It's not a classic of its genre like Healer or Thirty but Seventeen, but I continue to appreciate Welcome to Samdal-ri for what it is: a simple show about love and loss, about the pain of being caught between obligations, about the power of taking personal responsibility for your decisions, and about the poison of regret. I also see strong through-lines focused on how parents pass along traits to their children, not in their genes, but by their words and actions.

The silliness of some of the plotting and the cartoonishness of many of the interactions has actually served the purpose of keeping these themes from feeling too present or didactic for me, frankly. These larger ideas have sort of always been there, and they sneak up on you with their clarity from time to time, only to be overwhelmed again by, say, overly-tropey dashed plans for an intimate camping trip.

I, for one, have chosen to forgive this drama's slip-ups to focus on its strengths--that's what I've been using the 10-second skip button for 😉.

I liked how they showed how Sam-Dal and Yong-Pil dealed differently with their feelings. She tried to bury and forget them. He cherished them and tried to not forget.

It's sad they had to wait for 8 years for people to react and put some sense in Yong-Pil's father head. He played the victim for too long forgetting he wasn't the only one suffering from the loss of Mi-Ja.

I really don't care about the rest with the 2 sisters and their own stories.

Someone put that evil girl ten feet under please. Anyway, I love the idea of Haedal becoming a haenyeo for her mom and did like how Yongpil's dad's resentment was resolved.

@quirkycase thank you for the weecap. Looking forward to seeing how they wrap up exposing Eunjoo to her own treatment when she finally gets caught out for being a fraud as a photographer and as victim of bullying. I just want it done quickly so the rest of the time can be spent on the feel good factor which this drama does well.

This week episodes made me sad, but not because of the reasons the show wanted me to. What made me sad was the thought of what this show could've been.

I'm sad that every decision the show has made until now felt like an excuse or justification for Sam Dal and Yong Pil getting back together and not the healing story it was supposed to be.

If the show actually cared about all the characters and their stories, their relationships, I think we would've seen a glimpse of that in earlier episodes.

Instead of having Sam Dal telling Yong Pil's dad how much he used to care about her and treat her like his own child, they should've show us that.

Kdramas love flashbacks! For a show that bases EVERYTHING in things that happened like 20 years ago, they decided to show us barely nothing of the past???

I'm guessing we weren't supposed to think of Yong Pil's dad as a villain, I'm guessing we're supposed to feel bad for him loosing his family and all, but they really didn't care about showing us how beautiful his relationship with his wife was? They didn't show us any cute memories between him and Yong Pil either.
As far as I know, this man could've been a complete jerk to his wife too and now he's playing the victim just because. They could've show us a lot of the dynamic between both families. When Jin Dal called Yong Pil's dad "uncle Cho" I was like "how does she know him?" 😂

I'm supposed to believe both families were inseparable, that this ahjussi treated Sam Dal (and probably her sisters too) like princess or wtv, but we never saw it.
I know we could've understood his pain and actions better. But he just feels like a random ahjussi who's only mission was to make drama for the "golden couple" or wtv.

Same goes for any other character. But we never had something relevant that explained it.

And yes, now I'm saying "relevant" because for me just showing how disappointed Sang Do was when he found out PilDal were dating, means nothing. Showing a drunk confession means nothing either. There was no story. Showing random flashbacks of Yong Pil's dad now that the show is about to end, means nothing either.

We just have to accept that what people do in this show "makes sense" because of their story, but we never get that story. And after 12 episodes of nothing. Now we need to "feel bab" for them?

No one in this neighborhood is capable of living in the present, and everyone's obsessed with everyone, and they love to blame anyone but themselves of their pain, yada yada yada. And that's fine! What I'm saying is that I could've tried to be fine with all of that if they actually have told their stories properly. I'm sure I would've listen. But all I got was empty shells, and now I'm supposed to do what? Cry with them (because that's all they did for two hours, yell and cry)? When they had wasted 12h in which they could've explained me why I should care for them? It all just feels too...

I was kinda getting miffed and getting ready to drop this show, but this is interesting. I might just stay till the end

What a beautiful set of episodes - only slightly marred by the Eun-joo epilogue. I hope the next time she shows up, she gets smeared with fish guts.

