Yet, the theatrical extraterrestrial flourishes are not what make this drama so incredibly groundbreaking. Its true essence is brought forth in the central representation of a potential WLW relationship, correlating queerness with, quite literally, living in a whole different world. However, this subtext does not serve to overpower the fascinating theme of alien abductions but instead, underlines it. “Glitch” is food for thought, and we have been well-fed. Spoiler Alert! T/W: Suicide. For those who might not know, “Glitch” is Netflix’s latest original offering from South Korea that tells the story of Hong JiHyo (Jeon YeoBeen), an ordinary woman who is plagued by the vision of aliens in baseball helmets but believes them to be hallucinations, and Huh BoRa, a content creator and alien enthusiast who’s chasing her next big story. BoRa also happens to be JiHyo’s long-lost friend but more on that later. When JiHyo’s boyfriend SiGuk (Lee DongHwi) suddenly goes missing, JiHyo is convinced that it was the doing of aliens. She takes to the internet, as one does, to try and look for instances of alien abductions in discussion forums and comes across “Moonhole”, a user with a logo that is eerily similar to the aliens she can see. Shaken by the assumption that she was not the only one seeing these beings, JiHyo attempts to ask Moonhole for help in finding SiGuk, only to discover that it is BoRa. BoRa is quick to recognize JiHyo, but JiHyo’s memory of BoRa is mostly hazy, which is strange, especially when we find out how meaningful their time together was as children. In particular, one night the two spent in their secret hideaway van in a field of reeds is the central plot point in the drama. That night, JiHyo thinks BoRa made her sniff glue, because of which she passed out and was abandoned in an unconscious state for 3 days. She harbors resentment against BoRa for doing that, but the latter has a different story to tell. JiHyo’s oblivion is crucial to understanding her behavior, motivations, and worldview, and this fact is reinstated by JiHyo’s therapist Ma HyungWoo (Kim NamHee). From the very beginning, even unbeknownst to her, JiHyo struggles to revive this core memory, and it ultimately proves to be the key to her true identity. BoRa jogs JiHyo’s memory, filling up just enough blanks to re-introduce herself but not enough to untangle the knot that has been building up inside her over time, owing to the lapse. She realizes that the aliens she has been seeing came from her own imagination mixed with BoRa’s from back in middle school when they spent the summer of their youth looking for UFOs. The reason why they appear that way is because of what BoRa explains as “screen image”, which is the human brain’s tendency to replace a particularly shocking image with something more acceptable. As such, while the real form of the aliens is something else entirely, JiHyo’s brain perceives them as her own idea of aliens. Soon, JiHyo finds herself lured into BoRa’s world of conspiracy theories, even when she desperately wants to believe that they’re not real. She is handed a contract, whereby BoRa will help JiHyo find SiGuk, and in turn, JiHyo must allow BoRa to document the process for her channel. They reach an agreement and launch an investigation, but things take an uncanny turn when they’re mired in the activities of a cult that goes by the name of “Divine Light Church”. Now, cults are quite commonplace in South Korea, so the creators were very well-placed to sketch the perfectly unnerving portrait of one, in all its ruinous glory, and needless to say, they delivered with merit. The “Holy Mother” of the Church, Back YoonSeo (Son Sook), was also a survivor of an alien abduction, or so she believed. Her husband, the Father of the Church, Moon HyungTae (Kim MyungGon), used to be an intern at the psychiatric hospital where she was admitted and was intrigued by her accounts. Ultimately, he took a romantic interest in her, and the couple established the Divine Light Church, believing UFOs and aliens to be their “gods” - the “Father Light”, as they would say. However, what Moon HyungTae believed to be the truth was virtually impossible to prove. So, as the days passed and the Church became larger than life, the only way out for him was to lead everyone to a “holy” death, so that they may abandon their “carbon bodies” and take on the form of light. Upon further inquiry, JiHyo and BoRa discovered that the Divine Light Church was involved in some serious crimes, including a mass elderly suicide, and is planning a second one soon. However, the situation gets infinitely more complicated when the Holy Mother paints a portrait of JiHyo, and the believers hail her as their Messiah. She is captured, tortured, and has surgical procedures performed on her, all in the name of “religion” until BoRa rescues her with the help of a fellow UFO buff/church insider Direct Kim (Ko ChangSeok), whose daughter is a member of the New Beginnings Peace Corps under the Divine Light Church. JiHyo reaches out to Ma HyungWoo, now more certain than ever that she must recover her memory from that night. It is here that she finds out that she was abducted by aliens and returned with no recollection of the event whatsoever. BoRa reveals that she knew this all along and that even when she tried to tell her, JiHyo rejected her rather violently, causing them to drift apart. Back in the Divine Light Church, with the Messiah gone, Moon HyungTae must pacify the believers, and so, he decides to hold a memorial for her, declaring that she has passed away. JiHyo, however, has other plans. She had been led to believe that the chip that the aliens had planted inside her head was a “gospel” that has been taken away from her. To get it back, she marches into New Hope Psychiatric Hospital, where her “funeral” is being held, and announces that she has risen from the dead and must take her gospel back. However, that backfires when she is manipulated, poisoned and strapped to a fancy contraption so that she can summon the Father Light and lead the believers into killing