My Lovely Sam-soonnote is a Bridget Jones-esque Korean Drama about the struggles of a single woman in her late twenties with an Embarrassing First Name (the name "Sam-soon" is considered old-fashioned and embarrassing). Based on the internet novel of the same name, it ran for 16 episodes in June and July of 2005.
As the series begins, Kim Sam-soon (Kim Sun-a) is at a crossroads with both her love life and her professional life. In the opening scenes, Sam-soon catches her boyfriend of three years, Hyun-woo, cheating on her with another woman. When she confronts him, he immediately breaks up with her. As Sam-soon had skipped work to follow Hyun-woo to a hotel, she gets fired from her job as a pastry chef, leaving her both single and unemployed.
Enter Hyun Jin-hyeon (Hyun Bin), scion of a wealthy family that owns a deluxe hotel. Jin-hyeon is concentrating on running Bon Appetit, a fancy restaurant, and trying to avoid his mother's demands for him to 1) take over the family business and 2) get married. Also, he just happens to find himself without a pastry chef at his restaurant, the last one having abruptly quit. So when Jin-hyeon meets Sam-soon, he both hires her as his chef and gets her to pretend to be his girlfriend to fend off pressure from his mom.
Do romantic sparks fly? Of course they do.
The show was a huge ratings hit, with an average viewership rating of 37.6% and a peak rating of 49.1% for the finale, making it one of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time. It also provided the Star-Making Role for Hyun Bin as well as Daniel Henney, who plays oncologist Dr. Henry Kim.
Tropes used in Kim Sam-soon include:
- Answer Cut: A hint at an answer, at least, in the first episode. Sam-soon insists that Jin-heon call her "Hee-jin", and when he balks, she wonders why it's such a big deal. Cut to a woman on a plane from the USA to Korea, coming back after three years abroad. Her name is Yoon Hee-jin.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: This is true for both Sam-soon and Jinheon's mothers. They both have a habit of expressing anger by striking their children in public. After she learns of the $50K compensated dating thing, Sam-soon's mother Bong-sook storms into Bon Appetit and creates a disturbance that ends in a ridiculous Cat Fight between her and Manager Oh.
- Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: A variation. Jin-heon finds out that assistant chef Ki-bang is his mother's spy in the restaurant, by overhearing Ki-bang in the restroom giving a report on the telephone while Jin-heon sits on the toilet.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: The sexual tension between Sam-soon and Jin-heon is obvious from the beginning, as he mocks her for being loud and ridiculous, and she calls him arrogant and delivers a Food Slap, while they're obviously fascinated with each other.
- Blind Date: Samsoon and Jinheon both go on these frequently, for different reasons. She is 30 years old and wanting a man. He is getting forced into blind dates by his domineering mother, because Mom wants him married and wants heirs for their hotel empire.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Why Hee-jin broke up with Jin-heon years ago. He thinks that she dumped him, but she actually left him to get cancer treatments in America.
- Break the Cutie: backstory of Jinheon, who caused the car accident that killed his brother and sister-in-law and badly injured him, right before his girlfriend suddenly left him for the States
- Cat Fight:
- Chae-ri and Sam-soon's attempt to break up the fight between their respective boyfriends, in episode 7, results in them having a hair-pulling cat fight with each other. After Hyun-woo and Jin-heon see what is happening, they take a moment to watch the scene before pulling their women apart.
- An even sillier cat fight in episode 9, when Manager Oh tosses a bucket of water on Sam-soon's enraged, screaming mom, only for Mom and Manager Oh to come to blows.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The pig plushie for Jin-heon, the one that Sam-soon won on their "date". He tries to get rid of it but can't. He tries to throw it in a dumpster, but the trash man is there and tells him that the plushie has to be bagged. He tries to give it to a little girl, but she won't take it. Later, he throws it on top of a mound of garbage, only for it to roll to his feet. And later than that, he gives it back to Sam-soon, only for the two of them to have an argument that ends with Jin-heon chucking Sam-soon out of the car, with the plushie still inside.
