Everybody has heard of tvN’s Queen of Tears.
You can watch it on Netflix (it’s been on their Top 10 most-watched shows for 8 weeks now, with more than 85 million hours of watched time around the world). You’ve heard the news that it’s broken all sorts of rating records (yes, it dethroned Crash Landing on You, and it’s now the most-watched drama in tvN history). Everybody is talking about it on MDL. If you are in Korea, you can even visit the PYO Gallery in Seoul, where, from the 29th of April, you can see all the artwork featured in the show.
Yes, Queen of Tears became a worldwide fever.
And what a contagious fever it is.
Written by Crash Landing On You‘s Park Ji-eun and directed by the unbelievably talented Kim Hee-won (Little Women, Vincenzo) and Jang Young-woo (Bulgasal: Immortal Souls), Queen of Tears makes for one endlessly engaging watch.
Does it have its flaws? Oh, yes, absolutely. But it’s still such a hypnotising show that its success is perfectly understandable.
Queen of Tears tells the story of chaebol heiress Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won), CEO of the Queens Group department store, who gets married to Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun), an intelligent lawyer who comes from the small village of Yongduri. Three years after their fairytale wedding, their relationship is on the rocks, and her family is faced with a crisis. Together, they need to come up with a miracle that can save themselves, their marriage, and their family.
Queen of Tears rightfully shocked audiences by challenging the patriarchy and introducing a story that, at first, rebels against the traditional tropes that we all know so well. Here, we have the men of the family preparing the ceremonial food. Here, we have the girl being the rich and powerful, the one who flies to the countryside after the man she loves. Unfortunately, the tropes come back, full force, in the second half of the show, weaving a story that becomes predictable and sometimes, even clichรฉ.
The following review contains some spoilers. Read it at your own risk. You can also pin our (spoiler-free) summary at the bottom!
Where Queen of Tears Excels: A Character-Driven Show
The show is very much character-driven, and that’s its salvation. Queen of Tears is, deep down, a story about Hae-in and Hyun-woo. But not just about their broken marriage. It’s about them as individuals, two people who fail to understand themselves and others. It’s also about their inability to communicate with each other and with their loved ones. They may be stubborn, proud, and fearful, but, despite their flaws, they are lovable characters. From the beginning, you can see their pain and their qualities: they are also strong, resilient, and kind. Their imperfect selves help us identify with them. We want to follow their journey as they decode their own emotions and actions โ and each other’s.
The Hong Family
This pattern can also be found in the supporting characters. The Hong family goes through a huge, beautiful character arc. It’s an absolute joy and pleasure to see them start as the typical chaebol family (cold, selfish, materialistic, heartless) and change into people who, despite retaining their quirky personality, are warmer, more loving, and grateful โ just more human, really. Their path towards redemption is worth every single step: to see her dad (played by Jung Jin-young) and her brother Soo-cheol (the super Kwak Dong-yeon) find out who they really want to be, as well as her mom (a fantastic performance by Na Young-hee) discover the truth behind her own, and her own children’s lives, accept her mistakes and seek forgiveness is just so satisfying.
This doesn’t happen often in K-dramaland: you don’t get to see the rich family actually become deserving of their wealth and a happy ending. And this is a huge plus about Queen of Tears.
A special shout-out has to go to Kwak Dong-yeon here. Of course, Kwak has amazed us in several different roles before (was I incredibly scared that Soo-cheol would have the same ending as Han-seo in Vincenzo? YOU BET.) But here, he seizes the opportunity to showcase a whole range of emotions and facets, proving to be an incredible comic actor (the Chinese scene was ad-libbed!) and a solid dramatic performer.
The Baek Family
The Baek family may drive you insane at first, but they are just so endearing. Hyun-woo’s parents, played marvellously by Hwang Young-hee and Jeon Bae-soo, are some of the most wonderful people on Earth, and they are, actually, the drive behind much of the plot and the other characters’ journeys. Hyun-woo’s mom, especially, becomes a kind of anchor, which most of the main characters rely on and learn from. Together, they bring change to the people around them as much as they engage the audience with their banter and their own misgivings.
