If Park Chan-wook’s vengeance-filled, indelibly violent action movie Oldboy had a lot more tender moments and centered around a victim of severe high school bullying, it’d look a lot like The Glory. Written by award-winning writer Kim Eun-sook (Descendants of the Sun) and directed by Baeksang nominee Ahn Gil-ho (Record of Youth), the K-drama revolves around Moon Dong-eun, who spends the decades following her post–high school life meticulously preparing to get back at her abusers. As Dong-eun’s revenge begins to unfold, the perpetrators have no idea what’s coming to them. The series’ first season is now streaming in full — Part 2 just dropped.
Parts 1 and 2 are available to stream now.
Watch it below.
The Glory stars Song Hye-kyo (Descendants of the Sun), Jung Ji-so (Parasite) and Lim Ji-yeon (Obsessed). To read more about the cast and characters, check out this guide.
Dong-eun is a meek and reserved teenager who lives in poverty with her mother and has no friends. At school, she’s relentlessly bullied — both physically and mentally — by a group of privileged kids whose wealth and connections enable them to never see the consequences of their actions. Even her mother would rather accept bribery than hold anyone at her school accountable. Though Dong-eun eventually escapes the brutal abuse, she still lives with the scars — and vows to make each of her bullies pay for what they did. For a full breakdown of what’s happened so far, check out the Part 1 ending explainer here.
The Glory is set in South Korea, both in Seoul and in a nearby town called Semyeong. The series takes place over the course of Dong-eun’s life, from 2004 to present day.
There are 16 episodes. Part 1 dropped in January, and the last eight episodes are out now.
Yes and no. While Eun-sook’s series is purely fictional, she was inspired to write it after having a conversation about violence with her teen daughter. Eun-sook then researched real bullying incidents while writing the show, and — without giving away any spoilers — incorporated some of the most horrific ones.
