Summary
Episode 10 is another light outing that could be described as a “filler”, but it nonetheless builds to a dramatic conclusion.
“Filler” is a weird word to use for a TV episode, since it’s always taken as a criticism (because it’s almost exclusively intended as one.) But, here’s the thing – filler episodes are useful. They’re often very necessary, because they let the gears of the overarching plot grind to a halt to shade in some necessary details. Like Episode 9, Queen of Tears Episode 10 is a bit of a filler episode, and that’s fine. It might even end up being great.
Picking Up Where We Left Off…
The whole thing picks up where the previous episode left off, with the ambush on Hyun-woo by the broker and his goons. But it turns out that Hyun-woo is a former boxing champion and handy with his fists, so he beats them all easily and serves the broker the papers.
Similarly, Eun-sung tells Hae-in about his intentions to become her guardian to nobly “save” her. She decides to keep the visit from Hyun-woo, for obvious reasons.
As before, in the background of this episode is Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s reliably confusing relationship status. She’s happy to tend to his wounds after the fight but reminds him that they’re divorced. When they get ice cream later, Hyun-woo makes a point of saying that if he had a do-over of his near-perfect life, the only thing he’d change is asking her how her day went more often.
If nothing else, he’s come a long way from counting down the days until she died.
All In A Day’s Work
Other things to recall from the previous episode include Eun-sung having hidden the chairman – Grace is put to the task of finding him, and Hyun-woo later threatens to expose her spa chain tax evasion to team her up with Beom-ja – and both Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s families continue to uneasily and illuminatingly coexist in Yongdu-ri.
Hyun-woo’s mother even does a day’s work on the pear farm in exchange for a coffee, and after an honest day’s graft is able to fall asleep without any chemical assistance. That’s all it takes! But here the show is drawing some deliberate parallels between the two mothers, since it’s Hyun-woo’s mom who finds out about Hae-in’s brain tumour, knowing her own parents aren’t unaware.
Hyun-woo can trust his mother to look after his ex-wife, at least. Hae-in’s own mother… less so.
Queen of Tears Episode 10 Ends With A Press Conference
At the end of the episode, Eun-sung holds a press conference to butter up the media and dispel any rumours of the chairman being forced out of his position. He makes a point of saying that he’ll be hiring Hae-in as CEO to clear things up, but Hae-in goes wildly off-script and tells the media everything from Eun-sung’s coercion to her own terminal diagnosis.
Oh, and Beom-ja and Grace find the chairman. They rush to him, as does Seul-hee, and one of them, at least, is there when he opens his eyes – though we don’t know which.
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