Queen of Tears
Gary Stu done rightDisclaimer: this review contains extensive spoilers
Gary Stu: a man with no faults. That describes Queen of Tears’ Baek Hyun-woo perfectly, down to every flawless feature of his face. Yet where most dramas struggle to portray a perfectly flawed character like Hyun-woo, Queen of Tears earns its accolades with its surprisingly immersive story and characters.
Hyun-woo is husband to Hae-in, an authoritarian heiress whose marriage to the much less affluent Hyun-woo is depicted as loveless and cold. It’s only when Hae-in contracts a deadly cancer - and Hyun-woo becomes the leading candidate for the inheritance - that their marriage sees a second life, a new match struck in what had once been darkness. Being a K-drama, this inevitably leads to a true rekindling of their once vibrant romance - but somehow, as in its portrayal of Hyun-woo as the perfect man, Queen of Tears weaves this common storyline in a new direction, every familiar story beat accompanied by new ideas and beautiful filmmaking.
Queen of Tears is one of those dramas that sets a new standard - it’s all been done before, but never to this caliber and to this level of polish. It’s the kind of drama that makes all others hard to watch, the kind of drama that seems to occupy some crevice of your mind as hard as you may try to ignore it. It’s swoon-worthy to the very essence of the word, every exchange between the two leads dripping with tension. Where other shows may leap to the bedroom, Queen of Tears makes your heart flutter with a grip of the hand or a light kiss, somehow inversely hedonistic to its vulgarity.
The lead actors, of course, can’t be disregarded in the show’s standout quality. Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won guide the production, their performances critical in every emotional scene. They sell the show in a way that nobody else could, their on-screen chemistry undeniable.
There have been many dramas, and there will be many more. There will not be another Queen of Tears. Like its male lead, it’s almost perfect, every shot a carefully produced dance between the flames of romance and the tension of the familiar Korean chaebol. Perhaps there will be, one day, a romance that surpasses the heights this show has set - until then, Queen of Tears lies atop the peak of its mountain.
Images from Netflix