Benvenuti a Samdal-ri (2023)

Pleasantly warming and inspiring, like a cup of tea that you may enjoy sip by sip

Once again a wonderfully authentic KDrama with amiable characters, who are living a live just like any South Korean life could be. The KDrama is neither captivatingly suspenseful nor does it urge to be devoured in one go. Instead, it's rather pleasantly warming and inspiring, like a cup of tea that you may enjoy sip by sip. The story could always go on as everyday life is - in Jejudo and elsewhere (in the province).

At first glance, “Welcome to Samdal-ri” is a sweet Rom+Com and, in passing, it is also a declaration of love for Jejudo, the largest South Korean island. At second glance, however, the KDrama also delivers a lovingly drawn and yet time-critical image of society, in particular of a generation that is struggling to balance between archaic roots and home on the one hand as well as global, urban & digital lifestyle values on the other.

In general, lifelong friendship can be considered the overarching theme. The peer group as a family of choice in the sense of a community of fate, whose commitment has been growing from the inevitable spatial proximity of a village community - here: Samdal-ri.
Specifically, the story is about such a lifelong friendship between two friends, who at some point naturally became a love for life, yet without automatically being able to be lived as such.
As so often, it´s about family with its particular momentum, mingling as centrifugal and as pulling force, too.
Refreshing, soft and tangible: Shin Hye-sun and Ji Chang-wook. But overall, "Welcome to Samdal-ri" offers great casting in all positions.

Enjoy your tea time...










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SIDE NOTE...
...on "Welcome to Samdal-ri" offering a felicitous, good-humoured and optimistic time-critical image of society

On the one hand, the monotonous everyday life in the provinces just glides along. In “Welcome to Samdal-ri” the social tightness of the village structure is intensified by the island situation on Jeju-do. Binding village life in its everyday occurrences may be boring for some, while reliably familiar and pleasantly manageable for others. Rhythm, rules, community - everything is well-arranged. You can count on being safely caught by a social net that is protecting, warming. However, it comes with a price: a naturally intrusive social environment that would like to have a say everywhere...
On the other hand, the shimmering metropolis of distant Seoul is attracting the young with its wide world full of fashion, culture and lifestyle, promising individual fulfillment in a varied, anonymous, fast-paced, entertaining, colorfully inspiring, glittering city life that bears the stamp "successful". But this has its price, too, as the KDrama clearly shows with various examples. Fast-paced, cool big city life is mostly superficial, curt, nonbinding, aloof and mercilessly leaving you out in the cold.

Gossip apparently seems to be for us humans naturally coming with our anthropological cradle… Whether city or countryside, whether Seoul oder Samdal-ri, it is everywhere - the KDrama is cleverly using this as a dramaturgical bridge between the two worlds...
In a village with an intrusively curious neighborhood like Samdal-ri, where almost nothing can be kept secret, gossip adds spice to an otherwise uniform everyday life. However, it turns out, globalization and digitalization have by now raised village gossip to an unimagined, even more threatening (since anonymous) level. Rumors multiply virally in the form of social media posts shared at lightning speed, thus turning Seoul into just another (digital) village, yet on a global scale - with the effect that the brutal force of the impact far dwarfs that of a rural, analogue village. Once a rumor like this has started, it's hard to stop it and it's practically impossible to undo it. The anonymity of a viral rumor mill also invites hateful comments, the existential consequences of which no one seems to have to take responsibility for. Never mind whether there really is something to it or not… no one is interested anyway.
In the worst case, self-imposed exile from the analogue village offers an opportunity to escape social pressure at least. The digital village of the globalized new world, however, no longer shows any mercy. It's everywhere... there's no escape...

The uncontrollable social media with its enormous power as well as the largely non-binding, superficial encounters of an anonymous urbanity are juxtaposed with the archaic themes that continue to shape life on Jeju-do today - and thus the roots and grounding of its people. Eventually, "Welcome to Samdal-ri" tells of the dominance of tides and weather shaping everyday life; of the power of the sea, which continually takes its toll; of the lives of the Haenyeos diving for abalone and more - day after day, year after year; of the Haenyeo families, following the mother as the strong head of the family; and even of bloodguilt that turns friends into enemies, urging to pass this feud on from generation to generation.

