The Glory Season 2 (2023)

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.

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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.

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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.

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INCRÍVEL!!!!!

Como falar desse drama sem dar spoiler? Apenas dizendo que é maravilhoso.

Todo o desenrolar da vingança foi muito bom, ver os vilões tremendo na base com a pressão psicológica foi maravilhoso.
Essa segunda parte foi uma mistura de ódio, com contentamento e alívio.

A mãe da Moon Dong foi o pior personagem nessa segunda parte, nem a Park Yeon Jin foi tão irritante porque dela já esperávamos o puro mal caráter.

As atuações foram tão magníficas, que sinceramente os haters vão ficar sem o que falar kkkkk. Quanto a Song Hye Kyo , ela se jogou tanto nesse personagem que simplesmente se tornou memorável para mim.

A vingança não foi nível Vincenzo, mas foi tão prazerosa quanto.

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Just delightful pice

As a person that was bullied in school, this drama was hard to watch for me. But I'm so so happy I tried. The first part was... A rollercoaster at least. It was brutal, hard to watch, and taking all your guts out, as it should. Bullying isn't pretty, isn't anything but disgusting. And this drama shows it in the best possible way.
I was sad in the first part, how little screen time Do Hyun had, but the second part made it up for me. Even if I hate adding romance to this kind of drama, in this one it was perfectly made, not too much, not too little, just right. I was waiting for the kiss, and they gave me just what I wanted in the best way.
And I wouldn't be myself if I didn't say anything about the music. I can't find words for how good it is. It gives the cherry on top to this piece.

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Based on a true story…

I’d like to remind everyone watching that this whole show is based on a real case. So if you think it goes “overboard” in any way, remember that a real woman lived through that curling iron horror.
That said… I think of the show as a whole, so instead of comparing the 2 seasons, I’ll be putting them together.
The FL’s revenge is near-perfect in its execution. Yes, she gets help from other people, but honestly she’s been alone for far too long. Also, it’s not as if everyone in the world is a psychopath without empathy, so of course normal/decent people will want to help her. The story unfolds very well, and I especially like how the other characters cause each others doom. It was set-up quite obviously if you watch the 2 seasons together. They were never real friends, always felt jealousy/anger towards each other. So it makes a lot of sense for them to turn on the next person. For Sa-ra, she was in withdrawal after not getting her drugs. For Yeon Jin’s mother, she was always that selfish and uncaring. They stayed true to all characterizations.
Shoutout to all the actors playing antagonists, they did an excellent job of making us hate them!
For our main leads, I love that the FL has hope and joy in her life finally! The ML’s storyline was kind of pointless, they should’ve just given background and left it at that. No need to show his detailed revenge as well. Honestly, I notice the same negative comments here that are on every kdrama with older actress/younger actor. Don’t pay any attention to those hypocrites I’d say. They love to watch shows where FL is younger and acts 5 with older mature MLs, but if you flip it they suddenly can’t “see the chemistry” anymore. Funny how that always happens in all such shows huh. For me, I liked both main male characters, they were amazing, and whoever the FL chooses is good for her!
Lastly -1 for the overdrawn plot. They keep stretching it to the point where I have to forwarded the unnecessary scenes. That could’ve been avoided, but overall one of the most satisfying revenge dramas out there!

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Top tier revenge drama

I really loved this and watched the entire thing (parts 1 and 2) in a weekend. It’s a truly fantastic revenge drama that delivers on everything you want from the genre - the inciting incidents are brutal enough to put you firmly on the side of vengeance, the villains are interesting and insidiously evil enough to make their eventual comeuppance satisfying, the reveals are well-paced and add new layers of nuance, the plot reaches a solid conclusion that feels right, and they even manage to make a romance work amongst the carnage.

One of my favorite things about the story is how openly the revenge game is played. Dong Eun tells them all along that she will make them pay for what they did to her, warning them over and over again that she’s serious and she has put the time in to get what she needs to ruin their lives, and even gives them additional chances to atone and confess on their own before she puts things in motion. And she never resorts to committing any horrific violence herself. Every single person who stands to lose something was given fair warning and it’s their own hubris and defiant belief that they can get away with anything they please that ultimately brings them down. That’s just extremely satisfying from a storytelling perspective.

There were a few things here and there that were not perfect - some of the coincidences were a bit much and I wasn’t too fond of the subplots with the two male teachers - but those are very minor quibbles. Highly recommended and great for a binge watch.

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Revenge but she kept her hands clean

I really enjoyed the entire show. The writing definitely could've been better. They explain somethings through flashbacks but context is lacking.

Luckily whoever was in casting hit a home run. The acting was a 10. The first half was a slow burn and the second half wasn't much faster. But every single episode the acting was amazing.

I kept thinking to myself where are the police? Why are they only questioning the FL??? Another writing hole.

With how amazing the casting was it could've made the writing look less than. Maybe I'm nitpicking. I still highly recommend if you enjoy a good revenge plot.

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Lets die during Spring

No words.. No words
I don't know where should I start
The acting PHENOMENAL
Revenge dramas were never my type but lately some caught my heart and this didn't disappoint
Pleasurable revenge
Woahh
I cried at the last episode, I smiled at the last episode.. i mean this couldn't have been more better
Some scenes were cut i guess but FINE
I don't mind those teeny weeny stuffs, i was busy complaining i wanted more
The leads 🙌🙌
Just so good WATCH IT

Netflix did its thing with this part . . Iykyk
But damnn
Anyways everyone got their end .. i was just hoping a little more for the leads ending up together, well they did but I thought i saw a marriage shorts of The Glory on youtube so i was anticipating it also thinking the episode is ending and where would it fit

But but I LOVE YOU
I LOYE YOU

ayeeeeeee ❤️❤️

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Slow

The first half of The Glory came at a very slow pace. I thought the second half would pick up but it continued to be slow as well.

At first the main FL came off as a stalker to me. The way she talked about her tormentor didn't sit well with me. Yeah, they really captured the most heinous bullying ever but I wish there was a stronger sense of revenge than there already was.

I thought the main FL was going to pick off her tormentors one by one but they got off truly light. The second FL who was the main bully didn't get enough 'just deserts' for me. I don't know what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting a slow mediocre burn.

I didn't feel any sympathy for the main FL because in my opinion if you can't at least pick up an object and use it then you deserve what you get. How on earth could these people who got bullied not stand up for themselves?? I was expecting them to rally together and do what needed to be done. Again, it didn't happen. Some of the tormentors got off light, some were helped and in the end two were forgotten.

I did however love Ms. Kang and her small justice in the end.

The last episode as usual was a let down for me. There was too much unnecessary stuff going on. I wanted to see the guy who killed that doctor get what he deserved but it barely happened.
The way it ended made me wonder if they're going to do another sequel. If they do I hope it'll be stronger than what I just watched.

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