Start-Up SPOILER FREE K-Drama Review: Strong ➡️ Mediocre ➡️ Disappointing
Start-Up is a TVN Korean Drama on Netflix about young adults chasing their dreams to be technological pioneers and business-people in the Korean version of Silicon Valley, Sandbox. Let’s start with what I really loved about this drama - I loved the beginning few episodes that introduced us to the characters. The main cast came off as three-dimensional, charming, and hilarious. I also liked the depiction of young people working to build start-ups and how competitive, busy, and exhilarating the world was romanticized to be. But what really irked me about this drama was, surprisingly, the romance. The love triangle was very poorly executed, which initiated some truly toxic fan wars.
Start-Up was very interesting and had a lot of potential to be great from beginning to end. But typical of most K-dramas out there, it started off with a bang but lost its way in the middle. While the love triangle was arguably the thing that made this show addictive, the bigger selling point was the depiction of start-up culture. The show romanticizes how great it is to be a workaholic and how exhilarating starting a business can be. This might be sorely inaccurate in the real world, but in drama world, we love any good underdog story! I loved all of the characters for their career ambitions and drive. When the drama decided to really play up the Do San vs. Ji Pyeong fan wars, I felt myself missing the business/competition scenes and wishing there was less of an emphasis on the romance. I also mourned the fact that In Jae (Dal Mi’s sister) did not get much screen time to fully explore her character growth.
Speaking of the love triangle, I really admire this drama for successfully getting people so riled up and addicted. It sought to subvert traditional drama tropes by making it extra confusing for viewers to guess who the main female lead would end up with at the end. No matter what “team” you were on, I think it’s undeniable that this drama created an especially enticing story for the second male lead, and a lot of people found themselves becoming die hard fans of Kim Seon Ho (the actor for Han Ji Pyeong). To refrain from giving away any spoilers and letting my biases influence you, I’m not going to go too deep into discussing my feelings about each character. Check out my spoiler review if you’re interested!
In conclusion…
At this point, I honestly can’t say I loved this drama, because by the final few episodes, I was very disappointed and mad at every episode. I’ll just say that I think Start-Up is very interesting and had a lot of potential to be great. I’m glad to put it behind me and move on! I especially want to thank the internet for the exciting post-episode commentary every weekend, because reading the comments on Reddit truly elevated my experience watching this show.