jeanfiles

i am very conflicted about this issue...
i am genuinely not a fan of Ji Soo (never seen any show with him inside)
and i do feel very sorry for the victims

but... it's so sad that an actor has to lose his job, and his reputation as well.
i know you can say that he deserved it and this is just retribution and consequences that he has to face but... at this scale? I don't even know how he's gonna find a proper job to sustain himself in the long term.

but...at the same time, i really do sympathize with the victim. but how would publicly ratting Jisoo out make their life any better or relieve their past trauma? I'm just thinking out loud here.. not questioning their decision.. like wouldn't it better for them to privately deal with the agency? I'm sure KeyEast would be generous enough to give back funds or maybe even privately cut down JiSoo's activities.

I just think damaging someone's reputation like that is a really serious thing and I don't think we can just label it as "he deserved it"
it's like telling an ex-convict that he would never be able to get a job because they "deserved it for their past actions"

you dont have to see it that way. I don't think she's just being jealous, she's just reacting to her world falling apart. having so much emotional turmoil in her home and only having suho as the childhood friend who knows what's going on, and now it feels like he's being "taken away", it's kinda understandable to react like that though.

But it shouldn't last more than 1 episode, if not it's gonna be really lame and cliche "jealous backstabbing female trope". They better redeem SooJin's character in the next few eps

lol! kinda harsh but... i kinda agree w u bro

I mean I didn’t really like the original one either... but somehow the characters there were a little more entertaining? I mean heck yes I found Xiao Xi annoying at times, making everything to be about her and her silly crush. But somehow the actors’ faces just really suited the roles and I still found it pretty enjoyable. I esp loved the second lead girl, she was so pretty and her character was so interesting. But apart from that, I still found the original one extremely cringy and too childish for my taste.

But somehow this korean remake... just feels weird? Idk what’s wrong. The speed? The writing? The casts? It just feels like they’re summarising the original one for me in like super cuts. It doesn’t feel connected at all.

And as much as I hated Xiao Xi and found her stupid, at least she felt like an actual character. The FL here feels super disconnected from her character. She looks too old for it and she looks like she is trying too damn hard to look cute. The ML here does not suit Jian Chen’s character at all, His face is too sweet-looking. And when he deliver the “mean lines” he does not sound cool nor is it funny/cute he actually looks like he means it seriously and hence it feels even more hurtful.

Idk man. I think A Love So Beautiful is just a really Chinese vibe kind of romance, Koreans just don’t fit it haha

he was really different in school nurse files and the light in your eyes :)))
and he was pretty different in CIIT and weighlifting fairry too. he was not a dramatic guy, he was kinda chill and funny

Yeah... lee jae work has that vibe

these are my exact thoughts on the show too! it's not just bcs i'm biased for NDS/NJH, it's just how i interpret HJP's character haha. I just didn't feel that much connection towards him and i always saw his rship with SDM as more of a mentor-mentee dynamic. So i was utterly CONFUSED why everyone was saying that this drama was the biggest case for SLS... but then again, the only time i ever felt SLS was Cheese In The Trap.

anyways, am glad to finally find more people with similar opinions. When the show was airing, it was predominantly filled with HJP fans... haha- check out my review if u want to read more of my thoughts https://kisskh.at/profile/Kristances/review/108417
i would love to read your review if you have one :)

and i agree with @Kimsamsoom , this comment section is pretty fun to discuss and debate. Start-Up in general was a pretty good conversation topic, there's alot to analyze and debate about haha. And i like how MDL has ppl who genuinely wants to discuss about the show, and not jsut throw hate or hype up their idols.

I guess it was the writer's fault in not fleshing it out well or explicit enough for audiences to understand.

But here's my take on it:
DM was in love with the "letter-DS" for 15 years. First, we need to agree how this letter-DS is *NOT* HJP. Firstly bcs, HJP said it himself that he wrote it with Grandma's help most of the time (ep2). Secondly, even if the letter-DS is really HJP (like somehow, overtime, he actually wrote it sincerely instead of reluctantly), it's impossible that HJP is still the same after 15 years. Therefore we can conclude that SDM was basically in love with a created figure by HJP's genius language skills. It is not actually a real person that exists. Not NDS, not HJP.

