Queen of Tears

wasted potential; crashed and burned with the same old lame tropes and plot holes

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not usually one to watch romcoms, but the premise drew me in. The first few eps were hilarious too so I decided to give it a shot. Alas! it was downhill from there. Like many other reviews here mentioned, the premise is interesting and refreshing. A genderbent version of the typical "cold rich CEO" and "long suffering wife" trope seemed intriguing to me, and it was until the villains were revealed.

The villains' (Moh Seul Hee, Eun Sung, Grace (??) and Da Hye) plans and machinations were portrayed so confusingly and nonsensically I had to turn my brain off in order to understand how they were intending to takeover the company. After the villains were revealed, the IQ levels of the Hong family immediately dropped several notches and they were bested. Does this even make logical sense?? This is a 3rd generation chaebol family and yet they were behaving like idiots. This does not fit the supposed backstory of Chairman Hong who supposedly went from shining shoes to building this empire. Would an astute businessman fall prey to such schemes so easily? I would think not. Of course, thankfully we have Baek Hyun Woo who still retains his superior intellect and rescues his ex(??) in laws almost singlehandedly.

I felt sympathetic to Baek Hyun Woo at the start. He was portrayed as a long-suffering son in law who in constantly undermined at home and work by Hae In and her family. I felt for him really; he is supposed to be the male version of the typical korean daughters in law being mistreated by their in-laws and ignored by their husbands. Unlike most viewers, I found the writing and portrayal of his character genuine and hilarious when realizing that he would soon be released from his predicament by Hae In's timely (or not?) death. To me, those were the most hilarious parts of the drama. Part of it is due to how hard it is to like Hae In as a person. She is portrayed as a cold and stoic CEO who almost constantly masks her emotions. She seemingly cares for Hyun Woo but rarely expresses it. She is blunt and puts him down at work publicly. It honestly is a miracle their marriage lasted 3 years. I was curious to see what made him fall in love with her in the beginning but we never really get that. We never really get any scenes on how they mended their marriage either; sure her cancer diagnosis was the catalyst but it felt like the foundation they were trying to rebuild their relationship on was never shown. Instead we get makjang tropes of multiple car crashes, MULTIPLE childhood connection tropes and ridiculous random car chase scenes.

This next paragraph will be dedicated to all the plot holes that I seriously couldn't stand. First of all, Hae In's illness is just so...fake. She has a couple of symptoms that only flare up at the most convenient times and looks in the pink of health despite being literally at death's door. Like seriously, whenever she is at the hospital for checks or whatever, she is always sashaying around like she's walking down a runway. I get that its a drama and that it would be impossible to really look THAT sick, but its hard to feel sympathy for someone supposedly going to die when they are still strutting around in the pink of health! Her brain surgery thing was the most fake thing too. Going in with full face of makeup and HAIR and somehow "losing" her memory but still retaining the ability to walk/talk/eat and returning to work after 1 month... I know I'm nitpicking when this isn't a medical drama but this is a major plot point which the show hinges heavily on so some realism would be good here. I'm not even going to talk about the car accident tropes because yeesh. Lastly, those darn childhood connection tropes, which I honestly HATE the most because it adds NOTHING to the plot. In fact, I feel it demeans the love between the characters. I want the characters to be in a relationship because they CHOSE each other and would go through heaven and hell to make that choice, not because fate ordained them to and the choice is already made for them. That is such a cop out. So if they are fated to be together forever why even bother with anything? Why bother with treatment? Why bother with saving the marriage? if it's meant to be it's meant to be you know what I mean? Since they are fated to be lovers they wouldn't need to save their marriage because they would be together till the end anyway. Lame.

