Queen of Tears is the 119th K-Drama series I’ve finished. It’s been a while since the last which was My Demon. I’ll make a list of series I’ve dropped midway for some reason or the other, but that will have to be another post.
To be honest, I wasn’t really excited about Queen of Tears. I don’t really like any of the characters Kim Ji-won has portrayed, except maybe the rich girl in The Heirs. Didn’t like her in Fight For My Way, same goes for Lovestruck in the City (heck this entire series was boring as hell and I dropped it midway). She was okay as the military doctor in Descendants of the Sun but that’s it. Let me just say the female lead role in Queen of Tears was MADE FOR JI-WON! IU, who was the first actress to be offered the role declined for some reason but let’s be realistic… IU couldn’t have portrayed it as effectively as Ji-won because IU looks too gentle and kind lol.
Queen of Tears is about a married couple — Baek Hyun-woo and Hong Hae-in. Unlike most series, Queen of Tears starts off with the leads already married. Flashbacks of their courtship, wedding, and honeymoon are shown. But at present, both can’t seem to stand each other… with Hyun-woo itching to get a divorce. It’s comedic at best. But then Hae-in drops a bomb by the end of episode 1 — she’s been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and she only has 3 months to live. Hyun-woo decides to stick it out until she passes as not to make any trouble. After all, he is from an ordinary family while Hae-in is the daughter of the Queens Department Store group, a very rich and powerful conglomerate.
Hyun-woo becomes extra nice and attentive to Hae-in after her revelation, which makes Hae-in very suspicious. A series of events convinces Hae-in that Hyun-woo is sincere and eventually they start to realize that they are still very much attracted to each other.
What’s a series without its villains, right? Queen of Tears has its fair share of antagonists who want to disrupt the Hong family’s business as well as Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s relationship. There are also a lot of cameos and easter eggs (Vincenzo, Reborn Rich, Crash Landing On You, My Love from the Star, and even It’s Okay to not be Okay)… so keep your eyes peeled.
Queen of Tears is extremely well-acted and well-cast. I found the writing kind of weak but the actors and actresses make up for it big time with their enthralling performances. There is character development at every turn. By the end of the series, everyone is fleshed out so well you feel as if you are saying goodbye to friends and family when the series ends. Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won express such a wide range of emotions so effortlessly, especially Kim Soo-hyun who once again gained a well-deserved Best Actor nomination at the Baeksang Awards for this role.
Though the ending ties up loose ends, it was not as satisfying as I would’ve liked. The execution could’ve been better especially considering how much the lead couple went through to get there. TVN is releasing two (2) special episodes due to the tremendous success of this series. It overtook Crash Landing on You as TVN’s highest rated drama and currently ranks 3rd among South Korea’s highest rating dramas.
Highly recommended, available on Netflix.
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Request for your list of series with a great ending, good or sad. Nice review, just got through episode 10, but I’m starting to get bored. Hope I can push through until the last ep.