Editor’s Note: The following are spoilers for Glory Part 2.
“Revenge is bad,” revenge films say. An eye for an eye blinds the whole world, and cruel entertainment should not encourage imitation, but depict revenge as self-destruction. Those are the rules. However, Glory it’s a revenge movie Kim Eun-sook, as a 16-episode K-drama. Despite the graphic violence and themes for adults, the hallmarks of the latter genre are numerous. Characters talk loudly to themselves, coincidences turn all of South Korea into a dozen or so acquaintances, and Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo) is the main character of Korean dramas, thanks to her easy ability to charm any man she meets. So, Kim Eun Sook’s attempt to reconcile these two genres with their diametrically opposed story end points leaves a lot to be desired. Glory with the most unusual revenge that satisfies the avenger, leaves her unscathed and gives her a bright future. Lesson learned?
‘The Glory’ Part 2 - breathtaking but fatal ending
After a stormy first half, Glory shows some cracks in the second batch of episodes, which premiered three months later. The gap may have confused an already complex story, told out of order and with important roles filled by somewhat stock characters. The police, for example, are embodied by a single detective who is given a single dramatic moment in the final episode. Who is this guy and what does he say about traditional law enforcement? What about those free agents, or the shaman, or maybe Dong Eun’s mother? It might just be a storytelling issue about the mysterious box that downloads Dong Eun’s head space access and then kicks us out, all the better for a surprise when all of its incomprehensible shenanigans fall into place. Unfortunately, this is incompatible due to existence consistent; we also remain in the dark when it comes to the parallel plot of male lead Joo Yeo Jung (Lee Do Hyun). The main revelation about his relationship with Dong Eun marks a cliffhanger leading up to the final episode, and it doesn’t help that he stands out for being a stereotypical Korean drama character, six feet tall and boyishly handsome.
However, the most idiosyncratic is that Dong Eun’s revenge is increasingly dependent on others. In a typical revenge thriller Sympathy for Mr. Revenge - on the threshold of the Korean “New Wave” and the career of Park Chan-wook - it is the collapse of institutions that leaves our heroes no choice but to rely on their own strength. Can’t go to the police? Your law. IN Glory, teenager Dong Eun seeks help from the authorities of his school, and this only leads to further abuse. The police can’t help, her mom can’t help. She drops out of school. It is on this initially familiar path that she begins her quest for revenge, manipulating people to their downfall and even death. At the end of the first part, the audience guessed what horrors Dong Eun prepared for Yong Jin (Lim Ji Young), perhaps something related to plastic surgery. In the end, though, it’s far less creative retribution.
Glory’s Avenger plays by the rules
Young Jin finds herself in prison walls, and she is not the first. Dong Eun uses a hidden camera to catch Sarah getting high and masturbating in front of a statue of Jesus, which gets her sent to jail. Dong Eun also manages to set fire to his mother Jung Mi Hee’s apartment. Another hidden camera later and she is sent to a mental institution. Have these institutions received tacit approval or are they just tools in Dong Eun’s toolbox? Detective Choi Dong Kyu’s final scene is about complaining that he - the police - was not around Dong Eun 18 years ago. Although she hardly responds, Dong Eun leaves this world better than when she entered it, which is far from the fiery debris Mr. Revenge or I saw the devil.
In fact, Dong Eun can literally walk out of the police station because any crimes she has committed are as easily overlooked as they are proven. The fates of Jae Joon and Hye Jeong are decided in different hands, leaving Dong Eun in the clear. With a particularly twisty move of strategic genius, she manages to get Young Jin’s mother to kill Hyun Nam’s abusive husband in order to set her mother against Young Jin. Two birds and all she has to do is fly in and out of these people’s lives to look at her work and smile. There is no internal reckoning with her actions, there is no despair in the cycle of violence.
Song Hye Kyo’s revenge is a joint exercise
One of the ways that Glory softens the immorality of revenge by creeping mission. Yes, Dong Eun is avenging his scars, but the bullies have also been targeted by others, including Kim Kyung Ran and the now-dead Lee So Hee, who was murdered by Young Jin, who also killed her treacherous “friend” Song Myung Oh; unequivocally, Young Jin is a threat to society. Then there’s her repairman Shin, a corrupt cop who definitely brings no good to the world. What about the elementary school teacher who confronts Dong Eun and turns out to be a child predator? How can the violence of lynching be morally gray, if it is so pleasant? Dong Eun’s revenge also empowers others who are equally helpless, most notably housekeeper Kang Hyun Nam.Yeom Hye Ran), a victim of domestic violence whose work for Dong Eun reveals unknown talents.
