Kimsamsoom

1. Grandma started the lie with good intention, and HJP helps her. While initially seen as a favor to grandma, HJP actually starts enjoying the letter exchange, and he starts getting the same benefits SDM was getting from them.

2. As the one writing the letters to SDM, he probably has a good idea of what kind of guy SDM always dreamed of, he wants to best for her, so when he found out that SDM would be meeting her sister and mother, he knew that in Korean culture, face is very important, so he wanted to make sure NDS is someone that would fit the bill.

3. His rudeness can be traced back to his tough upbringing, he's a self made millionaire, you won't find many of those people being fluffy and cuddly, especially in a cutthroat world like VC Investing.

4. I think HJP got caught in the middle, and he's at an impasse and not sure what to do anymore, so he's stalling things until he can figure out what to do.

Both NDS and HJP have flaws. The big difference here is that all of HJP's flaws are laid out from the beginning, and each episode is him moving back to the right side of things, while for NDS he starts of on the kind side, but slowly moves towards the dark, so there are more things to criticize about him.

There is a saying I heard from another Kdrama called "Greatest Love".

Question:
"How do you know if you love someone?"

Answer:
"When you see that woman with another man, and your heart starts to beat"

I think that's the case here, it's only when he sees SDM relationship with NDS progressing that the feelings he has of her cannot be stymied anymore.

I think the writer mistakenly gave HJP too many ML vibes, that they will have problems later down the road bringing him back to SL territory.

at first I thought Start Up and Silicon Valley would have lots of comparisons, but I learned so many techie stuff from Silicon Valley, and they way they acted, from their love of video games to their dorky personality was actually a good representative of startup and incubators in Silicon Valley.

So far, i'm not really learning a lot from Start Up, I would say the only similarity Start Up and Silicon Valley have is they are both about start ups.

The story instead gives me heavy Cyrano de Bergesac vibes. I watched the movie with Steve Martin, Roxanne which has some similarities with Start Up.

The way I see it, here is the thought process.

NDS - Ooh, hot girl who is one of the few people in my life who gives me positive reinforcement. I Love Her! My First Love!

HJP - It all started with grandma asking me to write letters to comfort her grand daughter, but in the midst of writing, I realize that SDM is the only one i've truly been able to comfortably talk to, to lay out my soul. What started as a chore, became something I looked forward to. Instead of me comforting her, she ended up comforting me.

And i'm only realizing now that she has been the one thing that has been missing in my life.

She's great, did you know she has portrayed this cold, uncaring second lead role several times now?

You do know, from HJP point of view, he gave NDS an out several times, if it was up to HJP, NDS would have told SDM he had a GF, and it would be done.

But no, he decides he wants to pursue things with SDM, and purposely chose to keep up the facade to make her love the real NDS.

But yeah, SDM is fully exploiting NDS for her own gain, which is one of her bigger flaws, but it's NDS fault for letting her.

In the beginning, I felt Start Up, had the same potential as HBO's Silicon Valley, but the weak story line has really hampered by viewing experience. The CEO of pied piper is dorkier than NDS but still very endearing, and he never really does a 180 on his character. NDS On the other hand, is changing dramatically, to the point where, it's not he same likeable guy anymore. In a way, the way the writer is making him change is going to make him lose fans IMO.

I think HJP is the most tragic second lead, I can remember watching. His story, character complexity, and redemption arc, all scream ML.

But alas, promotional material is pretty much a spoiler.

In my experience, the best friend, childhood friend, tends to get the shaft, for the other newly met guy. From the dramas I watched, the old time, longer friend, rarely gets the girl, it's usually the new guy.

Yes, sorry, your right, western dramas tend to be the opposite, with the rich guy usually not getting the girl, but the small time poor guy does. And they usually explain this my making the rich guy arrogant or uncaring.

I am more invested in the reuniting of the sisterly bond than the lukewarm romance between the ML and FL.

Yeah, but very highly unlikely, NJH has a lot more star power than KSH, although in this show KSH's acting is really on point.

But it's hard to ignore all the various plot devices the writers has left every episode to show his/her endgame bias.

It stems from the cultural fact that Asian men/women are sometimes not as open emotionally, and can take time to warm up and leave themselves completely vulnerable. And since these types of people are aplenty, dramas and anime shows focus on this to show that even if you are cold, or have a hard time opening up emotionally, love is possible for you as well.

Notice how Tsunderes become extremely shy, when they are opening up their emotions. It's easier to be mean and cold, then to be warm and loving.

I believe the criticism of NDS should be if anything, his steadfastness in his persona of little buddha.

What people don't realize that he is doing his little buddha persona with his business as well. He had a chance to grow his business, to reach the next level and etc..

