My Lovely Sam Soon (2005)

The beginning of contract-relationships in dramas

I have watched “My Lovely Sam Soon“ three times now and each time I’m surprised by how much I love this drama! At first glance the drama is your typical “poor-woman-rich-arrogant-guy-contract-relationship” show, but don’t let this mislead you! This drama is genuinely funny, absurd, relatable, and unexpectedly moving. Yes, it is quite old and visually not as pleasing as modern dramas, but that only adds to its brilliance; being able to use the minimum to create such a great work is truly admirable and I always love to come back to the roots of K-Dramas where the plot and not the cinematography is in focus (I do love great cinematography though).

“My Lovely Sam Soon” is definitely one of my all-time-favourites and I’m going to come back at it next time when I need a good laugh.

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Story- Reality mixed with drama. Even though this is a romantic comedy, the comedy is at the expense of Kim Sam Soon. I felt like the drama just really wanted to point out at every chance they get that KSS is an embarrassment. A little weak with carrying out the plot. I agree with someone else that says its confusing at times. The ending is very confusing and unnecessary.

Acting/Cast- Kim Sun Ah annoyed me in this (amazing in City Hall tho). Her voice was annoying and maybe its her character that made me not like her. I really don't like Sam Soon. Hyun Bin is a brilliant actor but his character was really unlikable because of his wishy washyness. The supporting actress was really good, I felt bad for her! Most people don't like Daniel Henney but I thought he was sweet and... hot of course LOL. I feel like he did stuck out like a thumb but I felt he tried his best in the role he was given. I liked the actress who played KSS sister, she was funny!

Music- Clazziqai is amazing. They sing 2 songs on the OST.

Rewatch- Its rewatchable but not on my "have to watch this again" list.

Overall- With a little improvement this could have been on my top 10. Very good but not worth all the buzz.

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My Lovely Sam Soon (AKA My Name is Kim Sam Soon)

This was one of the first K-dramas that I watched (and just finished re-watching for probably the fourth or fifth time). It's a noona romance, with the main character Kim Sam Soon, played by Kim Sun Ah, as a 30 year old patisserie, and Hyun Jin Heon, played by Hyun Bin, as the restaurateur and chaebol heir who is three years younger than her. This drama has a lot of silly "imagination scenes" where the characters (though Mostly Sam Soon) have flights of fantasy about what they would /like/ to do but don't. There's a secondary female lead character, Yoo Hee Jin (played by Jung Ryeo Won), who is Jin Heon's lost first love, and her friend from the U.S., Dr. Henry Kim (played by Henney Daniel). I had forgotten how very, very much I hate the second female lead character. I hate the character so much that I actually feel bad towards her actress for having to play her. People spend a lot of time in this drama telling Sam Soon that she is fat and ugly (though, neither is really an appropriate descriptor for her) and even Sam Soon is pretty hard on herself. That said, she doesn't let that stop her from living her life. This is an older drama (from 2005), so the production quality is quite dated, but it's worth watching even with that.

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Entertaining, but mediocre.

A funny drama, but also one that didn't age well. I usually don't get kdrama humor (from cultural differences), but this one actually got many laughs from me. I think if you wanted to watch this drama, it would be for the nostalgia and not much else. Like other dramas from its time, My Lovely Sam Soon has the stereotypical asshole rich ML, a romance between the leads that you don't quite understand, casual sexual assault/harassment and uncomfortable possessiveness towards the women in the show! I'd say this show was strongest in the middle and especially weak towards the end. I don't love the show, but it was an easy and entertaining watch. 7/10.

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Great FL, Frustrating ML and other characters

Kim Sun-ah basically carries this show on her shoulders as protagonist Kim Sam-soon. She's a great character: very blunt and witty and always standing up for herself instead of cowing like a lot of Asian FLs. She had many enviable comeback lines and I loved watching her on screen.

As for the ML? Not so much. I watched this drama largely because of Hyun Bin, but his character did so many jerky things that honestly, I don't know if he deserved redemption in the end. It was super frustrating watching his character go back and forth between the two women. Also, I felt like the Hee-jin and Henry were pretty one dimensional characters. My favorite supporting characters were probably Sam-soon's sister and the cook; their relationship was cute.

In sum, the drama is pretty entertaining when it focuses on Sam-soon and her family/cooking antics but gets frustrating when it devolves in to the central love triangle (square)? The music is fun, too.

