‘The Glory’ Part 1 review: A terrific Song Hye-Kyo in a disturbing tale of bullying and revenge While scenes with graphic violence in its initial portions are hard to watch, ‘The Glory’ leaves you angry at the injustice that the protagonist faces and subsequently gratifies once the retribution begins
In a particularly disturbing scene from The Glory, Netflix’s latest original K-Drama, high school student Moon Dong-Eun (Jung Ji-So) asks her classmate and bully Park Yeon-Jin (Shin Ye-Eun) why she is being subjected to such extreme bullying. “Even if I do this, nothing will happen to me and nothing will change for you, ” retorts Yeon-Jin, as she continues inflicting violence on Dong-Eun.
The Glory is not an easy watch, nor is it a run-of-the-mill revenge thriller. Queen Bee Yeon-Jin has nothing to fear. She is rich, entitled, and leads a clique comprising four others that picks on their underprivileged classmate Dong-Eun. The group is violent beyond measure and is confident of there being no repercussions for their actions. As Dong-Eun suffers at the hands of her bullies, she’s constantly reminded that no one will protect her. The school authorities, teachers, and her mother are all a part of a system that has wholly failed her. In some way or other, everyone around her is complicit in the horrors she is subject to.
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Storyline: After being incessantly bullied in high school, a woman returns years later with an elaborate plan to seek revenge on her tormentors
Several K-Dramas have turned the spotlight on bullying in high schools, some more sensitively than others. In shows like the cult favourite Boys Over Flowers, the rich, entitled male lead is shown to lead a clique that often bullies their schoolmates, but we hardly delve further into this as the show progresses. Romance shows like True Beauty and My ID Is Gangnam Beauty both had their female leads bullied for their looks. More recently, gritty K-Dramas like Extracurricular, Revenge of the Others, Weak Hero Class 1, and even the zombie apocalypse thriller All of Us Are Dead, either centred around bullying or prominently featured it.
After being pushed to the edge, our protagonist in The Glory vows revenge. There’s no question of redemption here and through some extremely graphic scenes of violence and bullying, the show makes sure that the viewers are left rooting for and invested in every step of Dong-Eun’s carefully planned quest for revenge, one that has no boundaries.
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The violence is not for the faint-hearted (viewer discretion is recommended), and there are potential triggers regarding suicide ideation, violence, and sexual assault.
Dong-Eun (Song Hye-Kyo) grows up clawing her way through physical, social, and economic hardships and positions herself at a place that she is most sure will strike fear in the heart of her chief tormentor from high school. She takes over as the homeroom teacher at Semyeng Elementary where Yeon Jin’s (Lim Ji-Yeong) young daughter is enrolled.
There’s little that has changed for the gang of bullies. If they were despicable and depraved as high schoolers, they are remorseless and unrepentant as adults. The hierarchy established within the clique owing to their social backgrounds, the ensuing jealousy, and distrust, is one of the major aspects that Dong-Eun mines while unravelling her elaborate scheme.
Song Hye Kyo, Dec 20, 2022
Revenge dramas, like 2021’s My Name, that have a strong protagonist and engaging writing, often end up taking the predictable route. In The Glory, however, writer Kim Eun-Sook and director Ahn Gil-Ho take a disturbing, gory premise, powered by intriguing characters, all while ensuring there’s a constant sense of unease and dread that looms large. The writing dwells on the trauma that Dong-Eun is left with and how it manifests itself in her, mentally and physically. If her itchy burn scars are a reminder of the physical violence, she’s shown to have a breakdown when she hears meat sizzling and is left repulsed and shaken when she faces off with one of her bullies who sexually objectified her.
At the helm of things is Song Hye-Kyo, delivering a career-best performance as Dong-Eun. Hardened by the violence and abuse she’s faced, Dong-Eun is seemingly dead on the inside and maintains a passive, haunted exterior for the most part. There’s also the subtle manic glint in her eyes when she knows her presence is making her adversaries squirm, and the rare smiles are reserved for the seemingly endearing Jo Yeo-Jeong (Lee Do-Hyun) who is smitten by her. It is a challenging, nuanced character and one that Hye-Kyo brings alive to perfection on screen. It helps and is much more impactful that the theatrics, like when she meets her former bullies after decades, are kept to a minimum.
