K-DRAMA REVIEW: “Queen Of Tears” Gifts Mesmerizing Love Tale That Endures Tough Times

April 30, 2024
K-DRAMA RECAPS/K-DRAMA REVIEWS

With a determination to use this hard-earned second chance wisely and do things differently, being honest and talking things out properly, our leads march hand in hand toward their happily ever after.

But not before our resident antagonist doubles down on the craziness and makes one last move before surrendering to his tragic end.

  • Main Leads: Kim Soo Hyun | Kim Ji Won | Park Sung Hoon | Kwak Dong Yeon | Lee Joo Bin
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  • K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: Familiar Wife | Go Back Couple | Matrimonial Chaos

Bunny S. watches Queen of Tears on Netflix

Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 & 04 | 05 & 06 | 07 & 08 | 09 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale + Series Review |

Queen of Tears

Queen Of Tears Final Episode Recap

Although he is in critical condition himself, all Hyun-woo cares about is saving Hae-in from Eun-seong. Throwing a bait to the mistress, she makes a move and unknowingly leads Hyun-woo to the place where Hae-in is confined, the hunting ground.

Meanwhile, knowing how dangerous Eun-seong is, Hae-in pretends to be still on his side. But this isn’t enough to fool a cunning snake-like villain. If Hae-in really believes him, then she should leave the country with him. Everything is already prepared for their departure and a helicopter will arrive at dawn to take them.

Cutting off the electricity, Hyun-woo manages to get Hae-in out of the house. He tells her to go first but Hae-in can see through Hyun-woo’s plans to sacrifice himself for her. They are in the same boat and she won’t be leaving him behind. Unfortunately, no thanks to Hyun-woo’s injury, Eun-seong quickly catches up to them.

He is the craziest we have ever seen, resolving to kill Hae-in if she wouldn’t leave with him. Stepping up, Hyun-woo takes the shot meant for Hae-in and collapses to the ground, getting Hae-in devastated. Eun-seong then meets a tragic death, getting shot by the police, putting an end to his evil life.

When the police break the news to her, the mistress just sheds one tear before returning to her greedy true self, caring only about securing as many shares as possible so that she can become the chairwoman of Queens Group.

We get a reversal of last week’s scene with Hae-in waiting for Hyun-woo outside the OR this time. Even when his life is hanging by a thread, Hyun-woo musters up all his strength to comfort Hae-in and tell her not to cry. The single tear Hyun-woo shed before closing his eyes is making me cry rivers here. And it doesn’t help that Hae-in regains the memory of getting wheeled into the OR with Hyun-woo by her side and crumbles down.

Fortunately, the surgery goes well. Hae-in remains by Hyun-woo’s side till he opens his eyes. It is hilarious how he wakes up just after Hae-in threatens not to care about her well-being since he is still unconscious. From then on, love is in the air with Hae-in trying to learn more about Hyun-woo and expressing her annoyance at how perfect he is, having every single trait she loves.

After locking up the mistress for her crimes (She was also the one behind the boat accident that killed Hae-in’s elder brother and hoped Hae-in would have died in it too), the Hongs retrieve their assets and get reinstated. What matters is that we now have Hae-in and Hyun-woo working at the same place. And instead of walking past her indifferently as he did in the past, Hyun-woo comes running whenever he spots Hae-in.

To protect their egos in the past, our BaekHong couple kept saying things they didn’t mean. But that only caused the misunderstandings between them to pile up until they eventually drifted apart. It was easier to resent and blame each other than to reach out to each other and be sincere.

But this time they will be different. Arguments might still arise between them. Yet with a promise to communicate properly this time, and stay by each other’s side, our BaekHong walk hand in hand ready to face whatever life throws at them.

50 years later, we see an old Hyun-woo dropping off flowers at Hae-in’s grave. They lived happily together and grew old. And now Hyun-woo visits their favorite places alone. Hyun-woo might not have kept his word to live only a day after Hae-in’s death and follow her afterward. But he has been visiting Hae-in’s grave and thinking only about her until they reunited again after his death.

Queen Of Tears Series Quick Recap

In a modern fairytale setup, our Cinderella man, Baek Hyun-woo, marries chaebol heiress, Hong Hae-in, at a grand wedding party. But three years into their marriage, their romance is long lost. It isn’t completely hopeless though, and soon our leads find themselves shocked at the fact that they are still in love with each other.

Queen Of Tears Series Highlights

A sweet love story between two perfectly imperfect people

Those two were born to love each other. Hyun-woo has been Hae-in’s savior all along even when they didn’t know each other. His killing of the wild boar that almost attacked Hae-in wasn’t the first time Hyun-woo saved Hae-in’s life. When young Hae-in almost drowned, Hyun-woo was the one who pulled her to safety. On her last day at school before studying abroad, Hyun-woo showed up and sweetly put a bandage on Hae-in’s scraped knee.

It is a pity that we couldn’t see them as schoolmates but Hae-in remained in Hyun-woo’s heart as his first love and ideal type. Years later, they met again wholly oblivious to their past connection. And once again, Hyun-woo came to Hae-in’s rescue but to save the photocopying machine Hae-in was kicking this time.

Unlike their heart-fluttering dating era, when we first met our leads, they couldn’t be more different, living in separate rooms at home and bickering over different business approaches at work. Losing their unborn child was for sure painful but having different ways of grief and not communicating their feelings honestly was what drifted BaekHong apart.

Hae-in thought Hyun-woo blamed her for the miscarriage. (She has a history of people blaming her for misfortunes.) And that was why he moved his staff to the baby’s room. They both said things they didn’t mean and kept resenting each other even though knocking on the other person’s door was all it would take for them to reconcile.

