The characters are memorable and the humor and feistiness of the Kim Sam Soon really makes this unique. The setting is awesome and the fact that she is on the one hand a french trained pâtissière but is unemployed and does not have a college degree which the match makers question. She hates her name; the back story with her dad is very touching.
The sister obviously was also very successful and then got divorced. Sam Soon's family had been well off and very well respected in the old way; they were the miller family. However because of their naive dads kindness to a relative they have fallen on harder times.
This falling in between gives this drama so much more depth than your by the numbers kdrama.
I love the mom and receptionist characters. The dialogue in this kdrama is sizzling. For example, the exchange between Sam Shik and his mom when he needs to borrow cakes from the hotel for his restaurant. She tells him to come work at the hotel, all the things he's doing wrong and the final whopper "Your profit margins are low."
Sam Shik even though a chaebol-son has real tragedy that he is carrying around with him in his present life. Most kdrama chaebol stuff is ultra boring business, dark plotting weird mental condition etc. None of that here.
The music is fantastic if you don't mind the electronic parts but it still is absolutely in sync with the story itself. It punctuates things like Sam Shik getting cake in the face. But even here the choices are brilliant the Christmas soundtrack in the hotel lobby (its Christmas eve) and the Girl from Ipanema as she goes down the escalator in episode one. Mack the Knife plays at the pastry tasting when Sam Soon and Capt. Jung exchange glances; come on this is GENIUS!
Compare the soundscapes between KSS and another popular kdrama released that same year My Girl; just has a synth track repeating over and over.
I couldn't believe it but that was the art of the soundtrack back then. In contrast we get joy and drama in KSS music. Also, I love, Be My Love, the opening theme song by Clazziquai ; very upbeat. The OST includes other classics like Over the Rainbow and Let there be Love.
I've watched 150 kdramas (shorter than 40 episodes) and dropped 80. Most of them are forgettable and a lot of them are terribly unwatchable. However, you will be hard put to find another kdrama with such a rich background.
Anyway I will watch it again this summer (hopefully) for the 5th time. Enjoy!
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One of the BEST K-drama Ron-Com with laugh and tears
I recently started to watch K-drama, especially modern Ron-Com. There are so many great actors/actresses and stories. I noticed there are many older woman and younger man CP story. No exception, this drama is also one of the story of older woman and younger man love interest.This drama is the most classic and best one I’ve watched. Additionally it’s so funny. You have no idea how many times I repeat watching this drama. Once I fish watching the heavy serious drama, I always come back to this drama to shake off the heavness in my heart.
If you want some laugh and cute romance, I recommend this drama. ML is Hyunbin. He looks so young and so handsome.
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I was hesitant about watching this, but I was in the mood for something different than usual, and this drama did more than deliver. Sure, it's got the drama typicals: jerky rich male lead, a second female lead to fuel a love triangle, /the/ mother-in-law... but it has Kim Sam Soon and her story. If you're looking for a female lead that's strong and independent even after a few blows, then I'd encourage you to give this a try. The plot of the story is good because Kim Sam Soon is such a well-developed character, that even though this isn't the most innovating, unique plot out there, it still good and carries a special spark to it.
The acting is great, I loved the OST, it's fun, it's got that sticky factor, and in a way, it's totally relatable. The only thing that wasn't working for me was Hyun Bin's character, Jin Heon. The writers definitely did not think that one through... but other than that, I'd recommend it to anyone!
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"Cute guys have lousy personalities"
Love it or hate it, this show is just an absolute classic. It has everything an early 2000s drama needs. It has a messy love triangle, fake dating, a rich male lead/poor female lead This show has it all. Now I'm not going gloss over the very problematic things that this show contains such as the forcing characters in this show to do something they don't want to do. And the very toxic male lead Hyun Jin Heon. But even after all of this I couldn't help but to continue to watch. There was something so addicting about this show that even if I was frustrated about the character's actions and choices, I couldn't help but recap my family and friends about what had just happened in the story. And I'm not going to lie in my personal opinion I think that Hyun Jin Heon and Kim Sam Soon don't belong together and that their relationship is beyond toxic. But even Knowing what I know now about this show it still doesn't change the fact that throughout this process I was super entertained and began to feel connected to the characters and their storyline. Would I recommend this show to a friend? Yes, I would. Would I be surprised if they dropped this show after a few episodes? No. But If you're on the fence about whether you should watch this I think you should go for it because, at the end of the day, this is just a silly fake dating romance story.But truthfully I can't hate on Sam soon too much because if Hyun Jin Heon (aka Hyun Bin) a super good looking very rich man came up to me and said all the things he was saying to Sam soon and giving me the look he was giving her. I too would fall in love and keep taking him back after he did me wrong.
