Lead cast: Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won
Latest Nielsen rating: 8.7 per cent
Much like the recent hit theatrical romantic comedy Love Reset, Queen of Tears begins with the fairy-tale marriage of its leads, quickly followed by its unravelling; they come dangerously close to divorce.
The series is yet another to be set around a chaebol (Korean family-run corporation), long a staple of the Korean drama realm but particularly prevalent of late – we’ve had almost one a week so far this year.
7 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in March 2024
7 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in March 2024
Kim Ji-won plays Hong Hae-in, the frosty heiress of the Queens Group.
Hae-in starts working in the company incognito as an intern, where she meets model employee Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun). He comes to her aid each time she kicks in frustration the photocopying machine she doesn’t know how to operate.
Despite Hae-in showing no signs of reciprocating, Hyun-woo, who doesn’t know who she is, confesses to her and sacrifices for her, even going so far as to quit his job. Only then does she react, suddenly appearing outside his parents’ countryside farm in a helicopter.
Fast-forward to the present day and Hae-in is now the head of the Queens Department Store, while Hyun-woo leads the Queens Group’s legal division. The trouble is, they hate each other’s guts and Hyun-woo is preparing to ask for a divorce.
He knows that Hae-in has already cut him out of her will, and also knows how vindictive the Queens Group chairman is towards anyone who attempts to leave, but things are so bad that he would rather lose everything if it means he can also be rid of Hae-in.
A surprise medical diagnosis changes things completely for Hyun-woo and Hae-in, and all of a sudden they begin to act like a real couple – but for how long?
Queen of Tears’ main innovation is in its gender flipping. Usually, when a hard-working, working-class character finds themselves married to a corporate figure and hated by their mother-in-law, it’s a woman. But here it is Kim Soo-hyun’s character who is enduring the treatment normally reserved for daughters-in-law.
The show’s title goes so far as to turn this gender reversal into a gag, as the emotional “Queen” is not Hae-in but Hyun-woo, who cries his way through drinking sessions with friends as he recounts his marital woes.
Hae-in seems incapable of cracking a smile, let alone shedding a tear – although don’t bet against it; we are still very early in the show’s run.
This mild innovation aside, Queen of Tears is formulaic. It is content to show us a feuding corporate family and a pair of attractive leads whose hatred of one another will turn to love the more they stand up against that family.
The opening episode sets up most of this story and does so in a relatively entertaining manner, but the following episode, which clocks in at a daunting 88 minutes, loses a lot of steam.
The story begins to meander around the interchangeable chaebol characters and the humour dries up considerably. Neither of these points bode well for a show so early in its run.
Queen of Tears is a predictably slick drama production but it lacks imagination, particularly in its showy editing, much of it related to the unusual medical condition afflicting one of the leads.
No matter what happens from here on out, we’re destined to wade through a lot of chaebol infighting. It will be up to the lead actor and actress to sell the romance and make us root for their characters.
Queen of Tears is streaming on Netflix.