The Glory Season 2 (2023)

S1 top notch, S2 not so much

S1: No revenge story is complete without first showing the deeds that need avenging. In the case of The Glory, it means sitting through scenes of brutal bullying. So you better be ready cause it’s just too heartbreaking and infuriating.

Pros:
+ Well written slow-burn revenge
+ Engaging, suspenseful, satisfying plot
+ Amazing acting
+ Strong foundation for later stages
+ Memorable dialogues
+ Great OST

Cons:
- Some scenes can be a bit boring and unnecessary but it’s not a big issue.
- ML and FL lack chemistry.

————

S2:

Pros:
+ STUNNING acting.

Cons:
- I wish we had a more powerful confrontation and revenge, more insights, less romance (maybe a little hint at the end and that’s it).
- Still lack of chemistry from both M&F leads. I always felt awkward watching their interactions.
- Some plots, scenes and deaths were UNNECESSARY (the b00bs CGI, Dong Eun’s mother being too present when she’s not worth it at all, Hyunam’s husband & Jaejun deaths..). I disliked how the drama made it so “normal” to just kill the bad guys. That’s not a great message to deliver in my opinion. There are other ways to punish these people rather than killing them.


Final thoughts:

Kudos to ALL the actors. THEY CARRIED the show, they OUTPERFORMED. I truly fell in love with each one of them. The actresses that portrayed young Yeonjin and Dong Eun are extremely talented. S1 left me speechless, was impactful, heartbreaking and gave me hope for a cold deserved revenge. Sadly, S2 didn’t really deliver on some important aspects, was poorly executed and left me disappointed. However, I am happy that Dong Eun got her revenge and happy ending. That’s all that matters..

Leer más

i was expecting more

finally watched this drama. idk if it’s because i waited so long to watch this but i had really high expectations. well, it didnt meet my expectations. first i did not understand why they did this 2 parts, was not necessary. should’ve been 16 episodes instead. anyway, acting was good i am going to give them that. song hye kyo ate, also lim jiyeon and park sunghoon too, both were so good. but the story? i’m not so sure about that. dong eun only said i am going to that and this in part 1. i thought she was really going to something big you know. she just posted an online article? and she humiliated sara. in the end she literally didn’t do anything, like they already destroyed each other. i was expecting much more from her since she talked so big. i’m still not sure if i liked it or not.

Leer más

A PERFECT 10 STARS! ???

I always loved revenge plots, whether it’s comedy or thriller. This drama just gave me everything I’m looking for in a revenge plot. I haven’t finished K-dramas in a long time—even Mouse can’t make me this addicted and entertained—so for me to be able to finish this drama is a miracle.

The ending was very much satisfying. Everyone gets their revenge, and every good person gets their happy ending. I must admit the first episodes of Part 2 isn’t the best compared to the 8 episodes on Part 1, but it was still great nonetheless. I’ve read how some people think Lee Do Hyun’s character isn’t really necessary, but I personally think the romance is a cute little addition that could balance out all the violence and gore.

The acting… JAW-DROPPINGLY EXCELLENT. Everyone acted SO SO GOOD. I can officially say this is the one K-drama with no bad actors and actresses. The music… EXCELLENT. Everything about this drama is excellent. Just super great. Super duper recommended! 10/10 🌟

Leer más

Incontournable !

Pour ne pas gâcher le plaisir de la découverte, ma critique sera très courte.
Les histoires de vengeance, il y en a des tonnes ; surtout dans le cinéma coréen. Difficile de sortir du lot et pourtant, "The Glory" y arrive à la perfection.
Que ce soit le scénario (cohérent jusqu'au bout, ce qui mérite d'être souligné), que ce soit le rythme (on avance doucement dans l'histoire, sans pour autant être lassé) , le jeu des acteurs (bluffant !), tout est presque parfait ! Les personnages (secondaires) sont un chouilla excessifs, mais ils restent bien joués ça sauve le tout.
Une série que je recommande vivement : même pour ceux qui ne sont pas fan du genre. Quitte à en voire une sur la vengeance, que ce soit celle-ci !,
J'ai prit beaucoup de plaisir à visionner et que je regarderais à nouveau, à coup sûr !

