My Lovely Sam-soon (2005)
Alternative title: My Name is Kim Sam-soon
Korean title: 내 이름은 김삼순 (Nae Il-eum-eun Kim Sam-soon)
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“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” ~ Forrest Gump
Isn’t life simply exciting? Single people out there… you just don’t know who you would end up with. Don’t settle for second best! Wait for the right one. Well, that’s what the lead character in MLSS got…she got the best!
I think this is my favourite k-drama to date. Simply excellent! Now I know why fans of MLSS can watch it over and over again. It is fun, light-hearted and I for one really love Kim Sun-ah’s character. She’s just a regular girl like any of us, plus a bit on the plump side (뚱뚱하다 ). Who would think she would win the love of “Ice Prince” played by the delectable Hyun Bin.
When her boyfriend of 3-years dumped her on Christmas Eve, Kim Sam-soon was broken-hearted and disappointed with love. She soon meets a man who got on her nerves at first, but turned out to be her Prince in the end. She learned how to love and trust again, despite how it might hurt.
There are so many memorable scenes in this drama and I especially like the fact that Sam-soon wakes up early to bake and make wonderful chocolate creations to soothe herself when she is down. I also like it that both the leads are true to their feelings and did not lie or tried to hide the truth from the other party.
The plot:
Wrecked with the guilt of his brother and sister-in-law’s death, and abandoned by his first love three years ago, Hyun Jin-heon (Hyun Bin) has withdrawn himself to become a hard-hearted, bad tempered man. He is the wealthy heir to a luxury hotel business, and currently runs a French restaurant called Bon Appetite. His mother wants him to marry quickly and keeps a steady stream of “marriage dates” set up for him.
Kim Sam-soon (Kim Sun-ah) is a patissier (she makes cakes and all kinds of yummy desserts) who was trained in France. She meets Jin-hyeon by chance and he hires her to work in his restaurant. At first their relationship was a ruse so that Jin-heon’s mother would get off his back and stop her match-making antics. But soon, Jin-heon realised that he is really falling for the out-spoken Sam-soon.
There are other complications though, in the form of Yoo Hee-jin (Jeong Ryeo-won), Jin-heon’s ex-girlfriend. She returns after a three year absence and wants to rekindle the relationship she once had with Jin-heon.
The ever-smiling (in this drama) Daniel Henney plays Henry Kim, Hee-jin’s doctor and friend from the States. He is hopelessly in love with Hee-jin yet does not demand that she love him back. He’s just there for her – a shoulder to cry on.
Watch it:
It is currently airing on 8TV but it is dubbed in Mandarin.
Get the DVD box set. This one’s for keeps!
ps: Okay, if you read this and do not have the urge to watch the drama. I write a bad review. It’s really very nice. 🙂
Also check out:
- In Search of Lost Time (Marcel Proust)
Kim Samsoon Book Recommendation I - Momo 모모 (Michael Ende)
Kim Samsoon Book Recommendation II
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Celeste Thorson should do a drama like this. she’s my favorite Hollywood actress with korean breed in her blood. I want to see her in drama.
i only watched MLSS december last year! yeah… WAWA! WHAT DID YOU THINK BACK IN 2005???? lol… i'm such a choosey person when it comes to drama that i should watch… i prefer drama that the actor/actress that i know… but when KBS ared Worlds Within, i decided to watch it coz i like SHG & know a lil bit of Hyun Bin… and instantly hooked with Hyun Bin… then i started to dig his previous' dramas/movies!
i started it with YouTube first, and after few episodes i started to enjoy the drama and decided to buy up the MLSS' box set to finish up the drama and now MLSS is one of my all time favorite drama… in 2 months after i owned the box set, i watched it like 5 times… LOL!!!
