Welcome to Samdal-ri || Series Review

What happens when you see a movie that your absolute favourite actor, both male and female is starring in? And what’s better, they are the leads of the movie? The answer is, you calmly wait for all the parts to be out and then you binge the life out of them.

I’d said in my last review that after such a long while, I was back in my K-drama era. Even though the first series I watched on my return wasn’t up to expectation, it reignited my passion for Korean drama So while browsing through recent K-drama series, I saw that this one had been released already and screamed in happiness when I saw who were the stars in the movie.

Welcome to Samdal-ri (2024)

The series was aired between December of 2023 to January 2024. It has sixteen episodes and is directed by Cha Young-Hoon. A classic Korean drama. It stars Shin Hye-Sun as Cho Sam Dal and Ji Chang-Wook as Cho Young Pil and its place setting is Jeju Island.

Summary of the Series

The first episode begins with a little boy and girl from the native town of Jeju who are called upon to sing a song in what seems like a village festival. They are asked what their dreams are and while the little girl likens herself to a dragon that wants to leave the little stream(Jeju Island )to the mainland (Seoul), the boy contrarily states that his dream is to remain in that little stream. These kids are our stars Cho Sam Dal and Cho Young Pil.

There’s a bit of a bildungsroman plot to it as it shows a bit of their development from childhood to adulthood and true to their dreams, Sam Dal, or rather Cho Eun Hye as she is now referred to as, becomes a celebrity photographer in Seoul while Young Pil becomes the star weather forecaster still in Jeju Island. It’s been more than thirty years since that day and a lot has occurred, one of which includes the two childhood friends falling in love and dating and then their break up.

An unfortunate event occurs as an envious subordinate fakes a suicide attempt and frames Sam Dal for abuse. Sam Dal’s career life is turned upside down overnight and she becomes scorned by the world, forcing her to return to Jeju Island which she’d vowed never to return to. She’s mandated to face the people and events in her past as she seeks to find the old her. And through it all, there’s Cho Young Pil, watching and waiting. Amid all the odds against them, can their love triumph?

My Review and Rating

I think I was already biased before I watched this series so you can more or less count on subjectivity. But I’ll try my best to give my most accurate view on it.

First of which is, it’s a series by Shin Hye Sun and Ji Chang Wook, so of course it is perfection. Those two can never go wrong in my eyes and this was yet another reason to hold onto that belief. If you’ve watched Mr. Queen where Hye Sun was the star or Chang Wook’s K2, you’ll know that when it comes to role interpretation, these two would give it their all.

And they didn’t disappoint with this. Whether it was the scenes of happiness, sadness, angst, or pain, you could feel every second of it because they made you feel that. They did absolute justice to it so I didn’t feel like I do in some other films, that this could have been interpreted better, or this emotion could have been portrayed more naturally because everything about their acting, as well as that of the supporting characters, was nothing short of natural. Everyone played their roles and it was simply scintillating to watch.

Of course, they are the exaggerated affectations but this is mostly a K-drama thing and not specific to this particular series. Their actions didn’t match the age range they were portrayed under. Why would people nearing forty act this cheeky and shy? If you’re an avid watcher of K-drama, you would, like I did, still find it cute. But realistically speaking, it was a pain seeing how they acted like timid high schoolers instead of mature adults that they were.

The series progressed delightfully, shifting from the past to the present in a way that wasn’t confusing, thankfully. When it neared the ending, I became a bit nervous as most K-dramas lack that smooth ending that crystallizes a good movie. But I loved that all loose knots were tied and it ended beautifully, each person having their expected or unexpected end. The end to the villain in the series wasn’t enough, in my opinion, and that part of the movie fell flat to me.

However, the positives still outweighed the negatives by far, so it was more than a good watch for me. I’m giving Welcome to Samdal-ri a 4.7/5 rating. Plot, characters, ending...has a full check. Definitely a series worth watching. Kicking of feet is more than guaranteed.

Jhymi🖤

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_{Thumbnail image from IMDB
Other images are movie screenshots.}

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