The songs we featured during the recap: Dream by Jamie, Ransomware by Kim Dong Hyeok, Remind by Park Sejun
Joanna’s epic night at the TWICE concert at Capital One Arena — 21,000 fans, multi-generational crowds, and how “Takedown” from KPop Demon Hunters is bringing TWICE to new audiences in the U.S.
The meaning of the episode title “Comfort Zone” and how it perfectly captures Han Ji Pyeong’s three-year stalemate with Seo Dal Mi.
Ji Pyeong’s awkward confession while making skewers, why saying “I want to be the first person you think of” wasn’t quite enough, and whether jewelry is a bold romantic move or a panicked leap out of the friend zone.
Yeong Sil’s iconic baseball analogy — “Two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a full count” — and why it may be the motivational speech Ji Pyeong needed to finally swing the bat.
Nam Do San’s three years in Silicon Valley: success, stock options, Napa wine, yachts on the Bay… and whether coding became his emotional safe haven after heartbreak.
The ransomware attack on CheongMyeong Company — port 22, SSH vulnerabilities, decryption keys, and whether finding the key was even remotely realistic (thank you to our cybersecurity friends for weighing in!).
The thrill of problem-solving: why Do San says he hasn’t felt this alive in years — and whether returning to Korea means stepping out of his own comfort zone.
The complicated dynamic between the sisters as Dal Mi (now CEO of CheongMyeong) and In Jae (대표님) maintain strict professionalism at work while still struggling to reconnect personally — especially around Chuseok.
Ji Pyeong’s heartbreaking timing yet again — arriving just after Do San saves the company — and why Dal Mi hesitated to call him during the crisis.
The bromance vote over street skewers and tteokbokki outside Sandbox — and the emotional moment when the three friends decide to stay in Korea together.
Our favorite lines:
– “Two outs in the bottom of the ninth and a full count.”
– “Don’t throw a pebble into a calm lake.”At the end of the episode, Ji Pyeong confronts Do San in the elevator, gift in pocket, promotion title acknowledged (상무님!), and the rivalry officially reignites.
Joanna’s interview with real-life venture capitalist Tim McLoughlin of Cofounders Capital — decision-making under uncertainty, making peace with imperfect data, and why looking backward can slow you down.
Next week, we recap and analyze Episode 14 of Start-Up and begin narrowing down our choice for Season 14. Send us your recommendations!
References
K Drama Chat is a weekly podcast where we take one Korean (K) Drama each season and and recap and analyze each episode. K Drama Chat is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pandora.
I absolutely loved the interview with Tim McLoughlin! Hearing from a real VC added so much depth, was so informative and entertaining as well! His success is no surprise, with great communication skills. Harvard did NOT make a mistake on this guy.
ReplyDeleteHere are some thoughts and extra questions! Maybe he could get back to us on some of these:
1) He mentioned the importance of the team in the new enterprise. I would assume that this means that you could have a good business idea, good technology and a strong business plan, but that without a strong common vision and leadership, you would pass?
2) Having worked as a contractor for a startup med device company, our VC had a strong role in larger decisions as the product moved to market. Is this typical?
3) on the show, the balance of ownership stakes for the CEO and the xx character who led the technology was a factor. How important is this IRL?
Ellen, so glad you enjoyed the interview with Tim. He was a wonderful guest! I will ask him your questions, but I can’t promise any answers!
Delete
ReplyDeleteFirst, I have to say that even though I previously watched this show - maybe when it came out? - I have developed a full blown case of Sung-hee-itus, and I do not remember these last few episodes! That being said, this episode had great dramatic timing where you thought, who is SDM going to cross paths with first and what will be the impact!? I think you all know where my bias lies and I won’t pretend it wasn’t stressful!
If it’s not clear to anyone, the writing is on the wall…..
Also, am I the only one who thinks it’s completely transparent who was behind the ransom ware attack?!
The interview with Tim McLoughlin was great. He is a very good communicator and really boiled down the VC business model. Of course, if it were me, I would have insisted he watch every episode so he could be interrogated on every possible inconsistency! 😜
Two other notes, Bae Suzy was a Lancôme ambassador at the time this show aired. So I imagine the filming contact called for her to use the products prominently.
Joanna, I feel your pain about the lack of abs scenes in this drama…. I know it’s your favorite k drama element! 🤣🤣
Malcolm,
DeleteYou are not alone in your suspicion about the ransomware attack. I was planning to be explicit, but since you chose to be vague, I will play along :). How do I know we are thinking about the same party? because, I also think it was transparent.
