Queen of Tears (2024)

Queen of Tears, like many TVN series, suffers from being overly extended to 16 episodes. The script often lacks enough substance, leading to repetitive story arcs. With long episode durations, numerous side plots are added just to fill time.

Typically, I watch dramas like this for the main characters' dynamics. However, despite any appealing side stories, they tend to become excessively tedious over time. While I used to push through such moments 5-10 years ago, now I find myself fast-forwarding through them. Yet, in this drama, the standout feature is the superior casting and the chemistry among the actors, which surpasses the shortcomings of the script. The lead actors excel in their roles, making the series compelling to watch. Kim Ji-Won shines in aggressive, affluent, and glamorous characters, while Kim Soo Hyun effortlessly embodies humble and emotive roles.

One downside of the series is the character portrayed by Park Sung-hoon, whose portrayal was so off-putting that I felt the urge to punch the screen in every scene. Such one-dimensional characters, written solely to provoke viewer frustration, fail to engage me and come across as a version of "rage bait" tailored for tv dramas.

Nevertheless, despite its flaws, I found Queen of Tears enjoyable, evoking a reminiscent feel of dramas from 2015.

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Cathartic, but a bittersweet ending

Queen of Tears is a K-drama of two halves. The first, composed of its early episodes, is an innovative take on K-drama romance. The other is a chaotic second half that squanders much of the potential of its beginning. The Netflix hit ended Sunday with a global audience that exceeded the wildly popular Crash Landing on You.
In terms of chemistry, the leads were a perfect pair. It’s like they were crafted from the cosmic dust of perfect on-screen couples. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for other characters and sub-plots on the show, which are more disconcerting than fascinating.
Plotwise, the series started losing its charm in the second half as well. The amount of scenes that felt repetitive and the back and forth between the main leads only showed the lack of creativity of the writer. While the show we ended up with remains compelling, even fun, to the end, the decision to dispense with its profoundly tragic and emotional core makes the endeavor more rote and, at times, even boring. The series never recaptures the rare thrill of its early episodes, but nevertheless had a sweet ending that will surely be a satisfactory element.


My Rating : 7.5/10

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Too much time spent on side characters (felt like filler)

I absolutely loved this drama, it's so good in so many ways. I think the casting was perfect as well as the OST. However, in my opinion, the side characters are given wayyyy too much screen time.


Prior to everyone moving to Hyun-woo's hometown after they initially lost everything, there was too much screen time given to the three ladies and Hyun-woo's sister in the salon. These scenes just made no sense to me to be honest. Some of the episodes would go from a really deep and important scene with the main characters and randomly pan over to the salon shop or Hyun-woo's family home for a non-important scene that would last 3-5 minutes. I've only watched a few kdramas so I'm not too sure if this is common practice, but these scenes would have 0 impact on the story and to be honest it felt like it was filler to make the episodes longer. Instead of running the episodes from 75-90 minutes, I think that it would have been better to just cut out some of these random pointless scenes and trim the episodes down by a few minutes at least. I didn't really mind it too much in the beginning, but once it kept happening into the second half of the show it was too much.


Overall, I loved this drama in so many ways, but, the side character filler in some episodes just made it feel like a bit of a chore to watch.

: )

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WAS THAT NECESSARY!?!?!?

As I was finishing the episode yesterday, 1 hr 50 mins, I mean i dread watching movies now, I can totally gulp down episodes these long but watching movies of 1.5 hrs make me bore, which is not the point.

The drama started in a cute way, even though divorse was discussed. She was diagnosed w cancer, public was sad. The here and there, the family drama the scheming old b*tch. Everything was flowing smoothly until Eun sung entered and stirred poison in the relation. He as a person is such a cutie but made me want to kill a fictional character, CAN WE KILL A FICTIONAL CHARACTER IN TV???

The death of villian in Strong Girl Nam Soon was sad but here I felt no remorse for the villian and his old hag of a mother, such a coniving bitch, just wish her death but wtv. The happy ending to all the characters, the acceptance of each and family members who trying to teeth each other before.


This is an appreciation paragraph for Baek Hyun Woo, my man is the epitome of sacrifice, even though it felt like in the start he was there for the money, the sweet revelation of past and his future actions showed how much he loves her. He doesn't care bout himself, took the bulled for his ex wife who literally had no mempries of him. Even though Baek hae in will die earlier than him, he will be there at the grave, wishing her well. I LOVE HIM, AND WANT THIS TYPA MAN FOR ME.

