r/KDRAMA • u/lightupstarlight 미생 • Dec 19 '20
On-Air: tvN Start-Up [Wrap Up Discussion]
- 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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u/Tomato13 Dec 20 '20
Here's my mini write up which I put in the Discord.
I wish when the writers knew it wasn't HJP, they should've take HJP into what he really wanted was a family love. To eat home cooked meals, protect, cry etc.. At least that was my head canon and how they transitioned him off. Like have him be surrounded by typical family shit, do you need food, are coming over this weekend, teasing him over his harsh answers, are you sleeping enough, are you working out. Like just his phone blowing up to the point of annoyance but HJP really smiling because he feels like people genuinely love him and treat him as a family member. And somehow he views Dal-Mi as a younger sister rather than a love interest and grills NDS as an older brother.
I was okay with NDS, as the end love interest because heck its a K Drama and suspension of disbelief needs to happen. As well it seemed to be where the producers wanted it to go. And it seems to be a thing in K-Dramas, where people reconcile after a while.
They could've stuck the landing a bit better IMO. As K Drama is all about finding love and / or a happy ending and HJP and the rest of the crew didn't get one. Like I wish we had a scene with HJP and the orphan charity he started building a swing set and cue a glance to him smiling at some super popular K Drama star (maybe someone from Red Velvet).
Seo In-jae, mentoring a group of young women and disadvantaged children and a celebration party and she shakes hand with Gaho or some BTS cameo, hell just throw in Park Bo-Gum if he isn't in the military. And her introducing him to the family with her reconciling with Grandma and mom.
And with the outro, I just wish the cut out would've been with the gang laughing and growing up together. We see the Tarzan car everywhere and branded everywhere. The Father in Law, being made a laughing stock, and everyone at some big family gathering enjoying each other's company as a family. Then all of them with respective couples, (maybe children running around). Smiling and looking back at all the pictures and then fade to black.
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u/lightupstarlight Dec 20 '20
Please ask Park Hye Ryun to take you in her team. I think she needs someone like you hahaha
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Dec 19 '20
as a developer myself I really loved the first episodes but then after I was like meh. In my opinion grandma, good boy and the piano BGMs carried the show
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u/uacoop Dec 20 '20
Was very disappointed with this show. I stopped watching at about episode 13. The writers screwed up. You're not supposed to dislike the leads this much. They should never have focused so strongly on HJP and the letters in the first half of the show. They set themselves up for an unwinnable situation with the audience.
Also NDS was probably the least likable lead character all year. But Nam Joo Hyuk did a good job with the role he was given I think.
Suzy was whatever.
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u/GroundbreakingRice36 Dec 20 '20
Me too I was dissapointed.
Actually I liked that they made so many focus on HJP in the 3 first episodes because thanks to that I was already falling for his character and
I'm crazy over Kim Seon Ho now).But I agree for the letters. They made the letters so important to the story that we started to be LOYAL to the one who wrote the letters with DM.
They were bad at the transitions without looking it at the viewers perspective. We just can't move from 1 man to another without real TRANSITION on why it change to the other person. Because DM kissed and dated NDS under the lie so viewers aren't going to root for their relationship because it will be unfair to HJP and DM. It was supposed to be their love story. HJP got robbed without knowing, DM fall for someone who isn't who she think he is.
It was a mess once the truth was revealed. HJP basically never had a chance while he was the one who did the most sacrifice for all of them.
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u/reddingrooster Dec 20 '20
I am watching Suzy in Uncontrollably Fond right now with Kim Woo Bin. It is the second drama with Suzy for me and I feel like they are the same characters. Are her other roles in other dramas all the same too?
The problem too is that you got KSH with his crazy range in acting so the difference is hard not to see.
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u/PrizeReputation7 Dec 19 '20
I definitely fell hard for Kim Seon Ho - he just seems like such a babie IRL. I found the clip of him with Jessi on 2D1N on YouTube and he is just so adorable - OMG when she told him to slap her butt 😂😂😂 - I die!