Largely one-note and reprehensible, the supporting cast who play the roles of the bullies have less of a challenge at hand and yet manage to give it their loathsome best. Shin Ye-Eun, who plays the high school version of Yeon-Jin, is especially terrifying. While the affable and warm Yeo-Jeong might seem like a role straight up Lee Do-Hyun’s alley, the writing throws a surprise. There’s a lot of nuance and intrigue there, and we’ve barely scratched the surface in the first eight episodes of the show.
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In this first of the two parts, The Glory effectively sets up the stakes for an intriguing, tangled tale of revenge. The eight-episode format and the length of the episodes greatly benefit the show and it is hard to miss director Ahn Gil-Ho’s expertise in keeping the viewers hooked. This is very reminiscent of his previous outing, the superbly engaging Happiness.
While the graphic violence in its initial portions is hard to watch, The Glory leaves you angry at the injustice and subsequently gratified once the retribution begins. It is going to be a long wait for the second part of the K-Drama, which is scheduled to drop in March.“The Glory” will tell the story of a former victim of brutal school violence who swears revenge on her bullies after becoming the elementary school homeroom teacher of her bully’s kid. Song Hye Kyo, who previously worked together with “The Glory” writer Kim Eun Sook on the hit drama “Descendants of the Sun, ” will be starring as the vengeful protagonist Moon Dong Eun, while Lee Do Hyun will be playing the complicated male lead Joo Yeo Jeong.
The new character posters feature Song Hye Kyo, Lee Do Hyun, Yeom Hye Ran, Lim Ji Yeon, Park Sung Hoon, Kim Hieora, Cha Joo Young, Kim Gun Woo, and Jung Sung Il. In the background of each poster is the devil’s flower morning glory, which symbolizes each character’s desire to protest with god. While some characters have endured dark, polar nights, others have lived their entire lives in riot.
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Song Hye Kyo, Lee Do Hyun, and Yeom Hye Ran play victims Moon Dong Eun, Joo Yeo Jeong, and Kang Hyeon Nam respectively, and their expressions all appear cold yet fiery. The phrase on Moon Dong Eun’s poster reads, “For you who will fall, for me who will be ruined, ” which is a line she uses in a letter to her bully Park Yeon Jin (Lim Ji Yeon).
Helping Dong Eun to successfully get her revenge are Joo Yeo Jeong and Kang Hyeon Nam. Joo Yeo Jeong’s poster states, “I’ll be your executioner. Among them, who do you want me to kill first?” Kang Hyeon Nam earnestly tells Moon Dong Eun, “I want to be on your side. Please kill them.”
The remaining posters capture the coldhearted nature of bullies and abusers, who have no remorse for their sins. Lim Ji Yeon plays Park Yeon Jin, who bullied Moon Dong Eun when they were students. On her poster it condescendingly states, “You’re not doing this to get something like a sincere apology, right?”
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Park Sung Hoon portrays Jeon Jae Joon, who looks angry and displeased in his character poster. It’s captioned, “It’s too late to block, it’s not unavoidable, so does it end once everyone’s been harmed?” Kim Hieora takes on the role of Lee Sa Ra, who looks up with tearful eyes and states, “I’ve repented and been saved for everything I did to you.”
As Choi Hye Jeong, Cha Joo Young looks frazzled and comments in her poster, “We were all so young then. You grow up while making mistakes.” Kim Gun Woo portrays Son Myeong Oh, whose poster aggressively reads, “I’ll bark, day and night. I’ll make sure you can’t eat or sleep.”
Lastly, there’s Jung Sung Il who takes on the role of Park Yeon Jin’s husband Ha Do Yeong. When faced with the reality of his wife’s history as a perpetrator of school violence, he falls into a deep dilemma. In his poster, he asks curiously, “Did you approach me on purpose?”
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“The Glory” will release all eight episodes of Part 1 on December 30, while eight additional episodes will be released for Part 2 in March. Watch a teaser here!Here’s our full review on the new revenge drama The Glory starring Song Hye Kyo, Lee Do Hyun, Im Ji Yeon and more. Read ahead to know more.
Part 1 of Netflix’s ‘The Glory’ was released on
