Start-Up (2020)

It's not real life, but an enjoyable drama

Quite an unusual story. Experiences and negative situations in their childhoods provide us with 4 main characters as adults who carry some baggage.
Broken families, white lies, naivety, tenacity, bonds, expectations and anchors in the past, are the mainstays.
I liked every character, as the well matched cast were so good.
Do San (NJH) is a drama typical geek; desperate as a child to not let his parents down, naive, self conscious, low self esteem, feels a failure, doesn't quite fit in and very soft.... but, somehow very likeable. His 2 best friends and business partners are great characters and their friendship is heartwarming.
Dal Mi (BS) family was split, with her childhood becoming a polar opposite to that of her sister's, which leads to fractured, competitive, cold and distant adult interaction. She wants to make her father proud, beat her sister and take care of her grandmother.
Ji Pyung (KSH) had a tough childhood, found guidance and support from Won Dook (wonderfully played by a favourite, Kim Hae Sook) and provided emotional support, as a favour to her, through letters to someone.
As adults the planets align and all these characters, plus some, are brought together.
We journey through shifting expectations as compromises have to be made for dreams to be fulfilled.
We occasionally come across characters that value their personal reationships, love and loyalty over money and there are several of those here.
There is a fast forward of 3 years in the story line, but I felt this drama was more about relationships, trust, consequences and the main characters' lives together, than their businesses, so I wasn't too bothered about that.
However, I felt the final episode was very rushed and the ending of it very crammed, however I still enjoyed the drama overall.
I laughed out loud and shed a few tears.
NJH's acting is very understated. He can play a cold, arrogant character (like in Bride of Habaek), attractive boyfriend (Weight Lifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo), 'out there' (School Nurse Files) and awkward/soft (this one), with ease.
Don't believe all the negative reviews, try it with an open mind and make up your own about it 😊

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One of the best 2020's dramas

It is sad to see that the 'shipping war' messed up the experience for many viewers.

In the first episode one of the most distressing and exciting death scenes I have ever seen in my over ten years at dramaland.

Photography and direction are spectacular and the script was impeccable, the characters were not betrayed (so much so that in the end even the 'good boy' understood that he was attached to a false memory). There was an acting show by all the main actors, Kim Seon-ho deserves the recognition he got (I was following his work before Start-up and I know it was already time for it), Joo-hyuk had his best performance as an actor in this drama (the Do-san before Silicon Valley was very unique, different from all the protagonists he has ever done), Suzy was wonderful and Dal-mi was an inspiring and empowered woman, her family made me cry a lot (that is the grandmother everyone wanted).
Perfect drama!
Looking forward to the upcoming projects of the actors, writers and directors.

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A very insightful and inspiring show

Start up is a drama that I enjoyed watching every second of. It was well paced, inspiring and satisfying in every aspect.
The point of the show doesn't lie in the romance, that's something I didn't even think about unlike the millions of people on the internet putting themselves in teams about who deserves her. I was more worried about the other aspects of the show. It is rare that the other parts of the show are so much more interesting than the romance.
The show first of all shows the process and problems of starting a business in detail. It shows the society losing trust in you including your family.It shows how hard it is to actually start a business.
The concepts brought out in the show are straight out of entrepreneurship textbooks. The idea of "sandbox" was extremely interesting. I think this show will really help someone who is planning on starting a business. It's rare that a drama can be that insightful.
The pacing of show along with perfect titles and definition of concepts was a very interesting, there was not one time where I was annoyed or bored of any character or scene.
The characters were all lovable and leave a huge impression. The female lead is hard working and works her way up with not much family support or college degree. The second female lead works with her insecurities, ego and guilt and comes out as a more competent and confident woman. The male lead also goes through a similar change in terms of finding himself and his strengths. The grandma's role was so heartwarming along with second male lead. They were the ones that made me cry the most.
"Money" and "choices" are huge underlying concepts in this drama. It shows how small decisions can change your life and bring more problems and benefits, no choice can be right or wrong but have thier own consequences. Also that no person's life is a bed of Roses.
It also brought out many dilemmas in terms of technology and people and the middle ground that must be maintained. Some of the points put across by the characters really made me see different perspectives.
The show is a visual treat, the scenes are shot so beautifully along with some filters here and there. The music that plays throughout the drama is beautiful with songs from some of the biggest artists like red velvet, gaho, Jamie, bol4 etc. The list has not one average song in it. The acting too is really good as expected, the casting is perfect.
Overall I really enjoyed this and would recommend it.

