Start UP is excellently done, contemporary, and the second male lead nearly steals the show.

Start UP is a recent addition to Netflix originals and has some interesting twists with Bae Suzy and Nam Joo-Hyuk. It is excellently done, contemporary, and Kim Seon-Ho, the second male lead nearly steals the show. He is so expressive that it is impossible to not watch him: this time will he be a helper, a jerk, or the disengaged business guru? Some of the fans wish he had has been ML #1. The main actors are all terrific and their characters are very engaging. I've known people just like them in my thirty-five+ years in American business: the good, the great, the thieves, abusers, and slackers with the side note of many relationships or marriages formed and some broken due to the closeness and/or the pressure.

I loved the storyline, having worked in a couple of start-ups, so I found it both exciting to watch their progress and exciting as the made and lost progress as real businesses do. It has a satisfying, yet poignant conclusion. I found it very easy to become involved with the main cast and several of the secondary actors who were solid frames around the series. Shout outs to Kim Hae-sook - always a standout performer - and Seo Yi-Sook, leader of the SandBox. I love these two ladies are always the epitome of the individuals they engender, and whom we can recognize in our lives at home or in business. Wonderful acting all around!!

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If You have Doubt About the Truth Being Real, Out Defendant' Will Give You the Answer

'Defendant' is very intense, and our convicted hero seldom has time to truly relax since the maniacal villain appears to have a mole lurking in every location. This proves that you cannot always escape difficult and painful trials of life just because you look great, wear the best clothes, drive the latest car, live in a fantastic setting, and that your spouse in equal to all you bring to the marriage. AS IF!

I needed occasional stretch breaks to loosen my tight muscles from the tension this drama. Yes, there were some light moments in the life of our hero, Senior Prosecutor Park Jung Woo (played by Ji Sung), but his emotion rides a roller coaster of from trauma to grief – around, then up and down, then round gain – repeating every few months. He’s caught in a cycle from complete forgetfulness to opening new bits of memory. We are not certain if there is a fix to his current situation or not. Each time, he discovers his location, yet learning the reason he is in that place causes his trauma to repeat. Will it matter what he learns it he can stop the repetitions?

A large part of the mystery is whether healing will occur with no professional help available. And then, there are those important people deeply vested in maintaining his status quo. I confess! I almost quit watching because his dilemma seemed hopeless and going NOWHERE fast!! 'Defendant’ is NOT an easy drama to watch because it's a realistic portrayal of poor investigations, mistaken assumptions (aren’t most?), mistrials, anger, hatred, grudges, sheer meanness, pettiness, and other human challenges. If you want or are looking for some easy, forgettable entertainment, PLEASE go AWAY! Who wants to read complaints from people who are unable to enjoy anything requiring patience and interest beyond an easy, "quick-fix love story with Many Hot Kisses!!"

On the other hand, if you are interested in moments of pure grace, unexpected kindness, dorky humor, and open-handed generosity, watch this series!! You will feel great afterward and experience joy. Even if rightness exists less in our current world, there are times when financially struggling people get a break, injured people are helped by strangers, and the innocent are set free.

'Defendant' is NOT boring!! I was so furious at the villain and a suborned helper, that if I'd been the Judge, lighting striking them wouldn't have been good enough! About that time, my conscience stirred and I was again reminded - with a possible headache - that I'm not God, nor a real judge, and ultimately, forgiveness is a far healthier choice for viewers (than acting like a German Shepherd with strangers at the door!) The villain is a better Vader than Darth!! Watch the drama for Ji Sung riveting performances that won him three top awards. (The villain received one: "Character of the Year.")

'Defendant' is extremely intense, tightly controlled, except for some terrible driving, brilliantly written story and dialog, clever people, affecting performances by all, and a harsh cat/mouse game playing throughout the entire story. Nothing is over until the end of the 18th episode. Have fun!!

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Enjoyed the five leads very much, especially the two Mr. Parks. Seo Joon appears to be a born leader, who while very modest and an introvert, acts with complete abandon in his roles. I watch because he's an actor able to ‘become’ whomever he portrays. After the first few moments, Seo Joon is forgotten and only the character in the story remains. He has spoken of his "plain face" several times and, as a portrait artist, I agree, yet his personality always reveals the inner man to light the outer with that sensational smile, which is transforming. He might not be noticed on the street if he were not famous, yet having found this outlet, he is unforgettable and, naturally, he’s well-loved by those with whom he knows via his work and by his fans worldwide. As a whole individual, he is irresistible. Unfortunately, this is always a two-sided coin in the world today with adoration sometimes being as questionable in extreme alone with those whose fantasies are not normal.

I thought that Park Hyung Shik was excellent as the multilayered Emperor in Waiting; he demonstrated a restraint at times when we could feel his fury at being turned out as a child with only one individual to support him. No matter how devoted, kind, or brave his Aide-de-Camp, he had loss everything from stability to a mother's love and protection, with her apparent care going to politics. Even when he visits on occasion, she is more enemy than even a distant relative. Hyung Shik gives us a complete range of a Crown Prince with excellent genes who is constantly on a tight rope in a forbidden and forbidding landscape. I felt Sam Maek’s quiet despair in couple scenes with Seo Joon that were each a bit heart rendering: (1) when he asks Sun Woo Rang what he will do when the Emperor is found, to which the cold gaze and freezing response is that he will kill ruler asap because the Emperor ordered his best friend’s death; and (2) as he watched Soo Woo “become the ‘King’” with full, very-believable, personal power during their visit to the neighboring country. It was as if his interior structure of bravado crumbled, yet we only see it in his eyes and the smallest change of expression.

Evidently, Seo Joon and Hyung Shik are close friends, but during this series there is no sense of their real-life situation. Within the series - before, during, and after their time at the Hwarang Academy, the competition between the two characters is normal intense (whether positive or negative) and their initial sword fight through the barn with revolving doors was fierce. I found them equally able to become the warrior one would expect in that time.

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