The story is honestly the weakest point of the show. Acting, music, cinematography are all top notch and I'm not going into it because all the other reviews are already singing their praises. The last thing I need to get off my chest is the ending. If I were the scripwriter, I would write that Hae In dies in the end. I seriously cannot believe that she lives. And I always think back to this quote from a western medical drama: dying changes everything, almost dying changes nothing. After the surgery, Hae In loses her memory but somehow reverts back to her old personality (partly due to Eun Sung?). Almost dying wouldn't change anything about the relationship; Hae In is an ambitious person and would probably get over the health scare and return to chasing her trillion dollar club goal, leaving Hyun Woo by the wayside again. The fundamental issues that broke their marriage down were never addressed (miscarriage, communication issues etc) and Hae In can't remember it anyway. The whole treatment thing felt like just pure fanservice to appease the fans and to keep viewership numbers up. If Hae In dies, it would be more impactful in the grand scheme of reflecting on her relationship with Hyun Woo and also her family. I feel like it could have tied in with the scene at her grandfather's funeral quite nicely. And of course realistically, with a 3 month death sentence no treatment would usually be available. But that's just me lol, I just wanted to get this off my chest because this premise had a lot of wasted potential.

In summary, watch for the acting. The plot just goes downhill after ep 6? If you like makjang you would like this. Hand to heart, i was entertained by this but I was hate-watching the last few eps.

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good but OVERHYPED!!

I never write reviews but i couldn’t help myself with QoT. This drama too many storylines, most of them are unnecessary, they wanted to add all Kinds of plots to the story and such unrealistic track !!! Like she just got a brain surgery and her hair is intact?? her head is intact? No chemo😭😭😭😭 like come-on. Her family is naive af. And his siblings are no good. It’s only watchable because of Kim ji won & Kim so hyun. Especially So Hyun aced his acting. Nice cinematography. Poor storyline, Plot is just ok i still cant get over the fact that he was ok for her to die in the beginning and suddenly he fell for her again? where was all this concern when they were married? i feel like something is missing since the beginning, also would be better if FL’s character would be more expressive and not just be expressionless most of the time. i still love her tho. I would rate it 7.5 that too only for the leads. I Love Kim so Hyun and i really wanted to like this but here we are.

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Wasted potential.

Full disclosure: I made it until halfway through episode 10 before I called it quits. I started this drama having high hopes for a love story of a married couple whose relationship is on the verge of divorce, them rediscovering the reasons why they used to love each other, rediscovering their attraction to each other and then painfully working through the issues that tore them apart in the first place. By episode 10, the leads were divorced. Thus far they hadn’t any deep, vulnerable conversations about that went wrong in their marriage, they both spent the last 10 episodes doing the same dance of not communicating, having moments of attraction to each other, and then dismissing them and deflecting. Their scenes, although they started off good in the first couple episodes, quickly became repetitive - like a hamster wheel with no forward movement.

This story had so much potential. I would have loved to see the main leads figuring out together how to navigate her shitty family situation, with the ML from a small farming village, marrying a wealthy heiress, and then feeling trapped in this prestigious family who completely controlled his life, his job and their marriage. I would have loved to see more development on how the FL was drawn to this innocent, upright small town man who was far removed from the kind of life she lived, and to see more of that dynamic with the pressures she was under as the heiress to this major conglomerate. I would have loved to see them explore how she has to be ruthless and cold and distant in order to survive in her world, and with such a family that she had. I would have loved to see the leads process the loss of their child, how differently they each handled grief, and how their difficulties in grieving together and was what began creating that rift in their marriage. I would have loved more emphasis on her and her husband’s journey with her terminal cancer. I would have loved more dialogue, more of a character-driven story.

Instead, all of the elements that drew me to this show in the first place got swallowed up by a menagerie of less interesting, inconsistent side characters, side plots, and filler scenes with characters I didn’t give a shit about. Her powerful, controlling family turned into a joke. The FL’s cancer diagnosis as of episode 10 felt more like an afterthought, basically just accepted by the leads and not really emphasized much. Oh, but there was some psychopathic, possessive SML who cared more about the FL dying than her own spouse. Instead of open and honest communication with the leads, we had episode upon episode of refusing to communicate, misunderstandings, pushing each other away and basically nothing getting talked through or resolved.

Perhaps these issues would have been addressed in the last six episodes, but with the leads having maybe 10-15% of the total screen time in each other’s presence (and hardly satisfying scenes at that), the hope for more resolution and better development between them stopped being worth the other 85% of filler BS with all the other side shit going on.

The show should have stuck to the simplicity of a love story between these two complex people whose love for each other over the years has been impacted by grief, controlling in-laws, fame, social status, societal pressure and differences in socioeconomic backgrounds.

The two stars I did give were solely due to the great acting with the leads.

