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Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Korean drama "Start-Up": Episode seven recap

 


 Air Dates: October 17th until December 6th on tvN... Saturday and Sunday nights at 9:00 pm
tvN is a cable network so the ratings for it will be a bit lower, for this show it was 4.78% which was about 1.32 million viewers.
Subs were done by Sallyuchi.

Main Cast: Wrote this up after viewing the first episode so will be tweaking the bios and possibly adding in a few characters. **** Finally have tweaked the bios for this post and their info should be up to date.

Bae Suzy as Seo Dal-Mi.... 27 year old(?) woman who soon will have dreams of beginning her own startup company but in what is currently unknown. She's lived with her grandmother for the past fourteen years since her father died and has helped her out at her two food cafes. She's the younger sister of the next character and they had gone fourteen years without seeing each other until episode one. Upon entering the SANDBOX program she was appointed their CEO.

Kang Ha-Na as Won In-Jae.... The reason for their different last names is that In-Jae lived with her mother after she got divorced from the father. The mother remarried a wealthy man, she's been living off and on in America for fourteen years. In-Jae was the CEO of the successful Morning Nature company which she began with money from her stepfather, she quit at at the end of episode two and now is enrolled at SANDBOX.

Nam Joo-Hyuk as Nam Do-San.... Main leader of SAMSAN Tech which struggled so badly but has a chance to be successful now that him and his two partners are at SANDBOX. He's 29 in age yet has never had a girlfriend though that could change as he's gaga over Dal-Mi.

Kim Sun-Ho as Han Ji-Pyeong.... Grew up in an orphanage but at sixteen was kicked out for being too old(?), he then lived with Dal-Mi's grandmother until attending college in Seoul. When he lived with the grandmother be pretended to be Do-San as he wrote Dal-Mi letters to comfort her after the divorce. He's now a senior manager at SH Venture Capital and also a mentor for SANDBOX and he'll be watching over SAMSAN Tech.

Kim Hae-Sook as Choi Won-Deok... The grandmother of the top two characters but hasn't seen In-Jae in fifteen years. She's raised Dal-Mi since she was thirteen and they still live together, Choi used to run a cafe but now owns a small corn dog truck. She was also responsible for Ji-Pyeong being successful as she let him stay with her when he left the orphanage. During epiosde seven we learned she's going blind and Do-San now wants to create a program to help the vision impaired.

The characters who aren't major ones but are important, actually the two SAMSAN partners roles are really increasing with each episode.

Eom Hyo-Seop as Won Doo-Jong.... In-Dae's stepfather who is quite wealthy. He gave her the funds to begin her own company and still owns 72% of the stock. However he let her run the company so it would become successful, then his son would take over. That happened but by episode seven Won realized his mistake and wants his stepdaughter back.

Moon Dong-Hyeoko as Won Sang-Su.... In-Dae's inept stepbrother, he was her secretary at Nature Morning and his father installed him as CEO for the Korean branch.

Kim Do-Wan as Kim Yong-San.... A partner of Do-San's at SAMSAN Tech.

Yoo Su-Bin as Lee Chul-San.... Another partner at SAMSAN Tech.

 Stephanie Lee as Jung Sa-Ha.... Was recruited by Dal-Mi to join the SAMSAN Tech team in episode five and what a snobby woman she is but Chul-San think's she's 'perfect'.

Kim Won-Hae as Nam Seong-Hwan.... Do-San's father who invested much $$ into his son's venture but never saw any return from the investment

Kim Hee-Jung as Park Geum-Jung.... Do-San's mother.

Song Seon-Mi as Cha A-Hyun.... Mother of Dal-Mi and In-Jae.

Kim Min-Seok as Park Dong-Chun.... Ji-Pyeong's underling at SH Venture who in episode five also became a special assistant to Yoon at SANDBOX.

Cho Tae-Kwan as Alex Kown.... Had been living in America but has moved to Korea to be the CEO for the '2STO' tech company's Korean branch. He's also become a mentor at SANDBOX, he wanted to be teamed with Do-San but it didn't pan out.

Seo Yi-Sook as Yoon Sun-Hak.... Director of SANDBOX and she briefly knew Dal-Mi's father as the company she ran fourteen years ago was going to invest in his startup.

SANDBOX is an organization that will be a very important part of the story. It helps up and coming startup teams and individuals realize their dreams. They have their own set of buildings where those accepted can have rent free offices, get tutoring on many business subeects and meet very many influential people plus much other help.

Recaps for the prior episodes







 Right above is a new feature which I'll include in dramas like this one where there's ongoing storylines. There was a brief lull in the middle of episode six but besides that the pace of this show has been superb. In these two recaps for today there was never a dull moment and so many different and interesting events took place. These shows are twenty minutes longer than an average Korean drama so do have to give much credit to the writers for keeping things so fresh. Let's get right to the action and Dal-Mi's team at SANDBOX had been awaiting final approval from Ji-Pyeong if they passed the first stage which has a monetary award of 100 million Won or $89,000.





