The Glory Part 2 anniversary: 5 reasons why Song Hye Kyo starrer is perfect revenge thriller

The Glory Part 2 turns one today. Here are the 5 reasons why the Song Hye Kyo starrer is the perfect thriller K-drama that can be binge watched anytime.

Updated on Mar 08, 2024  |  11:05 PM IST |  282.3K
Song Hye Kyo in The Glory Part 2; Image: Netflix
Song Hye Kyo in The Glory Part 2; Image: Netflix

Song Hye Kyo’s The Glory’s Part 2 was released one year ago. It is hard to believe that one year has passed since Moon Dong Eun took her revenge in the best way possible. On March 10, a year ago eight episodes of the revenge thriller The Glory dropped, satiating the hunger of fans worldwide who were holding their breaths to see how Moon Dong Eun’s vengeance would end. 

The Glory is one of the best revenge thriller K-dramas and with the way it was received worldwide, there is no denying it. The series was written by the revered writer Kim Eun Sook who wrote dramas The Heirs, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, and Descendants of The Sun amongst others. It was directed by Ahn Gil Ho, the man behind the fantasy Memory of Alhambra. The series was a Netflix original, the first part was released on December 30, 2022, and part 2 on March 10, 2023. 

The Glory excelled in many ways as a Korean drama and as a revenge thriller. The show has layers as it traces into a psychological chess game between the victim Moon Dong Eun and her perpetrators, the high school bullies. Here are the five reasons that make the Song Hye Kyo’s revenge thriller perfect. 

5 Reasons why Song Hye Kyo’s The Glory is the perfect revenge thriller K-drama

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1. The perfect untraceable revenge 

 Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo) plans the perfect vengeance for her age-old scars and traumatic past. The plan is completely untraceable, no power can trace it back to her being the mastermind behind the whole play that led Park Yeon Jin (Lim Ji Yeon), Joon Jae Joon (Park Sung Hoon), Choi Hye Jeong (Cha Joo Young), Lee Sa Ra (Kim Hieora), Son Myeong Oh (Kim Gun Woo) to their designated end.  

She plans every step like a chess play, thinking of it as an occurrence that would lead to the birth of various outcomes. It is interesting to note she does not kill any of them, or if anyone dies it is not by her hands at least. She directs the knife that kills them, yes but she just holds the hand that holds the knife that at the end ends them. As she plans her revenge as such, she plays by rules and gets indisputable proof that sends them over the edge or to jail. Moon Dong Eun shoots Lee Sa Ra for getting high and masturbating in a church which sends her to jail, she plants evidence to prove Park Yeon Jin killed Myeong Oh and even gets evidence that she killed Yoon Soo Hee. She drives the whole group of her bullies to turn against each other and they do half her job. 

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2. Moon Dong Eun’s revenge is a collective effort

Song Hye Kyo’s Moon Dong Eun’s revenge is a collective effort, being her she does push her abusers off a cliff herself, and she uses others. In her process of vengeance not only her, everyone finds the sweet release of justice. Kim Kyung Ran, who was molested by Son Myeong Oh at the end lands the final blow to him, which was not in Moon Dong Eun’s plan but played for the best as she laid it on the biggest devil of them, Park Yeong Jin. 

Similarly, Ha Dong Yeon is implied to be the one who pushed Joon Jae Joon into the wet cement when he went blind to save his daughter and his future. Further somewhere, Hye Jeong who was one of the abusers was also abused by her friends so she also gets the better of the revenge plan by messing up with Joon Jae Joon’s eye medication and leaving him blind. Moon Dong Eun’s revenge hence becomes a collective exercise where everyone has some part to play and sometimes even gets their own revenge. 

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3. Catharsis

Moon Dong Eun’s revenge not only allows a cathartic release to her but to many others as well. The most important person who gets peace is Yoon Soo Hee’s mother who has been trying to get justice for her dead daughter for eighteen years but she is just met with closed doors and pitying eyes. When Moon Dong Eun, proves that Yoon Soo Hee was killed by Park Yeong Jin, Yoon Soo Hee’s mother finally rests easy. 

Her vengeance plan not only serves her need for revenge and justice but others as well who have been abused by those same people as well. Another important person is Kang Hyeon Nam (Yeom Hye Ran), a housekeeper who is a victim of domestic violence. She is saved by the protagonist’s revenge as well, as her abusive husband is killed by Park Yeong Jin’s mother resulting in the freeing of Kang Hyeon Nam. The feeling of catharsis is felt by all these characters and the audience as well, the show manages to connect the viewers to that end making it perfect.

Here's the Glory Part 2 trailer starring Song Hye Kyo.


4. Park Yeong Jin’s deserving dreadful end

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Park Yeong Jin, the leader of the school bullies’ group that repeatedly abused Moon Dong Eun meets her end most frightfully. To become the perfect revenge thriller, a story needs the main antagonist to meet the worst end possible, which leads to much-needed catharsis.
Park Yeong Jin who was played by Lim Ji Yeon, abused her classmates just because she liked it. But there were never any limits to her torture. If a list of her oppression could be made it would shock everyone and send chills through the spine. She killed her classmate by pushing her off a building just because she wore the same clothes as her, what is terrifying is that she was a kid herself at this point. Later, she still abuses her assistants as she works as a weather forecaster. Taking it all up a notch she goes and kills Son Myeong Oh. 

A person like Park Yeong Jin deserves the worst and she gets it all. Scared of being caught the mother who protected her, gives the evidence of her being Yoonn Soon Hee’s murderer to Moon Dong Eun. To add spice, Moon Dong Eun also proves that she was the one who killed Son Myeong Oh. So now at the end, in jail Park Yeong Jin is slowly going mad, everyone shuns her, and she is divorced and ignored by her own mother. Turning the tables, she is now being bullied by other prisoners. 

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5. The fitting end to Moon Dong Eun

The end of a story is as important as its beginning and middle, so the end to Moon Dong Eun’s story is very crucial. After finally exacting her revenge on every one of her abusers, she can breathe freely and is at peace. She laughs and enjoys with Joo Yeo Jeong, played by Lee Do Hyun, but only for a short time as she decides to kill herself now that her vengeance is complete. Fortunately, she is saved by Joo Yeo Jeon’s mom, who begs her to live as she is connected to her son and she can not see him die as she is the only reason he now lives.

Six months later, Moon Dong Eun returns and embraces Joo Yeo Jeong. They together plan to complete Joo Yeo Jeong’s revenge against the killer of his father. This tie around she becomes his executioner, serving the poetic end to Moon Dong Eun’s story. Towards the last scene, both of them say they love each other. So she finally also has someone who cherishes and loves her, a person who understands her pain and her vengeance. 

The Glory becomes the perfect revenge thriller due to all these reasons, well at the end we can only say you can watch the show and decide for yourself.

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Credits: Netflix
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Tanya, on this side of the screen, probably with a Bangtan Bomb and my K-pop playlist on the play.

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