Wasted potential in the drama, but pieces together nicely

Overall, Private Lives had a lot of wasted potential, in my opinion. The characters, in particular, lacked a deeper character development and depth that I hoped would emerge throughout the 16 episodes. Exploration into the characters’ purposes and how/why they see the world as they do would have been nice. For example, Lee Junghwan’s background is briefly mentioned and shown throughout, but it didn’t fully explain to me exactly how it shaped him into who he is. Same situation for some of the other characters and their relationships. Sophia Chung/Jung Bokgi/Jung Yoonkyung and Cha Jooeun’s connection was a bit odd to me, like they looked like they started to get along so well and then suddenly Sophia Chung is off and doing her own thing without Cha Jooeun, then they’re working together again….? Maybe it was just me, but it seemed a bit disconnected.

The structure of the drama was another weakness as it was quite confusing and difficult to follow at the beginning, which is one of the most important parts of a drama. First two episodes were quite confusing, more than most other dramas’ introductions. I’d recommend thinking of the first two episodes as simply setting up the stage for the plot, even though it seems like they could be part of the plot already. The drama also uses a lot of flashbacks to explain things as the drama progresses, but the timeline was not very clear (once again, mostly in the first few episodes) and was difficult for me to follow, even as someone who usually doesn’t mind flashbacks in dramas and can generally keep up well. I would say the plot really started becoming clear around episode three or four for me, so this drama took some determination to get through haha. Honestly, I could see this drama being shortened to 14 or even 12 episodes and be fine. Certain areas were dragged on a little too long or were kind of boring, while I would say that ep 16 was a bit rushed to tie everything together. Some plot points were also overused (like the “faking a death” thing…a bit too much to use it three times in one drama imo).

I’d say the two main points that made me keep watching were the plot and the cast. The plot had flaws that I mentioned before, but it did piece together well at the end (if you make it that far, that is). It had a few surprising twists and was decently intricate once it was fully revealed. Second, I loved the cast. Seohyun and Go Kyungpyo’s chemistry was amazing. I actually watched the behind the scenes clips first before I started Private Lives, and it was one of the main reasons I watched Private Lives. I’d love to see Seohyun and Go Kyungpyo together in a drama again, except this time a romance drama, because I thought their chemistry was great both on camera and off camera. Kim Hyojin, Kim Youngmin, and Tae Wonseok also did great as their characters, so the acting was definitely a good part of the drama.

Final note: I was hoping for a bit more out of Private Lives as I feel like the cast and plot had a lot of potential, but it was a nice revealing of a puzzle, if you’re into that and willing to piece things together. I binged the drama in a few days so it was a decent story to pass time with, but I don’t think I would’ve stuck with it if I watched it as it aired.

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Likely won't be my favorite drama, but has aspects that I like

I feel like I am a bit in the minority here, but I am decently enjoying Start-Up. Let me list all the things I dislike first to get them out of the way, before I explain why I actually enjoy and look forward to watching this drama every week.

Yes, I think that the love triangle has been dragged on too long. There are other character that have so much potential to be explored, instead of the love triangle being the focus. (For example, I see Won Injae's story having much potential to be explored, as well as character development for Seo Dalmi's mom since it's gotten slightly annoying that she is always being presented as helpless, constantly sorry, and lowkey useless.) Yes, I also think that it is a bit unreasonable and unrealistic that Dalmi could forgive Nam Dosan (and Han Jipyeong) so easily when the letters were such a significant part of her life. At the end of the day, though, this is a kdrama after all so it's still within the bounds of an Unrealistic Kdrama World for me lol.

BUT, here is what I do like about the drama. While I can see why some people would call Dosan childish or annoying, I actually relate to him on many aspects. I relate to how Dosan tried so hard in the beginning and kept failing because sometimes, people won't make it no matter how passionate they are about something. It seemed to me that he was feeling something like imposter syndrome due to his glamorous achievements (being the youngest math olympiad winner and going to college so early). I totally understand what imposter syndrome feels like, so I don't think he was being whiny. I also both relate to and admire Dalmi. Dalmi was portrayed as someone who wasn't very competent in the beginning as she didn't have a long list of achievements nor a high rank in a large company. However, her determination and fire to succeed is clear from the beginning, which I feel is admirable so I like how strong her character is being portrayed. Lastly, I think that Dosan and Dalmi make a cute couple (although maybe I am biased since I liked Suzy and Nam Joohyuk before this drama haha).

Regarding the casting, it was unexpectedly good in my opinion. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Suzy's acting (although I am a fan of her, as a person) before this, but I think she did an amazing job. I can't imagine Seo Dalmi as someone else other than Suzy. I liked Nam Joohyuk before I watched this drama since I've watched a few of his better dramas before (though he was far from being my favorite actor), but the quality of his acting here was also better than I expected. Kim Seonho was the only one who I had never watched a drama of before, although I have seen him in 1N2D before. I completely understand why people are falling for him haha.

The line-up for the OSTs were impressive. I was surprised at every name, since they are all big names in their own way and I was/am anticipating every release. I think that the OSTs were also well suited to the drama, like how Gaho's OST makes me want to go and start my own start-up (despite the fact that I am science student) or how Kim Feel's OST has me reflecting on old memories.

Final note regarding some other aspects of the drama: I think that it was shot beautifully as there were many scenes with pretty backgrounds and nice shot composition. There have also been moments that I laughed at and found funny, so it's enjoyable to watch. Suzy, Nam Joohyuk, and Kim Seonho also look good in every scene (even when they're crying), which is unsurprising but impressive :")

Overall, I can understand some of the criticisms towards the plot and the characters, but personally I think it had enough redeeming factors for me to rate it an 8 out of 10 (as of ep 13, at least). I started watching this drama because I was looking to relieve stress by watching something rather light hearted and romantic, which I think I've found in Start-Up, so I am decently satisfied.

Edit: I just finished the last episode and overall, Start Up was a drama I enjoyed! Less unnecessary romantic conflict and more sweet Seo Dalmi and Nam Dosan scenes would've been nice and there were some cliche scenes in the last few episodes that I wasn't the biggest fan of. However, all the story lines were wrapped up nicely and it was clear to me how each character grew so much, which was nice to see. The ending was honestly quite motivating, seeing how far Samsan Tech and Dalmi got. Some of my friends felt that the business/start up aspect was basically a subplot and wished there was more on those aspects. But as someone has no knowledge (nor deep interest :")) on businesses/start ups, I felt that the plot was quite sufficient in conveying the goals and passions of the characters, along with the various challenges they had to go through. Anyways, to finish up this overly long review, I'm glad I watched this drama as it ended up being quite sweet and motivating, and was something that got me through most of my semester at school haha

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