 There was a meeting set up between Ji-Pyeong, Dal-Mi and Do-San about the funds but before that is what took place in the top screenshot. Dal-Mi may have no CEO experience but she's been working so hard for the SAMSAN team and they wouldn't be in SANDBOX if it wasn't for her. Dal-Mi has really leaned on Ji-Pyeong for advice and answers, what she had done the previous night was to send him.... 461 text messages with questions! Ji-Pyeong somehow did answer everyone but is getting a bit annoyed with Dal-Mi who he does secretly love, he's been blocking her calls after that and on his phone nicknamed her 'Question Bomber'. That meeting was just a formality as the Ji-Pyeong did approve of their progress and they received the 100 million Won. Dal-Mi thinks that could last the five teammates six months so they need to acquire some investors to keep their operations running. They didn't have a concrete tech project quite yet but will by the end of the show.

 Do-San had stayed after the meeting with Ji-Pyeong to discuss what else... should he finally reveal to Dal-Mi the secret of the letter writing for fifteen years ago? Of course Ji-Pyeong was firm with him remaining mum about the matter as it would do way more damage than good but this secret is beginning to show cracks which you'll see at the end of the next recap. Later on that evening Do-San once again visited Dal-Mi's house with the main intention having a chat with her grandmother Choi. She wanted to cook dinner for the pair but was out of certain items, good excuse to send Dal-Mi to the store which is what happened so she could have that conversation with Do-San. I've noticed Choi really likes Do-San and is more open with him versus what she tells Dal-Mi. He had seen Choi at a hospital a few days prior but didn't say a word to her but knew she had vision problems. Choi told her future
son-in-law(?) Do-San that her vision is rapidly deteriorating, she has good and bad days seeing but within the year she may not be able to see at all. Choi doesn't want to be a burden to Dal-Mi and can't think of how to reveal her problem which of course she can't keep hidden forever.

 That conversation put Do-San's mind into hyperdrive and his project plan may be one dealing with vision impaired persons, more on that coming up. Finally returning to the house was Dal-Mi and in tow was Ji-Pyeong who had been waiting outside, he was still concerned that Do-San would reveal the secret. But that won't be happening after that talk with Choi who was also very worried what would happen if Dal-Mi learned it was actually Ji-Pyeong and not Do-San who had written those letters. The four did all have dinner together and it was slightly hilarious the competition that took place between Do-San and Ji-Pyeong trying to impress the two women with their cleaning and repairing of the house. Both are such in love with Dal-Mi though Do-San is the only one who admitted which he did to his two partners. We all know Dal-Mi will end up with one of the two but which one? The odds right now easily favor Do-San but much of her 'love' for him are from those old letters, what will Dal-Mi's feelings be when she learns the truth? Almost forgot to add this small but important tidbit which took place after the pair departed. Dal-Mi's grandmother asked her which Do-San does she like better the new one or the older version who wrote the letters? Dal-Mi was very confused and didn't answer for as she was about to their tea kettle interrupted the chat.






 We had been seeing a lot of In-Jae who is right above but not in these two episodes, as a matter of fact she just had two scenes in this show but the character is a very important part of the story. Will discuss her now and get back to Dal-Mi's team for the rest of the recap. In-Jae is a semi 'evil person' in this series but much worse than her is Won who is her stepfather. But there are times you do root for her as her talents are a bit underrated as most think the company she once ran as a CEO, Nature Morning, was successful because of Won and In-Jae wants to prove all her doubters wrong. One person who doesn't feel In-Jae is underrated is Won of all people. He knows the great job In-Jae did at the company, especially now that his inept son Sang-Su has taken over as CEO. Won did try to recruit In-Jae back but she turned him down in less than a second and I thought at the moment good for you. In-Jae has started her own tech company which is appropriately named INJAE, she's not quite adept at programming but she is an excellent CEO and knows how to treat her employees fairly.

 Her team was the first to score an investor as Jeonghhom Bank has given her five person team four million Won. You may remember them from the fifth episode where her and Dal-Mi's team used the bank for a handwriting detection program, In-Jae's team had the better product. After that short confrontation with her father Won she happened to run into her sister Dal-Mi and wonder if these two will ever become close again? Dal-Mi noticed the talk though couldn't hear anything, to her In-Jae used her stepfather's connections to get the bank deal but she was far off with that assumption. After the Hackathon Dal-Mi was completely bushed as she had ben up for 48 hours and took a brief nap. During that time a bank official was in attendance and In-Jae went up to the person to possibly score a project with them which was successful. Had Dal-Mi not been napping or had her other teammates been there perhaps they could have pitched a proposal. That concludes what took place with In-Jae in this show, not much screen time but they were two key scenes. 

