..Aku kupu-kupu yang ComeL..: My Lovely Sam-Soon

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 pref

erence, 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?