain. His limited screen time did not deter him in creating a deep impression in viewers’ hearts.
There’s no way you can truly hate the abhorrent yet pitiable Geun Won. It’s a love-hate-pity relationship at the very least.
Bo Hyun has successfully brought out many “flavours” in Geun Won. We see the many facets of human nature: good, bad, ugly, dark, selfish, vulnerable, desperate, helpless, disorientated, etc.
No one is born evil; they change due to circumstances and the environment they live in.
Geun Won may be a spoilt brat but he does not have an evil nature. The price that he has to pay to become Jang Ga Group’s successor, is to cast away his conscience, guilt, remorse and any traits deemed detrimental by his dad’s standards, while carefully concealing his more vulnerable side.
Jang Geun Won reminded me of “The Joker”, someone who’s feared and loathed by many, but was never loved or needed by anyone.
The sneers, sinister laughter, disdained, despised looks in his eyes would irk you and send chills down your spine, while the exasperation, desperation, helplessness and sadness in his gaze would grip your hearts.
Bo Hyun’s intricate portrayal revealed the inner pain that Geun Won was going through.
He was unloved all his life. No one attempted to understand him, but he could seek solace with the majority of viewers who sympathised but disagreed with what he has done.
The actor proved to have done more preparation work than what it seemed. It isn’t just the body language or tone, but the most captivating is how he used his eyes to accentuate his acting. At times, they would well up with conceit, rage, fear or even devastation and pleas.
Villains are not necessarily witty, scheming, confident, or fearless people. Geun Won is an accident-prone villain who’s reckless and incompetent.
To a large extent, his warped sense of reality and entitlement stemmed from the twisted ideals and principles of Chairman Jang.
However, he’s full of insecurities and suffers from a great inferiority complex since he is not as intelligent or street smart as Sae Royi or Geun Soo.
Geun Won has anger management issues and psychotic traits as he loves to resort to violence to get his ways. This is a chain reaction from how his dad “educated” him whenever he screwed things up. Using money and violence are his only antics to make others bow down to him.
Both Sae Royi and Geun Won’s lives changed the day they met each other. It was the beginning of a bad affinity.
He’s harebrained and acts without much thinking, but Sae Royi is a deep guy who has planned his revenge route early.
You can say Geun Won is a bully, but I wouldn’t say downright evil. If someone showed more care and concern for him, things could have been very different.
Why is Geun Won a Failed Villain?
Geun Won isn’t even half as ruthless or level-headed as his dad or Geun Soo. He could not make it far because he’s not as unfeeling as he seemed. He’s despicable but not incorrigible.
There’s some good in him, such as being filial and wouldn’t harm his family or the woman he likes. He clearly had some glimpses of hope but he missed out on those opportunities to right his wrongdoings. Perhaps if Soo Ah could try to treat him as a friend, he may have been salvaged. However, there’s no reconciliation since Sae Royi’s dad is like a foster dad to her.
There were instances when we saw this fear and longing for his dad in his eyes and the times when he was lost, guilty and terribly sorry about what he has done. Geun Won wanted some form of redemption, which he never had. He made a final plea to his dad to save him from the monster he had become. However, he was thrown further into the abyss by his blood father.
All Chairman Jang wants is a successor to his empire. Geun Won was merely a TOOL and a pawn to a game of chess that his unscrupulous father had set up.
Geun Won was driven by despair and desperation after his respected father “betrayed” and ditched him for saving Jang Ga Group.
I wouldn’t see Geun Won as completely amoral, but you may call him a coward, weasel or loser for not facing up to reality. Having lost everything (job, riches, family) to Sae Royi who was of a different social class, was more than adequate to drive him insane.
What Geun Won needed to learn was to man up. We shouldn’t blame others for our mishaps or misfortunes.
The Boy Who Lost His Way
Despite the facade of having everything, Geun Won is like a child who’s deprived of a real childhood.
He reminded me of a boy who lost his way in an amusement park, with no one to hold his hand and lead him out of this abyss.
In many ways, he has yet to fully mature like an adult. Having been sheltered by Jang Ga Group all his life, he had carefully tugged that boy inside of him who refused to grow up away from the harsh reality.
He was never loved by anyone. For all that he has become, he should at least deserve some love from his father.
Yearning for love, approval, and recognition from his dad his entire life, he was a kid waiting to be rewarded by his dad with a lollipop and hoping to go on a DATE with the girl of his dreams.
Much as he is a wastrel, he knew better than to ruin Soo Ah’s life.
The irony is, while Geun Won is the heir to one of the biggest conglomerates, all he ever wanted was something as simple as love and warmth. These are the things that riches couldn’t buy.
