Start-Up (2020)

Great set up and horrible pay off

I don't know that I have ever been more frustrated by the trajectory of a show in my life. I want to be clear, I am a Nam Joo Hyuk fan. I've watched mediocre dramas for that man, and I think he's a great actor. That being said, this writer absolutely failed him and the plot in every way imaginable.

Story - 4/10 - the first 8 episodes of this show deserve a 9/10, but the back half a 2/10.

This is a tale of two halves. The writer does beautiful work in the early episodes setting up plot points and themes and then refuses to pay them off or actually pays them off in reverse. It's BIZARRE. To avoid being too spoilery, I'll address some of my story concerns via the characters:

Nam Do San is supposed to be our male lead. In the beginning, I found him interesting and pitiable. He was quiet and awkward and leapt at the opportunity to feel important/successful - and then as that fed into his imposter syndrome, he decided to seek out that success on his own. This could have been a really interesting journey. However, as the show goes along, these goals just fade away as he becomes singularly focused on winning Seo Dal Mi. His decisions are about her almost entirely, and he acts petulant toward HJP. My issue is that he's not compelling as the male lead at all. Everything happens for him like magic without him necessarily working for it. He barely struggles, and when he does, those 'struggles' are short lived. Additionally, the writer gives him a series of negative character traits. He is violent and shown to have a temper that flares to actual violence multiple times, but he never is punished for it. Seo Dal Mi doesn't chastise him, and he is saved from legal ramifications. He also stalks Seo Dal Mi and ignores her requests. It's borderline abusive boyfriend behavior, and the story never comments on it. Are we supposed to take this as romantic? It's not.

Han Ji Pyeong is the "second male lead", but the writer wrote herself into a corner by opening the show with him. He's absolutely the most fleshed out, interesting, and empathetic character in the show. He's an orphan who worked relentlessly to achieve success. And even though his negative character trait is supposed to be that he's a little short/direct/rude with people, his actual actions bely a really kind soul. He'll tell the Sam Sam guys that their company sucks while quietly keeping it afloat in the background. How is he treated by the story for this? He is punished over and over and over again for his selfless actions, and the other characters (who are almost uniformly selfish) treat him like garbage. It's... unbelievable that I'm supposed to care for anyone other than him.

Seo Dal Mi started the show so charming and as it went became such a non-entity to me. She was so forward and driven and then as the romance with NDS kicks into high gear, she spends the whole show basically just reacting to him and forgiving him. The show completely loses who she's supposed to be. I will never understand how she went from turning down ANY man for 15 years because of the "Nam Do San" who wrote her beautiful letters to having absolutely zero interest in the actual man who wrote them. She has no curiosity about him. This COULD make sense if the writer made an effort to explain it, but she just doesn't. SDM just stops really caring about the letters and never really looks at HJP or goes into detail about the connection they had. The only way they sever it is by having HJP himself just give her an excuse like "I should have come calling for you". Maybe, but that doesn't explain why she just stopped caring about the boy who wrote her years ago when it defined her life for so long. It's so inconsistent.

I started out absolutely in love with this drama, and I just cannot understand what the writer was thinking. It could have been so much better if they actually focused on the business aspect of the show and made the characters grow in that way - NDS learning how to grow up (and not like.. punch people bc he's ~angwy~) and have his OWN dreams; SDM becoming a great businesswoman not just because she wants to beat her sister; the Sam Sam guys also maturing - and HJP slowly opening his heart to discover a found family. Instead almost none of the characters had any discernible growth (other than HJP kinda with the sweet ending scene with Halmeoni), and they drew out the love triangle in absolutely bonkers ways. In reality, the true romance and interesting story of this show is Han Ji Pyeong, the orphan, finding a family with the kindly grandmother in the neighborhood and how they find their way back to each other - to home. The leads just feel like a distraction to THAT story which - it shouldn't feel that way!

Acting - I will say I found all the actors did perfectly serviceable to outstanding (Kim Seon Ho was outstanding. I look forward to seeing him get lead work after how much he popped off from this). That coupled with the high production values and good music are why I've rated it as high as I have because if it was based on the story alone, this wouldn't pass the 5 barrier for me.

I'm just at a loss. This show could have been great. I COULD have been invested in the lead couple, but I wasn't. The vast majority of the characters were just selfish, and the plot never punished them for it. And then the one character who is written to be selfless is punished over and over. It just made me mad. What did the writer want us to take away from this drama? There is no growth. No message. It's enraging.

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Wasted potential

This drama started with promising episodes I was ready to nominate as the best kdrama of 2020 alongside IOTNBO. But I was wrong… it went downhill afterwards, it was like the writer put so much effort in the first couple of episodes and just sail without the map in the later half.

