Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) and Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) have the perfect fairytale marriage in Queen of Tears. Theirs is an example for the ages: a whirlwind office romance, the coming together of two worlds, promises of love and devotion, a well-oiled unit even as they rule the Queens Group as CEO (Hae-in) and Legal Director (Hyun-woo). The definition of a power couple very much in love… or so it seems.
As we soon find out, it would be amiss to even call them strangers. Strangers allow each other formal courtesy, but every conversation between Hyun-woo and Hae-in results in a bitter impasse. Three years into the farce that they call a marriage, Hyun-woo has had enough. Cleaning up his in-laws’ messes and dealing with his passive wife is not enough anymore: he wants out.
But just as he works up the courage to tell her, he is delivered the shock of his life: his wife is dying of a rare condition. Hyun-woo is finally getting what he so desperately wanted, but wouldn’t it be better if he also inherits her assets once she’s passed on? Thus begins another farce, one where Baek Hyun-woo woos his wife yet again in the hopes of not just getting out of his marriage permanently, but also becoming richer for it.
Despite the dramatic and heavy themes, Queen of Tears is buoyant and decidedly comic. Kim Soo-hyun, in turn, is the driving force and comic relief as the unsuspecting ordinary man who is out of depth in Hae-in’s obscenely rich and morally corrupt family. Kim Ji-won, on the other hand, expertly maintains her calm and deceptive facade, only choosing the best of moments to let her true self – an insecure woman bursting with love, but with no idea how to give or receive it – shine through.
The contrast between their interactions and their individual selves is striking – they have walls miles high with each other, but their own scenes show two people struggling to reconcile their emotional needs with the world around them. The best part about their dynamic, however, is how it brims with subtext and implications – it’s clear that they still have a soft spot for each other, but they’re too emotionally stunted to do anything about it.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for other characters and sub-plots on the show, which are more disconcerting than fascinating. More insight into the rest of the cast is normally welcome, but we feel as overwhelmed as Hyun-woo with the information overload. While that’s no reason to dismiss the show outright, it’s up to Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won to carry the show or risk being divorced by its viewers.
Queen of Tears airs every Saturday and Sunday on tvN, and is also available to stream on Netflix internationally