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Start-Up korean drama review
Completed
Start-Up
3 people found this review helpful
by eatmelonn
Dec 6, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 5.5
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 1.5
This review may contain spoilers

my honest opinion...

Had been a fan of PHR since Dream High with I Hear Your Voice being my all time favourite drama?? Honestly, i felt disappointed that this story fails to deliver what it had promised.

Story, Casts & Acting
As the title suggests, i was expecting more focus to be on the business aspect in the Start Up world but honestly everything seems oversimplified in this show. Arguments and ideologies doesnt seem to fit the real world mechanisms. Of course, this is just a drama and i am no expert in Start Up but i just did not feel the woah aspect of this whole start up picture they were trying to paint? It just felt like their success just happened because they were the leads /pure luck? Instead of developing the business aspect, they dragged out whole 16 episodes of the show on a stupid love triangle which made no sense to me.

FL was single all her life because of JP's letters (which imo Ep 1 was well executed when they painted JP's background story + meeting Halmeoni & eventually being DM's penpal) but this whole point was seemingly disregarded after she realised JP was her true first love instead of the male lead DS. I am fine with the closure (in ep 16 when JP, being best boy said that the 'DS' in the letters was just a fictional character and that he did not look for year in all of the 15 years). I accept this but was hoping they had not dragged this closure all the way til the end. I felt injustice for JP's character not because he did not end up with DM, but because he was so selfless all this time, always giving without expecting anything in return. And right til the end, he remains lonely. It almost seems liek the entire purpose of his existence is to save the stupid leads, and become their punching bags / sacrificial lamb. But thank you for giving Yeongsil (Yeo Jin Gu cameo) cameo at the last ep (at least we saw him smile at the end) and Halmeoni to JP. At the end of the day, i know JP is too perfect to even exist in the current world.

While the whole plot was messy, i would say the most of the cast acted well in the given script, even though the entire story felt unrelatable in the current era... For the main leads, i could not relate to the loveline, it somehow felt forced and unrelatable. Perhaps because there were just too little scenes that showed how their r/s had progressed enough to convince the viewers. To me, i just felt like DM would not have ended up with DS if she knew right from the start he wasn't the one that wrote those letters. It just felt like DS was riding on JP's letter to get the FL. I still can't figure out why they fell in love with each other (seriously they used hand size as a reason). For IJ, her screen time was so pathetic it almost felt like she was a cameo for this drama? Considering they took 8 months to film this drama...

While i would not recommend watching this show (unless you are a diehard fan of the leads), i am thankful for PHR for writing HJP and casting KSH. While it wasn't the first drama i watched KSH in, i must said he really executed his role perfectly, together with how his character was written. It is definitely this show that made KSH gained more recognition and attention. PHR better do him justice and cast him as a lead in her next drama (ok maybe not if it's gonna be poorly written like Start Up)> I am sorry, but the main leads' character of this drama are one of PHR's worst compared to the past dramas & characters she created. I am surprised since this production took almost 3 years to materialize.

Music
The OST? I love it! Only downside? Their covers do not match the theme songs? Not to be biased but they should have given JP some justice and at least used his cover for the songs that mirrors his feelings ?? Maybe it's just me but the lyrics of a few songs seems to be relating to JP's character.

Rewatch
Will not rewatch this show, because at the end of the day i can't relate to this show and the story it's trying to tell? But of course this is just my personal preference. I hope to see all the leads in a better production next time. Til then :D
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