The Pros :
- First episode, cinematography, & OST
Start-up first episode was hands down fantastic. I'd rather say it was the most beautiful episode of a kdrama that I watched. I was emotionally invested in the buildup plot, aesthetically pleasing cinematography, alongside with their solid OST. The nuance they built was painful yet lovely, everytime I played one of their OST, Day & Night I could picture Nam Da Reum's long gaze under the cherryblossom three.

- Acting
Despite of the characters, the actors has successfully pulled out their act. I can say that Suzy's acting had greatly improved from her last drama, I don't have to say anything about NJH, I already labelled him as a talented actor since The Light in Your Eyes. I discovered some talent like Kim Seon Ho, Kim Dwan, I already know Kim Hanna, but still she deserve all the recognition as an actress. Also kuddos for all cameos.

- Theme (or supposedly)
It's a fresh premise to have a potrayal of youth pursuing their dreams in startup industry. Well despite of falling flat in the later half of drama, I should appreciate the writer for bringing fresh idea.

- Jipyeong & Grandma
I think they're becoming the essence of the story, they have the purest kind of relationship. I cried most of their scene together. I'll never recover from how heartbroken I was seeing jipyeong suffer all alone from start to finish with only grandma bother to care about him. They're the best thing indeed from this drama.

The Cons :
Forgive me it's gonna be long since my disappointment overshadowed all the good traits from this drama. The biggest flop of the show was the character development. I've never disliked the main lead so much like this one.

- Character development
Dalmi was introduced as a strong, independent female character. I never liked it that she lose her independence to a guy. She transformed into more damsel in distress as the story went. It seems like she forget her determination to prove herself halfway and too invested with her romance with Dosan. For someone in their 27s, dalmi-dosan practically very unprofessional to involve their romance into their work. Weren't in the plot you dream of becoming someone like steve jobs, Dalmi-a? It's funny, when she knew dosan for only like 4 months.
Dosan was not your typical main lead, he was a kind, clumsy, naive nerd. At first he was a breath of fresh air. As the ML, we supposed to see how Dosan navigate his life and finding his dream, to grow and to be more likeable to the viewer. Unfortunately, he was still an immature whinning boy even after 15 episodes. He said he has nothing while in fact he has supportive family & friends. He has his brain but his every action only based on his blinded love for dalmi. He didn't want to pursue better opportunity because his dream was dalmi (?) Even after becoming rich, his purpose was what? becoming dalmi's trophy?
Jipyeong on the other hand carried this show. He was written so beautifully he outshine the ML. He was not perfect either, at first I thought he was a coward for not confessing his action to Dalmi. But I wonder how hard it was for him who get used to being alone to realize his feeling, he undoubtedly built a high wall around him when it comes to relationship. He overcome his weakness faster than everyone, and be more straightforward about it. So in my opinion, he did grow.
The most developed character was surprisingly Youngsan, He realized his mistake and bravely admit to the ones he hurt out of anger in the past. Funny when a side character development 10x times better than the main leads.

- Toxic love triangle
They're dragging the love triangle for too long we have nothing left to watch instead of the main lead crying over and over again. They should've spent the time building the reconciliation in seo family instead, or they could've more invested in the business plot. Honestly I don't find the love between main lead healthy tho, I see dosan's jealous streak & inferiority were mostly triggered by his obsession over dalmi. Their relationship started up from lies, flourishes with more lies. Dosan was asked to only become a stand in for one night, he had his chance to stop, yet he still pretending to be the guy from the letter. When he thought dalmi doesn't like him for he who he was, he didn't want to give back the letters, while in fact the letters are not his to begin with. Those negative side in dosan bothers me so much as a viewer.
If the writer want to use jipyeong as a bridge to dalmi-dosan, I think it's better to not create a love triangle, even if it has to, they should make equal opportunity for jipyeong. I think it's unfair how dalmi never recognize all the things jipyeong did for her & grandma. The writer always put dosan in the good light for Dalmi. But did dalmi ever aware how dosan was the one who started the fight with jipyeong, how caring jipyeong to grandma, the money plant jipyeong took care, and noongil investment. It's strange too that the writer never made her curious about jipyeong even after she knew the lie. The letters supposed to mean so much to her. At least I want to know about the person who gave me comfort when my world was falling apart. Well, I'll never buy jipyeong-dalmi resolution in the last episode.
This drama love story was nonsense after all.

I may be biased, but whatever. I can't swallow my disappointment. I regret that this drama was a wasted potential.

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Romance Conquers Logic. Yikes

This pilot episodes of this show had raised expectations ti the viewers by a lot. However, somewhere after the first four episodes, it started becoming draggy. Episodes 1-4 were the best and episodes 5-9, although not as excellent as the first four episodes are still great. This makes it the latter half of the show pale in comparison.

