Queen of Tears – K-drama Episode 13 Recap & Review

Episode 13

Episode 13 of Queen of Tears begins with a flashback of when the chairman first brought his family to their new house. He also records the passage to the panic room. Back in the present, the Hong family tour the house with the chairman, figuratively with his picture, for one last time. They enter the panic room and find it completely empty.

From the stencilled dust marks on the floor, it seems that Seul-hee got all of the money relocated from the panic room. They meet her in the living room and despite the Hongs asking her to leave, she refuses. It seems that she is still the legal resident and the Hongs will need a court order to make her leave. 

Simultaneously, we follow Hae-in, who retrieves the secret pen and listens to the recording. The chairman thanks her to allow him to address his family for the last time. He tells her about his condition where he only remembers for a short period of time. He asks his family to live a fulfilling life, not a regretful one like his. The Hongs attend the chairman’s funeral where Hae-in expresses her sadness to Hyun-woo about her death, because she desperately wants to live. 

Meanwhile, we discover that Seul-hee figured out the passage to the panic room through watching the old video recordings by the chairman. She moved the money into a vault and gives it to Eun-seong to proceed with their plan of complete ownership of the Queens group. Back in Yongdu-ri, from Baek Du Gwan and Baek Hyun Tae’s conversation, we discover that after the Hongs get their stocks back, they will be neck-and-neck with only a 3.4% share gap between the Hongs and Eun-seong. 

While both Hae-in and Hyun-woo’s fathers are drinking for the last time before the Hongs leave the Baek residence, Hyun-woo receives a call from the German lab where they tell him that they have developed a procedure that is suitable for Hae-in. Only the catch is that after the surgery, Hae-in would lose all her memories. Hyun-woo relays this news to the two and decide to keep this a secret from everyone, and tell Hae-in only in Germany otherwise she might refuse to undergo the procedure.

The entire family rejoices over the joyous news and Hae-in cannot sit still in relief. After verifying the existence of the procedure from Hyun-woo multiple times, she breaks down in relief and expresses that she feels like she woke up from a long nightmare.

The next day, the two enjoy a day of travelling and joy – clicking photographs, participating in exciting activities and generally enjoying their time together. Hae-in tells Hyun-woo that over the next many days, she will tell him three secrets. The first being that the mp3 player that he has with an ‘H’ written on it actually belongs to Hae-in and the girl he met on the first day of high-school was actually her. Hyun-woo is surprised and tells her that when he saw her, he thought that he had found the one. Hae-in also shows him the ring she’s wearing on her finger and tells him that she will revoke their divorce petition. 

Meanwhile, at the Hong residence, Seul-hee gives a cheque book to Grace but with a condition: she can only withdraw money when Seul-hee approves of it. This is to make sure that Grace does not betray her. While Mi-suk and her mother are preparing to make kimchi for their in-laws, Da-hye helps them with her astonishingly fast chopping skills. At this time, Seon Hwa comes and asks Da-hye to leave.

Da-hye agrees that she will not be staying. She refers to Seon-hwa as ‘mother’ and Seon Hwa objects, but Da-hye says that she will keep calling her ‘mother’ because Seon Hwa was the only ‘mother’ she ever had. 

Mi-suk is relaying this story to her neighbourhood ladies when Hae-in arrives. They are applying balsam on their finger and tell Hae-in about the legend where if the balsam stays on one’s finger till the first snow, their first love will come true. And of course, Hae-in participates. She shows her balsam tinted finger to Hyun-woo when he comes back from work and tells him about the legend. Hyun-woo feels jealous about it and asks her not to complicate things since they are already married. 

Meanwhile, Eunseong is making his move. Rumours reached him that the eldest son of the Hong family might be making a comeback and so he’s trying to launder the slush fund, to use it to buy stocks in the company. Alternatively, Hyun-woo’s party is aware about his moves and are gathering proof against him with foreign exchange transactions. Hyun-woo also tells them that he has lost touch with the land broker who was to give him evidence regarding the double contract. However, later it is revealed that the land broker is murdered in his car. 

