The Glory Drama Review

Drama: The Glory (더 글로리)

Director: Ahn Gil-ho

Writer: Kim Eun-sook

Cast: Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun, Lim Ji-yeon, Yeom Hye-ran, Park Sung-hoon, Jung Sung-il, Kim Hi-eo-ra, Cha Joo-young, Kim Gun-woo, Jeon Soo-ah, Ahn Ji-hye, Jung Ji-so, Shin Ye-eun, Lee So-ee, Lee Hae-young, Ahn So-yo, Yoon Da-gyeong, Son Sook, Son Na-young, Kim Jung-young, Son Ji-na, Oh Ji-yul, Heo Dong-won, Park Ji-ah, Choi Soo-in, Lee Moo-saeng, Kim Sun-hwa, Lee Byung-joon and others.

Trigger Warning: The show talks about bullying, assaults and revenge. This show contains scenes, situations, descriptions and graphic visuals of injuries and physical assault that could be traumatic and disturbing to many. Please read this review and watch it only if your heart and mind can take it.

About the show:-

Kim Dong-eun, a high school student with aspirations to become an architect, is a victim to school bullying. The brutality of the bullying causes her to drop out from school. With nowhere to go and no one to lean on, she is alone in her attempts to build herself a new life overcoming the trauma of her past. Life is not easy for her. But her perseverance is her strength.

17 years later, now in her mid thirties, Dong-eun hunts down her perpetrators and the bystanders of her high school bullying in order to seek revenge. All grown up and in their mid thirties too, the perpetrators are living a life of luxury, comfort and fame and have forgotten all about the past, including the kind of hell they put their victims through. Everything came easy for them. Life was a paradise for the bullies, but Dong-eun’s revenge will not be one.

Will the perpetrators be willing to apologise to their victims when the opportunity arises or are they too high-headed to bow down to the truth? Will Dong-eun’s fight bring her the peace and freedom that she badly needed and give her and her fellow victims the justice that they deserve?

(*This review may contain spoilers. If you have already watched the show, please continue reading. If you haven’t watched the show yet, you can still continue reading or you can come back to the review later.)

My views:

When people are constantly reminding us to be kind to everyone around us, I am always astonished as to why there is a necessity to remind someone to be kind to another human. Isn’t it our moral imperative as humans to be kind and sensitive to another living soul? Then I came to realise that the world has turned towards the wrong in the last many years. Without reminders, we humans are failing to do the one thing that is assigned to us by God and that is to love one another. Love is a strong gift that God has bestowed on us humans and has instructed us to spread amongst each other. And here we are, humans created by the same God, in the world created by the same God unable to spread the love that he has filled us all with. The one duty we are assigned to, we are miserably failing to accomplish.

The world is spreading hate, is causing harm and is turning to wrongdoings every day, every hour and every minute. People are crumbling at the disturbing amount of hatred that exists today.

Love and hate are both very strong feelings and emotions. When given an option to choose from either of them, without a second thought, one must always choose love. In today’s world, where the minds and the hearts of people around us and away from us are sensitive and in need of warmth, we must make sure to give out as much love as possible. Love over hate, Kindness over meanness, Compassion over indifference and generosity over selfishness. Life is too good to waste on fights, crimes, hate, enmity and an evil mindset. Like the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall”, if the world comes together to spread love and kindness, what a beautiful world that would be.

What I loved about the show:-

Team Dong-eun:

Kim Dong-eun’s team always wins because she stands on the side of truth and justice. Over the last several years, Dong-eun has managed to find support and solace from some good people.

Joo Yeo-jeong has proved time and again to Dong-eun that he is giving her his all and is willing to be by her side in whatever way she wishes. He has supported her from the beginning to the end and his presence and help has always been selfless.

Kang Hyeon-nam has always been Dong-eun most ardent supporter. No matter how difficult her life got during the length of the revenge period, she continued to lend her unwavering support to Dong-eun.

Yeo-jeong’s mother, Ahn Jung-mi (the school nurse), Yeon So-hee and her family, Owner of the Eden Villa (the older lady), Goo Seung-hee (travel agent) and Hyeon-nam’s daughter Seon-ah have directly or indirectly, always been loyal and supportive of Dong-eun and her journey.

When you look at Team Dong-eun, you find that there is good in everyone.

Team Dong-eun = Team Good.

Team Dong-eun = loyal, supportive, kind, brave and strong.

Team Yeon-jin (The Perpetrators):

Team Yeon-jin has managed to grow in their life with luxury, comfort, success and fame but there is no foundation. None of them is a true friend to other. They latch on to each other like parasites. Since they feel familiar to each other because of their backgrounds and their status, they feel like they belong together. But in the time of truth, they would all throw each other under the bus to survive.

