All opinions are my own and my opinions are trash. However, my criteria for a good female character loosely is:

• Their removal would affect the plot (i.e. their dialogue/role could not be given to another character without changing something)
• They undergo change/character development, good or bad
• We see different sides of their personality
• They have a plot of their own that doesn’t revolve entirely around a male character OR they are well-developed within the confines of the role they are written to play
• They don’t toss away every traditionally feminine trait in an attempt to be a strong, independent womyn.

Gyeong-ran

• Yeon-jin’s lackey
  • works at Jae-jun’s (?) clothing store
• always looks distressed, stressed, and not blessed
• lives in like a basement closet
• bullied after Dong-eun transferred out
• Dong-eun’s former bff who abandoned her  
• actually killed Myeong-do (queen behavior)    

Dong-eun was literally being tortured and that was her fate if she stood up for her, plus none of the adults were doing anything so anyway same girl, same.

Gyeong-ran Rating: 6/10

So-hee

• my outfit’s fake
• dead at the start of the series via dubious circumstances
• bullied by Yeon-jin ft. the crew
• pregnant with either Jae-jun or Myeong-do’s child

So-hee called Yeon-jin out. Sadly, Yeon-jin was actually crazy and set her on fire, resulting in her death. Nevertheless, So-hee’s demise and Yeo-jin’s inability to take accountability for her actions basically jump started the plot of The Glory.

So-hee Rating: 8/10

Jeong Mi-hee (Dong-eun’s mom)

• works as a barber
• burn baby burn
• single mother
• crazy alcoholic
  • like for real she needed to be in a mental institute
• did the bare minimum by providing her daughter with shelter
• the real villain
  • did nothing to help her daughter who was literally being tortured
  • allowed herself to be paid off not once, but twice
• This woman clearly needed to be hospitalized.

Dong-eun’s Mom Rating: 4.5/10

Hye-Jeong

• it would’ve been you
• flight attendant
• delusional
• gold digger
• well-endowed
• took a pen to the neck and lost her voice possibly forever
• friends with Yeon-jin and Hye-jeong but not really
• brief situationship with Jae-jun where she was going to raise his daughter
• seemed the least bad of the bully trio but that’s probably because the people around her were like always at 10 and she was at 6
• Sa-Ra’s dress

Hye-jeong spent the entire show running her mouth, so it felt poetic she lost her ability to do so. She was a clout-chaser though and to be fair she would’ve ended up being bullied if she hadn’t become a bully herself so… justified?

Hye-jeong Rating: 7.2/10

Seo-nah

• a child
• her father is abusive and her mother is kind of a doormat for staying with him but I digress
• tutored by Dong-eun
• gets sent to the USA for safety

Seo-nah Rating: 5.5/10

Sa-Ra

• drugs
• garden of Eden
• you slept with Myeong-do?
• pastor’s kid but both her and her father are fakes
• artist and apparently a good one but her drug habit keeps her from achieving much
• silver spoon
• it would’ve been you
  • she literally hates Hye-jeong for seemingly no reason
• dies her hair blonde and tries to flee the country
• her father is wanted for tax evasion
• was not interested in Dong-eun’s revenge plan
• her being crazy was the main reason Yeon-jin’s “let’s get the crew together” plan didn’t work

Sa-ra was spiraling the whole series, which is a shame because she seemed to be the smartest member of the bunch and passionate about art. Of the unholy trinity, Sa-ra was the most unpredictable, hence why she literally tried to kill Hye-jeong (probably deserved).

Sa-Ra Rating: 8/10

Yeong-ae (Yeon-jin’s mom)

• rich
• seemingly married a chaebol who left her (or died, nobody knows)
• shamanism
• crazy rich
• crazy evil
• straight to jail
  • betrayed her own daughter and still ended up in jail LOL.
• kills husband (justified tbh just not for the reasons she did it)
• again the real villain
  • Yeon-jin needed to be medicated and/or in a mental institute

When Yeon-jin kills So-hee, realizes she actually effed up, and calls her mom, that was probably her only shot at redemption. Instead, Yeong-ae covers everything up, furthering Yeon-jin’s belief she did nothing wrong and that those like So-hee are beneath her, deserving of whatever treatment they get.

Yeong-ae’s Rating: 8/10

Ye-Sol

• Yeon-jin’s daughter
• a literal child
• silver spoon but clearly takes after her father (who isn’t actually her father) and not her mother in terms of personality
• soccer
• doesn’t like bullies (or violence for that matter)
• Uncle Jae-jun!
• all that is pure in The Glory is found in her
• actually Jae-jun and Yeon-jin’s affair child

The only time we ever see Yeon-jin apologize is to Ye-Sol, and when she’s tossed in prison for her crimes, Yeon-jin asks her ex-husband if he’ll let Ye-sol read her letters (he won’t).