Although life in the provinces may seem archaic, tight and boring, not everything automatically has to be wrong or bad. Nevertheless, young people increasingly and understandably prefer to go to Seoul. They want to leave the dusty roots and rigid structures behind. They prefer to live at the center of the vibrant new South Korean world instead.
But even if they leave their village home for individual fulfilment, psychologically they are still far from finding their way back to themselves. And even if Seoul has such a promising, almost magnetic, electrifying, cosmopolitan charisma, the capital, along with the temptations of big city life, also harbors a fatal seed, that many have not expected: Betrayal! Betrayal of oneself (and/or eventually betrayal of others...) For most people sooner or later this seed will be sprouting, if they lose their grounding along the way - if they simply radically cut off their roots instead of finding ways to continue to nourish them...

As such I appreciate "Welcome to Samdal-ri" offering way more than a Rom+Com - e.g. a felicitous, good-humoured and optimistic time-critical outlook on contemporary issues within modern society.

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charecters that will win your heart, a comfort drama

meanwhile everyone is hyping around my demon , this beautiful masterpiece got swept under the rag. Not many people are talking abthis drama. At first i was also very excited about my demon byt after episode 10 it got soo boring that I didn’t wanna watch it anymore, the story was soo cliche. on the other hand welcome to samdalri kept me hooked till the last episode. from the first glance it looks like homecha. well it is similar to homecha. but many simple slice of life kdramas often feel slow and boring eventually . Byt tahts the speciality of welcom to samdalri. the drama isn’t too slow, in the first few episodes it’s a bit slow but then it keeps getting better and better. What i liked the most about this drama are the side characters. each and every charecter is soo beautifully written. From young pil’s father to samdal’s parents and sisters, everyone’s own story was very intresting to watch. i think this one thing lacks in my demon which is good side charecters with their own story instead of revolving around the main leads. The message of this drama is absolutely beautiful as well. The last episode just feels like a warm hug of a cold day

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definitely worth my time

Sometimes I might find it hard for me to watch dramas that are still ongoing, but this drama is one of the exceptions.

They could make me feel the story. I cry, laugh, mad, fear, and relief; I find myself getting touched by this drama a lot. like I could feel the feeling and meaning from everything they do, even though it was not even related to me, nor did I ever get the situation that they got in the story.

and I always love stories that make the second couple go well, even though they have little time in each episode. This drama could make you more curious about the side couple since we know how the main lead story is going to go, but still, the main lead could make you feel like their story is their own life.

I love the third-child story; I love everything she said, and I admire her daughter so much. They are the cutest mom and kids, and I'm going to save them from this cruel world.

the story like happy dramas, but ISTG you're going to cry while smiling.

the good drama to start ur 2024?

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মন ছোঁয়ে যাওয়ার মতো একটা ড্রামা❤️‍?

বেশী কিছু বলতে চাইনা।
শুধু বলবো জীবন নিয়ে যদি হতাশ থাকেন।
সব কিছুতেই যদি আপনি ফেইল।
একবার ড্রামাটা দেখে ফেলেন। নিজের জীবনে নতুন করে চিনতে পারবেন। আপনার আসে পাশের খারাপ থেকে ভালো মানুষ সবাইকে চিনতে পারবেন।

জীবন নতুন করে শুরু করার অনুপ্রেরণা পাবেন ১০০%

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A Heartwarming Rom-Com

Welcome to Samdal-ri is a really beautiful and heartwarming romantic comedy. It's not just a love story; it's also about how people heal and grow from their experiences. The show takes place in a lovely and peaceful village, which makes it nice to watch. The way the story is told and how the characters change and help each other is very touching.

The show teaches an important lesson about life: when everything is going great, we might have a lot of people around us, but when times are tough, the ones who stay by our side are our true friends or family. This idea is shown well through the story and the characters in the show. It makes you think about who is there for you when you need them. Welcome to Samdal-ri is more than just a fun romance; it's a show that makes you think about relationships and what matters in life.

