For K-drama fans feeling the cold, Welcome to Samdal-ri might be a lovely break in a seaside town in Jeju Island. The show is full of the classic romance tropes we all know and love, like childhood best friends born within minutes of each other, reconnecting when the female lead returns to her small hometown. These plot points are familiar territory, though the show’s tone vascillates wildly as the lead and her sisters deal with crazy circumstances (and react accordingly). However, even as the show and the ladies go through their antics, there’s a careful consideration of how they compare and contrast Seoul and Jeju Island. The resulting plot is familiar, and there are certain plot devices that seem a tad too ludicrous, but it’s a fairly entertaining series, if you can tolerate the strange decisions everyone makes.
Synopsis
After suffering a fall from grace, a photographer returns to her hometown and bumps into her childhood friend — rekindling an unfinished romance.
Storyline
After years dreaming to leave and make it in Seoul, Cho Sam-dal, known professionally as fashion photographer Cho Eun-hye, returns to her hometown in Jeju Island. She reconnects with her ex, former child star and childhood friend Cho Yong-pil, who chose to stay on the island as a strict but accurate weather forecaster.
TLDR
Honestly, there are times when the antics get a little out of hand, but… sincerely praying that the assistant and the water kimchi boyfriend will get their comeuppance somehow.
What stands out
Returning to your hometown to find that your childhood friend is actually hot now is a familiar romcom trope that it’s a cliche. That being said, Welcome to Samdal-ri uses this trope a bit differently. Cho Sam-dal shuts down every single thing that marks her as coming from Jeju Island, from letting her mom’s water kimchi mold over, to never visiting the island in years, to even changing her hometown-inspired name. By returning to her hometown, and reconnecting with her former lover, Cho also reconnects with her past and everything she denied about herself. It makes it feel like the stunning views of Jeju Island aren’t there just as a sideshow, even if the series still equates the protagonist’s and her sisters’ lack of a love life as personal failings.
