Netflix K-drama Queen of Tears: romantic comedy starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won about a feuding family has already lost steam

Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won star as a power couple with a rocky marriage, but typical K-drama gender roles are reversed here as the male lead does the crying

The Netflix romance is formulaic apart from this, and after a promising first episode, the humour and the imagination have dried up, which doesn’t bode well

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Kim Soo-hyun as Baek Hyun-woo, an employee of a Korean family-run corporation who marries its heiress, in a still from Queen of Tears. The Netflix romantic drama started well, but is quickly losing steam.

Published: 6:15pm, 12 Mar 2024Updated: 7:57am, 26 Mar 2024

Lead cast: Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Ji-won

Latest Nielsen rating: 8.7 per cent

Three years after headlining One Ordinary Day, superstar Kim Soo-hyun is back on screens in a traditional romantic K-drama. Queen of Tears, which co-stars Kim Ji-won, last seen in the critically acclaimed drama My Liberation Notes, has begun with impressive ratings.

If the casting didn’t set expectations high enough, Queen of Tears is also the latest show from celebrated writer Park Ji-eun, known for Crash Landing on You and The Producers, and features a powerhouse directing team in Jang Young-woo (Bulgasal: Immortal Souls) and Kim Hee-won (Little Women).

Much like the recent hit theatrical romantic comedy Love Reset, Queen of Tears begins with the fairy-tale marriage of its leads, quickly followed by its unravelling; they come dangerously close to divorce.