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Everything-in-one-pan sort of comfort food.

I was trying to work out why this one blew up and got the attention it did. And I don’t think I was the only one, I think the whole company were probably a little surprised too. So what I came up with was that they managed to find the perfect recipe for how to appeal to the maximum number of possible audiences - a producer’s dream. And how, imo, did they do it?

By cherry picking from all the genres and eliminating the potential bitterness before making a judicious blend of sweetness, with a twist of out-of-the-ordinary, that is just sufficient to stimulate almost everyone’s tastebuds. It has the ingredients of a melo without excessive wailing (well it does get a bit wet though, just note the title…); a romcom without cringeworthy comedy (mostly); a makjang without full-blown psychosis (just regular hysteria); a conspiracy without frustrating mystery (but a few too many conveniences), and a slice-of-life romance (plus free homilies) without the plodding reality.

It manages to be a very clever balance of light and dark. Nothing stands out as particularly noteworthy in itself, but put together it becomes great comfort food. Somewhat like all our beloved, over-rated national dishes that tempt the foreigner into disappointment because they expect Michelin stars and it turns out to be your grandma’s cooking.

Overall, it failed to really impress in the creatively inventive/awesome stakes but it delivered a solid script; credible good characters (aside from the ML being ex-special services, puleeeeease…he would have been breakfast); dastardly bad characters and some hearty performances, especially from the leads (and a personal favourite, the shameless rum flip, Grace, played by Kim Ju Ryoung). However it stumbled on the plot front probably because it had too many chickens on the rotisserie. It worked well until about episode eleven, but then the plot began to curdle in certain areas as the focus shifted more to the melo. By the last two episodes, it was shredded and went into makjang meltdown followed by a layer cake of all the genres piled on top.

So, to sum up, if you want the equivalent of a Jamie Oliver everything-in-one-pan sort of meal, you have found it. It’s finger-licking quality with good home grown meat and veggies plus a grating of cheese. Such a thing is hard to achieve so credit to those concerned. It’s the sort of comfort food you’re happy to come home to, but not up there for a gourmet night out or a revelatory culinary experience.

‘Nuff said. There’s already at least 6 pages of “reviews”, posted well before it finished airing!

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Overhyped - Nothing New, Old Plot in New Packaging

Just another K-drama with complicated love-story amidst power-struggling conglomerate family, enemies from past & present, case of terminal illness, amnesia, accidents at the crucial point - finally happy ending with endless promises of everlasting love! The drama is the usual tried & tested K-drama formula that we have known in countless other stories, just executed with fresh casting. The lead pair & marketing efforts make this drama popular, in my humble opinion - which I respect & feel which is what made me take note & watch it. But sadly neither the story nor the characters had any depth for it to remain memorable or call it a drama worth the hype it has created.

PROS:
• Pace: Easy to follow storyline, but can be seen as sluggish.
• Good cinematography & OST (especially: Crush's Love You with all My Heart)

CONS:
• Nothing new/memorable/worth rewatching as hyped (Please see below to know what is "memorable" imo)
• Superficial acting:
They have casted such talented artists but they are doing the bare minimum. None of them resonated with me as the character lacked depth, hence did not make me feel the emotions they were out to portray (except for the villain and Hae-In's brother but that was so little). Going around in social media, that everyone's been crying so much seeing the lead pair - it did not work for me. I have seen men crying onscreen, in fact this is one of the best things I applaud K-dramas for - letting the men show emotions. This is one my first drama of the ML - he's good at the whole puppy eyes vibe and cute thing - but his tears really felt fake. The only point where I almost teared up was for the ending of the grandfather (chairman of Queen group).

OVERALL:
This drama has the same old ingredients with different packaging. There is nothing in this drama, that I will quote today or 10 years later. It is a good-to-average drama, if you don't watch it, you are not missing anything in terms of remarkable work in K-drama universe. My rating is still pretty basis the mechanism I have tried building, see it here: https://kisskh.at/profile/omo-omo-omo)

WHAT I MEAN BY "MEMORABLE" DRAMA:
Read the lines below, as soon as you read it - the visual will pop up in your head, quite vividly. That's what I call the power of a good drama.

