r/KDramasWorld

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Annyeonghaseyo Everyone. Hope you all would be doing well in your respective lives. First of all, our community crossed two major milestones of 30 K visitors and 5K members few days back, for which I would like thank and appreciate all the members of this community, starting from the mods to the contributors. Without your contribution, this wouldn't have been possible. My last review of 'Tomorrow' faired marginally well than it's previous one after my comeback, but still it fell short of my expectations. But then I saw other contributors' posts and the way users engage, I realised that my happiness lies in the success of this community, not mine. So, whatever reach and upvotes I get for my reviews, I will embrace them with kind and respect. Because, this is the principle of this community - Respect. Today, I'm going to review 'The Glory' (2022-23) which is certainly the darkest review I've done since 'Mouse' (2021). I hope you all enjoy the review as well as the future contents this community will provide.

"You either let your scars define you, or you make them define your vengeance."

I shared a part of my life with the world of cinemas and dramas, and I even do to this date. Because they give you stories that make you connect in various sense, from emotions to psychological. Out of all the themes that I have come across, Revenge has been the most fascinating one - you might read this line from various reviews of mine like 'My Name', 'Reborn Rich' etc., and the reason behind it is this: it fascinates me to a level that I feel the main character's pain as my own. Some stories portray it as destructive, others glorify it as justice, while a few explore the thin line separating the two. Countless films and television dramas have attempted to tell compelling revenge stories, and out of them, there are rarest of rare that manage to make the audience empathize with the protagonist without ever questioning their motives. Out of these rare ones, 'The Glory' stands out as the finest because it reimagines a horrifying real-life incident into a haunted tale of revenge so brutal you might need to take breaks within.

Released in 2022, 'The Glory' is one of the darkest, if not the darkest take on Revenge among all the revenge K-Dramas. It was brutal and unapologetic in it's approach to reimagine one of the horrifying chapters in the history of school bullying in South Korea into a twisted, brutal and poetic tale of vengeance of victim over it's perpetrators. It's not your normal heroic-revenge story that simply only wants you to sympathize with the victim, it gives a core idea over this question: what if a victim comes back from void to pull a devil's trick over its perpetrators - that's the main theme of this story and that's something I cherish this drama for, no matter how it made me take breaks multiple times. Every episode reminded me that some wounds never truly heal—and sometimes, justice isn't about moving on, but about finally confronting the past. Depicting the Perpetrators as evil rich 'Burger' kids was again a smart move that showcased the morality of the rich society and to be fair, their fates were deserving in every sense, as far as my opinion is concerned. The makers, apart from splitting the drama in 2 halves (which I didn't understand at first whether it was necessary or not, but I felt later it was innovative), did a hell of a work in its direction and storytelling, combined with to-the-point screenplay (with little issues but avoidable) and terrific performances. No wonder why even to this, 3 years after its completion, it's still considered as the Greatest Revenge drama by almost every publication. All in all, the makers smoked up big time to create one of their best works, something they must be proud of.

Moving to cast performances, everyone has given one hell of a performance that will be remembered for years to come. Song Hye-Kyo, Lee Do-Hyun, Lim Ji-Yeon, Park Sung-Hoon - almost every actor and actress, no matter whether there screentime was less or more, embodied their roles and made them their own. Song Hye-Kyo, as 'Moon Dong-Eun', finally proved me wrong with this one hell of a performance that deserves nothing else other than praise and appreciation. Because, my god, what a performance was it by Song. You see her as Moon Dong-Eun and instantly you forget her previous past roles. She showcased the brutal rage of Moon Dong-Eun in such a fine way that you won't find any other actress in this role. The emotions were the important part of this role, as it's from a victim of horrifying bullying, and that's something Song Hye-Kyo perfectly embodied it and kept it up till the end. Although her intensity went a little low in the last couple of episodes but again, that's something you can avoid for the sake of watching a fine, fine performance by Song Hye-Kyo. I'm proud that this time, the character development supported her acting. Recently, there was a post in this community (made by u/twinklestar1122) over this topic of whether Song Hye-Kyo is a Good Actress or not, and believe me, this drama is the answer to that question. Lim Ji-Yeon gives a chilling-yet terrifying performance as 'Park Yeon-Jin' and to be honest, that was absolutely terrifying. The way Park Yeon-Jin didn't give a damm about anything for her sidekicks or for her victims and did all the wrong things without any remorse makes her a perfect female rich 'sociopath'. Lim Ji-Yeon gave a certain level of eccentric and maniac mannerisms to Yeon-Jin that certainly would make audience nothing but hate her character. Lee Do-Hyun, as 'Joo Yoo-Jeong', was again a perfect casting for this role not because of his previous performances, but because of his ability to camouflage the pain of his character behind a cute smile. His talent, combined with well-developed characterisation, became a match-in heaven for the role of Joo Yoo-Yeong. Park Sung-Hoon, as 'Jeon Jae-Joon', lits up the screen like a ticking dynamite. His way of taunting and cursing any character more than enough defined the role in itself, which is similar to what we describe as bastard performance. Kudos to Park Sung-Hoon for making Jae-Joon a memorable character of this drama. The supporting cast, starting with Jung Sung-il as 'Ha Do-Yeong' (silent but again a powerful presence in this drama) and Yeom Hye-ran as 'Kang Hyeon-Nam' (memorable sidekick) to the infamous group of 'Burger' bullies - everyone gave their best to their respective roles.

The OST, especially the opening music, are poetic and lovable. Considering the nature of this drama, these slow and poetic music gives a sense of break from all the chaos that's going on. The cinematography has two sides and I don't know whether you marked it or not, but if you compare Part-1 and Part-2, you would fine the later visually more vibrant than Part-1.

Overall, it's a perfect 10/10 for me. Although I'm still biased towards other perfect-10 dramas like 'Goblin', 'Mother' and 'Mouse', this drama proves that even slow but painful psychological-induced revenge thrillers can succeed big-time. I would recommend it as a must-watch drama.

Let me know your views about this drama in the comment section below.