K-viewers Reward Kim Soo Hyun with Third Mega Hit in a Decade Calling Him the King of Tears
We are just one week away from the finale of tvN drama Queen of Tears and the success is absolutely a team effort of acting, writing, and directing. But K-netizens and critics alike are noting that this is Kim Soo Hyun‘s third mega hit in one decade, and fifth successful drama in his career. It almost felt like an inside joke for him to be the tears in Queen of Tears since he had his breakthrough in The Moon Embraces the Sun as King Lee Hwon and his crying, and goodness was he amazeballs in there. So K-ent is saying that when Kim Soo Hyun cries the ratings come and he’s absolutely the top of his generation as leading actor and ratings deliver-er. I still remember his teen roles in When it Snows for Christmas and Giant where he wowed me and then proving his leading man material in Drean High, so seeing him reach the pinnacle so young thanks to MoonSun, cement it in You From Another Star, challenge himself in Producer and It’s Okay to Not be Okay, and then return to the top again in QoT is just reward all us Soo Hyuns for over a decade of love.
Followed his career since Giant as well. Watched all his works after. Queen of Tears has been absolute treat as his fan. Can’t wait for the rest of the episodes and his OST
Today’s episode will easily break the records to become the highest rated drama in TVN.
If it was 20 episode it could have become highest rank in cable TV.But then there would be unnecessary drag to the story line,maybe they could have cut it into 1 hr show instead of 1 1/2.
But I guess it is perfect as it is.i am loving all the storylines.after you from another stars there hasn’t been a drama that was so entertaining from the same writer.She should collaborate with Kim Soo Hyun more.What a masterpiece!
Yes!!! Mlfs was just amazing!! It held up so well even if it’s over a decade old. I feel like rewatching as soon as the last ep was done and it brought me to this blog! I loved cloy too but after seeing this writer getting 3 mega hits with Ksh, it’s obv they work the best together. She likes him a lot and vice versa seems like. Hope they work together again and maybe Jjh too. I know Mlfs pairing is bit too strong to overshadow but they are both great actors. With a completely different concept, I think it can work!!
I love Giant, and definitely thought the young cast were so promising from Kim Soohyun, Nam Jihyun and Yeo Jingoo. But I will remember that drama for the very interesting Minwoo-Mijoo story. haha
I do think it was ‘Will it Snow For Christmas’ that made just be a fan. He definitely is the actor that does now disaapoint in his acting picks and his performance…
So happy he is back way way on top. Hope to get more of his projects…
KSH is the absolute epitome what a successful actor’s career should look like. He has always been a fantastic actor but he also puts in so much effort, thought and dedication to each of his roles. He trained 3 months as an idol for Dream High. Then took on the role of a King and wowing the whole country whilst winning a Baeksang. MLFTS made him one of the biggest Hallyu stars. Yet he did not hesitate to take on a second lead role and a complete u-turn from Do Min Joo in the form of Seung Chan in Producers just a year later.
He has the most impressive filmography amongst actors in his age group, no doubt. The diversity of his roles, the critical acclaim he gathers for each one and the success of all his projects are what makes him Kim Soo Hyun. I’ve been a fan since DH, and even back then, everyone knew he’d be huge. But I still feel pretty amazed to see just how far he’s reached and even more excited to see how far he’ll continue going.
I thk his work ethics dictate the success. Often people regard reaching a certain level, their fame is enough to draw viewers and ratings then they stay that way. But you can tell he loves acting and puts in the effort in his craft and makes every character he takes on his own. His draw is really well deserved.
KSH has the ability to break me without even trying. I was watching QOT ep13 with my mom, and that ending followed by epilogue drowned us both. It is embarrassing how easily he makes a puppet out of people. Hes got an extraordinary ability to not act, but BE a character. Im forever amazed at the way he manages to touch people’s hearts with such ease really.