themselves, thus making Moon HyungTae’s plan succeed. Not on BoRa’s watch. In an extraordinary sequence, BoRa and her UFO crew - Captain Prince, Cho Phillip, and DongHyuk get to JiHyo just in time to see her denounce the Divine Light Church and reveal that it has all been a scam all along. When the believers turn on her, BoRa rushes to her aid to set her free, and they almost escape before a sudden power cut hits the city. Then comes the moment of truth. An actual UFO, which we’re made to think was summoned by the Holy Mother, appears - bright, beautiful, and Lovecraftian. As everyone watches, stunned, JiHyo and BoRa are abducted, or perhaps, it would be more appropriate to say saved. The next thing we see is a bright light and an infinite white space with JiHyo and BoRa floating mid-air like yin and yang. An octopus-like creature swims by, which is a clever allusion to the fact that octopi are often called the aliens that live among us. However, this vision does disillusion us to an extent, perhaps because it isn’t what we expected. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if a million people watch this drama, each one will have a different idea of what the alien could look like. It might have been a more impactful creative decision to let them remain unseen and elusive, but that is most definitely a subjective opinion. This alien then removes the real “chip” from JiHyo’s head and drops them back home on Earth. Meanwhile, Direct Kim has murdered Moon HyungTae for his atrocities and for taking his daughter away from him. He goes to jail, and life goes back to normal for the rest. JiHyo and SiGuk break up for good, she moves out of her parents’ house and asks BoRa to move in with her. If you were wondering where SiGuk came from after disappearing, he too, was abducted and showed up in Thailand. While JiHyo’s visions stopped because her chip was removed, SiGuk’s visions started, confirming the truth of his abduction. Throughout the runtime, “Glitch” keeps making us oscillate between believing and not believing. We see our protagonist encountering aliens, crop circles, and more, but because she herself does not want to believe, we’re left confused too. One minute, you think she is hallucinating, but when she thinks she is, you are immediately inclined to infer otherwise. Jeon YeoBeen does such a marvelous job at expressing this vacillation through an outer conviction and inner hesitation that it makes the viewer feel her emotions in their bones. This is absolutely the greatest performance of the actress’ illustrious career, and there are simply no two ways about it. In comes BoRa, with her feisty confidence and unwavering faith - JiHyo’s antithesis. NaNa is spectacular in this role, and it bears repetition. She is stellar, evocative, powerful - a force of nature, and we cannot help but bow to her splendor. This is a dream team that will go down in K-Drama history as one of the most legendary of all time. The drama itself has a moderate pacing that is just right - not too fast, not too slow. The secondary characters are colorful and highly essential to the narrative, although it is worth noting that the most gripping characters are female. While this has been a self-evident recap of the drama so far, it would be a disservice not to highlight a metaphor that pervades the story - that of self-acceptance. Taking a deeper look into the plot structure, there are multiple instances that suggest that JiHyo’s struggle with aliens is, in reality, one with her own identity. Her fascination with UFOs, thus, is an escape from her reality. So, when she meets BoRa that night after witnessing her father in a compromising position with her stepmother, she is already desperate to escape the situation. They meet in the field of reeds, a symbol for heaven on Earth, and there she finds idyllic happiness with BoRa by her side. BoRa is the only one who understands her and accepts her as she is, even encouraging her in her escape. After a sip of alcohol, JiHyo is frantic in her search for aliens, and she breaks out in tears. BoRa comforts her, and they fall asleep in each other’s arms. Later that night, she walks out to the field to make another attempt at having a close encounter, and it so happens that she succeeds. However, when she wakes up, she is no longer herself. One can interpret this as an acute awareness of society’s rejection of queerness forcing one to lock themselves away and put on a mask. BoRa’s thwarted attempt at reconciliation is painful not only for her but also for JiHyo. The scene where we see JiHyo slapping BoRa feels coerced, almost as if JiHyo’s actions do not concur with her will. Note that JiHyo is abducted when she is at the most vulnerable place in her life, and so is SiGuk, after JiHyo breaks up with him. It is also then that JiHyo’s visions get more and more horrific and unavoidable, brought on by SiGuk’s persistence about moving in with her. She feels different, and she knows she is, not just because she can “see aliens” but for deeper, more human reasons. Still, she must ignore the fact in order to live a “normal” life. The pressure of a heteronormative society eats away at her, and her authentic, repressed self demands attention. As if fate was at play, SiGuk’s abduction gives JiHyo a reason to revisit her past and find the missing puzzle piece that she needs to feel complete - BoRa. JiHyo wanted nothing more than to escape from her “stable” life, and the universe heard her loud and clear. Meeting BoRa again forces JiHyo to face herself and their eventual reunion, finally puts an end to her torment. JiHyo even mentions outright that her hallucinations stopped after she met BoRa again. Only when they reach the point of pure love and acceptance together, do they finally find peace of mind. JiHyo asks BoRa to move in with her, and they live happily ever after. What did you think of “Glitch”? Share your thoughts with Kpopmap in the comments section down below! Kpopmap Reviews: Netflix’s Latest Original “The Sound Of Magic” Is A Modern Fairy Tale For The Aching Soul KDRAMA STORIES|May 10, 2022