But in doing so, he would achieve his goals, but SDM would not, so he has given up a lot of concessions to SDM. He chooses not to shine as bright, so she could shine brighter. He is very Beta in this sense, wanting SDM to be the alpha.

But the problem is, these things don't help SDM learn, as NDS is just a glorified yes man.

I believe the main theme of this show is about "What Defines Happiness" Let me take some time to explain.

From the very beginning, we are introduced to the Seo family with Grandma, Dad, Mom, IJ and DM. I have no doubt they were a happy family initially. I could also tell that DM was closer to dad and IJ was closer to mom. But just like with most marriages, once money problems starts entering, we see flaws start to come out. Flaws of the dad is he is too much of a dreamer, willing to spend live life at the moment with very little planning, and does not view money as a source of happiness, but rather treasuring familial ties instead.

The mom on the other hand is the exact opposite, she has planned her daughters future, which includes cram school to enter the best universities and secure a bright future, she sees having money as a source of happiness and success regardless of familial ties.

These belief on the source of happiness permeates to DM and IJ future selves, where IJ believes happiness in marriage isn't as important as the happiness money provides. Which eventually leads to deterioration of her relationship with her sister and her mother. While on the flip side, we see that DM doesn't value the money as much as the familial ties with grandma, and working hard to climb the ladder.

The reason I believe these belief permeates so strongly in both daughters, is because their family unit was split up during the divorce. If they had stayed together, both daughters would have benefited from a more balanced philosophy of having strong familial ties, and strong ambitions. But instead both daughters doubled down on the pervasive philosophy each parent brought to the table, which became two opposite extremes.

In fact, they remain steadfast in these philosophy's up until their chance meeting. It's almost like a catalyst. When both sisters meet, it's like the ideology of the mom and dad met up as well, as IJ realizes that money is not the end all and be all, having something of your own that you worked hard on was important. And for DM, she realizes hard work doesn't guarantee success, having some luck, benefactors, contacts and etc... goes a long way to achieve ones happiness as well. So we start to see each of them start changing what they define is the source of happiness.

As for NDS, what is his source of happiness? I feel for him it's kind of like flavor of the month. Initially, he thought making his parents (his investors) happy, would make him happy. Then later on, what makes DM happy makes him happy. I don't believe he ever creates his own ruleset on happiness, but rather piggybacks off other people's rules. Which just shows me that he may later down the road change his ruleset again, he has little conviction on his philosophies and it shows in his character.

For HJP on the other hand, from the very beginning, it's always been family. But because of his mistrustful nature, and tough childhood, he decides that only money can make him happy. Fast forward to the future, we see that money has brought him no happiness, he is lonely, he is cold, he is known by people, but don't have close relationships. The thing he craves is the one thing he doesn't have, but he still tries his best to convince himself his success is making him happy. It's quite tragic to be honest.

SDM and NDS ending up together would be even more cliche IMO. It's literally the plot of almost all Rom-Com dramas across western and eastern Dramas. Girl falls for poor guy, who eventually proves himself and becomes the successful man he is meant to become and blah blah blah... Girl doesn't go for rich guy because he doesn't have heart and etc... this trope has been replayed over and over and over again.

I'd like to see the opposite happen every now and then. Rich and successful people, regardless of how cold, or emotionless they may appear deserve happy endings too. Look at what a mean sister WIJ is, yet a lot of people are wishing her happiness.

I mean aside from the promotional materials. they also use every standard kdrama endgame romantic device in existence.

Love at first sight
Slow panning shots
Slow motion
Extended hand holds
Longing gazes

Its overwhelming at this point. But it is because KSH is such a scene stealer and such a complex character that a second ship even exist.

But that's the thing, she described her relationship with Dosan as being in love without meeting each other.

So it is that love, subconsciously or not is what prevents her from meeting a new person. It was obvious in those scenes, that she was just finding any fault to nitpick with these men.

The thing is, because of NDS personality of always being second best due to his emphaty, we don't know if SDM happy feelings are because NDS is enabling them, or are genuine.

Because up until now, whatever SDM says, NDS just does, and for a girl, having a guy just do whatever you want is temporary happiness. It's great when a guy does everything you say, but when it happens all the time, and over longer periods of time, you start to question to stability of this artificial happiness.

There is nothing healthy about the relationship of SDM, NDS and HJP though. A healthy one can bloom from all the chaos that is sewn, but there needs to be a breakdown for it to get there, and not just status quo.

Keep in mind she rejected like maybe three guys due to her feelings for fake dosan.

If those three previous guys pretended to be the fake dosan, maybe she would be married and with kids by now.

Such was the power of the fake dosan history, that it blocked so many previous men.