AKA: My Name is Kim Sam-Soon
Year: 2005
Director: Kim Yoon-Cheul
Producer: Kim Sa-Hyeon
Production: MBC
Distributor: MBC
Writer: Ji Soo-hyeon
Technics: 60 min
Broadcasting Dates: 1 June 2005 - 21 July 2005
Cast: Kim Seon-Ah, Hyeon Bin, Jeong Ryeo-Won, Daniel Henney, Kim Ja-Ok, Lee Ah-Hyeon, Yeo Woon-Kye, Nah Moon-Hee, Kwon Hae-Hyo
The Skinny:
A single, tough-talking pastry chef deals with the perils of love and life in My Lovely Sam-Soon, the most popular Korean TV drama of 2005. Thanks to an ample dosage of humor and charming performances from its cast members, particularly leading actress Kim Seon-Ah and newcomer Daniel Henney, this is one K-drama that lives up to the hype.
Review:
If you absolutely must watch a soap opera, what kind of protagonist would you prefer? An angelic, beautiful, and wholly-unrealistic do-gooder or someone who’s a little rougher around the edges? If the latter is your preference, then you’ll be very pleased with the K-drama phenomenon My Lovely Sam-Soon. The show’s title character is a refreshing departure from the types of heroines traditionally depicted in Korean television drama. Rather than subject viewers to another gorgeous, and thus, inaccessible Cinderella-type waiting for her Prince Charming, the people behind My Lovely Sam-Soon have instead given audiences a character they can relate to: everywoman Kim Sam-Soon.
Hyeon Bin comforts Kim Seon-Ah in My Lovely Sam-Soon
Actress Kim Seon-Ah gained fifteen pounds to play the role of the mouthy, plain-looking, and slightly overweight (read: normal!) pastry chef who just so happens to be pushing thirty. She comes from a lower class background and doesn’t have a college degree, but she doesn’t let other people’s prejudices get in the way of her dreams and goals. The only thing that she really has a problem with is her name, which she hopes to legally change to “Kim Hee-Jin” if her mother will allow it.
After losing both her job and her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, Sam-Soon crosses paths with Hyeon Jin-Heon (Hyeon Bin), the twenty-seven year old owner of the French restaurant “Bon Appetit”. Of course, the two immediately despise each other, but a confluence of events impels Jin-Heon to hire Sam-Soon as his pastry chef. Sam-Soon is initially hesitant to work for Jin-Heon, but realizing she needs the money, our heroine decides to accept the position. Her only condition is to be called “Kim Hee-Jin,” a request which inexplicably upsets Jin-Heon, but after some consideration, he goes along with her demands. Then, in a move that could only happen in a soap opera, Jin-Heon hires Sam-Soon to pose as his girlfriend so his meddling mother will stop setting him up on blind dates. Can you see how this is going to get a little complicated?
(more…)
THIS year, it’s cool to be ordinary and plain, as the Korean series that dared to defy all conventions and still became Korea’s No. 1 TV drama for 2005 is now in GMA Network!
Beginning February 13, My Name is Kim Sam Soon will soon be winning the hearts of female viewers all over the country as it speaks of women empowerment and proves that being plain is indeed beautiful.
Primetime Asianovela viewing will never be the same again, as My Name is Kim Sam Soon joins the No. 1 Drama of Korea for 2004, the top-rating Jewel in the Palace, in the Network’s leading primetime block.
The series also did phenomenally well in the ratings in Korea, as it was the only series which earned over 50 percent viewership ratings for 2005.
(more…)
RSS 2.0