Very recently ive come to realize how lucky ksh stans are. He is insanely popular overseas obviously but more importantly, the whole of sk loves him to death. He is ultra successful no matter what genre he picks and minus a movie, every single thing he starred went on to be a hit, or a stratospheric hit. I’d love to know how it feels to be a stan of someone so high up the pecking ladder that the position never feels in danger.
Will it Snow for Christmas childhood part was so good! I loved him in this role.
For Giant, his character was more discreet than the middle brother.
I’m happy for him, he deserves this success, he’s a great actor.
It’s 6am and I don’t have much to say haha.
Only that KSH just wins at everything in life. That’s all!
The epilogue had my standing ovation
He should get his money back for the pay cut he took
Every cent of it they need to pay him!
The words were so hopelessly cringy but he made it work. It was perfect acting, perfect posture, perfect tone and perfect crying. Truely king of tears 😂
I just want to note how utterly insane it is that Kim Soo-hyun hasn’t aged?! 😂
How are all these photos taken 12 years apart?! What sorcery is this?! What routine/product makes anyone look the same a decade later?! Don’t gate keep this info KSH!!
No, but he’s a fabulous actor. A bit of a given tbqh. Happy to see him back in the industry full time.
i must commend him and his team in getting meaty [not popular] roles. one that has depth and full development.
his character is not just his and him alone – it relates to other characters that make us, viewers, emphatize and struggle along with his character. we get to feel his pain and embrace his hopes and dreams.
just like how we sympathize and emphatize with him as he made that short video for haein. heartbreaking yet hopeful.
Will it snow for Christmas ? drama best part was the one with the young cast Kim Soo Hyun, Nam Ji Hyun and Song joong Ki ? 15 years later prove us that we were right ! Still remember the photoshoot with both next to Go Soo and Han Ye Seul ! Does anyone know if Nam Ji Hyun has a project, i love this actress ( best part too in Angel eyes )
Njh has new drama w/ Jang nara and the pd of nevertheless.
@Njh, thanks for the tip, i like both actresses ! I am a into Kdramas since 20 years now and i saw all theses actors when they started their journey ! Some good ones didn’t make it others as KSH are now big stars . I’m an european viewer and my 1st drama was taiwanese ( It started with a kiss, Meteor garden,…) they lead me to my 1st korean dramas Full House and My love Patzzi ( Jang Na Ra) .
I am relatively new to kdramas. My first one was cloy, so I didn’t know much about Ksh. But rn, obsessed with Queen of Tears and on a Ksh high. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of watching all his previous dramas starting with Mlfs. How romantic is this drama!! It’s sooooo good! Rom com at its finest! And I am obsessed with the leads. They have the best character chemistry I’ve ever seen in any language. The ending is so good too. Do Manager is in my top 5 best hero. Hw too! Now off to watch Dh. I heard great things about it.
Feeling somewhat glad to be a new kdrama fan and discovering all of Ksh past works. Every thing has amazing reviews and ratings! Though part of me wish I was part of the hype like I am with Qot. I binged cloy so this my first live watching for a drama this level of viral. The hype is crazy and everyone I know is watching so it’s so much fun. Please work more Ksh!
Love him or hate him there’s no denying KSH is the top drama actor of his generation. His drama track record is pretty much impeccable. I think his only drama “flop” is ‘One Ordinary Day’ and that’s because of the unfortunate choice of a new and unpopular channel(Coupang Play).
IOTNBO doesn’t have high ratings domestically averaging 5% and had only 7% as its highest.
Although, it was a hit on Netflix.
@Min IONTBO had 7 percent on tvN which is a cable channel.
Other tvn dramas from that same year with 5 percent peak ratings were called hits domestically so it’s fair to say IONTBO did well too, especially since the storyline was more of a risk than the usual romcom.
i’m not trying to start anything, just genuinely curious, so pls weigh in respectfully. who’s at the top rn? it’s between kim soohyun and song joongki? or do they share the top spot?
The writer has lost the plot to this show. It is being carried solely on the backs of strong acting performances by KSH and KJW. I feel IOTNBO has a much better storyline than this current makjang one. Even CLOY with its improbable NK meets SK storyline was more realistic than this.
