Start-Up (2020)

Everything a Rom Com should be

This drama exemplifies why I watch KDramas more than any other TV shows, and why I say that South Korea does RomCom better than anyone else.
The story takes us into a field (startups, tech companies, etc) and gives us a glimpse of what that's like. But make no mistake, this story is a ROMANCE. and the two leads (plus our second lead) live up to that wonderfully.
The premise is interesting (the letters - it's very much lifted from Cyrano de Bergerac) and highlights a major weakness in the second lead - it was the girl's GRANDMOTHER who asked 'Good Boy' to write them - in order to cheer up her granddaughter. Good Boy there had no real interest in the girl other than to please the grandmother.
This is apparent when later on, when he COULD have just admitted he was the one who wrote the things, he instead hires the guy whose name he stole to represent him. So he complicated his own life, which bites him in the derriere later as he comes to care for the girl.
I loved the romance, the actors, the secondary characters, the ending. Fun, logical, no major angst, decent ending that made me smile, a WEDDING photo!!!!
I'm sure there were inaccuracies about the computer industry, and that these kids had a much easier, more polished path than your average person in the industry. But it's expected from a romcom - this wasn't a show where you wanted gritty reality at all. Most of us watching these shows want enough reality to actually believe this kind of thing might happen, and then we just want to enjoy the romance. For those of you wanting grit etc, don't look to romcoms LOL

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It's good but it's not for everyone.

I guess I am one of those few people who actually liked this show. It's not the best but it's a good watch. The acting was great and everyone acted their parts really well. However, the lacking thing with this drama comes from the writing of its story. I think I kind of get why a lot of people were frustrated with this drama. Before this show began, it is obvious that if ever there is going to be a love story in this drama it will be about the characters of Nam Joo Hyuk and Suzy and how their characters will end up together. However, when the actual drama started to began, the character of Kim Seon Ho was fleshed out a lot more and better than the character of Joo Hyuk that it became a lot harder for some to digest the romantic couple that was made out of the main characters. Second lead syndrome is real and this drama does that quite well. Additionally, I think another disappointment that some people may have comes from the fact that they expected this drama to be about the business world and yet that became just a setting and a plot device for a love story. Obviously this drama doesn't offer anything new nor it tries to present one. It's a love story that some may find entertaining and some do not. Furthermore for those who finds a love story to be entertaining enough, this drama posed another challenge to be lauded and not panned by giving the second lead guy a lot more opportunities to be beloved by the audiences. As I said earlier I liked this show, it's not perfect but it's entertaining. It's good but it's not for everyone.

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Great drama if you’re not looking for romance

My first review just to give my voice to negate the bad comments.

I am a start-up co-founder, working in the IT area, and I studied computer science, so I am familiar with AI. One review said that this is not about business or AI... well, I disagree with that as I can relate to some stories in the drama. So for me, this is not a romance drama.

They tell us how they create a team, how they come up with an idea, how their products can succeed, how hard it is to find an investor, how you can be conned and mistreated by some big companies. This drama tells us a lot about starting a business from zero, so I would not say this drama focuses on the romance.

I agree that the leads lack in chemistry, but since I don’t watch it for the romance, I don’t mind it. I deduct most of 1.5 points for the chemistry between the leads. But for the story itself, I think it’s a great one.

Of course, I am also that-guy team, and I am sad that he is not the one being with the lead at the end, but hey, as Dal Mi said, you don’t need a reason to love someone; you just found someone that is “clicked” with you. I don’t deduct any point just because my ship doesn’t sail.

As for the characters’ development, I think both FL and ML have their character development. ML was someone with no confidence, but he gains his confidence because of FL. Similarly, FL has this insecurity in her because she always compares herself with his sister, but no more towards the end. Character development does not always about evil side become angel side; the second lead character’s development is more significant, I agree. But it doesn’t mean that the drama lacks character development.

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Youth Inspiring KDrama (Fresh and Informative Concept)

A MUST-WATCH KDRAMA

Story:

Main Plot: Start-Up follows the journey of young innovators who want to make it big in Korea Silicon Valley.
*But to expand its target audiences, other than entrepreneurship, it also tackles life, family relation, love, and friendship.

Start-Up has a fresh concept among KDramas. It incorporated business terminologies in layman's term in each episode for the viewers to easily understand. It is an informative type of drama. It does not solely focuses in business aspect, but also dwells on family, love, dreams, growth and friendship. The relatable main characters make the series inspiring which make the audience root for their growth and success.

