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.