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Smart female lead who is always a step ahead
January 2, 2023THE GLORY is definitely the way to start off 2023 with the KDRAMA world. I felt the angst, the revenge, and all the other fking emotions I got to feel.
It is so satisfying for Song Hye Kyo to comeback in this badass drama. To be honest, I could not care less regarding the lack of romance as it does not put a thing with the plot. So hopeful for season 2, I do wish this series was not split cough cough NETLFIX cough cough.
Anyhow, REVENGE. KARMA. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.
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Fabulous Drama
This is a Fabulous Drama. I am not a fan of revenge and it took me ages to watch it. Contrary to my expectations I was blown away by how stunning this Drama is. The acting was superb from everyone. The story was a bit hideous but it was handled beautifully and sensitively The characters were unbeievable. I found myself thinking no wonder the suicide rate in South Korea is so high. It seems like a very divided and ugly society. where money and power are all that matters. Poor people are dehumanised and corruption reigns supreme. Every character gave outstanding performances The Female lead was stunning and the Male Dr Lead was so lovely. They made a wonderfully healing couple.This drama deserves every award it gets. I was rivetted beginning to end.
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Amazingly Beautiful
This drama was absolutely thrilling. I enjoyed every bit of it. I was at the edge of the sit watching it. I can't wait to watch the second part of it. Thanks to the female lead, ans i all the cast crew members that put the for putting all this this together. I enjoyed it and much more. I hope the second part of it will blow our mind. It was absolutely thrilling. The writer and the directors did a wonderful job. Thank to all that put it together ..........................................................................
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This review may contain spoilers
Very good !!! ?
Very good premise and story. But I expected still more violence. I expected still severe betrayals, necessary and unavoidable backstabbings. Still very very good.There were few loose ends. But not enough to be noticeable. Few adult scenes. There was no boring instances. Something was going on one plot at any point of the story.
I didn't like how they killed off the teacher. I expected her to do exact same thing to him as he did to her. Eg : FL goes to the old teacher and reminds him who she is. But it's been almost 2 decades so he won't remember. But assuming she is someone who is daughter of a rich parent, invites her into the house. Then he tries to remember hard. After few dialogues she sounds off. Then she decides to remind him who she is, by taking off her watch and slapping him in the face for few meters. (Yeah meters not minutes) Then he remembers and tries to fuck her up. By then his son arrives. Being the pretentious father that he is tries to cover what happened.
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What a Way to End the Year - Best Korean Drama of 2022
It was intense, gripping, at times hard to watch but what a ride. I could not stop watching this riveting drama from episode 1 and binged watched from start to finish. Tightly done, there were no unnecessary, repetitive scenes that most often plague Korean dramas.The role of Moon Dong Eun was tailor made for Song Hye Kyo. SHK is a superstar but she's no Meryl Streep, Kim Sun Ah, Ko Hyun Jung or Kim Hye Soo. Her acting range is limited but this role of a cold, calculating and aloof ice queen fitted her to a T. Her calm and unassuming facade was a foil to an otherwise very traumatized, seething with anger, driven to panic attacks persona, a long way from getting over the painful trauma she experienced as a teen-ager.
I appreciate that it is a Netflix series and made for an international audience. The actors seem less inhibited unlike the other dramas where it is obvious that there are some hold backs especially when it comes to intimate scenes. Korea is still conservative so when it comes to those scenes, the audience get a vanilla version with cringeworthy consequences because they're not spontaneously done and very badly choreographed (for lack of a better word). This is the first time I saw Hye Kyo undress.
Great acting from the rest of the cast especially Lee Do Hyun. Although younger than SHK by more than a decade, he had great chemistry with her.
Only negative comment is that the second half is way too long in coming.
