Summary
Welcome to Samdal-ri gets off to a comfortable start with a pair of episodes exploring ambition, memory, and small-town family dynamics.
You can’t move on Netflix without bumping into another highly-anticipated K-Drama these days, and with Strong Girl Nam-soon and Castaway Diva having ended, their replaces have arrived in the form of My Demon and this, Welcome to Samdal-ri, a romantic drama about two childhood soulmates who find themselves reunited after their initial separation. Episodes 1 and 2 of the sixteen in Season 1 debuted on December 2, 2023.
If the plot of this romantic K-Drama sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Many have proceeded along the same lines, and even now, Soundtrack #2 has a very similar setup. But the target demographic never seems to tire of these things, so here we are.
Welcome to Samdal-ri Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 Recap
Set against the picturesque backdrop of Jeju Island, the story is an entwining tale of two lives. Young-pil and Sam-dal are both from there. Young-pil, in fact, never left. After losing his mother in a tragic weather mishap, he pursued a meteorological career and takes it very seriously. Sam-dal, though, elected for pastures new. She became a fashion photographer in Seoul.
After a 1994-set opening that introduces these two characters in their youngest and most idealistic forms, skimming over them growing up and drifting apart, we find Sam-dal, working as Eun-hye, being driven back to her hometown after being mired in scandal.
Returning Home
An obvious theme in the premiere episode is ambition. Yong-pil doesn’t have any, at least if you quantify ambition by the desire to leave home and explore the world. He was happy to remain on the island and be a weather forecaster, his personal experiences giving him the sense that the job was a calling, a way to safeguard the community elders. Sam-dal, conversely, was very ambitious, eager to get away, and yet it’s her who finds herself returning.
Of course, this return prompts introspection on the part of them both. Since Sam-dal’s earliest ambition was to leave Jeju Island, her having to return there is the ultimate failure. And yet there’s something about Yong-pil’s down-home pride and satisfaction in his life that challenges her worldview. The obviously still-lingering feelings these two have for one another are explored a lot through this particular lens, how their current lives reflect their early ambitions.
In Episode 2, the scandal affecting Sam-dal expands its scope and forces other members of her family back to Jeju, prompting more backstory to be unveiled recalling all of them. I like the focus on small-town dynamics and how past events settle into a place. The long memories of people who have known little other than their own lives are colored by the fleeting impressions of those who left or simply passed through.
Sam-dal continues to grapple with press intrusion, reputational damage, and feelings – some of them complex – about her cheating boyfriend and the general disarray of her life. But she finds support in Yong-pil, who attends her failed exhibition, and in the recollections stirred up by her return home.
How does Welcome to Samdal-ri Season 1 Episode 2 end?
The end of the first pair of episodes finds Sam-dal, drunk, contemplating throwing herself in the sea. Yong-pil, concerned, tries to intervene and ends up slipping and falling in himself, prompting Sam-dal, recalling a similar incident in the past, to rush down and save him.
In the episode’s epilogue, we see how, as children, Yong-pil defended Sam-dal from a swarm of bees who came for their Soulmates candy. This is also where Yong-pil visits Sam-dal’s exhibition.
What did you think of Welcome to Samdal-ri Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2? Let us know in the comments.
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