Ye-Seul Rating: Jae-Jun Being Pushed Into a Cement Lake/10

Hot Doctor’s Mom

• also a doctor
• saves Dong-eun to save her son
  • both Dong-eun and Hot Doctor had “gotten” what they wanted (revenge and the reason for Hot Doctor’s dad’s murder). Consequently, they had nothing to look forward to except one another.
• honestly couldn’t even remember her name
• seems nice

Hot Doctor’s Mom’s Rating: 6/10

Hyeon-Nam

• helped Dong-eun with her revenge plot
• has a trash abusive husband who is notorious for being trash
• Stockholm syndrome like GIRL let Yeon-jin kill him
• little survivor subtlety skills
• former housekeeper
• loves her daughter
• good-ish photographer
• actually useful
• cares deeply about her daughter (not enough to leave her husband for her but I digress)

Hyeon-Nam was an older women who found excitement and joy in her miserable life by helping Dong-eun get revenge. Frankly she got the short end of the stick with her husband dying right after he was sort of turning over a dead leaf and she was never reunited with her daughter.

Hyeon-Nam Rating: 7/10

Yeon-jin

• silver spoon
• great fashion sense
• straight to jail
• weather reporter who doesn’t write her own scripts
• HBIC of bullies
  • she bullied tortured Dong-eun so badly she spent the next decade plotting out her revenge
  • she bullied So-hee literally to her death (an accident, technically)
  • she bullied Gyeong-ran into adulthood
  • she would’ve bullied Hye-jeong
  • none of her co-workers like her
• Jae-jun’s secret lover
• married a wealthy actually decent man who seemed to care for her
• had a child, Ye-sol
• literal sociopath
• kill count: 0
  • technically she didn’t kill So-hee, just lit her on fire
  • Gyeong-ran killed Myeong-do

Yeon-jin’s was actually a psychopath who needed therapy and probably medication. She genuinely did not believe she’d done anything wrong and though as an adult she was able to somewhat mask her insanity, her mother’s insistence to only move forward ended up doing her in. Ironically, the past isn’t what kamikazed Yeon-jin but rather her present actions after realizing her past could be exposed. If she’d literally just done nothing, she probably would’ve been fine.

Yeon-jin’s Rating: 7/10

Dong-eun

• kudzu revenge plot that works
  • all the bad guys are consistently evil throughout the entire series just as she predicted
• love arc with a hot doctor
• Go!
• tortured horrifically as a child by literal psychopaths – she has permanent burn marks all over her body
• mother is axe-crazy trash
• absent father
• Kill count: 0
  • possibly Jae-jun since although technically Ha Do-young pushed him into a cement abyss, the only reason he ended up in that situation is because Dong-geun blinded him

Dong-eun is actually pretty shady in that she was willing to use Ye-sol (innocent child) and also hot doctor to advance her plans. However, she has the greatest character development as she realizes that though she is a victim of horrible crimes, it would be wrong to victimize others.

She also realizes that though many of the adults in her life were indeed trash, there were always good people around her that tried to do the right thing and help her out, and she is eventually able to find happiness after her revenge plot, helping hot doctor get his revenge, going to school, and no longer being ashamed of her scars/past and letting that define her.

Dong-eun Rating: 8/10

While I did enjoy The Glory as it’s well-acted, relatively well-written, and I love a good revenge drama, one or two of the villains could’ve had an iota of character development. Furthermore, while I loathed child Yeon-jin, I felt much less hatred for adult Yeon-jin like Myung-do deserved to get clapped, Dong-eun was out of pocket targeting her child, and Jae-jun was crazy, I would’ve kept him under my leash somehow too. Child Yeon-jin was a monster. Adult Yeon-jin felt like watching someone spiral.

The only character who’s insanity made sense was Sa-ra cause she was addicted to drugs, but ironically she was the least stupid of the lot, just too baked to be of use. Everyone else seemed almost caricature-ishly evil to the point of stupidity. The bullies who’d stuck together thus far turn on each other crazy fast even though Yeon-jin actually attempts to bring them all together for a legit reason. None of them are loyal despite knowing if one of them goes down, they all go down. As for Yeon-jin, she literally could’ve done absolutely nothing and would’ve been fine.

The Glorying Rating: 6.5/10