On April 28, tvN’s Saturday and Sunday K-drama “Queen of Tears” concluded its run after the broadcast of episode 16. While many viewers were shocked by Baek Hyun’s sudden accident -woo (Kim Soo-hyun) at the end of episode 15, they had high expectations for episode 16 (the final episode).
Knowing that screenwriter 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 that “Queen of Tears” would also end happily, especially since Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) had already cured of his rare brain tumor.
However, some viewers were disappointed after watching episode 16. The K-drama ended by showing the heroine’s grave, revealing her death in 2074. It’s certainly a happy ending, but concluding a K -drama by the death of the main character is unprecedented.
Notably, Baek Hyun-woo and Hong Hae-in later have a daughter, and then Hong Hae-in dies in 2074 at the age of 84. As Baek Hyun-woo grows older, he visits the cemetery in Germany where Hong Hae-in wanted to be buried. In the last scene, young Hong Hae-in comes to meet Baek Hyun-woo and takes his hand.
Regarding the ending, viewers left reviews, such as “I didn’t expect such a closed and happy ending”, “The only person left alive is Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s daughter?” », “The world will not end before 2074”, “I can’t believe the end is marked by a grave”, etc.
During this process, some were reminded of KBS 2TV’s 2013 K-drama, “Wang’s Family.” With a 30-year time jump and setting the story in 2044, the K-drama shocked many viewers by showing Wang Kwang-pak’s (Lee Yoon-ji) 60th birthday celebration. Mentioning this K-drama, netizens commented: “This K-drama (‘Queen of Tears’) even surpassed Wang’s Family”, “Isn’t this another ‘Wang’s Family?’ “, “After ‘Wang’s Family’, this is the K-drama with the biggest time jump at the end”, etc.
Is it because of the surprising ending that the final episode of “Queen of Tears” became the highest-rated K-drama on tvN? Surpassing the 21,6 percent rating of Park Ji-eun’s previous K-drama, “Crash Landing on You,” “Queen of Tears” recorded 24,9 percent domestically, according to Nielsen Korea. Until now, heated discussions about the ending of “Queen of Tears” continue to flow in online communities.
What did you think of the ending?