I totally agree with you. This is not a popular opinion on this site. But glad to read some genuine critique that were not buried in the overhype. LOL
I’m not watching QoT but I am reading recaps and some of the ridiculousness especially regarding the medical plotline and the two dimensional evil villain is making me laugh out loud. It’s like those makjang dramas from the early 200s.
I can never get through the work from this writer (only exception is The Producers because it’s mush shorter than her others so didn’t feel as draggy)so I didn’t even bother to start this. Her dramas always have a great idea and cast but I find the actual writing is so corny, mediocre, dragged out and falls apart in the second half of the drama. Park Ji Eun dramas are just not my cup of tea but I must be in the minority as her dramas do get big ratings.
For me, QoT is the worst drama of KSH. I’m very disappointed at his comeback this time. Among all the hit dramas mentioned in the blog, the other two deserved the hype, high ratings, great reviews, and all the awards. QoT is also the worst among writer PJE’s popular works. I don’t need to repeat the weakness of this drama over again that I’ve complained about in other threads. I thought it would get better after I watched more eps. But I even had trouble finishing ep 6. LOL.
I’ve been actually re-watching some of KSH’s old dramas. Enough of The Moon Embracing the Sun for me to register all the details of the plot in my head. KSH totally deserved Baeksang for his acting in TMETS. I wasn’t that mesmerized by My Love from the Star as I’m about TMETS. But as I started to re-watch MLFTS just a few days ago, it’s still very refreshing to follow the plot and the acting as if watching it the first time. That’s how novel MLFTS is compared with many other dramas. QoT is not comparable at all with MLFTS in terms of creativity. TMETS and MLFTS remind me of how I used to be a huge fan of KSH, and Kdrama as well. As to QoT, it’s just a solid ensemble of many reprised tropes. The directing is mediocre with many meaningless and eye-hurting close-up shots uncalled for. LOL. The writing of black comedy is a complete failure. Many storylines of the side characters don’t make sense nor did they add values (e.g., comedic or sarcastic vibes or warmth) to the plot. The only compliments that I can’t argue against are about the acting of the two leads. They are the only appeal for me to keep trying (desperately hard LOL) to follow the drama. LMAO. If placing QoT against TMETS or MLFTS head to head, the former became a dud.
Don’t say that I’m a KSH hater using his old dramas to attack him. LOL. It’s what it is. I’m scathing about QoT mainly of its mediocre writing and directing combined. QoT has such high ratings all thanks to the star power of KSH and the good acting coming from him and KJW. Besides, there isn’t any competition at the same time when it’s aired. As I said above, QoT’s ratings might have been easily cut in more than half if competing against some other good dramas at the same time.
I think people have been going after you because of how you write your comments. I agree that the writing has some holes and does not make logically sense all the time but it does not take away the enjoyment factor the viewer has because of the acting. How you said the line, “QOT is the worst drama of KSH” could have been rephrased. I’m sure this is why rabid fans reply to your comment in probably hurtful and accusatory tone. The writing is not the only thing that makes a whole drama. To say it’s soooo bad because you don’t enjoy it paints a black and white picture. I do think there are good and bad sides to the writing. The bad parts is the weird transitions like how did that even happen or what’s the reason why they wanted to get the wealth. There are times we get angst to have more tears for the sake of tears (not a fan of this but KSH and KJW’s acting in these scenes are top notch). I think it would be nice to acknowledge there are good parts too. I particularly like how the characters grew and realized something. The ability to make us feel so much emotion because of the comedy and angsty scenes in a single episode were great too. Not to mention, the writer is able to tie all the epilogues and small details from earlier episodes that seemed random together later on. Sure, it might get tropey but at the end of the day, the other parts of this drama makes up for some of the faulty writing.
QoT has it’s shortcomings but that does not take away why the fans of this show are loving it. Ratings is not the only metric to determine how good a drama is. It’s getting viral globally for a reason.
