The Reason Why Start Up Is Fucking With My Feelings

Okay before I start my rant, I want to tell you that I have no grudges against the actors. Just with the writers. But the writers are not gonna read my post so they ain’t gonna know that I’m cursing at them. No harm done for any animal, living or dead. No actors were harmed in this post but your feelings might be attacked. If you feel like this is not going according to your feelings, there is a back button. I’m kinda rude too so if you attack me back I won’t back down.

I’m writing this in point form so y’all will understand how much evil the writers are doing in a very manageable way.

1. The Letters

Basically this whole mess started when Halmoni and Han Ji Pyeong (The ever gorgeous Kim Seon Ho and the younger version portrayed by the beautiful Nam Dareum) decided to give Dal Mi (the beautiful Suzy)a penpal. Before anything, yes, they did give false hope to a girl who lost her entire family (minus Halmoni) by writing those letters but there was no ill treatment. No one wanted to profit from it and it wasn’t written to scare the girl. It was written only for one reason: to give Dal Mi hope to dream once again. And maybe once they started writing to each other they opened up their feelings and wrote what they really felt, for each other, for the world, for everyone. They shared their interests, hobbies, dreams and they fell in love. Maybe more from Dal Mi’s side. We were never shown if Ji Pyeong felt the same way cuz he’s a tsundere.

He let (a.k.a forced) Do San to read the letters and understand the content and gravity of the whole scenario to get into character. But what this show forgot is that there is two sides to this conversation: Dal Mi’s letters (which Do San read) and Ji Pyeong’s answers (which is with Dal Mi and is the reason why she’s so heads in love with “Do San”). Do San only read one half of the conversation, it’s like watching only the latter half of a movie, without understanding what went on to get this conclusion. So basically Do San doesn’t know the whole story. And he doesn’t give a damn about it too. He doesn’t care about the letters, even if Ji Pyeong gave him them to read and understand.

One reason why this pisses me off is because Do San fell in love with Dal Mi when he first saw her. He doesn’t care about the letters, he wants her because she’s beautiful, and he’s in love. He doesn’t care what Ji Pyeong wrote in order for her to fall in love with “Do San”. Ji Pyeong basically created him and Do San is going against his maker to create his own story. When the secret does come out, it’s gonna bite him so much in his arse he will know how much of an arse he actually is.

2. Dal Mi

One of the weakest female leads I’ve ever seen on TV. Her whole character is to back up Ji Pyeong and Do San in their fight to claim her. She’s basically depicted as an object. He who speaks first, wins. And I hate the fact that Do San treats her as such. In episode 7, when Ji Pyeong joins dinner, Do San and he argues about having dinner at Dal Mi’s residence and what sparked my anger was that Do San doesn’t even consider that Dal Mi would actually want Ji Pyeong to be there. He didn’t ask about her opinion, he just didn’t want Ji Pyeong to be with Dal Mi because she was gonna see through his façade and fall in love with him again. The only normal moments are when Dal Mi is with Ji Pyeong because it doesn’t seem like a lie.

Her competition with In Jae also annoys me. I hate the fact that Dal Mi can’t see beyond her you-left-me-and-dad-because-you-don’t-care-for-us opinion and actually relate to her sister. She’s her big sister and no matter what, when you see that one person who meant the world to you the only thing you can feel is happiness. Her sister is beautiful and alive. Her mom is alive. But no, Dal Mi would rather hate both of them because they left. The poor relationship between Dal Mi and In Jae is gonna cause so much trouble for sure. Dal Mi is a bubbly character with so much potential to be an amazing CEO, but her acting is lacks rich colors. She looks one dimensional: only goal is to marry Do San and become a CEO and show the world that she’s better than In Jae. Which is stupid.

