The Glory

Violence in the schools is assault.

I am both a parent and a teacher.

The behavior from the first episode is not “bullying” but assault. Let’s call these attacks what they are. Assault is a crime no matter the age or the perpetrators’ roles whether directly attacking, or making the attacks possible. Rather than the numerous drama series showing the criminals attacking other students always with impunity, expose physical and verbal assault in the school system for what it is: a crime punishable by expulsion and imprisonment.

For the victim to become obsessed and as vicious as the criminals—while understandable—makes her no better. I am still waiting for a brilliant writer like this one to stop the histrionics and go after the criminals and their supporters carefully and methodically and legally until they are expelled and imprisoned. Because it never should have gone as far as it was allowed. And it won’t stop until it is exposed and punished in the courts. That said, everyone in this drama is excellent. Think how much more they could have been in a true revenge story resolved through the courts.

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Interesting but slightly lagging

The story telling is very quick to establish the victim and the torture she endured but the story wasn't paced in the next 7 episodes. Weak Hero series 1 was very meticulous in each episode that the whole season was some how balanced between each characters and each characters were clearly defined. But here it seems they wanted this to drag so as to make it to the 2nd season(9 -16 episodes). The insignificant details were boring.

Acting wise they did a good job. FL is a legend in K-drama industry so its kind of expected. Maybe too much is expected? I have never seen SHK losing composure in acting though. Production also seems amazing and BGM is fine. Sometimes it does feel like they pushed it too far with the gory details for the drama's popularity.

Nonetheless SHK fans won't be disappointed.

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“There’s a type of hatred that’s similar to longing. It’s impossible to stop.”

not a single boring moment in these eight episodes. from the very beginning there are so many heartbreakingly beautiful shots that tug at your heartstrings, especially in accompaniment with the soft and emotional music that plays in the background. the scene in the very first episode where dong-eun is laying on the snowy roof makes me cry every time i watch this and it’s the first of many instances in which you as the viewer feel so emotionally connected with her because of song hye kyo’s phenomenal acting. it’s moments like these where we begin to hate her bullies even more, and actors like park sunghoon and im ji jeon do insanely good jobs at bringing them to life and wishing for their (characters ofc, not the actors) downfall. the one thing i will say is that the slow burn burns VERY SLOWLY, with not much present-day action happening until midway through this part and even then it’s nothing too satisfying (especially in comparison to the next part). it’s very good at introducing us to dong-eun’s world though as we get to know her character alongside the few true friends she makes in her revenge journey. speaking of them, yeo-jung is one of my favorite characters in this alongside dong-eun herself (for obvious reasons do you see his actor) and i absolutely adore what hye-ran brings to the table in terms of her friendship with dong-eun, with both of them being just the right amount of silly to counter her serious nature. these characters help bring dong-eun to life as she finally gets to experience the happy moments that were stolen from her during her childhood all while watching the shallow lives her bullies have built slowly begin to crumble. the only reason i give this a nine for rewatch value is because some of the scenes are definitely hard to stomach because they're genuinely disturbing and i forgot how intense some of them are.

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one of my favorite shows ever

finding this show randomly was literally the best thing that ever happened to me. it ticks all of my boxes for things i want in a revenge story, even the romance plot (which i don’t like a lot of the time in avenging plots) jusy is perfect.

the way they kept everything so perfectly interconnected without it seeming forced was so good, it feels so messy like real life, and also reads like the actual recounts of the shitty lives of the wealthy. (also learning that some of it comes from real experience breaks my heart, especially since i saw her in an interview she seems like the sweetest person ever.)

this is a perfect tale of gritty revenge, especially from someone who was living in poverty without good parental figures, whose life was destroyed by rich assholes. (though sometimes those bully scenes were too much for me and i had to take breaks, even knowing it wasn’t real still it hurts to see that done to a human)

dongguen is such a good protagonist, and i don’t mean morally, i mean she is well-written with motivation and understanding. she knows that her revenge will have to be slow, she knows that she can’t hit them when they’re up, she must hit them when they’re down. the way she finds every way to infiltrate their lives is so good. like i don’t have words to explain how well-thought out the writing and her actual plan is. she never planned to half-ass this, she wants to utterly destroy them and not a petty revenge. she wants them to pay for the things they have done, and the people they trampled. but she doesn’t do this plan while trampling over others like they have, she gives kang-ssi a choice but also compensates her fairly. their relationship is so sweet even under the circumstances they met, and while kang-ssi eventually becomes a pawn because of yeojin, dongguen never planned for her to get hurt. she got her daughter out of their enemy’s power network, she has always made sure nothing would happen to her. (her husband being a pawn was always the plan, it’s why dongguen left him alive bc then yeojin would have a bargaining chip when eventually kang-ssi was supposed to mess up.)

