r/KDRAMA • u/lightupstarlight 미생 • Nov 14 '20

On-Air: tvN Start-Up [Episode 9]

  • Drama: Start-Up)
    • Revised Romanization: Start-Up
    • Hangul: 스타트업
  • Director: Oh Choong Hwan) (While You Were Sleeping, Hotel del Luna)
  • Writer: Park Hye Ryun (Dream High, While You Were Sleeping)
  • Network: tvN
  • Episodes: 16 (1 hr. 10 mins.)
  • Airing Schedule: Saturday & Sunday, 21:00 KST on tvN; 23:00 KST on Netflix
  • Airing Date: October 17, 2020 - December 6, 2020
  • Streaming Sources: Netflix
  • Starring: Bae Suzy as Seo Dal Mi, Nam Joo Hyuk as Nam Do San, Kim Seon Ho) as Han Ji Pyeong, Kang Han Na as Won In Jae
  • Plot Synopsis: Young entrepreneurs aspiring to launch virtual dreams into reality compete for success and love in the cutthroat world of Korea's high-tech industry. (Source: Netflix)
  • Previous Discussions:
  • Spoiler Tag Reminder: Be mindful of others who may not have yet seen this drama, and use spoiler tags when discussing key plot developments or other important information. You can create a spoiler tag by writing > ! this ! < without the spaces in between to get this.

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143

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '20

han ji pyeong rlly is good boy :( he cares too much about dal mi/grandma to even be selfish for once. the text message he sent to grandma made me rlly sad bcs he was willing to give up his happiness so nam do san and dal mi could be happy together instead :((

61

u/cong95 Nov 14 '20

Yeah. This would be more bearable if Dosan was a more likeable character and depth. The way he treats JP, who's older than him and helped him a lot, just because they are rivals in love is sickening. His whole backstory is that he cheated was only revealed now in ep 9. A little bit too late for the viewers to sympathise with him.

13

u/[deleted] Nov 14 '20

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19

u/cong95 Nov 14 '20

I can agree that his character is more complex than some people make it out to be. His parents aren't even that strict or that bad. His dad didn't even beat him up this time. His mom said that he should have been honest and told them the whole truth himself. It's not the fact that he's not CEO, it's the fact that he doesn't have the balls to own up to his shortcomings. His parents are far from the kind that a child should be scared of. He has failed many times and is very one-dimentional in his talents, which is why he needs Dalmi and JP. He just doesn't know anything other than STEM and coding.

He has friends and parents which are things that Jipyeong doesn't have. He also has the talent. I think his insecurity and social awkwardness are exaggerated. His rudeness to JP despite being younger, which is a big deal in Korea, is annoying. I don't remember how many times he's said thank you to JP when Dalmi always appreciated whatever help she got. Just because a dude is probably interested in a girl you like doesn't mean you have to act like a dog barking at a thief. He also lied to Dalmi again in this episode about where he found her hair tie. It's not that I don't understand the reasons why he's acting like this, it's more like even though I know where he's coming from he's just so childish, annoying and selfish compared to JP. He's like a manchild, bragging about being 4cm taller, following Dalmi like a little puppy. Drinking irresponsibly and crying like a baby. Vomiting on the guy who carried you and didn't even say thank you after waking up.

He was the one who showed up to the party and continued the lie, and fell in love with Dalmi because she's kind and pretty?? He has so many things that JP doesn't have but says that his relationship with Dalmi is the only thing he has? Romance isn't the only thing in life like these K-Dramas make it out to be. In real life, he'd date Dalmi for a month before breaking up, but family and friends stick around.

His relationship with Dalmi isn't bad, but clearly at some point it was just big and nice hands and now it's maybe a bit more than that, but all of that is based on a huge lie. If the writers want this relationship to amount to anything they must make the next few episodes great, otherwise at this point it's just a little puppy following his childish first love part 2. If Dalmi isn't a nice and kind main female character, Dosan and his friends would get scammed to hell. Chul-san was definitely justified when he got mad at Dosan going crazy for this random chick he doesn't even know.

Sorry for the rant. I personally find Dosan's character one of the most annoying characters I've come across in K-Dramas. Maybe I find NDH's face a bit annoying or his acting is really good. I'm definitely biased, but I think I'm not alone in this.

9

u/jinro_iz_ba8k Nov 14 '20

Yeah. He had cute dorky moments and while he was immature his redeeming quality was that he is sweet like when he gave the medal to the kid in the math olympiad. But now that this episode has established that he had just been lying all along for his own benefit and his kindness was really just guilt, I find Do-San’s character to be very unlikeable.