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Take The Risk!!

Ofc i hesitated! The reviews and rating were a boat that was neither sinking nor staying a float. Everything seemed like a risk. i was scared that i was going to waste my time and whether such a simple plot can keep the tension that i needed to continue to see the drama.
The drama may seem slow at first, i think because they focused on the past and wanted to make it beautiful to make it last longer, but after it picks up motion, it going to depend upon u. The whole plot was to highlight how beautiful and stressful the process to reach the best is! I cant say they did a perfect job but i can say they did the best job i hv ever seen. (Stories about start-ups many at times fail to impress). They showed the best side since it is a drama and all drama are not reality.
the comedy factor in the drama was weird. it was very very weird. it seemed unusual but good. i didnt seem to hate it nor like it much but i want it. i cant help but smile but i didnt reach a part where i would laugh.
Bae Suzy and Nam Joo Hyuk did a good job but they didnt reach my expectations but no worries. i am pleased. Kim Seon Ho and Kang Ha Na blew me off though. I really liked their acting in this one. The Grandma also. Hats off to You. The supporting actors also did a great job. without them, it wouldnt be done. It would be like a pen without ink.
Honestly i did consider dropping the drama but the cast was tooooo good to not see this drama and their faces were a pleasure to see. Han Ji Pyung (character in the drama) also made me stay. i underestimated him. He was such a factor in this drama.

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This deserves higher ratings

STORY LINE---spoilers----
First off the beginning, the story was so adorable and when---spoiler--- BLANK's father died i was absolutely heartbroken. this drama is so much more than starting a business.. it has love, its tragic, and heartbreaking at times, but near the end we are rewarded with a beautiful outcome. The ending had me in tears of joy. In all, the series left little to no cliffhangers unanswered. Any points not answered im sure it was the writers idea to let the viewers imagine what might happen if there were to be later episodes.. even though there wont be.

THE DRAMA---spoilers---
I love do-san and dal-mi's relationship with each other and i think that the drama between each and every character made the series worth watching because i never felt bored while watching once. There is always something going on that keeps you on the edge of your seat.. for example ---spoilers ahead--- the reporter trying to take down their start-up, the "love triangle" i guess you could call it.. secret relationships,,, heartbreak, and so much more.

EDUCATIONAL?----
In addition not only does it include such an interesting story line, but it also is actually teaching us the steps of starting a business. If you have watched it, you have seen the notes at the bottom of the screen explaining the definition of their business "grammar" and each episode starts off with a note of what step their business is on the road to.. on top of that, it shows what each character went through to get where they are and how they are further improving themselves and their business. so i think its safe to say that this drama is also somewhat educational. i think this was such a good series. i would definitely watch again.

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The best of scenes, the worst of scenes..

I finished watching Start-up months ago, but I still haven't decided whether it was good or bad as a series. The first few episodes were world-class - the show features some of the most emotional, touching, visually superior scenes ever seen before in kdramas. But it went downhill so fast, and the last few episodes and the ML's behaviour did not make any sense at all!

I am being generous with the rating despite the absolute catastrophe the last few episodes were because:
- The OST is superb!
- The cinematography, visuals and fashion are top class
- The world discovered Kim Seonho thanks to this series
- The endearing scenes - HJP and Halmeoni scenes, the noodle scene, the HJP drinking scene, the sam san check twirls, the happiness on HJP's face when he meets the charity guy, the little gestures and mannerisms of HJP, HJP driving in fancy cars,.
(eh, the good scenes all belong to HJP? Never noticed)

I work in a start-up, and the start-up story line is fairly accurate as it goes. Until we hit episode 12 or so, and it takes an absurd, nonsensical direction that I can't explain. It's nothing to do with business from that point on.

I would still recommend this series - just for them to see the talented KSH in action. I am sure a minority of them will be okay with the ending as well. But good luck making sense of the fall from grace, episode after episode.