Hyun-woo’s family extends beyond his immediate relatives and creates a web of connections, which includes their friends and neighbours, that also directly and indirectly affects the Hongs’ character arc. A simple but effective way to amuse the audience and also move the story forward.
The Antagonists
Even though the characterisation of the antagonists, Yoon Eun-seong and Mo Seul-hee, leaves much to be desired, Park Sung-hoon and Lee Mi-sook (respectively) give amazing performances and provide a bit of depth to otherwise shallow villains. I must confess that, while I found Seul-hee’s comeuppance quite fulfilling (albeit quick), Eun-seong’s ending was just not enough.
The Reasons for Our Obsession: An Unbelievable Cast Led by the Incredible Kim Couple
But here we find the heart of Queen of Tears: its cast. Every single member of the cast plays their character wholeheartedly, giving soul and energy to their role, in a way that makes you love, hate, root for and against them. There’s not a single performance that ignites apathy. You cannot help but become interested in them, in one way or another.
Kim Ji-won and Kim Soo-hyun radiate chemistry and, individually, give performances that define their career. Kim Ji-won perfectly walks the tightrope between drama and comedy, making us both laugh at Hae-in’s quirks and cry with her pain. Kim Soo-hyun delivers acting that is beyond description. His ability to convey emotion with his eyes is almost unparalleled, and he allows Hyun-woo to blossom from a seemingly goofy lead in the first couple of episodes to a strong, passionate one later on.
Together, they’re unstoppable. They clearly respond to each other’s performances, and you are just mesmerised at how they can bounce off each other so naturally, giving colour to the script and heart to the plot. Every line is earnestly delivered. Every moment is portrayed with spirit. Some scenes from Episode 14 especially come to mind, in which their tears and despair seem so real that they transcend the screen.
Where Queen of Tears Wavers: The Script
All of that definitely doesn’t come from the script itself. The first half of the series is almost impeccable. Even though the episodes are between 1 h 20 m and 1 h 50 m long, there’s a good mix of comedy, drama, romance, and thriller in them. The characters are just so addictive that you want, no, you need to know: Is she going to survive? Are they actually going to talk to each other? Are they going to bring the Queens Group down?
At first, the plot moves at a steady pace, and the set-up for its core (the main leads’ relationship and the downfall of the Hong family) is well-established by the end of Episode 8. Episode 10 perfectly depicts the situations and dynamics that are slowly changing these characters, and it ends with an extraordinary scene that strengthens the connection between the leads and highlights Hae-in’s personality. A thing of beauty, really. But, from episode 12, except for a few good beats here and there (including the ones that only happen in the ever-present epilogues), the story becomes scattered and unsteady.
That could have been easily fixed with the last two episodes being dedicated to tying up all loose ends, strengthening characterisation, and clearly giving time and space for the denouement. Instead, they decided to pack all the most common tropes, all the ones they managed to successfully avoid in the premise, into its last (almost) four hours. Prison? Kidnapping? Car accident? Life-threatening surgery? Let’s do it all. The result is a lot of unnecessary drama — and a fair share of plot holes — in a show that, from the beginning, had already been dramatic enough. From a top-notch TV drama, Queen of Tears became a melodramatic soap opera in which much of its “twists” didn’t further the plot in any way.
Even though the story could’ve definitely been developed in a much better way, we have some witty dialogue, and the relationships between the characters make Queen of Tears a unique watch. The Hongs and the Baeks together? Hae-in and Hyun-woo’s romance? Both Hyun-woo and Yang-gi’s (a perfect Moon Tae-yu) and Hae-in and Secretary Na’s (an even more perfect Yoon Bo-mi) friendship? Yes, please.