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Came for Kim Soo Hyun stayed for Kim Soo Hyun

This is the perfect example of how a mediocre plot/story/screenwriting can become a masterpiece with the right cast.
Queen of Tears is your average storyline, more like the stories of the 2010s, revolving around the traditional plot lines of, a rich girl and poor boy, terminal illness following the ML and FL rekindling their lost love, finding a miraculous cure and finally a happily ever after. Add to that there is the typical villain who is manipulative and makes your teeth itch wanting to beat them to death.

There was character and story development, but in the end, it all was just average. But oh BOY!! didn't the cast do a brilliant job?? Like every actor /actress was amazing, taking out their full potential to bring out the oh-so-average characters. If this drama was acted out by anyone else, it would not have been as successful, so kudos to the cast. It was a Brilliant performance.

This is one of that rare moments where I came for the actors and stayed for them cuz the plot did not engage me as I was hoping it would be.

This 8/10 from me is entirely for the cast and none for the plot/screenwriter.

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Should have been 12 episodes long.

DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNTIL YOU HAVE WATCHED THE ENTIRE KDRAMA. It's better to watch this with an open mind and no expectations. That being said, to summarise, in my opinion the Rom-Com and sad parts of this drama are 10/10, but the Queens Company and the stuff including the villains are shit and negligently written. Still would recommend it. 9/10 for me but that’s cause I love the first 12 episodes so much. Last 4 are like a 4/10 and that’s being kind.

Good parts:

• The acting is brilliant. Eun Song’s actor was brilliant, especially in the last episode, all aspects of Kim Ji Won’s acting is flawless. She can cry well, do cute scenes, etc. Kim Soo Hyun’s strongest point is his crying scenes, and he has show cased this brilliantly in this drama.
• All the side characters are well written, except the villains. I like Aunt Beom Ja and Soo Cheol especially. Soo Cheol in particular had a nice character arc, from being the annoying incompetent brother to the independent good husband. I like how his fight scene against those gangsters and how he rode the bike to chase the gangsters (links to the scene where he was trying to ride a bike to teach his son earlier). I thought it show cased his progression well.
• First 8 episodes were so good, when the writing was more focused on Hyun Woo and Hae In’s relationship, its struggles with it falling apart and Hae In’s illness. Honestly, should of just stuck to that. Divorce concept was good, no need for that company being taken over sht.
• OST is great. Heize, Crush and BSS’s songs were my favourite.
• Congrats to who ever is on lighting. So many scenes where they’re just walking, and the light would shine behind them making the characters look majestic. That scene where Hae In walks out of her house whilst Hyun Woo was waiting for her in one the first 5 episodes is a reference (can’t remember which srry).
• I cried so much man. Like for the first 12 episodes I cried every time. Any drama that makes me, who’s normally stoic, cry deserves it’s applause.
• The production is world class.
• Story is good up until the part where the grandfather is killed. I especially like the writing regarding Hyun Woo and Hae In's relationship.

Bad parts:

• Seul Hee’s entire plan to take over the company relied on Eun Song (her son) being able to acquire the capital independently to buy the stocks. If Eun Song wasn’t academically strong or straight up lucky, he wouldn’t be able to use the Arab sheiks money to buy the stocks initially nor have a relationship with the Queen’s family. If Eun Song had failed, then she would have just wasted decades of her life pretending to love some old man.
• In episode 15, Hae In has no memories so she checks the news to see her relationship with her family and sees that she had divorced her husband and wasn’t close with her family. Did she not check the articles about her and Hyun Woo for the month prior to the surgery, where people were saying she revealed her illness to the world to protect her husband and that they were in love?
• Hae In got a brain surgery, but she her hair is perfect right after it was completed. She also had hair. (this one I forgive though).
• Does anyone else think Eun Song’s love for Hae In is extremely illogical? This guy was out of the picture for years, enough time for her to get married and have a child (although it died of a miscarriage), and he still thought it was possible to win her heart. Is it possible to be that delusional? Also his obsession with her is all based on one childhood encounter. Bro worked his ass off for decades over one miniscule childhood encounter.
• The hospital in Frankfurt just let Eun Song be Hae In’s guardian without any proof of him being her fiancé, whilst she had no memories. That seems extremely dangerous. Also, they were confused who was her real fiancé. Isn’t it clear that Hyun Woo, the one who called up the hospital to organise the surgery, and was sleeping in her room for the past few days was her real fiancé?
• What happened to that entire thing about Hae In losing her memories up to the surgery? They could have built upon that, but I guess they forgot or wanted to focus on Eun Song.
• There was one episode where Hae In’s family was scared she was going to refuse the surgery because she would lose her memories of Hyun Woo and everyone else. I remember shouting at my TV, why tf would she refuse the surgery. It’s better than being dead. 1 episode later and she had almost refused the surgery because she would lose her memories. WTF. I feel like the writer was just trying to extend the series by and extra episode.