- Cooking Stories: A vivacious patisserie wants to bake cakes and find love.
- Crappy Holidays: Sam-soon catches her boyfriend Hyun-woo cheating on her, on Christmas Eve 2004.
- Dead-Hand Shot: The episode 7 flashback that shows the car wreck where Jin-heon's brother and sister-in-law were killed, shows the brother's dead hand flopping in front of Jin-heon's face (the car flipped upside down).
- Derailing Love Interests: If there were any doubt for the audience as to whom Sam-soon should choose after her ex-boyfriend Hyun-woo expresses interest again, that doubt is removed. Hyun-woo is still a selfish Jerkass who eventually says that he's still going to marry the other woman but would like Sam-soon to be his side piece.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Henry, who follows Hee-jin all the way to Korea, and spends all his time with her, despite the fact that she's perfectly clear they are Just Friends and she wants to start things back up with Jin-heon. It appears to pay off in the end, as they have a kiss back in the US after talking about going into Doctors Without Borders together.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male:
- President Na whacking her son Jin-heon whenever he pisses her off, like when he screws up blind dates. Always played for comedy.
- Sam-soon beating her ex-boyfriend Hyun-woo with her umbrella when he tries to start things up again. Again played for comedy, although in this case he really does have it coming.
- Drowning My Sorrows: His first meeting with Hee-jin in three years leads Hyun-woo to drink himself into unconsciousness at the Bon Appetit bar at the end of episode 4. He passes out on top of a shocked Sam-soon.
- Embarrassing First Name: A major part of the series. The name "Sam-soon" is apparently old-fashioned and somewhat embarrassing in 2005 Korea. Sam-soon is determined to get her name changed and has picked as a new name "Hee-jin".
- Fake Relationship: Sam-soon is originally this for Jin-heon. When Hyun-sook gets the wrong but pretty logical idea that her son is dating Sam-soon, Jin-heon asks Sam-soon to pretend to be his girlfriend, so he can avoid the blind dates that his mother is forcing him into.
- Flashback: Several.
- Soon after the family learns in episode 3 that their house may be repossessed because the late Mr. Kim foolishly put it up as collateral for his uncle's business loan, Sam-soon has her first flashback of her father. He was a genial, warm guy, who told her she should take pride in her name.
- An episode 7 flashback reveals Jin-heon's dark secret. He was behind the wheel for the car wreck that killed his brother and sister-in-law (and shattered his leg).
- Food Porn: Samsoon is a pastry chef who works in Jinheon's restaurant, and several episodes show her making luscious desserts. In episode 2 she is making a fancy dark chocolate mousse cake, topping it with whipped cream, and hiding an engagement ring inside for good measure.
- Food Slap:
- Happens twice in the first episode. Jin-heon's blind date throws a drink in his face when he ignores her, because he is much more interested in Sam-soon's breakup drama at the next table. Later, Sam-soon smashes her cake into Jin-heon's face after he cuts off a hunk of her hair (It Makes Sense in Context).
- Happens several more times after. In the last episode, Sam-soon's mom throws a bunch of rice in Jin-heon's face after he finally shows back up, after months in America without a word.
- Glasses Pull: Sam-soon does this in the first episode, when catching her boyfriend in a hotel room with another woman.
- Helicopter Parents: Both mothers of Jin-heon and Sam-soon, who keep interfering in their romantic life. Jin-heon's mom is worse, pushing him into blind dates and demanding that he get married and get busy providing the heir for their corporation. They both have a habit of screaming at their kids and whacking them with purses, as Sam-soon's mom does with other daughter Yi-young when Yi-young reveals that she got a divorce. Sam-soon's mom also immediately forces her daughter to close the restaurant after finding out about the whole $50K compensated dating arrangement.
- Hilarious Outtakes: Episode 10, instead of the usual On the Next clips, ends with a blooper reel.
