Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won's passionate performances led tvN's
all-time viewer ratings
All actors including Jeong Jin-young, Hwang Young-hee, and Kim
Jeong-nan give passionate performances.
Criticized for being a weak cliche → made up for by the passionate
performances of the actors
‘Queen of Tears’ proudly ranked first in tvN’s all-time viewer ratings. To put it bluntly, it was not a well-made work. Nevertheless, the passionate performances of the actors, led by actors Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, raised 'Queen of Tears' to the top.
The tvN Saturday-Sunday drama ‘Queen of Tears’ (written by Park Ji-eun, directed by Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won), which ended on the 28th, recorded a viewership rating of 24.8%. With this, Park Ji-eun achieved her final achievement by surpassing the author's previous work 'Crash Landing on You' (21.7%) and ranking first in tvN's all-time viewership ratings (based on Nielsen Korea paid platform nationwide households).
The work is a drama about the dizzying crisis and miraculous restart of a love story between Hong Hae-in (played by Kim Ji-won), the third generation of the Queens Group chaebol and the queen of department stores, and Baek Hyun-woo (played by Kim Soo-hyun), the son of the head of Yongduri and the king of supermarkets, a married couple of three years together.
‘Queen of Tears’ previously attracted attention just by the news of its production. This is because it boasted a brilliant lineup, from the directing staff to the actors. First, writer Park Ji-eun, who wrote ‘My Love from the Star’, ‘Legend of the Blue Sea’, and ‘Crash Landing on You’, started writing for the first time in three years. Here, PD Kim Hee-won, who was recognized for 'The Man Who Became King', 'Vincenzo', and 'Little Women', took charge of directing.
In addition, news of the casting of Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won as the main actors was announced, completing the golden lineup. In particular, as this is the third meeting between Kim Soo-hyun and writer Park Ji-eun after 'My Love from the Star' and 'The Producers', 'Queen of Tears' quickly emerged as a highly anticipated work on tvN.
And the work lived up to expectations with its viewership ratings. The work, which started with 5.9%, surpassed double digits by recording 13% in 4 episodes, and also achieved the significant achievement of breaking its own highest viewership rating for 8 consecutive weeks.
In fact, ‘Queen of Tears’ is not considered a well-made drama. In particular, there were many harsh criticisms about writer Park Ji-eun's self-replicating style of development and repeated clichés.
At the beginning of the work, we tried to have fresh fun by using reverse cliches and depicting Baek Hyun-woo's 'Cheo World' in detail rather than 'Sea World'. But a cliché was a cliché. The fun of reverse cliches was brief, but even after that, obvious cliches such as time limit and memory loss continued, and once the halfway point was reached, poor development and plausibility were revealed here and there, hindering immersion. As the predictable scenes continued, it was impossible to shake off the feeling that it was cliché, which eventually led to harsh reviews.
Nevertheless, it was ‘Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won’s power’ that was able to carry the work until the end. The two people proved their wide acting spectrum by making up for the weak parts as much as possible with solid acting skills even in a crowded genre.
First, Kim Soo-hyun helped attract viewers by tactfully expressing Baek Hyun-woo's intelligent and delicate but sublime nature in the beginning. He especially highlighted the difference between when they were lovers and when they were a married couple through detailed settings. Kim Soo-hyun's delicacy shined in the latter half of the film. Baek Hyun-woo's complex emotions were depicted in detail without being overpowering, thereby increasing the viewer's sense of immersion.
Kim Ji-won, who took on the role of a chaebol 11 years after 'The Heirs', also showed off her perfect appearance in every aspect from styling to acting, truly renewing her character in life. As much as she is a Red Sea person with all kinds of settings, she is the 'Queen of Tears', for which Kim Ji-won's interpretation of her character was more important than ever. Kim Ji-won completed this Hong Hae-in in a realistic way. In particular, she expressed her affection and earnestness to the extreme, so much so that it was said that every time Hong Hae-in cried, all the viewers shed tears.
It's not just these two people. Kwak Dong-yeon and Joo-bin Lee also showed off their acting transformation by working together as a couple, leading to favorable reviews for rediscovering the unique side of the two people.
Here, the Yongdu-ri villagers, including Baek Du-gwan (played by Jeon Bae-soo), Jeon Bong-ae (played by Hwang Young-hee), Baek Mi-seon (played by Jang Yoon-ju), and Baek Hyun-tae (played by Kim Do-hyun), as well as Hong Beom-jun (played by Jeong Jin-young), Kim Seon-hwa (played by Na Young-hee), and Hong Beom-ja (played by Kim Jeong-nan) )'s Queens gave strength to Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won with their acting skills that everyone, including their families, was impressed with.
This was the box office success of ‘Queen of Tears’, which was made possible thanks to the outstanding acting skills of the actors.