After what felt like a century, “Queen Of Tears” FINALLY premiered, and we’re here to discuss the premiere episodes, lets dive right in.
Note: this article is a first-impression review, it doesn’t mean this is the writer’s final thoughts on the drama. This is a spoiler review.
I was admittingly very excited for the premiere of the drama, Ji Won is one of my favorite actresses who always plays different interesting characters each time, I was looking forward to seeing her transform into an icy queen after more than a decade since “The Heirs,” she’s joined by Soo Hyun and many many other amazing actors, I just knew this had to be good.
So, was it good?
I’d say… yes! but honestly, I am surprised, way more than I had expected to be by the premiere.
I don’t know how, but browsing on Twitter, I accidentally found out that Ji Won’s character was going to die in the drama [allegedly], as in she has a terminal illness hence the drama’s name, which fits. But then, I didn’t pay much attention to it until it aired and I recalled being spoiled by Twitter.
The drama is written by Park Ji-Eun who wrote some of the most famous kdramas of all time, and she really took her time with this project, so expectations were high. and I must say, if she did one thing right, its subvert my expectations at every turn.
I didn’t expect Soo Hyun’s character to be this callous or indifferent to Ji Won’s, but I’ll also admit I like no character in this drama so far, none.
I bet its not only Hong Hae-In’s fault, but it seems Baek Hyun-Woo was led on and sort of trapped into something he didn’t anticipate, as in he didn’t know she was filthy rich, the odds were not in his favor from the get-go. It takes two to tango so we shall see who is at fault here, but I was shocked the dude was so excited she’s dying and didn’t even have time to process it as intended… because, accounting that he did love her, even if their relationship deteriorated, he’d still be shell shocked and sad she’s dying, but he wasn’t. I didn’t expect or anticipate that, and I kinda liked it. Not his character, but the approach- from a writing perspective.
Hong Hae-In does not seem like an easy person to deal with at all, and her approach to the death news is very sad but on brand, its sad that eventually, even her husband wants part of the inheritance after she dies and is excited she’s dying.
Also, what I liked was how the relationship is exactly how you’d expect such type of relationship to unfold, as in when a rich man/woman dates an average person, this is how it’d turn out eventually, not how kdramas would have you believe. I liked that part the most. The average person would struggle immensely trying to fit in to their lives and standards, and he seems to genuinely fear for his life because the family is CARAZYYY. Its really an ill-fated relationship.
If screenwriter Park Ji-Eun is known for one thing, its taking very known tropes and making them work in unusual ways, I don’t always agree with her writing choices and I feel most of her dramas tend to drag as time goes by, but since we have peculiar characters this time, it might be different.
16 episodes feel a bit too long in my opinion, especially since we’re dealing with death here as a subject, because how long can 3 months be exactly and does the screenwriter have enough material to fill it without making light of the topic itself? …. but I have a feeling the screenwriter has a lot of tricks up her sleeves and Sung Hoon’s character seems like the hidden villain for now. He didn’t clarify much about his character at the press conference and said it would be considered a spoiler if he said anything, so this got me excited.
I ALWAYS love seeing him play villain roles.
Now onto one thing I didn’t like that much… The tone of the drama did annoy me sometimes as I felt the words being conveyed were too deep but the editing made it feel like its ‘light,’ this includes some scenes related to Hong Hae-In’s ultimate demise or her brother’s who seems to have died too. I felt some editing choices made light of the situation when it should’ve been taken in a heavier tone, I think these are the directors’ intensions and this has to do with how heavy its about to get in the coming episodes, I think they want us to perceive it a bit lightly but will dial up the drama and tragedy as time goes by, but still, I felt some of the these editing choices were not it.
Overall, “Queen Of Tears” premiere shocked me in a good way, it was really nice and unique. can’t wait to see next week’s episodes.
What about you guys? did you like the premiere of “Queen Of Tears”?