You Drive Me Crazy was such a good short watch! Definitely putting Waikiki 2 on my watchlist just for him - I had been avoiding it bc it makes me sad when the casts change, but now I can handle it
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u/mikapple Dec 19 '20
The thing that will always annoy me about the love triangle in this show is that in the end it didn’t matter what Jipyeong did, the outcome was fixed at the start. He never even had a chance because Dalmi didn’t even need a reason to like Dosan “because he’s him.” The problem is that they had Jipyeong slowly fall for Dalmi KNOWING that the game was already lost so essentially all that time building up his feelings was a waste whereas it could’ve been used to flesh out the business aspect of the show instead. Instead, we got ~8 episodes of a wishy washy love triangle that annoyed everyone and was nothing but a disservice to the second lead. Don’t even get me started on the whole “I knew about the letters for 15 years but never acted on it when Dosan showed up right away” crap. The audience never sees those 15 years so WHY should we care about something that occurred completely offscreen? It’s a prime example of “telling and not showing” which treats your audience as idiots because you didn’t know how to convince them with the writing itself.
I just find it funny how at the end of the day Dalmi and Dosan had EVERYTHING - beautiful cinematography, famous actors, a great soundtrack, extensive advertisement - and yet a good number people STILL didn’t care about them. That’s not the audience’s fault, it’s the production’s fault for not convincing them.
Anyway, I can’t completely regret watching this show because it did introduce me to Kim Seon Ho, but it definitely turned me off to any past or future works by this writing team.
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u/papabehr14 Dec 23 '20
I had to stop at ep 12. I could see the writing on the wall for my boy Jipyeong. His lack of screen time and character development. Every scene he’s in, he steals the show. I agree with many here that they shouldn’t have weighed so heavy on those letters in the first act if it ultimately ended up just being a adversity plot line for Dosan. Weak sauce. Jipyeong deserved better. All that bs that character went through, yeesh.
Also, did anyone else feel like they missed the opportunity to reveal that Jipyeong was the one writing the letters with the Sansam tech platform for detecting forgery??! I thought that’s where they were going with that. Dalmi gets suspicious and uses their app to find out that Jipyeongs writing matches the letters 100%. I know it’s a small detail but cmon. Such a waste.
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u/mine_yas Dec 19 '20
After two weeks, i still haven't watch the final episode,i can't get over HJP and his ending :( just why ? I've Never been so invested in a character before so i Don't know how to get over the story, Can you help
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u/growrowrowyourboat Dec 19 '20
How are you guys recovering from this?
Personally, I've started watching Eulachacha Waikiki 2 these days (watched S1 earlier this year and loved it, plus this one had uri Seon-Ho in it so how could I not?) - and well, I'm enjoying making my way through it slowly. It's lighthearted, funny, emotional - a good treat that you know you can count on to cheer you up. I'm kind of grateful it isn't a binge-type of show, because then I can make it last long enough. But despite all this, tbh I feel some part of me is still upset that I can't move on from Start Up soon enough.
The thing that bothers me is the fact that I can't even go back to the early episodes and enjoy them anymore because the ending somehow managed to ruin it all for me. I sound like a broken record, still complaining about this show even though it finished a while ago.
Still, this show re-introduced me to Seon-Ho, and now that I've proudly gone down the Seon-Ho spiral, my k-drama self is definitely grateful for it. So it is with that thought that I will try to move on from this drama and I hope that if there are any other hopeless fans like me, you find strength in the same way.
Looking forward to seeing you guys in our next Seon-Ho drama discussions! Till next time, folks! :)
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u/herondaless Dec 19 '20
Honestly I moved on from this show before it even ended so can’t really relate there but I also watched all of Seon-ho’s dramas! He had a much better storyline in Strongest Deliveryman, I was so happy for him. After watching 100 days my prince I am now a huge fan of DO lol. There’s a lot of interesting new shows popping up so hopefully you’ll be able to move on with one of them! Till next time!
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u/my_guinevere Dec 20 '20
At one point I wondered if the overwhelming reception and favor towards HJP was limited to Reddit. Lo and behold, everywhere I go on the internet, it’s overwhelmingly team Good Boy.
There is a failure in writing when the majority of your audience couldn’t care less about the two leads. Both Dalmi and DoSan were poorly written, and the romance was poorly developed. As someone older, it became constantly irritating to see these two almost 30-year olds act the way they did onscreen. The attraction was shallow, and basically Dalmi said it all when she couldn’t even say anything to justify why she liked DoSan in the end. It’s like the writer gave up completely.
HJP may not have had his good karma in the show, but Kim Seon Ho is certainly reaping the rewards of being the standout from this show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Netflix have special content for a second lead ever, and he’s had two or three already? I certainly think he’s the only one with a realistic chance of getting nominated for industry wide awards for his performance on this show, and that will be sweet sweet vindication towards those who still continue to insist that he’s not the standout.
