# Queen of Tears (2024) Review: Marriage, Money and Melodrama > Queen of Tears is Park Ji-eun's 16-episode K-drama about a chaebol marriage on the brink, a lavish mix of in-law comedy, weepie and boardroom intrigue. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/queen-of-tears-review/ Published: 2026-07-25 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 4/5 ## Verdict Yes, with reservations. It is a hugely entertaining melodrama for fans of Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won and big emotional K-drama, if you can forgive a cartoonish villain. ## Is Queen of Tears worth watching? **Yes. Queen of Tears is a big, glossy, shamelessly emotional K-drama that earns its tears through two excellent lead performances and a genuinely funny first act.** Park Ji-eun's script swings from marital farce to hospital weepie to corporate thriller, and more often than not the swings land. The reservation is excess: the villain is drawn in broad strokes, some plot turns strain belief, and the long episodes make the final stretch feel heavier than it needs to be. ## What is Queen of Tears about? Baek Hyun-woo ([Kim Soo-hyun](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/asia/south-korea/kim-soo-hyun/)), a lawyer from the countryside village of Yongdu-ri, married Hong Hae-in ([Kim Ji-won](https://celluloidscore.com/stars/asia/south-korea/kim-ji-won/)), the imperious heiress known as the queen of her family's department-store empire. Three years later, the fairy tale is over. Hyun-woo works as the group's legal director, is treated by his in-laws as little more than hired help, and lives in a chilly silence with his wife. He has quietly drawn up divorce papers. Then a diagnosis changes every calculation he has made, and the couple's cold war turns into something more complicated. At the same time, the Hong family's empire is under threat from people who have worked their way close to it, with Park Sung-hoon as a smooth, obsessive financier circling the family. [Queen of Tears](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/queen-of-tears/) was written by Park Ji-eun. It is a South Korean series in Korean, and this review covers the complete show: a single season of 16 episodes that has ended. ## Two stars who make melodrama feel earned The series belongs to its leads. Kim Soo-hyun is superb at comic humiliation, and the early episodes, in which Hyun-woo tries to hide his secret joy at the idea of freedom, are some of the funniest in recent K-drama. He shifts into grief and devotion without losing the character's essential decency. Kim Ji-won has the trickier role. Hae-in begins as cold, proud and hard to like, and the actress lets the audience see the loneliness under the armour long before the script spells it out. As the story darkens, her performance gives the melodrama a steady emotional centre. Their reconnection, played out through small acts of care rather than grand gestures, is what makes the show worth its length. ## Farce, weepie and boardroom war in one Park Ji-eun, who also wrote Crash Landing on You, knows how to mix tones. The Hong family is a comic chorus of monstrous entitlement, with Kim Jung-nan and Na Young-hee sharp as the imperious women of the clan and Kwak Dong-yeon and Lee Joo-bin funny and unexpectedly touching as Hae-in's brother and his wife. Meanwhile, Hyun-woo's own family in Yongdu-ri supplies warmth, earthy humour and a pointed contrast to the chaebol world. The production is lavish, with mansions, fashion and international locations shot like a luxury advertisement, and the soundtrack is deployed with maximum emotional force. The series became the highest-rated drama in tvN's history, and it is easy to see why: it offers almost every pleasure the form has. ## Where the tears get heavy The weaknesses are those of a show that wants to do everything. Park Sung-hoon's villain grows more cartoonish as the plot requires, and the corporate intrigue relies on coincidence and convenient reversals. In its last few episodes, the drama piles on obstacles and extends emotional scenes well past their natural length, and many episodes run long. Viewers who prefer restraint will find the final third exhausting even as it delivers its big emotional payoffs. ## Who should watch Queen of Tears? It is ideal for fans of romantic melodrama, for followers of either lead, and for anyone who likes K-drama at its most lavish. Sixteen long episodes is a real commitment, though the early comedy makes the opening easy to binge. It deals with serious illness, family conflict and some violence, handled in a mainstream way. It streams on [Netflix](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/platform/netflix/). If you enjoy it, try: - [Crash Landing on You](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/crash-landing-on-you-review/), Park Ji-eun's earlier romance, with a similar blend of comedy, danger and heartache. - [Our Beloved Summer](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/our-beloved-summer/) for a gentler story about former lovers finding their way back to each other. - [What's Wrong with Secretary Kim](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/whats-wrong-with-secretary-kim-review/) for lighter chaebol romantic comedy. ## The verdict Queen of Tears is a crowd-pleasing melodrama with genuine heart, lifted by Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won and a script that knows how to make audiences laugh and cry in the same hour. Its villain and final stretch overreach, but as an emotional event series it delivers. **Rating: 4/5** ## Related title - [Queen of Tears (2024)](https://celluloidscore.com/shows/queen-of-tears/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)