jeanfiles

Yeah MDL is way more healthier than those Reddit, Twitter fans.
I’m only taking it out here bcs there’s more anonymity here LOL don’t mind me.

But in general some of the comments here do scrutinise the show as a whole quite harshly too, - not the actors- but the show. Like I said, it’s fine to evaluate the show and it’s problematic messages objectively, but it’s not when ppl start criticising every little thing to the point of saying the writer is dumb, and solely bcs they expected something different ? Solely bcs they think that HJP deserves better and so on and so forth? My point is- in the end the story belongs to the writer. If she has enough self-respect, let her determine the ending and let her send the message she wants. Don’t disrespect her art by instructing her that she should do this and she should do that....as if you could’ve written a better work.
Just hope to generate some healthy counter points to most of the negative comments about the show here haha

Edit: also wanna add how people trash NDS as a character so badly saying how he don’t deserve to be a male lead etc. That’s stepping the line too. It’s not up to you to say who should be the male lead you know, it’s the writer’s art! You are just here to evaluate her writing....

Saying this after I saw a lot of fans trashing nam Joo hyuk and even bae Suzy and even the writer for casting nam Joo hyuk as ML... and just in general criticising this show as if they could write a better one ?
So disrespectful to the art man.
Evaluating the show and it’s problematic messages/inconsistent writing is one thing... but projecting your expectations on it? And forcing YOUR happy ending on it and saying that the real-life actors and writers are dumb? No pls. Respect

Some ppl were complaining about how weird it is to move on from the letters so quickly. I admit that they could’ve fleshed out her recovery better instead of just making SDM look confused and stare blankly for like an episode then immediately go back to NDS. That made a lot of audience feel like their rship was unearned and forced.
But why would she be so hung up on those letters still once she found out it was fake? I saw this analogy on Twitter: it’s like being so happy for 15 years that your friend bought you a Dior bag and you were so proud of it you bring it everywhere you show it off to everyone, but one day reality hits you and you learn that that Dior bag is a fake and not an original. Do you still keep it? Do you still bring it around and flash it on people’s faces? you don’t right? (The dior bag is the letter “Do San”)

That’s why NDS said “I don’t want to confuse you anymore and let’s just pretend nothing happened- and know me for me instead of the ‘DoSan’ you knew from the letters”. (Which also implies how he wants to know SDM for her instead of the SDM that she created for the letter ‘do San’). Bcs they both admit that they were in love with a delusion, and now they want to work their way to reality

Why can’t ppl just accept the fact that SDM actually fell for NDS after going through so much together? Why do people assume that it’s mere blind love and stupid immature love?

With that being said, it is true that the last few episodes have made their rship look super shallow and super inconsistent to their respective characters. (Even at the expense of other characters like HJP, sadly) But I do hope people respect the overall storyline of the drama still. After all, the writer must have intended something, she cannot be completely stupid and directionless. Don’t disrespect the art and even the actors just because it’s not the ending that you want.

Some ppl were complaining about how weird it is to move on from the letters so quickly. I admit that they could’ve fleshed out her recovery better instead of just making SDM look confused and stare blankly for like an episode then immediately go back to NDS. That made a lot of audience feel like their rship was unearned and forced.
But why would she be so hung up on those letters still once she found out it was fake? I saw this analogy on Twitter: it’s like being so happy for 15 years that your friend bought you a Dior bag and you were so proud of it your bring it everywhere, but one day reality hits you and you learn that that Dior bag is a fake and not an original. Do you still keep it? Do you still bring it around and flash it in people’s face? you don’t right? (The dior bag is the letter “Do San”)

That’s why NDS said “I don’t want to confuse you anymore and let’s just pretend nothing happened- and know me for me instead of the ‘DoSan’ you knew from the letters”. (Which also implies how he wants to know SDM for her instead of the SDM that she created for the letter ‘do San’).

Why can’t ppl just accept the fact that SDM actually fell for NDS after going through so much together? Why do people assume that it’s mere blind love and stupid immature love?

Agree w u uwu

Ooooh cheese in the trap was like this too? I was wondering for the longest time why the male lead in CITT was ...the male lead .... he was so annoying and pretentious.

Hmmm it’s true that NDS is poorly written too, but tbh he was still likeable up till about ep9 (IMHO), just not *as* likeable as HJP. They really butchered his character ep10 onwards

is it wrong to still like NDS? DoDal is no healthy couple to represent in a drama of course. The writing isn't top-notch. ( a lot of cringe NDS scenes that I disagree with) There are a lot of character inconsistencies of course. But... i still like him as a character overall :// just wondering

the leads' rship was cute at first though, but it only lasted for like 5 eps. my main problem with it was how I felt like it was going nowhere. Lack of development and lack of clear direction, to the point I felt like they were just reading a script.

