Start-Up 스타트업 - Review

Title: Start-Up 스타트업

Genre: Business, Romantic Comedy, Youth

Release: 2020

Starring (Main Cast): 

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

Director: Oh Choong Hwan

Writer: Park Hye Ryun

IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Audience Rating: 4.4/5

MyDramaList Rating: 8.1/10

MyDramaList Synopsis: Click Here

Watch with Subscription on Netflix: Start-Up 

Episodes: 16 Episodes (abt. 1 hr and 25 min each)

Content Rating: PG-13

Violence/blood: fist fighting

Sexual Content: Hugging, kissing

Language: Mild - Some language use in the translation I watched

Ending: Happy

Synopsis

This story follows the lives of four people with a connection to each other from the past. As these young adults work to navigate life and the struggles of starting up their own businesses, they also work to hide the truth of those past events in an attempt to protect the memories of one young woman. But, when those memories start affecting her decision making, and clues start her questioning them, will the truth come out?

Trailer

My Review: 7/10

It was incredibly difficult to write a synopsis for this story. For many reasons, but mostly due to plot. There was more than one dominant plotline in this drama. There was the plot of Sandbox, and the fight to start a business and get investments. There was the plotline of the past... a young man and his hurt, and the girl who he writes to. And then there was the lie that started small and grew to be incredibly and unnecessarily huge. And connected to that, the main love plot, etc. 

Anyway... I watched this one with my hopes high. I really wanted to like this one for the sake of Kim Seon Ho, who is a favorite actor of mine. However, the story, in my opinion, was not salvageable by a good cast. Yes, again I am going against some decent ratings to have my own opinion. Though, I have found from other reviews, I am definitely not alone in my thoughts.

The best way I can sum this up is to say, that it was like watching a bunch of children play adult, with a few actual adults sprinkled in. However, the good advice of the adults was disregarded and the recklessness of the children somehow almost always put them ahead. Who really cares about how businesses work anyway? Who needs a map or a plan?  As long as emotions are steering the wheel, right? In addition to all that, multiple little side plots were also added via side characters. Unfortunately, I think the writer got herself a little overwhelmed by all of them and decided that a sudden 3 year jump in time was the best way to get rid of them. Some things that changed felt like they shouldn't have, and some I felt should have changed over those three years, didn't. 

To be honest, I began to have déjà vu as I watched one good idea after another turn into nothing, and surprise elements show up as if the writer suddenly had an inspiration they had to cram in. And then I realized... it is the same writer and director as While You Were Sleeping. And I had some of these exact same feelings watching that. Except this one was much more stressful. Mainly because it had two of my least favorite story tropes... one, the frustrating love triangle where I actually like the love-loser better, and two, a big lie hovering over everyone just waiting to burst open and ruin everything. And let me just say, that the shear volume of lying that goes on in this drama surpasses any other drama I have ever watched.

So, you may be wondering why, after this type of intro, I have given it the high rating of 7/10. Well... I will admit that it is probably for the mere fact that this drama included Kim Seon Ho as the character of Han Ji Pyeong, and his beautiful story with Grandma, which was the highlight of the drama and the only reason I kept watching.

Main Characters

Seo Dal Mi

Bae Suzy plays the character of Seo Dal Mi. I have watched her once before in the drama While You Were Sleeping. This writer and director apparently love this actress since they again chose her for their drama. If you have read my review on While You Were Sleeping you will know I wasn't super impressed by Suzy. I do think she did better here, but really her character wasn't much different from the one she played before. I think she has a lot of potential, and I am trying not to to mix the flaws from her written character with the actress herself.

As for her character... she is a very odd mix. In one corner she is confident and states often that she never regrets a decision she makes and we can see her making strong moves here and there. But, that personality is mixed in with her emotional dependence on a boy she was pen pals with 15 years in the past. And, her ability to function is most often tied to this. She has strange expectations and delusions regarding this guy to the point that it has affected her entire life. For a person who never regrets her decisions she makes an awful lot of them based on her emotions, which generally causes bad decision making. She was likeable overall, but I had a hard time relating to the variations in her character.

Nam Do San

Nam Joo Hyuk played the awkward main lead character of Nam Do San. He is another pretty popular actor, so I was familiar with him prior to seeing this one. I felt he did fine with his character. I wasn't overly wowed by his acting, but I think he did well enough with the type of character he had to play. Again, I had to separate the writing from the actor and remind myself that the flaws were probably not his fault. This is my first time seeing him act, but I do  have another of his dramas on my to watch list so I hope to get a better idea of his ability from that one.

As far as his character, he was one of my least favorite. He was a weak character with little to no strengths other than his ability to program AI. An extreme genius in that area but when it came to anything else he had no intelligence whatsoever. I understand the "absent-minded professor" idea. I grew up with a genius father who was absent-minded... but not like this. There is a difference between absent-mindedness and being totally clueless. On top of that, he lied a lot, and the majority of his issues were his own fault (stemming from his tendency to lie), but yet he was the most likely to wallow in self-pity. Which he did a lot. He was the most child-like of the "children" in this drama and I struggled to find something to really like about him.