- Imagine Spot:
- Sam-soon is given to these, like in the first episode when she barges into her boyfriend's hotel room and bawls him out for cheating on her. The show cuts to her still being outside the door, whereupon she flees in terror as Hyun-woo begins to open it.
- Starting with episode 8, Sam-soon has a series of imagine spot conversations with her late father.
- I Never Got Any Letters: In the finale, when Jin-heon comes back from his extended sojourn in America, Sam-soon is incensed that he was away for so long without calling her or sending any letters or postcards. He protests that he did send her postcards. It turns out that Jin-heon the doofus was sending the postcards to the wrong address.Sam-soon: You're an idiot, aren't you?
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Henry about Hee-jin.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Jin-heon. His brusqueness and often unfriendly manner hide the grief and pain he suffered after Hee-jin left him and his brother died. Sam-soon is surprised to see how gentle and loving Jin-heon is with his little niece Mi-joo.
- Just Friends: Heejin introduces Henry as this, even though he's made it perfectly clear he wants more.
- Karaoke Box: Sam-soon goes to one, with Jin-heon tagging along, in their episode 2 non-date where he's following her all over town.
- Kick the Dog: When Jinheon's mom rejects Hee-jin in episode 8. The two were very close before Hee-jin and Jin-heon's breakup, but President Na is simply unwilling to have a sick woman for her husband's wife. So she tells Hee-jin to get lost, even as a sobbing Hee-jin protests that she's perfectly healthy now.
- Lap Pillow: The easy intimacy between Jin-heon and Hee-jin is shown in episode 9, as he lies with his head in her lap as she cleans his ears.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A customer at the restaurant is having a meltdown after catching her man there with another woman, in episode 4. Sam-soon brings out a dessert to calm the woman down, then suggests that Jin-heon, who is a pretty good pianist, should play the restaurant's piano.Jin-heon: It's like some cheesy scene in a soap opera! Why does it have to be the piano?
- Libation for the Dead: The jesa ceremony in episode 9, where food and drink are left out in a Buddhist temple for the dead from the car accident, on the third anniversary. This is the point where the audience learns that Manager Oh from the restaurant is the mother of the motorcycle driver, also killed in the accident.
- Love Triangle: Jin-heon with Sam-soon and Hee-jin. Hee-jin is the old flame who left him three years ago without saying why, and now clearly wants to start things up again. Sam-soon is the (slightly) older woman who is playing Jin-heon's girlfiend to get him out of his mother's blind dates, but they start to develop real feelings for each other.
- May–December Romance: A pretty mild example, since Jin-heon is 27 while Sam-soon is only 30. But culturally in Korea this is unusual, and Sam-soon is self-conscious about dating a younger man.
- Meet Cute: Jin-heon first sees Sam-soon when she is having a humiliating breakup with her boyfriend, while he sits at the next table. Moments later he encounters again in the men's room, where a hysterical Sam-soon carelessly went after the aforementioned breakup.
- Mood Whiplash: The emotional moment in episode 7 where Jin-heon finally finds out why Hee-jin abandoned him—she had gastric cancer, and went to the United States for treatment—is followed by Sam-soon hitching a ride in a truck full of stinky, squealing pigs, as she tries to leave Jeju Island.
- New Old Flame: Hee-jin, Jin-heon's old girlfriend. Now cancer-free, she has come back to Korea after three years of medical treatment in the USA.
- Nosebleed: Not shown, but only the aftermath thereof. In the series finale, after Jin-heon and Sam-soon finally consummate their relationship, they're shown in bed together, both with wads of toilet paper in their noses.
- Old Maid: Sam-soon is a whopping 30 years old, which apparently makes her an unrealistic marriage prospect.
- Piggyback Cute: A sure sign in Korean drama of true love. In episode 2 Jin-heon carries Sam-soon around for a while after she gets very drunk at an outdoor restaurant.
