Apostando Alto (2020)

Good dramas are the worst, since there’s nothing much to say about them apart from the fact that they’re simply good. You know the feeling, I could rant for hours about dramas that were bad, I could talk for ages about the ones that were amazing. But the ones that are simply good, are the worst. You just enjoy watching them but at the end you don’t really miss them much. For Start-up all I really wanted is for it to have a second season. And not because I cannot live without it. It’s not that I’m constantly thinking about it. It just gave me so much joy to watch that I would gladly continue to do so. But you know what they say, good things don’t last forever.

To be honest, this drama wasn’t anywhere near top of my list when it comes to drama watching order. I’ve decided to watch it, mostly because of amount of memes that traveled though the internet and the fact that it was nominated to Baeksang Awards this year and I’ve decided to watch all nominated dramas that I’ve already had on my list for this year. So the adventure begun.
And I have to admit, it was a blast from the very first episode, about which I need to write a bit more, because the way it was made was simply awesome.

So the first episode haven’t really dove deep into the actual action of the drama. It was more of a prequel we could say. It was absolutely amazing at introducing the characters, without unnecessary flashbacks and voiceovers. After it we didn’t need any additional exposition, we were more or less introduced to the characters, but in a way that shows only a part of the story that’s later relevant, only Dal Mi’s and Ji Pyung’s journey was known till this moment. Nam Do San, was barely mentioned but at the same time played a very important role in the first episode. And this was a great trick, because the viewer could get to know him as the rest of the characters did. After watching first episode I’ve concluded that it was so good at this point it could actually almost be a stand alone movie.

And this episode shown, what was later on obvious, that it’s very easy to fall in love with those characters from the very beginning. They’re all very well written and it’s not hard to figure out their motivations pretty quickly. Like Han Ji Pyung, who’s badmouthing Nam Do San to the grandma, because he’s obviously jealous of Seo Dal Mi, who was his penpal in the most difficult moments of his life. Like, those kind of thing that are very discreet, not shown to the viewer openly, are what I really loved about the series. And I’m gonna defend Ji Pyung here because I’ve absolutely fell in love with this character. And I want to make myself clear, I fell in love with how this character is well written. For me he’s hands down the most fascinating character of this series. The world was his enemy so he curbed it using his biggest strength. Even though he succeeded in life, he finally earned a lot of money, he’s not happy. He doesn’t have friends, doesn’t really have anything that makes him happy, work and money is all he has. And honestly, he’s not really a nice person. He’s petty and harsh. He helps people only if he can gain something out of it. Dal Mi and her grandma are the first people who he cares about, since they gave him his missing element of his life, and I think that admitting to this bond wasn’t really easy for him. They gave him warmth that he never experienced before. Either through giving him shelter and corndogs or just kind words in the letters. And I’ve honestly cheered for him till the last episode hoping he can finally find his happiness.

But apart from this first episode and some amazing characters, I don’t really have much to say here. And it’s not bad, that just simply means that this drama is simply good. There’s not one thing that I didn’t like about it. I could also add that the plot is pretty solid, not much time to be bored here. I don’t recall any filler episode and the pacing was on point. All characters are interesting, even background characters are entertaining but we all know that grandma stole our hearts. And the thing is that characters are just authentic. They’re not perfect, but that’s what makes them so likeable.

This review is slowly turning into a rant. So maybe I’ll end at that. Even though I don’t find this drama exceptional, I think it’s pretty solid piece of entertainment, that’s why I gave it a pretty high score. And I’m really hoping for this second season, just for fun.

Leia Mais

kim seonho is a king

Move out of the way Bae Suzy and Nam Joo Hyuk fans, I am actually perhaps one of the few fans that started this because of Kim Seonho after seeing him on 1 Night 2 Days. So I started this while also knowing that he was going to be the second lead.
I do think that the story has a lot of potential. We have these two conflicting characters. One who is an orphan yet ultimately becomes successful due to stock / investment. The other who has a loving family and friends, but is unable to get his company to take off. Yet ultimately what happened is the writer wanted to bring this latter character -- the ML -- up to the standards of the FL. He's actually really smart, being able to win coding competitions, and really nice, which is actually his biggest folly as this is why he lacks drive. They try to make his character appealing by making him perhaps an ideal man, yet trying to make him complex by adding different faults. However, ultimately this just feels fake and forced, an obvious ploy. Especially when acted by a handsome man, he's essentially too perfect. It's only dampened by this annoying naivety and immaturity. He's unable to take responsibility for his actions, and this aspect never changes.
There's this hilarious moment (and by hilarious I mean not very hilarious at all) where Dosan and Jipyoung are verbally fighting and Dosan says 'you have everything while I have nothing'. We see Jipyoung's bafflement which I felt mirrored my own. Dosan is the one with two living parents and friends. Jipyoung on the other side lives by himself and lives by himself, ostracizing any possible relationships and keeping to himself. Dosan has what Jipyoung will never have.
The writers seems to fall in what many other Kdramas have fallen into, focusing too much on the romance rather than the character development. I do actually enjoy love triangles, yet will say that I believed there to be too much focus on this. It led Injae basically being cast off. Jipyoung also follows suit as his screentime is lowered to try and raise appeal of Dosan. Cheolsan and Yongsan also seem to have potential but are sidelined without any regards. Yet even Dalmi suffers as her focus is more on her relationship with Dosan and her characterization becomes 'wants to be successful' rather than any of the nuance that comes with her dad dying after trying to found his own company.
The time skip was predictable, yet still awful. The only highlight was being able to see Jipyoung and Dalmi's close relationship, yet that is ignored after thirty minutes. Besides that, it's just the characters becoming successful in life, as if that's the only way to be desirable in a relationship.

