Welcome to Samdalri K Drama 2023 Episode 10 with Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hye Sun

Episode 10 of Welcome to Samdal-ri begins 8 years back with Sam-dal breaking up with Yong-pil. It’s hard for her to do so and it seems to have been brought about by Yong-pil’s father talking to her down by the shore in a disparate flashback we saw some episodes ago.

With the pair broken up, Yong-pil packs up his stuff and prepares to leave home. However, Sang-tae reminds his son about their mother’s memorial rites. Whilst sitting together paying their respects to Mi-ja, Sang-tae tells his son that he won’t ever accept Sam-dal. “I’m going to marry Sam-dal, she’s the only one for me,” Yong-pil says in return

Clattering outside brings the pair over, where Ko Mi-ja has conjured up a plate of food for the memorial rites. Sang-tae is livid and flips the tray over, telling her that he’ll never forgive Mi-ja. Yong-pil is caught in the middle of this and it’s here where he first saw Mi-ja’s heart condition. It’s also around the time where Sam-dal ends up outside and pleads with Yong-pil for forgiveness. Yong-pil messaged back “Let’s break up” in a bid to protect Mi-ja and make sure her daughter didn’t see her heart attack.

In the morning, after the big kiss out in the street, Yong-pil ends up crashing at his friend’s place. He berates Gyeong-tae for telling Sam-dal about how he feels the night before. Gyeong-tae feels bad about being drunk but as for Sam-dal, she can’t quite recall what happened the night before. It’s pure Mr Queen vibes here (which makes sense given Shin Hae-sun was great in that series) and she slowly starts to remember bits and pieces over what happened with Yong-pil.

Yong-pil though has all his bags packed, thanks to his father’s stubbornness, and now he needs to find somewhere to stay.

Back home, the sisters work together and decide to hide Mi-ja’s diving suit so she can’t go out in the water. Tricksy Ha-yul  helps out and she kicks the suit to the side in the closet. While this is going on, the women down at the docks end up gossiping about Yong-pil and Sam-dal together.

Elsewhere, Dae-young is still caught up over seeing Jin-dal in the hospital. All the drama that occurred with him in the last episode sees him contemplating whether seeing Jin-dal was “fate”. He even starts looking at horoscopes too! Dae-young meet with the locals in order to discuss the town and they begin badmouthing Jin-dal, claiming that she’s erratic and angry. Dae-young slowly stews before eventually snapping and telling them they don’t know Jin-dal like he does, going into detail about their divorce.

At work, Yong-pil learns that there’s both good and bad news waiting for him. The commissioner has called personally and he’s considering giving the office authority to give weather warnings. However, there’s also been 19 calls from a “lunatic” to the commissioner too which hasn’t helped. Naturally, that lunatic is Yong-pil and he’s tenaciously been pursuing this for a long time. From now on, Yong-pil will need to go to the Weather Center as he’s being reprimanded for his actions.

Sam-dal shows up at the center, worried about bumping into Yong-pil. And naturally, they immediately bump into each other in a bout of fate! Sam-dal learns that as part of this competition, you can take any photos of the weather or nature in Jeju. These photographers end up paired with someone from Jeju so they can be driven around and find the hotspots. And guess who’s chosen? Yep, it’s Yong-pil.

When they head to the local convenience store, Sam-dal admits that she can’t remember anything from the night before. She thinks she’s just been talking gibberish… but of course Yong-pil knows what’s up. Thankfully, he just plays dumb.

Meanwhile, Hae-dal ends up out with her friends drinking. And lo and behold, they end up talking to Ji-Chan and his friends. The groups both convene together at the table, where Hae-dal can’t stop giggling at his quip and it seems to start the sparks of attraction between them.

Speaking of attraction, in the morning Sam-dal and Yong-pil awkwardly head out together ready for their trip. On the way, the pair eventually speak plainly about the past and the times they spent together. As they head out to a beautiful spot… it ends up being a tourist hotspot and less than ideal to take a good picture. At the same time though, Sang-do also goes on the hunt for a good place to take a pic, realizing it’s a popular tourist resort.

In fact, while they’re together, a bride and groom spot Sam-dal and discuss her photography skills. Sam-dal does eventually tentatively agree to take a photo of the pair and make them feel really good. She slips into the role perfectly and does a great job giving them some good shots. Other couples are waiting by the side and they too want her to snap photos for them! Yong-pil grins as he watches Sam-dal work.

The pair eventually drive back together, where Sam-dal bemoans the fact she’s bene unable to take a good photo. However, they do manage to hit a good spot right at the end, as they notice a beautiful sunset.

Sam-dal decides to use her disposable camera to snap the skyline. However, Sang-do shows up in his car and sees the pair together. It turns out he’s the one who spotted the pair together kissing the night before, and it also explains why he’s declared “war” on Yong-pil too. Anyway, as he drives off, Sam-dal remembers what happened the night before.

During the epilogue, we’re back in 2008 with Sang-do preparing to meet the group. He’s also got a lovely necklace for Sam-dal, confirming that he likes her. When he arrives, Sam-dal is already starting to romance Yong-pil, breaking his heart.

The Episode Review

Welcome to Samdal-ri continues to be a great watch and the show has a lot of lovely variables to it that are shining brightly right now. The only weak part of this is the “love triangle” with Sang-do which is, unfortunately, making him out to look petty and bitter. He’s a nice guy and very clearly is desperate for someone to love and cherish but Sam-dal is just not that woman. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses, “take the L” on the chin and move on.

Seeing Sam-dal slip so easily into taking photos for the wedding couples is a great touch though and it helps to show where her passions lie. Similarly, seeing Yong-pil at work and although he is silly with how persistent he is with his bosses, it’s a nice way of encapsulating his character and how passionate he is.

The other subplots continue to tick along too and it’ll be interesting to see if the show decides to go the redemptive route with Sang-tae and allows him to forgive Mi-ja. We’ll have to wait and see on that front!