- Right Through the Wall: In episode 4 Sam-soon and Jin-heon go into what's sort of a private two-person movie theater. They are watching the movie when they are distracted and irritated by a couple trying to have sex in the next private theater. The other couple seems to be having difficulty, as they say things like "Don't move, OK? I'll fall off!"
- Romantic Rain: It's pouring rain in episode 6 as Sam-soon and Jin-heon have their first kiss. They're inside, but the scene cuts to a camera from outside looking through the window, to get the romantic rain in the shot.
- Second Love: For both the protagonists. Jin-heon's relationship with Hee-Jin failed due to tragic circumstances mixed with communication failures. Sam-soon's relationship with Hyun-woo blew up when he cheated on her. Sam-soon and Jin-heon find true love with each other.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The overall plot of the series. Kim Sam-soon, past the first bloom of her youth at age 30, is looking for a good man after a three-year relationship exploded.
- Sitting Sexy on a Piano: A dolled-up Sam-soon does this for Jin-heon in episode 12. It's an Imagine Spot, but even in her imagination she's a klutz, falling on her butt on the keys.
- Spit Take:
- Sam-soon is wolfing down rice at the end of episode 2 when Jin-heon suggests that they start dating. She spits her rice all over his face.
- Hee-jin (the real one) does this in episode 3 when finding out that two of her friends from her med school days are getting married, to each other.
- This is Yi-young's reaction in episode 9 when, while out on a date, Hyun-moo (the restaurant's head chef) says directly that they should have sex. However, she does wind up agreeing and taking him to a No-Tell Motel.
- Supreme Chef: Samsoon's job is being a professional pastry chef, and she's very good at it.
- This Loser Is You: How to make Sam-soon a relatable heroine? Well, make her supposedly too old to get married (even though she's only 30). Make her supposedly overweight (even though she's obviously Hollywood Pudgy and the actress is quite lovely). Then give her a lot of minor flaws, like how she sometimes drinks to excess or is over-emotional or has gauche table manners or occasional flatulence. Presto, you have one everywoman heroine.
- Title Drop: The original Korean title, anyway. In the first episode Sam-soon says "My name is Kim Sam-soon" when she's introducing herself to the receptionist at the lonely hearts company.
- Trojan Gauntlet: In the last episode, Sam-soon and Jin-heon are finally about to have sex—except that she wants him to use a condom, and he doesn't have one. At the first convenience store he finds, he can't bring himself to ask the female cashier. The second one is closed. At the third the last condom is snatched away from him by another customer. Finally he gets one, scurrying away without getting his change after three schoolgirls come up in line behind him, only Tom come back and find Sam-soon asleep.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: In the first episode Jin-heon has the bad luck to be sharing an elevator ride with his mother, who is in a high temper, yelling at him about blowing his blind date and having no marriage prospects and futzing around with his restaurant instead of setting himself up to take over the hotel conglomerate from her. President Na starts smacking her son and hitting him with her purse...and all the while there's a third person in the elevator, Mom's secretary, who spends the whole scene staring straight ahead.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Hee-jin and Jin-heon had a romance that dated back to when they were teenagers in school together. They wind up not together, as Jin-heon finds love with Sam-soon.
- Wham Episode: Episode 7 delivers two big reveals. First, Jin-heon was at the wheel for the car accident that killed his brother and his sister-in-law, shattered his leg, and left Mi-joo an orphan. Second, Hee-jin finally tells Jin-heon why she abruptly left him: she went to the USA because she was desperately ill with gastric cancer and had only a 35% chance to live. Her faithful adoring companion Henry is actually her American doctor who removed a goodly part of her stomach.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: An understated example in episode 10. Jin-heon and Hee-jin are watching Mi-joo at a play therapy session. She asks if he's been going to watch Mi-joo by himself and he says yes, but "Now I have you, Sam-soon." He doesn't even notice, but Hee-jin is startled.
