Kim Eun-sook soars with wings of glory with ‘The Glory’

≪Choi Ji-ye’s Epilogue≫
Ten Asia reporter Choi Ji-ye objectively and keenly points out events that have occurred throughout the entertainment industry every Tuesday. We carefully analyze the ‘glitch’ you missed from a reporter’s perspective.

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Maintaining the summit is more difficult than reaching the summit. This is because the heart is light when climbing, but heavy when protecting. You have to receive constant external attention and attention, and at the same time, you have to do it proudly even in the loneliness and burden that comes with it.

Writer Kim Eun-sook maintained her top spot for a long time. Several works including ‘Lovers in Paris’ (2004), ‘Secret Garden’ (2010), ‘Descendants of the Sun’ (2016), ‘Lonely and Brilliant God-Goblin’ (2016), and ‘Mr. Sunshine’ (2018). Just by listing them, you can immediately recognize Kim's significant presence. Among these, 'Mr. Sunshine' combines writer Kim Eun-sook's unique soft romantic comedy with historical background and message, capturing both artistic value and popularity at the same time.

Writer Kim Eun-sook, who made a leap forward with 'Mr. Sunshine', collapsed in her next work, 'The King: Eternal Monarch' (2020, hereinafter 'The King'). 'The King' turned the high expectations raised by 'Mr. Sunshine' into much disappointment. 'The King' had a series of controversies, including sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior, and PPL. But what was most fatal was the broken story line.

It was a fantasy setting that went back and forth between parallel worlds, but it was criticized for being difficult to understand and lacking in probability. Viewers were very disappointed as the difficult setting was coupled with a development that made no sense. Some even sarcastically questioned whether the script was written by Kim Eun-sook, the writer of 'Mr. Sunshine'.

Personally, I think writer Kim lost the balance between the greed and burden of maintaining the reputation of his previous work. It may have been the fault of a complacent approach that followed a formula that had all the best conditions, including two box-office actors Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun, a production cost of over 32 billion won, and a top-class production team.

Writer Kim Eun-sook, who had her pride crushed, returned after three years with the Netflix series ‘The Glory’. Writer Kim's gray hair seemed to represent his agony. The white-haired writer Kim Eun-sook was extremely proud. Kim Eun-sook, who learned the subject of 'school violence' from her second-year high school daughter who shouted, 'Mom, when was Kim Eun-sook?' completely changed her constitution.

He destroyed his own success formula that had previously worked and read new trends. Kim Eun-sook, who touched on women's romance and fantasy, attempted to challenge herself by shedding light on the dark problems of the times. The characters were built up solidly and the plot unfolded quickly, drawing viewers into the world of ‘The Glory’ at once.

Kim Eun-sook's special strength, wordplay, allowed her to catch her breath during the play, and at times even created a refreshing feeling. Writer Kim Eun-sook's writing skills were largely responsible for the public's immersion in 'The Glory' and the use of the lines in the play as if they were catchphrases. Also, Kim Eun-sook, an excellent storyteller, had an animalistic grasp of what kind of setting would appeal to viewers, regardless of the genre. This applies to settings such as red-green color blindness or baduk.

However, since revenge is not writer Kim's specialty genre, Part 1 follows the tone of existing revenge dramas without any special features. The relationship between Moon Dong-eun (played by Song Hye-kyo) and Joo Yeo-jeong (played by Lee Do-hyun) also follows the 'Cinderella complex', and it seems that the evaluation of this may change depending on how the two people's character structure develops in Part 2.

There is a saying, ‘Falling things have no wings.’ This phrase expresses how difficult it is to turn a fall into an emergency. Writer Kim Eun-sook overcame the failure of 'The King' and soared again with 'The Glory'. The return of artist Kim, who defied gravity and recreated his glory, is both welcome and surprising.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr