Bun-venit în Samdal-ri (2023)

A Mixed Bag of Emotions: Ji Chang Wook Shines, but Empowerment and Chemistry Fall Short

I recently immersed myself in Welcome to Samdal-ri, eager to witness the brilliance of Ji Chang Wook's acting prowess after watching him in Healer. While he undoubtedly delivered a stellar performance that left me in awe, I couldn't help but feel a void in terms of female empowerment and on-screen chemistry.

Ji Chang Wook's portrayal was nothing short of captivating. His nuanced expressions, impeccable delivery, and undeniable charisma added depth to the character, making it difficult to look away. His acting prowess alone almost carried the entire show for me, and I applaud his dedication to his craft.

However, the storyline left me yearning for more when it came to female empowerment. Despite the potential for a strong, empowering female lead, the narrative fell short of delivering a character who could stand on equal footing with Ji Chang Wook's. It felt like a missed opportunity to showcase a more balanced dynamic between the male and female characters. I guess her wanting to lean on him was literal.

The chemistry, unfortunately, failed to ignite the screen. While both actors individually gave commendable performances, their on-screen connection lacked the spark that could have elevated the romantic aspects of the plot. This absence of palpable chemistry and incomplete storylines (like what happened to Sazal Kim's character Man-Su) left me somewhat detached and wanting more.

While the show had its moments, the missed opportunities in character development and resolution left me with mixed feelings about the overall viewing experience.

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A healing bittersweet story about leaving home to chase your dreams.

I just finished watching this drama and on my personal experience, this has been such a journey, I watched a lot of tiktoks about it but never got the chance until now. As the headline says its a story with a healing message of learning to come back home when there is the need, leaving for your dreams might not be easy but coming back its not easier either.
I loved the cast, it was awesome watching actors that were closer to the ages of them, for me with such a beautiful story the ost could be so much prettier.
Definitely a rewatch or watch if you want to have a sense of healing.

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These 2 friends who have grown as a brother and sister, they like each other but, she goes to Seoul while he stay at Jeju island. After 8 years she come back to the home family with her 2 sisters and niece and they meet again. Theirs feelings are the same that in the past but also another mate love her.
Great acting of Ji Chang Wook with his fast speech, his smile and the deep voice.
Many things are great: the cast, some gestures (for example the niece that take the shirt of her grandmother), I love when he call her mom "omma", the fact of a multi parenting (two mother each), the relationship of these 3 sisters, the boy friendship like power rangers, when these fishing's women (Haenyeo) drive their quads, the "adult" niece, the kindness of the new couple of dolphin boy and the little sister,...
I informed me about the activity of these "Haenyeo" and I learnt is so precious in Jeju that since 2016 become a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

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Well paced heartwarming romantic series with small town, friends to lovers and revenge elements

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2023/2024 South Korean romantic comedy with 16, 70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Cho Yong-pil (Ji Chang-wook) and Cho Sam-dal (Shin Hye-sun) were childhood friends who grew up in a small community on Jeju Island. The adults termed them soul mates as they were born minutes apart on the same day. And their life follows the trajectory of that destined fate as close friends as children then a young couple later on. An incident drives them apart and lead both to separately pursue their dreams. Yong-pil remains on the island as a weather forecaster to fulfill his dream of providing accurate forecasts so that others will not die from weather events as his mother did. While brilliant in his field, he is a thorn in the side of the other forecasters as he is very vociferous in his demands for perfection in forecasting. Many of the youth from the Island are eager to escape that limited geography and make their mark in big city Seoul. Sam-dal also wants to escape the small town and is determined to thrive in Seoul. After much hardship, Samdal finally becomes a highly successful fashion photographer known under the professional name Cho Eun-hye. At the peak of her career, she is in the circles with all the top celebrities as a highly demanded artistic and entertainment photographer. A series of events causes Cho Eun hye’s professional and personal life to completely come apart. Samdal decides to take a pause on her career and leave the city that now felt like it turned on her. Her hometown has always been her safe haven filled with all the people she was once very close to. When Samdal and Yongpil find themselves back in the same circles, they discover their feelings for each other never died. With two very different dreams is there a way for them to be together without sacrificing their own life goals? Can Samdal prove her innocence and re-establish her career?