1. "Kim Bok Joo is used as shield by Jung Joon Hyeong" - Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo
2. "Let's go to the Playstore" - Goblin
3. "Gwenchana Gwenchana" - Welcome to Waikiki
4. "Samantha and Rachel" - Business Proposal
5. "All Handsome Men are my Oppas" - Kill Me, Heal Me
6. "Red Light, Green Light (Mugunghwa kkoci pieot seumnida)" - Squid Games

Then there are some shows that I cannot even say one thing cause the whole drama is iconic and a trendsetter:
Boys over Flowers, Coffee Prince, Signal, Move to Heaven, Mr Queen, Misaeng, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon etc.

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UNREALISTIC & ILLOGICAL

I am sorry but the only thing that bothers me is the unrealistic story telling and the illogical out of nowhere events..

first, am i dumb or? how could she have a brain tumor removed and still look fine after surgery, no bandages no stitches no shaved hair ???! cmooon

also why would she trust Eung Seong? she could just google her name and a ton of articles will pop out of how she still loved her ex-husband and.. THE PRESS CONFERENCE !! It was on national tv and she publicly said that EungSeong threatened her like cmooon ugh

watching the last episodes feels like homework.. just so i can finish the drama :(
the main leads are the only thing that gives me patience haha

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best drama of 2024

The series beautifully captures the essence of human emotions, weaving a narrative that resonates with viewers on a profound level. The show evokes tears of both sorrow and joy, immersing audiences in a world where love, pain, and redemption intertwine. The actors deliver performances filled with genuine emotion. It's a masterpiece that leaves a lasting impact, reminding us of the power of empathy, forgiveness and love.
If someone asked me the definition of love, I would say Queen of tears.
I cried until the end of the episode. It's perfect, it's beautiful, this drama is a gem.

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Justice for Kim SaeRon

He is ruined the tv show . I never watch again this kdrama
Whoever supports this pedophile, may he perish with him.
Justice for Kim SaeRon rest in peace beautiful angel :(
JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON
Go to Hell Kim Soo Hyun.. Monster,…..
JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON JUSTICE FOR KIM SAE RON

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IT'S IN MY TOP TEN RIGHT NOW

I need to go and calm down myself after reading a few reviews and now Im gonna try to make a good one with my poor writting skills.

So, even though a lot of people it's calling this drama overhyped, overrated, boring, lack of spark, a flat plot and other adjectives and trying to explain their opinion of why they gave them like 5 stars and even though I know their explanations are completely valid, I must mark them as a biased ones and it's not because I put this drama in my top 2, replacing Goblin it's because I genuinely like it.

First of all, I didn't like this drama at the beginning, just like ton of people in comments say, I stop watching it by episode 2, but I gave it a second chance, so I realize the two fisrt episodes are so slow and lack of emotion, I mean a marriage going though a crisis and the wife being diagnosed with a terminal ill, that was not for me, but after watching a few spoilers of the next episodes I decided to watching again with an open mind this time and OMG, was the best decision I made. I dare to say people who are criticism in comments are the ones who never try to stop criticism the drama.

Even if the storytelling was a little... ¿creative? Its what dramas usually are, very full of fantasy, like you all are mad because the plot wasn't what you were expecting so im gonna explain a bit of my opinions.

First of all, I gotta admit that i wasn't engaged to the drama at the beginning until up to episode 3, but after that, I was sooo engaged and waiting for it every weekend.

I guess I like the kind of dramas where there are a lot of characters and all of them support to each other just lik this drama is.

The plot was good, but it left a lot of things whitout answer, like who was secretary Nam's husband or how many children the main leaders has or if Baek Hyunwoo's sister meet her husband. I would like we would have this answers, but we just can imagine this, just like we do in real life, there are things for what we never got answer.

The characters were so good, a good love story we don't usually have in dramaland and if there where hole plots is because life is like that.

The music I've always said that a good drama must have a very good OST and this one has it. The OST was as good as Goblin, CLOY and DOTS which are my favorite dramas of all time.

The acting was SO GOOD TOO. To be honest I don't have words right now cause I've just finished the whole thing and I'm sensitive because if there is one thing that I dont like about it, was the ending, I don't find necessary that they showed us their death, 'cause for me they ended up dying in 2074, first her and then him. Well that's all I got to say. But I really love this drama, for the laughs and for tears it mades me tear up.

