JustCruisin
This review may contain spoilers
Not as satisfying as promised
The Glory promised to be a woman exacting revenge after bullies traumatised and assaulted her when she was in high school. Though there was definitely plenty of that the whole revenge aspect fell flat for the lack of planning and reliance on deus ex machinas, or luck, that came through.
The plot of school violence is similar, though more extreme, than what happened to the protagonist in The Sound of Magic and in both series I’m left wondering why and how the impoverished protagonists were able to afford being in an elite private school in the first place. It’s clear social class played a motivating role for the bullies in both shows so it seems the easiest way to avoid it is just to have the working class be segregated from the seemingly more violence prone elite class. One would think private schools would do that, since they charge an arm and a leg for admission, but Korean schooling systems must be different because both protagonists, who are dirt poor, are able to attend private schools. At least in The Sound of Magic, there is the constant foraging for money to maintain admission. In The Glory, Dong Eun seems to have selective “affordism” where she’s financially able to handle the private school but not food. But anyway, I’ll focus on The Glory for this review, of course.
My expectation going into the series was that the revenge would be meticulously planned to the point where the bullies had no choice but to move into disadvantageous positions for Dong Eun to capitalise on, almost like a Go game. The calibre of planning expected were similar to those in stories and shows like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Shawshank Redemption and The Sleepers. However, aside from the mention of the Go game itself, the protagonist’s moves did not seem to have much planning involved other than waiting for the well-placed apartment to be available. A lot of the events that happened to help advance her revenge seemed fortuitous and attained by luck and nothing else. The luck in finding her greatest ally, the similarly wounded and revenge-hungry Yeo Jung; the luck in discovering the true paternity of the antagonist’s greatest weakness, Ye Sol; the luck in finding a helper in Hyun Nam; the luck in finding another helper, Gyeong Ran, a fellow victim traumatised by the same bullies; and so on and so forth all within a few years and months of the revenge culminating. It took away from the sense of Dong Eun taking her power back since most of how the bullies suffered by serendipitous means rather than by her hand.
What was frustrating was watching how little the writers actually understood about human psychology when seeing how the mother character was used as a hindrance for Dong Eun. I'm not even sure what her issue is until the char was dispatched off at a mental institution for, of all things, alcoholic substance abuse. Alcoholics don't actually linger around for years just waiting for rich benefactors to gift them with money so they can act up again and get in the way of their daughter's life. Dong Eun's mother seemed ok and sober all the years prior to the antagonist tracking her down and when the contract is made, her modus operandi isn't even consistent with alcohol abuse. Addiction isn't a switch that can be turned on and off conveniently to fulfill a plot but that seems to be how this nuisance character was written. The sense of "convenience" to the whole setup doesn't help with the whole "Dong Eun just got lucky" feel that viewers get when watching The Glory. I was left wondering why, if DE planned so meticulously, did she not tidy off this very raw and obvious loose end in her life so she can't be blackmailed with it as she had been in the past. The answer was that there's no reason but for the screenwriters wanting to just leave it till later when it's "convenient". This takes away from the organic, real life progression of the story and stretched the suspension of disbelief too much to invest in DE's "triumph", if it can be said as that.
Didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped and felt they should've invested more time in Yeo Jung's revenge, if only to prove that it's not all luck and deux ex machinas since she can replicate it again.
Was glad to see the actor who portrayed Yeo Jung as I thought he had too brief of an appearance in Hotel del Luna but this series is not something I'd watch again.
The plot of school violence is similar, though more extreme, than what happened to the protagonist in The Sound of Magic and in both series I’m left wondering why and how the impoverished protagonists were able to afford being in an elite private school in the first place. It’s clear social class played a motivating role for the bullies in both shows so it seems the easiest way to avoid it is just to have the working class be segregated from the seemingly more violence prone elite class. One would think private schools would do that, since they charge an arm and a leg for admission, but Korean schooling systems must be different because both protagonists, who are dirt poor, are able to attend private schools. At least in The Sound of Magic, there is the constant foraging for money to maintain admission. In The Glory, Dong Eun seems to have selective “affordism” where she’s financially able to handle the private school but not food. But anyway, I’ll focus on The Glory for this review, of course.
My expectation going into the series was that the revenge would be meticulously planned to the point where the bullies had no choice but to move into disadvantageous positions for Dong Eun to capitalise on, almost like a Go game. The calibre of planning expected were similar to those in stories and shows like The Count of Monte Cristo, The Shawshank Redemption and The Sleepers. However, aside from the mention of the Go game itself, the protagonist’s moves did not seem to have much planning involved other than waiting for the well-placed apartment to be available. A lot of the events that happened to help advance her revenge seemed fortuitous and attained by luck and nothing else. The luck in finding her greatest ally, the similarly wounded and revenge-hungry Yeo Jung; the luck in discovering the true paternity of the antagonist’s greatest weakness, Ye Sol; the luck in finding a helper in Hyun Nam; the luck in finding another helper, Gyeong Ran, a fellow victim traumatised by the same bullies; and so on and so forth all within a few years and months of the revenge culminating. It took away from the sense of Dong Eun taking her power back since most of how the bullies suffered by serendipitous means rather than by her hand.
What was frustrating was watching how little the writers actually understood about human psychology when seeing how the mother character was used as a hindrance for Dong Eun. I'm not even sure what her issue is until the char was dispatched off at a mental institution for, of all things, alcoholic substance abuse. Alcoholics don't actually linger around for years just waiting for rich benefactors to gift them with money so they can act up again and get in the way of their daughter's life. Dong Eun's mother seemed ok and sober all the years prior to the antagonist tracking her down and when the contract is made, her modus operandi isn't even consistent with alcohol abuse. Addiction isn't a switch that can be turned on and off conveniently to fulfill a plot but that seems to be how this nuisance character was written. The sense of "convenience" to the whole setup doesn't help with the whole "Dong Eun just got lucky" feel that viewers get when watching The Glory. I was left wondering why, if DE planned so meticulously, did she not tidy off this very raw and obvious loose end in her life so she can't be blackmailed with it as she had been in the past. The answer was that there's no reason but for the screenwriters wanting to just leave it till later when it's "convenient". This takes away from the organic, real life progression of the story and stretched the suspension of disbelief too much to invest in DE's "triumph", if it can be said as that.
Didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped and felt they should've invested more time in Yeo Jung's revenge, if only to prove that it's not all luck and deux ex machinas since she can replicate it again.
Was glad to see the actor who portrayed Yeo Jung as I thought he had too brief of an appearance in Hotel del Luna but this series is not something I'd watch again.
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