Listen I am on my rewatch of The Glory and aside from being madly in love with both the romantic and unhinged nature of Joo Yeo Jeong, The absolute disparity between the good and bad parents in this show is killing me.
Dong-Eun’s mom? Absolute piece of trash with no class.
Yeon-Jin’s mom? Karen who thinks money and power can buy you anything.
Yeo-Jeong’s mom? Absolutely 100% supportive, but not stupid and committed to doing the right thing.
Kang Hyeon-Nam? The baddest bitch alive, willing to do anything to save her daughter even if it means endangering herself.
And then you have the disparity between Jae Jun and Do-Hyeong, who both cared about Ye-Sol. Jae Jun only cared about her when it was convenient for him and wanted her not because he truly loved her but because he wanted to possess her. Meanwhile, you have Do-Hyeong who is constantly looking out for Ye-Sol’s best interests even though he isn’t biologically related to her.
NOT ONLY THAT, but you also have Yeo-Jeong’s Dad, who was murdered by a patient while doing what he thought was right by saving him, unintentionally starting his son on the path to revenge.
And like yeah The Glory’s main focus is revenge but it’s also an exquisite commentary on how we pass down, inherit, come to terms with, and outright prevent generational trauma from our parents. It also shows how we can choose to do better or worse than they did based on the relationships we create or take for granted.
Idk man, as a generational trauma cycle breaker myself and mom of an (adopted adult) daughter that also experienced so much of that, this show gets to me on a parenting level in a way I can’t even begin to describe.
(Also Do-Yeong’s relationship with Ye-Sol makes me cry in the best way 🥹)
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My Demon: Inspiration or Plagiarism?
Guardian Goblin...Guardian Mountain God...Guardian Demon
In the latest drama, "My Demon," we're introduced to a guardian demon. However, as I delved into the series, a sense of déjà vu crept in. Was this guardian demon truly distinct, or did he bear striking similarities to others we've seen before?
Questions about plagiarism first emerged when Gu Won's death scene in "My Demon" closely resembled that of Kim Shin's death scene in "Goblin". Many dismissed the notion that the writer had plagiarized the scene, citing the cinematographer had worked on both "Goblin" and "My Demon".
However, I believe the issue of plagiarism extended beyond cinematography; from the characterization of the male lead to the overall concepts, "My Demon" seemed almost identical to well-known fantasy kdramas, echoing themes, lines, and scenes from its predecessors. The writer, Choi Ah Il, appeared to borrow extensively from existing works, crossing the line between inspiration and outright plagiarism.
Gu Won, the guardian demon, was a mishmash of characters from various supernatural dramas. His personality, appearance, and even punishment seemed like something taken right out of "Goblin", "Tale of the Nine-Tailed", and "Doom at Your Service." Beyond his Thanos-like finger snap and cross tattoo, there was very little that made him unique.
For a writer who criticized goblins, nail-tailed foxes, grim reapers, and vampires, Choi Ah Il failed to differentiate her demon. Gu Won could've been a distinctive supernatural character with his own unique backstory or even a different style, but instead, he felt like a Frankenstein creation of well-established supernatural creatures. Ultimately, I was left to wonder if the writer or even Gu Won himself knew who he really was.
In my field, we constantly aim to create innovative and original ideas. Therefore, I understand the fear that can come with breaking new ground. For Choi Ah Il's first fantasy drama, the fear of her original ideas not being good enough might have led her to heavily rely on existing works.
My advice to Choi Ah Il is to have more confidence in both herself and her ideas. When we put our entire heart and soul into our work, our sincerity and passion will shine through, making them more likely to be appreciated by others. We should embrace all of our "crazy" ideas instead of plagiarizing others' work. Even if our idea doesn't work out, at least we know we gave it our all. And this, to me, is infinitely more fulfilling than imitating others.
So in conclusion, "My Demon" had the potential to be a great fantasy drama, but it seemed to copy too much from others' works. Whether it's an issue of inspiration or outright plagiarism, the drama left me wondering what ideas truly belonged to Choi Ah Il. As viewers, we deserve to experience a writer's unique voice, not a patchwork of borrowed elements hastily stitched together. Going forward, I'll probably give this writer one more chance to improve her scriptwriting. I must add that if it weren't for the great cast and their impeccable acting and adlibs, this drama would've been doomed due to its messy plot and lack of true originality.
Below are some scenes and concepts from other shows and movies that are nearly identical to the ones in "My Demon". I'll let you decide for yourself if you think the writer of "My Demon" was inspired by other's works or simply plagiarized them.
(Note: I might add more later, but it's a lot of work to go through each show and screenshot everything and then compile them in a collage)
p.s. I'll post my review, thoughts, and analysis for Eps 15-16 in a few days!
Goblin The Great and Lonely God
Hooded supernatural
2. Objects that represent the end of a human's journey...clocks instead of tea cups
3. The mother has complications with her daughter's birth and is saved by a supernatural being
4. In the past, the FL dies, ML kills a bunch of people, and ML ends his life. ML has memories of his past sins erased. As punishment, ML is turned into a grim reaper character.
Others:
The quote Madam Ju said in Ep 3 about plants and seeds was similar to the one said by Ji Tak in "Goblin": Humans have four lives. A life of planting seeds, a life of watering seeds, a life of harvesting, and a life of using the harvests.
The ML's had blamed God for all the obstacles in their lives and when they finally got a chance to talk to God, God told them they didn't have all the anwers to their questions and that they didn't know everything similar to God in MD.
The FL dies at the peak of her happiness similar to how in MD, the FL's parents died at the peak of her happiness.
