Dal Mi Continues to Grow Through Adversity as Both Ji Pyeong and Do San Do Their Best to Help Her in Episode 8 of Start-Up

Every episode of Start-Up makes me feel like I’m hanging out on a Sat/Sun afternoon with cool nice buddies of mine. There is a familiarity and warmth that I will sorely miss once this drama ends. Episode 8 today marks the midway point, Park Hye Ryun‘s dramas are the standard 16 episodes for the most part except for the excellent Pinocchio which was 20 episodes. The kiss came earlier than expected by the revelation of the letter writing lie has gone on far too far, either Grandma, Ji Pyeong, or Do San needed to just come clean and it doesn’t matter which one. All three started with the best of intentions but Dal Mi’s relationship with Do San is built on that wrong assumption and her mentor/mentee relationship with Ji Pyeong is much more than she knows from his perspective.

She learned the truth about Grandma’s eye sight today and handled it beautifully, tears and resilience, and we see her take down In Jae’s odious step dad with the same thoughtful planning. Ji Pyeong is the classic K-drama male lead and I LOVE him to bits, especially his prickly deflecting bits which scream orphaned boy trying to protect his heart. But so often we fall for the nice openly honest second male lead which is Do San here and he’s getting the girl and thus our collective complex emotions. When I step back though, I know which guy is the right guy for Dal Mi (not for me, because I would pick Ji Pyeong because I need my guys prickly) and that’s Do San. He’ll do anything for her and telling the truth about Grandma cements it for me, he will also make hard decisions in her best interest.


Comments

Dal Mi Continues to Grow Through Adversity as Both Ji Pyeong and Do San Do Their Best to Help Her in Episode 8 of Start-Up — 28 Comments

  1. Looks like she’ll find out next week based on the preview. Bracing myself for the heartbreak. Really impressed with Nam Joohyuk & Suzy. I never expected to like them as much as I do, this show has been a pleasant surprise.

    • Suzy came a long way. I was always a fan, but pretty aware of her flaws and seeing that she took time to study and improve her acting just like her singing (that now seems like her side job)is a delight to see. I’m really impressed with Nam Joohyuk too, he plays the lost/kinda depressed character pretty well, they both seem like a great match playing a young excited, but also emotional couple.

  2. Omo, Koala ‘forgot’ to add the ratings again. No worries, Ratings Bot to the rescue!

    EP 1.
    4.278%
    4.495%

    EP 2.
    4.208%
    4.361%

    EP 3.
    4.789%
    4.468%

    EP 3.
    4.334%
    5.010%

    EP 4.
    4.334%
    5.010%

    EP 5.
    4.274%
    5.424%

    EP 6.
    4.136%
    4.741%

    EP 7.
    4.521%
    5.065%

    EP 8.
    3.821%
    4.544%

    • Episode 8 is at 3.8% i thought suzy is the nation’s love and extremely popular in korea?
      with good director, excellemt writer and supporting actors? the ratings keep on decreasing. OmG.

    • Lmao so obsess with ratings. Since you so obsess with data I’ll give you.
      Start up is always top10 in worldwide netflix. Highest rank is 6.No.1 in netflix korea.
      Gooddata result this week. Most talk about actors
      1. Suzy
      3. Njh
      6. Ksh
      Gooddata most talked about drama
      1. Start up
      Tving at 76% viewership
      Other data from racoi korea
      Start up no.1
      Suzy no.2
      Njh 4
      Ksh 5

      I doubt start up team is crying in their beds now lol.

      Kim Seonho just got another project. Let’s rejoice!

      • Hahahaha. You remind me of iotnbo fans who used the same TVing, GoodData and Netflix rankings excuse but were still mercilessly mocked by people on this same site… some of those same people are Start Up fans and are now using the same excuse. The irony. Lmao.

  3. Why are some people so obsessed with the ratings? Startup is doing good, it’s no Descendants of the suns or anything but it’s holding it’s own. I am just so proud of Suzy for improving. She has come so far from Dream High. She’s really gained some fans through this project. StartUp is one of the best dramas of 2020 (my opinion of course)

    • Because ratings mean money. The higher the rating, the higher ad price tvN can sell to advertisers, thus boosting the revenue of the show/drama. The Netflix licensing obviously helped but for tvN, the downward trend of ratings of Start-up is quite alarming. And if the ratings won’t recover, Start-Up could have a slight difficulty in achieving the break-even point and make a profit.

      In slight contrast, Record of Youth might be a frustrating drama, but it is a commercial success.

      • I think tvn is earning money from whatever output deal it has with Netflix. I don’t think revenues can be solely measured by TV ratings anymore because cable themselves are entering into this kind of partnerships with paid subscriptions. tvn is for sure aware of the huge international market, and the only way they can tap into that is through third party paid subscription. Also, it’s not just abroad who relies on Netflix. It’s Koreans themselves. So if Netflix Korea is generating viewership, then the show isn’t doing that bad. Of course not as good as ROF but not bad bad.

