Some of the most insufferable characters I have ever seen. There never seemed to be an consistency besides the stupidity that was the writing.

We are introduced to Seo Dalmi (Bae Suzy) as a headstrong and assertive character who has had many uphill battles to get to where she is right now. The audience is immediately drawn to her, not only because the story centers around her, but for her strength and determination. However, that demeanor quickly disappears as she meets the rest of the characters. Nam Dosan (Nam Joohyuk) is clueless yet [somewhat] driven. Though, again, vastly diminished as the story goes on.

The drama's only saving grace was Han Jipyeong (Kim Seonho) and even then, I couldn't stomach the rest of the show for him. There needed to be more nuance and depth, but alas...

Everyone, including the writers of the show, glossed over the lying. Choi Wondeok (Kim Haesook) is the heart and catalyst of Start Up, and while she had good intentions, she was wrong to do that to Dalmi. She had over 15 years to tell her the truth. As the story progressed [and the lie worsened], Dosan looked less and less like a good person. A beautiful girl dropped onto his lap, one of which thinks the world of him, and he saw nothing wrong with the situation. While Jipyeong's reasons for not wanting to tell Dalmi's the truth were sincere, Dosan's reasoning was astonishingly selfish.

"(to Jipyeong) You have everything and I just have this one thing. You can't let me have this one thing?" This one thing being that he has Dalmi wrapped around his finger simply because she thinks he's the one from the letters. Once she does find the truth (mind you, she finds out by herself because no one had the courage to tell her), the situation is almost immediately settled. Instead, we have Dalmi reasonably upset for less than half of an episode and seemingly forgives Dosan. What kind of message does that send to their audience? That it's okay if the person you like has been lying to you about who they are? It's okay that they don't respect your boundary and follow you around the city without being noticed?

Oh, but it's okay because he felt bad! He had a sad upbringing because he couldn't live up to his parent's expectation! It's okay that he lied because he also cheated on his Math Olympian exam where he won first place and he has felt guilty about it ever since! It's totally okay! Shut up, shut up, shut up. None of his backstory or his excuses or reasoning were redeemable. It did not paint him as a good character, if anything, it just made him worse — he's always been like this. And sure, there are far worse people out there, but it still doesn't make it okay.

It seemed that Dosan's friends/company only existed to assist Dosan as the main lead. Neither Lee Chulsan (Yoo Soobin) nor Kim Yongsan (Kim Dowan) managed to grasp the attention of anyone on their own. They were equally as selfish as Dosan was, especially when it came down to Dalmi and Jipyeong. Jipyeong, who was their own mentor, couldn't get a proper word in because of their bias.

While my favorite character was Jipyeong, I did not want him to end up with Dalmi. In fact, I kind of just wanted everyone to go their own separate ways, each of them brought out the worst in each other even if the drama didn't necessarily highlight that.

I wonder if the writer [of the show] is an only child though because what exactly is this sibling dynamic? Won Injae (Kang Hanna) abruptly ends their bond simply because she wants to live with her rich stepdad? Am I understanding that correctly? Their sibling storyline didn't necessarily make sense, and the show seemed to have forgotten how to develop it more properly once it stopped focusing on the [unnecessary] love triangle.

All in all, I have never been more pissed off watching a show. I understand that certain things have to happen in order for a kdrama (and this applies to any set of media) to move a story, but I hated it and just wished they didn't send a wrong message to their audience.