While “The Glory” is not the first ever Korean drama that explicitly details the social life of elite tyrants who have only one motive in life: stepping on everyone socially below them, it is by far the most savage piece of media to come out of this subject matter. “The Penthouse” and “Sky Castle” are prime examples of such shows, but they never outline what happens after these violent children grow up. It is always the parents who take care of everything.
“The Glory” is the first time we see a female protagonist exacting revenge after going through the harshest form of bullying possible. Keeping that in mind, it’s absolutely appalling to see the levels to which the villains can go to ruin another person’s life. The intensity keeps rising, as do our hopes for Dong-Eun’s revenge.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 11: Recap – Everybody Fails
We know exactly what went down when Myeong-O met with Yeon-Jin, and so does Yeo-Jeong. After getting the story out of Yeon-Jin, Yeo-Jeong gets some of the skin from the scar on her foot that Myeong-O had scratched. Now Dong-Eun has clear evidence to get Yeon-Jin for Myeong-O’s murder. The police officer who has been helping Yeon-Jin and her mother all this while is getting tired of their shenanigans and decides to use Myeong-O’s body as collateral for all the times they’ve trampled on his ‘good deeds’ for them. He saves Myeong-O’s body in an abandoned morgue sealed in a vacuum pack. Unfortunately for him, Yeo-Jeong purchases the funeral home so they can solidify their evidence with the actual body.
Dong-Eun manages to create an opportunity for Hyeon-Nam to meet her daughter, Sun-A, one last time before she leaves for the US, but Yeon-Jin shows up at the last minute, stopping her from going out. Yeon-Jin instructs Hyeon-Nam to continue following the rest of the gang and also asks her if Dong-Eun has an accomplice. She replies yes and says that he is a man, but that is all she knows. Yeon-Jin’s mother finds out that Seo-Hee’s body is in the morgue. Do-Yeong tells Dong-Eun that he will not leave his wife, so they should meet again (not sure what that implies). At home, Do-Yeong eats a salad even though Yeon-Jin had texted that she was going to cook something delicious for him. She’s enraged and asks why he plays ‘Go’ with Dong-Eun. Do-Yeong calmly replies that he was cornered by her in the game, so he enjoyed it a lot. His choice of words and description seems to suggest he was interested in more (although we know he wasn’t), making Yeon-Jin call him a cheater (funny coming from her). He proceeds to say he never questioned her relationship with Jae-Jun, stopping her in her tracks.
Hye-Jeong gets her hands on Myeong-O’s iPad and notices a voice recording. You guessed it, it is from the day of his death and has all the details of Yeon-Jin and his conversation. With Sun-A missing, Hyeon-Nam’s abusive husband ruthlessly beats her up. He finds a bag of cash that she says she needs to return to the woman who gave it to her. The woman had instructed Hyeon-Nam to send an absurd message, and she didn’t like the feeling of it. Her husband, of course, is bothered and happy to see the cash flow. He accepts the task and sends out the message. It is to Yeon-Jin’s mother and reads, ‘I know your daughter killed someone.’ It is clear now that Gyeong-Ran is siding with Dong-Eun because she has the whiskey bottle from the night of Myeong-O’s murder stashed up in her wardrobe. It could be possible that she is just doing it for herself, but we know where it’s going. Finally, Dong-Eun can’t understand why Yeo-Jeong is going so far to help her. He says she was the person who saved him at his worst, so he will do anything to make things right for her. Dong-Eun’s voice-over has other ideas, though, and she leaves us with the note that it is possible for one of them to cause a sudden ‘swell of hope.’Â
Episode 12: Recap – Blood Is Thicker Than Water
Dong-Eun has clearly been a step ahead of Yeon-Jin. She knows exactly what her next moves will look like, and just like in her game of “Go,” she traps Yeon-Jin further inside her own house. Yeon-Jin finds out from Hyeon-Nam that the ‘man’ Dong-Eun is with is doctor Joo Yeo-Jeong and finally begins to understand the cards she’s being dealt. Yeon-Jin’s mother attacks the police officer about Seo-Hee’s body being in the freezer and not the morgue of the hospital. Yeon-Jin connects 2 and 2, realizing that Yeo-Jeong is not just her plastic surgeon but the son of the owner of the hospital where Seo-Hee’s body was.