      • But it’s not YOUR money so I still don’t get why people are so pressed about them especially when your faves are still getting their hefty paychecks, they’ll be fine. Also to add, ratings are very rarely low enough where the show will be cancelled and actually affect us as a viewer so let’s just be honest and say it’s about bragging rights people use to throw around even though enjoyment of dramas is extremely subjective.

      • Start up is even doing better than ROY and IONTBO in netflix eventho they only selected territories.

      • Thing is, Koala is the one who always calls attention to ratings in her posts. They’re always in the headline and/or post itself so when the ratings are low it’s as if she’s inciting the mob to lynch the drama. That might not be her intention but it comes off that way.

        TKEM, IOTNBO, Alice, Tale of Gumiho are recent examples that spring to mind. RoY would have suffered the same mockery if the ratings hadn’t been high.

        But now that she obviously adores this drama whose ratings are low-average and therefore mock-worthy by this site’s standards, she doesn’t post them at all. I guess someone is calling her out on what they see as her hypocrisy.

        Shrug.

  4. The next episode’s preview drive me crazy. I never thought i would invested this much feelings for drama character. Ep 8 is my fav so far. I like that Dosan told Dalmi about Grandma’s illness despite being told not to. That is more like his character. Getting rid of a bug before it’s too late. My fav scene should be Dalmi and grandma. Suzy nailed it here. Also the scene before that..Dosan best boyfriend taking care and support her. Those little details what get me to root for Dosan and Dalmi.

  5. Except that the drama posters place Dalmi and Do San together, and also centre in group posters.
    So Do San is male lead and Jipyeong is second male lead i think?

    Anyway, I think the drama is clear on the OTP being DM and DS, like it or not.

    One of my favourite dramas of this year.
    Acting is very good all around, including from Suzy and NJH and the side characters. The various plot threads are tightly interweaved and the technology the Samsan bros created develops with the characters.

    • Dosan of course the male lead, what she meant is their characters have different stereotype than other dramas’ characters. Male lead is the prickly one (but here is the second lead), second lead is usually the soft and nice one (in here is the male lead)

  6. Loving Nam Joo Hyuk as Nam Do San. Close shots of his face & body that rocks suits & that kiss scene. Loved him since School 2015.

  7. Ji-Pyeong is so funny and touching. I just love him. I need more scenes with him and Halmoni! He’s her Good Boy after all.

      • I don’t think so. He’s an orphelin who made it alone. Do-San had the help of his family and friends and now Ji-Pyeong. His love for Halmoni is pure. His advices are hard but not wrong and he still helps even Dal-Mi didn’t choose the easy solution.

      • Yes finally i can agree with this. And surely #TeamJipyeong will come and attack us after this. I don’t get the hush hush of SLS like, since day 1 he was actually forced to write in the letter by haelmoni. Then, in ep 2 he can’t remember dalmi name like seriously? And now he wanted to claim dalmi? Seriously?
        I get why writernim put Dosan as the lead, cuz he is and always will be the one tht support and trully care abt Dalmi. While Jipyeong he’s a bit calculative person. The reason why he did all this things is because of haelmoni.

  8. Good thing that Jipyeong follow dalmi and reunite with grandma, an angel that ge is grateful.

    Dosan would have lost his images recognition software if not for jipyeong who steps in to chase those theifs. Nice touch.

    Nothing wrong to help someone because of grandma, the intention is good.

    A few surprises, i thought Jipyeong brought a suit and shoes for dalmi for injie’s networking but turn out it was grandma who bought it. Haha. Typically classic character would buy a pair of shoes to replace the cow dung shoes, but jipyeong bought her slippers.

    Well i really not care who ends up with who (even though i have my favourites) afterall it’s just drama. I just enjoy the twist of the drama and the the writer makes.

    Excited about next week eps from the preview seems something happen to dosan that he needs jipyeong to help. Oh i have to get lots of tissue cos Jipyeong is crying in the rain n grandma is sheltering him. Dosan and dalmi also crying cos she found out. What will grandma says to dalmi n dosan since they are already in personal n business relationship n like don’t rock the boat?

    Hope 2nd half can find out who is the one who wants revenge and on who (think has taken place already) n injie stepfather will not be just giving money without malice.

    Hope the 2 sisters can understand the choices they make (dalmi don’t want divorce whereas injie prefers it – these are real responses children go through) and reconcile. injie n her mother can show love to the grandma.

    Looking forward to eps 9 n 10.

  9. It’s nice that many people here being objective and gave positive comments about Do San. I’m already so tired with childish people called themselves team SLS and bashed Do San’s character even leaving bad comments on Nam Joo Hyuk’s ig. That’s overwhelmingly too much. I mean, let’s just enjoy the drama. Romance is only a part of their life journey.

    • This is the reason why I stopped going on MDL and reddit, these Jipyeong fans are just too toxic already. Today I’ve seen a lot of comments saying that Dosan is manipulative lmao. I just hope after Dalmi finds out about the letters, they’ll focus more on the business and tech side. I want to see the sisters rebuild their relationship too.

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