Review

This is a really good romantic drama with friends to lovers, coming of age and even revenge elements. People who grew up in an island culture or in a small town will relate to a lot of the content. It is an overall feel good romance served up with slices of small town life. The small insights into Haenyeo (female diver) culture is a bonus.

Spoilers

Yong pil’s dad Cho Sang-tae (Yu Oh seong), was so emotionally and physically abusive to others I seriously disliked the character. It was satisfying, in the last few episodes, when the rest let loose in him. Look she wasn’t just your wife she was my best friend, my mother etc. You are not the only one grieving. I wish someone had said your wife would have hated this. He was obsessed with her leading up to them being together and was obsessed with her after she died. Blaming her best friend when his wife as an adult who chose to go was misplaced anger. He was such a cruel selfish person, I was glad he came around for the other characters but I did not feel there was any redemption for him.

The assistant who falsely accused her was eventually revealed as a liar. That was great to get to see some justice served. A little bit more about her and the fall out of her misdeeds would have been better as so much of Samdal’s story centered around her assistant’s lies.

I loved the story with her older sister and ex husband who so clearly still loved each other but had been driven apart by his horrible family. I would have liked to see them get remarried.

The chemistry between Shin Hye sun and Ji Chang wook was surprising. I just never pictured them together as they typically choose very different scripts. But they are both such great actors it was completely believable. I became a fan Of Ji Chang wook from his action shows but this sweet boy next door role worked perfectly too which just shows his diversity.



#WelcometoSandalRi

#JiChangwook

#ShinHyeSun

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This felt like watching a shortened family drama. Most of the side couple content has been removed & they focused on the family conflict and the main couple, but it still had that family drama presentation. I think this could have worked better in the 50 episode format as well. Not because I would have wanted more of the same, but rather had the side couples each gotten a couple episode's worth of screen time I think the annoying things could have been far less pronounced and we had so many sidelined characters with immense rom-comedy potential, or I don't know we could have watched the younger sister training as a haenyo..

The biggest problems I've had with this drama are the absurdity of the old breakup & the absurdity of the decade long unrequited loves. Of course I found the toxic dad extremely annoying & his sudden change of heart ridiculous as well, but that is ultimately just one bad episode of 16, so that would not have been a deal breaker.

Overall I would say that this drama has been a bit sloppily executed. The cast is absolutely amazing, but many of the actors did not take this very seriously & immersion breaking performances were not corrected. In case there is a problem, it's the director's job to call out the ng, in this drama they settled for "barely acceptable" way too many times. This is very common with family dramas, but those are typically far lower budget, so the lower production values are to be expected.

The writing is all over the place & there are countless problems with character motivations, personality adjustments and just nonsensical stuff, even for this genre.

Can Triangle haters watch this drama? Well, I'm not sure. The second ML does not really do anything, there are no three way handgrabs and whatnot, but I found his character to be extremely annoying. (It's a poorly written character, doubt any of the triangle lovers would be able to feel SLS for him)

To say something good as well, I found the non-gloomy parts of the drama quite funny & it's nice how it's relatively low on product placements. Jeju Island is the product placement, but this is the best kind there can be :-)

Ah, I almost forgot. While this drama is not very tropy, it's really annoying how 30 somethings who have dated in the past for many years acted like preteens in love & we have even gotten two typical sleep together, but do nothing scenes.

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Based on this review it may not seem like it, but there really was a lot of wasted potential here. They had most of the ingredients to cook a great meal, but unfortunately the cooks were drunk.

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Hometown healing

Jan. 21, 2024

Welcome to Sam-dal ri is definitely that kdrama for healing. Not revenge.

For starters, I know a lot of other people have mentioned how they love how this show gets better as it goes on. And that is so true. I never really expected to love this drama if you asked me around the first few episodes. It is a slower pace slice of life show. It alleviates that fast-life city feeling, as it is set in a small town. You know, as a person who grew up in the city, I kind of feel jealous and I really do want to experience that slower pace type of living.

The plot of the show is amazing, it is pretty good in terms of the story telling and how it was delivered throughout the episodes. I did wish though that the so called "antagonists" got much harsher ending for all the things they have committed. I do know that this is not a revenge drama but regardless, it fell flat in that area.