3. The big Lie

Yes, Ji Pyeong and Halmoni are wrong for extending the lie so that they had to find the real person and make him lie too. But this lie has been going on for so long and poor Ji Pyeong is realizing that what he did was going in the wrong direction and that Do San is falling for Dal Mi. Yes, he did wrong. And he’s holding out the lie too. But I feel like he’s had enough now and he wants to bring it all to a halt. And when he does, the biggest question is, will Dal Mi forgive him and love him? Or will she continue to love Do San because the letters don’t matter anymore? He’s faced with this problem and I know for a fact that he’s bloody jealous now. His face is OPEN with emotion it’s actually heartbreaking watching his face crumble whenever he sees Dal Mi with Do San. But he has to lay in the bed he made.

I just hope that he will get a happy ending, even if he’s not with Dal Mi he won’t get a sympathy love line with In Jae or something.

Speaking of the big lie, I wonder why Do San is keeping the big pretention even if he hates the fact that Dal Mi’s in love with Ji Pyeong and not him. Basically Dal Mi just loves his big hands. That’s it. That’s the only thing she loves, the rest is all Ji Pyeong. He has to admit that he’s just a benchwarmer before the player gets to the field.

Thoughts on Episode 8

*sighs* Well, it was high time for our female lead to finally clue in. I’m glad no one told her and she was the one who ultimately discovered (or is she still thinking about it?) that her Do San is not the guy she kissed. No ma’am, she didn’t kiss her first love. High time, lady.

I enjoyed (not really) today’s episode because we finally got more screen time for Ji Pyeong and Dal Mi together and I’m finally seeing what my cousin kept yelling about: chemistry, the real deal. Just the fact that he’s not over stepping her boundaries and letting her relax in the car shows how much he actually values her. I loved the fact that unlike in other shows he didn’t brush her hair or kiss her or anything when she was asleep. He’s a gentleman, obviously. Unlike some removing-thread-from-hair people I know.

Yeah, Do San inventing a technology because of Halmoni is nice of him, but why do I feel like he’s doing this with an ultimate goal? Why do I feel like he’s gonna throw all that back when Dal Mi has to really choose between him and Ji Pyeong?

I have never fallen for a second lead as much as I love Ji Pyeong right now. Every thing he does, every word he says just resonates in me. I feel like whatever he says is right, and whatever he does is right. Ahhhh how different from his real self in 2DN1? I love Kim Seon Ho so fucking much it’s actually unhealthy. He’s such a variety actor and he’s making me fall in love with him all over again here.

I wonder why Dramabeans isn’t recapping more variety shows like they used to do.

Anyway, I’m signing off tonight. These are my thoughts.

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    I am kind of over her egging In Jae too. She continuously goes out of her way to find a way to be nasty to her every time they meet, unprovoked. She initiates the conversations only to find a way to be harsh, why? This has been a pattern for a few episodes now. I liked the little moment between In Jae and her mother today, it seemed more real today, the dynamic. I need more growth for Dal Mi as a career woman. She hasn’t gone out of her way to prove her competence as a CEO yet, that part of the story is slow moving. The whole scene with Chairman Won was overdone cliche.

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    Do San crying at the end didn’t make me feel anything.
    I mean, Who cries because their partner got in another person’s car and forgot a hair band? It can only be him.
    Why do I feel like we’re all kind of finding fault in almost everything he’s doing? (Not that he’s doing them right but still😃)
    This is all the writer’s fault🤷🏽‍♀️

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      That wasn’t cute to me if that’s what they were going for.

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        It really wasn’t. At all!

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        Nothing is cute with Do San for me. I dunno why but I wanna poke him with the knitting needles. This is so not the character for Nam Joo Hyuk. He could’ve done better in choosing a character. Why couldn’t he be more like his School Nurse Files character? Now there’s a hero to root for.

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      I was basically like Yong Shil when they were kissing.

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      I agree with finding faults with the drama. But we’re critics, are we not? We engage in the drama. And sometimes want to murder the writers. It’s normal for a kdrama fan like me.

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      I think his insecurities were getting to him again because of that scrunchie, because he’s worried that if she spends time with Jipyeong she’ll fall for him like she did when she read his letters, and then his thoughts might have spiralled into a “She doesn’t like the real me, I’m not good enough, and if she knew the truth she would leave me, and I’m still lying to her etc.” rhetoric. This whole situation is clearly causing him pain. Also, I feel like Dosan is quite sensitive so he probably wouldn’t even need the scrunchie to cry over it, it’s just a visual reminder.

