Queen of Tears review: A saccharine if bloated love story

Queen of Tears follows the challenges that the wealthy heiress Hong Hae-In and her lawyer husband Baek Hyun-Woo face in their marriage, and despite all the adversities, manage to stay by each other’s side. The miniseries is now streaming in full on Netflix.

Story

Heiress of the Queens family and group, Hong Hae-In is in a shaky marriage three years after her wedding to Baek Hyun-Woo, the son of a humble farmer who works as the legal director for the company.

Hyun-Woo and Hae-In fell in love with each other before they married each other but after a blissful period, they began drifting apart, which was made only worse after Hae-In’s miscarriage.

Baek Hyun-Woo doesn’t get the respect he deserves from his in-laws, who mostly hate him. He can’t tolerate such a life anymore and seeks divorce, but can never find the courage to go through with it.

When he learns that Hae-In has a terminal disease and a few days until she passes away, he puts the divorce on hold. Meanwhile, Hae-In is also focused on her professional goal, for which she needs to tolerate her creepy ex Yoon Eun-Sung, who has returned.

Eun-Sung begins getting close to the family with his hideous intentions regarding both the family fortune and Hae-In, so Baek Hyun-Woo remains steadfast and vigilant.

Eun-Sung and Moh Seul-Hee, mistress of Hong Man-Dae, the patriarch of the family, turn out to be a son and mother who have been eying the wealth of the family for decades.

They manage to successfully force the family to go into hiding after framing them for scams and taking the majority of shares, with Hong Man-Dae suffering from a heart attack and going into a coma.

Meanwhile, Hyun-Woo and Hae-In drift apart when his divorce papers are shown to her. They go through with the divorce too, as both continue to protect each other. Hae-In and Hyun-Woo find love again and work on their miscommunication.

She finally has the surgery that saves her life but erases her long-term memory. Eun-Sung tries to dupe her into choosing him, but her subconscious, as well as Hyun-Woo and her family, help her remember and feel who is really her own and who’s just a predator lying through their teeth.

Hae-In and Hyun-Woo have a reunion, and after promising each other to do better, they live happily ever after, as Queen of Tears concludes.

Performances

Kim Soo-Hyun as Baek Hyun-Woo is an immediate favorite. The talented and highly sought-after actor justifies his high-billing prices with his animated, expressive, and heartfelt portrayal of an all-rounder.

Kim Ji-Won plays it largely stoic which only enhances and contours her more expressive and emotive moments as the heiress Hong Hae-In. She also commands an ethereal screen presence every time she enters the frame.

Park Sung Hoon plays the sleazebag really well, and his persistent psychopath of a character is so great at evoking negative emotions in the audience.

Kwak Dong-Yeon, Lee Joo Bin, and Lee Mi-Sook are solid supporting characters.

Kim Gab-Soo plays a lovable patriarch whose best and most heart-rending moments come when he’s about to sacrifice himself, with a look and smile to the camera that can move just about anyone to tears.

These characters are supported by a plethora of major and minor characters, all played wonderfully by the immaculately casted actors.

Positives

As a casual binge, Queen of Tears is one of the best shows out there right now, although binging a series with episodes as long as there is a daunting notion.

The casting for the show is impeccable and efforts are seen across the board. The chemistry and dynamics between actors are all very visibly fun and genuine.

At its heart, the conflict and the message are very simple, making it an easy if long breeze of media consumption.

Costumes, sets, and locations reflect the massive budget that has gone into the production and one would be remiss not to address that when reviewing the show.

Negatives

The business-related expository dumps are poorly handled and the segments that should inspire great thrill as the protagonists scramble and ponder to take the enemy down using strategy and tact, are rather dull when it’s all made to look so easy.

The runtime can’t be overlooked and it seems more than overkill to make each episode a feature length movie, and yet failing to efficiently marinate and develop the relationships and arcs of the secondary characters.

Verdict

Queen of Tears is a high-budget, opulent visual treat with a saccharine narrative and soppy story arcs. There are also great characters and storylines alike, but the runtime of each episode may exact a toll on one with casual viewing expectations.

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Also Read: Queen of Tears summary and ending explained