The business aspect in the first episodes were still emphasized although the romance is there. In the latter half of the show, don't expect this to be the case. The business aspect was sacrificed for the love triangle and business decisions always were affected by the romance.

The major problem is that this show sidelined the business aspect of the show and focused on the love triangle. The poor execution if the love triangle is the reason why a lot feel very frustrated. Dal Mi's confusion was only told by words and not actions. There was no chance given for the SML at all given the connection they had since they were young. The plot regarding their connection was even sidelined for four episodes after revealing the lie for the sake of establishing ML and FL convenience. Even cliche tropes from pre-2010 KDramas were used just to establish their relationship.

What baffles me the most is how too much optimism beats being realistic. In business, too much optimism leads to failure but of course, it magically works in this drama lol.

This show has so much done injustice to the SML. He eas purely used as a catalyst for the ML and FL romance to the point that even his backstory was used to the advantage of the ML. You cannot blame the viewers why they're very frustrated with this show. This show has had its glorious moments in writing which went downhill by a landslide when they started focusing on the love "triangle" which wasn't a triangle at all given how much plot armor was given to the ML.

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Promising story turned into a bummer

Judging from the title, I expect this drama will be like Rich Man Poor Woman J-Drama, which depicts the story of actual Start-Up life and the conflict people within it. Which turns out.. Wrong.. Pilot episode is different from what I expect..

Rather than focusing to the foundation of business motivation in the Pilot Episode, the story focus to build up second male lead and female lead connection, through letter. Moving on episode 2, it's become more clear that this story will focus more on romance rather than actual start up life.
Otherwise, I will write the review from my experience watching it:

- FIRST HALF (ep 1-8)
Although the story consist of 80% drama/romance, 20% actual startup insight, this is quite enjoyable story up to episode 8. As viewers, you will be divided into rooting for Male Lead (DS) or Second Lead (JP), which makes this drama so hype and popular at the time it's been airing. There's nothing wrong rooting for Male Lead or Second Lead, because triangle love has been main focus of this drama, and it's up to your preferences, which character you find more relatable.
Note:
I personally rooting for JP from the start, because I just can't stand the relationship start based on lies, whatever the reason behind.

- SECOND HALF (ep 9-14)
By the time the truth has been reveal to Female Lead (JP who actually wrote the letter, DS only pretend while he never knew Female Lead before),
This is the momentum to turned the table, make viewers rooting for Male Lead who will end up with Female Lead.
But the writing and the story have been failed miserably catching this opportunity.
Rather than make the DS more favorable Male Lead, instead they giving so many red flags to his action:
- Backstory about cheating during math olympiad
- Following and stalk Female Lead while she said she need space and time to think
- Saying the Female Lead is his dream, where there's no specific reason/trigger he fall in love with FL (rather than it's because FL is the first girl interest in him, and she's pretty - shallow, eh)
- Punching his mentor because the mentor stating the facts (as some people point out, DS might have anger management issue)

And for Second Male Lead, I think the writers are not intend to make the Second Male Lead more likeable at first, but the actor (Kim Seon Ho) who played JP doing outstanding job portraying the character. We see his character has been consistent in each episode and giving more impact whatever the story he's in.
Some action who let him win the viewers:
- How selfless he's being, when he intend to get the last letter and giving it to DS so the lie will prevail
- How he explain the lie to Female Lead, with not bringing down Male Lead, and rather he justify DS action (only fair play)
- How he confess in calmly yet professional manner
- The viewers know his backstory from episode 1, his relationship with the Grandma, and how lonely his life so far, which makes so many viewers rooting for his happiness (with or without the Female Lead)

From what I see, majority of the viewers are rooting for Second Lead from the progression and how the story been carried up to 14 episode. And up to episode 14, Female Lead not yet decide with whom she will end up with, which causing debate here and there (again make this drama more hype, which team are you?)

- THE ENDING (ep 15 -16)
This is the challenging part for the writers, how they gonna wrap up this mess because of the ongoing debate, and make it plausible ending?
To make DS end up with FL, they must giving the viewers clear reason in FL POV, but it's hard giving the condition, up to ep 14, almost none character growth for DS.
Or to make JP end up with FL, like majority the viewers want, and make this drama exceptional.

Again they failed miserably in handling the ending, which turned into.. A bummer..
The ending is one of the most absurd ending i've watched
- No clear reason why FL choose DS (rather than that cliche and lame reason)
- No resolution and character growth for DS, yet he get the girl because he is the Main Lead
- Almost no closure from JP and Female Lead relationship, JP even have to justify why Female Lead choose DS in their last scene, which most viewers don't buy it..

