Start Up

                                                    
Episodes: 16
Synopsis: Set in a fictional Silicon Valley called Sandbox, Start-Up follows the story of young adults as they attempt to achieve their entrepreneurship dream and launch start-up companies that help others. Seo Dal Mi, an ambitious young woman finds herself partaking in competitions and building a company despite never attending college. She finds a team of young software engineers who have not been fortunate with their personal start-up visions. Together, they push forward to reach their dreams. 

Review:

This drama started strong in my opinion. It had great actors and a good background story with Han Ji Pyeong and Seo Dal Mi beginning an unconventional pen pal relationship. I loved the family dynamic and the history that they experienced with failed start-ups. This was a great element to have when creating a strong female role who is passionate about launching her business. We needed the: "why is she like this?" and the writers delivered.

I also loved how selfish In Jae was with choosing a comfortable life with her mother rather than staying with her entrepreneur father. For me, the moment the two sisters chose different paths and priorities, I viewed it as the turning point for how these women will turn out. It was all unraveling pretty well in the beginning and reminded me a lot of the old classic Korean dramas such as "Stairway to my Heart" and "Autumn's Concerto" with the clear storyline, depressing backstory (spoiler: why did the writers have to do that to the father?? I get it....but man that was just painful right off the bat), and clear "good vs bad" dynamics. However, as this drama went on, I became very disappointed. 

While the name of Nam Do San was used in the pen pal letters, the person Seo Dal Mi fell for was Han Ji Pyeong. I thought he was a great balance to her idealistic entrepreneur character. He was an investor so he looked at the logical side of things and had business acumen that she did not. He also had a distinct voice in how he viewed the world and himself, and that definitely showed in his penpal relationship back in his childhood and how he behaves in the present day. He also remembers her from their childhood past and appears to hold her best interests at heart due to his connection with her grandmother. His interest in her as an adult was renewed upon connecting the past to the present, and it wasn't tied to a frivolous crush or unhealthy obsession from his youth. He would have made a charming protagonist. But no, the writers made her fall for Nam Do San who stepped up to the penpal role in order to not crush Seo Dal Mi's dreams of her ideal man. This relationship is rooted in lies. You fell for him because of who you believed him to be and then you accepted the rest. He also was very similar to her. It was a big reason why they were making the same big business mistakes and why they were overreacting and jeopardizing their futures in this small start-up space in many episodes. Eventually their relationship made more sense as we had more memories and as we saw the characters' growth. However, I believe that was the work of the writers. 

Han Ji Pyeong was made the unattractive option as the drama went. They showed his inability to connect with Seo Dal Mi (when the real issue is because they already wrote it out to have Seo Dal Mi set on Nam Do San) as well as his jealousy issues when Nam Do San came back after 3 years. This was also the unreasonable part to me. Why are you going to break up with Nam Do San and just be single for 3 years? You guys aren't moving on with life? Han Ji Pyeong just chilling for 3 years straight not making a move UNTIL NAM DO SAN GETS BACK? Goodbye. That just felt lazy in my opinion. 

As for In Jae: I mentioned I liked how selfish she was in her decision back when she was a child. She seemed confident in her decision when we first meet her again as an adult as well. However, In Jae and her mom suddenly had a change in heart toward entrepreneurship and living the hardworking life...something they scorned their father for back in the day. This sudden turn was too extreme and made no sense. If you didn't like the start-up life back then, then why would you suddenly be okay with it now? The idealization that all people will eventually come around and be good was tiring and I did not enjoy it. Likewise, suddenly In Jae had a mission because she didn't want to be a figurehead and not invested in (and I get it??? But they made her and her mom out to be so materialistic in the beginning and so I didn't understand why it got to that point). 

This could have been a really good drama. The ending just did not do it for me.