Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 1 of Start-Up, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Bae Suzy as Seo Dal-mi, Nam Joo-hyuk as Nam Do-san, Kim Seon-ho as Han Ji-pyeong, Kang Han-na as Won In-jae, and Kim Hae-sook as Choi Won-deok. We discuss:
The songs we featured during the recap: “Future” by Red Velvet and “A Small Post Box of Hope” by Park Se-jun.
The heartbreaking and hopeful relationship between Han Ji-pyeong and Choi Won-deok, who gives him a place to stay and helps launch his future.
The idea that sometimes, people don’t fall on soft sand—they fall on concrete—and what that means for those who risk everything to start a business.
The many business concepts introduced in this episode: startups, angel investors, venture capitalists, incubators, and accelerators.
The heartbreaking story of Seo Dal-mi’s father, who dies just as he achieves the first step in scaling his business.
The metaphor and origin of the name “Sandbox” and what it means for entrepreneurs.
The painful separation of sisters Seo Dal-mi and Won In-jae, who make opposite choices after their parents’ divorce.
How letters from a fictional Nam Do-san helped a lonely Dal-mi through the darkest period of her life.
Why Han Ji-pyeong’s role in writing those letters may have brought healing to him as much as it did to Dal-mi.
A powerful early reveal: Han Ji-pyeong is now a wealthy VC who may hold the future of many young entrepreneurs in his hands.
The moving reunion between Choi Won Deok and Han Ji-pyeong after 15 years.
The harsh confrontation between Dal-mi and her sister, where In-jae mocks Dal-mi’s struggles and claims she has no regrets about choosing to stay with their mother.
Dal-mi’s bold lie that she’s in business with Nam Do-san—and the fallout as she must now find him and make the story real.
The cliffhanger introduction of the real Nam Do-san, who’s quietly working on groundbreaking AI recognition software.
What we’re watching now, including The Uncanny Counter, Under the Queen’s Umbrella, Typhoon Family, and more!
References
Thanks for the explanations of the business concepts, very helpful. I think they are called 'loan words'.
ReplyDeleteI'm watching My Mister (amazing) and they used 'openmindeu' for open minded, in the 'free love' sense, which probably indicates that concept is not part of traditional Confucian thinking/Korean language! (There are studies which show that the words we have in our language affect how we think about the world.)
Under the Queen's Umbrella is wonderful, and very heartwrenching at times.
Doremi, thank you for your comments. "Loan words!" Love it.
DeleteMy Mister is a masterpiece. At some point, we will do it. We just couldn't do such a sad show during the holidays!
I have to come back to Under the Queen's Umbrella. Listener Akiko loved it, and Sung Hee is raving about it.
Wow, Suzy Bae!
ReplyDeleteFirst I want to comment that i agree, this first episode was a great exposition, a terrific introduction setting up all the characters and beginning storyline to develop across the 16 episodes. I saw this AFTER watching "While You were Sleeping" and was introduced to Ms. Bae as an actress. Completely enjoyed that drama and wanted to see her in another and Start up was found on Netflix. Start up was to be my 3rd drama I would be experiencing after "While You were...and "Encounter, my first." I was a bit of a newbie to K dramas. I'm now hooked. ;) I found out later that Suzy was also a singer and now she and IU are my favorites!
I can't comment on the business end of all that is shown on this drama and am also appreciative of the business info you provided on the podcast. I can comment on the story and how it fell into place for me.
This is my third time watching this K drama and interesting how much I missed the other two times! Another interesting thing that I noticed are the online reviews. All I will say is that this is a great show and that people watching along with the podcast should decide how much they like it for themselves.
Suzy's notoriety as "the nation's first love" puts a little wonder into why she would be cast as an underling with less going for her than her sister. On the outside, with her situation of losing her mother, sister and father AND even her "Pen Pal" after about 15 years, it would be understanding that she could be a mess emotionally, but instead, they show a plucky "go-getter" with ambition. I wonder if the role was influenced a little because of Suzy's notoriety as the "Nations first..." In any case, I'm glad she was portrayed as someone with perseverance. Having to be horrified by watching her father be beaten; showing more emotion than her sister, it was easy to see why Dal Mi chose her father. The clash between Dal Mi and her sister will undoubtedly be something that will drive the story.
To finish, since you will be doing a deep dive into Suzy next week and so much has been mentioned about In-Yun, I was reminded of the game "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon." In this case 6 degrees of Suzy Bae. I am sure this can be done with many Korean actors. I took the time to connect Ms. Bae to all the seasons you have done for K-Drama chat. Even though the connections were made because of the productions and not casual meetings or interactions, they are connections and therefore part of In-Yun, at least I think so, do you agree? Here are the connections, each connecting an actor to either a television series or a movie of Suzy Bae. I am sure there could probably be other connections found as well!