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Las third is not good, ending is unsatisfaying

I'm happy this wasn't longer, because I don't think I could have gone through with more episodes. The last third, or even the last half didn't hold up to the quality of the first part of the show. I really felt like the writers were just clocking it in and throwing all the noodles at the wall (looking at you, unconsequential TA (iykyk)).

It's a shame because it had potential, and not just as a concept made out of a cool idea and a cool teaser that doesn't deliver on ep 1 and 2, but we had really good eps at first.

There was some good acting at times, but also a lot of over-the-top stuff that I could overlook at first, because the story was good, but when the makjang hit bad... bruh.

I didn't follow much about the scandal, only heard bits and pieces, as I try to stay away if I'm actively watching something, but I'm not mad since this drama doesn't deserve much aknowledgement the way it turned out. I feel robbed in a way I haven't experienced a lot with kdrama before. Like we know the last third curse is real, but I never felt it as bad as witht his one, where the good of the rest of the series cannot outweight the downfall of it all.

Crush's song is good and I did add it to my rotation. The other songs are ok, but not in a "I'll listen to them again by themselves" kinda way.

I cannot say I'm happy I've watched it, but I'm happy I've finished it since I was in a huge kdrama slump for the past few years and I'm ready to get back at it. If I can get through this one in a few weeks, I can do anything!

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Freaking Ice queen and her Plastic tears

honestly, this show left me wondering why it has so much hype in the first place.it delivered nothing of the sort. The entire plot was surrounded by a failed attempt to capture the boring family dynamics and romance which is entangled in melodrama and cliches. The fancy lead couple felt more awkward than emotionally connected. till episode 12 i actually felt no couple(married) vibes through them.. after that it was all wrapped around the tragic memory loss plot that gave that barely there true love feel to it.

Rn i am so bored to even write this review so you can fathom the dept of my disappointment in this show .. anyways..
the narrative is so overwhelmed by unnecessary melodrama, meanwhile the scenes where rather strong emotions were needed, the reactions felt flat and dull. the pace of the plot was snail sped too much content and time was wasted on things which were adding no concrete substance to the story ..for example ML's father's scenes about his election campaign were extremely stupid and forced funny.

Not only this but There were literally way too many characters and side stories, making the whole thing feel messy and hard to follow. Hong Hae In (played by Kim Ji Won) finds herself caught in a whirlwind of health problems and family betrayals, which should be touching, but instead, it’s a mess of unneeded drama. first she wanted surgery to escape death then she started overreacting as soon as she heard of the potential memory loss after treatment which was so unrealistic .. i mean come on .. anyone will prioritize life over memory cause if you live you can rebuilt those memories ..but if you die memories die with you .. her character remains so damn irritating till the last min ..like she literally gives no straight answer to any question/statement no matter how serious the matter or feelings are involved she always answers in an 'as if i care' roundabout manner ... i felt even more bad for kim soo hyun , his character was so weak and unlikeable in the first half of the show and the second half was so packed with melodrama that there wasnt much for him to do other than using tear drops. his character kind of lost its spirit in all the chaos and mess. Well ..to be honest this screenwriting did no justice to his talent as an outstanding actor.

Background music was possibly the best thing ... Secondly the wordrobe ..may be not the best but still good ( IMO judge from hell has best wordrobe and styling so far)

in the end i am still not convinced by the level of marketing they did to promote this show .. or may be they knew the show is lacking at good writing so atleast lets promote it good.

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Unfortunately not really good

This is one of my most awaited drama. I have been following Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won for a while.

The premise was very intriguing and the first few episodes were very promising. I thought this was going to be a slice of life drama, but it turns out to be makjang. The conflicts wete acceptable, felt like an old type of kdrama, but the resolution of conflict was kinda slow. As more episodes went by, some plots and scenes do not make any sense. The only thing that is saving the drama is the acting of the actors.

Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won delivered amazing performances and visuals. They both acted with their eyes. Park Sung Hoon also delivered, it's hard not to curse him when Yoon Eun Song behaves like a mad man.

Osts are good too and cinematography also helped. It's just very unfortunate that the plot was kinda outdated and annoying considering we have a group of wonderful and skilled actors right here.

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