Cast/Acting:
Seo Dalmi (Bae Suzy): the main female lead of the story. She is shown to be persistent and confident which is usually propelled by her bluffing. Even without business experience, she dared to enter Sandbox in hopes to make her choice, choosing her father, the right choice.

Nam Dosan (Nam Joo Hyuk) : the main male lead of the story. He is shown to be an aloof, odd, awkward, but genius programmer and initially the founder and CEO of SamSan Tech along with his two friends Yeongsan and Chulsan. He has a low self esteem caused by the undue pressure from his parents and childhood trauma. Samsan Tech entered Sandbox to attract investors.

Han Jipyeong (Kim Seon Ho): the 2nd lead. He is seen as successful investor, business minded, but have a cutting knife frankness. He is seen as empathetic to those he has no interest thereof but caring to the people he liked. He became a mentor in Sandbox.

Won Injae (Kang Hanna): 2nd lead. Seo Dalmi's sister who chose to stay with mother who married a rich businessman. She is independent and experienced businesswoman through the privilege given to her by her stepfather. But the betrayal of her stepfather forced her to enter Sandbox to prove that she can be successful without that privilege.

Seo Dalmi and Nam Dosan 's fate intertwined through the letters written by Han Jipyeong 15 years ago. Jipyeong, who was ordered by Seo Dalmi's grandma to be a pretend penpal with Seo Dalmi to help her cope up from losing her sister, used the name of Nam Dosan, who was a math prodigy. After 15 years, Seo Dalmi and Nam Dosan met and together with Yeongsan and Chulsan, and Saha, formed SamSan Tech in Sandbox. They were face with Won Injae's company as competitor.

This is Bae Suzy's all time high of acting prowess in all of her dramas. She brought to life the character of Dalmi wonderfully. Nam Joo Hyuk also delivered a phenomenal acting skills. Both of them can pull off the crying, funny, and romantic scenes really well. They have a great chemistry. All the supporting artists also did justice to the role they played.

MUSIC
10/10. StartUp has 15+ wonderful OSTs. Each has its own distinct flavor which can uplift you or gets you emotional out of nowhere.

STARTUP IS ONE OF THE BEST KDRAMA THIS 2020 AND IT OPENS A NEW GENRE OF KDRAMAS. IT ALSO HAS THE HIGHEST KDRAMA CPI DAILY POINTS ON NETFLIX WITH A RECORD BREAKING 202. AND HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST MENTIONED KDRAMAS DURING ITS AIRTIME.

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THIS DRAMA IS GOLD

Startup is an amazing drama which will give you a rollercoaster feeling every episode.
It showcases mixed of emotions about life, love, friendship, business, and dreams.

Kudos to Suzy and Nam Joohyuk for brilliantly portraying their roles as Dalmi and Dosan respectively. They shared a relatable picture of young people's struggles and challenges in pursuing their dreams in this modern, and sometimes, cruel world of business.

Topping Netflix charts in different countries just proves how it is well-loved by many people worldwide.
Congratulations for the whole Team Startup for making the best drama of 2020.

Despite all the difficulties we have been facing, this drama is such a breather and it has also inspired many people to take action and go follow those dreams. No matter what it takes.

Enjoy watching!!

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This review may contain a spoilers.

At the first the story went well, everything is good, the acting from actress/actors, the cinematography, the music, the story line but it turns to be messy on the half of full episode.

Lets talk about the love story first;
It doesn't matter the female lead who will end up with (first or second lead), its just about there're so many unrealistic things in their relationship, the writer made the female lead as a strong and optimistic woman, but she's changed since meet the first lead, its only takes several month but she's already fall in love with him that deep, but at the same time forgot about her first love for 15 years. She's live on a fairy tale, meet a random guy for several month but she cant move on 3 year, where is the strong woman from the first episode goes? The writer should make their relationship (female & male first lead) a bit longer, it doesn't make sense to fall in love that quick in their age, they're not a teenager anymore.

Lets talk about the character development side:
the writer want make the first male lead looks realistic but at the same time make the second lead unrealistic.
Is it just me who find the first lead have no character development at all? after the 3 years jump time i thought he would change, but no, he's still unmature guy who cant make a straight line between bussiness and personal thing. I cant get his point of view at all.
and the second lead, the writer made him unrealistic because he is too good to be true, his flaw is only his harsh words. Till the end the writer make him as an emotional punching bag for the whole episode and give nothing.
the samsan tech's team is much better after the 3 years time jump, they learn to be wiser, and solve the problem they had before.
and, startup has 2 female leads but the one is just a cameo, her screen time is so rare, she's will be an impactful character if the writer focus on her too.