1. Hotel del Luna - Yeo Jin Goo to Start up
2. It's Okay to Not be Okay - Kim Ju Hyun to Start up
3. Mr. Sunshine - Heo Jung Eun to Start up
4. 25 - 21 - Nam Joo Hyuk to Start up
5. Mr. Queen - Lee Jae Won of While You were Sleeping
6. Gyeongseong Creature - Kim Hae Sook to Start Up.
7. Queen of Tears - Ko Kyu Pil to Genie, Make a Wish or Vagabond
8. Crash Landing on You - Yoo Su-Bin to Start Up
9. Kingdom - Kim Jong Soo - to Vagabond
10. See You in my 19th Life - Moon Don Hyuk to Start Up.
11. When Life Gives you Tangerines - Park Bo Gum of Wonderland or Kim Seon-Ho of Start Up
12. Extraordinary Attorney Woo - Jin Kyung - Uncontrollably Fond
13. Start Up
This was fun!
Hey TL, that was fun - didn’t think I’d run into a Kevin Bacon reference on this site! I’ll add a few more - not an actor (OK not really getting the point 😉): Oh Choong-Hwan directed Suzy in “While You Were Sleeping” and “Start Up” and also directed “Hotel Del Luna”. And can even go for bonus episodes: Seo Yi-Sook Start Up and BAYM. Choi Kwang-Il Vagabond and When the Phone Rings
DeleteTL and SDguy, loved the Six Degrees connections you have made! And I just realized that we forgot to mention the writer and director of the show at the start of episode 1! Gah! We will rectify that soon.
DeleteAnd guess what? I have a Kevin Bacon connection. Many years ago, I think maybe 2015, my company did a project for Kevin Bacon. We redesigned SixDegrees.com! We talked to him on the phone at least once, and met him after a concert once. He was very nice and loved the work. So there you have it, all of you are now two degrees from Kevin Bacon!
Cool! To get us to Suzy in 4,
DeleteKevin Bacon and Jennifer Lawrence were in X-men First Class,
Suzy and Jennifer Lawrence are spokespersons for Longines and have appeared together at Longines functions.
So, with Joanna's connection, we are 4 degrees from Suzy!
There was a brief scene with the grandmother and Ji-pyeong before the rain scene. Earlier, he had stopped to gaze longingly at her corndogs, but insisted he wasn’t hungry and stomped away. So by the time she saw him in the rain, interested in a fake ad for a rental, she had seen his pride and his threadbare clothes and shoes. So she wanted to help.
ReplyDeleteSo I think her compassion for his plight is easy to undersrand.
Ellen, thank you for your comments. Yes, she saw him, but was it enough for her to take him in? I think you're right. Personally, I think she was going to offer a single act of kindness and then it grew over time. And you could tell that the grandmother loved his company!
DeleteThe show "Startup" is holds special interesting for me, as a tech worker in Silicon Valley. I (now retired) had the opportunity to work as an early employee (#6) for several software startup companies starting about 30 years ago. What an adventure. What a great topic for a K Drama.
ReplyDeleteYour discussion of the sandbox made me think of the grandmother offering a type of sandbox (a place to turn to for a soft landing) to Ji-Pyeong that he could turn to if he was having a hard time. I thought that this was an interesting juxtaposition of the grandmother versus the startup incubator.
I'm reminded of those times with early webpages, html and knowing the difference between Javascript and Java. The Java programming I was accustomed to was always shared in a Sandbox so people could adapt, change or make mistakes on without affecting the rest of the webpage. Nice parallel in the story.
DeleteHTML...Oh! Those were the days my friend..we thought they never end lol.
DeleteGordon, that's so cool! You never know who's watching! I have some engineering experience - it's fun to see the euphoric moments "it works!" in the show (of which I had too little ^^)
DeleteDo you think they depict the startup phase realistically?
Love it! Silicon Valley connections.
DeleteI love, love, love the sandbox references. Yes, the grandmother offered Han Ji Pyeong a soft place to land after the orphanage kicked him out! And yes, developers work in a sandbox to keep the rest of their code or machine or network safe! Love it all. Thank you!
I won't tell you all how long I've been in the tech space. Too long! And yes, I used to hand code html!
TK, I once worked for a startup where we all sat around in the founder's family room writing code. At least there was a nice view. I joined the company with the promise that Big Customer was going to use our software in their video streaming device. At the last minute they went in another direction and we were scrambling to find new hope from new customers.
DeleteIt has been a while since I watched the show, but if I recall correctly it is a startup founder's dream scenario, and they have the right idea from the get go. Usually you produce the first version of your first product, only to have your customers explain to you what they REALLY need.
They need more setbacks for this to feel real; however, who said that k-dramas were realistic? It is highly unlikely that an investor puts money into a company run by a young woman leader with no track record of leading a successful company of any kind. The one exception is when someone who already knows the founder puts their own personal money into the company, probably because they don't know any better. When a real outside investor puts up money, they will insist that you have real CEO.