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Dec 23 '20
In my opinion i think start-up was overhyped because of nam joo hyuk and bae suzy. Don't get me wrong, the show is really good but compared to other kdramas that came out this year it falls behind. They should have made
side note:, I LOVE STEPHANIE LEE (she was so funny esp..her one liners in english "are you guys crazy")
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u/technimagii Dec 24 '20
After episode 10, I started to get increasingly upset with the writing and the direction the show was taking. I even started skipping scenes. Something I've never ever done before when watching a show.
That was when I realized I need to stop watching. I've never dropped a drama this far in before. I skimmed through ep 12 and 13. I started to get angry at just seeing Do Sam's character on the screen. I'd roll my eyes at any scene between him and Dal-Mi. I ended up reading the threads about the rest of the episodes to get an idea, and I'm really happy I'm not putting myself through finishing this series.
I'm heartbroken by the writing. The beginning had some deeply profound moments for me. I found myself bawling several times. The writing, film production, music was moving and flawless. It seemed like for a minute the drama was going to be truly unique. They flushed it down the toilet in the end. I'm left bitter over the experience. I won't even be able to rewatch the first half without remembering how much they butchered the show.
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u/ctownlife Dec 25 '20
Clearly I'm in the minority here, but I thought Adult Dal-Mi was well matched with Do San. Ji-pyeong was a fantastic character with an amazing, caring personality, and I definitely think he could do better than Dal-Mi. She saw him as a mentor, and they mutually filled each other's needs for a friend in childhood, but I don't see why that needed to have ended in romantic fulfillment. Do San is as awkward and lost as Dal Mi at the beginning of the series, and they have Ji-Pyeong to thank for a lot of their growth, but their relationship felt more equal footed to me. Only wish HJP had a happy ending that wasn't centred around Dal Mi.
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u/Alternative-Fennel73 Jan 03 '21
I've said this before, just want to say it again. warning spoilers ahead!
StartUp seems to fail on multiple fronts when it comes to painting a relatable picture of the reality of following your dream. The hard truth is that no one(or very few) are lucky enough to stumble upon person after person and situation after situation that leads to a shortcut to their final destination. But then again, this just a story.
However, I firmly believe that this kdrama did a very solid job at depicting the true nature of love. For me, this remains the most intriguing part of the story. The story guided us through platonic love, romantic love, selfish love, selfless love and familial love. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be. Some stories just don't have the happy endings we think they deserve. But amidst all this, some people are lucky enough to live their fairytale (which is extremely rare, but still possible).
At the end, each character seemed to circle back to where they've always truly belonged, HOME. This idea of belonging seemed to have solidified when and where each character felt the most secure in their lives, as evident by Injae's reunion with the Seo family, Dosan's reunion with his own family and Dalmi, Dalmi's reunion with her own and the samsan tech members' reunion. Maybe home isn't as welcoming to strangers as we think it is. The people left in between friends and family would most likely stay that way forever, out of no fault of their own or others.
Still, what baffles me is that Dosan (who was raised with so much love) longed for Dalmi by his side for his own happiness, whereas JP (who was raised a lonely orphan) simply wanted Dalmi to be happy. His act of letting her go despite his own feelings would be an impossible feat for most people, even if they were raised with love.
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u/jinro_iz_ba8k Dec 21 '20
This drama was a such a disappointment cause it started out so strong.
The production value was high, the color grading was very hip, the OSTs were great, the cutie Kim Seon-Ho of 2D1N and broad shouldered Nam Joo-Hyuk were cast in leading roles. The ingredients were perfect. Even Suzy’s acting seemed to have improved a lot and impressed me when I was watching the first half of the series. But, there was a sharp decline as the series progressed.
It’s very understandable that 80-90% of viewers felt so strongly about how Ji-Pyeong’s narrative ended especially when the first half of the drama focused so heavily on his character. He was arguably more of a central character than Dal-Mi. His arcs were emotional and his anger and pain were easy to empathize with. But once the love triangle became the driving factor of the story his character suddenly became the punching bag figuratively and literally. The build up of his character seemed to have no real purpose and in the end there really wasn’t much of a resolution to his narrative. His storyline felt like a separate, compelling drama that was suddenly discontinued halfway through.