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      I did understand why he cried, I get his feelings, I get his insecurity and I’m really sorry for him.
      To me, NJH is doing a very good job in portraying such a sweet nerd (I love nerd DoSan), and even this insecure ML. The problem, to me, is the writing. And it’s not something like that’s only happening to me “I’m not invested in this drama” thing, it’s happening to so many of us.

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      It was kind of “off” right? Haha. Do San isn’t well written as Ji Pyeong from what I can see 🤔🧐

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    Let me rant by your side, because I need to.

    I agree with you about everything.

    I don’t understand why writer can make such a an adorable nerd in DoSan, being a part of a lovely family and having such good friends, and then make him such a mean ML.
    I can get he’s fallen in love with DalMi, not only because she’s pretty, but also because he loves the way she is, how enthusiastic she is about things, and willing to make dreams come true. I totally get it. I just can’t understand why the writing is making him such a mean ML: he’s not only mean to JiPyeong, he’s also mean to his friends. I mean: the only reason he chose DalMi, the only reason he says “yes” to all her plans is because he wants her for him. I have this feeling like he’s always treating DalMi as a thing. It can be the fact that he’s not very experienced with women, but, boy… she’s not a thing, something you must have. Those are the feelings I have about DoSan as a ML.

    DalMi is totally flat. She doesn’t have a clue about being a CEO. And she’s not honest to her team. In fact, lying is her thing. She lied to her sister, to her mum (yes, yes, I get she feels abandoned by them), and she lied to her workmates as she’s saying she’s getting the investment they are not getting. And she’s the CEO? Is she always going to be like that? And the blackmailing? She only recorded the conversation because JiPyeong told her. She’s totally clueless of what she must do.

    And what about InJae? At least we had a good scene in episode 8. She told her mum she was happy, living on her own on a small studio and being free. That scene told us that she doesn’t need money to be happy, that she’s a hard worker and that she also has her dad’s spirit to have a dream. Her dream is to have her own company and she’s getting it. I bet she’s suffered a lot in her stepdad’s house. I bet she had to kneel so many times…

    And regarding JiPyeong… yes to everything! He’s so considerate, he’s always respectful, he cares deeply for DalMi and for halmoni in the most selfless way.

    I still get the OTP is DalMi and DoSan. I get it. Our feelings about JiPyeong won’t make that change, but then you have to make them earn being the OTP. Right now there’s no chemistry between the two of them. There’s nothing for me to cheer for them.

    I can give you a clear example: in My unfamiliar family I wasn’t convinced at all about EunHee and ChanHyeok. In fact I was totally against it. Until episode 12 and then writer gave all the reasons to believe their love was true. I need that here. I need to believe the OTP is real and not just two people the writer decide to get together just because.

    And even so I would only be ok if JiPyeong is happy.

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      I agree with you about Dal Mi making a huge mistake in not telling the others they didn’t secure the money needed to cover the cost of the app. That was bad from both a business point of view and a personal one, as she was risking her coworkers place in Sandbox. And In Jae too, she seems mostly alright but we see so little of her. She is being totally sidelined.

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      you have to make them earn being the OTP

      ahh… that is it. this is why i still not sure about them being the otp

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      ” you have to make them earn being the OTP”

      So true. We can’t invest in an OTP just because the writer decided. They need to show something worthy enough to be the OTP.
      Both the leads are on zero growth now and if the show just keeps on forcing the pair to our face I guess my FF button will suffer a lot in future.

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      Same thoughts chingu. The supporting characters are surprisingly well written AND driven 🤔

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    Aah !!!! You are so right on almost all points. I guess we all will keep on finding faults with Do San but could we blame ourselves? He do all sorts of things that deserves criticism. I have so many complaints about the character and episode by episode he is annoying the hell out of me.
    Even Dalmi is a badly written character. Please show some growth. She should have informed her workmates about the investment issues.

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