Queen of Tears (2024)

Could have been worse...but could have been better. Two Reviews in One!

~~~This post has two reviews...my first review here that I did 6 episodes in:

Netflix labeled Queen of Tears as a comedy....but a comedy this definitely is not. I am enjoying QoT - the acting is excellent and the 'realness' of their struggles with love in marriage seems realistic. Sometimes you don't want a fluffy romcom...sometimes you want a more realistic slice of life. And, sure, we aren't all going to marry a chaebol, but we might have periods in our relationships that are more strained than other times.

I have not finished watching QoT yet, however, I popped into the reviews to give a heads up that Netflix lumps a lot of things into their 'mature themes' warning. While Netflix can't spell out everything you'll encounter while watching a show, watcher beware that not only is terminal cancer a theme, but pregnancy loss appears to be a theme as well. As someone who has dealt with pregnancy loss those scenes of tearing down the nursery and looking at the ultrasound pictures post-loss hit very hard. If I had known it was in the show I would have not watched it right now given recent events in my life.

Will I finish the drama? Absolutely -- despite this I am really enjoying it. I plan to update this review once I'm finished with the episodes. Just spreading the word that the category of 'mature themes' that Netflix puts on its shows covers a myriad of topics and some folks may want to choose the time in which they encounter themes like these.
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And now that I'm finished, here's my final review:

I have such mixed feelings about Queen of Tears.

On the one hand Kim Soo Hyun's and Kim Ji Won's performances were excellent. They were probably the main reason I kept on schedule with this drama. But as much as I enjoyed their acting, I felt this drama suffered a bit during the second half of the show. I was really engaged at the beginning when Hae In was determining her diagnosis and the drama with her internal family politics against Baek Hyun Woo was going on.

(and here's where the spoilers start...)

But then the focus of the show shifted away from her family problems (and the family dynamics being a type of villain which I found really interesting) to traditional villains. And wow -- they sure lathered on the villain-hood really thick. Sinister glances, brooding expressions, evil henchmen...not much subtlety or texture to be found there. But whatever. Despite my whining, I enjoy a good "Muahahaha Villain" at times.

No, what got me was the usage of that tried and true kdrama trope -- the "a main character loses his/her memories" plotline. When Hae In discovered she could get surgery but, oh no! there was a side effect -- I thought, "please be more original than losing your memories...please be more original..." But alas and alack! It was not to be. We spent episodes on the angst of the decision as well as the amnesiac character being easily duped because...well...amnesia. I am so so so burned out on main characters losing their memories.

And once she gets the surgery there's not ONE more mention of cancer. Was she cured? We see her popping pills as part of "her treatment" once...but is she in remission? Did the uncurable cancer get cured? We fast forward from the surgery a month to see her going home to Seoul with no word on whether she's cured or not? Did I miss it? Even if it was one line and I did miss it...this was THE major plot point at the beginning of the drama. It needs some resolution. Obviously she lived a long life from the end of the episode montage, but we literally invested SO many episodes in the "Oh no - Cancer!" and "Will she or won't she get surgery?" only to write it all off the second she loses her memory? And while we're talking about unsatisfying loose strings, what happened to the secret fund? How long did Mol Seul Hee get put away for? How long was Da Hye away for?

Queen of Tears feels a bit like two dramas in one. The first half of the drama was an interesting glimpse into family politics/drama, a relationship in crisis, and how health troubles (including miscarriage) can impact a marriage. The second half of the drama was a little too trope-y for me leaving too many strings hanging around.

Do I recommend it? Sure...it was an enjoyable story despite my gripes over the repeated tropes. Will I rewatch it? Nah...I'm good.

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“Mr. Cinderella”

So why do I saw what I say with the title?

The male lead is the one who’s pulled from the countryside into a lavish lifestyle. It seems like the happy ending in other kdramas. Where typically the girl is the poor one and swept away to a rich life to life with a chaebol.. I’m thinking boys over flowers. This drama starts where those ends, and it’s brilliant. What would their lives be outside of the ending? Likely this would happen.

I’m saying when Jan Di married Gyun Pyo at the end of Boys Over Flowes. Hyun Woo is Jan Di, the poorer one who is thrust into a new life and Hae In is Gyun Pyo, who despite all odds, loves someone that is a ‘nobody’ in terms of status. Gyun Pyro and Jan Di just get engaged at the end (sorry for spoilers), but in this one it’s the life of the two being married. It’s honestly hilarious and makes a lot of sense why Hyun Woo wants a divorce. As I could see that if there were a prequel that it would be something like Boys Over Flower.. now not that toxic, but to a degree. I doubt the writers thought of that connection, but to me it stands. It’s like a more mature version of a ‘happily ever after’ with a rich chaebol lifestyle. Instead it’s not all glitter and sparkles, and is more wanting your old life back because you can’t keep up with this one. I mean come on now, that’s so smart and I’ve always wanted to see what a happily ever after is like- and if it’s this? I’m here for the ride for this one.

