I suppose I finally understand all the Queen of Tears memes because I’ve finally shed some tears myself. I suppose the last straw for me is when an old Korean woman is moved to tears. They’re tough cookies; don’t make them cry! The 10th episode of Queen of Tears is like episode 9’s sister, because it’s also somewhat of a filler episode. Some things do happen, but it’s mostly just set-up for what’s coming next. Also, can I just say that everyone’s always talking about Park Shin-Hye’s crying in all her dramas, but what about Kim So-Hyun? He’s literally the male version of that. Anyway, Queen of Tears episode 10, takes off right at the cliffhanger of Hyun-Woo getting beaten up by the broker’s guys. Let’s see how that works out for them.
Spoiler Alert
What’s Eun-Sung’s plan?
Queen of Tears episode 10 begins with Soo-Cheol looking for Wi-Fi at Yongdu-ri. He learns that the gym has Wi-Fi and sets up shop there to try and connect to Da-Hye. There, he learns that Hyun-woo is actually a boxing champ. This is when we go back to the fight between the broker, his men, and Hyun-Woo. Obviously, Hyun-Woo’s a champion, so he easily beats them, serves the letter to the broker, and also gets him arrested. On the other hand, Eun-Sung meets Hae-In and basically tells her that he will make sure to be her guardian so he can figure out how to save her (ew, but also, this poor man’s always playing such roles). Soo-Cheol shows up, and the sensitive boy is crying hard, blaming himself for listening to Eun-Sung and messing up everything for his family. Hyun-Woo’s brother tries to calm him down, while Hae-In reminds him that it’s not his fault. Later, she tells him to keep the whole shenanigan a secret because she doesn’t want Hyun-Woo to know that Eun-Sung found her there.
When Hae-In checks on Hyun-Woo, who has some bruises on his face and back, she’s worried for real. She applies ointment on him and even bandages his face so it won’t scar. How sweet. However, at the same time, throughout the episode, she keeps reminding him to stay in his lane and remember that they’re actually divorced. She just wants to deal with her own problems, and he needs to stop treating them like they’re his.
The next day, Soo-Cheol wants to tell Hyun-Woo about Eun-Sung’s visit to Hae-In, but she suddenly interrupts them. Hyun-Woo and Hae-In get ice cream before he goes to work, and he tells Hae-In that he’d never change the way his life panned out, even if he knew that this was exactly how it was going to turn out. Earlier at breakfast, his father had bragged about how Hyun-Woo was just good at everything he did, basically the perfect dude (apparently not, wanting to divorce his wife and misunderstanding her completely). He tells her the only thing he would change would be asking her how her day went more often. He later finds out in the office that Eun-Sung visited Hae-In from the man himself. The man plans on threatening Hyun-Woo’s job in order to blackmail Hae-In into joining hands with him.
Why do Grace and Beom-Ja join hands?
In the meantime, Seul-Hee mother wants to find out where he’s taken the chairman and appoints Grace to see to the matter. At the same time, Beom-Ja learns that her father’s not in the hospital, so she starts an investigation of her own. It also seems like there’s a romance brewing between her and one of the men of Yongdu-ri. At the same time, it looks like apples are taking over the pear town, and Hyun-Woo’s father decides to step away from the position of smartest elder in the town. In the meantime, Hyun-Woo threatens Grace with the law by calling her out on her tax evasion for her spas and gets her to team up with Beom-Ja to look for the chairman collectively. Back in Yongdu-ri, Hae-In’s mother tries to get a coffee, forgetting she has no money. Hyun-Woo’s mother pays for it and, in return, asks her to come work for her on the pear farm. The woman who’s barely lifted a finger all her life works on the field and later crashes without her usual medication, much to her husband’s surprise. Sometimes all it takes is some activity, I suppose? Then, in the middle of the episode, we get a self-aware exchange of dialogue about “chaebol (conglomerate family members) representation,” specifically in the K-drama industry, between the two dads.
How Does Hyun-Woo’s Mother Find Out About Hae-In’s Condition?
The epilogue shows an incident that happened four years ago when Hyun-Woo drank for Hae-In, and she told him that he was too cute when he drank, so he should never drink in front of other women (ah, the gender reversal, we see you). In the present day, Hyun-Woo gets drunk and tells Hae-In he loves her from outside her door. His mother sees leaves on the floor leading up to Hae-In’s room, so she knows something interesting has transpired, but she overhears Hae-In talking to her doctor. She goes up to Huyn-Woo to find out about it and learns that Hae-In has a brain tumor and doesn’t have long to live. Hyun-Woo asks her to look after his dying ex-wife when he’s not around, and she immediately takes it upon herself to do so. She also knows that Hae-In’s parents don’t know about her condition, which saddens her deeply. On the other hand, Hae-In’s mother is getting more insensitive to her by the day, and she has the audacity to ask Hae-In if she worked in cahoots with Eun-Sung to get rid of her grandfather, so at least she’d be looked after, if not her whole family.
What happens at the press conference?
Hae-In goes to the office, to everyone’s surprise, and gets ready in her best white suit for a press conference. She tells Hyun-Woo to mind his own business when he asks her if this is her solution—to team up with Eun-Sung. In the meantime, Beom-Ja and Grace find the chairman, and so does Seul-Hee. We see them all go into the new hospital he’s at, where his eyes finally open. Though we don’t know which of the women is going to reach him first.
At the end of Queen of Tears episode 10, Eun-Sung has a press conference, making the media laugh about how there were rumors that he forced the chairman out of his position. He claims that the previous chairman wanted to create misunderstandings, but he’s going to clear them by hiring Hae-In as the CEO of the Queens Department Stores again. Unfortunately for him, Hae-In has other plans, and she starts off by reading the cue card before telling the press that she was threatened by Eun-Sung with the fact that her husband would become a convict if she didn’t work with him. She also admits to the press that she won’t become the CEO of the company again because she’s terminally ill. Ultimately, the episode ends with Hae-In and Hyun-Woo making eye contact across the room with tear-filled sorrow.