The cast is amazing and I feel like this drama is very underrated or underrepresented in terms of all the kdramas that on the smae air-time as this one. So please give Welcome to Sam-dal ri the love and recognition it deserves!

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It is ok if you don’t like it

Final review (even tho it is not finished).

I want to say, as the top review says, it is one of fhe drama that you need to see it for yourself to “rate it”. And still, it is one of the kdrama that will be hard to judge as it will take a lot of subjective thoughts (more than other dramas) to say it is good or not.

So my opinion isn’t necessary. But here is what I can tell you. This is not a revenge drama, this is a healing drama. Weirdly enough, not healing for you but for the characters. And this is where it is hard to understand, because we usually make contents for others (viewers) but it feels like it was made for its creator. Like a self letter.

Romance is not the main arc of the drama.

Characters are not meant to be flawless, on the opposite. And this can be extremely irritating, frustrating, want to throw out your screen off the wall sometimes. They are also meant to be disliked. I believe there is a reason but it is too much out of my own speculation to be taken seriously..

Even after knowing all these and pounder everything it is not the best drama or the year and won’t be. Neither will it be the best performances of the whole cast. BUT we appreciate a lot their acting because it is actually a sort of acting demonstration here from everyone.

Now watch it and make your own judgement. Do not let comments influence you. You might love it and if you drop out it is fine too. It is not made for everyone.

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Having a place to return to is an incredible relief

Originally I was not going to watch this series. I had put it on my not interested list and kind of forgot about it. On the day that it began airing, I was talking to my friend and they asked if I was going to watch it. I decided to give episode 1 a try and see how it was going to go and I am so happy that I did. The number of life lessons and eye opening moments I observed, learned, or took to heart throughout this series... I love the message behind the series and just how much it related to me, my situation, and where I am going in life is shocking. "As always, we're going for only as long as our breath allows without being greedy. And whenever we're out of breath, we'll come back to that place."

This kdrama is honestly probably one of my most favorite I have seen, but it is not perfect. I loved so much about it and how I don’t feel as if there were any holes in the plot. Whenever I had a question, it would be answered at some point. There isn’t a difficult to understand premise and it is a super easy watch. The only aspect of the show that really made me feel uneasy and upset was the amount of alcohol consumption. I have watched hundreds of kdrama but I do not think I have seen one with this amount of beer or soju. It seemed at some points all they did in their spare time was consume alcohol.

My favorite character of the series is the Jeju Dolphin Center’s very own Gong Jichan, played by Kim Minchul. I loved the side story with him and learning more about Haeyul and Haedal. If there was a series just for these three, I would watch it.

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One word: Warmth. That's what the drama made me feel. Love it (Second chance romance worth watching)

Jo Yong Pil (ML): The greenest flag of a character I have ever seen. Its impossible not to adore him. The actor does such justice to the character, i wonder if the writer wrote the script with Ji Chang Wook in mind.

Cho Sam Dal (FL): Very straightforward person, doesn't beat around the bush, which comes off as rude. This got her into trouble, leading to her loosing her career in the city. Bang Eun Joo (the villain) was smart to use that flaw in her character to her advantage. What I like about Cho Sam Dal are her faults, she can be pretty clueless at times and also slow to take actions, but despite them all she is a good person.

Sam Dal and Yong Pil complement each other so well. I am glad that Yong Pil got his happy beginning. While Sam Dal is a pretty impressive, Yong Pil steals the show and captures your heart, making you want to root for him. It impossible not to feel loved while watching this drama, that's how warm Yong Pil is. I'm more into enemies to lover tropes then best friend turned lovers, but this couple holds a special place in my heart. It shows us how relationships don't necessarily have to be the constant push-and-pull but can full of love and care.

