The premise is unique but the execution isn't
The story is about a married couple, Hyun Woo and Hae In who have lost and disconnected in their marriage. And after Hae In being diagnosed with terminal illness they try to reconnect and overcome their marital and life crisis.
In the early episodes, you might perceive ML as a jerk, which indeed he was. However, both the ML and FL exhibited similar behavior towards each other, indicating a lack of communication between them. So you should understand the distress experienced by the ML and his reaction to the preceding situation.
ML and FL undeniably have chemistry! They are one of the most eye candy couple one could ask for. However, the director seemed to overdo it in trying to sell their chemistry when it was already apparent. Repeating the same shot from 15 different angles and having them stare at each other for 2-3 minutes during every conversation felt excessive, especially given that they were already married. I also didn't like how they overly emphasized the childhood and fate connection between the leads.
I also thought this show would have the leads with in depth conversations between them about what went wrong in their marriage and why they drifted, showing their past love story was also a good move but I still felt that her illness magically resolved all their issues, conflicts and misunderstandings without much communication about their drift.
The drama primarily focuses on the familial and villain storylines, accounting for more than 70% of its content. If you're expecting a romantic comedy, I'd suggest skipping this one. It leans more towards melodrama than romance, so if you approach it with a rom-com mindset, you might be disappointed.
The most intriguing premise of the show was rebuilt of relationship between the ML and the FL, but unfortunately, we hardly saw any development on that front. Instead, the focus was primarily on a rich chaebol family facing a crisis.
This drama doesn't rely on action-packed sequences or rapid plot developments; instead, it embraces a slice-of-life approach with a leisurely pace. The drama has undeniable number of cliches although which are easily predictable, it couldn't categorized itself as "Cliche done right" for me.
Each character is meticulously fleshed out, their stories, personalities, and arcs fully explored. Almost every supporting character gets their own story arc. Initially, some seemed uninteresting, but as the drama progressed, even their stories became a little compelling,
A drama requires a balanced flow in it's story and narrative, but when you throw unnecessary tropes every episode without concluding the previously more believably it feels artificial that's what went wrong for "Queen of Tears", they threw plot twists left and right which were not even interesting or amusing rather cliche. Had they focused on one genre properly, like "Life" and "Action" offer two completely different paces so the simultaneous shifting from one to another disrupted the overall pace of the show, where some scenes were intriguing but some awfully filler and boring .
The writer overly focused on the villain arc. It didn't feel reasonable; instead, it felt forced to the point of frustration. This aspect significantly detracted from the overall vibe of the drama. Motive and the narrative regarding the villain was left underdeveloped despite so much focus on it.
The music is nice, but they played the same music during every sad scene, it lacked variety just like the plot LMAO.
With one of the highest budgets in the industry, the cast, locations—especially Germany with its breathtaking scenery—wardrobe, and the prominent Mercedes PPL 🤣, it served quality but it still isn't a criteria for a good drama for me.
Overall, this didn't offer anything particularly special. I've been watching dramas for four years, and there's nothing new I've seen here. While some twists here and there are amusing, the overall plot isn't too surprising. The writer chose the cliche route despite the unique premise, and the long 1.5-hour episodes didn't help either. The production and top-quality actors carried the drama because the plot was definitely lacking.
I lost my interest by Ep 10, watching the rest of it was a chore indeed.
REWATCH: It's really lengthy for a rewatch, and the only scenes id rewatch are of main leads, so id just watch a edit or mv of them, rather than the whole show.
Thank you for reading my review ^^
END
In the early episodes, you might perceive ML as a jerk, which indeed he was. However, both the ML and FL exhibited similar behavior towards each other, indicating a lack of communication between them. So you should understand the distress experienced by the ML and his reaction to the preceding situation.
ML and FL undeniably have chemistry! They are one of the most eye candy couple one could ask for. However, the director seemed to overdo it in trying to sell their chemistry when it was already apparent. Repeating the same shot from 15 different angles and having them stare at each other for 2-3 minutes during every conversation felt excessive, especially given that they were already married. I also didn't like how they overly emphasized the childhood and fate connection between the leads.
I also thought this show would have the leads with in depth conversations between them about what went wrong in their marriage and why they drifted, showing their past love story was also a good move but I still felt that her illness magically resolved all their issues, conflicts and misunderstandings without much communication about their drift.
The drama primarily focuses on the familial and villain storylines, accounting for more than 70% of its content. If you're expecting a romantic comedy, I'd suggest skipping this one. It leans more towards melodrama than romance, so if you approach it with a rom-com mindset, you might be disappointed.
The most intriguing premise of the show was rebuilt of relationship between the ML and the FL, but unfortunately, we hardly saw any development on that front. Instead, the focus was primarily on a rich chaebol family facing a crisis.
This drama doesn't rely on action-packed sequences or rapid plot developments; instead, it embraces a slice-of-life approach with a leisurely pace. The drama has undeniable number of cliches although which are easily predictable, it couldn't categorized itself as "Cliche done right" for me.
Each character is meticulously fleshed out, their stories, personalities, and arcs fully explored. Almost every supporting character gets their own story arc. Initially, some seemed uninteresting, but as the drama progressed, even their stories became a little compelling,
A drama requires a balanced flow in it's story and narrative, but when you throw unnecessary tropes every episode without concluding the previously more believably it feels artificial that's what went wrong for "Queen of Tears", they threw plot twists left and right which were not even interesting or amusing rather cliche. Had they focused on one genre properly, like "Life" and "Action" offer two completely different paces so the simultaneous shifting from one to another disrupted the overall pace of the show, where some scenes were intriguing but some awfully filler and boring .
The writer overly focused on the villain arc. It didn't feel reasonable; instead, it felt forced to the point of frustration. This aspect significantly detracted from the overall vibe of the drama. Motive and the narrative regarding the villain was left underdeveloped despite so much focus on it.
The music is nice, but they played the same music during every sad scene, it lacked variety just like the plot LMAO.
With one of the highest budgets in the industry, the cast, locations—especially Germany with its breathtaking scenery—wardrobe, and the prominent Mercedes PPL 🤣, it served quality but it still isn't a criteria for a good drama for me.
Overall, this didn't offer anything particularly special. I've been watching dramas for four years, and there's nothing new I've seen here. While some twists here and there are amusing, the overall plot isn't too surprising. The writer chose the cliche route despite the unique premise, and the long 1.5-hour episodes didn't help either. The production and top-quality actors carried the drama because the plot was definitely lacking.
I lost my interest by Ep 10, watching the rest of it was a chore indeed.
REWATCH: It's really lengthy for a rewatch, and the only scenes id rewatch are of main leads, so id just watch a edit or mv of them, rather than the whole show.
Thank you for reading my review ^^
END
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