Queen of Tears (2024)

When Tears Speak Louder

Queen of Tears” serves up a solid introduction. It reminds us that love isn’t always perfect, especially in the complex world of relationships and marriage. The characters’ struggles resonate, and the ending promises deeper layers to explore. Whether you’re a seasoned K-drama fan or a newcomer, this series has potential. 🌟
**"Queen of Tears"** is a captivating Korean drama that delves into the complexities of love and marriage. The story revolves around Hong Hae-in, a privileged heiress, and Hyun Woo, a middle-class man. Their fairy-tale romance takes a dark turn as they struggle with control, freedom, and unmet expectations. A must-watch for those seeking a fresh take on relationships.

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Cliche Plot with a Heartwarming Touch

Many compared this with CLOY - since both are from the same writer, some of the scenes are somewhat similar, but to compare, I think this is far behind. The starting of CLOY is already unique on its own, esp building a comedy on the North Korea's settings, whereas QOT is purely a story of a married couple - it's less fun but more realistic.

Cliche plot to expect - terminal illness, loss of memory, accident, gun shot - you name it. TBH the ending of the second last episode made me suck back all my tears and started rolling my eyes. Like, really?

But I gotta say, I do like the parts that make me cry - it gives a strong emotional touch on kinship and love, some of the lines hit you hard and made you look back in life, and also emphasize the meaning of life. [SPOILER] One very special scene that you might not find it in other dramas - the interpretation of FL's death at the end, it's really sorrow yet beautiful :')

Overall - watch this if you are finding a drama to cry on. I wouldn't say it's the most special one, I think the writer and casting itself gave this drama a huge "fame boost". I mean, how can you not fall in love with Kim Soo Hyun again? His crying scene is 10/10 - as always.

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With Great Potential Comes Great Expectations

At first, everyone's so excited, Queen of Tears will be Kim Soo Hyun's RomCom comeback and he'll be paired with non other than Kim Ji Won. I know this drama will be so hyped. Once the trailers were released, it's full of funny clips and I thought this will be your typical RomCom, Park Ji Eun style. But once I started watching, I realized trailers were very misleading. This show made me cry every episode. Every episode, I felt the grief and regret of each and every character. And towards the end, I felt the unconditional love that every character has for their loved ones.

Baek Hyun Woo and Hong Hae In are two flawed characters. I like that the protagonists are that way since they portray a very realistic type of relationship between two people. It is very real that a relationship can easily fall apart between married couples, specially if there is lack of communication and understanding. Despite this, the love story between this couple works and I just can't get enough of this two. Hae In, her love for Hyun Woo, the guy who mattered the most to her, she will live or die depending on Hyun Woo. She's a very cold person because of her upbringing, but when it comes to her husband, she just melts like ice. Same as Hyun woo, he may have develop hate towards Hae In after 3 years of marriage, but once he realized that he really do love her. He always save her and her family despite their mistreatment of him.

One thing about this drama, it is a mixture of so many genres. Romance, Drama, Comedy then there's Family drama, Suspense, Revenge, Mystery. At first, I think the story sustained to be interesting and was really well-written because of its character-driven plots. However, once the story turned to a plot-driven one, (HyunWoo gets arrested, Hae In' amnesia, Hyun Woo almost dying and was still able to save Hae In) it became over the top that I think it detached from its roots which has real characters.

All in all, I still recommend this drama. This made me realize how great of an actor Kim Soo Hyun is. He was able to delineate Baek Hyun Woo from the other characters he portrayed. Also, I saw Kim Ji Won on a different type of drama again. She really became the Queen of Hyun Woo's tears. Haha. The show started very refreshing and I understood the hype but once the story goes to the climax, it just became very over the top. I hope the story just remained real and believable.

Also, what a very beautiful ending and awesome soundtrack. ;)

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Nosediving into the horrible

Episode 1-12 9/10
Episode 13-16 1/10

This took such a nosedive after episode 12. I cried myself through most of the show, but by the end the only crying I did was from crying laughing because of how bad it was.

The plot is all over the place, plot threads are abandoned and Mr. Cartoon Villain keeps showing up to ruin any semblance of good storytelling.

And when you think you have finally finished his part of the story, nope, there he is again overstaying his welcome and to become a villain befitting of a bad episode of Supernatural.

