Welcome to Samdalri K Drama 2023 Episode 2 with Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hye Sun

Episode 2 of Welcome to Samdal-ri starts with us in 1986 over on Jeju Island. Yong-pil and Sam-dal are both born and become the talk of the town. That’s partly due to the mums, who seem to be inseparable. The two babes even hold hands too in a really cute moment.

In the present, Sam-dal finds herself bombarded by press who demand to know the truth of what’s happened. She shows up at the hospital and sees Bang Eun-Ju giving her the stink-eye from the other side of the room. She refuses to engage and is happy to see Sam-dal burn in this scandal.

Sam-dal is not happy and heads home, where she finds the rest of her family dragged through the mud too. Her older sister, Cho Jin-dal, is mentioned on the news and referred to as the ex daughter-in-law who exposed a wealth family’s abuse of power. She’s riled up and wants to do something, but unfortunately, her younger sister, Hae-dal is also badmouthed as being an unmarried mum to little Ha-yul. This is the girl we saw last episode.

Even worse, reporters are on their way to the apartment too, bundling outside and demanding a statement. The only solution is for them to head over to Jeju Island and escape this madness. At least until it dies down.

But over on Jeju Island, there’s madness erupting as Yong-pil engages in some karaoke to entertain the locals. However, he’s seriously contemplating leaving for Seoul. When he finds out about Sam-dal’s scandal, he seems to have second thoughts.

Over in Jeju Island, the parents question just what the girls are doing back. They haven’t even visited at holidays and now they’re arriving out the blue? Their mum, Ko Mi-Ja, is suspicious. This is especially true given how much luggage they’ve brought with them. It also feels like Deja vu too, given they always seem to come back when things are really really bad.

She wants to know whose fault it is that they’re here… and both sisters rat out Sam-dal but slyly and only to their father, who happens to be looking at them. They agree to give the girls some time, since it is home after all. Sam-dal is down in the dumps and she’s not even checking her phone either.

The sisters are quick to tell Sam-dal she should have opened up about how she really feels and her boyfriend cheating too. Sam-dal shrugs it off, claiming her pride is on the line. The other sisters scoff at this, telling her she has no shame and after all, they need to watch out for their mother.

The rest of the community though have certainly heard of this dastardly trio. Yong-pil sits with his friends, who retell the story of the “Three Terrible Sisters”. Jin-dal was always the strong one, destroying punching machines and managing to scare everyone. As for Hae-dal, she’s the cheeky one and lives by her own rules. And of course then there’s Sam-dal, who we know lives by her own rules.

The entire neighbourhood lived in fear from this trio… and now they’re back. They immediately get into trouble for drinking too much when Ko Mi-ja enters the room and finds Sam0dal passed out asleep while there’s empty beer cans everywhere. After being berated by her mum, Sam-dal finds herself stuck at home while the other sisters end up doing hard labour. A lot of the reason for this stems from Yong-pil. It’s clear that she’s trying to prevent Sam-dal and Yong-pil from seeing each other.

However, that all goes up in smoke when Yong-pil shows up at the house. Sam-dal rushes into the bedroom and slams the door shut… but her trouser string gets stuck on the other side. When he looks around and sees the state of the place, he thinks there’s a thief and calls Gyeong-tae and Eun-u to rush over and help.

Yong-pil slams the door open with all his might and suddenly finds Sam-dal right in front of him. The pair stare at one another, as the memories of their break-up comes flashing back. They both let one another go after being through an awful break-up.

Yong-pil tries to act casually and eventually puts a sheet over Sam-dal to protect her from his friends, who show up and he ushers them away. He protects Sam-dal and eventually ushers his friends away, pointing out that he was wrong and mistaken. He apologizes, and manages to clear the situation up before it escalates.

That night, Ko Mi-ja speaks to her friends down by the docks and finally learns the truth about why the kids have returned. However, they tell her the story surrounding Sam-dal abusing her power without actually stating her side of things. As for Sam-dal, she drinks too much and ends up right by the shore and contemplates tumbling in herself. However, Yong-pil shows up and tries to stop her.

Only, he slips on the rocks and falls in himself. Sam-dal remembers a similar incident in the past where Yong-pil almost drowned and it snaps her into action. She rushes down to save him.

During the epilogue, we see Yong-pil and Sam-dal sharing candy together, something called Soulmates. When a whole bunch of bees show up and randomly attack, Yong-pil doesn’t run and instead sticks around to protect and save Sam-dal, He refuses to run away and leave her. As for Yong-pil in the present, he shows up at Sam-dal’s failed exhibition and checks the artwork out. He decides to write his name down so she knows that he’s at least been there to check it out.

The Episode Review

Seeing more of Sam-dal and Yong-oil’s past is fascinating and there’s a lot of love, respect and baggage here. The pair have pretty good chemistry together and you can really feel that in every scene they share. This drama has done a great job so far in balancing both humour and history between the characters, while also keeping the pair at arm’s length from one another until the big reunion partway through the ep.

Seeing the whole trials and tribulations over the “Terrible Three Sisters” is a nice touch and the show similarly manages to keep things interesting with their stern mother, who finally finds out the reason they’re all back in town. Quite how she’s going to react to all of this though remains to be seen.

Either way, this drama has set an excellent foundation and we’ll have to wait and see what the future eps have in store for us!