 So In-Jae's team has a project and investor lined up, now it's time for SAMSAN Tech to get into gear. Another meeting was held and at it Do-San's partner's Chul-San showed the team a new product a team from the tenth residency program created. It was a small orb you would slide onto a finger which would show your emotions, when it turned Blue it meant you were in approval, happy or perhaps in love, this orb we see on and off for these two recaps. Though Dal-Mi is the CEO all of the team members are equals and all had a chance to make a pitch for what AI project they should work on. All had very good ideas, even Sa-Ha who is still a bit too bitchy and in a shocking development it appears she may have a slight crush on Do-San's other partner Yong-San. But as Ji-Pyeong has stressed it's not just if an invention is spectacular but is it one that investors would give their money to and would it be something consumers would purchase? So while all four ideas were a bit unique and creative they didn't appear to be ones that could make SAMSAN profitable. 







 One other short In-Jae note and it's because of what is said by the SANDBOX CEO Yoon in the above screenshot. All applicants had written a short reason why they wanted to be successful, In-Jae had written revenge which surprised Yoon who thought she was such a mellow and caring person, did she have the wrong idea about it? If you read the previous two recaps you know the answer to that, happening to hear that comment was In-Jae and what she wrote on her application will be revisited in the next recap. Also in that next one will be what SAMSAN Tech's project will be, it wasn't revealed until the next episode but it will have something to do with helping vision impaired people. For the first time there was a bit of an angry showdown between Dal-Mi and Ji-Pyeong, wonder if some of his anxiety has to do with Do-San growing even closer to Dal-Mi? Ji-Pyeong was getting slightly peeved with her endless text questions but does answer them all, he's also feeling that Dal-Mi is becoming a bit too nosy about his personal life. It is true that she is but it has to do with those old letters, to Dal-Mi something isn't adding up as the personality of that letter writer seems to fit Ji-Pyeong much more than Do-San and episode eight does end off with a bit of a cliffhanger with her deductions.

 So many new events took place in this episode though very few of them were resolved in this show, the vast majority of them we learned what their outcomes were in the eighth episode. Such as what SAMSAN Tech's project will be even though the decision was made in this show but not revealed until. Few other things too will get explained so much better in the next recap such as this show's final new development. According to Dal-Mi their 100 million won startup fee should last for six months but that's no reason to put off earning more cash or finding investors. She hated to do it but Dal-Mi has told the team they should try to work with In-Jae's stepfather Won for a project, while of course the money will be needed what may be more important is having on their list of achievements that they developed a project for the company, Morning Group.

 Dal-Mi's other teammates were a bit leery of working for such a person but it's true creating a project for Korea's 47th largest company would look impressive to investors. So all are now in and to them the project dealing with an AI program shouldn't be too difficult. One person had some real doubts about them working with the Morning Group who was Ji-Pyeong. He had a meeting with Dal-Mi about it and strongly advised her from applying for the project as he knows how Won has used naive and young startups in the past. Good advice but Dal-Mi and her mates are determined to move up the ladder at a much faster pace, there's been a meeting set up with Won the following day. That meeting with
Ji-Pyeong is one we only saw partially, the main point he brought up will be like s many other things and not be revealed until the next episode. But Ji-Pyeong did stress two things for Dal-Mi to watch out for with both of them being that her team will be used. Won has been known to 'steal' ideas from struggling startups and also to use them for doing project work instead of paying others a decent wage.

 It was the second warning that befell Dal-Mi and Do-San when they appeared at the Morning Group's offices. Won was there but just for a few minutes, he doesn't know much tech jargon so left his useless son Sang-Su to tell the pair what was needed. What was needed was not Do-San thought as the Morning Group IT team had already completed a program. It was known all along to Sang-Su and his father as they just wanted SAMSAN Tech to do some menial work for them scanning and collecting images. The pair didn't give a yes or no to the offer but did a few minutes later when they visited Won's office. He told Do-San not to be so upset for after all doing such low class work would enable them to put they worked for his company on their SAMSAN Tech homepage. 
 Do-San went into a fury and said he's a developer and not some low life peon, he picked up Won's glass name plate from his desk, smashed it into a thousand pieces and stormed out of the office. **** If you read the next recap remember this scene as it may turn out to one of the most important ones in the series. Do-San dashed to the roof with his hand bleeding, following soon behind him was Dal-Mi and the first mini romantic scene took place to end the show. Dal-Mi was so impressed with the way 
Do-San stood up to Won, she grabbed his face and probably gave him his first kiss ever! Not to be outdone Do-San collected his breath after hat smooch and did the same thing to Dal-Mi which ended this episode.







 Took a long break after writing up the first paragraph above, kind of lost my mojo after that and hope it didn't turn out too bad as my mind was once again so muddled. Took another break after those before writing up the final two paragraphs and the words flowed out much easier. As mentioned twice so many new incidents took place in this show but very few were resolved until the next episode and that recap is the following post. One other tidbit, have you have ever noticed how many scenes are shot on rooftops in Japanese and Korean dramas? Seems there's one in almost every episode and how do they gain access to a roof as most offices and schools I know of keep those doors locked and bolted.































































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