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Eyecandy with lazy writing
This drama has everything BUT a good story line. I believe that people are so blinded by the good looking actors that they don't even think critically about the plot. Sure, the acting is perfect, the production, the visuals, the music... But when it comes to the story, it's messy, boring and repetitive.The first half of the show is more about the push and pull relationship between the leads. He loves her, she loves him but they refuse to communicate like grown up adults and think that the other doesn't like them anymore and the love is over.
The middle part of the drama revolves around the female lead's sickness and how she and her husband come to terms with her being a terminally ill patient. But still, they don't talk about their feelings and think their relationship is doomed.
Then, the second half of the show becomes UNBEARABLE. It's basically a makjang with good looking actors. The bad mother and son steal the family's wealth. The bad guy is obsessed with the female lead and wants her all to himself while planning on killing her now ex husband. The story becomes so boring and repetitive that at some point I just wanted the female lead to finally die so that we can be over with everything. Also, of course the ending couldn't get any more unrealistic.
I honestly believe this is a highly overrated kdrama that is only popular because it had a lot of promotion on social media and one of the main actors is Kim Soo Hyun. All of the cast are talented actors but their good performance is not enough to save the lazy writing. Also, the screenwriter Park Ji Eun really needs to stop with the unrealistic happy endings. Why is she so afraid of sad but realistic endings? She's like: "I want a sad ending but not really. Also, the public wouldn't want a sad ending" (see "My Love from the Star", "Crash Landing on You", and now let's add "Queen of Tears" to the list).
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Poor execution of a good story
When I watched the first episodes I thought I would love this series. If this series was only about confronting relationship problems and the healing of a broken family, the series would be at least a 9/10, since it confronts a serious topic, however still adds a funny note every now and then. The actors are great and I surprisingly liked the side couples. However, what could have been a deep story about marriage was turned into the most stereotipical and superficial story. Every episode was filled with unnecessary car accidents and sacrifices. Everyone somehow had a childhood connection with the other, which made no sense as it is very often showns hiw everyone has such a different status and family background. The hate of the main character of his wife just suddenly turns into him giving his life every three seconds for her. Instead of escaping the unhappy life he lives, it somehow gets more miserable. I think less episodes and less "tipical kdrama plottwists" could've made this show into something very special. Instead it got turned into a whole a** mess.Was this review helpful to you?
It Was Disappointing
*Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion. We don't need to agree and it truly doesn't matter if we don't. If you loved it, then that's just you, but frankly I didn't.*Let me start by saying this drama is incredibly overhyped, and I truly expected more. I've only dropped around 4 Kdramas over the years of watching them and this has joined this list. I dropped it on episode 13, with only three episodes left. You may be asking why I watched it up until this point, and truly I don't know either. Maybe I expected it to get better as the episodes progressed but after waiting patiently from the point of episode 8, I knew it wasn't going to get better. Three more hours of watching the ML be biggest pushover ever and the FL still being sick with a bad attitude and no consideration for the ML feelings and only making choices from her perspective, I just wasn't in the mood for it.
Another point I'd like to make is that the character were flat, with little to no personality or depth to them. A big part of the watching experience for me is learning about the characters, and this drama simply left me starving, not even throwing me a bone to work with. For a Kdrama that is unnecessarily long and drawn out, I think they could've sent more time developing characters instead of giving us the human equivalent of paper dolls. Every episode felt like a filler, because it was just so boring.
The chemistry was another point of concern for me. Was a chemistry test between the actors not done before the filming began? The ML & FL had no chemistry to the point where I was becoming hyper aware that they're actors. Nothing about this Kdrama worked right except for maybe the visuals. They threw in every trope they could, but with a mediocre storyline, it simply didn't work.
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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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Boring and overrated !!!
A bit tired of these absurd stories about these "poor" rich chaebol.A poor script, a drama that relies only on the couple FL and ML A disastrous casting choice, with the father looks as old as the grandfather (Hong family) and the son (ML's brother) as old as the father (Baek family). Useless characters to fill out an empty story. Everything in this drama sounds fake (how can such wealthy people be so naive and stupid?), and due to the lack of content, we're force-fed with repetitive crying scenes, where we are not even able to see the tears roll down on the protagonists' cheeks...