Many people complaining about this drama's because shows us more about the love side not the bussiness side, and yes i agree, that was a wasted potential. The writer should end the love triangle earlier if she wouldn't do some plot twist, at the end the female lead will choose the first lead, right? so dont make it waste. If only she end the love triangle earlier, and focusing on the bussiness side i think it would be more interesting than seeing the episode is mostly talk about a love triangle till the end.

But i want to respected all actors/actresess, their acting are amazing, they deliver the emotions very well. The cinematography too, i love the color grading they use. and last the osts are beautiful! especially day & night and one day, it just suits with the cinematography mood.

I edited this after startup ends.
In twitter a lot of people missunderstanding about "sailing without the map is marvelous", they said its okay to do that in business things because in the end many of poeple still get the goals (as you can see on the ending), this drama's romanticizing it so much, but in real life it is 1 out of 10000000 people who can suffer with that sailing without the map, there's will no business consultant/analyst if sailing without the map is good enough.

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Very predictable. Drama can be done in 10 episodes but it keeps going in circle

The first few episodes kept me going. But as you keep watching, it’s as though the writer ran out of ideas. Predictable who the female lead will end up with but for the sake of dragging the drama to 16 episodes, they break up, get confused and when the other party wants to patch up, it’s another party’s turn to get confused. Very typical and predictable. What kept me watching was Han Ji Pyeong’s character. He would be an amazing lead, but sad to see that he’s always the one cleaning up shit made by the other two. The relationship between him and grandmother is very heartwarming and their scenes are my favourite.

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Chemistry between Bae Suzy and Nam Joo hyuk is just amazing

One of the best Kdrama in 2020. Just finished watching this Kdrama and I've really loved this series from the start to the end. Not only for its cast members but the simple story itself. I don't know why others are bashing this series but I believe that Start-Up is a must see drama. And who says that NJH & BS have no chemistry as Nam Do San & Seo Dal-mi? You can see their emotions in their eyes. Both are good actor and actress. All characters have contributed and certainly clarifies the significance of each to one another. Congratulations to all the Cast of Start-up, you deserve the high ratings. Hope to have more kdrama like this soon.. Amazing job done by Nam Joo Hyuk Suzy and all actors.

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Likely won't be my favorite drama, but has aspects that I like

I feel like I am a bit in the minority here, but I am decently enjoying Start-Up. Let me list all the things I dislike first to get them out of the way, before I explain why I actually enjoy and look forward to watching this drama every week.

Yes, I think that the love triangle has been dragged on too long. There are other character that have so much potential to be explored, instead of the love triangle being the focus. (For example, I see Won Injae's story having much potential to be explored, as well as character development for Seo Dalmi's mom since it's gotten slightly annoying that she is always being presented as helpless, constantly sorry, and lowkey useless.) Yes, I also think that it is a bit unreasonable and unrealistic that Dalmi could forgive Nam Dosan (and Han Jipyeong) so easily when the letters were such a significant part of her life. At the end of the day, though, this is a kdrama after all so it's still within the bounds of an Unrealistic Kdrama World for me lol.

BUT, here is what I do like about the drama. While I can see why some people would call Dosan childish or annoying, I actually relate to him on many aspects. I relate to how Dosan tried so hard in the beginning and kept failing because sometimes, people won't make it no matter how passionate they are about something. It seemed to me that he was feeling something like imposter syndrome due to his glamorous achievements (being the youngest math olympiad winner and going to college so early). I totally understand what imposter syndrome feels like, so I don't think he was being whiny. I also both relate to and admire Dalmi. Dalmi was portrayed as someone who wasn't very competent in the beginning as she didn't have a long list of achievements nor a high rank in a large company. However, her determination and fire to succeed is clear from the beginning, which I feel is admirable so I like how strong her character is being portrayed. Lastly, I think that Dosan and Dalmi make a cute couple (although maybe I am biased since I liked Suzy and Nam Joohyuk before this drama haha).

