Our Problematic Heroine 

The Story of Family Caregivers

My first #kdrama crush.

I first heard the statement  "All attack is a call for help" in my teenage years, I was most likely watching something profound like the Oprah show, but I am not so sure. 

I really miss  Oprah's presence on my TV screen, that show was worth every Emmy it worn....Anyway the statement stuck and remained in my head, even though I was yet to understand the true meaning of it. It is attributed to the book  A Course in Miracles. Never read the book but maybe that will change one day.   

Then in my late teens or early 20's I came across it again while attending university. I bought the book A Conversation with God by Neale Donald Walsch-Book 1. Love the book, because it is such a wonderful way to trigger personal and internal conversations about how we form our relationship with God.  For those of us brought up in strict faiths ( I am a Catholic) sometimes we need to read and appreciate such perspectives. 

I accept that human beings are complicated.

We are stubbornly complex.

Then I  rake my brain trying my best to find the reason they are behaving this way. 

Speaking on the woes of the technology advanced Generation Y and Z, start up is a  #kdrama set in  sandbox the silicon valley of  South Korea staring  Bae Suzy, Nam Joo-hyuk, Kim Seon-ho, Kang Han-na, Yoo Su Bin, Kim Do Wan

 It tells the story of  young tech-innovation entrepreneurs trying to turn their ideas and dreams into tangible successful businesses with the help of a competitive incubation hub.

Let's start with what I loved about it...

The  Fantastic Production Quality.

It was amazing! Everyone's skin was glowing, the lighting was just perfection and the colour grading was speaking to the greyish theme of technology. I felt like the first episode could have been a motion picture all on its own. The parents got divorced, the sisters got separated because the mother (Song Seon Mi) remarried a rich man and moved away. The father (Kim Joo hun) loved his children dearly  but chose to follow his dreams and injected all his energy into his business ideas, which kept on failing one after the other....then he dies. I was exhausted after episode one. I took a break and returned a few weeks later.

Grandma steals the show 

Watching our parents/guardians get old and frail is hard. Realizing our protectors need protecting is hard. They used this theme in the #Kdrama so effectively. We felt it.

Grandma, Mrs. Choi (Kim Hae Sook) leads and guides,  while allowing the young ones to make mistakes. She is funny and stubborn and we cannot help falling for her, raising her granddaughter to the best of her ability off the proceeds of her junk food van . When she realizes she will lose her sight completely and there is nothing that can be done to halt it, we are crushed just like the main characters. She continues with her life and business refusing to sulk or  give up on herself.

Great Tough-Growing-Pain-Lessons

We see the characters take big risks in their professional life. It's the typical millennial story....don't we all want to be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg?  Many of us will chose traditional paths because those kind of choices require stone brick bravery. Sao Dal Mi puts the team together but ultimately the team has to abandon her for successful greener pastures once their business idea attracts investors. Despite the heart ache, she finds a new place. The hash reality of start-ups is a story well told here. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose but they keep on trying. They must believe in themselves stubbornly but also have the discernment to be agile and adapt when required. 

Won In Jae and Sao Dal Mi are sisters but they seem more like distant cousins because they were not raised together. You'd think Won In Jae would be living her best rich-kid-life but she walks around like she stubs her toe painfully every morning. She wants everyone to suffer. Her step dad (Um Hyo sup)  manipulates both her mother and her, yet her mother accepts the abuse in exchange for the luxury lifestyle. Watching her character arc is a good lesson on taking responsibility for your healing and  behavior. 

Now for what I didn't like....

It draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags.

Did we really need 16 episodes though?  No....no we didn't. Ten episodes would have done the trick. 

No other love interests for the #kdrama heart throb

For someone who is supposed to be the ultimate heart throb of the series....where was there no competition? No other women throwing themselves at this heart of gold man who earns a high income and is responsible....how?

Start up was okay. I think the first few episodes were great, then it kind of lost itself before picking up momentum near the end. 

What were your thoughts? Comment below. 

You can watch the full series on Netflix here.