i LOVE the relationship between dongguen and yeojung, and i usually don’t like romance plots in my revenge plots. they’re perfect for each other, as both very emotionally inept people, who had to deal with abuse one way or another, but also as partners in crime. yeojung is GENUINELY TERRIFYING when he has yeojin in his chair, and he’s asking her questions, maybe it’s also because i am terrified of people doing things to me while i am unable to stop them, but he literally puts the fear into her about it. he makes her paranoid without dongguen asking him to do so, he does things she would want him to eventually without even her asking. i know they try to make it seem like he’s a killer, especially with his knives, but his actual background does make me sad. it’s why she reaches out to him in the first place, and the way he took that news was so unexpected! i’m so happy they found each other, because dongguen never had someone fight for her, and yeojung never have someone to take care of. dongguen was not used to someone ever viewing her romantically, and i think yeojung is the perfect person to love her. he is incredibly patient, he is willing to do things he could get in trouble for her, but also his love is genuine. he isn’t using her as a reason to be violent, he is being violent and aggressive BECAUSE he loves her. he wishes he could help her feel comfortable in her own body but respects her decisions to reject it. i just- their romance story works perfectly in this revenge story, because he doesn’t make her stop, he helps her because he knows that he will never be able to even if he wanted to. he has access to things that she doesn’t, and he uses it to help her.

also the actress playing yeojin is LITERALLY PERFECT. she is literally the best villian i’ve seen in a series in the last few years. also, i really hope people weren’t mean to her because of this role because she seems so sweet :( (also all of the actors in their interviews together are so funny, it makes me happy to see this show was so good because of how comfortable they were with each other because sometimes things fall flat because of actor chemistry.)

i’ll end this here so it’s not a yap, just, good on everyone who worked on this show both pt1 and pt2, it’s literally flawless and beautiful i love it.

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WOW

WOW is all I can say for this Kdrama. The acting, the writing, the production, the cinematography was just WOW. Amazing job to the entire cast and crew. Song Hye-kyo has proved once again why she is a famous actress of Kdramas, love how her character could show so many emotions without actually showing them. This series is quite good for binge watching, as you'll get hooked on the first episode.

The story of a woman who suffered severe school violence in high school and also how she's risking her life to complete her revenge. The plot is really good and the characters are well portrayed. One of the best dramas I've watched, as the message behind it is so real and affects a lot of peoples lives both childhood and adulthood. The bullies must be taught a lesson. Stop school violence and give others a chance. Some people try to play God and make sure others will never smile. Trauma us also heavily focused on this show. I can't wait till season 2 comes out!

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Gripping

This was a fantastic drama! It was so Gripping, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, full of suspense for what’s to come! This is by far one of the Best Revenge dramas I’ve watched! I loved the cast and Hyo, did an amazing job! You can’t help but root for her and her revenge on all those who tormented her. I will say it can be hard to watch at times, the school abuse/violence is horrific. It’s even more disturbing that things like this happen and people do get away with it. The ending of episode 8 left me dying for more, I’m hoping the tables are about to turn.

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Probably one of the best dramas of 2023

This drama is one of a kind, the storyline, characters just wow, it's probably the first drama where I've binge-watch it in one day.

I did have to look away from the bullying scenes since it was too graphic.
The cast and crew did an excellent job in this drama.
After I finished watching the drama I watched the behind the scenes and it's so weird to see the "bully's" being so nice to Dong Eun I was screaming ITS A TRAP!!!!! RUN DONG EUN!!!!! As you can see from what I've said it just proves what an amazing job the actors did to portray so evil.

I'm so used to Song Hye Kyo to playing a wholesome and happy character to now seeing her in a whole new light just shows how an incredible actress she is

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Revenge at its best

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch this drama. Once I started I ended up binging this drama in two days and now I’m sorry it’s over.

I was intrigued as I watched Dong Eun methodically take down the bullies as she got them to all turn against each other. I felt no sympathy for any of them. Relished in the fact that the Mom and daughter ended up behind bars; and that Yeon Jin lost everything. No surprise that she went nuts because she was already nuts in high school.

The ending was perfection for me. I hate when the perpetrators get off easy.

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Best revenge drama of 2022

The storyline is superb. It contains real issue in the real world (not like time travel, reincarnation or soul shifter thingies). Bullying is happening in all level of society. It's important issue.

The acting skill of all the casts, including the young actresses and actors are excellent. With many characters, I still can keep up and remember all of them. They all are unique. Every cast was selected perfectly. The development of the characters is great. It's not only about the female lead and male lead, but also other pairing of friendship (e.g. Moon Dong Eun and her spy, Kang Hyeon Nam).

The pace or the flow of the events in the drama is brilliant. They took us smoothly from past and current, so that we understand the story.

Currently I have been rewatching, just because I like it. And can't wait for the season/part 2.

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Perfect

This drama is perfect. I watched it 2 time at Netflix.
SHK and all actor/actress do their job perfectly.
they are really match with the character based on their role.
Story line also super and very good.
Their character when they are teenager also very good and make it perfect when they are become adult.
logic of each character also make sense.
Usually SHK always play as good character and this is first time she did in revenge drama but she can do it perfectly.
LDH is younger than SHK but he can act cool and look mature enough to SHK.
the rest character also super, include Jung Sung Il, prior i never watch his drama and will start to see his other drama. He act cool and the reason why he choose his wife also make sense. he need someone bright :)

Can't wait for next session!

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