Funny you were in a similar situation as the Samsan Tech group in Startup! Good point about the customer feedback - have seen this happen often, why is it so hard to keep customers in the loop 😭
DeleteThe thing about "a young woman leader with no track record [...] they will insist on a real CEO" stings a bit but it's a comment mentor Han could have made 😅
TK, Google goes on at length on this topic, if you search for "do venture capitalists insist on installing their own ceo" (without the quotes). I suppose one could argue that the Sandbox investment in the startup company was minimal, so they were willing to let them succeed or fail on their own. Still, when a startup company demonstrates significant technology, they will receive a lot of attention from investors, including meddling with the company leadership.
DeleteIt has been a while, so I don't recall if the show ever discloses the percentage of stock Samsan Tech had to give to the Sandbox incubator , to pay for rent, advice, and the various business services.
I haven’t watched this series before, and I will try very hard to keep watching only 1 episode per week.
ReplyDeleteSo, my impressions are very much raw and without much thoughts.
* Good, if not great, first episode introducing all players.
*I am very much with Sung-Hee about the letters. I took them as an act of kindness. But, I also see, and even partially agree with Joanna’s uneasiness. Once it goes for too long, it becomes a bit questionable, but I wouldn’t go as far as manipulative as the word has bad connotations.
*I also can see a love triangle looming. And, frankly, I am dreading it. This is a trope I actively dislike in dramas. I might even go as far as hating it. It is a good literary device and in lots of novels (not romantic though) serves its purpose well. But in dramas it is a waste of time, and redundant since 95% of time the more famous actor/actress get the girl/boy (Please don’t give away the odd cases when this is not true). If there were even 30%-40% chance second lead wins, I wouldn’t mind it so much.
Anyway, I hope I am wrong (I haven’t seen the series, so please don’t even indicate one way or another. I am VERY spoilers sensitive. I don’t read synopsis. I don’t watch trailers). For once, I am very grateful for Joanna & Sung-Hee pretence :)
*Like Joanna, I really like the actor playing the dad. I am puzzled that he never got a leading role. He has all the attributes for it.
* I teared up at the farewell scene in the bus stop, but didn’t cry. That was my favourite scene of the episode.
*Joanna: be happy. I kind of liked the closing song. Can’t say I loved it, but noticed it enough.
*Finally, I am sorry to say that I didn’t buy the rift between the sisters.
Siblings do drift apart, and can end up even killing each other. But, the series didn’t show us(or even told us) anything of significance. Am I suppose to believe that a sibling fight when they were teenagers led to all these frostiness? And why would the older sister behave that way? There is really no logical reason(btw..the young older sister actress was very impressive in the first episode of Castaway Diva)
I am also baffled that the mother didn’t come back to claim her daughter. All signs tell us the adopted father is very good man.
I hope they tell us more, because this is a key relationship.
Seven Seas, thank you, as always, for your comments!
DeleteI hope you love Start-Up! I absolutely adored this show the first and second times I watched it. I know that after this season, I will love it even more!
Yes, there is a triangle brewing. Let's see where it's headed.
I 100% agree with you that the rift between sisters and the mom's estrangement from Seo Dal Mi were not well explained and not realistic. We will talk about this!
And hey, you commented on the OST!
I didn’t buy the rift between the sisters either! Although this storyline does make me want them to reconcile and end up working together.
DeleteWhoohoo!! Ready for this season. Have watched the whole show already before, but only remember it partly. I cannot keep pace and am at episode 10 already, and surrender to the binge watch. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteTK, I am so with you. This show is SO binge-worthy. It's hard for ME to not watch ahead. It's actually dangerous for us to watch ahead because then we get confused and give away stuff. So I have to hold myself back.
DeleteI'm so happy you are excited about this season! Please tell everyone about this show and this season of the podcast. It's going to be SO FUN!
Doremi
ReplyDeleteI've just rewatched Ep 1 with the benefit of Kdramachat's analysis. I notice Seo Dal-mi is working for less than minimum wage (illegally, or via a loophole?), so I looked that up. It appears that South Korea's minimum wage is around $7.21, which is equivalent to the US federal minimum wage (i.e. low by world standards for a 'developed' nation) but in a country where tipping is almost nonexistent.
DeleteIn kdramas, poor characters are often morally superior to rich ones, so this aspect sets our FL up as inherently 'better' than her sister and her mother, who unashamedly enjoy the benefits of wealth.
Appa and 'Good Boy' (in spite of his secret invesment gamble with someone else's money) are also poor and 'good', as is Halmeoni. Grandma is also Catholic, which is often a sign of integrity in kdrama world. (Practising Buddhists are also respectable, but religious chaebols are usually portrayed as two-faced protestants!)
Catholic Minwoo in EAW being the exception that proves the rule. :)
ReplyDelete