Bun-venit în Samdal-ri (2023)

Samdal-ri : An Intricately woven Story of Life

The story basically starts with Cho Eun Hye, a well established and highest grossing photographer, whose fame spreads even among top stars of the korean industry. But the betrayal of her assistant led to the downfall of her long standing career. The little girl who dreamed of being the dragon for a small city was forced back to the small city, her hometown, because if this series of events. Returning back, it follows the unknotting of various misunderstandings, feelings and deeply rooted emotions.
This story may not be everyone's cup of tea cause, the story is slow, not high excitement of anticipation of any thrill or plots. It's a beautiful story which mainly deals with emotions, dreams, feelings and we'll basically 'slice of life'.
Love the fact that the characters were so beautifully written, each playing a role of its own in the story.
I would have been disappointed if it had only focussed on fl's comeback, karma of villain and the romance between ex-couple. But it had way more substance in it, which interested me.
The plot pace is quite good. Up until episode 8, they take their time laying the threads, building the set up of the story. The next 8 episodes follow weaving these thread into the now coming story.
We see, clearing of many misunderstandings, letting go many past burdens which has been rooted in their mind for the past few decades.
The beautiful thing is, you will never see critical schemes or typical twists and turns to cause the downfall of the villain. The script was mainly for every single one to find themselves back and it has always stayed like that till the end. even the downfall of villain was taken as an insignificant side-plot. Rather than the person who betrayed her, maybe it was her own in confidence and loneliness that stood as a main villain to this story.
To sum up, the return of female lead back to her hometown triggered a lots of knots that she, her friends and her family members had burried in their mind, and finally they got a chance to unknot these burdens.
It felt as if, a lots of them had lost their real self, their free self and their beautiful relationships, but they are slowly finding themselves back now in the beautiful sea town of jeju island.
And to end this,
"No matter how high you fly, no matter how low you fall, no matter how much you loose yourself, your roots will always lead back to yourself, they would stand as your highest confidence and lowest embarassment."

Citeste mai mult

Draggy love story, immature characters, meandering plot, saving grace is humor and scenery

The love story is uninteresting and the only thing that is drawing the audience from watching is whether the ML and FL will get together, and the reason why they broke up. Other plots serves as fillers most of the time. Otherwise, most of the time the ML and FL are hanging around having conversations like teenagers and the FL is always acting like an immature teenager girl. The drama keeps having flashbacks of them as teenagers, and although the drama also tells of stories of friendship, the other supporting characters do not quite have good character development.

The upside of the drama really is the depiction of the relationship of the FL’s mother and her family, and the scenery around Jeju.

I cannot find myself being engrossed with the ML or the FL. The ML is too passive, and only took action in episode 11. The FL is too incongruent, whiny, behaved like a teenager and awkward to be very likeable. I understand it is a character setup but for kdramas to always setup female leads that way, and have relationships only work out towards the last few episodes does not work well for me.

Citeste mai mult

The drama isn't peaceful or wholesome but rather weird and frustrating at times

Before anyone says i like ml a lot , i loved fl in "see you in 19th life stillhere things aren't working for me

The cast is great no doubt
But it seems they couldn't put everything together , the drama is scattered here and there
They wanted to show comedy but did too much with their anger , frustration especially gossip
I mean why would they thought lead actors or even the side ones being angry and frustrating will make viewers think it's fun ,
Also the gossip part , they showed too much gossip from town which leads to think there is no warmth which everyone is talking about
The drama isn't really wholesome or warming ...
If you have watched hometown cha cha cha and came thinking it would be like that it's a big no , they showed the location of countryside but couldn't really show the beauty apart from few seconds of sea .

The three girls are too much for the mother , they are shown as if they are naive , i mean why would anyone in their late 30s would be this clueless about their mother , none is shown caring in nature , again in order to show their funny side it is irritating


I think they just could shown them in their late 20s or around 31 but 38 is too much , neither they look nor their behavior that way

And ml character is not really detailed , his life is all around fl , which i can understand but it feels the drama revolves around her only , he is there to accompany her

The first ep is good but then things go downhill till 6th episode as i thought now it would be better , they popped the love triangle , it was okayish but still bit irritating till ep 11 , it was okay thenwards but .... didn't really satisfied me

The love triangle was so unnecessary, it sucks
The way 2nd lead says he let the ml have her ot gave up on her was just too irritating and destroyed the story too badly

There wasn't really sweet moments shown from their pas or even present which is unsatisfying

I skipped a lot of drama and watched at 2x still seemed too much for me .

Citeste mai mult

More of a healing drama

I don’t like storylines where a person is falsely accused of some misdeed or misconduct, and the public suddenly turns against them so fast without concrete evidence and without knowing the full story, quick to judge. And the victim has no way to vindicate herself- I which I find incredulous it being 2024 with all its advance tech etc…

Anyhow, so ya. That’s how the story goes for our FL to run away back to her hometown. It’s very much a healing drama, so there will be lots of crying. I would say the main underlying ripple here would be the issue of unforgiveness, which involves not only the main leads but the families as well. The comedy and supporting cast are not too bad, I was able to watch without ff too much ;)

The romance and chemistry is not so evident. So if you’re looking for that then you will be disappointed. Both actors did a great job though, and I’ve like Ji Chang Wook since Healer, but his other dramas after were not so promising.

