The Glory Part 2

Satisfying Revenge… But Was This Really an 18-Year Plan?

Well. I said at the end of Part 1 that I needed to see whether The Glory could land all the pieces it had placed on the chessboard.

And... Kind of? 😂

Let me start by saying that I still enjoyed The Glory Part 2. I binged all 16 episodes of this drama in basically two days, so clearly the series had me.

The performances remained fantastic. I wanted to see these horrible people get what was coming to them, and there was absolutely satisfaction in watching their lives unravel.

But by the end, I had one major problem: I don't believe this was an 18-year revenge plan.

I believe Dong-eun spent 18 years preparing herself to pursue revenge. That's different.

Because so much of what eventually brings these people down depends on circumstances that Dong-eun couldn't possibly have predicted.

She couldn't have known 18 years ago that Yeon-jin would marry a wealthy, successful man.
She couldn't have known she'd have a daughter with Jae-jun.
She couldn't have known what relationships, addictions, jealousies and secrets would develop among the group as adults.

Some of the most useful information Dong-eun gets isn't the result of some meticulously constructed master plan either. Hyeon-nam suggests stealing a phone. They discover information. Dong-eun adapts.
And to be fair, Dong-eun is excellent at adapting.
Give that woman a new piece of information and she'll find a way to weaponise it.

But that's excellent improvisation.

It's not an 18-year plan.

And I think Part 1 had made me expect something much more meticulous. I wanted REVENGE CHESS.

I wanted Yeon-jin to discover Dong-eun's plan, try to counter it and then realise: Oh shit. She knew I'd do that too.

I wanted reveals that showed Dong-eun had been ten moves ahead of everyone.

Instead, once she put enough pressure on this already dysfunctional group of terrible people, they largely began destroying each other.

That's still satisfying.

It's just not the revenge story I thought the first half was setting up.

Some of the punishments also felt downright haphazard.

Jae-jun's ending is probably the best example. Hye-jeong puts something in his eye drops that affects his vision. He uses them while driving. He crashes. He survives. Then he somehow ends up at a construction site, where someone...apparently Ha Do-yeong...pushes him into wet concrete. WHAT?! 😂
That's not Dong-eun executing an intricate revenge plan. That's a man having the worst day imaginable.

And strangely enough, Jae-jun was probably the only one of the original group I felt even a tiny bit sorry for. He was still an awful person. But discovering that Ye-sol was his daughter seemed to awaken something genuinely human in him. He was HAPPY to have a daughter. He wanted her. He was proud of her.

It didn't redeem him, but it made him more complicated than simply “horrible rich bully,” which made his ending hit differently for me.

I also expected the revenge itself to be a little more brutal.

Listen. I KNOW how this sounds. 😂

But after watching what these people did to Dong-eun as a teenager, I expected a little more poetic justice.

Nobody gets burned?! Not even a LITTLE curling iron?! COME ON.

Then there's Yeo-jeong. Sir. YOU SHOWED ME A DRAWER FULL OF KNIVES. You told this woman you'd be her executioner.
You had that slightly unhinged little smile while helping her carry out her revenge. I was READY for this man to reveal that underneath the sweet doctor exterior was somebody you absolutely did not want as an enemy.

And then...
Not enough psycho!
😂

I didn't necessarily need him to become a murderer. Dong-eun herself doesn't cross that line, so it would have been strange for her partner to suddenly start stacking bodies.

But I wanted something a little more deranged from him while still keeping him on the safe side of the line.
The darkness was THERE. Lee Do-hyun sold it. I just don't think the story did enough with it.

Which brings me to my biggest structural issue with the ending.

For me, Dong-eun reaching the rooftop after completing her revenge felt like the natural endpoint of her story.
I didn't want her to die.
But everything after that felt like the beginning of another season.

Yeo-jeong's mother appears and stops her. Dong-eun learns more about his suffering. Suddenly we're moving into HIS revenge story. There's another plan. Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong reunite. Their relationship finally moves forward. We get the kiss, the “I love you,” and the two of them heading into the prison to begin another revenge mission.
And I kept thinking: This should have been the next story.

Yeo-jeong's trauma was interesting enough that I wish the series had either woven it more substantially throughout the main revenge plot or saved it for a proper continuation.

Instead, his story felt comparatively underdeveloped until the end.

So Part 2 didn't quite deliver the mastermind revenge fantasy that Part 1 had me expecting.