To close this review, if you are curious the hype of this drama, the story is nothing much except triangle love which dragging until the very last minute.
There is almost none morale of the story from this drama.

But I'm still glad i found this drama, cause from this drama I knew the amazing actor Kim Seon Ho exist.
I've watched his drama from Chief Kim, but he's not noticeable in there.
Here in Start-Up, his outshine other character, and It's safe to say Han Ji Pyeong will be the most memorable character in K-Drama history.

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hello i don't declare war

this drama basically went through what some kdramas go through; a curse.
it starts really great then after 6 or 10 episodes.... you're sat there wondering, "what the heck happened?"

truth be told, i actually enjoyed this at first. i loved seeing a female character standing up for herself, being independent and just overall a wholesome character. i could relate to her being chaotic when things were tough. just really great stuff.

i think what i'm bitter about is that i do not see any character development? at all? like yes they do sort of try to convince us, the viewers that such change has happened but i don't see it? after those glorious 10 episodes, it fell quite flat with no substance left to be milked. it is to the point that i fast forwarded the remaining few episodes because i was honestly bored with the main characters and wanted to see more of han ji pyung, grandma, the samsan tech trio, sa ha and cheolsan. in those remaining few episodes, i was looking for anything else to wake me up from the snooze town in which the main leads live in.

one bonus point is that the ost is absolutely lovely.

to sum it up, start up is not entirely a bad drama but it does fell short in terms of the way the story progressed.

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A window into the world of start-ups

This kdrama was a real emotional rollercoaster. First of all, I have to say is that Han Ji Pyeong IS SUPERMAN, A GENTLEMEN AND AN INCREDIBLE CHARACTER WHO DESERVES THE WORLD! He is the first drama second male lead that I have ever fallen in love with and I WILL CONTINUE TO LOVE HIM FOREVER AND ALWAYS! Kim Seon Ho did a marvellous job at portraying this character and I cannot wait to watch his future work! The story was incredible and portrayed the hard yet rewarding journey of the characters and allowed a space for them to grow and fully develop their potential. It was a story that let us into the world of start-ups and I believe it did an incredible job at its portrayal. I enjoyed watching this drama a lot because it kept me emotionally engaged and rooting for the characters.

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had very good potential

First few episodes started strong, became a bit messy and predictable from the middle to the last episodes, although ending was somewhat acceptable and gives a feeling of "closure" but honestly could've done better. There were too many plot holes and aspects left forgotten and unexplored because too much unnecesary focus and screentime was given on the romance/love triangle. Before I get a bit more critical, I just want to say that probably the BEST part about this drama is the actors. All of the actors, from the main roles and supporting roles, did a really amazing job portraying and bringing life to their characters. Bae Suzy, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kim Seon Ho and Kang Hanna did an exceptional job in their roles and they shouldn't be at fault for how the drama's plot was written and how it turned out. I actually got interested in watching it because of 2 main reasons: (1) the "startup" and business aspect of it seemed fresh, and (2) NJH and BS in one drama was tempting enough. I first liked Suzy from WYWS and NJH from Weightlifting Fairy, that's why I was compelled to watch these two together and they didn't disappoint when it comes to their acting. But from the first few episodes alone, I can't help but also admire and be drawn towards KSH and KH, I'm surprised I didn't know or hear much about these two before.

Okay, so I'll start.

A GOOD START: Start Up had a really promising start. It was good and interesting in the first half but it slowly got boring, predictable, and much too cliché and unrealistic which was something I actually didn't expect from a drama written by PHR. I watched some of her works but I particularly liked WYWS, so I expected that Start Up would live up to that when it comes to the overall plot and keeping the strong momentum from start to end, that kind of plot that will keep you excited and curious of what will come next— with each and every small details of each scene from the camera angles, use of music, use of colors, parallelisms and symbols, etc., being interconnected and making a full circle at the end. But for this drama, PHR wasn't able to maintain the momentum, and it became so easy to predict what happens next and even predict how the drama itself will end.

