Welcome to Samdalri K Drama 2023 Episode 7 with Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hye Sun

Episode 7 of Welcome to Samdal-ri begins 8 years back. Sam-dal packs up all her gear and throws away old photos of her and Yong-pil. She even has the data on her phone removed too. However, seeing couples together out in the park in Seoul reminds her of Yong-pil. Just when she thought she’d let him go completely, all these little reminders come flying back, like the scent of perfume and a song on the radio.

Meanwhile, we see Mi-ja well aware of Yong-pil and Sam-dal heading over to the mainland together. She hears all the gossip from the divers and after a really nice chat involving the sea and how it provides for everyone, her demeanour changes. She heads home and confronts Sam-dal about the receipt for the flight and heading to Seoul. Before she can answer however, Ha-yul and Hae-dal burst in and the conversation ends.

But what of Yong-pil and Sang-do? Well, the latter opens up and admits that he’s always liked Sam-dal. He wasn’t going to say anything but it’s been gnawing away inside and he had to let it out. In fact, Yong-pil is absolutely fine with it. And of course, that’s because he’s always mentioned it while drunk. Around 18 times to be precise. Yong-pil does tell him to embrace his feelings though and tells Sang-do that he’s free to like whomever he wants.

As for Sang-do though, he’s torn because he doesn’t want to interfere with his friend and turn this into a love triangle… even though that’s totally what this is! In fact, Yong-pil has never gotten over Sam-dal and he admits as much here, saying to Sang-do that he’s never even tried to get over her.

That night, Yong-pil and Sam-dal cross paths again. I fact, the latter ends up falling on Yong-pil in the middle of the night in the pouring rain. Despite scraping his elbow and allowing Sam-dal to patch him up, the real kicker here comes from what happens between that. Yong-pil pulls Sam-dal in and the pair share an intimate hug together.

In the morning, Yong-pil’s dad is snooping about his son’s room. He pushes Yong=oil to get a promotion at HQ and believes he could better his career that time. Yong-pil doesn’t want to go to the mainland and things between him and his pa are left on tenuous terms. When he leaves for work, he finds Sam-dal on the way up to the Jeju Olle Trial. She’s taken his words onboard and is trying to discover herself. He offers her a lift and teases her a bit, going on to laugh and honk his horn at her.

Meanwhile, “Clumsy Da-young” is the talk of the town again, this time over with his family. They berate him for being divorced and for having “weak legs” but thankfully, Cho Jin-dal shows up and saves the day. Or does she? It turns out Da-young was imagining the whole thing. It does result in Secretary Ko heading over to see Jin-dal, as he watches her boycott the AS products that her ex husband has under his umbrella.

While they talk, we jump back to the coast, where little Ha-yul gets some binoculars from the shop and starts looking for Namchun. After speaking to her mum, Hae-Dal, she runs into
that strange guy from before and remembers her daughter calling him “a bit dumb”. She starts looking around to see if she can find the wellness center that he’s presumably escaped from.

This is soon cleared up when he hands over a business card, confirming his name is Gong Ji-chan and he’s the the President of the Bottlenose Dolphin Group. That’s why Nam-chun is, it’s the dolphin he’s after. While the pair bicker, and Ha-yul is watching on, he saves her from a passing car and the pair lock eyes. Ha-yul sees this play out and decides to call her mum “aunt” instead to try and make sure romance is still on the table.

Meanwhile, Ko and Jin-dal head back home and run into Da-young who’s sneaking around outside. He’s awkward and isn’t sure how to talk to her, so he eventually stumbles over “how have you been”. She leans in close and tells him that there are a lot of eyes here and if he gets closer, his brother is going to hurt him. This eventually sees him wander away while Jin-dal sighs

We finally get the extent as to exactly why Yong-pil was laughing earlier on. It turns out the trail is super busy and he pulled a prank on her. She’ll have to try and “find herself” amidst all the crowd. However, his smile and laugh is cut short by a message coming through, confirming that Sam-dal and Yong-pil went to Korea together and those around town know that now.

However, Sam-dal is unaware of this and she heads down to the local bar for drinks afterwards with all the other hikers. Whilst there, she discovers Sang-do being beaten down in front of everyone. He apologizes and then locks eyes with Sam-dal. He bemoans his luck and outside, alone, points out that he always looks pathetic in front of her. Despite her being proud of him, Sang-do points out that’s not what he wants. He wants her to comfort him.

In the morning, Sam-dal avoids Yong-pil’s father and bumps into a smiling Yong-pil. He’s actually bought her some medicine for her sore muscles. He also has a flyer as well for an upcoming photo exhibition and he thinks she’d be perfect for it. As they talk, he eventually leads her back home but they run into Yong-pil’s father on the way. Now, Sam-dal has been avoiding him for a while and it turns out he’s the catalyst for them breaking up all those years back. Quite why however, is still a mystery, but this just got a whole lot more complicated.

In the present, he asks if the pair are still together, but before we get an answer we fade to black.

The epilogue however, cuts back 8 years as we see Yong-pil fish out the pictures and other gear that Sam-dal has thrown out and taking it for himself. He drinks heavily, finding it hard to let him go.

The Episode Review

So now we know that Yong-pil’s father played a big part in exactly why Sam-dal and Yong-pil aren’t together now. I’d imagine the reason is something to do with Sam-dal’s aspirations to leave but being anchored down by Yong-pil in Jeju Island but we’ll have to wait and see. Either way, it’s certainly an intriguing proposition.

Meanwhile, the romances between Hae-dal and Ji-chan looks to be a cute addition to the show, while we also have Da-young and Jing-dal too, who nicely round each other out with their differing personalities and the “opposites attract” trope.

The show has maintained a really gripping feel throughout and some of that can be attributed to the way this feels very similar in tone and feel to Hometown Cha Cha Cha. This show just seems to exude that “it” factor, and the balance of genres from romance and comedy across to healing and friendship works really well. Hopefully the rest of the show can continue the same excellent standards!