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10 STARTS ONLY FOR GOODBOY

I'm giving 10 starts to "Start-Up" , reason I'll reveal at the end of my review.
After completing 16 episode, I took some time to look back into previous episodes and write this review.
This drama is about young generation who have dreams to achieve something in their life from null and how they fulfil their dreams with the help of mentors, guide, friends and family.
👉Seo Dal-mi (character played by Bae Su-ji) wanted to start a business to follow her father's dream.
👉In-jae( character played by Kang Ha-Na) is elder sister of Dal-mi, who chooses her mother after divorce of their parents and later point of time became successful business women with the help of her step-father.
👉Han Ji-pyong(character played by Kim Seon-Ho) is successful investor who struggled a lot in his childhood due to an orphan.
👉Nam Do-san( character played by Nam Joo-hyunk) is a genius software developer, who won gold medal in mathematics olympiad in childhood and started a start-up with his two friends and his family members invested in that start-up.But couldn't succeed.

After watching first episode of this drama I cried because of the story. How halmoni(dal-mi and In-jae's grandmother) gave shelter and food to jipyong who kicked out of the orphanage, their bonding and trust, how jipyong wrote letter to dalmi to make her feel less lonely(though halmoni forced him to write 1st letter but rest were written by him), but Han Jipyong choosed Do-san's name as pen-name for those letter ( he picked up that name from news article of youngest gold medalist) and became friend without even meeting her. As time passes Jipyong shifted to Seoul with the help of money he saved in halmoni's account and dalmi lost his father.
From the next episode onwards you'll see how Jipyong found halmoni and dalmi again after 15 years later. And how he helped halmoni and dalmi to pay his debits to halmoni.
To pay his debit jipyong even found the real Do-san( which he used as pen-name) but grown up version of Dos-San tuned out as lacking in confidence and the business he started almost shut down. However, jipyong convinced dosan to act like dalmi's pen pal and tried to groom him. At this point the love triangle started, where dosan fell for dalmi on the other hand jipyong who had feelings for dalmi couldn't able to admit that. On the other hand In-jae left his step father's companion and planned to start her own business. Do-san along with his friend started a company with dalmi and In-jae started another company within a Start-Up accelerating company named "Sandbox" and jipyong became investment mentor of dalmi's company.
Everything was fine till this point. This could be a business drama where we could expect some real life story and struggle to establish a start-up. But as time goes on I felt it's like other K-drama where romance is main ingredient and that "love triangle" which writer Park Hye-Ryun use in her drama to create 1st male lead and 2nd male lead war among viewers.

Some positive points:
1. Jipyong's relationship with halmoni which I enjoyed most. How halmoni was there for jipyong till the end . Emotional scenes where jipyong confess his mistakes and his anger through the dialogue "why it can't be me?"😭…..even after that halmoni hold umbrella for his "good boy" . It's just like mother and son warm relationship. Their bonding is the key point to watch this drama.❤️❤️
2. Bromance between dosan and jipyong 😂😂….. I really enjoyed those parts where jipyong was trying to groom dosan. They were like real brothers.
3. Dalmi and jipyong's untold love story. Though dalmi loved the person from those letters only, not jipyong in reality…..it was a one-sided love story from jipyong's perspective. How jipyong protect dalmi in any kind of situation. Small but sweet gestures without any skinship. 😪
4. Dosan's character growth from beginning to end. Nam Joohyunk gave his best to potrait this character 👍
5. Heartwarming OST, cinematography, quotes to motivate youths.
6. Jipyong's sacrifice for dalmi's happiness 😭
Some disappointing points are like:
1. In-jae's screen time is less.
2. Dalmi's first love was jipyong ( though in letter it's dosan as per the pen-name ), those letters comforted each other in their tough time and for those letters only dalmi used to reject boys .When she get to know that fact that Jipyong was her real pen-pal not Dosan, everything became meaningless to her. Dalmi and Jipyong never talked over that even after Jipyong's confession and after spending 3 years together.
3. It's a story for motivating youth to pursue their career choice and the message tried to convey in the entire story is "Follow your dream". But in reality Nam Do-san make dalmi as his dream to fulfil and for that reason he joined dalmi's company.What kind of message writer actually tried to convey I couldn't understand. How a person become someone's dream to fulfil his career path?
I started watching this drama because of Nam Joohyunk and Bae Suji but never expected that I would fall for Kim Seonho and Halmoni's acting skill ❤️❤️❤️….. Though Kim Seonho is 2nd lead but his acting skill nailed everything else…...after episode 10 I thought I shouldn't watch this anymore but I finished this only because of Kim Seonho and Halmoni's chemistry. I found Nam Joohyunk and Bae Suji 's chemistry is a bit forced…. I wish writer could focus more on business perspective rather than love triangle so I could say it's a drama of the year.
The reason I gave 5 stars only because of "good boy" HAN JIPYONG ❤️, screenplay, Fabulous OST( day and night is my favorite) and Halmoni. The way Kim Seonho executes the character of Han Jipyong, I bet no one could do better than this. Thanks for creating a memorable character in kdrama history ❤️. But the ending wasn’t promising because the writer ruined her own creation (Han Jipyong) for nothing.
I recommend these drama only because of these points that's it.
P.S- I tried my best to give an unbiased review but I can't help it because of the character "HAN JIPYONG/GOOD BOY"❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️☺️😊😊☺️

