Honest Review

I'm going to be completely honest and state that what made the show insufferable to watch wasn't exactly the show itself. It was the drama behind the scenes that ruined the show for me. This is by no means one of my favorite dramas as I tend to hate love triangles however I truly don't believe there ever was a love triangle to begin with. If you take the show for what it is there isn't a love triangle at all- Dalmi's feelings are clear from the start.

This drama started off strong and then slowly declined as the weeks went by. I think they missed the mark by emphasizing HJP's character so much in the beginning rather than NDS's. I think a lot of the ML confusion stems from such a strong focus on HJP only to use his character as a means to get the story going. In comparison to While You Were Sleeping, Woo-Tak is used as a plot device similarly. However, we don't really dive as deep into him as we do HJP. I think that's the reason so many were unable to accept HJP not being the ML. Although I don't think he ever had a chance, I personally felt they wasted such a strong character.

Start-Up is by no means a bad drama. Sure, it could've been executed better however, everyone did such a fantastic job portraying their characters and it was an overall enjoyable drama. The emphasis on family and friendship were easily the best parts of the show. I loved the SST crew and they always showed up for each other. I loved the reconciliation between DM, IJ, and their mother. I especially loved Sa-Ha's character.

By reading a lot of the reviews here you would think Nam Do-San is an antagonist. He is by no means an antagonist. Does he have flaws? Yes. But so does HJP. As well as everyone in the show! It's realistic. I think if you go into the drama fully understanding NDS is the lead, you'll like it just fine. Do some characters deserve better? Yes. At the end of the day, it's fiction and I don't believe it's worth the bashing of the show especially when the direction of the romance was clear from the start.

Read More