The Glory Part 2 (2023)

Excellent

For those unfamiliar with kdrama, 16 episodes is the typical episode order of Korea tv dramas, so both parts of The Glory is part of the same series/season and one continuous story arc rather than being two separate seasons. The writer is a veteran of addictive hits that are hits and misses in terms of quality for me personally, but The Glory is an objective masterpiece. I wouldn't call it a fun watch considering the painful subject matter, but it is a most cathartic one. The acting is wonderfully led by Song Hye Gyo in her best work to date along with the writer and wonderfully supported by Lee Do Hyun who is Netflix's Sweet Home alum, and all of the support cast on either sides of the revenge accomplice and bully spectrums.

Read More

An actual revenge stpry!

What a journey!

I had so much fun watching Part 2 of The Glory. Seeing all the pieces from the last episode fall into place and actually getting a long detailed show of the villains getting their comeuppance in the last episodes was sooo satisfying.

I really love that they did not skimp on the conclusion to the revenge. No halfassing, no stupid forgiving; just completely destroying the villains and giving them what they deserve.

The actors did a phenomenal job. Honestly, even despite how toxic the villain group was, I lived for their "friendship". It was just so hilarious seeing them together and watching their dynamics/conversations. Such a crazy group of villains but so entertaining. Song Hye Kyo's acting range also really impressed me.

My only issues with the show were the romance b/w Dr. Joo and Dong-Eun and Joo's story with the serial killer guy. For the romance, I still feel it was unecessary. Honestly, the whole character/actor, I was not impressed with at all. The romance felt so awkward to me because Dr. Joo was cleary so into DE but DE always just had an impassive expression (obvs since she's just trying to focus on her revenge mission). And although there were moments where DE and Joo would be laughing together or being playful, I juat wasn't feeling the chemistry. So yeah, I would have preferred for there not be any romance. As for the serial killer plot, I just didn't like seeing that serial killer's annoying smirk all the time lmao. Also, wasn't sure what the purpose of that whole story was aside from giving Joo something else to focus on beside DE.

Anyway, overall it was a very enjoyable revenge series that makes you feel relieved and satisfied.

Read More

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.

Read More

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/

Read More

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. )

Read More

Satisfied Revenge

Bullying is something very common nowadays. Many teenagers, kids, even adults face bullying. It has become a trend to bully someone nowadays to look cool. Most K-Dramas that I saw have high school bullying. I don't know if it actually happens in high schools in the country as well. I feel so scared for this generation or the next generation to come that they'll be facing bullying so much. The person who is at fault is mostly the people around who see everything but do nothing & sometimes don't even trust us. We should take a good look at our kids, siblings & friends if they're being bullied or not. If we take one step, we can help them.

I loved part 2 the most. A very satisfying ending of 5. The most satisfying part is when Kang Hyun Nam slapped Park Yeon Jin.

The people who suffered most are Park Yeon Jin & Choi Hye Jeong. They both lost something that was precious to them. Choi Hye Jeong lost her career & her voice. On the other hand, Park Yeon Jin lost everything: her husband, daughter, mother & career. The most satisfying ending of all is Park Yeon Jin's. She was abandoned by everything. That's the most painful punishment, more than death, losing something that you love.

I agree that Moon Dong Eun doesn't have to do much. But the things she did or the way she manipulated their lives were enough for them to ruin themselves. They were never true friends to begin with. That was the biggest reason why it was so easy to incite them against each other. In the end, they destroy each other.

Loved how Joo Yeo Jung made an effort to make Moon Dong Eun happy. It was cute when he came running to hug her.

I might be wrong, but the last scene hints at S3.

Read More

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.

Read More

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!

Read More

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.

Read More

"While I know I didn't grow up to be good, eventually a spring will come when I will fully bloom."

I am a long time kdrama fan and lost touch somewhere around 2018. Since then I've tried to watch so many only to drop them after one episode. I remember i used to get these insane headaches because I'd stay up till 5-6 in the morning to complete a kdrama. Happy to say that 'The glory' brought back my headaches and I finished this in a day. I stayed up till late in the morning and got all nostalgic lol. Anyway, the storyline is gripping and intense and not dramatic or dragged out.

It was refreshing to see a stoic, calm, mature FL who is only focused on her aim. She carefully planned everything. A lot of the things she did made perfect sense. She had a fire inside her and was ready to destroy everyone but was equally calm. I love the character they decided to build with this story. I was able to find some symbolism and meanings here and there which was important for the plot, for Dong eun's character, which otherwise would be tagged as plotholes. Some spiritual symbolism like the mention of deities, church and their significance in the storyline was interesting.

*Some spoilers ahead*
It was powerful that although Dong Eun never had anyone all throughout her teen years and early 20s. No friends, and her mother betrayed her which resulted in never trusting anyone, but the people she eventually chose to trust never backstabbed her. And in the end the three people who saved her were three women who happened to be mothers - The investigator, her executioner bf's mom(I love to call him executioner bf lol) and the grandma who saved her from dying. They all were the mother she never had.

I saw a lot of people saying that the FL and ML had no chemistry. Tbh, I think they had enough chemistry. Definetly there were some tension between Ha Doyoung and Dong eun but her lifegoal was not romance or even peace. All she wanted was revenge and maybe find some peace in that. Yeo Jung was perfect for her. They both had their own traumas to deal with and were reserved for that very reason. Expecting Dong eun to maybe go with Ha Doyoung would just be cruel. She never harmed Ha Ye Soul but expecting her to be a mother and raise her abusers daughter would be nothing but cruel. She doesn't deserve to go back to that hell. She will always be reminded of her bullies and would never actually get out of that life. We do not want that melodrama, especially when it took so long for her to make peace with what happened. I'm glad there were no such storyline, no humbleness, no romance that would deviate the FL from her aim. She was exactly who she was when she first started planning.

Read More