I can’t remember anything else and I’ve got shit to do so I’m not gonna write more. This review is basically just a place for me to vent my frustrations with the writing. This drama should have been 12 episodes long. swear down.

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Fit for a Queen's Throne, Yet Just Shy of Brilliance

The TL;DR would be that this show is a flawed masterpiece. The premise, though not unique in any way, was interesting enough to hook me in from the get-go. A seemingly perfect couple leading to a strained divorce, it leads you to wonder how two star-crossed lovers become seemingly indifferent strangers living in the same house. Through flashbacks, current events, and interactions between the characters, the veil behind the two main leads slowly unfolds, revealing the road leading up to the story.

The casting and acting were nothing short of perfection. Each of the actors delivered a masterful performance that brought the characters to life. Every gaze, action, speech was filled with emotions that brought depth and nuance. This especially holds true for our two main leads, both delivering stand-out performances worthy of a standing ovation. Kim Soo Hyun embodied each emotion his character and expressed it so well you could feel his tears and joy. Kim Ji Won, on the other hand, with her body language and subtle movements, perfectly portrayed the duality of her character. Park Sung Hoon once again masterfully plays the antagonist, creating a villain so well done that he had to come out and apologize and stress that it was just an act.

However, the shine of the stars was not enough to cover up its pitfalls. The performance of the cast members was largely held back by the mediocre story filled with a number of loopholes. Though the original premise and starting episodes were interesting, it quickly fell into a generic trope of power play between two conflicting parties, quickly becoming predictable in its final episodes. It also tries to introduce many elements and troupes, but fails to properly explore them with enough depth, leaving only a shallow touch of elements that makes it seem cheap. It's a real shame as the start showed a lot of promise and potential to be different but wasn't delivered. But, this does not mean that it is bad. What it lacks in plot development and uniqueness, it makes up for in its characters (mostly). The main characters are very well-written, and aspects of their personality not reflected in words are done so through actions and small details. Supporting characters are fleshed out and explored, turning some generic characters into thoughtful and nuanced human beings. However, the main antagonists are, in my opinion, poorly written. Though their backstories are well-explored, it frustrates me how predictable and cliché they are and could have been given some more love in developing their motivations.

This really hurt the story, especially since they spent so much time building up the impact of the antagonists, only to reveal their flimsy motives and backstories that honestly felt like they forgot to write about at the start and tacked it on as an afterthought. On that note, I personally think that the ending was rather weak. Though it was lovely and wholesome, I think it undermined a lot of the stakes and obstacles they faced. They spent so much time invested in developing the challenges the couple faces, and it was really well done. It made them look more humane and relatable and made you want to cry and laugh along with them. But the ending felt cheap and not very impactful, as if all the tears and hardships served no grander purpose.

With all that being said, I still enjoyed Queen of Tears. The story between the two main characters and development of a few side characters were beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamics and how they changed over the course of the 16 episodes. Though the writing wasn't the best, the slight focus on slice-of-life comedy paired with an amazing production/OST made it all the more enjoyable. The actors' performance deserves praise, and the two main leads stole the show with their chemistry and portrayed a wonderful, challenging love story that denotes the ugly side of love but showcases how that ugliness in itself is also a form of beauty.

