A Glória (2022)

Intenso, real, cruel

Vamos lá, primeiramente, para alguém que entrou no mundo dos doramas através de Who Are You: School 2015, que também possui como centro da narrativa uma vítima de violência escolar, essa história foi muito importante para mim. Me lembro de ter ficado impressionada com esse outro dorama, mas com este eu senti emoções muito diferentes: ódio, inquietação, medo e satisfação - por um motivo bem específico. Diferente de outras produções que propõem o desejo de vingança como o objetivo principal da personagem, este nos leva por um caminho onde os planos de Dong Eun dão certo, por mais que imprevisibilidades apareçam. Os vilões não são tão espertos quanto ela, demonstrando uma veracidade ainda maior, tirando da produção o quê de novela das 9.
Para quem viu The Penthouse, o andar da carruagem é muito satisfatório. Só quem passou raiva vendo os vilões triunfarem em The Penthouse consegue entender como é bom ver os vilões de The Glory se ferrando com o passar dos episódios. Por isso digo que foi muito mais fácil de digerir esse título, mesmo contendo violência explícita, do que os outros mencionados anteriormente. A narrativa te faz ficar agoniado e aliviado logo em seguida.
Os personagens também são muito bem desenvolvidos, mostrando o que cada um está sentindo e o que cada um tem a perder se Dong Eun continuar com seu plano de vingança. É tão realista no ponto em que os valentões dos tempos de escola escolhem varrer seus crimes para debaixo do tapete e se fazerem de pessoas-modelo quando crescem, quanto no ponto de que a hipocrisia contida naqueles que estão em uma classe alta/na mídia é muito previsível.
Ansiosa para ver o que irá acontecer na segunda parte.

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Gripping, intense, a success all round

"The Glory" comes with a drum roll at the turn of the year 2022/23. With a high-end production team in every instance, "The Glory" cleverly intertwines the burning subject of bullying with the long-running topic ´revenge campaign´. The result is gripping, intense, a success all round. (However, one major criticism: Netflix cuts the story in half with a long break in between.)

In 2022, for the sad issue of bullying, streaming services cleared the stage several times with their own productions (e.g. "Weak Hero Class 1" and "Revenge of Others"). All of these stories are unbelievable in their brutality and cruelty - teenagers against teenagers! No mercy. Without pity. Without scruples. Without any feeling of guilt. For once, I don't want to blame the streaming providers for the shown cruelty, on the contrary. Maybe the topic is in better hands with them because they have no problem with such radical scenes (compared to TV stations). Isn´t it simply scandalous that such unbelievable violent abuse - and may it be only half as drastic - is part of everyday life in (i.e. South Korean) schools and among young people? Even more scandalous: parents and teachers tolerate it or actively support it and even act up themselves.

"The Glory" swings back and forth between past and present and thus draws a complex picture of the individual characters. Back then the perpetrators, they are becoming victims today. Back then the victim, she finally wants to get out of her role and also make life hell for her abusers. The painful past provides the moral framework, allowing the audience to nod off the plans for vigilantism. Eventually, the protagonist also gains helpers on her way.

Sad enough, in "The Glory" no one is truly happy with their life except for the perpetrator's (still) innocent little daughter.
The bullies of that time live bored and/or stoned and still trapped in their bullying role. Still tangled up in their clique from back then in uneasy ties. None of them found ´true´ friends. Trust and love are words without substance in their life, which rather appears as a shiny variation of Hell disguised with silk and glamourous accessories.
The victim of that time, on the other hand, has found meaning, direction and grounding in her life, no matter how sad the circumstances. Coincidentally, she even made trustworthy friends. Since she has experienced firsthand what hell is like, she can at least distinguish it, as other experiences of brief moments of happiness are also indicated in between. This experience (how happiness actually feels compared to suffering) puts her ahead of her opponents, who aren't even aware that they're living in a hell of emotional emptiness. They only suspect it when Moon-Dong-eun threatens to shake their house of cards and they have to face the illusions of their self-satisfied lives.

The story isn´t completely told yet - after 8 episodes. We will see, how things actually turn out for Moon Dong-eun, as she is indeed messing with someone, who is not willing to give in, whatsoever...

---------- EDIT after finishing the SECOND SEASON: -------------------
Well. Second season is definitely on the revenge-side. Some may say revenge is sweet. In any case it is drastic. And "the Glory" made sure, the mean-spirited deserved it... Among them is so much violence and exorbitant abuse. Almost too much to bear at times. A bit overdone maybe with unnecessary Netflix ruction here and there. Nevertheless suspenseful. Certainly with a coherent ending.
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PS.:
Actually, the screenwriter is herself mother of a high school student...)


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SIDE NOTE: ---- Fiction and reality are not that far apart ---

Some might say that the bullying brutality in "The Glory" - such as the curling wand scene - was exaggerated.
In fact, in South Korea in 2006, there was just such a case.

At a middle school in Cheongju, a student was bullied for money by three classmates. For not delivering, she was beaten with a baseball bat, tormented with a barrette, kicked, hit with fists, and burned on her arms with a hot curling wand. The burns didn't even have time to heal because the girls checked the temperature of the curling iron on the victim's arms again and again every few days. On the contrary, healing blisters were specifically removed by the bullies with their fingernails. The brutal beating also resulted in an injury to the tailbone, which resulted in a six-week hospital stay.

In fact, in this actual case in Cheongju, the perpetrators were apparently officially punished after the victim, despite threats, reported the perpetrators by name. And not only the perpetrators, but also the school administration and teachers were apparently sort of admonished. (However, with that the police report ends. We do not know how the victim, the perpetrators and the school dealt with each other afterwards).
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