Regarding the casting, it was unexpectedly good in my opinion. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Suzy's acting (although I am a fan of her, as a person) before this, but I think she did an amazing job. I can't imagine Seo Dalmi as someone else other than Suzy. I liked Nam Joohyuk before I watched this drama since I've watched a few of his better dramas before (though he was far from being my favorite actor), but the quality of his acting here was also better than I expected. Kim Seonho was the only one who I had never watched a drama of before, although I have seen him in 1N2D before. I completely understand why people are falling for him haha.

The line-up for the OSTs were impressive. I was surprised at every name, since they are all big names in their own way and I was/am anticipating every release. I think that the OSTs were also well suited to the drama, like how Gaho's OST makes me want to go and start my own start-up (despite the fact that I am science student) or how Kim Feel's OST has me reflecting on old memories.

Final note regarding some other aspects of the drama: I think that it was shot beautifully as there were many scenes with pretty backgrounds and nice shot composition. There have also been moments that I laughed at and found funny, so it's enjoyable to watch. Suzy, Nam Joohyuk, and Kim Seonho also look good in every scene (even when they're crying), which is unsurprising but impressive :")

Overall, I can understand some of the criticisms towards the plot and the characters, but personally I think it had enough redeeming factors for me to rate it an 8 out of 10 (as of ep 13, at least). I started watching this drama because I was looking to relieve stress by watching something rather light hearted and romantic, which I think I've found in Start-Up, so I am decently satisfied.

Edit: I just finished the last episode and overall, Start Up was a drama I enjoyed! Less unnecessary romantic conflict and more sweet Seo Dalmi and Nam Dosan scenes would've been nice and there were some cliche scenes in the last few episodes that I wasn't the biggest fan of. However, all the story lines were wrapped up nicely and it was clear to me how each character grew so much, which was nice to see. The ending was honestly quite motivating, seeing how far Samsan Tech and Dalmi got. Some of my friends felt that the business/start up aspect was basically a subplot and wished there was more on those aspects. But as someone has no knowledge (nor deep interest :")) on businesses/start ups, I felt that the plot was quite sufficient in conveying the goals and passions of the characters, along with the various challenges they had to go through. Anyways, to finish up this overly long review, I'm glad I watched this drama as it ended up being quite sweet and motivating, and was something that got me through most of my semester at school haha

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your writing can KILL everyone

Y'all need to remember

everyone has their own type, hopefully all the bad reviews you write are not just carried away by the visuals of the characters, even though the visuals are actually your main attraction.
but for us viewers who have really been in their position in terms of storytelling, this drama is very meaningful to us, and I strongly disagree with your review which gives a value of 1.0 point,
remember if you have been carried away with this story and drama, means that the author has got 5-7 points for them.
I really understand where the story is going, episode by episode, the meaning of the meaning, the good message about the meaning of a truth family in this drama.

Besides the love affairs of the 3 people, other values ​​matter more, not just the love story of the 3 main players.

Please show your respect, and stop making the chances of someone getting killed. learn to be mature.

do not mess up other people's work, but start to tidy up ourselves, take the good and make the lessons that are not according to your expectations.

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Not as bad as they say! DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM

I'm actually very dumbfounded by the amount of low reviews on here. Though the show had its faults, i don't think the show warranted any 1/10 reviews. I would describe it as a perfect escapist drama, with no complicated storylines or characters- not much thought is required to watch this, something i personally appreciated. With loveable characters (HAN JI PYEONG), amazing cinematography and good storyline, you cannot go wrong. I would definitely recommend this.

However, there were times i was actually very much frustrated. With one entire episode dedicated to HAN JI PYEONG i was resolute that he'd be the main lead. He's charming, charismatic, smart, and self-less (i could go on), so imagine my dismay when he ends up as the second lead and given the short end of the stick - he certainly deserved better.

I know MANY viewers (including myself) wanted him to get the girl at end- and this is was probably what justified their 1* reviews, but after watching the finale, i've come to a realisation that HJP didn't truly love her. As you probably recall, he mentioned how he never searched for SDM in the 15 years of sending letters to each other, so after finally reuniting with her and granny, he was no longer alone. HJP was a somewhat hero to SDM, running to her aid anytime anything went wrong, he was finally wanted and needed and ¿maybe? latched onto that and confused it with love? In the finale, he understood that SDM can fight her own battles and he wasn't needed as a hero. And though he may not have gotten the girl at the end, he got a new family and friends, which is what he TRULY deserved.

If you're thinking of watching this drama, GO FOR IT. Don't let the bad reviews sway you. WATCH IT.

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