Anyways. Episode 14's title "When Your Tears Dry Out" is pretty much almost what I was feeling. Ko Mi-ja crying how she missed her friend and pouring out the grief that she wasn't allowed to have for the last 20 years was heartbreaking and cathartic. Kdramas don't often show or talk about moms having close friends.

Someone needs to give Kim Mi-kyung an award for that scene. I think that was the moment that dealt a tiny crack in Sang-tae's resentment and also gave everyone the go ahead to stop tiptoeing around his pain.

Sigh, I don't even know what to say about this week's episodes because it just seemed like it was exercise in ALOT of wasted time.

We had to watch Sang Do's pining for all these weeks when the same exact conclusion could've happened weeks ago. Everyone knew Sam Dal and Yong Pil still had feelings for each other. He knew that telling her would be a selfish move and yet he somewhat challenged Yong Pil saying he wasn't gonna back down this time. And honestly, did he *really* think she would date him, another person in their friend group?! Really?! Maybe he was just a victim of bad timing but I'm just not sympathetic to his heartbreak to care. This whole thing feels like it could've been used in some other way. This may be, to me, the worst love triangle along with Reply 1997. Just why?

Next, is the resolution with Yong Pil's father. He held his grudge for 8-20 years and ALL that needed to be done was people to challenge him on his actions? It took less than a week (I think). Then again, maybe it was also a matter of time. Sam Dal's mom was also carrying alot of guilt so she wasn't feeling brave enough to confront him. Her husband seems more of a passive guy so he wasn't gonna confront him either. Sang Tae also wasn't in the headspace to listen to Sam Dal or Yong Pil either cause they said the SAME. EXACT. THING. years ago: "she's the only one for me, I can't live without him". Maybe the magic phrase was "I will love...until the day I die".

To me, it seems Yong Pil's dad loved Yong Pil's mom more than he loved or cared about Yong Pil which is why he was completely intolerant of Yong Pil's feelings all these years. Given that, I would think he would've cared about Yong Pil if only out of the memory of his mother.

Then we have the sisters and I don't think either of those dynamics were developed the greatest but I guess they get the point across. Eldest sister's ex still loves her and is putting his money where mouth is regarding willingness to give up his family and money for her. Youngest sister just needed a new perspective on how to help her mother while also preserving their town.

It's just weird, wasteful that this had to be centered on an amusement park going from one town to the next and back again. I don't know what goes into choosing locations but I'm pretty sure there was a reason Namdal Ri was chosen in the first place.

And finally, why did we have to have the assistants blocking the camping date? Was it just so Yong Pil could see how much they cared for and supported Sam Dal? Were pictures even taken?!

Sam dal promises to continue to like YP but in a noble idiocy sacrifice, she will turn into a nun and love him from afar instead of dealing with YP’s father. The conservations between the families should have been made decades ago. Stoic stubbornness is terrible way to avoid moving forward. Everyone is still stuck in the past, and having the past control their future decisions. But SD decision does not last too long when family members get a backbone and confront the issue head on.

YP’s father’s sudden change of heart does not make sense except to move the OTP to the happy finish line. Everyone should have had these conversations a long, long, long time ago. This week was another week keeping the couple from being a complete couple, little obstacles continue to get in their way.

Dolphin Guy’s suggestion to Hael-dal to swim with her mother if she is so worried about her makes so much common sense it would make the entire village’s collective head spin.

In my mind, the pitiful Dae-Young’s only way to save face and get back with Jin-dal is to created a second theme park - - - the one in Samdalri would be the Dolphin theme park building on the foundation’s work.

The show will meander to the finish line.

I guess this show proves that drunkenness does not facilitate more honest communication or expression of feelings, which is what it is often used for in dramas. Instead, it just leads to lots of recyclables and years (and episodes) of wasted time.

I'm glad Mi-ja finally stopped silently accepting all the blame and shame that Sang-tae was shoveling on her for years. I wonder how her actions affected the way her daughters dealt with their own hardships -- seems they also hesitated to stand up for themselves in the face of unjust treatment. Sam-dal gave up on defending herself from the bullying accusations and let herself be beaten up by Eun-joo's mom. Hae-dal doesn't correct people who badmouth her for having a child. Jin-dal lets everyone think that Dae-young dumped her, not the other way around. Hopefully the younger generation will finally break the cycle. Little Ha-yul seems to be off to a good start in terms of actually expressing how she feels.