The FL in "Goblin" was the key to ending the ML's life as an immortal just like how in MD, the FL was the key to making the ML human.
Tale of the Nine Tailed
Supernatural ML has an obsession with desserts
2. FL died in the past to save the ML
3. FL's parents is involved in a car accident on FL's birthday (9th birthday in TOTNT and 10th birthday in MD)
4. Wishes Granted By The Devils
5. Wishes and Exploiting Other's Misfortunes to Survive
6. FL wears object and remembers tragic past life
7. Personal Hell is being in a world without the FL
8. Working for the Divine as Their Best Performer
9. Mother-like Figure is a Goddess
10. Wearing Two Wedding Rings
Others:
In "Tale of the Nine Tailed," The Almighty granted Nine-Tailed Foxes or Gumihos various powers, but they were bound by one rule: they must fulfill their end of the deal/contract with humans or face death. This rule aimed to prevent Gumihos from murdering humankind. Similarly, in "My Demon," Gu Won faced a similar fate. If he didn't make deals with humans, he would die. Additionally, if Gu Won murdered humans, he would also face death. In both cases, rules and contracts were established to prevent supernatural beings endowed with god-like powers from killing humans.
The concept of wanting to live or die together in TOTNT was also present in MD
In TOTNT, the FL tried to protect the ML, but ended up dying. In the present, the ML made it a mission to protect the FL to prevent the same tragic fate from happening. ML ended up saving the FL in present but died in the process...and then ML came back to life just like in MD.
ML in TOTNT came back to life/was reincarnated as a mortal human with Gumiho powers similar to how after Gu Won came back to life, he was a human with demon powers.
Twilight
Supernatural leaves human because they hates their monstrous nature
2. Supernatural watches their human sleep
3. Human is kidnapped to draw out supernatural ML
4. Human gets a leg injury during kidnapping
Others:
Gu Won played "Clair de lune" just like Edward did in Twilight
Doom At Your Service
Listening to others' wishes and meeting a wisher that would change their fate
2. Beginning of a new journey filled with hand-holding, bubbles, and water
3. Necessaity of holding hands/wrist to recharge
4. Creating a dream of the FL's deepest desire
5. Celebrating a supernatural's birthday
Others:
One of the major themes in DAYS was choices just like in MD
Hotel Del Luna
Fireflies by the lake
Others:
FL's name was Man Wol (means "Full Moon") in HDL and FL's name in MD was Wol Sim (means "Moon Heart")
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My thoughts on The Glory
[Spoilers Below]
The editing style was hit and miss for me. See I do like the cutting away from a scene at the right moment, and then revealing the rest of the scene at a later time. It keeps things interesting. But the problem is they did it too often! To the point where I kinda want someone to edit the whole show into chronological order so that they can make it clear when something happened. I mean all I really know for sure is that Myeong-O was murdered on October 19th at around 11:20pm because they kept going back to it lol.
The final episode was a bit of a mess. They can cut out that flashback reveal of the old land lady and young Dong-Eun, and replace it with much needed final shots of the three still-living members of the shitheads. I want a where are they now scene! I needed a scene of Sa-Ra, in prison either sober from drugs finally feeling shit and regretful OR now in prison more drugged up than ever before! Hye-Jeong, now unable to talk, struggles to find work, to communicate, is unable to bag a rich man. And lastly Yeon-Jin...Don't call me sadistic but I kinda wanted to see a violent scene of Yeon-Jin in prison where a group of women (preferably five) gang up on her and force her hand into boiling hot cooking oil or something. Is that crazy? idk it just felt like the final scene of her in prison wasn't enough! I need to see her skin burn!! ....uh anyway.
What I find frustrating, is that I don't know where Dong-Eun's plans and machinations end and the on-the-fly choices of the shitheads begins. It's like...what actually was the point of her becoming a teacher? Why did she reveal herself to the shitheads at the school? Why did it feel like she barely did anything? I guess the answer is 'to keep her hands clean' but idk, it feels wishy washy. Like what would she have done if Jae-Joon actually didn't give a shit that Ye-Sol was his daughter? She told Sa-Ra to fill up a bag full of cash but didn't really give a threatening reason why, Sa-Ra doesn't reeeeaally give a shit about hiding her drug problem. And WHY didn't the shitheads just KILL Dong-Eun? They were monsters as kids they should act far worse now. They're rich enough to hire hitmen ya know? Problem solved. It frustrated me because she revealed herself, openly told them that she was going to destroy them, and they DIDN'T ban together to destroy her first? They're shitheads but do they really have shit for brains??
I did like the reveal of Dong-Eun specifically targeting Yeo-Jeong all those years back, because of his family connection to the hospital where So-Hee's body was. I liked it bc a lot of times during Part 2, his rich people privilege and family connection really helped and I kept thinking "well isnt this convenient" or "its pretty lucky that he's on your side", but as it turns out; it wasn't convenient! It wasn't luck! It was part of her far-fetched "plan". Though it's pretty dang lucky that he was so devoted to her, before she even really did anything.
Dong-Eun and Yeo-Jeong have zero chemistry idgaf. Her and Do-Yeong on the other hand! Now that was chemistry! Now regarding Do-Yeong, it didn't sit well with me that Do-Yeong was the one who murdered Jae-Joon. It makes sense to protect Ye-Sol but ultimately it wasn't really in his character to do that. I wish Ye-Sol all the best and that she seeks therapy.
Also Dong-Eun's mother? Tragic, very sad, but honestly she should've taken care of her mother years ago. She didn't need to do much to get her into an institution.
Despite all my critiques, I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. It takes a lot for me to sit through k-dramas, and this one was top quality binge worthy
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