Leer más

Glorious ending

The Glory Part 1 and Part 2 (2023)

Likes
1. Wow story was fast paced, acting was briliant. The whole revenge plot was perfectly developed and executed by Dong Eun. And the best part is she didnt even have to get her hands dirty. She merely exposed their sins, and they destroyed each other. I thought every bad guy in the story deserved their fate.
2. My fave scene of SHK was when she found out her mom betrayed her again and they had their argument in the apartment and the mom started the fire. Plus the last episode when she was crying after everything was done and she was at the rooftop. (It was just weird how Yeo Jeong's mom was there to stop her from jumping. Did she follow her?)
3. Yeonjin was so bratty and self entitled all through out. I cant believe the nerve of her! She bullied kids, killed 2 people, yet she refuse to admit them, and is even the one getting angry when caught. She had no remorse at all!!!
4. Loved the 2 male leads, cute puppy doctor Yeo Jeong who would do anything for Dong Eun and the hot ahjuicy Do Yeong who probably would have pursued Dong Eun in another life (my alternate ending).
5. Also loved Hyeon Nam. Hope she gets a chance to go to the US and see her daughter.
6. The other bullies were also evil. Plus Yeonjin's mom, the corrupt detective, Hyeon Nam's husband, ugly haired pervert teacher. Lol everyone got punished!!

Dislikes
1. Son Myeong O's disappearance went on for too long when he was obviously dead. And it was obvious who had the most motive to kill him, yet the writer tried to prolong the reveal by giving other characters possible motive.
2. Instead they could have focused on finishing Yeo Jeong's revenge on Yeong Cheon and showing the couple moving forward and living happily together.

Rating: 9/10

Leer más

Sweet Sweet Revenge!

One woman's revenge against her high school bullies. Every time she took one of them down, it was entertaining.

I loved it! A good show connects you to the cause of the victim and that's exactly what The Glory did. The show also evokes a lot of emotions. Anger, tears, joy, delight, shock, fear, and more. It has everything you can ask for in a revenge thriller! Just one warning - part 2 contains frontal female nudity. It's brief but was unexpected.

I have to say, that when I first saw the trailer for part 2, I was worried that this will be a torturous journey for the female lead but for the most part, things panned out pretty well. I loved the variety in the revenge for each of them as well. And for some it was unexpected but a well-deserved fate.

Moon Dong Eun emoted so well especially the moments when you see her in her raw/weak moments. I felt the same way in the first season. Again her younger counterpart portrayed her helplessness beautifully. I just wanted to hug her in some of those moments. I felt her anguish. And I was happy she formed alliances who were there to support her now.

Lee De Hyun as Joo Yeo Jung was a delight. I smiled every time he was on screen. Who wouldn't want someone like him as their supporter/executioner. I enjoyed his chemistry with Doon Eun and do wish there was a bit more. But then this isn't a romance drama so I'll take what I can get.

Kang Hyun Nam is another delightful character. Her situation is like that of many women in domestic abuse cases who have no option and stay for the safety of their children. I especially loved it when she finally cussed him out at the end as well as her last interaction with Yeon Jin when she gave her a taste of her own medicine. I laughed out loud.

Park Yeon Jin was definitely the crazy character that made this show worth it. Yet again I have to give it to Shin Ye Eun's scarier performance as the bully. Im Ji Yeon did well too but at times she felt weak. Considering everything, she seemed to get the lightest punishment as she still had zero regrets.

The show was a fantastic binge watch. Perhaps the only thing that could have been better was if Dong Eun physically beat them up. She didn't have to. I just like female characters who can fight well and I love action scenes.

The ending may seem like an open-ending but it's just left some things to the imagination. Though I wouldn't mind another season focused on that.

I would definitely recommend both parts to be seen in sequence as that's how it was originally meant to be. The second part definitely has the meat of the revenge plot.

Leer más

Messy and Misguided

What I find most problematic in this drama is its main premise -- that trauma could only be healed through revenge -- by inflicting the same of even greater pain to those who cause you pain. This shows how immature and misguided the writers of this show are. I am not in any way saying bullying or abuse should be tolerated. Not at all. But I was expecting some sort of breakthrough -- maybe an insight into the workings of the human ego and psychopathy, and realizing how carrying the burden of hate actually makes the initial suffering inflicted that much worse. I would have expected the main character to realize somewhere along the way that forgiveness and letting go -- through compassion and being the bigger, noble person -- is the true path to healing and being free from all the anger. Instead, revenge is offered, from start to finish, as the ultimate solution.

