OneAjhussi

It is controversial because many people thought the SML might be the ML but no it is not the case. If you wan't to watch this don't fall for that war of ML SML. Just forget this comment section binge watch it by paying attention to everyone and their individual evolution.

It is a good drama if you don't blindly take side but you just enjoy to accompany all the main characters during their journey.

You are right these advices are common advices to follow when watching a drama. I never wrote them in my former reviews because I thought people can enjoy the way they want. But for this drama I thought they needed to be stated.

In particular because the first ep was very confusing regarding the ML. I myself was questioning the order of the cast and I had to pause my viewing to go to the Internet and look for additional infos to figure out who was ML. I was still unsure so I decided to not chose sides and wait to have a clearer view of the situation. Only at the end of the ep. 1 when the petal was flying in the sky to reach the actual ML, I understood this drama was not going to be: "two former penfriends reunite and find love". Too easy for a kdrama which talks about destiny. I was 100% sure it would be :" Two kids fated to be lovers by a grandma and her good boy".

Thank you for taking the time to write a few words on my review. I wish you to have fun watching new incoming dramas. Have a good day and take care.

I won't enter a discussion with you to underline what TOTNT did so well that Start up did so bad. I don' t even think Start up did bad. I think it is a good drama if people are not focused on the second male lead but accompany all the 10 something main characters during their journey.

I won't try to convince you regarding HJP. I will just stick with my final assessment about him that he is a good person deep inside but he did not act like one. He was reduced to an annoying, nagging and rude third wheel in a fake love triangle and we only have ep16 to see the full potential of his character. When he started to put things right, to act positively and open himself to others, he really went from bad guvnor to great guvnor.

I was just saying I enjoyed Start up more than TOTNT.

He agreed to be in a scheme to write to someone pretending to be someone he is not (a 12 yo kid). 15 years later he went to Do San to ask him to enter the scheme of the fake letters by pretending to be the kid of the letter to "help" someone. He made and pushed that scheme at times to keep it going. Later he lied to Dal Mi he wrote the letters on his own. I am not sure it was intentional now but it sure made her doubt her feelings. Only in ep 16 he puts an end to all this and says it: He is not Do San from the Letters.

It is too bad all his involvement in the drama was reduced to his. With such a good actor and an endearing character, it could have been so much more . Ep 16 showed it when he started acting positively to people. If he was like that sooner it would have given him another dimension and it would have put a different light on the Love triangle.

On the surface TOT9T is watchable and I don't mind the fate of the main characters but in the details, it is quite messy with many inconsistencies, plot holes, loose ends, weird turn of direction in some characters. Also I did not like the romanticizing of villain. Rang killed people just for the enjoyment of it but they made him complex to the point he became good.

I never liked that kind of characters. This is why I rarely watch drama with a ML who is a Mafia guy doing prostitution and drugs but he is a nice guy deep inside. It is the same problem I had with Han Ji Pyeong. Inside you know he is a good person but outside he is an absolute jerk and nice only to the people he likes.

I was not really rooting for the ML of Start up even if I liked the character as a person. I was rooting for his romance with the FL. From episode one it was clear that Destiny made a pair of them and that they would be together after a long journey. I regretted his main roadblock was HJP and that it lasted for so long but in the end Destiny was completed.

Apparently TOT9T was entertaining for many people but I can only judge based on my own assessment. For each, his own.

The drama is better than FindMIYM, TOT9T , APOYMind, DYLBrahms... who are less good but still are 8 and above.

For me this drama deserves a 8.1 overall along side My Holo Love.

Kim Seon Ho did an excellent job portraying Han Ji Pyong but the character was only involved in a lying scheme which triggered a fake love triangle where he never had any chance with the FL. They could have done a lot better with such a good character.

You have taken a wise decision. Don't watch it because it will be painful for you. I wish many others who preferred HJP as ML had done like you instead of watching and complaining for weeks.

Give it a try. You should watch 2 or 3 episodes and see if it is your cup of tea. And also don't get second male syndrome because second male lead is too good in ep1. Or else you won't like it.

I have seen the reviews and most of the ones sinking the drama have only one argument : that HJP was the best. And these reviews are most popular also. So yes the rating is being sunk mostly by people disappointed by HJP not getting the girl.

Ji Pyeong is the best option for a gold digger. Dal Mi is not one.

The plot devices are made by the writer so how can you say the writer ignored them?

I shipped them together too at some point of the begining but looking at their "no nothing " interactions, I knew it was dead.

Truth is ep 1 was misleading. HJP as a teen looked so lovely as a poor orphan struggling in the streets, drenched in the rain with his puppy eyes looking at you. He is taken home by a Grandma with a good heart and they decide to help a poor girl by sending letters to comfort her... So adorable....This is better than any fairy tale. Even Hans-Christian Andersen and the Grimm Brothers or Charles Perrault, they did not come up with such an endearing set up.

Many viewers seeing this called HJP the adorable kid, the orphan boy who escaped dire straits to become great. He is the hero of the Drama. He has got to be. He was her penfriend, he will find her and they will be happy together ever after. Destiny chosed him for her...

But no....

Destiny chosed the other kid. Nam Do San.

HJP is just the butt of the joke.

This is why... they are sinking the rating.

Loved the cameo and when HJP said "because I like your voice" lol . So good.

He took comfort from the letters of a 12 years old girl writing to a 12 years old boy because he had no friends. That means he stole her good intentions and good words for himself a 19yo man.

He wrote words to her . Some were fake some were sincere and true. But he was portraying a 12 yo kid who cared about her and comforted her when he was never a man with enough empathy to comfort anybody.

HJP knows all this. This is why he acknowledged not to be Do San from the Letters. He just told her the truth without uselessly stirring the past.

Nice talking to you to. Have fun watching new dramas and take care.

Grandma did not have the right handwriting. She could not respond. The letters ended after HJP left for Seoul.

The story is good also if you survived ep1 without thinking HJP is the winner of the race.

to finish our discussion:

Ji Pyeong never poured his heart and his feelings and sincerity in these fake letters that he called stupid and he denied being responsible of them and their consequences on Dal Mi. He said to her he wrote them just to pose himself as a fated lover for her because he "was" her penfriend 15 yeas ago. Of course it did not work. She did not care about it because she was in love with another guy already.

You opinion is ep 15 proves that the letters were real. It is not really the question. The question is about how he invested himself in them. I said ep15 is endgame. But end of drama is ep 16. Now Ep 16 told us. The fake letters were not his heart, his feelings and his sincerity. They did not reprensent anything good enough. This is why he did not look for her for 15 years to help her, support her, comfort her. This is what the Do San in the letters is and would have done for her. Do San who read the letters and had a glimpse at her, it was enough for him to care about her and look for her just to help her the same day.

HJP said it. He is not Do San from the Letters. These letters were not him.

(sorry to interrupt your discussion thread)