Many of the technical aspects were painfully inaccurate. I think for plot purposes it was fine, since too technical would've made it confusing so it focused on the plot related terms. But like, there should be no way that a lawyer reads the contract 2STO gives them and misinterprets it. Even I thought of it while watching, just figured that the contract must be good if no one was talking about it. The competition between Samsan Tech and the twins was also really eh because in reality it's not that simple and both teams can still get investors. It was a slight turn off for me but ultimately I understood why it was the way it was.

Overall, Kim Seonho <3

Leia Mais

Rubbish Romance Drama

I had high hopes for this drama because of the first few episodes but everything went downhill mid show after the real author of the letters was revealed.

The story left a lot of plot holes and ML/FL characters actually regressed. The male lead who was supposedly called a “buddha” punched his own mentor, lied, cheated his way through life, ungrateful to his parents/friends but managed to become very successful and get the girl of his dreams anyway. In a way, this is actually quite realistic. So fair play to that, I guess.

The FL who started off as an independent and strong woman was written out of character for the rest of the show. I did enjoy watching her during the start especially when they just began their journey in Sandbox. However, I didn’t like the fact that was she was also ungrateful and demanding to her mentor during those times.

The only characters that had a lot of character development is the SML. The SFL also did have some character development but it came in too late. It would’ve been enjoyable to watch that progression. Oh well.

I thoroughly enjoyed KSH’s performance throughout. I will definitely be watching his future shows. I can’t say the same for the writer’s future projects. I hope that she puts together an amazing drama in the future which would change my opinion of her.

Leia Mais

a scam and very overrated

The show was initially showcased as a "youth coding romance that offers to give lessons to the youth" while giving heavy emphasis on the business plot which seemed very promising because it was a new and fresh idea coming from the world of KDramas. I'm not going to lie, it initially started out very good however as we venture towards the middle to the end of the story, everything got ridiculous. There were just so many questions unanswered and they abruptly deviated from the plot as they focused on the love triangle which pushed aside an alleged major character. The pacing and visual cues were also totally off because of how contradictory they are with what is happening which I cannot help but blame the director and the writer for just simply bad execution and bad storytelling which pales in comparison to their previous works. The story also does not shed much light on start-ups which they promised the viewers during the initial interviews hence amplifying my disappointment. Overall, the story is actually not as promising as it sounds and does not contain many life lessons as there is not much character growth (or perhaps there were but done inconspicuously), except to "follow your dreams" albeit rather thoughtlessly (or perhaps rather contradictory to the character's own beliefs). The only actual good thing on this show though were the actors themselves, who carried out the characters so well thus causing the uproar in various social media platforms, as well as the OSTs which are either heartbreaking or uplifting depending on which scene pans out.

Leia Mais

ONE OF THR WORST KDRAMAS OF 2020.

A waste of your life.

The only good thing about it is Kim Seon Ho’s character so just search Youtube for the compilation of his scenes. The whole story is a MESS. I wish they didn’t drag out the love triangle scene and just wrote a compelling business story instead or focus on the main couple and have them show us their growth.. not tell us!

They literally said, “I’ve changed, haven’t I?” WHEN NO ONE SAW THE CHANGE IN HIM AT ALL. A manchild of a character, poor Nam Joo Hyuk.

One line in the story that completely describes the drama and was actually said by the friend/colleague of FL & ML about them — “It’s like seeing two cockroaches in love”.

DO NOT WATCH.

Leia Mais

Had a good start but went downhill

I'll keep this review short and simple. This drama had a promising and interesting start with a unique and compelling plot. Sadly, that same plot turned into your typical, predictable romance drama plot that became full of cliché and anti-climactic scenes. They also stirred away from the business focus and turned it to a more sappy, romantic drama.