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This Is How You Do A Revenge Drama
The first season started a bit slowly, and later it was a rollercoaster ride. I binged the whole show on Netflix within 24 hours. The acting, music, cinematography, and direction were just brilliant. Song Hye Kyo was the star of the drama. I just could not take my eyes off her. The casting of the teenager and adult versions of each character was spot on. The only drawback I felt was that FL did not have enough chemistry with the ML. I felt Song Hye Kyo had more chemistry with the actor playing Park Yeon Jin's Husband (Just my personal opinion). Other than that, the story and the revenge plot were brilliantly executed. The villains all got their appropriate karma. I felt very satisfied as a viewer. Overall, I loved the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
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Can't wait for season 2!
The story is so gripping at the start, it's hard to stop watching.Then it started to get a little draggy towards the end. So much story from each characters, so I'm expecting constant development of their story. It is still a very good drama, good story with great acting skills, especially the bad characters (including the younger version casts), particularly Yeon Jin, who made you loathe her so much.I wish I waited until the complete episodes are available before watching, now the agony of waiting for season 2!Was this review helpful to you?
The Glory is a wonderful drama
The Glory is a wonderful drama, despite being a controversial but real topic. My rating is top, I devoured every episode, I identified with someone who has never been bullied. This one was very heavy. But The Protagonists acted so masterfully, it was difficult to stop watching. Some noticed HOLES, I'm not critical, and I disagree lol...Lee hyun and Son Hye kyo were perfect, I loved them, they're beautiful and they moved me with their performances. For her, who planned to commit suicide after revenge, she found love from a man who identified with her and fell in love with her. A still and intelligent woman who deserved to be happy. I regret not having seen it when Netflix put it out. Anyway, I loved it so much that I watched it twice. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE AUTHORS AND ACTORS. SHOW!!Was this review helpful to you?
The Art of Suffering: The Glory is Revenge at Its Most Human
K-dramas have long played in the sandbox of revenge thrillers, but The Glory doesn’t just enter the genre. It brands it with the heat of righteous fury. Led by a career-redefining performance from Song Hye-kyo, this drama is not merely a tale of vengeance. It’s a haunting meditation on trauma and survival.At the center of the storm is Moon Dong-eun, a former high school student whose life was shattered by vicious bullying. Years later, she returns. Not as a victim, but as the architect of a revenge plan, calculated to the last detail. Song Hye-kyo’s portrayal of Dong-eun is nothing short of mesmerizing. Known mostly for her romantic leads, here she strips herself of all softness. Her performance is cold, precise, and at times, unsettling in its restraint.
There’s a quiet, smoldering power in the way she moves, speaks, and watches. She doesn't cry. She studies. She doesn't scream. She plots. It's a masterclass in minimalist acting, and easily one of the strongest performances in her career to date.
While Dong-eun anchors the emotional weight of the series, one of the most unexpectedly compelling characters is Kang Hyeon-nam, played by the ever-brilliant Yeom Hye-ran. Initially introduced as a battered housewife looking to hire Dong-eun as a vigilante, Hyeon-nam quickly evolves into so much more. She becomes both accomplice and conscience, her quiet resilience slowly morphing into bold defiance.
What makes Hyeon-nam stand out is her unvarnished humanity. She is raw, broken, and terrified, but also funny, sharp, and deeply loyal. Her motivation isn’t abstract justice, but the very real, immediate desire to protect her daughter. In a series steeped in cold calculation, she is the emotional lifeline, grounding the plot.
Yeom Hye-ran delivers one of the series’ most heartfelt performances, imbuing her character with empathy and grit in equal measure. The evolution of her relationship with Dong-eun, from transactional partnership to something resembling chosen family, is a quiet highlight of the series.
Where The Glory excels is in its pacing and atmosphere. Writer Kim Eun-sook dives into far darker territory here. There are no whimsical gods or sweeping romances like his other works. Only fractured people, morally ambiguous choices, and an undercurrent of pain.
The pacing is deliberate, and some may find it slow. But it’s a necessary burn. Every episode pulls back a new layer. Of Dong-eun’s trauma, of her antagonists’ rot, and of the broader societal systems that allow abuse to fester. The show doesn’t ask for patience. It demands it.
