A show of missed opportunities

I went into this drama without knowing much about it aside from gifs I saw here and there, the episodes trending on twitter and at some point seeing people defend NDS' behaviour (can't remember why). Looking back, maybe that last one was actually a red flag. You can skip to the overall section of this review to get a summary of my opinion on Start Up without me ranting too much about what could have been.

Story & characters:
The story started well, I really enjoyed the first episode even though it was a bit surprising and it made me wonder if HJP was supposed to be the male lead. It certainly felt like it after watching the first episode and, unfortunately, it felt like this during the whole drama. Despite how weird it felt, I really tried to give NDS a chance, thinking "oh using his name in the letters mean that they were destined to meet, maybe they will have a connection", and HJP didn't seem interested in SDM anyway. Unfortunately, I never felt any connection and I just hated NDS more and more to the point that I ended up skipping most of his scenes during the last four episodes, at least. The main relationship had too much angst but for the wrong reasons and so many of their scenes felt like all those minutes could have been used to explore the other plots.

Maybe it's because I'm older, but I enjoyed the family/friends and work plots a lot more than the romantic ones. The first episode is mostly centered around complex family relationships (the sisters, HJP and the grandma) and friendship (HJP and SDM) that I feel like it's a shame that it didn't focus on that instead, without having NDS and the love triangle. It really felt like NDS was out of place during the whole drama and his tantrums distracted from the actual good plots we could have had.

This is getting longer than I thought it would be but this drama really frustrated me. For example, SDM was a really interesting character at first, but she's not given the opportunity to reach her full potential and to be more complex. WIJ on the other hand really grew on me and turned out to be one of my favourite characters on the show but even her character development was really rushed at the end. I think that the focus should have been more on them, their aspirations and how they try to mend their relationship (between them, but with their whole family in general). The father is also barely mentioned even though he started it all. As for HJP and the grandmother, the other main relationship from the pilot, I really enjoyed their scenes and it's a shame that we didn't get more of them. Instead, we got forced bonding scenes between her and NDS.

I did enjoy the SST team and I loved how their dynamic evolved (even though, once again, more time could have been given to them, especially to Saha and Dalmi) but it felt kinda ruined towards the end. Out of the main three of SST, Yongsan is the only one who actually showed growth and it's another character who should have been given more time, especially since his story is much more interesting than... you know who. The whole start up plot in general felt very secondary because so much focus was on the main couple and/or the love triangle, and the scenes we had felt so unrealistic, especially towards the end. They just don't fail enough after their big failure, I don't think anything goes wrong at all. There are things that go well but shouldn't, and I don't think it would be a bad thing if they did fail at the end, it would have just showed that they're still at the beginning of an (allegedly) exciting adventure and there are still many more things they will have to face together. Instead, it just feels like they don't have any problems anymore and won't have any ever again. All that thanks to NDS being some sort of coding god I guess!

Now, I haven't said much about HJP but he truly is my favourite character. Like I said, I didn't feel anything romantic between him and SDM so I wasn't invested in that side of their relationship, however it's a shame that we didn't get to see their friendship evolve once they meet up again as adults. I did enjoy their scenes, hence why I wanted more of these instead of... you know what. Many people have said it already but he deserved better. I think it was during WIJ's party, but I really thought something would happen between WIJ and HJP. Romantic or not, I would have loved to see these two together more and it would have given both of them a relationship that is new and not related to main characters. The writer somehow forces certain characters to stay alone.

Finally... why do I hate NDS? Well, like someone in the show once said, do I need a reason?? :) Seriously, there are many reasons but I also noticed that things I hate about him are things others think are endearing or something, so it's really just from my perspective. Personally, I think he's spoiled, immature, self-centered, reckless, a crybaby, manipulative, violent, impulsive, a liar... I also don't see any growth, aside from him not breaking things anymore. The fact that he lies even for the smallest things is honestly not cute at all, the only person he is protecting is himself and his fragile ego. He doesn't need a girl to obsess over, he needs therapy and a proper discussion with his father. And a proper discussion with the SST guys as well to be honest.

Acting:
If you're still reading, kudos. As for the acting, it was okay in general, but HJP's actor was really amazing, it was my first time seeing him so I'm curious now to see his other works. I get now why everyone loved him so much after watching Start Up, his scenes were always the best moments for me. The other two main actors though weren't very convincing. Not bad but not good either. I'm not very familiar with their acting, and I do think the script is the main reason why I don't feel any chemistry between their characters, but their acting lacked depth in my opinion.

Music:
I loved the music, I always enjoyed hearing them even though I believe that some lyrics were more about HJP than NDS so it was sometimes a bit weird.

Rewatch value:
I would rewatch a NDS free version of the show, it would feel like a sitcom and why not.

Overall:
5/10... the drama is saved by the second lead and the secondary plots/characters. SDM herself is quite enjoyable outside of her relationship with NDS. The story started by giving importance to certain characters and plots but all of these were quickly discarded and it ended up being 80% about a character I really couldn't stand with a storyline that wasn't that relevant to the rest since I could skip most of his scenes without it preventing me from understanding everything else. Weirdly, while there's so much focus on the main romance/love triangle, not any depth is given to it while being somehow so full of angst so it really feels like their scenes are a waste of time.

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I'm conflicted about this one. I did like it and watched it quickly (it does only have 8 episodes) so I was invested, but the concept of the Love Alarm app and how it impacts the characters and their society was what interested me the most (Black Mirror is shaking). I really liked the friendships as well and how it briefly talked about homosexuality and how such an app outed people against their will. But the romance didn't make sense to me. At all.

