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Start-Up korean drama review
Completed
Start-Up
0 people found this review helpful
by R1912
Mar 23, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Overall solid series

So, to start with, the positive aspects of the show -the first episode is fantastic and immediately you feel emotionally invested. The OST, locations and cinematography are also top notch. You can see the high production value and the whole Sandbox location is very immersive.

Spoilers below
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I know some people have criticised the business story-line as being too basic. I can understand when it's your field of expertise however as an outsider I wasn't overly bothered. Plus I was more interested in the romance and relationships anyway.

Shout-out to my favourite character - Dal-mi's grandmother - who is definitely the beating heart of the story. I was also impressed by Kim Joo-hun and Nam Da-reum in their brief appearances. The lead actors do a very good job although I wasn't entirely convinced by the romance.

Part of the reason is that Kim Seon-ho does such as a good job as the SML. Yes he is the dashing and successful but also flawed. The first episode sets up his background nicely and you can understand why he is emotionally unavailable. Ultimately I feel like the beginning of story supports Ji-pyeong and Dal-mi ending up as a couple. They have an emotional connection.

On that note, Nam Joo-hyuk is very solid as Do-san but I feel that he was miscast. He can clearly pull his weight in emotional scenes but I'm not sure he embodies the role of a geeky tech wiz. Full credit to Joo-hyuk for trying something different but I think he is too handsome and straight laced to nail the role. It would have been better served by someone like Choi Woo-shik.

For me, the plot started to stall around episode 11/12, after the reveal. The time lapse felt a bit clunky and the pacing was slowed down. I also started to lose interest in the side plots - Dal-mi's dispute with In-jae and In-jae dispute with her adopted father. Like many series I have watched, perhaps 12 episodes would have been better or if they had showed more of lead characters growing up.





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