When SDM met NDS, she immediately projects all her past assumptions of letter-NDS on him. But after working with him on so many things (hackathon, Sandbox, Noongil, Morning Group incident, SST, Demo Day, etc.) she realizes that the real-life NDS is actually different. But in a good way. She realizes that although the real-life NDS is not as perfect, at least he's an actual human being with flaws. At least he's not non-existent like letter-NDS. She realizes how NDS has helped her grow so much (from being stuck in her café job to being able to fulfil her potential as an CEO entrepreneur that helps the blind community ).
So although she was deeply heartbroken that NDS lied to her about the letters, she realizes how the real-life NDS is someone that she can actually love, that she actually wants to love. Letter-NDS is non-existent.

I would agree that after the ep10 (the truth reveal), their rship was kinda weird and they didn't exactly show how SDM and NDS is struggling in rekindling their rship. But there was a line that makes perfect sense, which was NDS suggesting that they pretend that nothing happened and get to know one another again AS one another. Not as letter-NDS or manic pixie dream girl, but as actual human beings.
Does this make sense to you now? She loved NDS bcs his hands didn't just bring her emotional comfort (like the letters), it actually helped her realised her dreams and helped her to be a better person.

agree with you!!!

I can’t believe I’m enjoying this show haha. I saw the trailer and cringed and told myself I’ll never watch it, but screw it it’s amazing!!! I don’t regret at all.
It does not have much of a plot and there are a TON of unrealistic cheesy scenes, but it’s done so well you can’t help but enjoy this lighthearted romcom.

This is defo one of those shows that is just “fluff” but “fluff done well”. I look forward to sitting down and watching it every week. All of the casts are just perfect! I read the webtoon abit and i didn’t like how the webtoon was too like over-dramatic. Like Ju Gyeong felt really petty and self-absorbed there. Whereas it’s really light-hearted here and MGY does a good job in portraying a girl who is childish but at the same time mature but at the same time does not take herself too seriously.

I’ve never watched CEW act, and admittedly his acting skills are paling in comparison to MGY and HIY on this show. The latter two are definitely better in personalising the character, but I still enjoy Suho’s character throughly.
And the slander to CEW is giving me major flashbacks to SU! I was fighting so hard for NJH in the start up comment section on MDL haha. Let’s see if I will start getting defensive for CEW ><

Cool

I guess there may be some translation intonation that is lost in the phrase “why do you like me?” Perhaps in korean it sounds less insecure and more romantic idk lol

But I think it’s pretty normal for people to ask their partner why do you love me, it doesn’t have to come from a place of toxicity. You love someone so much you just want to talk about your love for one another

And for SDM’ answer of “i like you bcs of you”
It may sound cheesy and childish, but look, if she were to say anything else it would be damn problematic too. DKDKTV said this too in the Review video too. It would be really problematic to answer “I like you bcs of your looks” or “your coding skills”
In the end love is for the person, not what characteristic or skills they have.
But I would still agree that the answer felt extremely queasy and flat despite it being the correct answer. The problem is not in the answer itself, but rather how confusing their relationship dynamic has been

I agree in how NDS was actually a really uniquely flawed character. It had loads of complexities and depth + way more opportunity for the writer to expand on his character arc compared to HJP which had a pretty standard and predictable character arc. imo, HJP character development was like done by ep 6 as he reconciled with the grandma and we saw how he opened up to his soft side. Whereas NDS had so much more room to mature and grow. There was the identity/insecurity issues, there was the family issues, there was the maturity + wisdom in start-up stuffs, there was the romance stuffs. Basically, lots of room to explore and show how his character can grow.

My issue with the writer is then how she never made him grow. She instead rewrote all of the opportunity for character growth into...idk pity stories? You can read my review if you are intrested to read how i think it should have ended instead :)

https://kisskh.at/profile/Kristances/review/108417

i think as much as start-up was terrible towards the end and have lots of unlikeable characters or wahtsoever.
Start-Up has this 'humane' quality that TKEM just didn't have. Mainly bcs TKEM is of a whole different genre, but also in general TKEM a lot of times just felt like the Goblin writer trying to flex her profits in TKEM. It just felt super like "in-your-face". Idk if i'm articulating well lol. It just *felt* super grand and expenisve, but there was close to no plot and the characters felt super flat.
In other words, it jsut felt like an empty can. Loud and exuberant, but having close to nothing to offer substantially.

Whereas I would argue that Start-Up had really well-written characters to begin with. So it started out strong at least. I could connect with all the characters in Start-Up immeidaltey after watching ep1-3. Whereas in TKEM, up till like ep10 i was still having difficulty remmebering their names.
Maybe you're feeling abit negative to the characters now, but as i was rewatching some old clips of SU in ep1-5, i thought that the character writing was GREAT. I've never adored all of the casts so much. Admiteedly, they did butcher it towards the end.