From Jojo's point of view, it's normal, but as viewers, we know that Sun Oh only knows that Jojo exists because Hye Young likes her. It feels like the only reason he tries to seduce her is because his best friend likes her, he probably wouldn't have noticed her at all otherwise. So, it doesn't make sense to me... and it's also a dick move. The friendship between him and Hye Young is obviously strong, but it looks like Hye Young is the only one actually doing anything for Sun Oh. Everytime Hye Young decides to do something for himself (like twice during the show lol), Sun Oh gets mad. It sometimes felt like the main relationship of the show was between them, to be honest, and it probably would have been better (a love triangle I could get behind, for once). Because, aside from his behaviour, I do not dislike Sun Oh that much. But he's a selfish baby, sometimes.
There's not much to say about Jojo, she's a cliché, but the way her best friend treated her was really disappointing. Her friend could learn from Hye Young.

I have Thoughts about the Love Alarm app but that would include too many spoilers, but I really want to see how it's going to be treated in the next season and if someone is going to do something about it or not.

This being said, I wasn't rooting for Hye Young until the time skip. I mean, he's a sweet boy but it's not like he ever talked to Jojo. I definitely am not rooting for Sun Oh, though, so as much as I'm curious about the Love Alarm app side of the plot, the romance and how it might "evolve" doesn't make me that excited for a second season.

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A drama to forget.

I wasn't going to write a review because there's nothing to say but since I dislike one of the main leads and only write reviews in that case, here I am. Spoilers because I will most likely rant about him.

The story follows Seungjun who has severe anxiety and a trauma caused by his first love, which results in him pushing people away. His best friend, Hoyeon, is the only person he's close to. Enters Jaehyun who is interested in Seungjun and starts to pursue him, Quite literally. He shows up at his work place whenever he doesn't reply to his texts. Shows up at his house... Surprised he didn't put a tracker on his phone and kidnapped him. Oh wait, he did kidnap him once :)

Anyway, I don't like Jaehyun, he's really just a stalker who constantly ignores the fact that he makes Seungjun uncomfortable, so I just couldn't get into the romance side of the plot. I just can't root for someone who doesn't respect the boundaries of someone he's supposed to love.

I was interested to see how SJ would deal with his "first love" and overcome his anxiety but I guess I'll have to keep wondering since all that happens off screen. That actually makes me mad more than the love interest being a creep because it's just disrespectful to the viewers. Whatever happens after the time skip (...) doesn't feel earned since we don't actually see SJ deal with his issues.

I liked the best friend though. I do wonder why this wasn't explored more since he was the only one who actually respected SJ. He's also the one who is by his side while he works through his issues (off screen) so that was definitely a more interesting relationship.

The acting was a bit flat but not bad, just lacking in my opinion. The actor who plays Hoyeon was better but also didn't have much to do, unfortunately.

The music was alright, which is good since this was made obviously to promote the ML's singing... Not really my kind of music but he has a beautiful voice.

Overall, I don't think much happened, and what could have been interesting (the ML's anxiety, the idol being threatened by creep number 2, the relationship between SJ and HY) was barely explored in the end. We also don't know anything about JH, he's kind of just there to be the love interest and him being a creep definitely made it impossible to enjoy for me. 4/10.

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A second season vastly different from the first but still enjoyable.

Since I wrote a review for the first season, I figured I might as well write one for this season. I didn't rewatch the first season before, mostly because I didn't like it that much, and also because I hadn't really planned to watch this one. This being said, even I can tell that both seasons are very different but I ended up enjoying both as much for very different reasons.

Right from the beginning, you can tell that they wanted to do things differently simply with the fact that they just ignored the cliffhanger from the first season and it goes right in random happy scenes. It's a bit disorienting at first, but once you just accept that it's going to be different, it's fine. Overall, the vibe of the second season was more enjoyable to me, it's more relaxed, less angsty and dramatic. Things happen, obviously, but it doesn't sour everything for no reason. The characters take the time to think about the situations they're in and eventually work towards a solution. In a way, it fits the evolution of the characters, especially Jo Jo and the kind of relationship she's in when the show starts: calm, more mature and building slowly.

However, most of the subplots around the Love Alarm app and how it affects people are pretty much gone here, which is a shame because it was the most interesting part of the first season. Maybe because I've been watching mostly crime shows lately, but I really wanted more from that murderer storyline so it was very underwhelming in the end. Some questions are answered but so... awkwardly, a bit like they forgot to actually develop their ideas until they realized that they only had two episodes left. Since the focus wasn't on that at all anyway, it didn't prevent me from enjoying the drama but it still is disappointing that they didn't fully exploit the concept. The downside of having a lighter season romance wise means that they dropped all the interesting conversations the first season had brought to probably keep the general vibe of the season.

As for the characters, I feel like Gul Mi and Sun Oh (the Sweet Home line?) were the ones with the most interesting development. I like the fact that Gul Mi ended up working on her flaws without becoming a completely different person. As for Sun Oh, I feel like he was stuck in the past while everyone seemed to move on so he felt left behind by the people he loved the most. While he annoyed me a lot in the beginning of the season (and in the first season as well...), he does learn how to be more understanding in general and he finally opens up without being aggressive. His relationship with Hye Yeong was my favorite in the first season so I wish we had more scenes about them and their friendship. I don't have much to say about HY and JJ... but I like that we saw JJ continue to work on her trauma and try to be more honest with her feelings and with others. HY... just isn't the most interesting character. I like him but he was a simple and nice but flawed guy in the first season and that's still how he is. A couple of introverts isn't the most riveting thing to watch but it was cute, at least.

So, overall, I'm giving this a 7/10, just like the first season. In the first season I couldn't stand the romance but I liked the subplots around the app itself or the side characters, in this season I liked the romance side of the story but most subplots were either badly done or just not there.

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