Breakdown of allegations against Cho Sam Dal:
1. Bang Eun Joo intentionally went out of the way to get with Sam Dal's ex (Cheon Chung Gi ) just to prove that she could have him. (The guys is also utter crap) The only time Sam Dal said something intentionally harsh was when Eun Joo practically gloated to her that she slept with Sam Dal's boyfriend.
2. What Sam Dal said pissed off Eun Joo so much that she fabricated a suicide attempt and then claimed that she was driven to suicide because of Sam Dal bullying. Sam Dal on the other hand was so shocked to hear about the suicide attempt that she practically gaslit herself for a while, which had us all wondering did she really bully that woman?
3. That's not where it ends though, Eun Joo decided to steal Sam Dal's ideas and work as well. What did Sam Dal do when she discovered it, gave it away to the Eun Joo for free and decided to wash her hands of her.

Coming to Cho Sam Dal's family dynamics, watching the three sisters together is very fun. Ha Yool is also so damn adorable.
All the other couples were also pretty decent to watch. It was good to see all of them succeed in their careers.

I'm a bit unsatisfied with the ending because I just want more of the Samdal-ri's crowd, specially Sam Dal's and Yong Pil's relationship.

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Welcome to a little bit of everything

This is a sweet drama combining parts of Our Beloved Summer, Reply 1988 and with something more... i am not really sure what that is is could be hometown cha cha cha (without the leads regressing in character) it could be som idol drama... maybe parts of Our Blues. Whatever it is I am sure I have seen most of this drama before most of which was really enjoyable but highly predictable. Which was fine until the cringe came along with voices speaking together as one and some trope that jus got on my nerves lowering the score.

Both leads in this drama are absolutely phenomenal, I had forgotten how good Ji Chan Wook is at being sweet, and while it did feel a bit odd to see him as just a regular guy not trying to kill anyone and fully dressed all the time, he definitely has this amazing charm and is indeed capable of captivating the audience.

Shin Hye Sun was also very well casted as she is probably the queen of hot, cold and vulnerable all put in to one

The scenery here is lovely, and the drama is pretty much a commercial to visit Jeju Island while minding the crowds at the popular tourist spots. The use of water and umbrellas is great and I am pretty sure there is a referens in there to the umbrella scene in Something in the Rain with a twist. Other things that had me baffeld was the amount of alcohol the people in this dram could consume without ending up at a hospital or dead.

I love the friendships, the sisterhood, the kid, the families the blasts to the past and learning about the weather. I could do without the actual reasons for the drama in this show as they where not very relatable and lacked depth beyond the depth of the sea... Other things that bothered me where over the top characters with the typical over the top imbedded moments of not that again that many other drama watchers love but just get on my nerves. That said this is an enjoyable watch, an easy binge and couple that is a pure joy to watch.

Healing is kind of my nemesis I knew that going in to this so I will leave it at a it could have been a lot worse, but it was still there to take away from my personal experience. For those of you who love watching healing dramas and do not mind moments of over the top, maybe you even love the moment of over the top then this is defiantly a must watch. For those who can appreciate a mature romance this is also a pretty decent place to find. it.


P.s. this drama was probably also part of the find a deep connection challenge among the writers of Korea, and while it seems to have only lasted one life time I would say it may not be as twisted as some of the other drams with this theme it goes deeper under water than some of the multiple lifetime themed onec out there.

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loved it, ost and all

Not too sure why the drama doesn't seem like it has many viewers with such stellar cast... I've been excited to watch it ever since I saw the trailer. I rush to watch this drama every week, and every time I catch up I just want more!

Plot
People might compare this with Hometown Chachacha with the seaside theme and the main lead going to there to escape from a scandal. Since people like to compare anyway, I think this drama has a better mix of happiness, sweetness and sorrow. While Hometown Chachacha was more heart-fluttering, Welcome to Samdalri is better at invoking emotions in my opinion. The sob story here is also better explained in my opinion. It's not just the main characters' lives you're interested in, you will want to know about everyone! Happy ending as per normal, but it's a nice closure. :)

Cast
You know it's a good drama when you see Shin Hyesun. Kim Mikyung has got to be everyone's favourite ahjumma. I do like Ji Changwook and his acting but I feel like his choice of dramas hasn't been the best ... UNTIL THIS. Good ol' Ji Changwook is back. :)

Music
Beautiful music. Will definitely listen to the OSTs and put them in a playlist. The tears,,, I convinced my friend to listen to the osts and she LOVES them (enough to want to watch the drama).

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