Han Ji Pyeong

Kim Seon Ho played one of the few "adult" roles in this drama. I could see pretty early on why people latched on to him and his character. He was like the life-preserver on a sinking ship. I don't think I say this with any bias. The man is a good actor. Plain and simple. He can play all the emotions and for a character as broken as Han Ji Pyeong, Kim Seon Ho was the perfect cast. He did an excellent job and as always, he stood out in his role and made himself everyone's favorite character. Incredible acting.

After episode one, you get the impression that he is the main male lead, as the whole episode is dedicated to his and the main female lead's backstory. Thus, we already start out with his character ahead. He is the "Good Boy" who we sympathize with and our hearts break for. He struggled against his circumstances to be where he is. He is intelligent and has good common sense. He is also blunt and straight forward with his advice, a trait the "children" of the drama don't like. He is such a positive contrast to the main male lead, it is hard to see the sense in the direction they took. He was a deep character, and so much loved that he earned the "Best Character of the Year" award. Much deserved, in my opinion.

Won In Jae

Kang Han Na played the beautiful Won In Jae. She was the sister of our main female lead. I have seen this actress once before in Familiar Wife. I thought she did a great job with her role. She has a commanding presence that she used to her fullest here and it served her character well. Her emotions weren't stretched over far so I don't know how she would perform in other roles, but what was needed for this character she brought to it. I would love to see more of her in future dramas.

The character of Won In Jae was not very likable at first. And, maybe some may never like her much, but after time I personally begin to realize that she was one of the few "adults" in the drama. She was intelligent and really did know business. She and her sister immediately butt heads with their reunion and at first I stood with Dal Mi, but eventually this character's strength and intelligence started just making Dal Mi look like a petty girl out trying to best her older sister. Won In Jae grew on me and she was one of the few strong characters in the drama.

Nam Do San and Seo Dal Mi

To be honest, I had a hard time getting into the relationship between these two. It was obvious really early on that this was the direction the writer was going to take. Dal Mi, was thoroughly obsessed with the past character of her old pen pal, Nam Do San (who was not actually this Nam Do San), that she is already ready to jump head first into a relationship with this man regardless of the fact that it is 15 years in the future and this guy is nothing like the Nam Do San in the letters. And of course, Nam Do San is more than happy to jump in knowing he is not the one, but is happy he can benefit from the lies and his false past (which seems to be a habit for him). However, it is awkward because he is entirely clueless about everything, including love.

After once stating she prefers the past Nam Do San from the letters, and then concluding her favorite thing about the current one is is hands, we continue on in this relationship. She surprises him with a passionate kiss, which was a pretty one and I am sure had a lot of girls squealing in delight. However, as we come to the end of the drama the question of why she likes Nam Do San is still unanswerable, not only by the viewers but also by the character of Dal Mi. In all honesty, I was hoping for an answer other than "because I do" so that I could make it make sense. Did the writer get to this point and ask herself this same question? As far as chemistry, they did have their moments that were quite sweet, but, for me, the moments were too much overshadowed by the lies and the weaknesses in their characters.

Support Character(s)

Choi Won Deok

Kim Hae Sook played Choi Won Deok who was one of the best characters in the drama. Her story with Han Ji Pyeong was the highlight of the drama for a good majority of watchers (based on reviews). She was kind and caring, and her heart for the lonely Han Ji Pyeong gave us so many warm and heart-wrenching moments. She did an incredible job with her character and the family chemistry she had with Kim Seon Ho was so very real. She did a beautiful job, and is an amazing actress. I have also recently had the pleasure of watching her act in Hospital Playlist 1 & 2, where she played another beautiful character. I hope to have the opportunity to see her act many times more.

Lee Cheol San and Kim Yong San

Yoo Soo Bin and Kim Do Wan played our main male lead's side kicks. As they seemed almost equally important, I felt they deserved a mention. Funny enough, I started out liking one and really disliking the other, but by the end the two had switched places for me. Still these two placed among the "children" of the drama, though one of them was bordering on adulthood. Coincidently, I happen to start watching Crash Landing on You at the same time as this and discovering that they both cast Yoo Soo Bin. I think the fact that I love his character in this other drama may also have helped me like him more in this one. Both did a good job acting in this. The variations in their characters I blame on the writing. 

Conclusion

Sadly, I must conclude that this drama is probably not one that I would recommend, unless it is in support of Kim Seon Ho. Of course, like Heirs and While You Were Sleeping (my other low rated dramas) many people gave this a high rating. So, while I found it lacking, differences in preferences may make this a hit for you. I have found that sometimes I agree with high ratings, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I disagree with low ratings. Different people like different things, so I am always open to other opinions and never want to force my own on anyone else. 

Awards Won

Start-Up - 2021 - Outstanding Korean Drama (Seoul International Drama Awards)

Bae Suzy - 2020 - Actress of the Year (Korea First Brand Awards) - 2021 - Outstanding Korean Actress (Seoul International Drama Awards)

Kim Seon Ho - 2021 - Most Popular Actor (Baeksang Arts Awards); Character of the Year (Seoul International Drama Awards)

OST

This drama definitely had a great list of OSTs. One of which was sung by the main female lead, Bae Suzy.

My Dear Love by Bae Suzy

Because there were so many good OSTs I had a hard time choosing favorites but finally narrowed it down to these two:

My Love by Davichi

Dream by Jamie

안녕! - 줄스