ON POTENTIALS and ENDING: It had a lot of really good parallelisms, use of symbolisms, and really subtle but seemingly critical details in a lot of scenes which I loved, only if they made use of all of those to connect the plot altogether in the end to conclude the drama both in the business/"start-up" aspect and the romance aspect. Unfortunately, they didn't. They wasted all these good potentials and turned the story into a typical, cliché-ridden, and honestly, a bit too shallow, romance story. The business side of the story was slightly better in a way, but in my opinion, still too unrealistic and cliché— where for the concept of love/romance between the leads was still too embedded and made it appear like "our love and optimism will conquer it all and make us succeed in any business ventures we take" instead of depicting the more realistic and objective side of business— where there's little to no room for impulsivity and not doing enough planning/risk assessment will most certainly be your worst mistake.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: Next, I am honestly not rooting for one love interest over the other, and I have no interest of siding with the "1st lead" or "2nd lead." I watched the drama objectively and considered the depth of how each character was built and reflected than focusing on the romantic aspect of their characters. Thus my second issue with the drama. In my opinion, they highlighted the second-male lead's story and character development too much that he ended up being a little too central to the entire plot than the main lead. I wish they could've focused more on building the main leads' (male and female) development and building a stronger and deeper story/foundation for their relationship. Instead, a big part of their relationship (romantically) turned out a bit shallow and forced. The 2nd male lead's story and whole character arc played a too big and too central role in the main plot that somewhere along the way, his role seemed to be more important and getting more attention that of the male and female leads. I wish I could've seen a deeper and more critical involvement of the 1st lead's story and character in the plot's "bigger picture" but unfortunately, I didn't. His backstory was not highlighted enough and just seemed to pass by without connecting it enough to the main plot. I liked his character development in terms of being successful in the business aspect of the story, but other than that, not much development and character depth was given to him for the entire series. His character had so much potential for a "wow" build up but the writers wasted those potentials as well. But despite this, NJH did well as usual in portraying this role. With all that being said, I understand why I see some of the viewers empathizing more with the 2nd lead's character because he had the most depth and most reflected and carefully-written development in the drama. Big kudos to KSH though, it was my first time seeing him here but I can say he's a really good actor with a wide range of emotions.

Another point is the obvious lack of attention given on Won In Jae's character. They also built a good separate/independent foundation for her role in the first few episodes, only to disregard her character and give too little focus on her for the rest of the episodes. Yet another wasted potential for the drama. It would've been nice to see her build up her relationship with Dalmi and her family throughout the episodes but unfortunately again, we didn't get to see much of that.

** I honestly still have a lot to say for this drama such as in Dalmi's character, the relationships between the characters, the plot details presented everywhere only to be forgotten and thrown under the rug, and plot details that could have had good potential to explored, etc. but this has been much longer than I expected so I'll just highlight those big points for this review.

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start up ended as messed up due to an unwanted forced love triangle...

i wasn't interested in watching this drama when the trailer or the initial episodes came up but gave it a try just to know what is this obsession with the second male lead and why this drama has such a proactive comment section in MDL... this were literally the only reason for me to watch this drama...
from the first episode i got my answer on why everyone is getting obsessed with han ji pyeong... from his background story, his onscreen charm to the acting of both young and adult HJP were spot on... the drama had a really good start and the first 4-5 episodes were well made but then it all went scrambling down... the show couldnt even hold on the first half of the drama...
this was supposed to be a youth motivational drama but we have a male lead who made the female lead his DREAM... wow what a motivation for the youth...
the drama has a lot of loopholes and the female lead's characterization suffers a lot due to an unwanted forced love triangle...
dosan as a character was quite adorable at the beginning but then he literally had no quality that made me root for him after the first 4-5 episodes.... dalmi started off as a very energetic go-getter kind of character but after a while as a viewer you dont get what she likes, who she likes, why she likes, what she wants... the acting of suzy didnt help either... dalmi is just there so that 2 guys can fight over her just because she is the FL...
this drama without a doubt has one of the lousiest written main leads in kdrama history and one of the most well written and well-acted second lead in the kdrama history...
on the business side of the storyline... there isnt much to talk about either but its set in a fantasy world where if the female lead wants to make a flying elephant, the male lead will make a flying elephant...

like i forgot to mention the second female lead the makers also forgot to show her onscreen... she is like an extended cameo... had great potential... she seems like she belongs to the search www drama but sailed without a map and landed up in the world of fluffy startup where business is seen in a rose-tinted glasses... she was supposed to be the younger sister of bae taemi but god messed up and she became the older sister of seo dalmi... poor girl...

what i liked about the drama
1. KIM SEON HO as HAN JI PYEONG... he is such an amazing actor... audience can understand his feelings and emotions even without him uttering a single dialogue... his every single expression was on point and didnt overdo a single scene
2. GRANDMA AND HJP - they share one of the warmest relationships in kdrama world... prepare a box of tisues every time these two share the screen
3. the first 4-5 episodes

what i dont like
1. EVERYTHING ELSE... normally kdramas only have 1 or 2 irritating characters and rest of them will be nice but in startup you will only find 2 or 3 characters that you want to root for and the rest irritating af...


