The Glory – Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

The Beginning of The Unraveling

Episode 9 of The Glory starts with a flashback of Myeong Oh calling Do-young after booking his flight on the 17th of October.  As Do-young is not an easy man to reach his secretary took the message and informed her boss of the call from Myeong Oh. Of course, the call from one of Yeon-jin’s friends aroused Do-young’s curiosity.

On 18th October, Myeong Oh called Sa-ra and asked to meet and exchange dollars as they talk. Sa-ra was not in the mood to meet and told Myeong Oh off until he mentioned So-hee and an embarrassing video he has of her. Sa-ra admits to being present the night So-hee was killed but says she dared not called the police since she was high. She hangs up the phone.

In the meantime, Myeong Oh was at Jae-joon’s house stealing his clothes. He decided to also give Jae-joon a call and blackmail him. After being Jae-joon’s lap dog for years, Myeong Oh knew most of Jae-joon’s shady business. He blackmailed him with the current embezzlement in his company and asks about So-hee. He asks Jae-joon to send him money through his crypto bank and hangs up.

On his way out of Jae-joon’s place, he called  Hye-jeong and asked her to leave for Russia with him. He confesses that he loves her and wishes to save her from the revenge storm that Dong-eun is planning. Obviously,  Hye-jeong is not willing to dump her rich fiancé to run off with Myeong Oh. Later, on October 19th, Myeong Oh called Dong-eun and threatened to expose her to Yeon-jin. He asks her to give him the name tag So-hee was holding the night she died. However, Dong-eun is not shaken by his threats and she tells him to do whatever he likes and hangs up.

Present Day

In the present, Do-young and Yeon-jin meet at Dong-eun’s house. At first, Yeon-jin is surprised to see her husband there. She asks if Dong-eun approached him with an offer and if he is planning to be with him. Dong-eun, on the other hand, is shocked by the photos on display and the fact that Yeon-jin is the main character in them. Dong-eun watches the camera feed on her phone.

Do-young asks Yeon-jin why she bullied Dong-eun and drove her to almost commit suicide. He is hoping that Yeon-jin will give him a reasonable excuse. Can there be a reasonable excuse to burn someone with a curling iron? Yeon-jin tells her husband that she only bullied Dong-eun because she didn’t like her. Do-young is surprised by the answer.

Yeon-jin drops her cigarette on the floor and tells her husband he can stay behind if he wishes. She tells him that he disappointed her and leaves. As Dong-eun watches the feed, she notices that Do-young had enough manners to take off his shoes before entering. Yeon-jin didn’t take off her shoes as expected of the mannerless human being she is. (It is important to note that she is wearing green heels.) Do-young remains behind and sees the photos of Jae-joon with Ha Ye Sol.

Elsewhere, Yeo-jung visits the morgue to inspect So-hee’s body but is informed that his dad ordered the body to be stored in the freezer. He is taken aback to learn his dad was involved in the case. Meanwhile, Dong-eun is at his place since she can no longer go back to her house. After leaving the hospital, Yeo-jung goes back home and brings some bedding with him. He is excited to have Dong-eun living with him.

On the other hand, Sa-ra is worried about the police calling and asking to meet for an interview. She calls Jae-joon who is about to meet the cops in a few minutes but he is calm. Sa-ra is a mess and is going through withdrawals. She doesnt remember whether she killed Myeong-oh or even the last time they met. She wonders if she killed him and whether she should admit to using drugs as an excuse for probable murder. Jae-joon hangs up on her and welcomes the detective.

Jae-joon tells the cop that Myeong-oh had failed to show up for work and he was about to fire him. He also shares that Do-young was desperately looking for Myeong-oh before he went missing. He makes it look like Do-young was angry at Myeong-oh and was hunting him down. The detective is curious but he wants to know if Myeong-oh was involved in the drug business. The case is no longer a missing persons case but a criminal case.

As Jae-joon meets the detective, Dong-eun meets with Yeon-jin at her workplace and they go out for coffee. Dong-eun gives Yeon-jin a chance to save herself. She shows Yeon-jin an incident report taken 18yrs ago and asks her to report herself to the police. Yeon-jin says she won’t turn herself in and pretends she is not scared of Dong-eun. She uses harsh words and tells Dong-eun that she will kill her. She is sure that Dong-eun is bluffing or else she would have gone to the police already.

Dong-eun remains steadfast and tells Yeon-jin that her revenge will be harsher and she has been working to make sure Yeon-jin pays. Yeon-jin laughs off the threats and tells her that she should be grateful because she gave Dong-eun a purpose. She takes credit for Dong-eun being a teacher and says she didn’t ruin Dong-eun’s life. According to her, Dong-eun’s life was always a living hell. She finds it funny that someone from such a poor background has the audacity to believe she can find justice or karma.

Dong-eun is not shocked by Yeon-jin’s words. She expected Yeon-jin to mock her and demean her but she wanted to give Yeon-jin one last lifeline thanks to Do-young’s grace. She picks up her bag and leaves the cafe. In this scene, we also learn that Yeon-jin has been burning her assistant with an iron curl too.