All in all this was a pretty good watch. Just get ready those tissues!

Citeste mai mult

Great cast and acting

A pleasant show with a mainly interesting storyline. Perhaps what I enjoyed the most was the cast and their exceptionally skilled acting. They managed to portray their characters and emotions in a genuine and heartfelt way - while the chemistry between the leads was definitely also on par. The setting and supporting cast were really good, too. The downside is the fact that it is yet another plot where the inability to communicate or be truthful, is what causes their issues and suffering. As such, the plot core drama-storyline seems more juvenile than challenging and makes for a deflated climax during the second half of the episodes.

Citeste mai mult

A delightful rom-com with a colorful small-town backdrop!

This rom-com is a contemporary take on classic romantic tropes set in a charming town on Jeju Island. The two charismatic leads, Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hye Sun, carry this story, owning every moment they're on screen.

For Korean drama buffs, the themes are familiar. They are soulmates born within minutes of each other (à la The Good Bad Mother) who break up although they still have feelings (Our Beloved Summer). They reunite in the setting of heartwarming friends and endearing locals in a beautiful small town (Hometown Cha Cha Cha; Our Blues). Those who love these themes are likely to find this show delightful as well!

For less familiar audiences, the exaggerated problems and crises that punctuate the storyline could be viewed as flaws. It's helpful to keep in mind that Korea has an especially harsh cancel culture. It's not unheard of for baseless accusations to stymie careers (Tablo of Epik High comes to mind).

Enjoy this journey of two inseparable friends rekindling love, supporting each other, and helping each other grow!

Citeste mai mult

This show has EVERYTHING

I haven't loved a drama this much in a while. I love me a drama that hits on all of my emotions and this is it. Think Hometown Cha Cha Cha with a lil bit of Good Bad Mother, but still different enough from other titles that it feel refreshing.

I typically watch dramas while I do cardio at the gym and let me tell you, I felt foolish to be laughing and then crying a few minutes later. But I wasnt about to stop watching 🤣 It's funny and touching and romantic etc. My favorite aspects are the familial and friendship love and loyalty expressed in the show.

It's really a great watch, I'd suggest it to anyone.

Citeste mai mult

a corny mess !

It was so bad I had to make a review. the only reason its rated this good is because everyone with taste stopped watching after the second episode and forgot about it for self preservation (also the jcw stan giving it a 10).

So how did I finish it ? ... hate. the first two episodes made me hate that assistant girlie so much I had to see her suffer. but this drama is so disappointing it didn't even gave me that. literally so corny how ONE single article comes out about her and boom she's over and done. we don't even get to see her cry like I'm pissed I really wanted to see her jump off that *redacted. anyway at least the mother (the only real b**** in this show btw) threw vinegar at her or whatever.

Every writing decision was corny. her not defending herself and being so passive was corny. her acting like a baby even though she is close to 40 was corny. yong pil never getting over after 10 years was corny. Yong Pil not respecting personal space or boundaries was corny. the second ML being a 40 yo virgin was corny and not attractive at all. the sisters were corny. the parents were corny. that one ex husband corny. like it was so cringe all the way through because everybody was so damn childish.

Why was Shin Hye Sun acting like that ? at some point I realised that she talks in baby voice 90% of the time when she is Samdalri and I lost it lol. had to skip her to not die from cringe. I hate the weird infantilisation of women in kdrama and its probably my number 1 pet peeve/ thing I hate the most. In this she is a 38 yo super successfull woman but she acts like a shy teen girl like EWWWWWW please give this grown woman a backbone please. all she did was whine and hide for 14 episodes.
She talks in baby voice and pouts and that's basically it, thats her acting in this but everyone in these comment compliments her like this was a masterclass in acting like what ??? Literally cannot stand her and will probably never watch anything with her in it ever again because of this.

random things that pissed me off too :

the oldest sister getting back/ sleeping with her ex husband

Yong Pil not giving a care about his fathers feelings

Samdal working with her ex (that cheated and tried to end her career too) at the end

the Indian actor turning out to be an arab prince that was super rich ??? like they purposely put that in to piss me off. like what was the reason ???


this was a horrible watch ! so slow ! nothing happens ! and the same thing happens over and over until the last episode !


posting this review as the first step in my healing process !

Citeste mai mult

Power Rangers

Amo a vibe de Jeju, sempre assisto dramas que ocorrem na ilha e amei todos! O relacionamento da Sam Dal com o Yong Pil é muito lindo e divertido, vibrei muito por eles! Mas uma das coisas que mais amei foi a dinâmica dos amigos, os power rangers, todos uns queridos, mesmo com "triangulo amoroso" não atrapalhou na história e nem foi chato. As irmãs são umas queridas, o relacionamento entre elas mostrado de uma maneira bem real haha. O casal golfinho simplesmente perfeitos!

Citeste mai mult