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reasons why Start-Up was the worst experience of my life while watching kdramas

First of all, I would like to say that nothing what Im about to writte down here is related to the real actors; its all about the characthers (yes, we need to clarify since some people seems to be really upsed when we talk about characters).

I would like to start with the strong points of the show:

- the OST was on point
- the construction of the SL was on point
- the first episode was on point and was probably the best pilot episode so far

Now lets with the bad points:

- poor storyline
- predicable plot
- support characters without any deep meaning or real self development
- extra longs scenes
- non resolutions to the same conflits (like d-day presentation) for several episodes in a roll
- extra longs episodes with the average of 1h20 minuts per episode


** disclaimer this specific pharagraph its totally PERSONAL **: For me the day chosen for the show to be played also plays an important key to the excitement of the public; like when you are going to airing someting I think you should be aware of the most likely behaviour of the potential public that you want to be your principal supporter and think about it as a target since it can affects the excitment of the viewers.
This show was aired with one of their episodes being played on sundays ( which one was - for me - an addictional problem), and again its really a personal observation, but this kinda of show on this kind of day was - for me - super (extra) boring and depressing to watch, since I had to spend more than 1 hour of my "day-off" on a show with a poor history, a predicable plot that was also fulled with so many holes. After every episode, at every week, I kinda felt like, "oh this show on this day is really the perfect match for a bad day routine" :').

Now lets go to the review:

I would like to say that I've started this show without any expectations, since it was getting all sorts of attention from the media and a real a strong promotion even much earlier than the premier date, I've decided to not keep my expections hight to not be disappointed later on, but even doing this, and even expecting almost "nothing" from the show it really managed to disappointed me so well in so many ways and being too hard to watch; it was not that well made even when we think about basics topics: like the support characters, or the durationg of some scenes.

The first two episodes of the show were on point and we felt a great chemistry between the actors and the storyline was looking promissive, but unfortunatelly it turned out to be a real boring show about adults who are supposed to acts as adultcs but they havent, the only ones who showed some kinda of matured behavious throught the whole 16 episodes was the second male lead Han Jipeyong, and the female lead sister's Seo Injae, theyre both the best "portrayed" characters who have showed development. Nam Do-San, and the whole SamSamTech didnt showed any lights of adults behavious until the very end. About the female lead, Seo Dalmi, she started as a strong woman giving the viewers a slice of hope about being sucessful in life despit having a hard childhood story, but somehow they lost it and made her just about a character who was obsessed with hands and a woman who uses a "luck" app to check on wich atitudes she shouldve do or done in life :')

The tech parts was so boring that for the first time in almost 4 yers watching kdramas I've choosen to press the 2x speed button in a way to help me to watch the show since it was so repetitive, boring, childish and anything else, so I couldnt help, but just check the time at every minute expecting to the show to be at the corner of the end but somehow everytime I did that Ive realized that I have just watched like 20 minutes of the show (yes the panic was real) :').

The SST squad was the most childchild grown up guys Ive ever seen in my whole life, I just couldnt imagine myself as 27 years old woman working with these type of people who not see anything as a serious topic, and not to say about Nam Do San, who was a clearly manipulative boy; the way he treated Dalmi until the very last moment by not kwnoing how to separate his personal love life of his professional life, and the worst thing is that she turned herself in someone just like him; she didnt it either, she didnt separeted her personal feelings until her sister have brought up with the topic "you will be fired if you dont do your job properly"; so in fact theyre both just like two childs who are experiencing dating while being coworkers, without showing any slice of professionalism thourgt their relationship. - Their kind of behaviour is what gives the bosses around the world the fear of allowing love realationships in the most of companies, the reason why theyre mostly against realationships between coworkers, is because of people who acts like Dosan and Dalmi :')

Dosan until the very end havent had his real development; the main female lead Dalmi, was being sould out as a independent and strong woman, but at the end they showed her to us a messed up girl who was non ending crying just because the guy she used to like have - probably - seen her with messed up clothes, like seriously?