Speaking of Do-young, he is still thinking about Jae-joon and the fact that he is Ha Ye Sol’s biological dad. He is angry but he is also worried after learning the police want to speak to him about Myeong-oh’s disappearance. His secretary also gives him a USB flash drive left behind by Myeong-oh.  The flash drive is evidence of Yeon-jin’s affair with Jae-joon and as he drives home he throws it away. He gets home and he has an epiphany as he looks at their closet.

Concurrently, Dong-eun returns home and finds Yeo-jung finishing up the tent she ordered. She is moved that he went through the trouble to make the tent cosy and warm. No one has ever done that for her. Yeo-jung also tries to set up a romantic dinner for them but Dong-eun feels self-conscious when he offers to serenade her. Dong-eun thanks him for letting her stay with him and promises to do her part in paying the bills around the house.

In the meantime, Sa-ra, Yeon-jin, Jae-joon and Hye-jeong meet to discuss Myeong-oh police case.  Yeon-jin points out it is not time for them to fight but to get together and deal with Dong-eun.

She shows them the incident report Dong-eun gave her, but Sa-ra couldn’t care less about Dong-eun and claism that it’s Yeon-jin’s problem. She wants to know if Myeong-oh asked about So-hee and they all confess that he did. Hye-jeong says that she almost told him that Yeon-jin was the one who asked her to go to the abandoned building the day So-hee died.

Yeon-jin points out that they were all in agreement to harm So-hee because her report led to them being investigated at the time. Hye-jeong is surprised to hear that Yeon-jin wants all of them to take the blame. At the time, Yeon-jin had lied and given Jae-joon as her alibi. Jae-joon remembers what the lawyer told him. He begins to wonder if he should threaten to recall his statement and force Yeon-jin to divorce Do-young.

Sa-ra wants to confess that Yeon-jin is the one that killed So-hee. In a flashback, we see Yeon-jin pushing So-hee to her death and So-hee pulling her name tag in the struggle. Yeon-jin leaves angry after seeing her friends are willing to turn against her. She calls the corrupt detective that handled So-hee’s case and asks about the name tag.

It turns out that the detective, Shin Yeong-jun, had the name tag in the evidence that Dong-eun sent anonymously, and he gave it to Yeon-jin’s mom. Yeon-jin’s mom then kept the nametag in a safety deposit box. At the time, Dong-eun naively believed that the name tag would force the police to investigate the case. Sadly, the lead detective was under Yeon-jin’s mom’s payroll.

Back in the present. Dong-eun meets with the detective handling Myeong-oh’s case and he doesn’t believe Yeon-jin may be involved. He warns Dong-eun to be careful about what she says given that she has no evidence and might be sued for defamation. Upon hearing this, Dong-eun refuses to give him more info about Myeong-oh.

Later, Yeon-jin meets with Shin Yeong-jun and he assures him that the name tag is long destroyed by her mom. He also informs her about the car Dong-eun bought and gave to her accomplice, Hyun -nam who is still dealing with her abusive husband.  This time her husband beat their daughter and she is hoping that Dong-eun will be successful in sending her daughter to the US to study. Dong-eun is working on the papers because she wants Sun-a to be long gone before they deal with her dad.

In the meantime, Yeo-jung also meets his mom and tells her of his plans to help Dong-eun, the woman he loves. His mom promises to be supportive and advises him to keep his plans on the down low.  Dong-eun also meets with her former teacher who helped her and picks up  So-hee’s incident report. She got them back in 2011 from So-hee’s mom who begged her to help find justice for her daughter. According to the report, So-hee was pregnant when she died. Who is the father?

Dong-eun later goes back to her house and takes down the photos. She notes that a photo is missing. She remembers her phone call with Myeong-oh where he claimed to be innocent. She reminded him that he is not innocent when it comes to So-hee, he also has blood on his hands. Was he responsible for So-hee’s pregnancy?

It is revealed that after his call to Dong-eun, Myeong-oh made a call to Yeon-jin who accepted to meet him at 11pm the night he disappeared. (She was wearing green heels on this day as well.) The episode ends with Hyun-nam being confronted by Yeon-jin.

The Episode Review

This episode marks phase 2 of Dong-eun’s revenge plan. We are yet to see the confrontation between Do-young and Yeon-jin now that Do-young is sure that Jae-joon is Ha Ye Sol’s dad. Do-young is not one to act recklessly out of anger, and he is most probably waiting for a DNA test before confronting Yeon-jin. He is also focused on appearances; he might not divorce her and opt to continue this façade of a marriage. He is probably going to weigh his options before making his next move.

It is unclear why Yeon-jin’s mom kept the name tag safe instead of destroying it. What are her plans? We can’t put it past her to use it to threaten Yeon-jin to stay in line. She is not a good mother so it is not like she is going to start now. Chances are, she kept it to serve her purposes and not because she loves Yeon-jin.

I think Dong-eun is starting to like Yeo-jung though. This is not part of her meticulous plan, what happens when feelings begin to blossom further and threaten her revenge plan? We have only seen her smile about three times, twice with Yeo-jung and once with Hyun-nam.

I am curious about Yeon-jin’s conversation with Hyun-nam. Let us see what they discussed in the next episode!