But I still enjoyed the hell out of watching it.

Lim Ji-yeon was phenomenal.
Song Hye-kyo was perfectly suited to Dong-eun.
Lee Do-hyun made me desperately want approximately 15% more psycho from an otherwise lovely man. 😂
And the entire cast made these characters compelling enough that I flew through sixteen episodes.

7.5/10.

Very good. Very satisfying in places. Still addictive.

But Part 1 made me believe I was watching an 18-year master plan unfold.

Part 2 made me realise I was watching an incredibly determined woman who had prepared for 18 years—and then became very, very good at working with whatever opportunities presented themselves.

There's a difference.

And unfortunately for The Glory, I wanted the chessmaster.

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Satisfying ending

It's a satisfying ending and the loose ends are tied up. It's fun to see how things that were set up in Season 1 run their course in Season 2 like dominos. Although the characters all deserve it and I'm glad everything turned out the way it did, I am also glad to see that revenge can have consequences, big or small.

The acting was great, even better than Season 1. After the leads, my favorite would probably be Yeom Hye Ran. Kim Jung Young was also another who did not show up a lot but stole the scene every time she did - I just loved her and her son's interactions.

The music add well to the vibe, as does the tone and color gradations. Overall, this was my intro back to dramas after a long slump and it gets the bar pretty high.

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Lives up to its expectations

In the second installment, it becomes clear why the show is titled “Glory”. Everyone chases glory in their own way and all the characters are led down a path of destruction in their pursuit of it.

There’s no judgement on whether particular interpretations of ‘glory’ are good or bad – the point that this show makes is that all glories must come at a cost.

Here's the thing: If you thought part 1 had absurd moments and events that were timed almost too conveniently, part 2 is the same. It's unclear how some parts of the revenge plot unfolded the way it did because there was a huge element of luck and coincidence in so many events.

If you're looking for an elaborate, heist-style revenge scheme, this doesn't really scratch the itch. But the colourful characters and constant drama is enough to compel.

I also wish more time (or a new season?!?!?!) was devoted to Dong-eun helping Yeojong with his revenge.

Overall, this was a good revenge story with decent pacing and interesting characters.

Full review: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2023/04/20/the-glory-s2-2023-review/

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A satisfying and great end, which is quite rare for revenge dramas usually.

Honestly I didn't know what to expect for this drama to be concluded, but I'm quite enjoying the ride Part one let us witness Dong-eun planting her seed of vengeance all around and preparing her ultimate revenge. So part two is when we're finally able to see how Dong-eun utilize everything that she have planned!

Have to say that I really was so excited here, since part one had been leading us to the climax and the climax in part two managed to keep the momentum going without faltering. And something that is worth to note in this part two was, that so far as much as she have been planning this revenge for so long... her side hadn't really taken any active aggressive actions against her enemies and instead use her opponents weaknesses and arrogance to cause them to lead themselves to fall to ruin. If that wasn't brilliant, I had nothing else to say. But seriously I'm enjoying the mind games. It's nice to see that as much as Dong-eun barely committed any illegal acts aside from stalking people, instigating and manipulating people's actions to suit her plan; she still managed to get her revenge plan going. It was pretty clever, like I know revenge is bad and all that jazz, but dang... technically it'll be hard to prove that she have committed any wrongdoing (cos ultimately the ones who ended up doing the deeds of destroying her enemies was not her.) Real world moralities aside, who would not enjoy a story where people who do bad things be punished and getting their just desserts? And in this story, we're seeing stuff like victims of violent abuse taking charge of their lives and taking back their honor and selfworth.

And as much as there's no glory in doing bad deeds or even of committing acts of revenge, I'm really glad that this drama had a happy ending for Dong-eun. I mean, in the past, for revenge dramas that aren't daydramas, we usually don't often get a real happy end... and the MC tends to get sad endings after their revenge was completed. But this trope didn’t happen to Dong-eun. And as much as this part 2, still have some loose ends left wide open... it's still a pretty good conclusion to the story. Got to say that the whole cast and production team really did well to make this drama so engaging.