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Wonderful, witty dialog in this must see K-drama

The production values (lighting, sound) of the this 2005 K-drama aren't quite up to today's standards, and it was a bit off-putting at first. I almost back-burnered show after the first episode or two, but there was something about it that dragged me in--so much so that I did something I've never done before: I binge-watched all 16 episodes in two days.

Kim Sun Ah plays the chubby, lovelorn Kim Sam Soon and is absolutely brilliant. A *very* young (22 or 23?) Hyun Bin plays her love interest, Hyun Jin Heon. His acting chops aren't up to Kim Sun Ah's, but he carries his part well enough. And I found his round, baby-face and wild hair somewhat amusing to see in light of how strikingly handsome a man he has grown up to be. (At times it is hard to believe that it's the same man who starred in Crash Landing On You.) The supporting actors are mostly terrific. I especially loved the hilarious interactions between the Chef Lee Hyun Moo (Kwon Hae Hyo) and Sam Soon's sister Yi Young (Lee Ah Hyun).

This is a great story, well told. The dialog is sharp and witty, often laugh-out-loud funny. For fans of K-drama, this should definitely be on your "must see" list.

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A Drama Not To Be Missed. A True Classic

I was binge watching on all Hyun Bin's drama/movie of past and recent and this truly magnificent "My Lovely Kim Sam Soon", back in 2005 is still good to watch today, year 2020! It is truly a classic and can be enjoyed any season.

It was delightful to watch Hyun Bin's character Hyun Jin Heon (rich heir to a hotel business) and a pretty, confident (slightly overweight) Pastry Chef, Kim Sam Soon's (Kim Sun Ah) relationship start, develop, struggle and end. This became one of the most entertaining, hilarious, romantic show I have ever watched.

Worth every episode your time. The acting was so natural, the script was so cleverly written and the director made every episode memorable. It was easy to feel all emotions and hard not to share all the goodness I felt with you.

A perfect 10 overall score!

Cheers.....K-Drama forever!

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Started off with great potential

MLSS started off very good, so good that I binged about 8 or 9 episodes. After that, everything went to shit.

In the beginning, I really liked Sam Soon. She was funny, seemed to have some semblance of self-respect, and was adamantly anti-cheaters. So, I rooted for her to have the experience of being in a healthy relationship. Boy, was I in for a huge disappointment.

Hun was toxic from the beginning but I had hoped he would get himself together. Firstly, the man was totally emotionally unavailable. Secondly, he was abusive. I’m sorry but a man who punches a wall near my face and breaks ish will have me running the other way. Not only was he physically aggressive, he was also emotionally abusive.
I usually enjoy the fake dating/marriage trope but it was a mess in this drama. Hun was too controlling for my taste and his character is a typical abuser. Rules applied to SS but not to him. He didn’t like her and wanted to be with his ex but didn’t want SS to speak to other men. I’m sorry, but it’s a no for me. He also cheated on Hee Jin WITH Sam Soon and Sam Soon lacked all self respect and confidence to walk away because she is “old”. In fact, she tells Hee Jin to go away because this is her last chance at love. Girl, bye! All of the building blocks for a toxic relationship were right there, slapping Sam Soon in the face but she still fell for him. Her character development went in reverse and I hated that. The last 5 or 6 episodes just showcased more relationship toxicity and character regression. I am convinced that Hun still wants to be and SHOULD be with Hee Jin; they are perfect for each other. This man continued to put his relationship with Sam Soon on the line for Hee Jin because he knew she would forgive him. If that’s not emotional manipulation, I don’t know what is. IMO, Sam Soon needed some time to heal from her last toxic relationship and work on building her self esteem. Low self-worth and emotional manipulation did quite a number on her and I could not stand her character by ep 12. I’m not even going to get started on her wanting to change her name. That side story got on my nerves. Maybe I’m too old to find the “beauty” in this story because I just did not find it cute at all. I was actually quite disgusted.

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Realistic characters but really irritating at times. Loved the acting and the music was Daebak. My favorite song is obviously "She is". This show introduced me to Daniel Henney :) . I know many people hated Hae Jin but I really pitied her. She did no wrong wanting to be with Jin-Heon. With her disease and all, I think she got the bitter end. The show is realistic, but not that realistic, It still follows all the drama rules and cliches like family disapproval, ex girlfriend problem,  last episode yearly separation etc. Maybe the show is so successful because it resonated with many girls. Recommended to those who wants to see an unconventional heroine.

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