I am afraid I don’t have a lot to say.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be a party pooper, but I am a bit tired of the series, and just want it to be over.
I honestly don’t dislike it. It is a decent series with lots of good scattered stuff, but unless the last 3 episodes are amazing, I can’t call it good.
One of the biggest problems is that I am not emotionally invested in SDM. Not sure why?
Is it the writing, or is it Bae Suzy?
I find the debate of HJP vs NDS certainly enjoyable and interesting, but more from an intellectual and narrative point of view.
But, I genuinely don’t care who SDM ends up with. She can even chooses the elevator guy for all I care lol. I would give the show big props actually if she ditch both. At least it would be gutsy ending.
I binged “The Art of Sarah” in 2 days starring Shin Hye-Sun and….who cares? Lol
It is a mystery series, so I won’t say a lot.
The mystery has great build up. The reveal is Okeyish. The story has holes, but not terrible to ruin it.
The Acting though! SHS is in a GREAT form. Probably the best performance since Mr Queen. You really get to experience her range.
It is a short series ( approx. 8x40mins) on Netflix.
I've started Cheer Up, another older release. I don't know how satisfying the storyline will be (silly curse element + the usual 'trauma') but I like the FL's silliness combined with her drive to make money and her refusal to put up with her snobby ex.
DeleteI also like both MLs, and Korean university cheerleading culture is a nice contrast to tech start-up land.
Will see how it goes.
Also, one university cheer song seems to be to the tune of 'Go West', so a bit of Village People/Pet Shop Boys to go with the OTT cheer uniforms (nothing like US cheer gear).
DeleteI enjoyed the ransomware drama in this episode, and wanted to share my own experience with this subject. I was working for a local museum a number of years ago that was victimized. Upper management broke the news to staff that we'd been attacked by ransomware. This was perhaps the first wave of these attacks in the U.S., so "ransomware" wasn't a term most of my coworkers had even heard before.
ReplyDeleteWe were a modest museum in a medium-sized city (patrons would often ask "is there maybe another floor of exhibits we missed?"). I remember being perplexed and slightly shocked that the museum would even consider rewarding the criminals responsible for what felt like domestic terrorism -- pay the slimeballs or permanently lose all records of membership, benefactors, endowments, budgets, and more. It was galling.
This is where I learned the secret to the ransomware success -- instead of asking for a million bucks, they might ask a small hospital or museum for $100,000. And that might get negotiated down to $75,000, etc. Once the I.T. team confirmed no miracles will be forthcoming (alas, we didn't have Samsan Tech on speed dial!) the Board met and says "just pay the bastards, we got it down to 70 grand, and it'll only go up from here."
So we paid in Bitcoin (the criminal's favorite currency), we immediately upgraded the I.T. system, the problem "went away," and -- importantly for the museum -- the story never got out to local media. The bastards won.
A few years later everyone is chattering about the awesome potential and advantages of Bitcoin and crypto and I'm like "nah, I don't think so. Not for me." (But I don't think this is the forum for me to go off about that!)
I still don’t understand cryptocurrency, but it seems like its primary advantage is to be used as payment for a whole host of illegal acts. I don’t even understand why it is legal! Actually, I do. It’s because of huge campaign donations….. ok. I will stop.
DeleteBefore I get too political.
This episode was a prime example of why I’m not a fan of NDS. The guy has THE job, he has his best friends by his side and the support of his parents but because one thing didn’t go right (his own fault for not checking the contract and checking it thrice to make sure everything was exactly how he wanted it) he decides to mope around for 3 more years instead of just enjoying life and being grateful for what he DOES have. His parents did not deserve his isolation. The glass half empty personality really irritates me. As far as HJP and SDM, there’s zero chance of romance between the two. Mostly because HJP has, in my opinion, been sending mixed signals this whole time, I don’t think he knows what he wants romantically but I think their friendship is special and will last.
ReplyDelete(Unless petty NDS throws a tantrum and makes SDM choose between the two men)
I want to mention that I went back and watched a couple of episodes in Spanish and the grandma calls HJP “a good guy” which to me makes sense, the name of the show is also different. In Spanish they named it Follow Your Dream.
Anyway, I’m excited to read everyone’s comments. Great episode as always. Thank you for keeping me entertained on my flight from Houston to Beaver Creek. Not only did I forget about my 4 hour delay but I learned a few things about private equity and business lingo.
Now for next season, I think Resident Playbook would be a great shift from Joanna’s tech world to Sung Hee’s medical world. I think the show has the perfect amount of medical and character drama played by one of the best casts ever ! (In my opinion) okay, I’m off my soapbox. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Hi Marcella -- I've recently rewatched Resident Playbook, and I appreciated it even more second time around.