The amazing main leads are the only ones holding this thing remotely together. And I will definitely try and check out more things with them. But I had similar issues with Crash Landing on You, so probably avoiding this writer

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This drama insulted the viewer’s intelligence

Let me start of positively :

Queen of Tears had all the makings of a good K-Drama with its strong start and promising setup. It was refreshing to see the storyline of a married couple going through problems with the balance of introspection and retrospection in play . It looked like it would be a clever plot device . I was sold.

It’s not hard to see how the show initially pulled me in with its intriguing premise, and complex characters, creating a world that felt layered and engaging. But somewhere along the way, the plot started unraveling, and what was once clever quickly became frustrating.

As the story progressed, Queen of Tears began introducing plot twists and decisions that bordered on absurd, leaving viewers scratching their heads. Plot holes became glaring, and storylines that were initially compelling took bizarre turns, feeling more like quick fixes than well-thought-out developments. This shift gave the impression that the writers were either running out of steam or throwing logic out the window for the sake of drama, which ultimately compromised the show’s believability.

This issue was even more disappointing because there were hints of larger themes that could have deepened the story, but these were overshadowed by nonsensical turns that ultimately insulted the viewers’ intelligence. The once-promising plot turned into an exercise in patience, where you’re left hoping it’ll redeem itself but realizing it’s probably too late.

I really resent this , hence my low score .

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Frustrating to watch. Problematic characters. Toxic FL.

The character design is quite problematic. I'm really struggling to understand the FL's mother and brother.

----------Mother----------
Regarding the mother, she's been blaming the FL for her own negligence in supervising her small children, which resulted in a serious accident when the FL was just 10 years old. It's absurd how she continues to openly blame a child for 20 years when it's obvious that the adult should take responsibility. She doesn't just do this in their personal life, but also in their work life, going as far as finding reasons to sue her own daughter, which could harm their family company that's publicly traded on the stock market. And all of this is happening right under the noses of the FL's grandfather and father, who are much more rational and surely wouldn't want their corporation's reputation tarnished. The whole situation is just so unrealistic and absurd.

----------Brother----------
As for the brother, it's unbelievable. His wife deceives him into marriage and even has a child with another man while they're married. Then she flees away with money of her husband's family, only to return after being abused by her child's biological father. Despite all this, the brother unquestionably welcomes her back with open arms, and still loves her illegitimate child as if the child is his own. It's like he lacks any capacity for learning or judgment. It's hard to trust someone like him to run a company at an executive level, yet he holds a high-ranking position in their publicly listed company. How is that even possible?

----------Female Lead----------
And don't even get me started on the FL herself. She gets kidnapped by the villain in a car. And when the ML catches up with them after a violent car chase, succeeding in rescuing her while he's injured, she complies with the villain's gaslighting to say that she voluntarily follows the villain, then she willingly gets back into the villain's car to be kidnapped again. The reason the villain gives her is that if she doesn't go along, the ML will realize her illness is worsening, causing her to mistake the villain for the ML. But later on, the ML still has to break into the house where the FL is being held captive to rescue her once more, and she still has to tell the ML the truth in the end. It's infuriating how easily she falls for such manipulation, especially considering the ML already knows about her illness and its progression.

----------Toxic love----------
Let me address the ML's love for the FL as my last point. I find his renewed affection for her perplexing. While his initial love before their marriage is understandable, I fail to comprehend how he could still love her after enduring a toxic relationship. Despite their troubled history, she continues to resist cooperation, vilify him, withhold her true feelings, and maintain emotional distance. It appears to be a very one-sided effort, devoid of reciprocity. His affection seems solely driven by blind devotion, without any tangible reason or justification. Their past history of love before marriage doesn't seem to influence his current feelings, and the FL's behavior offers little to warrant his continued love. In essence, it feels like he is merely serving her as a servant of love. In real life, such a dynamic doesn't foster a genuine and sustainable relationship, so it isn't believable or convincing for me.

The story's irrational elements are so frustrating to watch. I keep going with it until the end because I'm a fan of the lead actors. However, while the FL's acting is passable, it still comes across as quite stiff to me. I've seen her in 3 series, including 'Descendants of the Sun' and 'Fight for My Way,' and her acting seems to be consistently one-dimensional, and not even the best version of the character she's portraying.

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Hearts Rekindled

This is an exciting entry in Netflix's deep collection of Korean romantic comedies! Many typical storylines are reversed here, however. The rich, ruthless protagonist is female; the show starts with a seemingly happily-ever-after wedding; and it is the male lead who must demonstrate his dedication to the family.