And it's not like that revenge is executed as brilliantly as I initially expected. The plot is messy, uninspired, and unfulfilling. There are so many loose threads half-baked explanations, and deus ex machina-type plot devices employed that the narrative is left confusing, unsatisfying, and full of holes. For instance, when Moon Dong-eun was about to jump off that rooftop in that abandoned building, Yeo-jeong's mother suddenly appears out of nowhere to appeal to her to keep on living in order to save her son (through helping him seek revenge, of course).

I also didn't like that they had to unnecessarily turn Do-Young into a murderer in the end. What was all that disgust for Yeon-jin, all that righteous indignation, if he was going to do something equally dastardly? And again, he happened to be right there, and Jae-joon happened to somehow wander up towards the top of a building/factory, when he couldn't see. If I couldn't see, I would not even risk climbing up a set of steps. And Do-Young had been a sort of pillar of morality throughout the drama, and they suddenly had to ruin his character by turning him into a murdered just like his wife.

I also felt bad for the ahjumma that helped the FL carry out her surveillance operations. We do not even see her get reunited or at least reestablish contact with her daughter, when her husband was dead and Yeon-jin was in jail. What was keeping her from following her daughter? Dong-eun wasn't even able to fulfill her part of the bargain of killing her husband. Could she not give the poor woman money to follow her daughter?

None of this makes for a brilliant plot or a truly layered story. I didn't feel that I learned anything useful or that this story enriched me in any way. And did I mention that the love story angle was so forced an unnatural? Zero chemistry between the leads. What an utter waste of time this was.

Leer más

What an amazing moment I spent watching this drama...

Unless three dramas I've completed, I've been in a kdrama slump for years... I then tried to give a go to The Glory since it was the first time Song Hyekyo acted in such drama and the trailer was interesting. I am not regretting this AT ALL!! I'm so glad I chose to watch it since the ending was perfect to me. The drama was well-structured and there aren't any major plotholes like we can encounter in most dramas. I'm so glad that I was finally watching a drama with a decent ending. Good job to everybody, from the screenwriter to the actors who did an amazing job making this project an amazing one.

Leer más

Good Enough

Korean Drama " The Glory Season 2 " is the continuation of the revenge melodrama, giving the conclusion to the story.

And even though there were a lot of things happening, as the main villains started fighting back, providing some resistance to the revenge plan, the drama got messy and even, at some points, boring. They opted to focus on the romance, which was its weakest point, especially since it messed with the mood of the drama and the leads' chemistry wasn't strong enough to support it. At least, it aided to the character development of the main lead and gave her some breathing space to be more humane and less miserable.

The performances, finally, were, just like in the first season, great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, five out of ten.

Leer más

Riveting to Watch, but Intentionally Amoral (Morally Grey)

I stayed up to watch part 2 of The Glory the moment the clock hit 3:00 am and boy, was it a Journey.

The Glory (pt. 2) is meant to be a completely satisfying revenge story between a victim against her abuser and we somewhat know the story’s end from its beginning. From part 1 we know of our female lead’s tenacity and dedication towards getting her resolute end, we just aren’t quite sure how things will unravel.

The Glory in many ways feels like sort of a revenge expose to its audience as well. I got this feeling that any audience member who had ever bullied a person in the past would think of their own victims while watching it. It felt like it was pointing a finger to the audience saying, “I know what you’ve done, and I’m coming for you.”

Ultimately, The Glory pt. 2 continues from its first part to serve as an extremely slow burn revenge story. It was like Dong Eun was metaphorically thrusting a knife very slowly into her abusers, perhaps paralleling the slow torture she faced as a child by these abusers. Like the game of “Go,” She takes territory from her enemies little by little. They are aware of her plays yet completely helpless against her overall strategy.

What is interesting is that even as we witness this metaphorical knife penetrate deeper and deeper, we aren’t given a very clear sense of what revenge looks like “in real life.” What does it look like to “win” in revenge? The police system was portrayed as incompetent at best and corrupt at average. Every opportunity to rectify the violence inflicted upon victims through “formal” channels was obsolete. The worst thing about this concept of ineffective justice pipelines is that they are inconsistently applied and often feel as though the greatest effort of “the law” doesn’t truly bring justice for those whom need it the most.