now coming to acting i already talked about how amazing kim seon ho is... kim hana didnt had enough screentime for me to talk about her acting... from whatever she got she did a good job...
nam joo hyuk as dosan was really good in the first 4-5 episodes but after that he acting suffered due to bad writing... its not his fault... the last i saw of him was in the bride of habaek and compared to that he improved drastically but he still dont have great screen presence and can easily get overshadowed by a better actor....
suzy, as dalmi was only good at scenes, where she has to convey her emotions through dialogues... she literally has a blank expression when she has to convey emotions through subtle expressions... she was pretty decent in screens where she has to cry and express her feelings through dialogues... dalmi could have been played by literally any female actor in her late 20s... like dosan, dalmi is also a victim of lousy writing...

the lead couple lacked depth in their love story and we dont even know when,how and why dalmi started liking the real dosan over the dosan from the letters... their chemistry is also flat... i guess if the actors atleast had strong chemistry i would have rooted for them forgetting all the flaws in their characterization...


overall i dont regret watching startup simply because it made me love kim seon ho... it had potential like almost all other kdramas but got ruined by a forceful love traingle and a forcful love story...

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What’s the message?

2. My review after watching it again with my husband

I feel the need to write another review because of new things I have learnt about this drama after countless discussion with my husband who is not as experienced in Korean dramas as I am. Why do I have to emphasize this? Because with my 20 years of experience, I certainly have knowledge and expectations of How a story should go. However, knowledge can be your enemy and the emotions coming from desperate expectations while watching online may have clouded my judgement. I am in no doubt going back on my previous review. It was written for How I felt at that certain moment. I want to clarify new things about Do San and DM characters and relationship.

First, despite my disappoitment with the ending and story development, I never stop to question myself why an experienced writer must do ”dirty” to her main leads up to the point that majority of people did not support them when the drama was on air. I refuse to believe that the main story is that poor after two years of writing. So my husband with his novice experience helped me quite a lot.

His opinion on the drama is that it is not so bad and inspiring in some ways. All the characters are pitiful in their own ways. Dosan as a mainlead in the part before the timeskip is very real. This character If you notice you will meet a lot in your life. Dosan is most of the time struggling internally with his low self-esteem. Because he had suffered it so much before meeting DM, it becomes chronic and somehow hard to treat at the present. If things go well, He’s fine. But If things go wrong, his low self-esteem hits him badly that he loses himself in his violent acts.

He’s always in conflicts, thinking himself as a living buddhda while he is not and having nothing while he has everything. The fact that you feel having nothing while having everything is really pitiful. When he met DM, she was the first one who praised him for who he is. So she becomes everything to him: his trophy, his pride, his love. This explains why in the end the writer must let her to get married to him. Just like the big polls show about 70-80% supported HJP for DM, in real life, this percentage also applies. It is really hard for DS to find someone like DM in his life, someone who does not regret her decision to put love on him. Other girls after seeing his red flags may just leave.

Just like KSH said it would be good if HJP is with DM in the end, But it is better for DS and DM to be together. That is because HJP can live his life well without DM. He can always find someone he loves and loves him. But for a person with low self-esteem like DS, DM is his only chance. Why do I think so? Because we talk about some love stories of our families and friends that we have never understood why. We have a amazing friend who is excellent in everything she does. But her only weakness is in love life. She always chose the bad guy. Her first two loves went bad, But her husband now seems really strange. He may be kind to her, But he has low self-esteem that he is not likable at all. He talks like he knows everything. He went to another country to start a business But failed. He was divorced and didn’t have a house before getting married to her. But because she’s so good, now they can buy a big house together, still he shows his low self-esteem when others around him make him feel threatened. It’S very strange. The last time we met her, she looked tired and trapped in the big house far away from the city. This selfish guy had failed the driving test 4 times. But he forced her to buy a house no where near a bus station. I remember some other stories as well but time is limited.

DS is nicer because he has real talent and he does everything for DM. That is why he could be with her and we should not be feeling sad for JP anymore. All the symbolisms and parallelism may be true. They show DM and JP actually could be together, But the timing was not right. For a girl like DM, she would go with DS until the end, even though we can keep our doubt about whether their marriage will be happy or not. Living with a low self-esteem person may be a challenge.

While the writer gave DS everything in the end despite his questionale behavior? I think after all he is a nice guy. His low self-esteem had not been treated for so long, so he turned out like that. DM came to his life as a medicine and I guess the writer tried to direct our attention to this problem in our society. What if we notice and What if these people are given an opportunity to grow and love?

Of course, her choice for his repeated lying behavior and taking chance of the letter will not sit well with many viewers, even with me after writing this long long review, I sympathized with her choice though. This love story is boring and not fluttering for me. My husband also felt the kiss was too fast and he didn’t feel much, so I guess the feeling we experienced while watching is totally realistic. We may not see it like DS and DM feel.

