We are performing scheduled database maintenance, which may cause temporary downtime. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.
being a chaebol isn't a piece of cake
Baek Hyun Woo, a "normal" guy, is the pride of the village of Yongduri, and the legal director of the conglomerate Queens Group. Chaebol heiress Hong Hae In is the “queen” of Queens Group’s department stores. They 2 married together due to an intertwined fate. We'll get to know how things change between them while they go trough the hardship of life. Why they love each other, why they hate each other and how they reconcile. This is also the story of a chaebol's family which face scammers who want to steal everything from them, and how they defend themselves.the prior thing I really like about this drama is that it puts you in the position to rethink the way you analyzed the situation earlier. the same scenes viewed from someone else's perspective and everything shifts. I like this because life is so often like that. that's the closest it can be for me to a real story. We always end up seeing "abusive" RICH mothers who throw water and then a big envelope to the head of the shameless girlfriend of their son. This drama explain fully why these scenes are understandable.
this drama is the first for me where the description of a chaebol's life isn't romanced. the description of the chaebol's family too. and the way everything is described is damned logical and full of sens. you'll be hearing unforgettable sentences like "if someone leaves you don't bid him farewell, stab him in the back." (this definitely will stay in my mind....) and the way the story will unfold before your eyes will definitely explain why they all think this way. yes, a chaebol's family is a scary thing to encounter.
there is a lot of twist in this story, and I don't want to spoil your pleasure, so I'll just say this: the game will change at least 3 times, so if you don't really like the story be patient at least until the half of it. I want to share one scene I loved the most: the 2 families meet together while the children are mad at each other, and they are confused as if they are on the same team or not despite the circumstances, and one of them has this precious answer: we are like north and south korea. we are on the same team in the Olympics even though we fight against each other. we are together if we face the same enemy.
the chemistry between the leads is so good, and they are cute together. the writer made a very good job with cute scenes and touching dialogues. on each episode there is a 1 minute epilogue after the ending ost, don't miss it, it's very important to understand the characters.
what I didn't like:
there is some non sens (like taking a plane to the US with a real gold buddha 30cm high and holding it with one hand.... yeah).
there was no head lines about the narcissism of the villain. I'd really appreciate that writers fully explain the mental illness of the villains.
we also didn't get to know how everything began: it began with the mother of the villain, but we don't know what happened. how did she meet the family and why did she target that family among all.
the last episode was disappointing. the writer should have focused on the way to wrap things nicely, but he pushed the leads in an other complicated situation, so the last episode isn't as comforting as it's used to be.
that's a very good show though and I definitely recommend it.
when to watch: after work if you need to focus on someone else's problems.
audience: there is too much violence for under 15 people.
have fun!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
did not live up to expectations...
When I first watched episodes 1 to 4 I was shocked because based on the budget and story expectations I had, the plot was cliche and there was nothing engaging...given the deep plots introduced early in the drama I thought those will be the focus point for the drama. But eventually the plot just became messy because they added every single plot possible inside without giving proper closure to some open plots.Plenty of loopholes, still dont understand how not a single family member went with her to germany for such an important surgery. The car crash and the kidnap and the getting s**t and stuff was so redundant to be honest. The villain's story just ended abruptly after dragging it for 16 episodes....the main plots were barely discussed, why did he want to divorce, why was she so cold to him.
Yes needless to say the acting and the osts are really good, but sometimes if the plot is so obviously not linking, it removes the relatability from the drama making it harder to understand the characters. For example, first half of the drama even though she had few months to live she focused so hard on getting into the trillion group (disregarding her health), the minute she just lost her company overnight suddenly all her desires disappeared??? literally the only person who was fighting back was the aunt. Even the family, how can a director and CEO of such a big company know nothing on how to handle the situation and they just dumped everything on hyunwoo to solve....
anyway i really tried to find why this was so hyped but really it is way too overrated and overhyped.
Was this review helpful to you?
Carried by the actors/actresses
The show was enjoyable to watch but i dont know.. a lot of people said "oh it took over crash landing!"but in terms of story.. left a lot to be desired, and even when it gave bits and pieces of certain resolutions or things coming together.. i was always like "ok, thats it?" lol this drama could have been a heavy hitter if the writing was better
I really gotta say that it's just enjoyable to watch due to the actors/actresses..
but i usually re-watch dramas that i truly love.. and this one.. i'll gladly be just leaving behind
Was this review helpful to you?
A Melodrama
This is a melodrama filled with arguments, cold wars, crying, secret pining and at times lovey-dovey moments between the couple Hae-in and Hyun-Woo. Hae-In and Hyun-Woo were a married couple from very different background. Hae-In was the daughter of a rich conglomerate family. Hyun-Woo was from a humble village upbringing but made it into Korean's top university. Their friction stemmed from an inability to communicate properly and to give each other the support they needed to sustain a healthy marriage relationship in a highly pressured family environment. Their friction inevitably opened up opportunities for ex-boyfriend, in-laws, and villains to make use of against them.The story started off quite well but getting more draggy towards the end as the drama wallowed in more stagy moments. I had trouble trying to endure to the end. Three episodes to the end, I was tapping the 10 second skip icon continually to move the drama forward.
