What you need to know about 'The Glory'—Netflix's revenge K-drama hit
Looking for a new Korean drama series to add to your watchlist? You might want to check out The Glory, a new revenge drama series that you can watch on Netflix.
The show is currently divided into two parts: The first one premiered on the streaming platform on Dec. 30, while part two is set to be released sometime in March.
According to Soompi, part one of the show has reached spectacular views on the site, having recorded over 25.4 million hours of viewership worldwide in just three days. The drama also achieved a place in the Top 10 charts of 19 different countries including Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kuwait, Singapore, Morocco, and Hong Kong.
Here's what you need to know about The Glory, in case you're planning to include it in your watchlist this month.
It's a revenge story against bullies
The Glory centers on a woman named Moon Dong-eun who, after surviving constant bullying and appalling physical abuse by a group of delinquents during high school, has now become a homeroom teacher at an elementary school. However, after discovering that the child of a former bully of hers is in her class, she decides to finally get her hands dirty and seeks revenge on the tormentors of her past.
According to the show's writer Kim Eun-sook, she wanted to explore themes of school violence as it is something that she is familiar with.
"I am a parent myself, and my daughter is going to be a sophomore in high school next year. So, school violence is a topic that I’m not new to, and it’s something I want to delve into. We were talking about the topic of school violence, and my concern is that my daughter, because of my fame, would be bullied in school," Eun-sook said in a press conference.
School bullying and violence
The Glory is set on holding nothing back when it comes to showcasing just how horrifying school violence is by incorporating real-life events in the story.
A little bit of a spoiler, but one of the more shocking flashback scenes in the eight-episode series shows a young Moon experiencing an intense and cruel attack from her bullies, wherein she was pinned to the ground and had her arm burned with a curling iron, causing the incident to forever scar her in her adulthood.
In a report by BBS News translated by Allkpop, the scene seems to mirror a real-life incident that happened at an all-girls middle school in 2006, where a group of students similarly assaulted the victim by burning her arm with a curling iron. Not only that—they also scratched her chest with a hairpin and stole her money.
Despite the similarities, Eun-sook stressed that The Glory is only a fictional work that was inspired by talks she had with her high school daughter regarding bullying.
A stellar cast
For a show to skyrocket into success, it obviously needs a stellar cast of actors to move the plot forward with their acting skills, and The Glory is not short of it.
The series is led by Song Hye-kyo, best known for starring as the beautiful, strong, and assertive cardiothoracic surgeon in Descendants of the Sun, which is also co-written by Eun-sook. The drama also stars Yeom Hye Ran, Lim Ji Yeon, Park Sung Hoon, Kim Hieora, Cha Joo Young, and more.
"When I read the script, it was a genre and character that I had really been wanting to try," Hye-kyo shared in a press conference.
Lee Do Hyun—who has become a rising star after 18 Again—shared, "I read the script quickly and became so curious. There were a lot of points I was curious about regarding what kind of character Yeo Jung was."
Watch the trailer below: