The Glory

Tagline: Revenge is a dish best served cold and with a game of Go.

The Glory kdrama review

Summary:

The glory is a story about a girl, Moon Dong-eun, who is bullied brutally in high school by her rich classmates and the bullies get away with no repercussions while poor Dong-eun is forced to drop out of school. Dong-eun feels abandoned and sees no hope in her life. However, fueled by revenge, she decides to not give up and makes an elaborate scheme to exact revenge on the perpetrators – lead by Park Yeon-jin, Jeon Jae-joon, Choi Hye-jeong, Lee Sa-ra and Son Myeong-oh. The drama explores class privilege, abuse, corruption and exposes the harsh reality of bullying. There is very little romance as the focus of the drama is revenge. The game of Go is also intertwined in the plot. This is not your typical kdrama!

Plot:

The plot is engaging, well-written, fast-paced and keeps the viewer guessing with every episode. The drama is dark and has mature content, viewer discretion advised. The main characters in this drama are fleshed out well, however many of the minor roles seem to have loose ends. The revenge is planned and executed slowly after more than 15 years, so there is a lot of back and forth between past and present which can get confusing. Be prepared to binge.

Acting:

The best part about this drama is the acting – every single actor is outstanding, and I was surprised to see some of the actors who play a negative character – notably both young and adult Park Yeon-jin who are terrifying as bullies. I have seen both the actors play the protagonist in previous dramas and so this negative role was a revelation. Young Dong-eun played by Jung Ji-so was superb. Song Hye-Ko as adult Dong-eun is excellent with her calm and reserved demeanor. Lee Do-hyun as Joo Yeo-jeong is endearing and plays his role with shades of gray effortlessly. Kang ajumma, the housekeeper turned detective was a delight to watch.

Overall, this is a highly engaging and fast paced drama – recommend watching it.

Verdict: Very Good

More Details:

Genre: kdrama, TV drama, dark, korean

Year released: 2022

Rating: TV-MA

The Glory kdrama main cast and crew:

Starring: Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon Creators: Kim Eun-sook, An Gil-ho

Watch on Netflix

Spoilers:

There were some loose ends that needed more explanation. Example, the homeroom teacher Kim’s death. It was triggered by the flowers but what exactly caused his son to behave that way? How did Dong-eun manipulate the so - there was a mention of an online post but nothing specific. The backstory of Kim Kyung-ran needs more baking, how did she go from being a victim to store/stylist assistant?

I was very invested in this revenge plot however I felt the last episode was a bit disappointing. Park Yeon-jin was a brutal bully and even though her “dream” was shattered, and she was imprisoned, it did not feel that it was sufficient. Perhaps giving her more screen time to portray her punishment would have helped but instead it felt very rushed towards the end.

Why does Dong-eun feel the need to abandon Joo Yeo-jeong and almost kill herself after she gets her revenge? Was there a closure to her pain? This is not explained and was very frustrating as a viewer. How does Yeo-jeong’s mom find her on top of the rooftop at the right moment?

Then the plot suddenly pivoted to Yeo-jeong’s father’s murderer which was setting the stage for a new revenge plot. This felt too rushed and crammed into the last episode. Perhaps there is another season to come soon? The drama was excellent till the last episode where things got a little muddled and left me unsatisfied as a viewer. So, I am taking a few points off it and call it a very good drama.