# The Glory (2022) Review: Vengeance as Architecture > The Glory is Kim Eun-sook's 16-episode Korean revenge thriller, with Song Hye-kyo as a bullying survivor who spends years building a trap for her tormentors. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/the-glory-review/ Published: 2026-07-12 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 4.5/5 ## Verdict Yes. A cold, meticulous and compulsive revenge drama for adults who can handle harrowing depictions of bullying; Song Hye-kyo is outstanding. ## Is The Glory worth watching? **Yes. The Glory is one of the most gripping Korean dramas of its era, a revenge thriller built with the patience and precision of its heroine, and Song Hye-kyo gives the performance of her career.** Kim Eun-sook's script turns the slow assembly of a trap into the main source of suspense. The main reservation is that the second half leans harder on melodramatic villainy, and the depictions of school violence are genuinely hard to watch. ## What is The Glory about? As a high-school student, Moon Dong-eun was subjected to brutal, sustained bullying by a group of wealthy classmates, abuse that scarred her body and cost her the future she might have had. Years later, now played by Song Hye-kyo, she has spent her adult life preparing a precise, long-planned revenge against the people responsible, chief among them Park Yeon-jin (Lim Ji-yeon). Her plan requires time, discipline and allies, including a plastic surgeon played by Lee Do-hyun and a woman with her own reasons for wanting justice, played by Yeom Hye-ran. [The Glory](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/the-glory/) is a South Korean series in Korean, written by Kim Eun-sook and directed by Ahn Gil-ho for Netflix. This review covers the complete story: one season of 16 episodes, released in two parts across late 2022 and early 2023, with nothing left hanging. ## Song Hye-kyo plays revenge at freezing point Song, long associated with romantic leads, is almost unrecognisable here. Dong-eun speaks quietly, moves carefully and rarely allows herself a visible emotion, and Song makes that restraint mesmerising. Every flicker of feeling reads as a crack in armour built over years, and the few moments when the mask slips are among the most powerful in the series. Lim Ji-yeon is her ideal opposite. Yeon-jin is glamorous, entitled and completely unrepentant, and Lim plays her with a brittle arrogance that makes the audience ache for the trap to close. Yeom Hye-ran, meanwhile, brings warmth and dark humour to a supporting role that provides the drama with much-needed release. ## Kim Eun-sook builds the trap brick by brick Kim is best known for sweeping romances, and The Glory shows a very different side of her writing. The story is structured as a long con, with the heroine's plan revealed gradually and each piece clicking into place with a satisfying inevitability. The dialogue is sharp and often quotable, and the script is especially good at showing how privilege protects the powerful long after the damage is done. Ahn Gil-ho's direction matches that coldness. The frame is often still and composed, colours are muted, and flashbacks to Dong-eun's school years are staged with an unflinching directness that gives the present-day plotting its moral weight. The series is widely reported to have drawn on a real school-violence case, and it treats that subject with seriousness rather than exploitation. ## Where the second half overheats The first half is nearly flawless. The second half, while still gripping, adds more subplots, more coincidences and villains who grow increasingly cartoonish. Some supporting characters become devices to move the plot, and the romantic thread with Lee Do-hyun's character, though well played, sits slightly awkwardly beside the icy central story. These are small cracks in a very strong structure. ## Who should watch The Glory? It is a strong recommendation for fans of revenge thrillers, character-driven K-drama and stories about justice and class. Sixteen hour-long episodes make it a substantial but bingeable commitment. The depictions of bullying include burns, assault and psychological abuse, alongside adult language and sexual content; viewers who find such material distressing should be prepared. If it grips you, try these from the [thriller](https://celluloidscore.com/genres/thriller/) shelf: - [My Name](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/my-name-review/) for another Korean revenge story driven by a woman who has made vengeance her whole life. - [Weak Hero Class 1](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/weak-hero-class-1-review/) for a sharper, more action-driven look at school violence and its aftermath. - More Korean series on the [Netflix hub](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/platform/netflix/). ## The verdict The Glory is a chilling, compulsively watchable revenge drama that turns patience into suspense, anchored by Song Hye-kyo's extraordinary performance. Its second half overheats in places, but as a study of trauma, privilege and long-delayed justice, it is prestige K-drama at its sharpest. **Rating: 4.5/5** ## Related title - [The Glory (2022)](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/the-glory/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)