@Ae, fans of QoT are entitled to their opinion of love, so am I to my critique. 20+% rating is high compared to the average. But it doesn’t mean the whole world is crazy about QoT. LOL. So fans have to get off their high horse and just tolerate that there are ppl who don’t love the fruits they like. LOL.
I’m KSH’s fan since Dream High and I watched and rewatched all his dramas. It’s not his fault that It’s Ok Not To Be Ok and Queen of Tears is a good enough one time watch, but not on my rewatch list. I hated IONTBO for the female lead’s horrible behavior and arrogance (that included the screen writer, of course) towards mentally ill patients. The Queen of Tears had such a great promise but turned out to be a shallow fan service for KSH. I blame stupid writing. Oh well. Until the next time.
Someone finally spoke of my heart about QoT. Thanks. The writing of all the predictable and reprised old tropes in QoT is a huge downer to me. QoT is a dud compared with KSH’s early dramas. I’m like forever struggling to move beyond ep 6 bcos I dozed off each time trying to finish that ep. LMAO. In contrast, I binged The Moon Embracing the Sun and My Love from the Star even I have already re-watched them more than once.
for me the acting of the two leads sucks. when they share a scene together, it’s become like a cf commercial. when they are supposed filming a good scene, it become too dramatic, or insipid. the acting of the ensemble cast carried the drama imo.
@missjb – hey weren’t you the one going “I’m planning not watching anyway” on koala’s post about this drama teaser dated February 6?
and yet here you are, 14 episodes later and giving ~opinions~ – what happened, your hate boner for Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won made it so you just had to watch their drama? lol
LMAO Isn’t this missjb person the one who commented that Jisoo from Blackpink was good in Snowdrop? I don’t take her opinions seriously just based off of that 😂
@missjb, a capitalized NOPE from me to your comment. LOL. Without the two leads, QoT is totally nothing to me. The acting of the rest of the cast is just passable. But that’s not their faults. The writing of their parts is reduced to non factors at best, and cringe worthy at worst. I can’t tolerate the 2nd ML from the get-go. His character and storylines make zero sense to me. There were many evil antagonists whose stories and the actors portraying them got my empathy, not this one. I don’t even bother to remember his name or check out the actor. LOL
“there isn’t any competition at the same time when it’s aired”
Nice theory. Too bad QoT still clocked 20 percent for this Saturday’s episode even with MBC, SBS and MBN dramas in the same time slot. So much for “there isn’t any competition”.
“QoT’s ratings might have been easily cut in more than half if competing against some other good dramas at the same time”
…..the words might and good are doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence lol. Why is it QoT’s problem if the other dramas airing at the same time aren’t popular with Korean viewers, are the QoT writer and production supposed to make sure these other dramas are ‘good’ too?
They only won because because I lost…bwahahaha
Wait – who said there is no competition?! 😂😂That is in fact bs. This drama has been going against some really high rated dramas back to back to back on saturdays.
Flex X Cop, Wonderful World, and now Detective 1958 are ALL double digit dramas that compete directly against QOT due to the legnth of the episodes. They also all dropped ratings because people chose to watch QOT. Only someone who knows jackshit can say it has “no competition” ffs. It’s getting hilarious how far the reach is. But it’s also proof of just how bothered people are with the level of success that they disregard fact checking.
This is when I dip from a post because some have lost rational reasoning and are now just talking out of their asses.
These dramas aren’t “good” dramas in my dictionary. QoT fans can be in ecstasy raving the drama to the galaxy. That won’t change the fact that QoT doesn’t have good dramas competing head to head in the market at the same time. Let QoT compete with the Glory, Moving, Descendants of the Sun, Crash Landing on You, Vincenzo, the Fiery Priest, Flower of Evil, and even KSH’s early dramas, Moon Embracing the Sun and My Love from the Star, to just name few. QoT’s rating might not stand passing 10%.
