Minha Adorável Sam Soon

My mother had actually watched umpteen times of this on the DVD she had bought. It almost incur the 'wrath' and became the joke of the family of her likeness towards to this drama/comedy. I am starting to really embrace the Korean wave and after seeing how much my mother loves it, I watched it too.

I had heard that this is somehow like a Korean version of sorts to 'Bridget Jones's Diary'. I had never watched that movie though.

Sam-soon is a single 30-year-old. Though her plump appearance may turned some down, she always take things in her stride. Being a baker has always been what she wanted to do and she did even went Le Cordo Bleu (fyi...it's one of the most famous cooking schools in the world) in France to realise her ambition.

At the beginning of the series, she realised her boyfriend had been seeing someone else and so she broke up with him. Imagine it happened on Christmas Eve. But, that is the start of the meeting with a hotelier's son who actually owned a restaurant on his own who needed a baker for his restaurant. With even the ex-boyfriend trying to get her back, it's kind of exciting and a little comical at times. Also even with the girlfriend of the hotelier's son coming back for a holiday from her studies in America, everything became almost so complicated.

I have to frankly admit, the guy playing the ex-boyfriend is actually kind of handsome as well, other than the hotelier's son. Okay, this is just me.

If you can find out that there's subtitles involved and/or dubbing included if your local TV station is showing, it's good if you are not so much aware of the Korean language. Given the DVD where I watched it from has Mandarin subtitles and dubbing as well, I can catch what is happening.

Really. Comical at its best. I don't know how many times I had laughed when watching. No wonder my mother is right about it...

My Lovely Sam-Soon aka Kim Sam-Soon.

Yay!...I see other people have already reviewed this show sufficiently enough, and fairly accurately in my opinion (except for that tool from India). Not much for me to add here, so I won't waste much time other than a few comments below.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

This show is really good overall for this genre, and, it features a nice mix of typical KTV melodrama fare combined with an otherwise straightforward adult drama. You do get your hunky doctor, beauty with cancer, various love angles, etc...But the main focus is on the life of the lead character; she's an overweight (by KTV drama standards), single, down on her luck, woman who's quickly approaching middle age.

I really like how this show portrays the main character as neither pitiable or without merit. Instead, she's quite "normal", well grounded, and really charming. This is an unusual and refreshing choice to be the focal point and main love interest of a KTV melodrama (as opposed to the status quo of some super thin young beauty who needs to be saved by, or take advantage of, some good looking rich dude).

Lead actress is terrific, and, she's deserves a lot of credit for taking this role on; she is actually a super thin beauty in real life who put on a lot of weight just to play the part, and, she absolutely nails this role!... The rest of the main cast is quite good too overall, and, I particularly enjoyed the performances of some of the secondary characters; the lead character's older sister being chief among them.

Bottom Line: 8 out of 10 stars!...I loved it!...VERY WELL RECOMMENDED!

For 2005, this hit show was quite forward and groundbreaking. The heroine is plump and sex is dealt with frankly, no waiting for ep 15 for a kiss. Sometimes the physical comedy is repetitive like the slapping and hitting. The saving grace is the humor is spontaneous and original. Great performances by Kim Sun Ah who put on weight for the role and a young Hyun Bin. The secondary lead actress is good too - Jung Ryeo Won. Daniel Henney is funny just by grinning. The ex boyfriend cheater is hilarious.

Worth watching and still ok by 2023 standards maybe a bit chauvinistic but that's how all the shows were then.

Your typical formula for a Korean TV drama goes something like this: A poor but hardworking and ambitious girl coincidentally gets involved in the life of a rich and spoiled playboy. Their interactions ultimately result in their falling in love with each other and him becoming a better person. Then, something devastating happens, like one of them finding out they have cancer or an old ex coming back, and the couple is temporarily torn apart. A few dramatic episodes later, they work things out and get back together for a happy ending.

Generally, both leads are attractive and thin, and their "love" is as innocent as two middle school students dating for the first time. The premise of this kind of show may sound cheesy, but there's something charming about Korean dramas that makes it all work.

My Lovely Sam Soon is not that typical TV drama. While it does include the trope of a poor girl catching the heart of a rich guy with some conflict mixed in to keep things interesting, My Lovely Sam Soon provides a refreshing, more mature take on the typical Korean drama. It also includes something somewhat unique in Asian entertainment: the female lead is older, overweight, and foulmouthed.

There are so many things I liked about this drama that it would take pages to list them all, but a few aspects of the show really stood out: the relationships were realistic, the comedic moments were genuinely funny, and the characters were relatable.

In many Korean dramas, the romantic moments in the show are pretty lackluster. The kisses are always a surprise for the receiver, and the receiver looks like they've been assaulted half the time. You will almost never see anything remotely related to an intimate scene in a Korean drama, and couples will oftentimes sleep next to each other but never with each other.

My Lovely Sam Soon is the complete opposite. The drama does not shy away from showing intimacy between characters, and all of the romantic scenes are tastefully done. This ultimately makes the relationships in the drama seem more realistic, and it also makes you care more about what happens to the characters.

In addition, the hardships the characters go through are relatable, and the acting is superb, which makes the drama all the more interesting and fun to watch. I found myself laughing multiple times throughout the series, and for me there was never a dull moment in the plot. The only thing I didn't particularly like about the drama was that some overused tropes were thrown in. Without spoiling anything, some unnecessary dramatic conventions were tossed into the mix in addition to the old-ex-comes-back-into-the-picture cliché.

A sort of American counterpart to this show would be the film Bridget Jones's Diary, which also features an overweight woman as the protagonist. Some even consider Sam Soon the Asian Bridget Jones. With that in mind, I would recommend My Lovely Sam Soon to anyone who enjoyed that film as well as to anyone who enjoys a good laugh with a little drama mixed in.

My Lovely Sam-soon is a 2005 kdrama rom-com whose lead is a brassy pastry chef named Kim Sam-soon played with gusto by Kim Sun-ah. Sam-soon starts the series being cheated on then dumped. Her public emotional reaction is watched by the spoiled cool President of Bon Appetit restaurant named Hyun Jin-heon, played by Hyun Bin. Sam-soon ends up involved with Hyun Jin-heon and their courtship ups and downs are the basis for this appealing show.

What I liked about the show a) Kim Sam-soon is a bit raw and willing to take risks for her career, family and love. She is the star of the show and the actress portrays Kim Sam-soon with appeal. Even when yelling, you see Kim Sam-soon cares through her passion. b) Hyun Jin-heon is one cool customer and the fact he is drawn Kim Sam-soon takes a while for him to accept. Once he is "all in" the relationship, he has his own quiet charm. c) Kim Sam-soon's mother and sister are embodied with similar zest and the ensemble family works. Hyun Jin-heon's devotion and respect (and some terror) for Kim Sam-soon's mother is wonderful to see. I want to karaoke with that family. d) Refreshingly the obstacles to their relationship didn't annoy me (unlike many kdramas). His mother, his ex-girlfriend, her ex-boyfriend, etc. were written so that they impeded but mattered to the evolution of their relationship. e) No subtitles needed when character Dr. Henry Kim was on screen (played by American born Korean actor Daniel Henney). I'd love to know how accurate the subtitles were for the English dialog. f) The first kiss scene sizzles and in a nutshell reflects the characters.

What I did not like about the show a) Fat? Kim Sam-soon is supposed to be fat in this series. She may be a couple of dress sizes larger than the other actresses, but she is in no way fat. The actress reportedly gained 15 pounds for the role. The references to size only heightened my awareness how thin all the other actors were. b) The "I hate my name" storyline never resonated with me.