Early Access: The Glory E1, E2

E1. I have to admit that my main reason for being curious to check out this show, isn't really the premise, nor the fact that Lee Do Hyun's in this (because I hear that he doesn't really get all that much screen time, in the grand scheme of things).

Mainly, it's because this show has been enjoying quite a good amount of buzz, and my FOMO is kicking in, kinda-sorta in the way it'd kicked in, when Squid Game took the world by storm.

I have to admit, this first episode was kinda hard to get through.

Not because it's not well done, mind you. It is perhaps too well done?

I found the bullying scenes - which land more like torture scenes to me, really - extremely hard to watch.

The burns on Dong Eun's arms and legs look too real for viewer comfort, and I found myself feeling extremely uncomfortable, watching her get tortured with those hot irons. I mean, aren't those the kinds of things they do to prisoners in sageuks? 🙈

It's just disturbing on so many levels, that kids would do this kind of thing to other kids, AND, would get a thrill from it.

It's even more disturbing, that teachers in the school would turn a blind eye to the abuse, because the bullies' parents are rich and powerful.

I do get that it's probably very possible, that a teacher who would dare interfere and make these rich bullies look bad, would very likely lose their jobs.

But the way Show plays it, it seems like the homeroom teacher, at least, isn't actually wrestling with his conscience, when he condones the abuse.

In fact, we see him hitting Dong Eun - over and over and over again - when he's not happy with the way her withdrawal form is filled out, in front of other teachers, no less, and nothing bad seems to happen to him as a result.

It seems like there's nothing and no one in Dong Eun's favor, in her teenaged years, and it's just really, really, really bad, all around.

Her classmates torture her; the police don't do anything when called; the teachers either condone it or resign; her mother basically sells her for money; she gets legit abandoned.

All that in the space of less than an episode. It's a heckuva lot to swallow, and I'm honestly not surprised that Dong Eun contemplates suicide, and more than once.

I'm uncertain whether to think of this as a surreality that's been amped up for dramatic effect, or a more accurate representation of the world than I'd like to accept. Maybe it's a bit of both, but for my mental wellbeing, I'm going to lean towards this being more of a dramatic surreality. 😅

When this show had first been announced, I'd furrowed my brow at the premise, that Dong Eun would target her tormentors' children as her revenge plan. Because, the children are innocent, after all, right?

So, if she wants to take revenge, she should target the bullies themselves, right?

What Show's done, is effectively show me, just how horrible things were for Dong Eun, that she would want to die, and how the decision to survive, in order to get revenge, is very likely the only thing that actually prevented her from taking her own life.

In a twisted way, it's her desire for revenge that's saved her.

But now.. will it continue to save her, or will it destroy her - is what I'm wondering, because this is Netflix, which tends to lean dark, but it's also kdrama, which tends to lean redemptive.

That makes it hard to predict which way Show will lean in the end, which, I suppose, adds to the thrill of the watch?

Dong Eun says in voiceover,

"An eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth... a fracture for a fracture." "The one who inflicted the injury must suffer the same." I don't know. That sounds... too fair to me. Don't you think?"

And, y'know, after seeing everything that Dong Eun had gone through, I can actually see why she feels that playing fair wouldn't actually put her in the same playing field as her tormentors.

They hadn't played fair, when they'd ganged up on her and made her life a living hell, so to play their game, she shouldn't play fair either, when planning her revenge.

That.. does make a twisted kind of sense, doesn't it?

The thing is, though, I'm not super certain that I will have the stomach for this entire show. 😅

I'd found this first episode to be especially hard to watch, but maybe the following episodes won't be as challenging, because we'd be done with set-up?

Or perhaps.. it will be as hard to watch, because there will be tormenting happening on my screen, and it's just a matter of who's the tormentor, this time? 🙈

I'm not sure, but I'm curious enough to want to keep going - at least for now. 😅

E2. We spend this episode continuing the set-up, which means that we get a glimpse of what Dong Eun's life was like, after dropping out of school, and after deciding to dedicate herself to revenge on her tormentors.

It becomes clear that she's playing a long game, and isn't afraid of investing the time, in order to achieve her goal.

I mean, it gives me chills to hear her talk about how she's thankful that Yeon Jin becomes a mother, at the same time that she passes the Teacher Certification Exam, and that's why she likes the Spring of 2015 so much.

Dong Eun's clearly messed up, but also, how could one not be messed up, after everything that she'd been through, right?

As we get through the episode, it becomes clear that the net that she's casting is a wide one, because she's not just targeting Yeon Jin's child; she also seems to be targeting her homeroom teacher's son, who turns out to be the Sunbae that we see her smiling so brightly at.

Yikes.

The thing is, Sunbae actually appears to be an innocent, strait-laced nice guy; I wouldn't be surprised if he has no idea that his father has violent, shady, abusive tendencies towards powerless students without any backing.

I do feel conflicted about Dong Eun targeting him (which I'm assuming she is, especially with that remark of hers, that her legs are prettier than her eyes), because he really has nothing to do with his father's terrible treatment of Dong Eun.

At the same time, we do see, this episode, that aside from Homeroom Teacher, whom we don't see, the rest of the bullies really haven't changed one bit.

They're just older, and with more access to money, and therefore playing in more adult, dysfunctional ways than when they'd been teenagers.

