6 life lessons from Queen of Tears: A drama that will move you to tears

Written by: Jamaica Rose D. Simbul

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers, so read at your own risk.

What kind of memories are worth keeping for? What if one day you’ll realize that you only have a few days left and your memories are slowly starting to fade? What will you do if you don’t want to forget all the memories you have with the only person that makes you want to live? 

Queen of Tears is about a third-generation chaebol of Queen’s Group named Hong Hae-in, who is currently the CEO of their department store and wants to be a member of the One Trillion Club. She is married to Baek Hyun-woo, from the rural area of Yongdu-ri, and is currently working in the Legal Department of Queen’s Group as a Director.

One day, Baek Hyun-woo was about to file for divorce because he was tired and not happy anymore not until Hong Hae-in told her that she only had 3 months to live. The original plan was to let the 3 months pass by so he could be free and not go through the hard process of divorce. Hyun-woo began to show affection to Hae-in again, and little did he know, they were about to fall in love again. 

K-drama is not just a simple TV show that I watch. People close to me know how deep I am and invested in watching K-dramas. While watching Queen of Tears, many life lessons can be learned, and here are a few that I learned!

Sometimes, a person needs to lose everything he have for him to grow. He needs to be at his lowest so he can be the best version of himself. 

In the first few episodes, we see Soo-cheol as an arrogant and childish son who is trying his best to prove himself to his grandfather. But as the story goes by, we see his character development when Da-hye leaves. We saw how he suffered and how he was longing both for his wife and son, but when Da-hye returned, that’s when Soo-cheol proved that he was someone who could protect his family. The childish Soo-cheol that we know became someone who is eager to change to make himself better.

Honestly, Soo-Cheol has the biggest character development, and that showed when he saved Da-hye. One of the lessons I learned from reading The Art of War by Sun Tzu is: When able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected. I think this applied to that scene when Soo-cheol was remembering those boxing lessons from Hyun-tae. 

There are friends, there is family, and there are friends that become family. 

We saw how Hyun-woo’s friends helped him when he was investigated and how they ran when they found out that he was a murder suspect. We also saw how the Baek and Hong family started to get along. The funny scenes of Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s mother, and the scenes of Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s father wherein they find out they are in the same situation. The boxing scenes of Hyun-tae and Soo-cheol and the love story of Beom-ja and Yeong-song. The friendship between Hae-in and her secretary. Hyun-woo and his divorce attorney Yang-ki who helped him when Hae-in went missing and for his murder trial.

Some of the best friendships are the unexpected ones. We saw how they started as strangers to friends and became a family. In real life, we have friends that we treat as family. They are the best of the best. They are the ones who know us better than anyone. They are there through thick and thin. They get to see your hardship while helping each other to overcome all the hurdles.

Sometimes, we only realize what’s important to us because we know that we only have a few days or weeks to live.

In life, we ignore the people around us. The type of job that we have, those friends who are not leaving our side no matter how tough life can be. These are the things that we take for granted because we always look for something better.

When Hong Man-dae died, he left a voice message using the pen that he gave to Hae-in. He said that he regretted the kind of life that he lived. He focused on the money and was a money-grabber all his life. He did everything in his power to keep the money that he gathered. He was so sorry and wanted his family to know that they should live differently.

No person in this world knows when they will die, so we should be thankful for the life that we have. Live the life that we will not regret in the end. Live the life that we will be proud of because, in the end, we can only bring memories with us and not our money. Not even our favorite pair of shoes or the most expensive bag that we have.

It’s the simple things from our loved ones that matter the most.

In most episodes, we saw how hatred progressed into love little by little and it’s always the little things that made their heart skip a beat. Do you remember the scene wherein Hae-in told Hyun-woo to help her dry his hair using an old hairdryer so he could be beside her? Although Hae-in can have everything she wants, a simple gesture from Hyun-woo makes her happy. She feels that someone loves her and is afraid to lose her. She found a reason to live.

Sometimes, we want something extravagant from our partners not knowing that happiness isn’t about how big or how expensive a thing is. Sometimes, happiness is free. We saw how Hyun-woo was doing everything that he could although he was not happy anymore. Then comes Hyun-woo doing everything for Hae-in because he can’t afford to lose her. 

When we love someone, we no longer consider what’s best for us. We always think of what will make our partner happy. We remember all the small details and we always try our best not to forget that special someone because cherishing moments with them makes you happy. 

Life is like boxing. Like what Hyun-tae explained to Soo-cheol that he needs to learn 2 lessons.

First, he must wait for his opponent to let their guard down then land a critical punch. Second, it takes to have good stamina to take blows well. Take blows for now and become a champion in life. This explains that we need to know the right opportunity to fight or to do things and we need to be tough for us to endure all the hardships in life so we can succeed in whatever decision we are about to make. We can take 5 steps forward today and step back 6 times the next day and it’s okay. Life is tough and you have to be tougher. 

And just like Hyun-woo said, “Be happy where we are now, make life less miserable”. We have to focus on positive things, the blessings, the things that we have, and not the things that we don’t. Things that we can’t do and all those negative things that can change our outlook in life.

The Baek family is not as extravagant as the Hong family, but we saw how contented they are with what they have and that’s the kind of mindset that we need for us to be happier in life.

The mind forgets, but the heart remembers.

When Hae-in was about to start her operation, instead of counting from 1 to 10, he kept on saying Hyun-woo’s name so she could remember his name. Hae-in’s last request was to see Hyun-woo the moment she woke up because she knew that everyone would be a stranger after the operation.

After a month and Hae-in was able to return to her normal life, she started to get curious about her life. Her hunch about people didn’t change. The notebook she wrote before the surgery revealed almost everything. Hae-in found out how their love story started, and who Hae-in was before the surgery. Hyun-woo was the reason why Hae-in didn’t want to lose her memories and also the reason why she wanted to live even though she lost her memories.

It’s nice to have someone who will stay by your side. Someone who will be on the same team as you. Hyun-woo said “Marriage is being on the same side and in the same boat. And if the boat capsizes, then we go down together. If you live, then I live too.” What matters to Hyun-woo is that when everything goes wrong, he will be very delighted if she is in the same boat he is in. Even if they need to bail water out and row all night long, he has someone to rely on. I think this not only applies to marriage but all other relationships as well. We want someone who will stay by our side. Someone who will protect us and love us with all their heart. 

This drama showed the highs and lows of relationships, not just with Hyun-woo and Hae-in but with their families as well. It also showed their struggles with themselves and how it affected the relationship that they have with the people around them. And just like Hyun-woo and Hae-in, some relationships failed because of the things that we didn’t mean to say and protect our egos. Rather than discussing it with your partner, we choose to just stay quiet and resent them. I think this depicts that communication is essential in any relationship. 

I must say that this drama is one of the best K-dramas in history. From its plot, the characters, and even the ending. The ending is realistic. Some of the best K-dramas that I have watched didn’t have a beautiful ending, maybe because I am expecting more than what the story goes. But in Queen of Tears, the ending is very beautiful. They gave us a glimpse of what happened to Hae-in and Hyun-woo. Also, I love that they gave credit to the characters by showing clips of them one by one. This drama really gave me, and I know almost all of the viewers, not only a roller coaster of emotions but a beautiful ending as well. 

Will I recommend this drama? Yes! Next to Scarlet Heart Ryeo and Hotel del Luna, this is one of the dramas that gave me sleepless nights even after the ending because I didn’t want it to end. 

This drama will literally move you to tears. This made me a queen of tears myself. 

Plot/Story: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Acting:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Costume: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Playlist: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All images are courtesy of tvN