The bullies, now successful adults, are portrayed not as cartoonish villains but as deeply broken people. Entitled, cruel, and often terrifying in their casual indifference. Lim Ji-yeon, as the ringleader Park Yeon-jin, is particularly chilling. Her glossy public persona is a perfect mask for a venomous core. Watching Dong-eun dismantle her life, piece by piece, is disturbingly satisfying.
But The Glory doesn’t allow you to cheer too easily. Revenge here is not clean or empowering. It’s messy, dehumanizing, and costly. The show constantly asks: what’s left of you once you’ve given everything to vengeance?
Director Ahn Gil-ho uses muted palettes, long silences, and oppressive stillness to craft a world where the past is inescapable. The show's cinematography reinforces Dong-eun’s alienation at every turn. Empty hallways, harsh lighting, and stark, clinical interiors frame her existence as one of emotional exile. Even moments of human connection feel dangerous.
The Glory is not a feel-good drama. It doesn’t reward your patience with catharsis, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s slow, methodical, and deeply disturbing, but in all the ways it intends to be. It’s a story about how some wounds never heal, how justice and revenge are often indistinguishable, and how carrying a torch for too long can burn you from the inside out.
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Vengeful and Beautiful
This was a great start for the year, even though I normally do not enjoy revenge dramas I was convinced to give it a shot even though I was in the middle of my finals while I binge watched it, haha. Why I enjoyed The Glory is because the story takes itself seriously (as it should) and most importantly, the main cast are adults! Not teenagers in highschool, The Glory does not try to romantize revenge but it does not force you to feel sad for bullies either. It is realistic, getting revenge is hard and our Main Lead does a good job showing how much she is ready to sacrifice everything. It is clearly meant for adult viewers.Altought I enjoyed it, (the pacing and the cinematoraphy was great) it still had some flaws. The characters after the time skip lack depth, I would like to see why they are the way they are in the second part coming in March. The OST did not leave an impact for me personally, but it was overall good.
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the best revenge drama there is.
This show touches the topic of childhood bullying (more like torture here.) and how it transcends into adulthood vengeance. 20 minutes into the drama and my first question was how can humans be so disgusting? How can you hate A KID so much that you torture them mentally and physically? Dong eun rubbing snow on her fresh burns made me wince imagining her pain. This series was so good that I didn’t even realise when it ended! I practically flew through it.Everyone is taking their own revenge on some person. Even the clothing store worker has evidence against yeon jin. Sara also happens to have a recording of a previous incident. Like almost everyone got some dirt on someone.
Moon dong eun- “Sizzling meat on the grill reminds her of iron burns.”
Ha do yeong. Such an interesting character. And can we take a moment to appreciate the chemistry between ha do yeong and dong eun! Man! The way his eyes literally stick to her when she is in the room. The guy is so intrigued by dong eun that he just cant help himself but act out of character! I honestly feel bad for him cuz he got a psychopath for a wife.
Joo yeo jeong is so adorbs. He isnt just a green flag. He is a god damn green rainforest.
He sees her scars, and says, “I will do it. I will be your executioner. Who can i kill for you first?”
Dude ripped off the button of his own cuff and sewed it on her coat sleeve. If this isnt love then what is? Special mention for his exquisite collection of fatal blades.
- ju-yeo-jyeong
Badass landlady beating the shiz out of dong eun’s mother was the most hilarious scene! ><
Kang hyeong nam slapping the shizz out of yeon jin>>>
“Your feet that were eager to inflict pain on others and all the feet that walked next to them. Your lips that laughed at others’ misfortune and all the lips that laughed with them. Those leering eyes and all the eyes that gazed at them with affection. Your hand that mocked and broke others and all the hands that held it. And your soul that rejoiced in every single moment. That’s how far I’m planning to go.” – Moon Dong Eun
“There will be no forgiveness and so there will be no glory either.” – Moon Dong Eun
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