Don’t get worked up just because ppl don’t agree with your preference. When I spoke of good dramas, I have those ones mentioned above in mind to compare with. Given KSH’s star power and his acting chops, he can manage better scripts, not the like of QoT that sucks!
BTW, I can see how level headed fans are from their responses to different opinions on the same page as their own. The fans in this thread obviously let emotions dictate reasoning. For example, I don’t bother how QoT is doing in ratings. The drama has nothing to do with my livelihood. Drama is on the very bottom list of my priority in rl. Why should I care how bad or how well a drama is doing? LMAO. I’m here just giving my own opinion about a popular drama after watching a few eps. Simple as it is! If you are crazy about QoT and disagree with me, let it be. Why can’t you respect and tolerate different opinions? Are we living in a communist world? LOL. Why are you going the mile to name call others with jacksh*t? So hilarious! Say, you like orange. But others may hate it cos orange aggravates their acid reflux and makes them throw up. Nonetheless, rabid fans of orange dismiss and snub those who don’t like orange as if orange is the queen of fruits that all ppl must swallow and love and worship it. Rabid fans got mad and worked up with all the emo out of their mouth cos others can’t tolerate extra acidity and throw up sour orange in front of them. LMAO. This is so comical that’s worth a black comedy.
@Somebody – you sound utterly ridiculous.
Accusing other people of getting “worked up” just because we disagree with you when your ”proof’ that QoT would not do this well in ratings is to mentally assemble an all-star lineup of the cast and crew’s previous dramas+others to “prove” that QoT would be ‘defeated’ in ratings if it was competing with these dramas …. when they weren’t even competing with each other?? and are from different years and even decades?
We don’t need to “respect” an “opinion” that’s made of complete nonsense as a premise, just saying. Like or don’t like the drama, that’s your personal opinion but these wild fantasies that it “doesn’t have competition” (take it up with the writers of those competing dramas if they aren’t “good”) or would have sub-10 percent ratings if your completely impossible lineup of dramas was the competition, deserve to be laughed at. Imagine saying others have “lost rational reasoning” when your own reasoning is the above lol
“I don’t bother how QOT is doing in ratings”
and yet leaves a whole comment seething about how it ‘doesn’t have any competition’ (false) and would be defeated and reduced to sub-10 percent ratings by an all star lineup of past hit dramas from 2012-2021 (lol).
like or don’t like the drama, I don’t care but at least try not to contradict your own comments, you know your earlier comments in this post are still up there for us to see, right?
What’s with this @Somebody ???? You don’t like it, we get it. You want to criticize it, go ahead. Keep claiming you’re KSH fan and not a hater, okay, we try to understand even a fan doesn’t need to like all their fave’s project. But you keep invading almost every comments who liked QOT, make a “mockery” comment as a reply, bringing the bad comments for IMDB for validation, agreeing so hard with those who don’t like QOT. You’re the one who don’t respect and tolerate different opinion!!! Please stay away from this blog for your own sanity, so you don’t get work up with those people praising QOT. I hope @somebody will become a “real” somebody
LOL. I’m entitled to opinions and critique of any dramas I have watched. How’s that so surprising to know some customers just don’t like certain brands that aren’t your taste? So here’s the nonsensical logic from rabid fans: We’re entitled to spread all the ecstasy and flatter about QoT all over the threads EVERYWHERE and RANDOMLY but it’s not ok for others to be critical of QoT !!!! EXCUSE ME! As I said, this English forum has IP in the US where we respect freedom of speech. Therefore, don’t act as if you were talking in China or N. Korea where only one-sided bias is allowed on social media. LOL
Also, KSH rabid fans are nothing different from many delusional Chinese fans who can never tolerate critiques of their idols’ dramas. EXCUSE ME! I like KSH and I’m also a huge fan of The Moon Embracing the Sun. Didn’t he get Baeksang award for that drama and I command it??? But he isn’t my God that I should worship him to the point that I have to bow down and ass kiss all his works. LMAO. It’s my opinion that QoT isn’t a drama as good as those which I compared with. It’s my opinion that QoT wouldn’t be able to compete with those dramas and that would be reflected in ratings if they had been aired at the same time. As to myself, I don’t care about ratings when picking what dramas to watch. Geez! Rabid fans just have trouble reading plain English! Or your emo got you brain fog? LOL.
