Viewers Show Mixed Responses To “Queen Of Tears” Ending, “Longest Time Skip Since ‘Wang’s Family’?”
Amid interest in “Queen of Tears” becoming the highest-rating drama on tvN, viewers showed divided reactions to the ending
On April 28th, tvN’s Sat-Sun drama “Queen of Tears” wrapped up its journey after airing episode 16. As many viewers were shocked by the sudden accident of Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) at the end of episode 15, they raised high expectations for episode 16 (the last episode).
Knowing writer Park Ji-eun has never written sad endings for her previous works, including “Queen of Reversals”, “Queen of Housewives”, “The Producers”, “My Love From The Star”, “The Legend of the Blue Sea”, “Crash Landing on You”, etc., fans expected “Queen of Tears” to also end happily as Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) already cured her rare brain tumor.
However, some viewers felt disappointed after watching episode 16. The drama ended by showing the grave of the female lead revealing her death in 2074. It’s indeed a happy ending but to wrap a drama with the main character’s death is unprecedented.
In particular, Baek Hyun-woo and Hong Hae-in later have a daughter then Hong Hae-in dies in 2074 at the age of 84. After getting old, Baek Hyun-woo visits the cemetery in Germany where Hong Hae-in wishes she would be buried. In the last scene, the young Hong Hae-in comes to meet Baek Hyun-woo and holds his hand.
Regarding the ending, viewers left reviews, such as “I did not expect it to be such a tightly closed happy ending”, “The only person who lives is Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s daughter?”, “The world won’t end until 2074”, “I can’t believe it’s an ending with a grave”, etc.
In the process, some recalled KBS 2TV’s 2013 drama “Wang’s Family”. Showing a time skip of 30 years and bringing the story to 2044, the drama shocked many viewers by showing the 60th birthday celebration of Wang Kwang-pak (Lee Yoon-ji). Mentioning this drama, netizens commented, “This drama (‘Queen of Tears’) even surpassed ‘Wang’s Family’”, “Isn’t it another ‘Wang’s Family’?”, “After ‘Wang’s Family’, this is the drama with the longest time skip in the ending”, etc.
Was it because of the shocking ending that the last episode of “Queen of Tears” rose to become the highest-rating drama on tvN. Surpassing the 21.6% rating of Park Ji-eun’s previous series “Crash Landing on You”, “Queen of Tears” recorded 24.9% nationwide, according to Nielsen Korea. Until now, heated discussions about the ending of “Queen on Tears” are still pouring out in online communities.