Seeing no hope in going on with this marriage, Hyun-woo considered getting a divorce but was shocked at the news of Hae-in’s terminal illness. While Hae-in’s condition might not have been the best way to get our leads back together (Couples shouldn’t wait until one of them is on the verge of death to make up), there is no denying it impacted their relationship a lot.

For starters, a crack was formed in Hae-in’s ruthless and cold-hearted façade. After trying to put on a brave face, Hae-in crumpled down and admitted to being scared and wanting to live. Which in turn made Hyun-woo realize how wrong he was, being happy about parting ways with Hae-in without having to go through a divorce lawsuit.

Then the trip to Germany came and got us all ecstatic about our BaekHong’s reconciliation and the hope that Hae-in’s condition could get better after getting treatment. Only for that hope to get dashed after Hae-in learns about Hyun-woo’s divorce plans and feels betrayed by his deceit.

Going bankrupt and moving to Hyun-woo’s hometown surely helped get our leads closer. Their lovey-dovey dating era only comes second to their post-divorce flirtation era. And best of all was the newlyweds’ vibes we got after our BaekHong moved to Hyun-woo’s studio apartment.

What touched my heart the most was Hyun-woo staying by Hae-in’s side during the toughest times, and showing up to the Hongs’ rescue when they got kicked out in the streets. Likewise, realizing her mistakes, Hae-in apologized to Hyun-woo for treating him harshly and making him run errands for her family. A part of her knew he wanted a divorce but instead of talking it out and finding a solution, she swept it under the rug.

Even when she lost her CEO title and all the privileges that come with it, Hae-in remained strong. The only thing that broke her down was the possibility of losing her memories of Hyun-woo and treating him as a stranger. The girl had no memories of anything including who she was, yet the first thing she uttered was Hyun-woo’s name which she kept mumbling to herself before the surgery.

Hyun-woo might have gotten off on the wrong foot but he redeemed himself by caring about Hae-in more than he did for himself, taking a bullet meant for her without a second of hesitation. And if he had to do it again, Hyun-woo would gladly do it. The first thing Hyun-woo asked about after opening his eyes was if Hae-in was okay. The guy has set the bar too high and now we can only dream about meeting a real-life Hyun-woo.

Queen Of Tears Series Musings

Originally, the drama was billed as a second chance at love featuring a chaebol queen and her commoner husband. And while the drama delivered on the romance front, it was mostly because of the main cast and their chemistry together. Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won nailed their scenes and were on fire that I could watch them for hours on repeat.

Given the social status difference, I was expecting some chaebol antics. But the drama dived into the makjang category and almost mistook itself for a thriller movie given the last-minute kidnapping and pursuit we got. Having Hae-in lose her memories of Hyun-woo was enough of a source of tension to cover this week but the drama just went all out even if it meant getting the audience frustrated.

Having an antagonist isn’t necessarily bad. And we have a long list of sexy and compelling villains who stole the shows they were in. Yet, Eun-seong is definitely not on this list. I can understand Eun-seong’s anger at his so-called mother for abandoning him and choosing to live as Grandpa’s mistress. But this doesn’t give him the right to infiltrate the Hong family and plan to destroy them.

Even his claims to have loved Hae-in are ridiculous. Who puts the woman he loves through trouble so that she can turn to him for help? Not to mention how he attempted to shoot her when Hae-in refused to go with him. That is another level of craziness. As if trying to brainwash Hae-in and feeding her lies wasn’t enough of a despicable act.

Even to the amnesiac Hae-in, Eun-seong never stood a chance. She rather found him dislikable and was uneasy around him. And on the other hand, her heart raced at the sight of Hyun-woo, and kept following him around and getting curious about him.

With an almost 2-hour finale, I would understand and be happy about it if that time was given to our leads happily ever after to make up for all the tears we shed while watching the drama. But alas, as usual, we got unnecessary fillers about the families.

Why do I have to care in the final episode that Hyun-woo’s sister’s husband whom we never saw isn’t cheating on her like she wrongly assumed? And other than the reborn Rich reunion, the arc about Hyun-woo’s brother’s wife is totally out of place and serves no purpose to the plot.

Why are subplots no one asked for taking much time and we only get a few minutes of Hyun-woo and Hae-in? Also, if the drama wants to show our BaekHong as parents how can it spring it on us with only one scene as if it is just an afterthought getting thrown in?

I loved Aunt Beom-ja and her slow-burn romance with Future Husband was delightful to watch as well. Furthermore, I adored Hae-in’s relationship with Mother Baek. This beautiful woman gave Hae-in genuine love and affection when her mother was too busy taking care of her grief and blaming Hae-in to notice her daughter was in pain. Even after learning Hyun-woo was shot instead of Hae-in, Mother Baek comforted Hae-in and never blamed her for it. Talk about the contrast.

We might have warmed up to Soo-cheol after realizing how much he cares about his wife and son, yet sometimes I wonder if we would feel the same if he was played by another actor other than Kwak Dong-yeon who undoubtedly nailed his role. I doubt it would have been the same though, as I never cared about Da-hye and her last-minute sacrifice, choosing to go to jail to prove the mistress’s crimes.

Queen Of Tears felt more like a weekender featuring the story of many people but at a fast-tracked pace and with a higher budget. And while the signs of greatness were there, it is a drama that could have been better if the story focused on its strengths (our BaekHong couple) and cut down on the fillers that not only added nothing to the table but also took away from our watching experience.

Photos and Videos: tvN Drama

 

 

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Bunny Sonaki

I am Bunny. Just like you, I am smitten with Kdramas and look forward to watching every Kdrama out there, but is that dream ever possible since they keep showering us with new dramas every day? For me, Kdramas are my comfort zone and a warm hug that makes it possible to face up to whatever life throws my way.

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