I was able to force myself to watch until episode 14 in the hopes that the writers can still redeem this drama but honestly, from episode 12, it was already obvious it was not possible anymore. The drama has already became a huge mess and filled with plotholes. The only thing I can commend about this drama is their choice of actors. No actor was a waste and all of them did well in playing their roles. I can say the fault is mainly on the writer and director.

Leia Mais

Start-up started off strong with a really good and unique concept. However, the more you watched, the more it dies down for me. In the first few episodes were focusing on Jipyeong and his story and relationship to SDM and her grandma. We’re now heading towards the future with this wildcard called NDS and his start-up. I’m not gonna go into details. Broadly speaking, the show felt rushed and there was no character development for NDS - he was stale, boring. Jipyeong was a much more appealing character and had much more character growth. A 16 episode series such as this one showed no character development in SDM and NDS. A girl whose stuck with her love letters and a boy who can’t get over his competition when he was a kid. But the one character who grows up and learns is just put to the side.

It was a terrible way of executing the drama. Great job from the actors but the story was not it.

Leia Mais

Plot is gone, drama heavily focuses on romance issues

As I mentioned in my headline, the plot is gone. It started off okay but then the writers just lost the sense of direction from what the title & plot description of drama is about. Really... I mean 90% of this drama is about the romance, the letters, the fake identity, the real identity being revealed, lover's trust, break ups, understanding one another. Literally only about 10% of the drama is what "Start Up" is actually about. People have issues about the love interests and I see that. It feels force between the leads. I don't see the connection between the ML & FL. There's a little bit more in connection with the SML but even still, not strong enough in my opinion and for a drama that heavily focuses on the romance, they failed in that department.

I feel bad for the actors and actresses because they just didn't shine in this drama. There's nothing special about their characters. The main lead characters had nothing significant about them other than a hard childhood. Their roles aren't memorable to me. I mean even the SFL was ripped off. Story was there for her but the writers didn't give her the necessary screen time for her character to evolve. It seemed like she didn't even play an importance to this drama. Even the support characters got more screen time than her. Seon Ho, on the other hand made his character shine. I notice he tends to do his 2nd lead roles really well like Strongest Deliveryman, Two Cops, making them shine. Even his lead role in Catch the Ghost; it started off pretty bland too but the writers deliver on that role and Seon Ho was able to even made that role shine.

Music wise, great music but once again, this drama fails to deliver the overall osts for this drama. Most songs were just played a few times if not once.

Definitely not a rewatch. Bad balance between romance and plot, with romance weighing a lot more than the plot. This just wasn't delivered well at all.

Leia Mais

a giant mess with an even messier main male character

Well if you started it looking to see something about StartUps, there is none in this drama; If you want to see romance, well ...
The drama started off well with an original and promising plot that got so lost along the way that it seems like the second half of it was written by another screenwriter, the protagonists have no chemistry and the couple show a somewhat problematic relationship so to speak . The main male charactert, mainly, does not suffer any development over the 16 episodes and is extremely disappointing to watch him get everything he wants by doing all the wrong things he does!
In fact the only thing that saves this drama is the secondary character??? the story seems to revolve all around him and not only does the character have a captivating story but the actor has a great chemistry with everyone on set and acts extremely well.
Watch at your own risk but be prepared to get angry !!!

Leia Mais

ABSOLUTE DISASTER

Start-Up is one of the most horrific dramas that I unfortunately watched.
One might go by the catchy title and think this would be a good drama but it isn't.
They decided to touch the enshrined part: TECHNOLOGY
which by any means should've been researched about properly, but what we get is half-baked tech forcibly engaged in a terrible Melodrama exhausted by a woman's fantasy.
Everything that was done and each step taken was a huge JOKE in Tech counterpart.

YEP, THIS DRAMA IS A TYPICAL WOMAN'S FANTASY WRITTEN IN THE MOST HORRENDOUS WAY
2 GUY'S LOVING HER.
A FIRST LOVE.
HER BEING A TECH LEADER AND CEO.
WANTING TO SUCCEED
FAMILY SACRIFICE.
BLAH BLAH!
EVEN AFTER ALL THIS, SHE SUFFERS!
Oh Gosh !

Any CS person or even a sane person who knows a bit about technology will absolutely find this drama a complete disaster.

Plus, there was Zero chemistry.
The acting was a disaster.
BAE SUZY CAN'T EVEN ACT!
They messed up it to the whole by casting her.
This has to be the worst show produced by Netflix so far.

PS: This drama tried to be something like MISAENG but ended up being total BullSH*T !!

Leia Mais