What a view | In Netflix Korean drama Start-Up, K-pop star Bae Suzy convinces as an aspiring tech entrepreneur
- The show follows a group of young people, each with dreams of finding success in the world of start-ups
- Starring alongside the former Miss A member are Kang Han-na, Nam Joo-hyuk and Kim Hae-sook
More shiny, happy people from Korean television central casting seem to have dropped into Start-Up (Netflix, series one now streaming). Well-heeled, high-flying and in hi-tech, they glow with success and ambition – at least superficially.
A closer look, however, shows some of those heels to be scuffed, success to be a light at the end of an elongated tunnel and ambition a pipe dream, where it’s not a nightmare.
Separated as children by their parents’ divorce, In-jae grew up to be cold, arrogant and ruthless; Dal-mi, close to her grandmother, developed the sort of humane characteristics that repeatedly saw her trampled on. Those are the qualities that In-jae, now Dal-mi intends to rival her in the business world, is only too happy to exploit once again, just as she did on the rare occasions that the sisters met post-divorce.
This being a K-drama, love can’t keep its pesky nose out of matters for long, although intriguingly, it begins as virtual love between young Dal-mi and homeless orphan and mathematics genius Nam Do-san (Nam Joo-hyuk), who is taken in by Dal-mi’s grandmother.
The two go through years as penfriends and never meet – meaning that when eventually they do, the scriptwriting possibilities for making their relationship saccharine sweet, or sending the pair careering off a cliff of romantic catastrophe, are legion. Especially when Do-san is himself bound for career glory as an Asian Silicon Valley company head.