While some might say that it's dissapointing that Dong-eun's revenge didn't end up becoming more violent, I really like this outcome since despite the fact that the original five bullies did bad things deserving of violent punishments, there are still innocent people like Yesol and Doyeong. And I'm just happy that Dong-eun's revenge did not end up consuming her and allowed her a chance of a happy end (to which many other MCs of past revenge dramas didn't get. )

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Clean ending/beginning to a game of Go

I don’t really understand why the drama was split into 2 seasons as S2 is an immediate continuation of S1- it was a little unnecessary to split the drama, in my opinion. However, I’ll ignore that when rating.

I really enjoyed how the drama ended- everyone got the punishment they deserved. The best punishment, I believe, was Park Yeonjin’s. Her biggest fear (being a failure of a mother) happened. Her one and only daughter claimed she no longer looked up to or felt comfortable with her mother. The best part about it? Dong-Eun had nothing to do with it! Yeonjin simply set herself up for the worst.

The ending to Yeojeong’s (Dohyun) story seemed a little fast but I think it was suitable because it just meant a new game was beginning. It was almost a reminder that everyone is playing a game of Go- Ha Doyeong, Yoon Sohee, Kang Hyeongnam. It was a simple yet fitting ending.

Thank you to everyone who worked on this drama. It’s a good watch but definitely not for the faint hearted!

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A truly satisfying second part of this captivating revenge drama!

I was once again super impressed by the scenario of the drama: every little details in the script were full of impact and meaning on the story. It was a real pleasure to see all the pieces of the puzzle falling perfectly together. Over and over, I found myself captivated by the plot which maintained a good pace, totally bingeable with its engrossing intrigue.

The performances of the ensemble cast uphold the ones from the first part. Even though we saw seemingly a bit less the teens actors, they remained consistently great. The relationships between several of the adults couples / pairings was further developed providing some truly emotional and sometimes disturbing scenes. I loved to see how evolved some of the most unsettling and quite toxic partnerships.

I continued to be totally immersed in the soundtrack: the songs ending the episodes were particularly moving with their agonizing vibe. Production-wise, the show maintained a high standard: quality of the sets with its luxury accessories and magnificent houses as well as gripping scenes kept luring the viewer deeper into the series.

I would recommend this to people that love the first part of the show (it would be criminal to not finish it) and that are in the mood for a dark revenge drama with a well-built scheme, beautifully directed and acted. Be aware that this series can be triggering.

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Well done and satisfying

I started watching The Glory with no particular expectations or much thought. All I knew was that it became hot topic in less than a week and appeared on my instagram feed continuously. So, I gave this series a chance, and I do not regret it!

Throughout the whole time, I was amazed by the beautiful cinematography, the well done plot, and the talented actors. I usually watch TV series with dark concept and more serious plot, so I have seen similar dramas, but this is definitely one of the best revenge dramas out there! I enjoyed both the first and second part; they were dark, well detailed, and insteresting.

There were a lot of overwhelming and sad scenes, some of them I cannot stop thinking about; especially when Yesol was crying while hugging her father and apologizing. That kid did nothing wrong, yet suffered so much!

I also enjoyed the romance, and could feel the chemistry between DongEun and YeoJeong.

The revenge was satisfying and very clever. I really liked the fact that the female lead didn't become a murderer herself but turned the bullies against each other. All of them either died or lost something very important. Yeonjin lost her husband, child, and the job she actually enjoyed. Jaejoon lost his vision and drowned. MyeongOh died painfully at a place he hated. HyeJeong lost her voice and her chance to marry into a rich family. Sara was humiliated and got into prison. All of them suffered and lost the same thing they took away from DongEun 18 years ago - glory.

I know some people expected more and were disappointed. However, I think it was satisfying enough and is definitely worth a watch!

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a veeery satisfying revenge story

honestly, this drama was flawless and the only thing keeping me from giving it a 10/10 rating was the ending, but not because it wasn’t good, but because I wanted to see the full disclosure of that man who killed Yeo Jeong’s father. I honestly wouldn’t have minded a whole other season just on this, but I honestly wish they had given us at least one full episode on this ark. I truly wanted to see that tearless psycho completely miserable and scared of his shadow and it was such a pity we didn’t get to see that. On the other hand, Dong Eun’s revenge was PERFECTION!
Honestly I wasn’t expecting it, ok that it was a Netflix production, but revenge drama’s do tend to disappoint me, as from the middle to the end they tend to soften up a bit… their culture or something, I guess. But The Glory held strong to it’s intense and dark premise from start to end, giving us a very satisfying closure on all the bullies. There were some moments where I wished for a happier ending for one of the characters, but then I remembered myself that this drama was quite realist, and revenge isn’t pretty and whoever gets into it, has to pay a price, and this character in question, paid her price for her own personal revenge.
Either way, this drama is dark, chilling and uncomfortable at times when you glimpse at the cruel and dark nature of some people (because let’s not kid ourselves that this is just fiction, there was a real victim in which this story was inspired on, just look it up on YouTube “real victim from the glory”), still is impeccable and such a great drama.
If you have the stomach to watch this kind of show, it’s definitely a 10 out of 10 must watch.