After all, we believe that the writer must meet this Dosan in real life and she did not try to sugarcoat him at all. In drama, DS is successful and got married to DM, But in real life he may not be successful, given his persistent low self-esteem. Maybe as long as he has DM, she is his dream and esteem. We just need to accept this kind of relationship that totally happens in real life. We may not like it in a drama as it is not exciting, but thinking about everything this way has helped me to get over this drama after one month. Yes, I feel sorry for HJP, But I believe he will be happy after all.

My husband gave this drama 7. He didn’t have issues with DM DS relationship, But he was upset with the writer’s lazy writing when it comes to the technology part of the drama. It was poorly written that he felt insulted as an IT developer at some scenes. How come DS and other developers used Python for everything? The samsan tech guys in the boat, boasting about How successful they have become are so bad in his view. The writer didn’t let them to become respectable people, But guys getting rich by luck and showing off their possessions. She sent very wrong messages to the youth.

For him, DM and DS appeared to be pitiful, But IJ and JP were really pitiful characters. Everyone had to do something for DM and DS. That is why these two did not receive much love from viewers. The writer didn’t let DM to build up her all success but relied on the two men and her sister. Also the timeskip was too unrealistic. It was 2016. She just told DS to go to SF, and she can go there by herself. She had the money and a passport. Why did she have to say goodbye to him? Very poor writing.

1. My review after watching this drama on air

I first would like to thank the writer and director for creating a beautiful character like HJP. I think KSH did a great job portraying this character. I had never watched Suzy and NJH before, but I think they did a fine job, despite their being tired towards the end. The drama was shot beautifully and the music is soothing, but ambiguous.

The story started out great. Everyone seemed to have only good things to say about the first episode. The first four episodes were heartwarming and beautiful. All characters seem to be nice and funny. I thought we would have nice bromance and relationships.

However, things started to get worse, after DS realized that DM still liked the DS in the letters too much and JP told him he could never be a good CEO. DS since then turned into someone else, being obsessed with DM and JP. He started to lie more in order to stop JP and DM. His background medal story made his actions further questionable. More than anyone else, he understood how cheating took a toll on him, but he did another big cheating with the girl. His relationship with DM was too fast and she initiated many actions. One could say he was a victim here, but I am disappointed because he didn’t come out clean early by himself and compete with JP fairly.

I have several issues with this drama:

- DS thought he had nothing, but he in fact had so many things. The drama didn’t allow him to realize this in the end.

- the story should have focused on DM rather than the love triangle and how two men tried to help her. In this journey, when DM was with JP, she learnt facts and reality and developed well as a CEO. When she’s with DS, she’s just totally dependent on him, which is not healthy. We want a strong woman in lead and here we couldn’t get one in the end. That’s why I prefer DM and JP for a healthy and loving relationship. When she’s with DS, she always looked weak.

- DS as a male lead is very weak. I have watched Kdrama for 20 years and I have never seen anyone as lucky as DS. Other male leads faced constant challenges, but here the universe worked for him, since grandma’s eye problem, his dad’s job to Saha telling him about the ransom attack. In the meanwhile, JP was the one who got all the punches like a normal male lead, but in the end got nothing. All DS actions for DM were for her to recognize, but many ended up hurting her (lying about letters, making deal with Alex). In this sense, JP should be the one because he rather hurts himself than DM, like princes in fairy tales if you notice.

- The writer rewarded DS’ violent behavior with a kiss and a trip to Silicon Valley. DS was never sorry for his bad behaviors. He didn’t show any sympathy towards JP’s sad upbringing. It’s the same with DM.

- DM is strange girl. She took microphone from another person, wanted to fake being successful, always triggered her sister, and easily forgot everything after meeting DS. She’s not a role model if you look for one. She is just a lucky girl, who happened to have two geniuses helping her on the way.

- Saling without a map is a dangerous message. We need a context for this. And the smart city project is too unrealistic to apply this message. If you would like to learn about startup, maybe Strongest delivery man offers much better lessons.

- the family issues were not well addressed. Everything around DM seems superficial. Not good writing.

- SST boys and Saha are fun at some points, but they should not have taken screentimes from JP and IJ.

- True entrepreneurs: Grandma, JP, IJ and her dad.

Why am I upset about this drama?

JP has become one of my most beloved characters in the Kdrama land for his selflessness and fairness. Despite being in a desperate situation of getting DM a real DS, he refused his request to join Sandbox. This character has integrity, while DS doesn’t.

The most annoying thing is the writer refused to address the letters carefully and give JP a fair chance with DM. We read the letters, we knew they are beautiful and they connected two poor souls in the past. Even when we live in 2020, we still love handwriting love letters. We believe that the two soulmates would find each other in the end. Good boy will find his love and justice to his sacrifice. But here the writer didn’t let us to have that beautiful ending and force us a happy ending which we couldn’t relate to.