The power dynamics still appear to be the same, with Yeon Jin holding court as queen, with Sa Ra as her right-hand woman, and Hye Jeong as the default punching bag.

Myeong Oh's still Jae Joon's lackey, and Jae Joon's still a rich boy living it up on his family wealth.

I think the thing that I find most disturbing about it all, is that no one's memories of the past have faded; they are fully aware of what bullies they were, in high school.

And, they seem to wear it as some kind of badge of honor.

I mean, that's the vibe I get, when Yeon Jin threatens Hye Jeong, by reminding her that if not for Dong Eun, she would have been their target, back in the day.

So, they remember everything, but even with time, and, one would assume, more maturity, there is no sense of regret for what they'd done to Dong Eun, when they were kids.

That unrepentant attitude, along with the sense of entitlement, that the world should be their oyster, and everyone should bow in worship, pretty much, definitely irks me, and for this reason, I do find myself feeling like maybe it's time that someone - like Dong Eun - ought to teach them a lesson.

That sense of entitlement and double standard shows in moments like the one where Yeon Jin is shown having an afternoon tryst with Jae Joon (no actual nudity here, but still a scene I would classify as NSFW, just so you know), and she tells him that he should tell her, if he ever wants to get married - because she doesn't like to share.

But, she has no qualms about two-timing her husband, in order to sleep with Jae Joon, eh?

That's a glaring double standard right there, and they do say that how you do anything, is how you do everything. I would believe that Yeon Jin has double standards whenever it suits her.

On that note, I wonder if Yeon Jin is aware that there seems to be a thing going on, between Jae Joon and Hye Jeong?

It's not clear if there is actual sexytimes going on between Jae Joon and Hye Jeong, but they are definitely flirting, and that flirting, uh - how to put this delicately - leans into the raunchier side of things.

I'm guessing that if Yeon Jin were aware of this, she wouldn't be very pleased, particularly since she clearly sees Hye Jeong as "less than." Pretty sure she would feel insulted at the idea of Hye Jeong setting her sights on one of Yeon Jin's men, even if said man was a plaything on the side, for her.

On another note, I have to admit that the first time I heard Dong Eun talk about hatred being very close to longing, I didn't really get what she meant.

However, seeing how she spends so much of her time cyber-stalking her targets, to learn about their lives, and even goes so far as to steal Yeon Jin's trash so that she can fish for information from the shredded paper that she painstakingly pieces together, I can see that she is essentially consumed by thoughts of them.

From there, it's just one easy step, to see how her hatred for Yeon Jin, has morphed into an obsession, and is therefore landing with her, as a type of longing.

I'd thought it was bizarre in concept, but I see how that works, now.

It's of some comfort, actually, to see that Dong Eun isn't actually completely alone, in her journey.

She has the friend who worked with her at the garment factory, who's now helping her with social media stuff so that she can effectively stalk Yeon Jin.

And then there's Lee Do Hyun's character, listed as Yeo Jung, who teaches her baduk.

It doesn't seem like he knows anything about her revenge plans, but the fact that they spent regular time together, over several seasons, must have been some form of comfort to Dong Eun, I imagine.

It doesn't look like they talk much, but the kind of open, non-judgmental gaze that Yeo Jung wears with Dong Eun must be quite welcome and refreshing, I imagine.

We don't know for sure, at this point, but it does look like Yeo Jung might have a crush on Dong Eun, judging from the way he seems so disappointed, when she puts an end to their baduk sessions.

Also, who's the psycho who beat up Yeo Jung in the first place? That seems weird, that no one really bats much of an eyelash, even though he's admitted to the hospital looking quite bashed up and bloody?

Would it be.. his father, perhaps? It is mentioned in passing, that Yeo Jung's father is a director of some sort, and, well, director type parents in Dramaland do tend to have violent streaks with their children and their subordinates, unfortunately.

On a tangent, it's only on revisiting the episode for these notes, that I notice that Yeon Jin's husband Do Young is reading about baduk too. I wonder if Dong Eun's reason for learning baduk, is to get close to Do Young, as part of her revenge plan?

Speaking of Do Young, I do feel rather intrigued to know more about him.

He appears to be the perfect husband, who showers Yeon Jin with gifts and affection, but I can't help but wonder if he's got a player side too, because of his remark about the girls not being cute, when Yeon Jin asks if he's going to meet Gyeong Tae as requested.

With the way Dong Eun's kinda flirting with Sunbae, and prodding Myeong Oh with the possibility of making Jae Joon's riches and properties his own, using the "intense" intel that she promises, it looks like Dong Eun's revenge plans are cranking into motion.

But wait, there's also Yeom Hye Ran's character, listed as Hyun Nam, coming out of the shadows and asking to be on Dong Eun's side - provided Dong Eun helps to kill her husband.

Say, what?

I wonder if her husband is an important part of our story, or if she wants to have him killed because he's abusing her.

Either way, I hadn't actually pegged Dong Eun as the murdery sort, so I'm pretty curious to see what her reply is.

All in all, I'd say that while this show isn't naturally my cup of tea, I'm finding it intriguing enough, that I'm curious to keep watching, if only out of morbid curiosity, about what will happen next.

Next episode notes will be out on: Monday, 6 February 2023!

*This show will be covered on the Early Access (US$5) Tier*