Whenever I watch Kdramas I usually go for comedies, rom-coms or fantasy series. It is a form of escapism for me and I tend to veer away from heavy dramas, and plots that are too convoluted or takes itself too seriously.
I watch Kdramas enjoy, laugh, and in a way just not think about my life in general.
So The Glory was something that I would typically not pick up and yet it was intriguing and this was a return series of Song Hye-Kyo who I enjoyed watching in Descendants of the Sun.
So January 2, a few days after it is uploaded in Netflix on December 30, I checked the first episode just to get a feel if I would like it.
Oh boy, was it a descent into anger, into hate, and into wrath. I could not move as I bear witness to the horrifying scene that is rolling out. The violence is shocking, the trauma that Song Hye-Kyo's character, Moon Dong-Eun, endures both angers you against the perpetrators and in an odd way build a kinship with her character.
There are just so many characters to hate and you want to see them suffer. To get their karma, to see their end and before you know it, it is already the end of episode 8 and it will be continued into part 2 in March.
The Game of Go
The board game of Go features prominently in some of the arcs. It is both a means to an end as well as the journey of salvation.
Moon Dong-Eun chances upon another character Ju Yeo-jeong played by Lee Do-Hyun as their lives become intertwined. He teaches her how to play Go and I like how they described it as a game that in order to win you have to destroy your opponent's houses. A bit simplified but it does capture a certain essence and goes well with the plot.
A game that is often long and may look simple but there are so many moves that can be made and tactics to be employed. It seems to mirror the long game that Moon Dong-Eun is playing to exact her revenge on her bullies.
Each stone an act that she does to get closer to her goal of revenge.
Speaking of the bullies, the young version of their characters not just some physical similarities to their adult versions but the acting was superb as well and made you feel so invested in their path of revenge.
It Got Me Thinking
Watching the final episode made me think of my younger years in an all boys school. It made me have unpleasant thoughts of whether I was a bad person.
Being in an all boys school there is an environment of physical violence which is just swept away with boys will be boys. They'll fight but in the end it will all be sorted out.
You got a problem with someone ask them to meet you behind the swimming pool building. A fight breaking out will get people to watch and jeer as the combatants ready themselves. I can still hear it. "Oh hawakan mo nga sa tenga!" (Hold his ear) "Oh hawakan mo nga sa tite kung matapang ka" (hold his dick if you are fearless) then you get shoved and you barrel towards your opponent and you can see the fear in his eyes. He doesn't even want to be there but that misplaced bravado and idiocracy of being teenagers who has all these testosterone running through them making them aggressive.
You wait for the other person to make a swing because whoever throws the first punch will be punished as who started it if ever someone squeals and reports this to the dean of discipline.
You take the first blow with a blocked arm to the side of your head. You counter with a punch to the gut and he goes down, wretching as he holds his stomach. Just like that a juevenille fight is done. This is no MMA fight. These are two young boys who mustered whatever machismo they can get in order to not look like they are scared but in reality they were.
You had to be tough and manly so as to not appear weak. So that bullies will not see you as easy pickings. I had my share of fistfights growing up in that school. Nose bloodied, some tooths chips, fists fractured all so that you won't be messed around with.
In my young mind I had to do it in order to survive.
I have lost track of some of those people and looking back it just seemed so dumb. I wonder at times did they turn out okay.
Some of the people that I grew up with in that school remained as acquintances. People that I just know. I would not say we became friends but some did turn out okay. Some did not. It is always sad when we hear someone from batch who died, who is not doing okay or in a rough patch in their life. I wonder if the circumstances were any different would their lives be any different?
It is useless musing I know but I often think of it.