As Part 2 begins, the question is increasingly being asked, including from Yeo Jung and Yong Jin’s husband Ha Do Yeon: When all this is over, will Dong Eun be able to live happily ever after? This is an old line inspired by Nietzsche’s infamous quote in which he also contemplates the abyss. This is the centerpiece of the most famous Korean revenge story. oldboy, with his own quote: “Although I am nothing more than a beast, do I also have the right to life?” Kim Eun Sook agrees that revenge is destructive and consuming, and therefore Dong Eun avoids it. This is where the cute protagonist of the drama comes in.
Yeo Jung promises to restore Dong Eun to where she can pick up her life where she left off at 19. Unfortunately, he needs to repair himself a bit. Not too long ago, his father was killed by a patient and he vowed revenge. Well, there’s a saying about family playing together, and indeed, Dong Eun and Yeo Jung put their revenge projects together like it’s a collection of CDs. By patching up the cracks in the legal system instead of completely abandoning it, Dong Eun’s revenge is to fix everything, make everything whole: himself, others. So, if he loses his discouragement, what does he do?
Revenge Gives “Glory” a Purpose
In prison, Young Jin faces poetic justice as intimidating inmates force her to report the weather, cruelly mocking her former life. Of course, Dong Eun is not a witness to this, and in fact much of the final episode suggests that jail time is “not enough”, as is the case with Yeo Jung’s revenge. His father’s killer is behind bars, but continues to terrorize him and his mother. So Yong-jin is almost an afterthought during the final move Glory, with the true climax being Dong Eun and Yeo Jung’s relationship. Revenge for Yeo Jung is what gives Dong Eun a purpose after she nearly killed herself.
Looking at the story from any number of simpler ways than its non-linear narrative allows, Park Yong Jin, a teenager who killed a fellow student, grew up to be a killer as well, and was eventually exposed and convicted. The only thing Dong Eun’s intervention did was remove her defenses. As even Young Jin admits, otherwise she would have gotten away with it. So, hovering over the abyss, Dong Eun’s revenge is not about eliminating people, but about eliminating privileges. Glory turns out to be more of a study of power than a straight-up revenge thriller, with moments of personal destruction as devastating as physical destruction. After Yeon-jin’s bullying is exposed and rumors of divorce enter the rumor mill, her friends begin to turn their backs on her. Threats and a menacing look are no longer supported by money. And watching powerful people get untangled is a thrill in itself, and it’s getting more and more popular. Glory adheres to its genres, albeit in the plural, and does not try to satirically Parasite or Triangle of sadness.
“Glory” is another totally flawed drama
Certainly, Glory remains a sprawling, convoluted saga textured by thematic contradictions. If Dong Eun is really avenging privileges, why is her main ally the rich prince of a major hospital? The trick with Korean dramas is that they offer absurd situations and predictable plots, and that doesn’t matter at all. The price of entry is a certain suspension of mistrust or narrative logic, but the reward pays off tenfold. When character A says to character B, “I love you,” it’s the most important thing in the world, not something inherent in romance. Call it storytelling with reckless candor, but the superior quality of Korean dramas makes for a rich experience. The cityscapes are sparkling, the food is appetizing, and every villain breaks out of hell’s fiery depths only to call the heroine a loser (even though everyone likes her).
It’s brilliant acidity Che Soo Bin V Do not be sad!, or pure evil crackling on the lips of Lim Ji Young as Park Yong Jin, suggesting a deeply studied sociopathy hidden under explosive rage. It helps that she and her terrible associates are so clumsy. When they get angry, they scream. They break things. Glass breaks all around, clothes are torn. It’s a cacophony that registers as collective madness, the end zone of many Korean revenge films. We saved the energy of Oh Dae-soo’s crazy eyes when his teeth are about to be pulled out, or Lee Byung Hun doomed hero in I saw the devil smashing the cannibal’s skull until it splatters. After all the chaos and bloodshed, Moon Dong Eun walks towards the credits with quiet dignity. She didn’t remove her scars, but remade them, suggesting that perhaps the solution to the problem of revenge is as individual as the quest itself. She cannot break the vicious circle, but she can say, “I love you.”
Source: Collider
I have worked as a journalist for over 7 years and have written for many different publications. I currently work as an author at Daily News Hack, where I mostly cover entertainment news. I have a great deal of experience in the industry and am always looking to learn more. I am a highly motivated individual who is always looking to improve my skills. I am also a very friendly and personable person, which makes me easy to work with.
