My daughter and I have been wanting to watch The Glory ever since it came out last year. But I didn’t want to watch just half of it, I wanted all of it so we put it off until all the episodes came out. We finally picked it up last week and finished it in record time. The Glory is so far the 112th K-drama series I’ve finished.
I know from social media that The Glory is a revenge series about a bullied girl in high school. Still, I was not prepared as to HOW BAD the bullying was. It was so bad that it had left glaring scars all over the victim’s (Dong-eun) body that are still there 18 years after the events had transpired. Dong-eun eventually drops out of school and makes revenge her life mission.
The Glory tells its story via flashbacks and time skips interspersed with present events so it’s important to pay attention. It’s not hard considering how engaging the series is. Eighteen years after Dong-eun’s bullying we are reintroduced to all the bullies. Yeon-jin is now a weather caster. Sa-ra is an artist who’s addicted to drugs. Jae-jun is still a rich spoiled brat and Myeong-o is working as his chauffer/lackey. Hye-jeong is a flight attendant.
It’s interesting to see how Dong-eun’s grand revenge scheme slowly comes together. Just when you think she’s had a setback you find that she has actually anticipated it and has things already planned out before they even happen. All the bullies are so unapologetic and despicable (except maybe for Hye-jeong who also gets the “mildest” punishment) that all you can do is cheer her on, really.
Most of the characters in The Glory are crazy in some way and the events that unfold reach a level of exaggeration that makes it fall under the makjang genre.
The Glory is extremely well-written, well-cast, and well-acted. No wonder it bagged 9 nominations in this year’s Baeksang Awards. Both Song Hye-kyo (Dong-eun) and Lim Ji-yeon (Yeon-jin) actually won Baeksang Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
Even if the ending is very neatly done, it does leave room for the possibility of another season. This is easily one of the best series I’ve seen this year and I highly recommend it.
The Glory is exclusively available on Netflix.
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