Sora Park

this drama is super underrated. all i gotta say. i started this drama pretty late but i'm so glad i found this and started it because this drama is amazing and one of the best thriller-crime-mystery dramas i've watched. this is my third drama in this genre after strong woman dbs and while you were sleeping and i think this drama is what got me continuing to watch this genre. it was just so good, the acting, casting, and storyline. there are so many plot twists that leave you on the edge of your seat. if you're reading this, go watch it right now!! you won't regret it :)

i absolutely loved this drama!!! i looked at the cast and was like "huh i don't know any of these people" and at first, i was hesitant on whether i should start it or not, but i gave it a try. the first two episodes or so didn't pull me in but i continued watching to see what happens and i'm so glad i did!! i grew to love both couples, first leads and second leads, and supporting characters. (and the cast too! their chemistry is overflowing and their behind the scenes ahhh) and that's pretty rare for me who has spent a year watching many kdramas. i have a lot of things that i like about this drama: 1- barely any cliches. no love triangles. no rich ml poor ml (first lead couple is rich/middle class ml, middle class fl; second lead couple is rich fl, middle class ml) 2- drama is very mature and has great, realistic, witty dialogue 3- likable characters!! basically all except one 4- the ending wrapped the entire drama up so perfectly, no sad endings for anyone (unlike true beauty) 5- the lead couples!! i loved both including the second couple i started this drama kind of late and started it a few weeks after it finished airing because i was busy watching true beauty and a couple of other dramas. but this drama is 10x better than true beauty, i promise. to the people reading this, do not waste your time watching a cliche, predictable drama like true beauty and watch this gem of a drama right now, you won't regret it. it's hard to find a drama that's not cliche, has a great dialogue, and likable characters that you will love. i started this late, you can too. better late than never! now gogogo!

i started watching this because i was a fan of the original webtoon of the same name written and drawn by yaongyi. if you are a fan of the original webtoon too, i would not recommend this drama because the story is really different to the webtoon and a lot of things have changed 😃 i also started watching because of the cast: moon ga young as im jugyeong, cha eun woo as lee suho, hwang in yeop as han seojun, and park yoo na as kang sujin. at this point, i'm only continuing to watch for hwang in yeop and park yoo na 🙆🏻‍♀️ and i'm disappointed because many of the seojun's scenes were given to suho and seojun and sujin don't have much screen time, as seojun and sujin are my favorite characters in the drama 😔 i wouldn't watch this if you haven't started it yet but i watch it because it's sort of a "stress relieving" drama and makes you laugh. the time to time comedy scenes are the best 😂 if you want to watch a better drama that's similar to this, i suggest "my id is gangnam beauty". this drama also stars cha eun woo and has the same meaning of loving yourself for who you are. the reason why i suggest this drama over true beauty is because true beauty starts out as the "accepting your 'ugly' self" concept but later in the drama it drops that theme and focuses on the love line of the rich boy (suho) and handsome/bad boy (seojun) character falling in love with an ordinary girl with zero popularity that suddenly pops into their life, turning it into a typical cliche drama. now, my id is gangnam beauty is also cliched but what i like of this better than true beauty is that it maintains the message of accepting yourself throughout the story with character development of the female lead kang mirae (played by im soo hyang). and there is zero character development of jugyeong yet in the drama adaptation nor the original webtoon. so yeah 😀 anyways #teamseojun 🙃 edit: this drama is a drama filled with cliches, don't watch. dramas that i recommend- -the uncanny counter -extra ordinary you -sky castle -he is psychometric -run on!! (i'm loving it so much rn and i don't want to finish watching) edit 2: the ending is so rushed, they gave the antagonist sujin a happy ending back with her best friends but didn't even give the second lead seojun a happy ending and gave him his so-called "dream job" and debuting as a singer when he didn't even want to be a singer and was sort or forced because he was thinking of seyeon and suho. he deserves better :( edit 3: also i reallyyy did not like how they went with the typical kdrama trope (again) and made the second female lead mean and jealous. like can't there be a drama without a love triangle where they make BOTH second leads likable?? i really loved soojin and her character but the writers did her so dirty like she was so savage and nice in the beginning but that character change like mannn. i would've dropped it but only continued watching the drama for my favorite actress park youna's character and soojin's development. again, i give the entire drama a 1.5/10

okay here's my honest opinion on this drama: START-UP IS OVERRATED. "start-up" is a korean drama directed by the director of "while you were sleeping", which also starred bae suzy. "start-up" had a great start, i felt many emotions from the first episode until the eighth -- *spoiler alert* sadness from when the grandma and second male lead departed, excitement during the hackathon and demo day, plus second lead syndrome. but towards the end, i felt that some scenes got repetitive, such as when *another spoiler alert* the lies kept piling and piling up, there were so many misunderstandings, i felt that it got over-repetitive (?) and made me lose my interest. at this point, i'm just waiting for the season to be over and see the ending between the leads and other supporting characters. i don't think there are going to be any twists or anything like i wanted and expected in the last few episodes, so that's one reason i didn't like it. this drama doesn't live up to what people say, so i suggest new kdrama watchers to move onto a different drama. (i've written this before the final eps came out, so i may change my mind about this drama.) i think that before this drama even came out, it only got the "hype" because of the famous actors that would star in this drama like nam joo hyuk and bae suzy. don't get me wrong, i love them too. but now, some of you may still like this drama, but if you feel somewhat the same way as i do but still hype this drama up because of the actors, you're just being biased. this isn't the kind of drama where you should support the famous main leads with no character development WHATSOEVER. i liked the second main leads' character developments so much better tbh. i had high standards for this when they announced that it was coming out, only to turn out into a flop. okay edit: the ending was okay. after this messy rollercoaster ride, it has a smooth ending that was pretty satisfying (to me; if you form your own opinion watching this, that's okay too). but overall, if you are looking for a new drama to start, don't watch this. it will only make you quit in the middle :) bye!!