Jae-joon is always Yeon-jin’s number one fan and supporter. Even though he feels betrayed at times because of Yeon-jin, he would go above and beyond to be by her side when she willingly calls for him. But he doesn’t realise that she would gladly use him as a scapegoat to keep herself safe.

Sa-ra, Hye-jeong and Myeong-oh are the perpetrators and the bystanders. They have always been on the side of Team Yeon-jin for multiple reasons and none of them are for their undying love for Yeon-jin (there was no love for Yeon-jin from their end).

Yeon-jin’s mother and the police officer Young-joon are the first two in Team Yeon-jin who would willingly throw Yeon-jin at the wolves to be safe and sound. That is no loyalty.

Ha Do-young and Ha Ye-sol are at every point completely and utterly disappointed at Yeon-jin, so they are never Team Yeon-jin to begin with.

Kim Kyung-ran, the assistant at Siesta (Jae-joon’s boutique) and Yeon-jin’s former victim, has also always been on Team Yeon-jin because she found no escape. She thought that she always lived in the Yeon-jin bubble and only Yeon-jin could free her. She was Team Yeon-jin for her personal reasons and when the right time comes, she would gladly leave Yeon-jin’s side to find her freedom.

When you look at Team Yeon-jin, you only find evil in her teammates.

Team Yeon-jin = Team Evil

Team Yeon-jin = Betrayers, blamers and deserters.

Ha Do-young and Ha Ye-sol: These two people are the ones that had nothing to do with the bullying, the revenge and the betrayal and yet got dragged into the mess unwillingly and unintentionally. These two lost their family, their trust and their love with no fault of their own. They were the sacrifice that Yeon-jin made in her attempts to win her war against Dong-eun.

The Actors, The Director and the Writer:-

Every single actor (main leads and the supporting cast) is mesmerising in this show. If acting could be a person, a physical entity, then it would be this cast. Song Hye-kyo, Lee Do-hyun and Yeom Hye-ran are just glorious in the show (pun intended). Lee Ji-yeon and her performance is beyond words. Her character, I dislike, but Lee Ji-yeon as an actor is pure magic.

Park Sung-hoon, Jung Sung-il, Lee Hi-eo-ra, Cha Joo-young, Kim Gun-woo are brilliant in their respective roles. The entire cast has given exemplary performances.

The younger cast who played Dong-eun, Yeon-jin and the other perpetrators and victims are admirable in their roles as well.

Special Mention: (Spoiler)

Season 2 – Meeting between Kim Dong-eun and Ha Do-young

Dong-eun says, “I want you to become another reminder of Yeon-jin’s ruin” to Do-young.

As soon as she says this, Do-young tries to stifle a smile and goes back to holding a poker face. This small scene and the moment of stifling a smile showed me what an amazing actor Jung Sung-il is.

For me, its always the small moments (in terms of acting) that take my breath away. The show stealing scenes are always mesmerising to watch and are a giveaway of an actor’s talent and excellence but these little moments and points are the real deal.

The Director Ahn Gil-ho has yet again delivered a masterpiece. After watching Record of Youth, I was eagerly waiting to watch another production by Ahn Gil-ho. And I must say, he has not disappointed and that would also be an understatement. He has delivered one of the best and finest productions that South Korean Entertainment Industry has even seen.

I wish to see more such creations from him and I only hope for the best for his future endeavours.

Writer Kim Eun-sook: Her writing is just breathtaking. I am proud of the kind of work she has put out into the world. She has a way of bringing her characters to life. The flow of the story and the character development are always on point. I am thankful to her for writing a script that is both sensitive and strong and also that doesn’t lose the plot. She has managed to write Dong-eun as a character with just one sole purpose, that is revenge for her pain. Dong-eun doesn’t deviate from her path and doesn’t let anybody else get sacrificed in her war. She is a good person and has always been one. Her pain and trauma doesn’t let her become the bad guy.

Kim Eun-sook knows that this writing of hers is on the extreme side but she also knows when to dial it down. All in all, she is a very intelligent writer, devoted to her work and precise in her storytelling.

To all the victims of bullying, I would like to send you all an immense amount of love, positive energy and strength to get through the tough times, to get you going when life seems difficult and to pick yourself up when things are not going your way. I pray that the world is more loving and kinder to you all.

Let us all strive to be better human beings filled with love, compassion and kindness.

"It takes courage to be Kind"

"My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness - Maya Angelou."