At its core, it's a story about navigating the delicate terrain of a relationship in turmoil and rediscovering love. Despite the conflicts, there is an underlying optimism, hope of reconciliation, understanding, and healing. The angst is punctuated by comedy and humor. There are hidden gems and delightful cameo appearances. Themes include gender roles, social expectations, and family. The actors are beautiful, and so are the cinematography, wardrobe, and shooting locations.

The writer is Park Ji Eun, the creator of Crash Landing on You. She specializes in powerful yet feminine characters. This is her third Queen of ... series. No doubt Kim Soo Hyun is masterful in roles alongside strong-willed counterparts, as he did in It's Okay to Not Be Okay. Kim Ji Won excels at portraying the somewhat stoic and mysterious but troubled female lead, as she did in My Liberation Notes. Enjoy this skillfully acted, therapeutic, and playful story!

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A stairway to heaven type Makjang, in this era. Really?

When the drama started and became very viral, I was very reluctant to watch it. It has happened to me that they have made some dramas very popular and when I decide to watch it, I'm like "So much fuss about this?" That's really what happened here.

When I read that Koreans themselves started calling this drama "Makjang" I assumed something was really going to go wrong. And I wasn't wrong at all.

It is truly a "Makjang". You know those dramas where meaningless things begin to happen here and there, deadly diseases that magically disappear, overly typical topics like memory loss and starting over again, again.

The first part was good. I'm not really going to make a big deal out of what the reason for their divorce was. As the protagonist explains at the end, many times when you get married (I have never been married but I say this because I am the daughter of divorced parents) or when you go out with someone. There is no single reason to separate from that person you love nor is there a single reason to overflow the camel's back. There are thousands of reasons, stupid fights that begin to become more frequent and wear down the couple, not sitting down to talk to solve problems, not communicating to your partner that attitudes that bother you about their character in a calm way, no, everything always ends. in fights and in a sentencevery typical but real "Can't talk to you". So that ends up wearing down the relationship and you end up making the decision to leave that person. It is also very common that when there is a loss of a baby, couples end up separating. It seems stupid, but losing a baby does a lot of damage to the relationship and even more so when neither party manages their feelings and supports each other in that difficult moment. So I really don't think there is one reason, there are thousands of reasons why a couple ends up breaking up. So I won't be too harsh in that regard.

But the second part is a disaster, really stupid things happen, why? not at all. Just to add more unnecessary drama.

And the ending... ugh I'm not going to lie, I did cry at the ending. After everything the protagonist did for the protagonist, does he see himself as an adult visiting her grave? When I saw that older man climbing the stairs they climbed together when he was younger I already feared the worst. And everything came true, when I saw the name of the protagonist embodied on her tomb.

I really don't know what I expected if this is a Makjang. It was obvious that things were not going to end well and the ending would be sad. Like any drama of this style. But at least I would have liked to see more moments of the couple again and not just random flashbacks that conveyed nothing to me.

The acting was great and the cinematography was great too, but actors alone can't save a poorly written drama. Even if they are the best actors. At least their performances made this a little lighter to watch.

I recommend it? I'm sorry to say this, because I love both actors, but no, I don't recommend it. Unless you like Makjang dramas.

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Bits and pieces of old kdramas combined together

I like how the drama started with a messed up marriage and showed story of a couple who have fallen out of love and their journey to rediscovering their love. It was going good till episode 7, after that it become like a complete different story. All the focus was shifted on the queen’s group family being broke and falling in the trap laid by the villains. And how easily the villains got everything they wanted and even kicked the family out of the house. It’s was bit unrealistic how a business tycoon family had nowhere to go.
And in the midst of all this villain drama the main issue was left unaddressed. What about the martial issues that brought the lead couple at this point? Why hae in and hyun woo hated each other that much at the beginning of the show? The answers were vague. I wish the focus of the show was on addressing their martial issues and rekindling their love and not on the unnecessary villain drama.
If the story had only focused on hae in’s illness and their troubled marriage. It would have been alot better.

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queen of mediocrity

Queen of Tears is a prime example of a show that had potential but was ultimately ruined by poor writing and excessive melodrama. The series started off with a promising premise, but quickly descended into a chaotic mess of nonsensical plot twists, over-the-top emotions, and poorly developed characters.

The male lead was a particular disappointment. His wooden acting and lack of chemistry with the female lead made their scenes together unbearable to watch. His character was often reduced to a passive observer, reacting to the events around him rather than actively driving the narrative forward.

The second male lead was even worse. His character was a one-dimensional villain, a caricature of evil. His motivations were unclear, and his actions were often illogical. The show seemed more interested in creating a villainous caricature than a complex and compelling antagonist.