I like the HJP fans here, the HJP fans on Twitter is craaazyyyy

Omg close to 16k comments is this normal hahha

Agree... :( oh well what can we expect from kdramas

I mind but more like I couldn’t care less anymore HAHAH the amount of investment I put into this show is just not worth it anymore. I’m just gonna delude myself into thinking that this show is not the same as the one in ep1-4

Yo you guys need to chill. Like of course the writing quality of the show clearly clearly dropped ever since ep 4. Ep1-4 was like the best. But actually it’s still quite enjoyable on surface value (the writing is cringe and horrible, but it’s still kinda fun to watch the characters).
I’ve seen kdramas that has cringe writing and just unbearable to watch I end up fast-forwarding everything, I don’t find myself fast-forwarding Start-Up. I do appreciate their overall pacing and cinematography still- characters are still fun to watch and the actors do a good job.
Cut it some slack and don’t scrutinise the show too much...? Just don’t treat this show seriously anymore hahah at this point I’m just treating it as some fun show to talk with my friends about


Also I feel like at this point SDM is the character they’ve butchered. Feel like she is some cardboard kdrama girl who waits for the two ML to do something romantic/heroic. Such a huge regression from the ep1-4 SDM

okay yours is quite insightful, thanks you :))
I also dislike the fact that the writers made his life revolve around Dal Mi, kinda shady bro like you literally just met her 3 months ago.

but the taking up alex's offer thing is not wrong though. He was unprofessional towards alex bcs he does not trusts him and also in general he has bad social skills and is slow to social cues. But after he found out that Ji Pyeong offered to be their plan b, he wanted to take up Alex's offer instead bcs he remembered how HJP never likes SST to begin with (ep 1-3), and how he always doubted them and insulted them (not in a way that is "honest"- like bro he legit just said they will fail instead of helping them). HJP only offered them plan b for SDM's sake bcs he likes her. Whereas Alex actually appreciate SST for their technology.

wait can someone tell me why exactly is NDS toxic to the point in which it's unforgivable and un-supportable? Just curious haha. Team HJP pls enlighten me :O

(I'm neither team Dal Do or Ji Dal but i did like Do San more in the beggining)

Yep, I know that was super sweet of HJP. But in the scene when NDS and HJP meet in private (ep 10) he DID sneer on NDS. He was clearly poking on NDS that he would not be able to get SDM without his help, or just generally he can't be someone of use without his help.

Not saying that proves that HJP is therefore a huge jerk since what's important is that he is genuinely a sweet guy behind NDS's back. But in NDS' pov, that was pretty mean. Considering all the times he insulted NDS and SST since ep 1, there is *a lot* of tension between them--> that's why there was such a build-up of tension in the contract scene when he scolds SST. Although in our pov it looks like he's just being truthful and honest, in SST's pov and specifically NDS's pov- it really looks like he was just prejudicially provoking NDS

yoooo i totally agree with the whole what's the point of the punching scene and the whole "the writers really butchered NDS' character" thing but yooo this person is clearly biased against NDS and is biased towards HJP.

NDS was a jerk in ep 12, yes. But so was HJP. Not to the point that NDS made him to be though, like he didn't deserve a punch at all. But still, there had to be some kind of cathartic and climatic release of tension between the two. HJP has repeatedly looked down on SST and has said really really mean stuffs to them unobjectively. (like in ep 2 when he said that they will fail). And even in ep 10 HJP sneered at NDS for not being able to get Dal Mi now that he does not have "his past and his status". As much as HJP was truly the "saviour" of the day and his objectivty has always surpassed all of their naivity... he HAD been unobjectively mean to NDS and preujdiced against NDS and SST. So him being sorry and all that when he found out that NDS did everything for haelmoni was actually reallly great character growth.
Another thing that made NDS so mad was also how he never bothered much about SST unless it was motivated/instigated by Dal-Mi...it's pretty insulting you know.
((((I realy hate how they made it look like NDS was ONLY mad bcs HJP insulted SDM, they could've fleshed it out more like that^)))

Point is, there IS alot of tension between the both of them so i do see the need for a climatic kind of catharsis of anger and tension. They excuted it poorly though- the violence was extremely out of character for the both of them and it was totally uncalled for. Sigh.... start-up is.... fustrating

wait whaaaat where did u get this from? poor thing NJH :((( he is so precious why they got to do him dirty like that

Yeah.... so sadly that they ruined NDS’ character so badly. The worst part is that they actually did a pretty good job in the beginning and at certain parts too, it’s just the messy writing and inconsistency in character that disappoints me. Giving me false hope lmao.

I recommend you watching ‘Dazzling’ (aka The Light in Your Eyes’) if you want more of NJH’s proper acting. His character is so much more well written there, layered and complex, he did AAMAZING there.

Aha, true. Those few scenes felt super fake and forced to me too. But what I liked about ep 9 was how he came to terms with his identity issues- when he confessed about his cheating in the math exam. The wind analogy was also really good. It talked about how most people will consider him “lucky” and “fortunate” to have such a “wind of fortune” (that brought him the Math answers, and now Dal-Mi) but it’s in fact one of the worst burdens on him bcs now he has unrealistic expectations to reach. And of course, he is living a lie- it only makes him more miserable than happy. That’s why he held on to DalMi so obssesively- it’s bcs he KNOWS that it’s gonna end once the truth comes out. but that was about the peak of his character development though, after that ep it was all ruined and he just felt like a forced nice guy