I am done with this writer. This is a first but I will likely avoid their dramas. And who said this is a healing drama! Why drag the assistant and the reporter who seems to have too much free time on his hands that he goes back and forth to jeju on a regular basis?
Jin-dal and ex-husband story had barely enough time. I think we even got introduced to the actor in episode 4. While the evil assistant and cheating ex-boyfriend had too much screen time and I have no interest in the scarf backstory as nothing will redeem this hate and evil from the assistant.
Many fun plot points but no let's circle back to the same frustrating plot point no one cares about. What a pity!

I agree that all the storylines here could be tighter, but in general I feel a lot of sympathy to the OTP storyline. I don't have an exact similar experience, but one that's relatable enough. So maybe that's why I'm forgiving. But the pain that SHS displayed this week broke my heart. I felt it. And she's such an expressive actress that I bought it. I am really glad she finally (finally!) told him that she never got over him. I think he knew, of course, but I think she needed to admit it to herself, too, so that she could stop fighting it. And there was something so sweet about her saying, "Let's just be in love, ok?" Let's just stop fighting, and worrying, and trying to do the right thing and just do what's in front of us. Let's receive this and accept it. It's powerful, life. Too bad it took Samdal 14 episodes to put down her sword.

I think I'm supposed to feel relieved that Sang-do has finally (finally!) moved on now, but honestly that scene was just dumb. And so was his woe-is-me crying scene to his buddy. That was the biggest waste of space in this drama, even worse than the amusement park storyline that is like a cold wet dishrag. I'm more interested in Haedal and her storyline - I wish the drama had spent more time building that out for us.

That said, as the Jindal of 3 sisters, I have really enjoyed the sister time in this drama. It's relatable, they each have distinct personalities but mesh as one unit like me and mine do.

NGL I'm bummed about the camping trip. This weird old-school CLOY-style no-touch romance is dumb. It's not their first rodeo together (hello Seoul cohab), they're 38, and in real life the OTP would be all over each other like syrup on pancakes. And with these two actors, this is just a waste of ability. (I mean, tasteful is fine - but good lord give me a little spice.) The foil of the assistants was retro in a bad way.

Look, this drama won't win any awards, but I like it and I'll miss my weekly trips to Jeju a bit. I'm looking forward to seeing Samdal finally moving forward now that she's out of her own way, to Yongpil giving himself the space to dream for himself again, and for Eunju to get a very swift kick up the you-know-what.

Yong-pil's dad is using anger and ruminating on his blame cognitions to avoid his actual grief and feelings. He needs to let go out of his anger and move on in order to heal. It's interesting that, the moment people in the town FINALLY stopped reinforcing his beliefs and challenging them instead, he was able to let go of his anger (not very realistic, IMO, but hey).

Sang-do, either confess or stop talking about it! Arghh. I'm gonna start to think that you're using Sam-dal as an excuse to live in a fantasy and not pursue an actual relationship with a human woman who might actually return your feelings.

I feel like Jin-dal's romance needs more development than it's getting.

After watching these episodes, I’m afraid we are in for a bittersweet ending, in the tiny town of Sam-dal ri, a place where family and community are as important as community and family, in contrast to the big city, which has no community and no family.

The two leads will get married, but continue to live in their separate childhood bedrooms. Their close friends will be on perpetual volunteer patrol duty, wearing yellow vests, to prevent them from ever doing anything more physical than a back hug.

After 10 more years, Sang do will finally realize that he has no chance with Sam-dal, and transfer all his affections to his Lamborghini. He begins driving in endless circles around the parking lot, smilling, laughing and stroking the steering wheel.

As the parents and elderly women become more infirm, every morning they will be driven to the town square on ATVs for a large group hug with sappy music playing.

The eldest sister and her ex-husband will decide to get back together, not as a married couple, but as mother and son.