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Chaotic yet heartwarming story

The story of a small town called Samdal-ri where there are no secrets lol. Cho Sam Dal, the only successful Samdal ri native to make it big on the mainland comes back after a setback. What met her was her chaotic town people who welcomed her with open arms and warmed her already cold heart. Although being the gossipy town people they were, they protected their own. Although the story rotates around the Samdal-ri star cross lovers Cho Sam Dal and Cho Yong Pil, it also peeks into the beautiful lives behind the other town forks, their pain their love and their ordinary lives.
The entire 16 episodes don't let you get bored telling the story of their boring lives and instead make you laugh smile and sometimes even cry.
An absolutely beautiful story brought to us by an amazing cast, director, producers and writers.

And I personally feel that Ji Chang Wook finally found his perfect role after many long years. And Shin Hye Sun worked her charm into her character. Ji Chang Wook, Shin Hye Sun created the perfect chemistry between Cho Yong Pil and Cho Sam Dal. The Five Powers Rangers, the Haenyeos, the weather forecasters, and the entire Samldari town created a heartwarming yet chaotic story of Welcome to Samdalri.

The OST --> loved it!

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comfort drama terbaik tahun ini

- akting semua pemerannya ga usah diraguin, bagus semua
- chemistry antar pemain juga bagus banget
- buat aku screentime haedal-jichan kurang, tp aku tetep suka sih
- aku penasaran apa hayul ga sekolah selama di jeju?
- aku ga lihat ada anak-anak (selain hayul) atau remaja di samdal-ri tapi bisa ngerti juga karena kalau terlalu banyak cast malah bikin makin pusing ke alurnya
- awalnya aku ngerasa kok bisa secepet itu ya tiba-tiba ngerestuin hubungan yongpil sama samdal, tapi aku pikir bapaknya yongpil pengen terus ingat tentang dia dan istrinya dari yongpil sama samdal karena bapaknya yongpil juga berusaha keras banget buat dapetin istrinya
- banyak yg bilang alur hubungan yongpil sama samdal itu lambat banget, emang iya sih tapi menurutku karena lambat malah kita jadi bisa ngikutin gimana perubahan karakter dari samdal sama yongpil. tentang samdal yang awalnya selalu takut dan sangat jaga harga diri biar ga kelihatan lemah di depan orang lain jadi samdal yang percaya diri dan berani buat mempertahanin apa yang dia mau. tentang yongpil yang selalu ngeduluin orang lain dibanding diri dia sendiri jadi yongpil yang berani buat perjuangin keinginannya sendiri. gitu juga sama karakter lainnya.
- selama nonton bisa ketawa dan tiba-tiba nangis, ga rela juga pas nonton episode terakhir

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Looking for a Comfort Show? You've Found It

Welcome to Samdal-ri is a show that I couldn't help to look forward to every week. The story didn't have grappling cliff hangers or an intense conflict, but it was a drama that I could sit down, watch, and feel healed.

Story:
Welcome to Samdal-ri's storyline was nothing I haven't seen before. City girl goes back to small town and reunites with first love. Family conflict provides tension and drama. Side character storylines are short, but relevant. Did I think that all the conflict was necessary? No. However, I understand the need to drag things out to fit the 16 episode time frame. Overall, everything felt natural and concluded nicely.

Acting/Cast:
This drama has two of my favorite actors in it, so I am a little biased. Firstly, Ji Changwook did a great job. He's an especially emotive actor and really draws me into the story and world that he creates. Shin Hyesun continuously does a terrific job at making any character relatable and charismatic. Her performance is no less than what I thought it would be. I was not a fan of Yoo Ohsung's acting, but that could be blamed on his role.

Music:
My opinions for a soundtrack is that if you notice it, it's either terrible or terrific. Welcome to Samdal-ri's sountrack was for the most part unnoticeable, so I would consider it pretty good. The intro was so cute and cheerful, and the music in the last episode especially was a fantastic choice. If I ever rewatch this show, the music would be the number one thing to bring nostalgia.

Rewatch Value:
As a light and fluffy show, Welcome to Samdal-ri has a very high rewatch value for me. Nothing about this show stressed me out, if anything it did the opposite. It's the perfect drama to watch when you're feeling down. I'll definitely come back and watch this again.

Overall, I would suggest this drama to anyone who needs a little bit of happiness and bliss.

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