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The beginning of contract-relationships in dramas
I have watched “My Lovely Sam Soon“ three times now and each time I’m surprised by how much I love this drama! At first glance the drama is your typical “poor-woman-rich-arrogant-guy-contract-relationship” show, but don’t let this mislead you! This drama is genuinely funny, absurd, relatable, and unexpectedly moving. Yes, it is quite old and visually not as pleasing as modern dramas, but that only adds to its brilliance; being able to use the minimum to create such a great work is truly admirable and I always love to come back to the roots of K-Dramas where the plot and not the cinematography is in focus (I do love great cinematography though).“My Lovely Sam Soon” is definitely one of my all-time-favourites and I’m going to come back at it next time when I need a good laugh.
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You have to watch this. Definitely heartfelt funny!
Though the ending could be better but overall a great show.
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This review may contain spoilers
The plot was ok The story was smooth sometimes was a little bit shallow
The romance was light
I really liked that the fl had a strong character but I dislike she beated the ML a lot
I don't know why I dislike the second fl character although she seemed to be cute
I loved Daniel henny a lot
What I dislike a lot about this drama
*The last 3 episodes They are literally meaningless with no need
This drama should be 12 eps max
*I hated the ML's mother's arbitrary and unjustified stance
She was stubborn with no need like the mule
*I didn't know till the end the reason behind why the little kid refused to speak
*Many things was open ended which I dislike also
But all over it was OK
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Acting/Cast- Kim Sun Ah annoyed me in this (amazing in City Hall tho). Her voice was annoying and maybe its her character that made me not like her. I really don't like Sam Soon. Hyun Bin is a brilliant actor but his character was really unlikable because of his wishy washyness. The supporting actress was really good, I felt bad for her! Most people don't like Daniel Henney but I thought he was sweet and... hot of course LOL. I feel like he did stuck out like a thumb but I felt he tried his best in the role he was given. I liked the actress who played KSS sister, she was funny!
Music- Clazziqai is amazing. They sing 2 songs on the OST.
Rewatch- Its rewatchable but not on my "have to watch this again" list.
Overall- With a little improvement this could have been on my top 10. Very good but not worth all the buzz.
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This was one of the first K-dramas that I watched (and just finished re-watching for probably the fourth or fifth time). It's a noona romance, with the main character Kim Sam Soon, played by Kim Sun Ah, as a 30 year old patisserie, and Hyun Jin Heon, played by Hyun Bin, as the restaurateur and chaebol heir who is three years younger than her. This drama has a lot of silly "imagination scenes" where the characters (though Mostly Sam Soon) have flights of fantasy about what they would /like/ to do but don't. There's a secondary female lead character, Yoo Hee Jin (played by Jung Ryeo Won), who is Jin Heon's lost first love, and her friend from the U.S., Dr. Henry Kim (played by Henney Daniel). I had forgotten how very, very much I hate the second female lead character. I hate the character so much that I actually feel bad towards her actress for having to play her. People spend a lot of time in this drama telling Sam Soon that she is fat and ugly (though, neither is really an appropriate descriptor for her) and even Sam Soon is pretty hard on herself. That said, she doesn't let that stop her from living her life. This is an older drama (from 2005), so the production quality is quite dated, but it's worth watching even with that.
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Entertaining, but mediocre.
A funny drama, but also one that didn't age well. I usually don't get kdrama humor (from cultural differences), but this one actually got many laughs from me. I think if you wanted to watch this drama, it would be for the nostalgia and not much else. Like other dramas from its time, My Lovely Sam Soon has the stereotypical asshole rich ML, a romance between the leads that you don't quite understand, casual sexual assault/harassment and uncomfortable possessiveness towards the women in the show! I'd say this show was strongest in the middle and especially weak towards the end. I don't love the show, but it was an easy and entertaining watch. 7/10.Was this review helpful to you?
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