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As BORING as it is hyped

This has to be one of the most anticipated and the most disappointing dramas for me
Pros -
1) Production - high production quality and the set design is very vibrant. The clothes the FL wears are high end luxury brands and she rocks all those styles pretty well.
2) Marketing- The marketing is very desperate and strong. Cameos are used well. Overall, this drama has a lot of money power behind it. Lol! I wish they used some of that to make the script less cringe and messy
Edit : I feel obligated to say that Gwak Dong Yeon is one actor with amazing potential along with the main villain. These two are deserving of good scripts and main roles.
Cons -
1) Acting- I felt like the actors were underutilized. There is little to no depth in their acting and I have liked some of their previous work quite a lot. Both seem to fair well in ONLY one kind of role (FL being feisty and quirky and the ML being cold on the outside and a puppy on the inside kind of roles). They were somewhat in their safe/ comfort zone in this drama but I am not particularly moved by their acting in this one.
THE SUPPORTING CAST OUTSHINES THE MAIN LEADS. The villains are great at expressing trauma, duality, disgust with the elite, hatred and lack of empathy.
The main villain is the best part of the show

2) story- BORING and all over the place ! They have tried very hard to give an obviously toxic relationship a romantic turn and I am not buying it. I am not too fond of the chemistry between the leads. I guess the intent was to show a "push and pull" or "love break and redemption " type of chemistry but they failed. The FL'S brother and his "wife" surprisingly managed to create more tension and that kind of anticipation even with very limited screentime so far and it is because there are too many unnecessary side stories going on. I do not care about the main leads divorcing or breaking up anymore.

3) Direction - as I mentioned above, the villains and side characters have faired well but even their acting potential wasn't fully utilised. Some scenes were quite well done while others seemed unnecessarily theatrical. Dear director, try to make it subtle.

Overall, its a 5/10 considering its budget and heavy marketing.

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Why the ratings?

I don't understand the hype. Was there nothing else better broadcasting in this slot? This show has a great cast and the story and acting are ok. But it's certainly not better than or even near Crash Landing (which it is almost matching in terms of broadcast ratings). The 90 minute episodes definitely don't help - it just makes things draggy.

The only three things refreshing for me are that 1) we have a strong chaebol character who is female, rather than the trope chaebol son who meets a poor girl and loves her against all odds. 2) The story revolves around the value of life (without giving too much away). 3) The couple are married rather than most romcoms depicting courtship.

My top peeve is the relative ages of the cast and the roles they've been cast in. In particular, the actor who acts as the grandfather is in reality less than 10 years older than the actors who play his son and daughters. What is with this ageist casting?

The show is high budget enough for me to want to finish (they film in Europe - lucky Kim Ji Won gets to film in all the most exotic locations!) It also has its entertaining and hilarious moments but certainly not worth the hype.

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Disappointed af. How are you guys even watching this garbage?

My god. And then they are saying 2024 is another good year like 2016.
NO.

Cliches after cliches. Honestly I can still tolerate them as long as the story is good with well written characters.

Queen of Tears was just not it. Far from being great.

They tried to be a lot of things and ended up being nothing. All the characters were surface written and lacked any depth. I found Hae in's character to be the most unrelatable. You do not need to be a rich bossy CEO to show you are strong.

Well Hae in was far from being powerful. She was just plain rude to the people around her and unbearably difficult to understand in the initial episodes.

The show had so much power and just so much potential to do better. They absolutely failed in everything.

They tried to deal with a number of delicate themes such as saving a dying marriage, the pain of losing a child (tho barely mentioned and dealt with thereafter), family conflicts and politics, rude ass uncaring family members who suddenly became THE happily ever after family upon knowing Hae in's illness etc etc.

It seemed like Hae in's illness was solely given to her in order to convince her family, and us, the audience, of the fact that she was only human and that she deserved to be loved. So I'm guessing the directors knew how unreasonable they had made her character.

The villain wasn't proper yet again. This is especially disappointing when you have watched The Glory. Sunghoon was amazing in that role and it kept me at the edge of my seat throught the series.
Queen of Tears fails to portray a PLOT. CHARACTERS.

Hyun woo is confused about everything in the initial episodes and even becomes happy when he learns about the news of his wife's illness and that she might die. I could personally never fall in love with a character like that. No matter how bad it is, you are a man of a good social standing. Whereas the plot only tells us about the lack of communication, there were a lot more underlying problems that weren't addressed. Hyun woo had an absolutely uncaring and trash friend who pretty much directed his life for the first 6 to 7 episodes. PITIFUL AF.

I could go on and vent but that wouldn't really help.

Man. I think someone already mentioned this but 2024 has already seen major trash dumps of hot shot actors. Like you know, My demon, Dr Slump and now Queen of tears.

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