‘The Glory’ Kim Eun-sook, the unfinished ‘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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I thought it would be 'glory' as the title suggests, but it did not reach 'glory' in the end.

The glorious ending of 'Yongdu Yongmi', which Part 2 of the Netflix series 'The Glory' (written by Kim Eun-sook, directed by Ahn Gil-ho) dreamed of, was left unfinished due to the kissing scene between Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) and Joo Yeo-jeong (Lee Do-hyun).

In the final episode of 'The Glory', Moon Dong-eun, who put an end to all revenge, went to see the sea with Joo Yeo-jeong and left without saying a proper goodbye, saying, "This is the end." After some time, Dong-eun reappeared in front of Yeo-jeong, and Yeo-jeong, who felt emptiness and loss while looking at the checkerboard every day, poured out her resentment, saying, “Why did you leave me again?” Dong-eun said that he would give 'revenge tutoring' to Yeo-jung, who had not been able to take revenge well, and said, "Now it's up to you to catch the black man. I will take the initiative," and then approached her and kissed her.

It was the moment when the flow of ‘The Glory’ completely broke. He suddenly appears to Yeojeong, who is suffering from a seething desire for revenge, and gives him an unexpected kiss. Immersion was completely broken. This kissing scene felt like it was copied from a scene from writer Kim Eun-sook's previous romantic comedy, with only the dialogue being different. It was a kissing scene that wouldn't have been out of place even if it was depicted in a narrative where a man and woman in love reunite after a long time and confirm their love.

The common thread between Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong is ‘victim’ and ‘revenge.’ The sudden kissing scene between the two people, who had started and maintained a relationship under the category of 'victims' solidarity', was embarrassing. Before the kissing scene, the two people's skinship was just a hug, which was more like comrades than lovers. Even if Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong had deep romantic feelings for each other in their hearts, the development of the two people meeting after a long time kissing and reestablishing their relationship as perfect lovers was not natural.

Previously, in the behind-the-scenes commentary video for Part 1 of 'The Glory', writer Kim Eun-sook tried to include a kissing scene in relation to the couple Moon Dong-eun and Joo Yeo-jeong, saying, "If the director didn't stop me, the ending of part 4 will be a kissing scene. It's the national rule," but the production staff opposed it. He said he changed his mind. He commented, “Thanks to that, I think we came up with the coolest couple out of all the couples I’ve written.”

At the time, in response to the comment, there was a comment that writer Kim, who is well-versed in the romantic comedy genre, abandoned the rules of his major for success and improved his constitution to suit the genre. It is unfortunate why writer Kim Eun-sook, who broke national rules and was well-received for Part 1, was unable to avoid the same mistakes in Part 2.

Writer Kim Eun-sook could not abandon the kiss scene. The narrative of the strong couple relationship between Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong was confined within the setting of ‘kiss’. Because of this, there has been no room for viewers to interpret and imagine how much the two people understand each other's pain and support each other to escape from the pain of the past. The hearts of this couple, who are probably in love with more than just love, were expressed in a one-dimensional setting called a kiss.

Just as a man's well-ironed shirt is his wife's 'love' and a mother's mismatched shoes are 'tears' as she searches for her lost child, I wonder what it would have been like if Dong-eun and Yeo-jeong's relationship had been portrayed in a setting other than a kiss.

For a writer, 'glory' is not walking down the previous path again, but moving forward on a new or different path. The new glory that came to Kim Eun-sook, who followed up her previous glory, was not completed.

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