My Thoughts on The Glory’s Philosophy:
I personally don’t particularly agree with The Glory’s philosophy of direct retribution carefully planned out in a way that consumes one’s own existence. I also found it difficult to stomach that revenge was Dong Eun’s entire heart. What is most unfortunate of all, though, is the fact that if Dong Eun did not become the executor of revenge, there is little clear path as to how any form of legal justice would be served against said abusers. Again, the Glory left me with the question “what does true revenge look like?”



SPOILERS FROM HERE ON BELOW:

My Thoughts on the State of the Abusers Pre-Revenge:
Something I thought was particularly significant about the set-up of the story is in how Dong Eun views Yeon Jin by way of her brand image rather than her reality. Yeon Jin appears to have things set out pretty well for her, but in reality: Yeon Jin appears to have a college degree yet no knowledge on a field she actually enjoys working in. She’s so incompetent that she has to have her husband pay multiple times her salary to keep her job—she isn’t good at her job because she didn’t study hard, which is entirely her own fault. She supposedly has a pretty decent husband yet cheats on him. She would literally be nothing without the looks and money she inherited from her parents, but on her own she has nothing.

What’s worst is that I think Yeon Jin is aware of her own pathetic-ness, but chooses to hide behind money and a pitifully mean personality. If others don’t bow down to her she can’t distinguish herself as being at the top because she knows that without money and fake-pride, she is nothing. Yeon Jin’s only real pride and joy is her daughter, yet she fails at this, too, by literally falsifying circumstances surrounding her birth father. She seeks atonement through her daughters eyes, not through actually atoning in her actions. Most of all, she fails her daughter almost automatically by way of being an inherently unrepentant person.

Even though the reality is that all Dong Eun’s abusers are pitiful people at best, how could this thought be of “comfort” to her in the midst of exceptionally deep longstanding pain. This kept bringing up the question for me as to “what does true revenge look like?” And “could there have been another way?”



On Repentance and Forgiveness:
I think The Glory did a decent job at acknowledging that revenge didn’t fulfil any life meaning for Dong Eun, yet it also somewhat backtracked on this premise by rededicating her life to a new purpose— which is helping her BAE to get revenge, too. To me, this journey of healing in Dong Eun’s life still feels incomplete and especially incomplete without her love interest, which I find dangerous in their specific dependance on one another rooted in revenge. I don’t think revenge is all there is to their relationship, yet it almost feels like their love is majorly sidelined because revenge is the priority. It's the concept that revenge is meaningful enough, but not love on it own. This feels like a dangerous concept.

Most of all forgiveness, which is usually more about the victims inner healing rather than the abusers, was completely absent from the Glory. This made our protagonists journeys feel even more incomplete because inner healing was deemed as impossible without revenge. This facet of the story felt pretty one dimensional for me, but then again, I am a Christian and therefore believe in the fruits that forgiveness and repentance bears. It appears as though Dong Eun was 'merely' matching up evils against evils, but in reality she took on the role of a wicked person herself in order to gain physical justice she could bear witness to. I thought of this in particular when she "tempts" Hye Jeong with the opportunity to permanently blind Jae Joon. Yes Hye Jeong took the "temptation" but Dong Eun was the tempter to begin with. This was a theme constantly repeated throughout the show.


Vengeance Fulfilled? (story ending spoiler):
One scene that I thought was particularly revealing was when both Yeon Jin and her mother were in prison they cross each other’s paths. It felt like the truth of the revenge story became exacerbated in that scene— Yeon Jin’s mother wasn’t actually sorry for committing murder and neither was Yeon Jin sorry for committing two murders. Yeon Jin’s mother hardly even glanced in her direction, offered her no apologies or desire to restore their relationship. Yeon Jin’s abandonment was made complete in that scene, but so was Yeon Jin’s mother’s formal abandonment of her rights as a mother. Rather than that scene having anything to do with Dong Eun, however, it felt clarifying to see the effect that amoral parenting can have on replicating amorality in children. It also felt like a powerful testimony in making different choices than our environments sometimes negatively influence.

Leer más