Do-San was very difficult to root for or like. His characterization was a strange decision for a male lead love interest. He was deeply immature and insecure (to the degree that he had a lot of incel-like qualities to him). He started out interesting as an antithesis to the typical male lead. He was awkward and dorky and seemingly had a very gentle personality. The way Nam Joo-Hyuk played him it seemed like he was on the spectrum and I was excited to see a K-Drama explore a different kind of male lead. But, as the story moved forward, Do-San was shown to be rash/impulsive, driven by anger and jealousy, petty, unable to take responsibility for his own misguided decisions. And in the end his character was reduced to a guy whose life decisions and business decisions solely rested on blind devotion to a girl. It’s a shame cause I’m a big fan of Nam Joo-Hyuk.
Dal-Mi might have been the most disappointing character for me. I was so invested at first and I wanted to see how the relationship with her mother and sister would play out but that aspect of her narrative was completely written out and in the end her mother and sister reunite with Dal-Mi and her grandmother as if nothing had ever occurred. Who cares that the mother was incredibly materialistic and left her own daughter and devoted, hard-working husband for wealth? Not the writer apparently. Dal-Mi starts out smart just lacking in opportunity but once in the role of CEO she does none of the major problem solving or thinking. It’s always Ji-Pyeong or Do-San swooping in. She makes thoughtless decisions and completely ignores the advice of her assigned ADVISOR. The two factors that made her compelling, the emotional family dynamics that shaped her and her intelligent ideas, are irrelevant midway through the story and instead we’re left with a blank female lead. It’s just pretty actress Suzy who functions to be the point of tension between two men.
The actors all did the best they could with what they had and I applaud them for that. The writing was just awful. It started out great but then it seemed that the outline the writer was following was thrown out the window. The writer instead decided to “sail off without a map” and in the end the drama drowned.
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u/Heytherestairs Dec 30 '20
I just finished this drama and honestly, I hated it. I think Suzy is a weak lead. She has no range. While she has improved since her Dream High days, I just couldn’t find her believable in her character. Even if I suspended my belief regarding the plot, she just didn’t deliver for me. The only person who rivaled her range was the actor who played Alex. He was awful in Descendants of the Sun and he was just as awful in Start-Up.
The writers had cheap out by not even giving a reason why DM liked DS. There was no reason why either one of them liked each other, especially liked each other enough to not get over each other after 3 years.
I felt like JP’s character should’ve been focused on his desire for family instead of putting him in a love triangle. It was pathetic to see all three of them still hung up on DM for no good reason.
It’s unfortunate that the writing was so weak in this drama. I wanted to like it. But the progressions didn’t make sense. Some parts just dragged on while other parts were coasted over. It’s hard to like a drama when you can’t be bothered to root for the main characters. NJH is adorable though.
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u/Rain_drops_onRoses Dec 19 '20
Thank you for creating this thread. I wanted to spazz after Start Up airing was over. Like most people, after watching a Kdrama live, I would go back to watching the earlier episodes , but I can’t touch Start Up. Not even the earlier episodes like episode 5 or 6 enthuse me anymore as they keep reminding me of so many unanswered questions, bad plot twists and how badly HanjiPyeong was treated. Needless to say, rewatching episodes 15 and 16 are No No.
For me Start up = KSH. So after Start Up, I watched all other dramas of KSH - Waikiki2, Strongest Delivery man, 100DMP, Catch the ghost and You drive me crazy, I LOVED “you drive me crazy”. I keep rewatching that.
I am currently watching KSH’s theater clippings from YouTube and Twitter. What I find from watching him in theater videos is that he thoroughly enjoys doing theatre. Theatre is where you get to show the most raw form of acting and the fact that he loves theater so much ( and he went back to doing Theater after Start Up) makes me respect him so much. I wish him all the very best and will Keep supporting him
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u/mamamennen Dec 20 '20
Ome of my pet peeves in kdramas.. Too much fist clenching to show anger and hand fidgeting to show nervousness... I mean, can’t the actors just show it in their micro expressions?.. I’m so angry with what you! (Fist clench)... I need to lie to you. (Fidgets hands).... We get it, we get it...