The Beauty of Queen of Tears: Direction, Location and Soundtrack
Besides the solid acting we have here, Queen of Tears had some of the finest cinematography and directing out there. The colours, the framing, the composition, and the angles are fully used to reinforce and enhance the story, and directors Kim Hee-won and Jang Young-woo once again deliver a piece of work that has infinite visual value. We have to mention the use of close-ups and insert shots that both showcase the actors’ incredible work and highlight the symbols and motifs of the Hong/Baek tale (tears, rings, four-leaf clovers). Also, we have an intriguing use of reflections, which gives another dimension to the protagonists’ communication (or lack thereof) and the villains’ motives.
Where was Queen of Tears filmed?
Kim and Jang were also able to take full advantage of the stunning locations they scouted for in the drama. It was refreshing to see a K-drama with a German backdrop. Sanssouci Palace (in Potsdam), the Berlin Cathedral, the Eiserner Steg (the Iron Footbridge in Frankfurt), and the lavender field of the TAOASIS Botanischer Duftgarten (in Lage) were all symbolic places for Hae-in and Hyun-woo’s tale (and I bet they will all see a sharp increase in tourist visits in the next few years!). In Korea, Geonji Village in Chungju City (the place with a “100% success rate” for love confessions), Shinwang Farm in Yesan (the flower field in Chuncheongnam Province where Hae-in’s helicopter lands), and Mungyeong City (where Hyun-woo’s family supermarket was built for the show — yes, it was a set!) gave the framing the story needed.
Should I save the soundtrack on Spotify?
Both the score and the soundtrack are beautiful. We have to mention the opening theme, “In a Beautiful Way” by Kim Hyung-hee, whose full version can bring anyone to tears. It seriously gives you goosebumps. 10CM, Heize, and Crush once again deliver incredible songs (“Tell Me It’s Not a Dream“, “Hold Me Back“, and “Love You With All My Heart“, respectively). BSS’s “The Reasons of My Smiles“, Paul Kim’s “Can’t Get Over You“, and Isaac Hong’s “Fallin’” also give a touching background to some important moments. And, of course, Kim Soo-hyun’s return to music after 10 years with “Way Home” is just the cherry on top.
So, is Queen of Tears worth watching?
Even though the last few episodes have their handful of flaws, Queen of Tears is a show that entertains and motivates us to be braver, more forgiving, and more hopeful. It reminds us to appreciate what we have around us, say what we need to say, and move past our defeats and sadness. Just for Kim Ji-won and Kim Soo-hyun’s chemistry, this is well worth watching, but if you turn a blind eye to a few missteps and take them in your stride, you will find a show that can charm you (and you may very well find yourself obsessing over it a bit).
And yes, if you’re still wondering, Queen of Tears does have a happy ending.
You can watch Queen of Tears on:
No time to read the entire review? Looking for the spoiler-free version? So why don’t you pin our summary? Just click it to pin it!
What did you think of Queen of Tears? What’s your favourite episode? Tell me your ideas in the comments!
And what’s next? Find your next obsession after Queen of Tears among these 12 new K-dramas being released this month!
PS: Did you notice that Park Ji-eun officially established the “K-drama Universe” with this show? In the world of Queen of Tears, we had:
- In episode 8, Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki from tvN’s Vincenzo) is Hae-in’s lawyer.
- In episodes 1, 2 and 7, we have Im Chul-soo and Go Kyu-pil playing the two men sent by the Hong family to follow Hyun-woo. In episode 7, Im Chul-soo says, “I’m so competent that I can locate a target even in North Korea” and Go Kyu-pil confirms it, saying, “That’s true. He’s very tenacious.” โ a clear reference to their characters in tvN’s Crash Landing on You.
- Hong Jin-kyung, from SBS’s My Love From The Star, also comes back as a detective in episode 15.
- Last but not least, I guess it all started with episode 10 of Crash Landing on You when two employees mention that the Seri’s Group, after the demise of its owner, will be acquired byโฆ you guessed it, The Queens Group!
This is it, guys! The K-drama Universe does exist! *evil laughter*
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