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Mediocre story carried by fantastic performances

Honestly, a really hard show to rate. The acting is absolutely fantastic, the costuming, and visual production is great. The issue is that the story is simply not as good as I was led to believe it would be. So much of the show hinged on luck, rather than any actual real meaningful plotting that it made the whole thing feel kind of cheap and lazy.
The acting, however, elevated the otherwise mediocre plot to another level altogether, which made the whole thing feel a lot more believable. With a less stellar cast the show would demonstrate the writing flaws a lot more strongly, so for the sake of the show, it's a good thing that the casting directors knew what they were doing.

SPOILERS AHEAD
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Ultimately the biggest overall flaw in the show is the frankly supernatural luck of our main character. No matter what she did, things just kind of worked out. She roped multiple people in, and everyone was just willing to throw away their lives for her. It never felt like she had real threat. Her actions were often haphazard, and often silly, but spiraled in ways she couldn't reasonably predict for the purpose of plot and the illusion of brilliance. A such I never particularly impressed by her, and more often than not found her plotting to be foolish in execution. Lastly, on the whole luck thing, there was absolutely no real reason she would've avoided killing her early on, and realistically they could've without any major issue. It's strange to portray these often unhinged people, who are mostly okay with murder, and simply have them never really consider killing our main character. I guess that was just more of her luck at play.

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Brilliant ending

Wow, what a cathartic way to finish the series. Everything really ties together in a surprising but really satisfying way in the end. I really appreciate how intelligent the characters are here, with each plot progression being intentional and decision-driven. Every actor continues to impress me, especially now that the plot unfolds and we get to see different sides of them.

I know the romance aspect has gotten mixed reviews, but I personally still enjoyed it. Even if the drama didn't have it, though, I feel like I wouldn't like the drama any more or less.

The last episode is a little bit rushed, falling victim to some typical kdrama tropes, but I think the show, overall, ultimately sticks the landing.

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There is no glory at the end

One of the best things about this drama is acting. The cast is nothing short of perfection making the story a lot more memorable and impactful. I really cannot praise them enough. And, while everyone deserves an A+, I feel like the supporting cast outshine the leads only because the villains are much more dynamic than the main characters.

One thing I like about Part 2 is that the villains are written to be so fundamentally irredeemable, they become destructive and often self-sabotage. These so-called "friends" ultimately become each other's worst enemy making their individual endings very satisfying. The storytelling and pacing continue to be smooth without filler arcs and incoherent content. I like that writers did not concoct unnecessary plot devices to create more drama. Everything is very well balanced.

While, for the most part, the story is well written, the ending becomes too contrived with unnecessary twists blurring the lines between good and evil. The good guys become murderers and the villain become victims. But, we are still supposed to be sympathetic to the "good guys" because the villains deserved it. I guess the writers wanted to convey that the world is not fair and at the end even people who seemingly can do no wrong are capable of heinous acts. But to me it makes the good guys no different from the villains, which is very disappointing because I rather liked how the writers portrayed certain characters to be exemplary in contrast to monsters like Park Yeon Jin.

I did not love the ending because it felt like Joo Yeo Jung's revenge story was thrown together last minute. The plot reached its logical conclusion with Dongeun finally getting her revenge. I was ready for the drama to end only to be forced to watch Yeo Jung's revenge arc, which at that point wasn't that interesting. It is not because his story wasn't compelling, but because it was not properly developed early enough and was only written as a tiny side arc in comparison to Dongeun's grand revenge. The ending did not really feel like a happy ending where the main characters get their revenge and move on with their lives. Now that their roles switched and Dongeun became Yeo Jung's "executioner", they got stuck in an endless loop of revenge with the last scene showing them entering the prison with Yeo Jung father's murderer. It made me feel bad for the characters because they deserved better than this.

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