The saddest story will be that of the youngest sister and Dolphin guy. The youngest sister will become a haenyo, (the daughter, alienated, will go to Seoul and make it big as a child model.) The youngest sister will discover that there’s a reason that there are no young haenyo’s because in the modern era, there are a lot better ways of making a living than dangerous diving for a handful of shellfish. At that moment, she will drown and a rogue dolphin will be implicated, though it really wasn’t the dolphin’s fault. The dolphin guy will hate dolphins the rest of their life, going in a boat to spit in dolphins faces, even though when they see him coming, they make a point of disgorging a predigested mackerel as a peace offering.

Finally, in a dramatic conclusion, the evil photographer’s assistant will keep posting videos of Sam-dal, and continue to gain in popularity among Netizens, who can’t get enough of her villification of Sam-dal. Eventually the evil assistant will become mayor of Seoul based on her video posting and a platform of “we must invade and conquer Sam-dal ri to eliminate the vile photographer bully.”

The final shot will show all residents of Sam-dal ri in a coed prison patrolled by Seoul soldiers. But the former residents of Samdal-ri are happy and smiling, because they form a tight-knit community of loving prisoners.

Phew. The leads are great together, and keep giving good acting which makes it hard to drop. JCW has the perfect expressions. They make you feel for them, root for them... Had this drama been not tagged 'healing drama' I might have viewed this differently.

Sang Tae - What was with that smile. so creepy.. a bit of reluctant acceptance would have been more in line with his personality.

Sang Do - ok, this chap just had the same dialogues for 14 episodes. Hope he got paid decent.
Dude, you had 8 years of opening. duh...

I am here to see Eun-joo's epic downfall. I want it to be dramatic.... Her jealousy knows no bounds. She got the opportunity, she got everything and she fails, yet her go to strategy is to destroy anyone more successful than her? What is her game plan really?

Overall, I liked these two episodes because they provided some backgound and context. They were not classics by a long stretch. Indeed, they suffered from slow, filler-like story lines, like the 13/14 episodes in some other shows. Perhaps, it is the show taking a metaphorical breath before reaching the conclusion.

The Sang-do wrap-up came across as an add-on to close off a story line that the writer regretted including. I suppose that we can accept that Sam-dal was/is so focused on Yong-pil that she did not see anyone else. But, it did stretch credibility more than a little.

Was the "Damascene conversion" of Yong-pil's father a little unrealistic? Probably but this is dramaland and we will forgive the writer. For me, it is better to have it this way than stretch it out over 3 or 4 episodes.

I am pretty certain that we are all waiting for the dramatic downfall of Eun-jo. WIth the series finishing with the two sisters getting positive endings to their story lines, and the OTP getting on a plane to Switzerland.

I am grateful to have an obstacle (Sang Do's misdirected rage) that actually feels believable. It really does make sense for Samdal to have concluded that she can't be with Yong Pil, and also that she can't tell him the real reason. How do you find a way around a situation like that? Sang Do's darkness will be like poison to Yong Pil. Less convinced by Yong Pil concluding that he has to lose Samdal so he can take care of Mom, but if you throw in his awareness of the Sang Do problem I guess I can buy it.

I appreciate it when a drama has a conflict that actually seems like it isn't resolvable with one honest conversation.

I don't get K-drama writer's love for love triangles when it's almost always clear from the start that the 3rd wheel, whether male or female, will not work out.

The ones that drive me are the ones where the 3rd wheel never confesses their feeling for 10-15 years until the main love interest comes into the picture. I'm always screaming WTF were you waiting for? You deserve to be rejected.

Dad, so filled with hate, didn't seem to appreciate how dangerous the job his wife and those middle-aged ladies were doing. Just because they were good at it and made it look easy, it's no day at poolside.

Same with Eun-joo. Sam-dal was so good at what she did Eun-joo looks on and thinks she can do it without putting in the work. listening, gaining experience, and learning from making mistakes. Sam-dal was trying to show her the scarf didn't work with the concept not that it was a stupid or a terrible idea. She seemed to take that as an insult instead of a learning opportunity.

The whole tent storyline was annoying to me. I wanted Sam Dal to tell her assistants/friends: great to see you again, she and Yong Pil just got back together after missing each other for years and needed some time alone, here's a great hotel or stay in my room for the night, see you tomorrow! Hiding their relationship seemed pointless. More cuddles, please.

We have the northern lights here, aurora borealis, was that light show the southern lights? Do they occur in South Korea?