The chaebol gets their humbling with a death experience, which I’m so surprised they had the balls to do.. and hopefully it doesn’t just get magically swept away. I’m looking for angst, for heart, a dramedy. This drama is gold when it comes to the humor. There isn’t a shying away from how hot are leads are, and how over the top the situation is. This drama is so much better than others have been giving it credit for. Yes. It’s hyped, but it’s also very smart and deserving of that.

I’ll keep this short since pretty much everything that needs to be said about this drama has been. I’ll say that I was reluctant to watch at first, as I’m watching a lot and sometimes dramas tend to be overhyped. It can go wrong pretty easily if the cast is so well, the writing may have been lacking. It’s done more than usual, where a cast is so good that it seems the writing and the direction is missed. Yet this drama seems to fill every gap in terms of the story, acting, direction, it’s well rounded and chalk full of entertainment value.

I didn’t know the story coming in, I thought it would be a romantic comedy, a bit melodramatic. It is entirely that, yet it’s multi leveled and has 3-dimensional characters coming from all ends of the story. The main leads, the second leads, the supporting cast- it’s all so rich (literally and non literal). What I was surprised with this is that the comedy is actually a strong asset with this story, I love when a drama doesn’t take itself too seriously. I also knew that Kim Ji Won was a funny actress, multitalented and ready to play the character she is. I love it when no one else I can see fit to play this role.

So nothing in this drama pulls anything down. The comedy doesn’t make it awkward, the drama doesn’t make it too serious, it’s got balance.

Kim Soo Hyun is an actor I know is really good. Also I’ve only seen him in one movie, so I wasn’t too biased. He is worth all the praise. He’s a professional and you can tell that everyone here knows there role and can enhance and improvise and add here in there. Without the leads it likely wouldn’t be as good, but still, it’s got a great direction that I can see coming from an actors initiate as well as the directing itself.

I love the whole gender reverse of the women leading the house-hold.. seeing the men get pushed to the kitchen.

It’s a lot more refreshing than I thought it would be. What is also refreshing is the leads dynamic, that so far is very witty and fun. They once loved eachother and definitely still do, yet Hyun- Woo is so tired at this point he wants a way out. Not one character is the evil and super bad guy, and I’m liking that a lot, the second male lead I could see to get to be annoying if he is too bad of a guy just for the sake of story. So far even Hae-In is likeable even if her husband isn’t too fond of her.. still I find so much room to grow with the two of them. They did fall in love, and she did choose to marry him.

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Fabulous casting, but the storyline fell short.

I was captivated at the beginning. Then, like a lot of other K-dramas — it became too makjang-y and fell flat towards the end. I would say the acting carried such flawed storytelling all the way to the finish line. Kim Ji Won and Kim Soo Hyun are fantastic actors. The supporting cast does not disappoint as well. I'm still miffed at the wasted potential of the story, though. I think I felt totally disconnected from it by episode 13 and only continued watching because well, I was just 3 episodes away from the end. OST is great and hits you at the right moments. No rewatch value for me as I found the storyline too frustrating with a lot of elements that it could really have done without, especially in the last few episodes.

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Queen of the Tears of Baek Hyunwoo, The Family and then the Audience

Progressing into love? Nope, put it in reverse. Queen of Tears starts with the intention of filling us into a swirl of being a third person in the middle of broken married relationship (marriage! right away! phew, I am not even started dating yet!) How to make a painful marriage ends? How to successfully cut ties with the family of your toxic wife as a lucky middle-class guy coming from the rural area? Surely, there is not many romance drama that started with falling out so quickly like this one.

With the thought of freedom is the only thing you want, I think Hyunwoo just put us being so empathetic with him so quick. Surely, shoved with how unlikeable Haein's family is and how they are so so so rich draws this huge gap that we are on his side quickly. That until we started to see that both of the characters sharing the same quality, also until we shared the common enemies.

I root for the main characters as time grows because the direction of the drama is really good. We are given the reasons to approve Hyunwoo idea's of divorce but then also realize that the key is only to revive the communication and terms between them. Anyway, isn't it natural to losing 'sparks' after all that love is not exercised? What starts to begin as enduring divorce as Haein heals has become how to revive both Haein's health and as well as the romance. One strong point this drama has is also how the side characters are charming and we all can see the growth of them making the happy ending are relieving news broadcasted through TV (literally.) At some points, it gives me as the audience that I am following a big gossip through infotainment (with the spices and hint from people inside.)

My friend told me that the making of Queen of Tears has exceeded many years that some of parts are not relevant to the present. I can see the similarity Queen of Tears shared with the common soap operas in my country that 1.) The family is really rich, it quite gives the boring idea that they do not have any struggles until they are being tricked into crime and lose all of their assets, 2.) The erasure of villains as conclusions and how black and white the characters seems. And so it has become my disturbance that Hyunwoo is so clean at the end. He has been abused, overworked (but I don't think he's underpaid), restricted from his rights, put in jail, almost get in attempted murder and HIT BY A FREAKING CAR yet his only concern is to live with the love of his life. I think it is given that way to par with Haein's incurable tumor, being lied to and tricked to lose everything he has worked hard for, wait also being kidnapped by a sicko obsessed guy...probably it was necessary to ripped all over their walls like that to see that they only need more time to be together to understand their love and fix how being a family was...but still I think it is not fair compared to Eunsong who we only known his motive was growing from being a traumatized child and ended up being so evil (alongside with his mother who we know so little the background of.) The weight of black and white this story has somehow leads to happy ending we expected but we need to get through to sooo many circling ways. The focus change in the drama is good as it expands to discovering many conflicts for character buildings but I think this drama could have less episode while making use of the characters background a little more.

