Kim Eun Sook, who failed with “The King: Eternal Monarch”, soars again thanks to “The Glory”
Famous screenwriter Kim Eun Sook decided to break her K-drama formula and built her wings anew with “The Glory”.
Screenwriter Kim Eun Sook has kept her top spot for a long time, with notable works including “Lovers in Paris” (2004), “Secret Garden” (2010), “Descendants of the Sun” (2016), “Goblin” (2016), “Mr. Sunshine” (2018), and so on. On top of this, Kim Eun Sook always shows her bold presence in each and every work, with “Mr. Sunshine” excellently integrating Kim Eun Sook’s unique soft romantic comedy into its historical background and message, embracing both the writer’ workability and popularity.
However, the great success of “Mr. Sunshine” is followed by “The King: Eternal Monarch“,which turned high expectations into disappointment. In particular, the drama was shrouded in controversies related to sexual harassment, Japanese culture, and PPL. However, the most fatal element lies in the “collapsed” storyline.
“The King: Eternal Monarch” took on a fantasy setting that goes back and forth between parallel worlds. However, netizens found this setting hard to understand and even ridiculous. The story development was also said to be “nonsensical”, with some even sarcastically questioning whether the script was truly written by Kim Eun Sook of “Mr. Sunshine”.
To many, it seems as though Kim Eun Sook lost balance between her desire and the burden of continuing the previous work’s reputation. It may also be because “The King: Eternal Monarch” starred Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun – two highly popular actors, received a production budget of over 32 billion won, and got a top-class production team, so Kim Eun Sook decided to take a more relaxed approach with the drama.
Writer Kim Eun Sook, who lost her pride like that, returned with the Netflix series “The Glory” after 3 years. The writer’s white hair seemed to represent her agony, but it seems that the changed Kim Eun Sook was very proud. She set out to embrace the subject of “school violence” after hearing about it from her daughter in second year of highschool.
In “The Glory”, Kim Eun Sook destroyed her own box office formula that previously worked and tackled a new trend. Instead of catering to women’s romance and fantasy, she sought a challenge by shedding light on the darker issues. She solidly builds up the characters and drives viewers into the world of “The Glory” at once, introducing extremely speedy development.
The dialogue, which has always been Kim Eun Sook’s strength, allowed her to breathe freely for “The Glory”, even sometimes arousing a sense of exhilaration. Writer Kim Eun Sook’s penmanship was a major reason why the public was able to immerse themselves in “The Glory”. In addition, Kim Eun Sook, an excellent storyteller, naturally understands what kind of setting appeals to viewers, regardless of her genre.
However, since revenge is not Kim’s major genre, Season 1 of “The Glory” follows the basic K-drama revenge formula without any special features. The relationship between Moon Dong Eun (Song Hye Kyo) and Joo Yeo Jeong (Lee Do- Hun) also follows the classic “Cinderella complex” without fail, though it seems that this may change and evolve, depending on how the two characters will develop in Season 2.
It has never been easy to stand up again after facing failure, yet Kim Eun Sook overcame the poor reception of “The King: Eternal Monarch” and soared again with “The Glory”.
Source: Naver
