Welcome to Samdalri K Drama 2023 Episode 15 with Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hye Sun

Episode 15 of Welcome to Samdal-ri begins with Eun-ju taking pictures down by the shore. Word has got out that she has no talent (which we knew anyway) and she’s struggling to get gigs. Also, none of the staff want to work with her either. In fact, she argues with Chung-ki to the point that she throws a temper tantrum and quits outright. This links up to the end of episode 14, where she makes that call to the reporter, intending to destroy Sam-dal’s reputation and work.

As the group head out, Gyeong-tae is hit with cupid’s arrow when he notices Sam-dal’s assistant. He can’t stop staring at her and he fumbles his words, barely able to formulate a sentence.

Meanwhile, Hae-dal looks over her old stuff from her swimming career. She’s a talented swimmer, and Ha-yul has taken on the baton and wants to also be a top class swimmer. Ji-chan notices her drawing over at the Dolphin Center and smiles to himself as he sees what her dream is.

And while all these subplots start to tick over, Sam-dal and Yong-pil continue to hang out together. It’s made all the more satisfying given Sang-tae gave their blessing… but Mi-ja and Pan-sik obviously aren’t aware of this and they’re shocked when they notice the pair in bed together. Yong-pil reassures them that they’re just sleeping together… but Pan-sik interrupts that as going full-on with sex and he chases Yong-pil outside.

Yong-pil heads over to see Sang-do after an early morning message and learns that he and Sam-dal are dating. The pair do patch up their differences, with Sang-do deciding this isn’t worth ruining his friendship over. Bur surprisingly, over at the Meteorology Office, Yong-pil gets the registration through to join the WMO.

All of this news is clouded by Eun-ju, who decides to reveal the true identity of Eun-hye as Sam-dal as the famous artist. Unfortunately, Jeju Island is abuzz with phones ringing as the secret is out and everything looks set to explode with the upcoming Exhibition. The entire Forecasting Division is so busy answering the phones that they can’t get around to focusing on the weather, which is far more important.

Speaking of focus, Sang-tae makes peace with the past, with his own mother saying he needs to forgive Ko Mi-ja in order to move on. He cleans up the cooking pot and hands it back over to Mi-ja. She admits that he misses her every time she looks at Yong-pil and when she dives in the water. Sang-tae smiles and this time, he walks away with his head held high. He even drops off a bag full of old records for her to peruse too.

Meanwhile, Dae-young explains why he’s the back sheep in his family. He stuck up for Jin-dal, pointing out that she’s not the type of person to sit back and allow abuse to go on right under her nose. And that abuse comes from the fact that AS Group have been abusing their staff. There’s even pictures of it too.

Dae-young explains to her that he’s doing all of this, including being beaten and staying in run-down hotels because he’s in love with her. He’s happy to be the black sheep in the family if it means he can continue to love her. Jin-dal, surprisingly, is shocked and speechless.

Speaking of being speechless, Chung-ki is similarly shocked when he answers a call from Eun-ju, where she’s been receiving monetary payments in exchange for having the models promote products on-set. Even if it doesn’t fit with the theme, she’s driven by greed. Chung-ki is shocked and decides that this is it, he’s parting ways with her now and knows that her heart isn’t really into the fashion.

Yong-pil wrestles with the application to the WMO, especially as he’s more bothered with Sam-dal right now. Sam-dal though is shocked when she finds Chung-ki down on his knees begging her for forgiveness when he arrives on Jeju Island. He also wants some help just this once too. However, midway through his pleas, Yong-pil notices and immediately jumps in to save the day.

The pair leave, refusing to listen to Chung-ki’s plan for trying to get back to Seoul and salvage her career. When they stop the car though, Yong-pil questions her seriously over whether she really wants to do this. Given she dropped out of the KMA Exhibition, he’s questioning whether she’s really given up.

In reality, it’s far from the truth. She’s actually intending to do it all in secret, and has even gone ahead and checked out locales and tried to find some ideas. Yong-pil is shocked when he finds out and relieved too, given it means that things are still going to go ahead.

The reporter are hoodwinked into heading down to the neighbouring town, throwing them off the scent. All the diving ladies work together to send the reporters all round town, trying to find her but coming up short given she’s hiding out inside. And that’s just as well, because all the gang team up together and sift through Eun-ju’s social media feed in the meantime.

They find an alternate account where she’s worked with a media company and promoted these products on the photoshoot. Now they have all the evidence they need to smash Eun-ju and bring her back down to earth.

Before we get to that point though, the KMA Exhibition goes ahead as scheduled and all the reporters race out to the location. With all the reporters out of town, Sam-dal sets off for her big show.

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode of Welcome to Samdal-ri cuts back on the amount of antagonistic threat in the show and instead focuses on the drama involving Eun-ju, who’s now finding her whole career come crashing down around her.

Yong-pil and Aa-dal are now a couple and it’s great to see them get along so well. It’s also good to see Sang-do having made peace with all of this as well and accepting that he never had a shot with Sam-dal and is ready to move on.