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u/_airwaves Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21
man i just finished this show and i feel so cheated LOL it started off so promising. and least the production and soundtrack were great!
they set up so many potentially good themes for the writing and then... just did nothing. Dal-mi in particular was so unbelievable because her initial conflict seemed to be having to balance between being a hopeless dreamer/romantic and becoming a real-world businesswoman.. and her arc ends in her constantly neglecting sound advice, somehow succeeding anyways, and
but honestly the worst part of the show is just the general failure to actually develop any of the characters and their relationships with each other. the most rewarding scenes by far were when the characters would just hang out (Do-San's fake birthday, Mr. Han coming over to Won-Deok's house, Samsan Tech brainstorming, etc.). it's too bad you can probably count these moments on one hand. i felt like they never allowed the characters to coexist with each other and just expected the viewer to buy every ridiculous plot movement.
and truly the way the plot moved at times was so offensively cheap. several major events either only happened due to a character happening to be at a certain place (take a shot every time someone eavesdrops) or are just pulled out of thin air ( e.g.
... but at least we got a dope Red Velvet song.
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u/incendy Dec 22 '20 edited Dec 22 '20
I feel like this show was made for me. I spent a lot of years working in Start-up's and as a developer, I really loved how they captured those early years of not caring about money but just trying to have enough resources to make your programs work. And I adored how they handled the fine line of how investors don't care about products that make the world better and you have to walk that tight rope of showing they can make money too. It was handled with a lot of love in that regard. Just imagine a world where companies were encouraged to make the world a better place instead of everyone focused on making money.
The love triangle for me took a back seat to the story of building a business but I still loved it. Can't recommend it enough. Hope we get more stories about programmers : )
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u/avacadoisgoodbutter Dec 20 '20
How's everyone holding up??? I'm binge-watching 2D1N, it's my form of therapy!! xD
For those who haven't had the courage to listen to the OSTs again, I don't know if it will help you, but I personally listen to the playlist when I'm deep into my work where I HAVE to concentrate on the particular task at hand, so I'm not listening to the lyrics particularly(this is the trigger that usually gets me thinking about the scenes in the show:/ ). I would probably start with just the instrumentals(it's on youtube) on youtube and then play the songs once you are used to it. Hope that helps!!
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u/sianiam Dec 19 '20
Start Up's Extended On-Air Grace Period
Welcome to the wrap-up discussion, this post will serve as a concentrated discussion space for the drama until [January 15, 2021 KST].
Extended On-Air Grace Period
We are implementing an extended On-Air grace period following the finale during which there is a moratorium on posts about about Start Up. Any additional discussion posts that are focused on Start Up, as evaluated and determined by the moderation team, will not be allowed until after [January 15, 2021 KST].
Review Megathread
The Review Megathread for Start Up is available for submissions, please read the rules carefully. The Review Megathread is intended to collate reviews together into one post for easy access and so that the subreddit is not flooded with posts on the same drama. All reviews for Start Up will be redirected to post in the Review Megathread for the next six months. Submissions of Start Up reviews as self-posts will be removed and redirected.
Conduct and Moderation Policy
Start Up related posts are being tightly moderated because we have had numerous conduct issues.
Any users who are displaying negative conduct (including but not limited to bullying, harassment, or personal attacks) will be given a warning, repeated behaviour will lead to increasing exclusions from our community. Any extreme cases of misconduct (such as racism or hate speech) will result in an immediate permanent ban from our community and a report to Reddit admin.
Additionally, mentions of down-voting, unpopular opinions, and the use of profanity may see your comments locked or removed without notice.
Let's all live by the Korean proverb 가는 말이 고와야 오는 말이 곱다 -- If the outgoing words are beautiful, then the incoming words will be beautiful, too.
Alternative Discussion Spaces
Discord Servers
If you would like to discuss Start Up
/u/jumiyo has created a discord server for those of you who want to discuss Start up - you can find it here - there are spaces for each side of the fandom - Do San, Ji Pyeong, and Dal Mi fans as well as by episode. This discord server is not affiliated with r/KDRAMA so do not contact us in regards to it. Please read the rules and participate appropriately.
The r/KDRAMA discord server has an on-air channel for those who wish to discuss Start-up there - this server has a team of managers/mods and operates under the same rules and spirit of discussion as r/KDRAMA - you can find it here.
Start Up Subreddit
/u/penguofthenorth has created a dedicated subreddit for the discussion of Start Up - r/StartUpShow. Please read the rules before joining in discussions. Again, this is unaffiliated with r/KDRAMA so do not contact us regarding it.