DeleteI think the things you dislike about NDS are the reason many people are 'Team HJP', but I'm glad that you don't see HJP as SDM's perfect match either..:)
I think you either 'get' NDS or you don't -- and I don't think it's a coincidence that Joanna sees similarities btwn him and her husband. The 'glass half empty moper' you see is just a sweet, quirky, introverted-but-talented guy with some confidence issues in the eyes of others.
I think he's an absolute gem! Don't let him slip through your fingers SDM.
Doremi, the way you described NDS makes him sound so much more likeable.
DeleteYes! But we both watched the same show, so it must be that you and I have very different perceptions of/tastes in people, not that one is right and the other wrong.
DeleteVive le difference, I say.
Absolutely!
DeleteI totally agree with Doremi, NDS is a gem. He is genuinely in love with SDM, all his actions have her best interests in mind and his main goal is not money..After SDM finds out the truth about the letters he apologizes to her and waits even in front of her door.HJP on the other hand is also upset, but he does not even manage to write her a text message. He had 3 years to change SDM feelings towards him, but he did not do a lot. Why ? Did he know deep down, that he had no chance or was it cowardice?
ReplyDeleteI feel for him, but I don't think he is the right partner for SDM.He is not ready for a relationship yet.
How about a sequel about HJP way of finding real love...
Hi there, renewing the debate here, the NDS vs HJP debate! I agree that the NDS character is better for SDM than HJP. I think that even HJP suspects that, though he deeply cares for her.
ReplyDeleteBut here’s why some of us wish it were otherwise in my opinion. And I just came to this realization. Nothing against Nam Joo-hyuk, but I think it’s just that Kim Seon-ho is such a magnificent actor that he just transcends the part as written, that extra depth and dimension that screenwriters and directors dream of inspiring. I just watched Can This Love Be Translated. In that, he does that again. There always have been actors and actors who can only play lead roles, because they steal every scene they’re in. That’s what happened to KSH in this role and kicked off his lead career.
Years ago now, I saw Shin Hye-Sun in a supporting role in Stranger, and thought wow, who’s that? So when I discovered this podcast, Mr. Queen and that it was Sung hee’s favorite, I dove right in. Like KSH, she’s just that good and elevates whatever she’s in.
On the topic of startups, since I was working for a Bay Area VC med device company at the time, I followed the whole Theranos/ Elizabeth Holmes fraud scandal as it went down. I didn’t know much, but the people I worked with, including people who knew her from Stanford research, knew a lot.
One notable point was that although she charmed many prominent people into investing, NONE of them were doctors, scientists, or medical researchers. There were HJP type characters sounding the alarm, but they were ignored and hundreds of millions of investment dollars were lost. Maybe this incline me towards the HJP character in this show; the guy who cautions too harshly. Those guys can save you a lot of money!
That's a very interesting point, Ellen. We have two male leads, and IMHO, Kim Seon-ho's acting ability is several miles ahead of his younger rival.
DeleteAnd the Elizabeth Holmes fraud scandal is fascinating. It makes us ask "how could so many educated, intelligent people be duped?" Of course, sociopaths always have an advantage in those scenarios --- normal human discourse and interaction involves so much "trust" that we mostly take for granted, and the sociopath can ignore, with zero conscience. So we DO need professionals and harsh critics asking the tough questions.
Remember the Samson Tech boys, meeting with their initial investors? They needed HJP to say "What the heck are you doing? These people are LYING to you and trying to steal your work!"
Thanks, Jeff, and I found your account of the ransomware so interesting as well. Over my years in tech, we became obsessive about off site backup multiple times a day to avoid this.
DeleteHolmes had been told by her professor at Stanford that blood cell physics prevented her idea from ever working as she was pitching it (multiple tests on a small amount of blood without breaking the cells). Then they went to elaborate lengths to cover up the reality, which was just as predicted.
I agree that Kim Seon-ho is a great actor who portrays 'complex' MLs really well. (I first saw him in Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and he was pretty mean to the FL for a while there, too!)
ReplyDeleteThat's why Team NDS can empathise with him but still be very keen to see Do-san and Dal-mi reunited.
HJP's business skills and pragmatism are not in dispute, but in this show, they have already failed him a couple of times. And they certainly haven't helped ignite any romantIc sparks with SDM that I can see.
As I've said before, the business/tech part of this show is not my scene. I'm just here for the romance. :)