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Glossy romcom
It's a glossy rom com with very little to cherish tbh so far. The power tripping Fam is just crazy. Enjoying terminal illness of spouse is like a new Kdrama genre or something & that dreaded TRIANGLE whether it's love or hate. ARGH!!!That Soo Hyun scene saying why am I cute when I drink was the best thing about this drama so far. The wedding scene was Binjin coded so much so that they even called it wedding of the century too.
The outfits that Kim Ji won is wearing is absolutely stunning 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 so far.
Let's see how it goes later on. So far I won't rate it extraordinarily for what I have seen.
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Bits and pieces of old kdramas combined together
I like how the drama started with a messed up marriage and showed story of a couple who have fallen out of love and their journey to rediscovering their love. It was going good till episode 7, after that it become like a complete opposite story. All the focus was shifted on the queen’s group family being broke and falling in the trap laid by the villains. And how easily the villains got everything they wanted and even kicked the family out of the house. It’s was bit unrealistic how a business tycoon family had nowhere to go.And in the midst of all this villain drama the main issue was left unaddressed. What about the martial issues that brought the lead couple at this point? Why hae in and hyun woo hated each other that much at the beginning of the show? The answers were vague. I wish the focus of the show was on addressing their martial issues and rekindling their love and not on the unnecessary villain drama.
The same villain story that we have seen in the legend of the blue sea. And hae in’s conflicted relationship with her mother, it reminded me of Cloy where seri had same tensed relationship with her mother.
And there were many things in the drama that reminded of the other kdramas. Hence I didn’t feel like I was watching something new. If the story had only focused on hae in’s illness and their troubled marriage. It would have been alot better.
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It is good but not that good!
As someone how has watched kdrama's since 2016 and has watched over a 120 kdrama's and 40 kmovies. I think it is safe to say that I know what I'm tallking a about.It is good but not that good!
Don't watch it because of the viewer rating:
https://mydramalist.com/article/queen-of-tears-officially-surpasses-the-ratings-of-crash-landing-on-you
Crash Landing is better, if it came out this year instead of 2020 it would have had a much higher rating. A lot has changed in the last years, kdrama's are way popular now then only a few years back.
Back in the day we only had a couple kdrama's a year and a lot where very good, but now there are just too many which also gives us a lot of bad ones.
I mean come on! Who remenbes the days of amazing Kdrama's like "My Mister", "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim", "Mother", "It's Okay to Not Be Okay", "Prison Playbook", "True Beauty", "Mr. Sunshine", "18 Again", "Mr. Queen", "Descendants of the Sun", ...
Seriously the industry felt a lot more honest back then, now it feels like it's all about the money. They are anouncing a new kdrama every hour now its ridiculous now.
I will even go as far as saying that : assuming that a kdrama is better based on percentage of viewer rating is a insult to the industrie and to all the master pieces and the people worked on them really hard.
Queen of Tears is good but not as good as Crash Landing, just because something has a higher viewer rating doesn't mean it is better.
If you are a real kdrama fan you should watch the classics even if they are a couple of years old, instead of watching the hyped up ones.
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The story didn’t live up to the hype!
In an interview actress KIM JI WON said she signed the show because she was curious and wanted to know why the couple hated each other that much . Every viewer had the same question but the question was never really answered properly. The writer didn’t delve deep into the issues of the couple. Like why their love turned cold? Both husband and wife’s side of the story was needed to understand this as the coldness and hate was mutual and both of them were equally miserable in marriage. We didn’t get to see and understand that side of their story. Yes we saw the lovey doovey past and how they fell in love but not how they fell out of love and most importantly how it turned into hate!In the first episode HYUN WOO was miserable and wanted to end the marriage. After finding out that HAE IN is terminally ill and will die soon he was genuinely happy and wasn’t even a bit shocked. This showed how much he hated hae in and wanted this marriage to end. There must’ve been a strong reason for him to be this way considering how empathetic and kind person he is in the show. But his wife, (who he use to love) is going to die and he is happy about it!!! What caused this !! the writer didn’t unveil those details hence the plot felt incomplete.
And more emphasis was put on Hyun woo’s misery and Hae in’s side was left out from it. I couldn’t understand why she stopped putting effort in marriage and was soo cold towards him.
With all those unanswered questions what disappointed me even more was the unnecessary villain plot. The story could’ve been complete in itself and didn’t need that evil character plot at all if the main questions were addressed. It felt like a completely different drama afterwards. Hae in was terminally ill and eun seong still wont stop chasing her till the very end like a psychopath. And seeing him chase her again and again became boring and too dragging. So many thing were going on at the same time like the villain plot and hae’s in illness plot, that the main issue was swept under the rug.