You got to applaud how Boh Hyun always killed it with his gaze in most of his scenes. It is the most heart-gripping when you watch the 2 doleful scenes of him and Chairman Jang, which we will discuss further in the next section.
These scenes were so brilliantly executed that they were etched in my mind for a long time. The bitterness, solace, disbelief, cluelessness, desperation, devastation and helplessness in his eyes had your hearts grappling with sadness.
Geun Won is trapped in a vicious cycle of hate, resentment and self-wallowing.
It’s obvious he has yet to master the art of letting go when he had a face-to-face confrontation with Ho Jin. It all started with the two of them and should end with them. Ho Jin decided to forgive Geun Won since he has gotten his just desserts, leaving behind an enraged Geun Won.
Usually, those who inflict pain on others would not remember their doings, but the victims would be scarred for life. It is only when you give someone a taste of their own medicine, then they will truly understand how it feels.
Even when he’s lacking in so many ways, I hope someone would bring light to his life. It isn’t the end for Geun Won yet, if he decides to put down his hatred and start afresh.
The following is a list of my favourite Geun Won scenes which have created a deep impression.
He must have been through much hardship to get the following scenes perfected, from withstanding the rain, rolling on the floor, being “punched around”, breaking the chicken’s neck, etc. He summoned all his energy physically, emotionally in acting out these scenes.
5 Most Memorable & Impactful Geun Won Scenes (가장 기억에 남는 5가지 장면)
1) Sae Royi beating Geun Won up at the hospital
This was one of the most tastefully executed emotional scenes by both Park Seo Joon and Ahn Bo Hyun. This was an important scene in the 1st episode that made me yearn for more of Geun Won’s upcoming appearances. They never fail to grab your attention with their limited screen time together.
With so much man-made rain beating relentlessly on them for 9 to 10 hours, and having to show explicit emotions with tears, rage, grief, fear and remorse, required more than mere acting skills.
They needed to channel the “appropriate“ emotions and we could feel their explosive chemistry between one who was engulfed by anger and grief busy throwing punches, while the other weak on his limbs with fear and remorse.While Geun Won deserves to be punished, it was heart gripping to see the apologetic and painful gaze.
He was grappling with fear and remorse, while trying to digest what has happened. He was flustered and it wasn’t his intention to run down Sae Royi’s dad no matter how much he detested Sae Royi.
2) Chicken Neck-breaking Scene
Geez, this scene totally blew me off! Felt like a horror flick and I love how Ahn Bo Hyun enacted it so effortlessly!
It got me on my nerves as I watched how Geun Won was forced to break the chicken’s neck, which symbolised Sae Royi.
His eyes are the crux to completing this scene so flawlessly.
The transition from disliking the idea of stepping into the chicken farm, having nauseousness, the fear of being punished by his dad and possibility of losing his position as the heir to Jang Ga Group, internal struggle and dilemma to break a live chicken’s neck, to displaying an evil, determined and psychotic gaze with tears streaming down his face, to breaking it with all his might, deserves a round of applause.
It was a roller coaster ride of emotions.
3) “Reunion” with Sae Royi at the Police Station
Geun Won’s outfit and expressions reminded me of“The Joker”. How much more “evil” and “darker” he must have become over 15 years of “villainous training”.
He no longer felt a tinge of remorse and even triggered Sae Royi’s by admitting he was the one who ran the car over his dad. There was a sense of coldness that ran down my spine to how amoral he had become.
The next instant when Sae Royi mentioned he would make sure Geun Won gets his just desserts; he froze in an alarming realisation and shuddered a little. I was swarmed with relief as this proved he did not lose his conscience completely.
The contrast in the situation when they last met at the hospital and the reunion at the police station highlighted how time has changed both of them.
Geun Won is still an inferior freak who goes around wreaking havoc, while Sae Royi proved his determination and how strong he actually is. Sae Royi has the faith that he would bring Geun Won to justice, with a plan this time.
Both are obstinate but their approaches to how they react to obstacles in lives are very diverse.
Geun Won’s gaze changed over time. After he was released from the prison, you see the resolute in his eyes – the determination in getting even with Sae Royi, who’s deemed the cause of all misfortunes in his life. He was bent on revenge, even if it means self-destruction at the same time.
The final fight scene didn’t serve much meaning except to symbolise the final showdown between “good and evil” as a deranged Geun Won and Sae Royi exchanged punches.
4) Chairman Jang Hugging Geun Won for the 1st & last time
This was the 1st of 2 doleful scenes that would tug at your heartstrings.
Who would have thought that a father, who was supposedly trying to save his son, was actually intending to abandon his son with that embrace?
