[ K ] Queen of Tears

[ K ] If you have someone as gorgeous as Hong Hae-in(Kim Ji-won) waiting longingly for you, it will be quite impossible for you to die easily.

That means you will survive the worst office backstabbing, car accident and even bullet wound. Bring them on, whatever they might be.

Of course it will certainly help if you are as good looking and patient as Baek Hyun-woo(Kim Soo-hyun).

Life is not fair if you look at how good the two of them look together. I think it would be impossible for anyone not to want to root for them.

Welcome to Queen of Tears. But make no mistake, Hae-in is not exactly a crier. In fact, compared to other Korean soap operas, she doesn’t tear very much.

So here’s the thing – you, the viewer, on the other hand, is the one more likely to cry bucket. And now who is the real Queen of Tears? You, of course.

So here’s the thing – you, the viewer, on the other hand, is the one more likely to cry bucket. And now who is the real Queen of Tears? You, of course.

Congratulations, this is what this series manages to achieve.

How can anyone or any couple go through so much in the short time on earth?

First you have to jump through many hoops to get the approval to be married. Then you have to survive the “I love you but I don’t want you to know I love you” charade. What’s wrong with these people? Why do they enjoy this self-torture?

And then you have to survive this quagmire – if I live on, there is a risk I may forget you totally. Choose.

The good thing about this series is that the enemies are not really formidable. But it will be wrong to say they are unworthy opponents.

Lee Mi-sook is the natural cougar fox that everyone should fear. But her son Yoon Eun-seong(Park Sung-hoon) is another story.

Usually in a series like this, you will at least have a little bit of sympathy if not affection for the villain. But in his case, it’s hard to actually feel for him although there may be moments when you will wonder or at least hope – is he going to be a better man in the name of love?

Now that’s where you are wrong. Mr Yoon has such serious mother issue that he has zero concept of love.

Boys and girls, take my words – you can’t force someone to love you, even if that someone has her memories reformatted.

Be thankful you were not one of those suckers who had to live with two episodes per week when it was first rolled out on Netflix. Back then, most people, to make up for the slow torture, had to watch older series by Kim Ji-won and Kim Soo-hyun to fill the weekly gaps.

But that for me turned out to be quite joyous. Kim is especially funny in Fight My Hard Way. Even in Descendants of the Sun, she was likable. Kim in My Liberation Notes is a different league. Sorry to the Kim Tae-hee fans, but Kim Ji-won is not the junior version. One can act, the other only poses.

As a drama series, Queen of Tears has all the usual ingredients to succeed but much of the watchability lies in the two stars.

The rest of the cast and the side plots certainly help to make the series more complete. But don’t be a liar, the elements that gel everything together are the two eye candies.

Sometimes, that’s all we need when the plots are just meh.