The story was poorly constructed and full of holes. I shall give some examples. Why would Hyun-Woo confide so much in the double-headed snake, Grace? For a smart lawyer, he should know she was likely to convey the information to the rival camp. The Hong family could not confide in each other but could tell Grace things she should not know, even after it became clear she was with the villain.
Hyun-Woo and Hae-In should be hurrying to Germany for her treatment given the time she had wasted. Yet the drama lingered on what seemed like a second honeymoon.
The family kept the information that the medical treatment would result in a loss of memory from Hae-In, justifying that she might refuse to undergo the treatment. She would eventually know anyway. Is it not better to let her know in advance to prepare for it?
The Hong aunt knew the true identity of the villain. Yet she did not use this effectively against her to revoke the villain's lasting power of attorney.
The Hong family was evicted from their home when the villain exercised her power. But the Hongs have difficulty evicting her when they returned, based on residency rights. What's the difference in the residency rights?
Also, Hae-In had a horrible character and personality: stubborn, hot-tempered, self-indulgent, obsessed with achievement to the exclusion of humanity, arrogant, distrustful, acid-tongued. Other than being pretty, she had no other lovable qualities. For her husband to fall back in love with her and her ex-boy to be so obsessed with her was just an unlikely fairytale.
Yoon Eun Seong, one of the villains was a smart man. If he was not so obsessed with Hae-In and dark in his character, he could have continued on his successful career.
It seemed it is like a fashion in Korea for guys to spot a bang (hairstyle). But I think it looks quite stupid - a vain attempt to imitate Prince Harry when he was a teenager?
Also, owning a department store was hardly rich enough to live like a king with so many staff and servants. At least the drama should show a chain of departmental stores.
I am not a fan of melodramatic dramas, much less a makjang and poorly constructed one. I think the 8.8 rating on mydramalist.com is overrated.
However, the cast was good and acted their part well. The chemistry between Hae-In and Hyun-Woo was great. For this, I rated it a 7.5, although the story was barely passable.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Starpower shines, while storytelling stagnates
What worked for the show:Major starpower across the board. Even outside of Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won, Park Sung Hoon and Kwak Dong Yeon are budding stars of their own and provide reason to tune in.
Strong middle episodes. Once the FL's family moved in with the ML's family in the rural town I was sure it was going to follow the trope of them being arrogant, rude etc, but actually the budding relationships among the family members on each side was the major positive driving force of the show.
Inverting the gender trope of the tsundre male CEO to female CEO. The drama industry needs more badass FLs.
What didn't work:
Over-focus on the antagonist in later episodes when the screentime could have been focused on the main couple overcomming the FL's memory loss. Like many kdramas this one included someone with psychopathy/sociopathy playing an overbearing evil character.
Childhood reunion trope. In this drama we find out that the ML not only saved the FL's life, but also kept her ipod as she was his first crush. I don't think this trope is natural, although extremely common in kdramas with the idea of fated love, but felt completely unnessary and forced.
Poor writing at times and overly convient plot devices. There are several issues with the plot in general, how are we supposed to support a character who actively feels relief when he finds out his partner is dying in a few months. Everything medical is spoken as a matter of fact and that medical science for experimental procedures is exact. The show treats her surgery which is a supposed rare technique with a few academic papers as a 100 percent success rate on curing her terminal cancer and highly likely to affect her memory. Medical procedures, even those not used for dramatic effect, have risk involved and uncertainty.
The certainty of how the medical side was handled made the show feel less realistic. How are the parents not following their daughter who is getting an experimental treatment in a foreign country with likely memory side effects?
Was this review helpful to you?
I had high expectations but was let down by the story
I had high hopes with this drama but it was just a copy of some old kdramas. The story lack depth and originality.I couldn’t stand it post episode 8 but still watched it hoping the story will take off but it become more and more lame.
Acting was good as both of the lead actors are my favourites though their characters weren’t evolving. Baek hyun woo and Hae in will be remembered as a popular couple as their chemistry was amazing . Can’t say same about the drama thou.
Was this review helpful to you?
Overhyped average show
The show had great potential with great cast but it was wasted by a average storyline..the show was carried by the high promotion doone by tvn and visual attraction of the lead couple. The beginning was good and the middle and later pats were soo boring and included so much unnecessary plot twists..The story was very average and yes Overrated.. Nothing new & interesting..Was this review helpful to you?
Trash packaged stylishly
As a lover of K-drama, I never thought I would ever write this kind of review for any k-drama,. QoT reminds me of some terrible Indian soap operas that aired 25 years ago, had the ratings soar through the roof and killed the Indian TV entertainment industry by robbing its audience of great dramas it used to be famous for forever. The world has advanced and yet Indian TV is still stuck there. Its producers, who had produced some of the iconic slice of life dramas before that, swamped and suffocated the industry through power play because of the clout they garnered. Having such bad scripts get this kind of sky-rocketing ratings can push out seriously good scripts forever in an industry that's already struggling to survive. It's even more worrisome because now many of the good scripts are not even being aired on local channels in SK (for example, Moving, Soundtrack #1 and #2, Parasyte the Grey, A shop for killers etc).The stars I gave were for the beautiful leads. That's it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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).
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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?
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