Teacher Chu is a pervert who takes pictures of the young female students at the school, and Dong-Eun sends those photos to Jae-Jun, stating that there are pictures of his daughter in there too. In a fit, Jae-Jun beats up the teacher on the school premises for young Ye-Sol to see. Ye-Sol immediately calls her father and tells him what she saw. Do-Yeong rushes to the station, where Jae-Jun is asked to settle up with Teacher Chu for beating him up. Jae-Jun realizes that Do-Yeong knows the truth about Yeon-Jin’s infidelity and punches him in the face. Then it is Do-Yeong’s turn to show off his strength as he gives Jae-Jun a well-deserved beating for coming near his family. Sa-Ra wants to go to the Netherlands because doing drugs there is legal. Her mother thinks it’s finally time for her to go to rehab, but her father, who is a pastor, cannot handle the shame that would bring on his family (oh good sir, just you wait).
We find out that Yeo-Jeong’s father asked for Seo-Hee’s body to be moved to the freezer because he believed her mother when she said it wasn’t a suicide. He thought things would be solved soon, but the body was never moved. Now, Yeon-Jin’s friendly neighbourhood cop tries to get the body moved back to the morgue to investigate supposed illegal practices by the hospital. Yeo-Jeong’s mother doesn’t allow it and keeps a firm foot forward. Do-Yeong finally tells Yeon-Jin that he knows Ye-Sol is not his biological daughter, but she will be hers even if Yeon-Jin herself isn’t. Dong-Eun’s mother is still the biggest nuisance in her life, despite all else that has happened to her. A special place in hell awaits this woman who sides with her daughter’s abuser.
To get Dong-Eun fired as a teacher, her mother takes bribes from Dong-Eun’s students’ parents. Dong-Eun cuts up all the ‘gifts’ her mother has received and tells her that she hopes this is the last time they will ever meet. Her mother replies that she will never be able to run away from her because ‘blood is thicker than water.’ As Dong-Eun cries out, having been scarred by her mother on the face and in her heart, that she has had enough, Jae-Jun appears in front of her. He wants to know how Do-Yeong found out about the beating at school when Dong-Eun said she only told Jae-Jun about the pictures. She doesn’t get out of her car, and he doesn’t move from in front of it. Luckily, Yeo-Jeong makes it in time and shoves his car in front of Jae-Jun, forcing him to fall. Dong-Eun escapes and gets home safely but bruised.
‘The Glory’ Episode 12: Ending Explained – What Happened To Sa-Ra?
No. 2 of the group to fall from grace is Sa-Ra, the druggie. Dong-Eun gets the thugs who helped her beat up the guys who were following Hyeon-Nam to get her drugs. She asks them to plant them in a secluded place in the church where Sa-Ra’s father is the pastor, and before you know it, Sa-Ra has injected herself. Dong-Eun sends her a cryptic message reading ‘smile for the camera.’ In her drug-induced state, Sa-Ra remembers that sexual favor she performed for Myeong-O in return for drugs before he died. She begins to explicitly touch herself in the “place of worship” when a message is sent to everyone at the church.
Sa-Ra finds herself being photographed by a dozen people. Hyeon-Nam tells Yeon-Jin that Dong-Eun is at her friend’s father’s church, and Yeon-Jin arrives there immediately. She confronts Dong-Eun, asking her if this was her doing. Dong-Eun agrees without flinching. Dong-Eun calls Yeon-Jin weather reporter A, and we see a flashback of Dong-Eun’s friend helping Seo-Hee’s mother write an anonymous post regarding a reporter who participated in school violence leading to someone’s death. Yeon-Jin’s phone is bombarded with messages. Dong-Eun makes it known that she knows about Myeong-O’s murder. Yeon-Jin, unhinged, asks her if she has any evidence, and Dong-Eun (satisfyingly) tells her there’s a truckload!