I thought theyre going to make she as girl boss, but with the end of the show as the corner they choosen to give it to us, a girl who cries and who hide herself under the desk, seriusly... I cant belive at the fact that no one have read this kinda of script and havent thought that its was not good.

And to complet all this mess, at the very end, at the real very last episode, the whole team was going to do their presentetion about their Tarzan's project (not to comment about this lame name), and they just went like "we are doing this just for experience", and then started to make crazy bets about being the winners, like "if we win I'll shave my head", "if we win I'll buy a nice car to everyone" (like REALLY? PLEASE!), and like if wasnt enough the main went like "if we win I'll propose", like are you being serious? And so the female lead looked at him saying an absurd like that on their workplace with her lovely eyes like if it was the biggest and hottest loved confession on the whole world; please hes saying that he will propose to you if you win, but actually no ones belivies you will win, it is cush a lame to be like this at the last episode of the show...

So yes, for me, this show was pathetic in so many ways that I could literraly writte a whole book telling why this lacks in so many ways, but Ill end here by leaving with the worst of the worsts messages of this show so far: "sail without a map" and I hope no one who have watched this to DONT BELIEVE that sail without a map is actually a good idea because it isnt, it will literally make you die if you sail without a map.

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Horrible writing

It almost seems like two different people wrote the first half and the second half. Started out with a riveting story and fizzled out with a forced fed love story. The writer had to to write in “I’m stronger now” or “I’ve changed” and many other justifications for what should’ve been obvious just from watching. Main lead was poorly written. Seems the Love triangle was dragged for far too long just for ratings. Can’t say too much without giving the story or lack of it away but this is the worst kdrama I’ve seen. Feel bad for the actors, they were mostly great.

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Lacked Character

From the first episode, you expect that there will be character development, growth, and overall plot development just based on that first episode. What we got was Dalmi trying to rationalize her relationship with Dosan every episode. We also got Dosan crying over everything. He couldn’t speak for himself, looked for Dalmi with answers, and couldn’t take the harsh truth without acting like he was always right only to be screwed over. These were two very annoying, dramatic, and emotional characters that literally had no growth. Jipyeong was the only character that made a mistake, realized it, fixed it and caught up with reality. If one character is keeping the show together then it’s not a good show. Also, the lack of scenes between Dalmi and her sister was disappointing when that was a crucial plot point. Start Up was just a love triangle disguised in a interesting concept.

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Wasted Potential

This drama started out great with a promising premise. A young girl with a difficult childhood and her sister who chose different paths; a kind but outwardly harsh orphan who was shown some love by a kind lady and struggled hard to find success; a brilliant, kind, lovable nerd who was socially awkward, struggled with imposter syndrome and pressure from parents.

The setup was the start-up world and the possibilities were endless. There was so much they could have done with that premise.

Besides the cinematography, music and acting, few good scenes sprinkled throughout and one relationship (the grandma and the orphan boy/man) that was absolutely heartwarming, everything else went downhill very soon.

I expected to see how the sisters learn from each other (one on how to be more pragmatic and the other on how family is important too), how the brilliant nerd finds his self confidence and how the orphan learns to trust and let go of his abandonment issues.

The story turned into a cliche love triangle and all that was good about the show was lost with it. Instead of focusing on the growth of said characters in a realistic way, they focused on stringing viewers along through a badly written and completely unnecessary love triangle that did not even make sense.

The characters started being inconsistent. The writing was sloppy. They rushed certain characters without proper arcs and spent inordinate amounts of time on non-essential storylines or character moments.

I also had a problem with the message this show was trying to pander. This idea of "sailing off without a map" without a plan B and C is reckless. They presented a romanticized view of the world which I am in complete disagreement with. Yes, you should take risks but they should be calculated risks.

Lastly, they wanted us to root for the main leads but as the show went on, it was extremely difficult to root for the main leads due to how problematically they were written. So it all felt very forced and inorganic.

The only reason I continued watching the show was because of one character (HJP) and his interaction with the grandma.

The show left a very bad taste in my mouth. There were so many issues with the show that I am not going to get into it all in here but overall, I will not recommend this show to anyone.

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