Also I feel like there were soo many unnecessary characters that were not doing anything for the plot or story. They made the episode unnecessary long.
Last but not the least I am tired of how no kdrama can go without lead hero being a saviour and the past connection between the couple 🤦🏻♀️ At this point I will be surprised if no drama involve these elements. So done with these cliches .The writer could’ve done better and not give us the same story that we have watched 100 times.
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overrated
The story is boring at first, then it is catchy for a few episodes in the middle then it just goes downhill.Actor Park Sung-hoon carried the show.
I didn’t catch any feelings from the main leads, such a letdown!
Their relationship isn’t fully explored, not in the past, nor in the present, and they should have talked at least about their problems not act like they never happened, that’s what I kept thinking.
A mature married couple unable to talk to each other honestly .
loved a few of the main actress’s outfits though!!
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The execution was all over the place!
The only saving grace for this drama is the phenomenal delivery by our leads and the OSTs.These 2 reasons are why I picked this drama up after I dropped it after ep 13. I just had to see the end of it.
The love story between Haein and Hyunwoo is beautiful. I find it lacking in the overall execution just like the rest of the drama. Even though the feelings that we needed to see were beautifully conveyed by the acting of Ji Won and Soo Hyun, there were a lot of misses in the direction and writing.
The side plots weren't interesting enough for me tbh, I could have done without some of them. They needed to be properly developed and woven into the main story seamlessly!
The villains, Eun Sang and his mother didn't get the ending they deserved! It was rushed
I think giving Dahye and Grace redemption arcs was a poor decision. Not everybody needed to sing "Kumbayah"
I understand this is fiction, but some choices and decisions that Soo Cheol made were unrealistic and made zero sense. They were just written as part of "a great love story" that failed to hit the mark. It was plain idiocy!
The dramatic effects in this drama were more prioritised than making a great drama that made sense and followed a natural progression. It was just one bad decision after the other.
I could list everything wrong with this drama but frankly, I'm too disappointed and over everything that could have been better done in this drama.
The anticipation I felt for this drama from the moment the leads and main plot were announced was completely let down. If I were to rate it based on my disappointment, I would rate it a 5/10.
It's getting an overall 7.5/10 score because the acting from our leads needs to be praised and the OSTs were so beautiful!
And lastly, the hype this drama received is due to the acting of the main leads, and their unbelievable chemistry and because of that I can't in good conscience say the drama was totally overhyped.
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Disappointment of the Year
Queen of Tears was one of my most anticipated dramas ever since it was first announced. Crash Landing on You was my first introduction to Kdramas. When I found out that Park Ji Eun, the writer of CLOY, was working on another drama with Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won, I was really excited to say the least.The drama seemed to have everything going for it: a top-notch cast, great cinematography, and impressive direction. The first half of the drama was very engaging when the focus was on the main leads' relationship.
Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won both killed it as Baek Hyun Woo and Hong Hae In. They both gave it their all to breathe life into their characters. I am particularly happy for Kim Ji Won as with Queen of Tears, she gets her first major hit drama as a lead. She has always been underrated even though she's been a leading actor for damn near a decade now. Of course Kim Soo Hyun was already a top actor but with QOT he has consolidated his position as the Number 1.
The OSTs for the drama are amazing. Each and every OST is so beautifully crafted. The cinematography and imagery of the drama was also breathtaking. The directors were at the top of their game with this one.
However, it breaks my heart to say this, but the writing was the weakest aspect of this drama. It seems like the writer didn't know what she wanted this drama to be. Is this a Rom Com, a thriller, a makjang? As we progress into the second half the drama becomes a hot mess of a various genres. The writer's fixation on the villain, Yoon Eun Seong who I have to say is one of the most pathetic villains in history, really ruins this drama.
The writer resorted to employing overused and outdated tropes to further the story. The narrative devolved into predictable plot twists and one-dimensional characters. With all these plot twists and focus on villains, it wasn't even fully explained why the villains did what they did. The Chairman's Mistress' motivation remained unknown. The writer was looking to get a shock reaction out of audiences with one plot twist after another, without thinking much about the narrative.
QOT is at its best when the focus is on the main leads' relationship. However with everything else going on in the story, we hardly get to spend any time on exploring their relationship. Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won's chemistry is out of this world but its sadly underutilized in this drama. In the end Queen of Tears fails to live up to the hype and potential, and ends up being a huge disappointment.
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