My Lovely Sam-soon was my first intro to Korean movies. I just loved the show. I watched it twice in a row. Kim Sun-ah is simply endering and Hyun Bin and his dimple just takes your breath away. Ok, I am hooked on Korean dramas !
a good drama.. definately a must watch Korean drama of all times…
the fact that the actress was 7 years older than Hyun Bin, who was 23 years old when he made this drama was very very intersting and the fact that he looks like one of my married friend, makes it even more funnier…
lots of memorable scenes and i watch this drama from one epiosde to the next one…, no skipping at all… that shows how good this drama is, hahah…. but for Full House, i didint even finish the whole series… why people like Rain, is beyond me.. besides having muscular body, what else?… hahah
I easily watched this 10 times in 1 year. It was my first favorite Kdrama and is still one of my top faves. Hyun Binnie is yummy. 😛
another favorite of mine… i just love the pairing of Hyun-bin and Sun-ah in this drama. 😉
Although I loved watching the drama and have watched it many times last year, when I think of it, the story is absolutely impossible. How could a handsome, rich, neat freak who likes skinny, pretty, sophiscated woman would fall in love with someone like Kim Sam Soon. Seemingly, their love stemmed from shouting at each other? Come On! It’s just too ridiculous!! Since then I stopped re-watching it altogether.
hihi Orchid and other mnikss loonies!! It’s really delightful to randomly bump into a loonie-in-making !
Yeah mnikss addicts called ourselves loonies coz we KNOW consciously we have a prob rewatching a drama godzillion times, we still get a tight knot in the tummy when mnikss is compared to some other drama that is way less good *coughFH*..we’ve tried every means possible to stop the lunacy…in vain..and now we just have to live with our ‘disorder’.
It’ll forever be my fav kdrama. Period.
~ A : The bit about the contact is the same as Full House. But that’s about where the similarity ends. 🙂
Fraulein…then you would be happy to know that Hyunbin sang the Snow Queen theme at the recent Japan fan meeting! 🙂
i’m totally addicted to this series..
i’ve watched MNIKSS 3 or 4 times already…
huhuhu
Ya, i didnt take to snow queen too. But i like the OST, in fact i just bought my copy today
It’s going straight into my i-pod = )
Fraulein:
hahaha…you really know your Sam-soom locations!
The Itaewon crepe shop was only mentioned in the drama (read the tour2korea site). There wasn’t a scene there. The head chef recommended the restaurant to Sam-soon.
Yeah, MLSS is really a memorable drama. Even Hyun Bin himself said he would not be where he is now, if not for the drama. =)
IcySnowQueen:
I am actually watching The Snow Queen now, on TV. I don’t like the rich spoilt girl. How come she is so mean to Hyunbin’s character. 🙁
“ Currently, the bakery sells a special Sam-soon cake as well as a Sam-sik cake. The hotel also offers a Sam-soon package.”
Bwahahaha
Orchid,
You’re resourceful !
I had fun reliving memories of the drama and testing myself at each of the locations to see if I recall which scene they were from/ But for the life of me, I cannot remember the Itaewon arvirog crepe shop scene… someone pls tell me where it was?
I dun really care for any of the locations, but I wanna visit the restaurant they used as Bon appetite.. love the design and architecture, esp the red brick exterior
The Korean tour authority really takes their work seriously by providing such detailed and descriptive directions
I have watched the show umpteen times. Hee! I am a big Hyun Bin fan. Try watching Snow Queen. Not funny, but a true tear jerker. 😛
Oh oh….if you want to check out where My Lovely Sam-soon was filmed…check out these filming locations! So cool…
MLSS – Filming Locations
I wanna go…
Yeah…thanx to all of you who highly recommended the drama! 🙂
hee hee, whad did i tell ya?? I love it to bits, it was my first and my fave kdrama. it even ranks above full house even though i loooove rain and SHK.
the plot is so different from the typical dramas
yay, orchid. 😉 that was my first kdrama, and i rewatch it because i love kim sun ah. 🙂 hehe.
daniel henney’s delectable too. and if you like his smile, i think you’ll like lee jung jin’s smile as well. he was recently in the drama “9 End 2 Outs” that’s recommended as well. 🙂
I watched a little of this and didnt really like it, now that I know the entire plot its about the same as Full House.
~A
Orchid will soon be joining the ranks of those who watch the drama a ka-jillion times. She’s addicted to it.