The Glory Part 1 TV Show Review: Revenge At Its Finest
The Glory is an incredible and riveting Netflix Korean drama about a woman’s revenge journey against her high school bullies. If you can stomach some severe bullying scenes and dark themes like suicide, then I think you should give this show a try. But if these topics are triggering, then stay away. The Glory stars Song Hye Kyo as the lead in a really dark and menacing type of role that I have never seen her in before. She is a huge reason why this show is so popular, not only because she is one of the most famous actresses in Korea, but also because her portrayal of Moon Dong Eun is incredible.
There is something that is riveting about watching someone work hards towards something and excel at what he/she does, and Moon Dong Eun is great at plotting revenge. The premise of this story feels fairly simple from the start, but the real mystery of Dong Eun’s revenge plot is impossible to turn away from. As you’re watching, you want to keep discovering exactly what Dong Eun has in store for every person on her black list, and you want her to succeed so bad. We all know that revenge is wrong, but at the same time, it’s so satisfying to watch Song Hye Kyo in this role. I just want to see Moon Eun be a badass and destroy her bully’s life without actually killing anyone or committing a heinous human rights crime, is that too much to ask?
To give credit where credit’s due, I think the entire cast of this show is fantastic. Lim Ji Yeon as Park Yeon Jin (the main bully) is almost hilariously villainous. She is able to turn a menacing glare into a warm smile within seconds. I really like the doctor character in this show, Lee Do-hyun as Joo Yeo Jung, because he provides a bit of warmth and humor in an otherwise really dark show. While he is a good person on the surface, he harbors deep anger and revenge tendencies as well. It hints at this really interesting power dynamic between Moon Eun and Yeo Jung that I am excited to see develop further.
One thing I kind of struggled with while watching is matching the names and faces of the child actors to their adult actor counterparts. It sounds kind of silly, but as a non-Korean , it’s honestly really hard to remember Korean names. It also doesn’t help that the child actors don’t look that similar to the adult actors, so it was a game of trying to connect certain character mannerisms and actions to their role in the story. Since the first few episodes involve a lot of back and forth between past and present, I have a feeling a lot of people may get confused with character names while watching.
What really annoys me is that this drama is split into two parts. The first part was released in early January and contains 8 episodes, and the second part is getting released in March. It feels like eons away! My frustration with the wait reflects my love for the show, so I guess ultimately I’m just grateful that they created a show like this and there will be more to come. K-dramas haven’t been really doing it for me lately, but I have to say, The Glory reminded me a lot of how it felt to be helplessly and fully dedicated to a show.