Start-Up (2020)

Potential Coming of Age Drama in the Business World Fell Flat

I just wanted to start out that I watched all the episodes in hopes of some sort of redemption in the plot. Why I still had hopes? I do not know, but I hoped for it to do better than what they gave to us. The reasoning to how I reviewed this is that I saw this drama as a coming-of-age story, but it was not really one, hence the disappointment.

STORY (slight spoilers on general events in plotline)
Can I say that this drama had so much potential to go the distance? We have been seeing a trend lately in the K-drama realm with the coming-of-age theme. This one had such a great premise of the underdogs in life pushing to succeed in today’s society where it seems like you have to have the right connections. I guess they were trying to push it here that the right connections meant that you had to be rich. Also, money was a prevalent theme. Ji Pyeong and his money at the beginning, Dalmi’s father and mother divorcing because of money. Grandma’s money being what gets the family through hardships. Dalmi betting on 10,000 won(?) with In Jae. We see that money does not mean much as we get deeper into the plot. Obviously, the rich stepfather does not treat Dalmi’s mother and sister with respect. Ji Pyeong is rich, but still feels lonely. Sa Ha has a great paying job but dislikes it.

I liked the theme of family and friendship in here though. Probably why I could push myself to finish the series. First, we have our Samsan Tech trio of Nam Do San, Kim Yong San, and Lee Cheol San. They have created Samsan Tech together and as they grew up together, helped each other out the best that they can with their abilities. They make life goals together to make sure that they stick together, and they know each other well. They balance each other out with their strengths and their weaknesses and make a funny trio once they are together.

We have Dalmi’s grandma and dad who fight so hard to keep her happy with what they have. Then Dalmi’s grandma is the sweetest human being who just wants to shower Ji Pyeong our “good boy” with all the love he should have received from a family member.

Then we have Nam Do San’s dad who is kind of toxic and overbearing. He who wants the best for his son and expects his son to be the best. I think this portrays a common Asian parent, at least in my life it rings true. My favorite part of their relationship is when Nam Do San finally confronts his dad and tells them to stop being each other’s pride and joy and instead be father and son in episode 10. I think we as human beings have a hard time fulfilling those huge shoes that people expect us to wear and then run with.

I do want to say that there was not much chemistry between the main lead, female lead, or the second male lead at all. They should have just scraped the triangle love story and just made it an epic story on the cutthroat business industry.

ACTING/CAST/CHARACTERS (some spoilers)
SUZY did a great job acting as the resilient Dal Mi that did not let anything stand in her way. Her character is strong, upfront with what she wants, and does not stand down. Yet, what threw me off was the start of her character when she was all grown up. She worked many part-time jobs and seemed like a pushover. I would have loved to see her character already trying to pursue her entrepreneurship journey like her father. Why did it take the appearance of Won In Jae to make her want to pursue her dreams? Why use the premise of revenge when it was never really revenge in the first place? She just wanted to prove In Jae wrong that she can also do well in life without a rich father. I think her character was one of the main ones that fell kind of flat with character development. As the main focus of the show, I expected more. She had her quick-witted moments, but I did not see any overarching development. She stays pretty stagnant except for the fact that she was able to forgive her mom and sister.

I could bypass anything in their relationship and how they came together and stayed together. However, I did not quite understand her fetish with Nam Do San’s hands… like at all. It was not cute and it was just weird.

NAM JOO HYUK did as well as his character had the capacity to. In fact, I think he did great as the awkward nerdy guy who does not know how to communicate well. His crying was great, and I do not think his acting fell short. Nam Do San though… man how can this guy be the main lead? There was little to no character development with Do San. Yes, he confessed his “sins”, became a little stronger, and less of a pushover. However, his whole backstory and his development just fell short of Kim Yong San.

I do not understand a lot of things about his character and I am quite disappointed how the writers decided to just slap and through things together and called it good. For example, him wanting Dal Mi more than his business. This girl was literally introduced to you through a person and some letters. You saw her once and then it was like “she is the one” and “I have to have her forever”. This logic just does not make sense to me. Especially when his character does not care too much for a woman. And there was just not enough push to make me see why Do San feels like his ultimate goal is Dal Mi. Samsan Tech on the other hand was something he and his friends built together. It was something he felt like he had to prove to his father that he had to do and succeed in to remove that barrier of being a failure. Like he had to redeem for his past mistakes because all those other moments were not enough.

I feel like his character could have easily been my favorite out of the show if they wrote him better.

KIM SEON HO was everyone’s favorite “good boy”. His crying is phenomenal, it's top tier tears. I did not care much for him as a second lead and did not have second lead syndrome. However, I liked his backstory the most and his side story with the grandma. I liked how they continued to develop his character until the very end, although I feel like it was kind of awkwardly/suddenly thrown in with Yong San. Like, "we need to give Yong San a backstory. How about we tie it back when the drama is almost over". (Btw, those little clips of the hoodie guy did not give me any suspense as to what could have happened/will happen. Hence, why I feel like it was poorly done.)

KANG HA NA is such a great actress, and I am upset that she did not appear much in the drama, even as a “main role”. I love how her fight was never with Dal Mi, instead, it was with herself. I think that is the most beautiful type of development in a person when you stop fighting with others and fighting your own demons. She realized that early on while Dal Mi was still being immature.

I could go on, but I do not want to drag this, so honorable mentions to KIM HAE SOOK, KIM DO WAN, YOO SOO BIN, and STEPHANIE LEE!

MUSIC
They had a great OST soundtrack and artist line up. Our Gaho, Kim Feel, Ailee, Davichi, Jamie, BOL4, Eunji, Kassy, K.Will, Red Velvet, Oh My Girl, Jung Seung Hwan, CHEEZE, Sandeul, etc.

RE-WATCH VALUE
I probably would never re-watch this at all. It did not have any moments where I feel like would make me have to revisit it.

OVERALL (Spoilers)
I am just sad that there was not enough cutthroat business, real-life situations that were thrown in. I feel like the whole stepfather butting in could be applicable in some situations but not in all cases. The whole Ji Pyeong being a ruthless mentor/judge is very true out there and I appreciate that they brought that up. I guess as an entrepreneurship student, I hoped they could have done better.

Can I just mention that I was upset that Yong San, Cheol San, and Sa Ha did not show up to walk side by side with them in the ending scene?! Like that was such a huge slap in the face to their characters and hard work. They really pushed the show for me and were pivotal to the story. While In Jae and Ji Pyeong were important characters, I thought that the “teamwork” and “underdogs” were going to walk to greatness together.

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