Grace arrives at the Baek residence and offers a home spa day for Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s mothers. She learns about Hae-in’s upcoming surgery. Later, she confronts Da-hye about whether she’s going to stay with Soo-cheol and Da-hye says that Soo-cheol is the only one who has ever loved her and she’s going to stay with him.

Meanwhile, Young Song meets Beom-ja and asks her to meet with him later at night. Beom-ja interprets that he wants to date her but when they meet, he only wants to give her condolence money so that her father has money in the afterlife. Beom-ja is touched and weeps for her loss. 

Soo-cheol announces that he will be staying at the Baek residence with Da-hye and Geun-woo while Hyun-woo and Hae-in plan to live in Hyun-woo’s apartment. Grace informs Seul-hee that Hae-in is getting a surgery and Eun-seong overhears their conversation. He asks Grace to find where Hae-in is getting the surgery from. 

The next day, except for Soo-cheol’s family, everybody leaves the Baek residence. Hyun-woo and Hae-in reach their apartment and are mistaken for newlyweds. And that is exactly how Hae-in wants them to be and so they spend the next few days in pure marital bliss – making food together, going out, getting pictures from the photo booth.  

Back at the office, Hyun-woo meets Eun-seong who tells him that he’s happy for Hae-in. But, he also knows that Hae-in will lose her memories and it will be a chance for him to win her over. When he gets back home, he orders to clear all of Hyun-woo and Hae-in’s memories and belongings. 

Hae-in goes to shop with her ex-secretary and she’s a changed person. While earlier she only cared about money and profits, she now wants the department store to be a place where people come together to make memories and not just for shopping. 

Back in Yongdu-ri, Baek Hyun Tae’s wife appears and requests her mother to take her son back. She shows her how Hyun-tae invested in cryptocurrency and lost 90% of it and invested in stocks and lost 50% of their savings. His mother apologises to Hyun-tae’s wife and tells her that she’s free. However, when Hyun-tae tells her that Hong Beom Jun has gifted a building to the Baeks, she pulls a 180 degree switch. 

At the department store, Hae-in visits a section which is getting ready for Christmas decorations. This is when they witness the fake snowfall and Hyun-woo arrives. Hae-in tells him that her first love is Hyun-woo and it’s revealed that he arranged for the fake snowfall for Hae-in. 

Later, Baek Du Gwan tells his wife about the caveat involved in Hae-in’s surgery and Soo-cheol overhears. All of the family finds out except for Hae-in. While Hyun-woo and Hae-in are in the car, on their way to the hospital in Germany, Hae-in discloses that she lied about the racoon living on the rooftop.

Finally at the hospital, Hyun-woo tells Hae-in that she will lose her memories and Hae-in prepares to leave. But Hae-in begs her to live. Eun-seong also leaves for Germany. 

In the epilogue, we see Hyun-woo tearfully recording a video for Hae-in, telling her how much he loves her and he wouldn’t let her go even if she couldn’t remember him because they made a promise to each other. 

The Episode Review

The heart-wrenching moment in this episode is, hands down, the epilogue where Kim Soo-hyun slaps us with his great acting prowess and one cannot help but cry and emphasise with him. He nailed that scene, expressing his joy and deep sadness on what’s to come. 

As we move towards the finale next week, Queen of Tears is taking a heartwarming turn, gathering all and any loose ends and preparing to wrap up. We can finally feel relief and joy for  Hae-in.  It’s almost like we know how much she has struggled and why she cries out of joy after learning that she can be cured. Moreover, one of the best character growth in the story is of Hae-in and her mother.

Hae-in, who used to prioritise sales and money, now has different plans. She wants to live a satisfactory and healthy life and she’s more empathic towards other people. Likewise, Seon-hwa has learnt from her mistakes and making amends towards Hae-in. And of course, the show must go on and so we still have Eun-seong and Seul-hee with their numerous schemes.