Lee Sa-ra

Lee Sa-ra
General information
Full name	Lee Sa-ra
Gender	♀ Female
Personal information
Education	Sunghan High School (2003-2005)
Occupation	Artist
Residence	Seoul, South Korea
Family	Pastor Lee Gil-seong (father) Unnamed mother
Friends	Park Yeon-jin Jeon Jae-jun Choi Hye-jeong Son Myeong-o
Romance(s)	Son Myeong-o (slept together)
Enemies	Moon Dong-eun
Series/Movie information
Series	The Glory
Portrayed by	Kim Hieora

Lee Sa-ra (Korean: 이사라) is a supporting antagonist in the Korean drama series The Glory. She is portrayed by Kim Hieora.

Biography

Lee Sa-ra was born to a wealthy and upstanding family. Her parents were held in high regard as leaders of the local church. While her father was tyrannical, her mother was overly lenient and would excuse all bad behaviour as long as their social image remained clean. Teenage Sa-ra dutifully but begrudgingly partook in church activities on her parents’ command. Her father threatened to destroy her studio if she didn’t comply to his wishes.

Sa-ra was a skilled artist since a young age, filling her studio with multiple large canvas paintings by the time she was in high school. She developed a substance addiction problem early, starting out with cough medication like Pan Cold and inhalants like glue. Her desperation to escape the drudgery of real life escalated to harder drugs in adulthood.

In high school, Lee Sa-ra and her friend group bullied a succession of girls including Moon Dong-eun. They burned, assaulted and mocked her. Sa-ra revelled in their humiliation as an outlet and didn’t sympathise with them because she viewed the poorer folk as so far inferior. When she was summoned by the police on Dong-eun’s complaint, her mother collected her and simply said that things would be okay if the kids could hug it out. This attitude that any sin could be forgiven with minimal atonement along with her family’s hypocritical ways of embezzlement and tax evasion while putting up a pious front led to Sa-ra harbouring a warped view of what constituted ‘good people’ and contributed to her being so flippant about her own actions for years to come.

Now, as an adult, Sa-ra is a painter like she aspired to be in her teens. She is self-indulgent and chaotic, often buying drugs from her old friend from high school, Son Myeong-o, but is also more voluntarily religious.

Sa-ra has remained single for the duration of the show but was forced by Myeong-o to perform sexual favours on him when she was high and desperate for more drugs. Keeping her aloof and cool attitude intact, Sa-ra doesn’t let anyone know how these assaults affected her until she has flashbacks during a bad trip.

In adulthood, her relationship with religion becomes more complex. She engages more with the church of her own volition and even Dong-eun finds it difficult to tell if she really believes that her sins have been forgiven. Sa-ra might not know so much as need to believe so.

Sa-ra’s relationship with her parents remains stagnant over the years. Because of her addiction, she’s forced to rely on her parents to nurture and cover for her even as a financially independent adult. In the throes of withdrawal she blames them for everything that’s happened to her. Because of her dependence on them, she still struggles to conform to their expectations, hastily cleaning up traces of her smoking and substance abuse before appearing before them, going as far as stowing a bottle of air freshener in her handbag to banish the smell of cigarette smoke.

Throughout The Glory

Throughout the show, Sa-ra has been shown to be a junkie, chaotic, and indulgent - particularly in drugs - while trying to maintain a good image of herself as the daughter of a pastor. Sa-ra is also known to be violent as when she attacked Hye-jeong for calling the police about Myeong-o's disappearance and how she was the first to begin burning Dong-eun.

Personality

She is volatile and hedonistic, rarely caring for others rather than herself. Despite her very public profile, she has seemingly failed to develop meaningful personal relationships as a result of her addiction and apathy. Now in her thirties, she remains single, with only the same friends as she had in high school for company. Even with these few old companions she has always been flippant and nonchalant, unable or unwillingly to connect with them on any level deeper than having a raucous time with.

Sa-ra is impulsive and disorderly, as well as showing multiple aggressive tendencies towards her friend when provoked. She does not hesitate to attack those who have wronged her and has no qualms about hurting them. She views herself as superior to others, even looking down on queen bee Yeon-jin’s domestic aspirations.

Sa-ra keeps her true feelings carefully guarded. She has the most impervious exterior of all the bullies: while Yeon-jin will show shock and Hye-jeong will show fear and indignation, Sa-ra remains cold. She’s most expressive when she’s amused by her sadistic interests or when she’s vulnerable under the influence.

Sa-ra is also shown to be as classist as Yeon-jin, as evidenced by her willingness to take part in Yeon-jin's bullying of the poor and her harassment of Hye-jeong.

Physical appearance

Sa-ra was a pretty teenager who grew into a gaunt faced and pale looking woman from years of substance abuse. She dresses for comfort though her wardrobe is as expensive as it is shabby. Her characteristic look is her bun secured with a pencil, Partway through the series, Sa-ra bleaches her hair and eyebrows in order to purge all biological evidence of her ever consuming drugs in fear of being apprehended and tested by the police. She also sports pink eyeliner on her waterline.

Appearances

• The Glory

Trivia

• As a teenager, Sa-ra’s art was in a realistic style while her adult works are abstract. The shift in method denotes her deteriorating emotional state and capacity for focus and control.
• Sa-ra is the only girl among the bullies whose future aspirations don’t require a husband’s support (Hye-jeong wanted to be a stewardess to marry rich and Yeon-jin wanted a wealthy husband to maintain her high status).
• Sa-ra’s mother coddled her while her father was strict and commandeering.
• Her father did not support her artistic endeavours.
• While uncaring for religion in her teens, she turns to God as an adult to alleviate the guilt she lives with.
• Her preferred medium is paint on canvas.
• Sa-ra chides Hye-jeong for not knowing that people within her tax bracket give up nearly half of their earnings in taxes. This is hypocritical because Sa-ra’s family accumulated their wealth by evading taxes.
• Sa-ra's father is a pastor, and doesn't want people to know his daughter uses drugs.

Gallery

Lee Sa-ra

Lee Sa-ra

Lee Sa-ra on drugs

Posters

Lee Sa-ra

Moon Dong-eun and Lee Sa-ra

Ha Do-yeong, Park Yeon-jin, Lee Sa-ra and Choi Hye-jeong