So i would put it this way: TKEM was consistent in its world-building, but it had close to nothing to offer. It just felt like writer wanted a replication of Goblin's level of profits.
Start-Up was terrible in its writing consistency, but at least it had amazing personalized characters to offer :) (there's a reason why we're still all so hung up on this comment section. bcs there's just smtg strong about SU that draws ppl in together xD)

Thank you! haha

You're right, up to the final moments of Dodal couple in ep 14 (the mountain scene) I still thought their character arc was salvageable. The mountain conversation wasn't the best (as in, they could've written a better dialogue fleshing out NDS character growth more), but it was definitely showing some of NDS growth. We see how he genuinely tries to be his own person without being intoxicated with superficial love for SDM. Even up to the moment when he piggybacks her, i thought that was still... well bearable. I kept hoping that there would be a pivotal conversation between the both of them in which they recognise how they treat each other as mere trophies and would like to remain as business partners instead and slowly rekindle a genuine friendship.
But... yeah the ep15 kiss ruined everything lol. Like wot.

glad to find someone with a similar opinion haha

omg! ikr! you have great taste in movies. I've watched that movie at least 4 times.

That's why i'm a NDS fan, not bcs i think he deserved SDM or that i want him to be my husband irl or smtg crazy haha. I was just really drawn to the complexities in his character and saw lots of room for character development. Kind of like Tom from 500 days of summer. but oh well.. PHR opted that for cliche kdrama instead :/

how did HJP eventually see SDM as a person? Didn't really catch that..

nicely written!

Run On sounds nice :) might start watching it :0

hehe indeed im the sister from the other side <3

I actually said i don't think they should be together.
But my issue with NDS isn't the same as yours haha. My issue with NDS is more on the writer's part. I sincerely think they misplaced the original script somewhere or something went wrong in the editing room and that this was just some last-minute ditch effort to continue the show. Bcs NDS became someone who he was not. This is not character growth, this is... literally... character rewrite. ep1-10 NDS is analytical, rational, logical. then ep11-16 NDS was irrational, hopeless romantic, etc...

As you saw in my comment, already in ep8 i didn't like how they made NDS to be so in love with SDM. I was never really Dodal endgame though I liked their meet-cute moments. I ald took issue with how he treated SDM as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl (idk how to explain this trope haha Wikipedia has a good definition). But it was still bearable bcs I was hoping that in the last 8 episodes we would see NDS' growth esp after the truth comes out.

On your point about how you didn't like NDS spoonfed her with unrealistic lies? I don't really think that's the biggest problem in his character. I personally thought that wasn't exactly "lies" since he had the capacity to help her achieve her dreams. Like, he's a genius after all haha. And it's not true that everything was in their favour. They had multiple setbacks, esp during pre-sandbox SST days. So i didn't take so much issue with the positive ending of their business. Because SST has failed a lot in the beginning, and they have been under the guidance of HJP in Sandbox, they should be smart enough to grow their business.

I finished it! I still stand by this theory haha.
As a NDS fan, i understand why she would fall for the present-day-NDS instead of the letter-NDS. Afterall, it's not like the letter-NDS represents HJP 100%. HJP wrote those letters when he was a broke, angsty, high schoolboy. When SDM met HJP, he was a successful businessman with so many different experiences in life.
so up till ep10 i was kinda confused as to why there was even a ship war, bcs *personally to me* the HJP-SDM dynamic was more like big brother and younger sister. I can understand how they might be good friends, and i understand how HJP is a good thing for her (bcs HJP gives her realistic advice) but a romantic rship between just sounded absurd to me, they're on totally different chapters in life.

so although i was a NDS fan, i recognised how he was quite toxic and is in need for character growth. So i wasn't exactly rooting for dodal endgame, i was rooting for good character growth for NDS. That's why my biggest problem with Start-Up isn't exactly the love triangle since i didn't even think there was one to begin with. But rather NDS' character. I was expecting to see some real character growth bcs NDS character up to ep 10 was quite interesting and had a lot of room for character development, but instead PHR gave us a very contradicting character.
From analytical and logical and science-based NDS --> hopeless romantic, emotional, irrational NDS. It also doesn't help that they didn't address how he sees her as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

That's why I was hoping more of a ROY kind of ending or a 500 days summer kind of ending, where they address the male lead's immaturity and leaves the ending open-ended.