“The Glory” is a South Korea series that tells the story of a woman who finds revenge on people who bully her during high school. The series is written by one of the most famous producers in South Korea. There are two seasons; the first was released on December 30, 2022, and the second was released on March 10, 2023.

The series “The Glory” is a long-awaited series that generated a lot of expectations. Firstly, the main character is Song Hye Kye, one of the main actresses in Korea. The scriptwriter is Kim Eun Sook, who is actually the most popular producer in Korea. She is characterized by making romantic comedies, but this time she surprised her audience by writing a suspense drama with a solemn social theme, such as bullying. Kim Eun Sook decides to write this series to address the issue of young teenagers who fight alone against bullying, that neither their families nor schools help.

 “I sometimes wonder what would hurt me more, if my daughter was the aggressor or if she was the victim of bullying?” She questioned herself. As she pondered the answer, she started to write the series.

For the main character, ‘’Dong-Eun,’ the only hope that keeps her alive is the desire to take revenge. She is the most monotonous and boring protagonist possible, with almost no makeup to convey how focused she is on revenge.

The script writer’s goal is to give everyone the message that they are not to blame and should never be accused. She titled the series The Glory because, according to her, the victims are not looking for a reward, something material or money; they just want a sincere apology from the aggressor. “But the victims really want that?” said the producer. She concluded that they didn’t want to win or achieve something but that the victims really wanted to recover what they lost with the violence they had received. Young teenagers lose respect and dignity as human beings, and in the series, Kim Eun Sook shows that they can remain as a wound and trauma forever. 

The drama’s plot is a fight between those who believe in God and those who do not. The irony is that the aggressors are believers, and the victim is not. Ultimately, the scriptwriter shows that there is actually a God and that the aggressors will be punished either way.

There’s a whole duality with the theme of the angel and the devil, where the victim wants to be the devil to get revenge on Jung-shin and Jun-jin, the aggressors. And the people who want to look like a good person in society. In the poster, they also used the symbology to present that. 

The flowers of the victims are white facing up and are called devil’s trumpet flowers, and the flowers that appear with the bullies are bell-shaped and yellow; they are called angel trumpet flowers. The screenwriter revealed that she used the devil’s trumpet flowers as a symbol of protest against the unfair reality of heaven. The angel’s trumpet means the final judgment in which an angel descends from heaven to punish sinners. The victims protest against the sky through the flowers but look down on the perpetrators. Instead, sinners are judged and punished and look to heaven, praying and asking for forgiveness.
 

Regarding the issue of bullying in Korea, the production denied that they were based on a real case of bullying. However, it has many similarities with an atrocious event that happened in 2006 in a girls’ high school in the city of Chong.

Thanks to the series “The Glory” schools and the government are now taking care of bullying in high schools. 

This heinous series is recommended mostly for people who are more interested about brutal psychological thriller series.