Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won‘s K-Drama Queen of Tears concluded with its finale this past weekend, making history and breaking records for tvN. Scriptwriter Park Ji Eun now holds the title of both the “Most Viewed” and the “Second Most Viewed” K-Drama spots in tvN history, with Queen of Tears and Crash Landing on You.
“Queen of Tears” poster
Despite its high ratings, viewers still had criticism. Many felt some of the tropes used in Queen of Tears was “old school,” but not in a good way. It utilized nearly every “antiquated” K-Drama trope in the book, and many viewers didn’t enjoy this.
The series depicts the dizzying crisis and miraculous rekindling of love between Hong Hae-in, a third-generation chaebol heiress of Queens Group, and Baek Hyun-woo, the son of farmers from Yongdu-ri, and their three years of marriage.
— Wikipedia’s description of Queen of Tears
Queen of Tears is really an old kdrama coded with so many tropes mixed. Despite this, we tuned in from Day-1 due to the acting fest of the cast and how the drama was presented/directed. KJW & KSH as Baekhong is indeed the best decision they made for QOT#QueenOfTears https://t.co/fbigj0gKY7
— kjw.aegyo | QoT Era (@ashiyaktine1) April 29, 2024
QoT is really giving old Kdrama vibes because we’ve not had a villain this irritating in a while.
— FREE PALESTINE!!!!!! (@hauwa_xo) April 18, 2024
#QueenOfTearsEp15 IN A NUTSHELL
This is fucking thriller with a side of revenge & makjang. PJE what are you doing? This is old fashioned cliche plot for last 2 episodes of a kdrama.
Anyways but for #KimSooHyun and #KimJiwon I’m gonna watch this up until the end#QueenOfTears pic.twitter.com/hvu6fRVxIW
— queen of tears happy ending (@fangirl_cassie_) April 27, 2024
So, a Korean fan researched and discovered that the Queen of Tears title was registered for copyright as early as 2010. Netizens believed this explained everything. The script must have been in the works for over a decade, and that’s why it feels like an older K-Drama.
a kfan found out that #QueenOfTears was registered for copyright in 2010!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the formula was so early kdrama era pje had a decade old draft and a dream, i guess #QueenOfTearsEp15 https://t.co/z6hBMTAiLm pic.twitter.com/xKWALEcfdj
— (@starofspring) April 27, 2024
Someone found out that apparently the writer registered the copyright for #QueenOfTears back in 2010. This implies that the story is based on a very old script, and that would explain the old school storyline in the last few episodes https://t.co/dffspIZz2t
— Lucee 루씨⁺⁺⁺ (@lucee_wg99) April 27, 2024
Yet, others do not think this Queen of Tears that was registered for copyright in 2010 is the Queen of Tears we watched in 2024. According to a fan, the 2010 K-Drama Queen of Reversals, starring Kim Nam Joo, Jung Joon Ho, Park Si Hoo, and Chae Jung An, was initially titled Queen of Tears. Park Ji Eun wrote both Queen of Reversals and Queen of Tears.
The sequel to the beloved series Queen of Housewives stars Kim Nam Joo as the career woman who once had everything, and Jung Joon Ho as her hapless husband.
— Amazon’s description of Queen of Reversals
‘Queen of Tears’ was the previous title of another PJE drama (that was released in 2010) before they changed it to ‘Queen of Reversals’, that’s why it was registered for copyright in 2010. https://t.co/xnxZOlM8QI
— Ul (@yooelefei) April 28, 2024
The year before, Park Ji Eun and lead actress Kim Nam Joo worked together on the 2009 K-Drama Queen of Housewives (also known as My Wife is a Superwoman).
Queen of Housewives is a 2009 South Korean romantic comedy television series, starring Kim Nam-joo, Oh Ji-ho, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lee Hye-young, Choi Cheol-ho, and Sunwoo Sun. It depicts the life of ‘naejo,’ housewives who devote their entire lives to their husbands’ success, but with a more comedic and aggressive twist.
— Wikipedia’s description of Queen of Housewives
Queen of Housewives Queen of Reversals Queen of Tears
So, it seems that Park Ji Eun likely had copyrighted a handful of K-Dramas with “Queen of” titles.