The first affirmative embrace he ever had from Chairman Jang was the first expression of affection as his father, but he would be devastated to know what it truly meant later on.
The one embrace Geun Won wished for his entire life, turned out to be a “farewell hug”. It meant so much to him and it breaks you seeing him tear with much pain, solace and disbelief. That’s the brittle side of Jang Geun Won that Ahn Bo Hyun has so delicately brought out to the viewers, to emphathise with his inner child.
Even that pat and hug from his father seemed like a staged act (maybe half staged on the assumption that Chairman Jang wasn’t totally unfeeling), after we realised he got betrayed and discarded like a ball of rough paper.
The clueless child rooted for his dad to hang in there while he promised to be back in a jiffy.
5) Geun Won ‘s Eye-to-Eye Moment with His Dad Who has Forsaken Him
The moment Geun Won realised the shocking truth, ran all the way back only to have an eye-to-eye moment with his dad, he knew his fate was sealed.
No words were exchanged, but his eyes welled up with resentment, despair, desperation, hurt, emptiness, and finally accepted his doom.
Those eyes were brimming with overflowing emotions as he gazed in rude awakening. He was utterly forsaken by his dad.
It was such an impactful scene that you find yourself engulfed with sympathy for him.
He wanted to own up many years ago but his dad forbade him to do so. It was a plea to his dad to save him but he comprehended he could not go against his dad’s wishes or see his aged father to be imprisoned. He stayed rooted to the ground while watching his dad leave. Geun Won has outlived his usefulness, just like a little doggie getting thrown out into the streets to fend for himself.
He ought to pay for his misdeeds, but it was downright despicable for Chairman Jang to dump him for selfish intentions, instead of guiding him towards the right path.
The poor guy couldn’t decipher why his dad did this to him. He even made a call from prison to affirm that he must have his reasons, but to find that all excuses that he has made for his father turned out futile.
He became nobody’s child.
Meeting with Soo Ah
There was a small part of me hoping that Soo Ah could at least be gentler towards him.
It was a moment of joy, happiness and heartache all in one when he fulfilled his wish to have a meal with Soo Ah for the 1st time in 15 years. My heart literally cringed. It was a simple form of joy that he had never experienced.
Only when he has paid for his wrongdoings, he could fulfill his long-time wish to have a peaceful meal with Soo Ah. She did not make things difficult for him and agreed that it must have been hard on him suffering in jail. Having being granted an early release from his jail term for good behavior implied that he can turn over a new leaf if he chooses to.
Acknowledging that he is a jerk who will not ruin the life of the woman he loves, revealed his self-awareness of being lacking in many ways. It also meant he would stop pestering Soo Ah. Once again, look at the transition of his gaze and expressions from looking at Soo Ah gently till he was unable to hide his disappointment and sadness at the end.
This is perhaps the best closure for Geun Won who spent 15 years on an one-sided love. If only they were given more fond memories.
After Thoughts
I absolutely enjoyed Ahn Bo Hyun’s acting in Itaewon Class. It’s seldom that I have a desire to understand an antagonist character better.
Despite being a supporting role, Ahn Bo Hyun was able to capture viewers’ attention in every scene that he appeared in. Jang Geun Won received so much hate, but Ahn Bo Hyun has received much affection as an actor.
His portrayal of Jang Geun Won was substantial enough to pique viewers’ hatred and sympathy for him.
Ahn Bo Hyun is in no way similar to Jang Geun Won in real life. While he is professionally trained, he only unleashes his strength in the boxing ring. He’s like a “Gentle Giant”.
He sees beauty in the simplest things and enjoys life as it is. He finds it relaxing to go camping, or driving around to admire natural scenery and lovely sunsets. It’s a great way to recharge and disconnect from the hustle and bustle of cosmopolitan life.
It’s a plus point that he is appreciative of his fans and would take time to read through the overwhelming number of fan comments. Their constructive feedback and support serves as food for his soul and motivates him to keep going.
He’s humble, down-to-earth, big-hearted and has a way of life that’s pretty admirable. Not everyone is after the material wants in life.
To Bo Hyun
If you ever get to read this, I hope this serves as an encouragement and motivation to better yourself.
While you have done a great job, you can be more confident and daring in unleashing your potential for future roles. Do not worry about holding back. Just do it and explore all possibilities.
May this serve as a little birthday gift for your 32nd Birthday~ =)
I am sure you would scale to greater heights while retaining your humble personality. People who work their way up from the bottom, would appreciate success more readily.
Continue working hard for your new drama and never lose that passion.
Hope to see you in Singapore promoting your future works and also for a Fanmeeting someday!
Fighting!~
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