Just get off your high horse. In real life, your hubris won’t get you anywhere!!. Look! I responded cos your prior comments were full of condescending mockery with name calling such as jackshit and asses etc. By your spurious arguments, it’s ok for you to spit all this crap but not ok for me to think you got worked up that you really did!!!! LOL. Look into the mirror yourself before yelling at others. Ppl just reap what they sow. Want respect? You earn it! LOL.
@Somebody… bla bla bla bla…
Oh well, she is a nobody anyway, that’s what a nobody does, bla bla bla …, so desperate for validation. like her critics is going to change the success of QOT???. Bwahahaha….
@Wink, oh you rabid fans keep getting butthurt cos there’re still a lot of ppl who think QoT sucks. LOL.
@some-, I mean nobody,
My butt doesn’t hurt, really. It sucks for you and just some people doesn’t change the fact for it being successful which is real and proven, as you say do some fact check. Funny you said something about looking urself in the mirror, do some fact check, calling rabid fans but you’re the one who’s contradict for whatever you say. Who’s having fog in their brain?… Jang jang jang… ofc nobody.
Get well soon nobody.
@Wink with poor vision. LOL. You made me laugh. 🤣😭😂
Controversial opinion – Kim Soohyun is a great crier…but that’s about it?? Where is the versatility?? Everytime anyone brings a discussion about his acting skills it’s always the crying scenes which are shown. He is perfect in those scenes I will give him that but i certainly can’t count him as an actor with a diverse filmography.
just a question – how much of KSH’s filmography have you watched?
I haven’t seen it all but what sticks in my memory of him as a leading man is mainly one movie and his Park Ji Eun dramas. And his characters in all four are so distinct from each other and played so differently that he never comes across as repeating the same performance with different character names – whether it’s alien Do Minjoon in YFAS, petty/goofy/clueless Baek Seungchan in Producers (and KSH portrays every interaction with another character accordingly), Baek Hyunwoo in QoT or Won Ryuhwan the brainwashed spy pretending to be an idiot, they’re not interchangeable. The closest he comes to portraying two similar characters imo, is QoT’s Hyunwoo with Secretly, Greatly’s WRH and even there they’re very different.
That + he’s proven himself good across a range of genres – sageuk, modern action (Secretly, Greatly), modern romcom (two PJE dramas) and plainer comedy (Producers). As in, he’s not just done those roles in distinct genres but was good in them, if that doesn’t count as a diverse filmography I don’t know what does.
I have watched all his PJE dramas, PBIO , OOD & METS.
I didn’t not like MLFTS nor his acting in it. Producers was genuinely good. My point is that whenever anyone talks about how good of an actor he is it’s always the crying scenes used as an example. Be is PBIO, qot or OOD. For me acting is so much more than just crying. Take for example Siwan in boyhood or kang haneul in when the camelia blooms. I am yet to see ksh do a role wherein we will get to talk about something other than his crying. It’s getting repetitive.
@qotwatcher – so you’re saying he’s ‘repetitive’ based on…..what others talk about?
But all his most viral and talked-about scenes from Producers – making a fool of himself for the variety games, imitating Gong Hyojin’s drunk aegyo, his own drunk acting, his scenes with IU – were not crying ones. Same with QoT, the scenes that got all of Korea talking included the angry bike throw at the end of episode 4, a heartfelt love confession to a closed door at the epilogue of ep 10, and a scene in ep 11 where he’s briefly playing a character who isn’t Baek Hyunwoo at all but a sociopath…unless you have been selectively ignoring it, KSH’s acting has always been talked about for much more than just crying, as you would know if you ever looked at past comment sections (not just on koala) about him.