The female lead, despite her talent, was often let down by the show's ridiculous plot and her character's inconsistent behavior. Her character often made decisions that defied logic, which undermined her credibility as a strong, independent woman.

Instead of focusing on character development and emotional depth, the show prioritized shock value and melodrama. The constant barrage of tearful goodbyes, dramatic confrontations, and villainous schemes became a parody of itself. The once-promising drama was reduced to a caricature of itself, a shadow of its former glory.

The show's reliance on excessive sentimentality and emotional manipulation was both tiresome and offensive. The constant barrage of tearful goodbyes, dramatic confrontations, and villainous schemes became a parody of itself. The once-promising drama was reduced to a caricature of itself, a shadow of its former glory.

The show's pacing was also uneven, with slow, boring stretches interspersed with rushed, confusing plot developments. The show often felt like it was dragging, especially during the middle episodes.

Queen of Tears is a prime example of a show that squandered its potential. It's a cautionary tale for anyone who dares to venture into the world of K-dramas. If you're looking for a well-written, emotionally resonant K-drama, I strongly advise you to avoid Queen of Tears. It's a waste of time and energy.

Pros:
Visually appealing
Strong female lead performance

Cons:
Poor writing
Excessive melodrama
Weak male leads
Unrealistic plot
Wasted potential

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A High Quality Makjang

My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.

Wow, I was not expecting all the hate on this drama. When you're dealing with brain tumor plots, you have expect a certain degree of a lack of realism. So I was prepared for it. A friend asked me what genre this drama is and all I could reply with was "Swoonworthy". I typically wouldn't watch this type of genre these days, since I'm more interested in compelling stories and characters over visually appealing cinematography and attractive leads. However, this drama took me by surprise.

Acting/Cast: Easily the best thing about this drama -- a great cast with even better acting. Surprisingly, my opinion of actors that I previously didn't think highly of, changed for the better due to their performances in this drama (Kim Soo Hyun, Kwak Dong Yeon, and Lee Joo Bin). Yes, the actor who played the grandfather wasn't old enough for the character, but it's not a big deal; he's really a minor character. The best acting, and ultimately my favorite character to watch, came from Kwak Dong Yeon (곽동연). Kim Yang Gi, a minor supporting character played by Moon Tae Yu (문태유), was also a favorite of mine. I would say the entire cast - from main characters to minor supporting characters - brought a charm to their characters, which made them all quite likeable and enjoyable to watch. The chemistry between cast members is somewhat reminiscent of how I felt watching Twinkling Watermelon. They all see to have had a great time filming. 10/10

Writing: The writing was some of the best I've seen..."was". This drama had such a strong start. It stayed strong up until around episode 14 or 15. I was thoroughly impressed. I like the concept of the plot and I like the character building for the various characters throughout the drama. However, the writing starts to veer off course towards the end. It goes full makjang with craziness, unrealistic events, and of course our favorite clichés that have been around for so long. I expected that I would need to suspend some amount of belief for the sake of this plot, but even being prepared, the story still became a bit too ridiculous. I would have liked the villains to be more in the background and for the focus of the plot to instead be on the leads repairing their marriage, the families coming together, and discovering what's really important in life (with the villains simply being the catalyst for this growth). Basically, a family healing drama similar to Welcome to Samdal-ri, but better in every way. With less attention on the villains, I think the important characters would have been able to be fleshed out a bit more and they could have delved more into understanding how their marriage went wrong and how to fix it. It could have been a good learning opportunity for viewers going through similar marital problems. 5/10

Direction/SFX/Music: It looks and sounds nice. The OST is not bad. I was surprised that I like some of the songs. It could use some variation though. 7/10

Entertainment Value: Highly entertaining as long as the topic was on character/relationship building, especially during the first half of the drama. However, there's some dragging towards the end. The things I cared more about were glossed over in the end (too much BS with the villains). 6.5/10

Overall, I gave this drama a 6.5/10. Really, I could justify a rating from 6 to 7 out of 10, but I've settled for a 6.5/10. This is mainly due to the craziness towards the end, too much wasted time on villains and politics, and because this drama didn't put me on the edge of my seat (or have a crack drama vibe), nor did it have as much charm as Goblin or Crash Landing On You (although it came very close). But it's a good drama; it achieved such high ratings for a reason. This drama saved me from falling into a drama slump and now the baton is being passed to Lovely Runner.

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