Despite knowing how hyperbolic sometimes the plot is, Queen of Tears has offered something so good to experience, and that is to love and being loved is trully the most important thing in life.

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Definitetly a K-drama to watch.

What a beautiful story full of twist and turns (and yes cliches, it's a k-drama after all) but ultimately it's talking about life and family. Harsh realities of marriage and difficulties of preserving family ties. I wish it was longer at the end to truly give us a complete closure but the ending as it is, is perfect, and also because I was a bit disappointed in some of the story points.

The story itself is not out of the ordinary, on the contrary, you'll find many other kdramas or dramas with similar storylines and plots. I did find myself skipping some parts about the Queen's company's legal problems. I feel like this kdrama had sooo much more potential to truly elevate it beyond what we have already seen. The main villains are very one-dimensional and you just hate and despise them to your core. I was expecting more from their stories and to truly understand why they behaved like that, but ultimately they were basic power-thirty and money-hunger villains. The best stories are the ones where the villains' actions may make sense. In the case of Queen of Tears, the villains are just placed there to be obstacles to the main lead and the family and a way for them to grow closer. I would have enjoyed more substance to those characters. Some also complained about the insane amount of plot twists and cliffhangers, while it is true ( being a consequence of the weak storyline about the queen's company), it does help to keep us captivated and invested until the very end. It's hard to find in kdrama nowadays with so many people dropping shows due to boredom at the end or lack of depth. Something good that comes out of an evil.

Nonetheless, What makes this drama truly special is the characters and the chemistry between them. You find yourself truly rooting and caring for them. The main cast for the couple is just perfect, couldn't think of a better match than Kim soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won. This drama is LITERALLY what some people mean when they say that it's the characters that makes or break a tv show.

This drama contains it all: comedy, action, drama, mystery, cliches. But everything is well executed.

Yes, it could be too much at times but everything comes together ultimately.

Honestly, one of the best parts of this drama was the weekly wait. I've never been more invested in a community than in this drama. Everyone had their theories and speculations. It was just overall a fun experience.

The Episodes are long but they go by fast. I would suggest you give it a go because I understand it could be a hit or miss for some.

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Queen of tears

Eu fiquei 20 minutos só chorando e tentando processar esse final.
Eu não sei nem o que falar agora.
Queen of tears foi realmente o que prometeu, muitas lágrimas, ele foi um drama muito constante e você assistia sempre sofrendo mas assiando por mais e mais. O que falar dessa história de amor tão linda? A ji won e o soo hyun entregaram tanto nos personagens, tanta verdade, tanto sentimento. Eles foram feitos pra atuarem juntos, pra dar vida a essa história incrível. Foi apaixonante ver eles desencantados um pelo outro e depois ver que o amor não tinha morrido, que ainda tava ali assim. Eu queria falar tanto mais, a família dele e a dela, esse contraste entre o amor entre eles, ele ser pobre e a família mesmo assim ter tanto amor e se apoiar e a família dela extremamente esnobe, sem comunicação, que se odiava mas que descobriram o amor entre eles, o melhor de tudo foi ver eles tendo que conviver juntos, acho que apresentam muito ali. A Da hye foi uma das melhores histórias de redenção que eu vi, ela realmente desde o começo mostrava essa dúvida, de não querer fazer e o kwak juro que ator!!! Mesmo ele fazendo um personagem burro, coitado igual em Vincenzo ele mostrou um outro lado dele na atuação muito bom, eu amei os dois juntos.
A minha fanfic favorita e que na minha cabeça é real e a secretária Na e o amigo do hyun woo, eles são um casal sim!!!!! Inclusive serviu muito de casal com a tia dela e o rapaz da vila, eu ri tanto e falando em ri, foi um drama constante até no humor, você num momento estava chorando e no outro rindo. A OST dele é tão boa, tão gostosa de ouvir ?
Acho que eu tinha muito pra falar sobre mas nem consigo me expressar sabe? Não consigo processar que acabou, esse final acabou comigo em pedacinhos, ele sozinho indo deixar as flores (SIMPLESMENTE A CENA QUE ELA VIU QUANDO TAVA CAMINHANDO COM ELE). Que drama! Que história! Vou sentir falta.
Acho que tem alguns pontos que poderiam ter ficado melhores, como por exemplo eles nunca conversaram sobre o principal motivo do afastamento deles: a perda do bebe, outra coisa a questão de nao termos tido nem um beijo do casal no presente, mas entregaram tanta quimica que eu nem me atentei a isso, o ultimo episodio poderia ter sido um pouco mais desenvolvido para os personagens sem os vilões.

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