Tom

Yes, of course. But it has been exacerbated by her memory issues, hence pushing Hyun-woo to the brink, ready to serve her divorce papers.

Hae-in mentioned funding studies abroad on her condition to accelerate their progress. They could provide cutting-edge treatment or medication that could help her if she volunteers for clinical trials.

They were very in love, but Hae-in's oppressive family and several misunderstandings (in part due to her recent memory lapses due to her condition, like missing their time to meet) made them grow distant, and Hyun-woo came to resent her because he felt trapped (her family even insisting that their child should have her family name and never accepting him). So for a long time now, they've been together, but separate. But throughout the drama we will see them survive their marriage crisis (and her illness) and "stay together against all odds" (per the synopsis).

No, that condition refers to a (usually) benign adrenal gland tumor, not a malignant brain tumor. Hae-in's condition sounds similar to gioblastoma, where you have the development of infiltrative tumor that extends from the primary site, resembling threads of a spider's web (somewhat similar to the "cloud" notion in what they described as cloud cytoma in the drama).

They've probably made up a name for it so that they can invent studies (mentioned in episode 2) that Hae-in can fund, which will ultimately probably be what saves her. Would be harder to do for an actual condition like gioblastoma, since they'd have to invent a "cure" for a real illness.

Things really fell into place in episode 2 for me in terms of the story and it looks like it's gonna be another Park Ji-eun masterpiece. It'll be heartbreaking to see Hae-in's condition deteriorate with more memory lapses, and Hyun-woo coming to terms with how he still loves her, but may lose her. And then watching them grow closer again as they fight for her to survive so they can get a second chance at love 😭

I'm picturing the "i'm cute" scene reenacted by a robot now 💀

I've been rewatching IOTNBO and I don't see much of a difference. He looks virtually the same as he did in that, just a different hairstyle. Whatever he might have done (diet, workout, procedures) it's working. He does belong on a billboard, just like the guy said in episode 2. 🤣

I think it's right there in the synopsis:

"Queen of Tears tells the miraculous, thrilling, and humorous love story of this married couple, who manage to survive a crisis and stay together against all odds."

So a pretty strong indication that this miraculous story includes her surviving (the seeds of which they already planted in episode 2 with Hyun-woo looking up successful recovery stories and Hae-in talking about funding studies overseas) and them getting closer.

It's going to be so gratifying when they find back to their true love for each other. Loved the first two eps.

The only one sounding agitated here is you.

I didn't really see anything from *Kwak Dong Yeon or Park Sung Hoon's very limited screen time in the first two episodes that made them "much more interesting" than the leads, but I have noticed that people do this a lot with dramas, claiming the second couple is more interesting or the SML is more interesting or some side plot is more interesting. People are free to like what they like of course, but sometimes it's giving a little bit of "i'm not like other girls".

At least IU has been in some great films, like Broker. And Bogum was in the military after his previous drama. He should return this year with Good Boy. It'll be good to have them back!

Episode 1 rating on tvN: 5.85%
Episode 2 rating on tvN: 8.66%
This is going to be huge. Double digits next week already, possibly. Rightly so. Excellent start! 🤩

The new English title is terrible. Hopefully they'll change it again before airing.

Great actor. Now we need them to confirm his casting for Good Boy with Park Bo-gum and Kim So-hyun.

If I remember correctly, they already confirmed they are editing it and minimizing Yoo Ah-in’s appearance, so I’m not watching it even if they do release it. Trying to cut down ML scenes will be disastrous.

Most dramas have "top reviews" with lower scores because those who didn't like a show vote them up, and they accumulate more votes because there are much fewer of them. (Some of them are hard to take seriously as well, like the ones giving it 1.0 because it didn't resemble the book it was just loosely inspired by).

I guess I'll have to take your word for it. Though I suppose it wouldn't surprise me if some people struggled with a complex drama written by the genius behind some of Park Chan-wook's best films. Its audience reviews do not suggest very mixed feelings, but there are always some detractors.

That sounds like a rather subjective assessment. The finale hit double digits in ratings in South Korea and it did very well on Netflix, spending several weeks in the non-English Top 10. It's well-rated both here and on IMDb despite being review bombed by angry Vietnamese people. It was nominated for four Baeksang awards, including Best Drama. So I'm not sure what metric you use when you say "many" people were underwhelmed, other than something purely anecdotal.

Her direction of Little Women was excellent and rightly Baeksang nominated.