I couldn’t get myself to see the wedding photos and many scenes of ep 15 and ep 16, while seeing JP was the only one crying in the last episode. And people with questionable actions ended up having everything in the end. Luck is important but shouldn’t be everything like in this drama. The writer didn’t treat DS’ imposter syndrome before he got married. That’s why I am worried for DM.

In sum, I feel pity for such a strong start and what could have been one of the most beautiful stories ever. I really question at what point the writer agreed to give us such a problematic male lead and couple like in this drama and at the same time created a wonderful character like JP, whom many of us will love for a long time.

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THE WORST MALE LEAD IN KDRAMA HISTORY

This drama had an amazing start filled with huge uncertainty and potential. Then it totally went downhill in the episodes to come. The MAIN ISSUE IS WITH THE MALE LEAD. The male lead's character is an overemotional selfish character who acts pitiful to gain sympathy while the 2nd MALE LEAD is one of the most caring selfless person who not only cares about the female lead but the grandma who took care of him when he was homeless. The writer probably knew that the 2nd lead was the better option but the backlash from NAM JOO HYUK's team and fans would be too much too handle since he was promised the first lead role.

With no character growth at all, 99% of the viewers watching this will agree that the main lead was a forced love story that only happened because they were the "MAIN LEADS" . 2nd Lead definitely carried this drama and was the reason why some viewers stuck around. The viewers who support the male lead probably supported Nam Joo Hyuk and not the character that he played because best believe in real life they wouldn't even be friends yet lovers with the character.

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Good start but horrible plot development

This is one of the most disappointing dramas of 2020, it started with one of the best first episode I've seen in kdramas but I don't know what happened but it became so tedious. I don't know if I would see it again.
I have a love-hate relationship with this drama, it's one that I will miss (or maybe just the comment section) but I can't say I liked it, it had several plot holes and I don't think I can give it a high rating.
What I really loved about this drama was the ost, all the songs are beautiful. Let's not forget that they focused too much on the love triangle that business took a back seat.
I'll start to describe what I liked and didn't like about each character.
• Dosan: I think it is the worst ML I have seen in kdramas, he's selfish, immature and I will give reasons why I did not like the character.
1. He started a relationship with Dalmi by pretending to be the Dosan from the letters
2. Left Dalmi alone in the park while drunk.
3. When Dalmi asked you for space, what did he do? He followed her and faked chance encounters with her, and they made it look "romantic" when it's NOT.
4. I have listened to their private conversations.
5. He hit the HJP when he said nothing but the truth and then asked him for a favor using his weakness which is the grandma.
6. He didn't want to return the letters to HJP when they belong to him.
I can give many more reasons but this would be longer.
• Dalmi: I think it's the worst FL I've seen, at first her character was very good but as the episodes went by she had a setback it almost seemed like she always needed a man to help her when at first it was the opposite. A main part of the plot was the letters but it seems that she forgot about that and never asked HJP what happened or why he did it, instead he started dating Dosan and was indifferent to HJP.
• Han Jipyeong: I can say that he was the best character that the series had, he is a tough person at the beginning but he was almost the only character that really changed in the 3 years and he showed to be a very sweet person.
• Injae: I liked her character even though she didn't have much screen time she really changed and I really liked the ending she had. Her character gave for more.
• Yongsan and Cheolsan: Immature.
• Saha: His character contributed almost nothing and was not very memorable.
Now I will talk about couples:
• Dosan and Dalmi: I didn't feel they had chemistry and I don't see a future for their relationship, they started dating because Dosan pretended to be someone else, she's one of the worst couples I saw in dramas.
• Cheolsan and Saha: It was such a forced couple, they had no chemistry at all and Cheolsan being jealous when they had been dating for like 1 day (? Cringe
I want to add that Yongsan's brother's plot was VERY unnecessary.
The guys from Samsantech claim to be close friends but why didn't anyone know Dosan entered college early or about Yongsan's brother?
The reason I can't put a bad rating is because I loved HJP's character and Seonho's acting.
-English is not my first language so I apologize if I have any mistakes.

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Bait and switch pilot episode Very disappointing

The first episode was one of the best I have seen. It grabbed me right away. I was all set for a romance between the writer of the letters and Seo. Then I watched the series go down the drain. The story looked as it would it revolve around the letters and the actual author of the letters. Instead, they have some emotional coding genius steal her away with lies and manipulation. Very frustrating watching all those episodes with the girl falling in love with a despicable man. I found no joy in this. I have watched countless K dramas and this ranks as my most despised one.

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