The truth about Dal-mi’s first love inadvertently spilled like a dam in the newest episodes of Start-Up!
Episodes 9 and 10 of Start-Up pushed Do-san and Ji-pyeong on an emotional turmoil, each agonizing than the last. Fighting for the love they both feel they deserve, the lies that blew out of proportion hurt the person they cherish like their own lives.
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Start-Up Episode Recaps: 01 & 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | Mid-Series | 9 & 10 | 11 & 12 | 13 | 14 -16 + Review |
“Back then, I had solved all the questions, except for just one. “
Do-san keeps worrying about his situation with Dal-mi and looks back on how his Math Olympiad victory changed his life. Recounting how he got stuck in one problem that in regular days easy for him to solve, he revealed the truth about how a wind helped him answer all the questions in the contest.
The person who ranked second apparently aided to him getting the right answer he was stuck on; and did not make an effort to correct his not so real victory. Mirroring his childhood memory, he struggles to the latest lie he is stuck with.
At work, Samsan Tech continues to work on Noongil as Dal-mi diligently worked on the comments on the app to extract what they can use. She also gained professional advices from Ji-pyeong to utilize proper media exposure.
Meanwhile, Director Yoon finally gets the chance to mentor In-jae after her company faced physical threats for providing business solution to Jeonghan bank. The director did not like how In-jae called it a scene and tells her that she should take it as a risk.
“At first, I did it because I like seeing you smile. Now, I didn’t want you to cry.”
Learning about Samsan Tech has a different CEO and not their son, Do-san’s parents were utterly unhappy. His cousin tells him not to go home for the time being. Picking alcohol with his friends, he rehearsed the lines he should tell his parents. When his intoxication mixed with his current woes, Do-san pours out his emotions as tears run on his face.
Imagining Dal-mi in front of him, he told her things he has been longing to say. That he at first wanted to see her smile and how he does not want to see her cry. Fainting from alcohol and emotional strain, his friends asked Dal-mi to pick him up. Coincidentally, Ji-pyeong sees them and they head to Grandma Choi’s house.
Intruding like Do-san, Ji-pyeong decides to sleep in the house as well. Later, when Do-san woke up he sees Dal-mi intently checking on the reviews and was particularly touch by a feedback. She responds accordingly being in exactly the same place as the person who wrote a heartening message of how Noongil helped in creating a memory for her loved one.
The next day, Do-san wakes up early and surprises Dal-mi and halmoni with a seaside date. Getting the idea from the comment, he knows that the two women will appreciate that memory. After a refreshing day, they head home but lose their way in a scenic place.
Dal-mi and Do-san marvel at the stars as she finally heard his infamous way of backing up his explanation with science. Comparing Do-san to a fixed star, Dal-mi tells him not to run away from her.
Left with no options but to confront his parents, he finally revealed the truth about his Math Olympiad win.
“I keep thinking about her. I want her and it feels so unfair.”
Struggling with his emotions about Dal-mi, he visits grandma and tells her about his plan to come clean. Whining on why he should suffer, Grandma tells her the two are in a happy relationship. She asks why he didn’t tell her back then when she asked him and remains firm on telling him that he can’t reveal it to them.
Fuming, he asks Grandma Choi why it can’t be him and rants on how everything should have not happened if he did not meet her. That he was made to believe he is her “good boy” so he keep being treated as a fool. Enraged, Ji-pyeong walks away but stops when Grandma called her and shields him with an umbrella.
“Why can’t you answer my question? And why is Ji-pyeong here?”
An unexpected rain pushes Dal-mi to meet Do-san in front of the subway stop. However, when Do-san arrived, she’s nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, Ji-pyeong’s emotions had toned down and he quickly apologized to Grandma. He tells her that he will pick the letter she was trying to get instead at their old neighborhood.
Finding the letter, he paused to read it and sees the person who wrote it in his line of sight. Grandma Choi realizes her phone got switched with Dal-mi who read the text message sent by Ji-pyeong about the letter.
Do-san who learned Dal-mi has her grandma’s phone called her and was not prepared to answer her question of their supposed shared memory of the mailbox letter location.
“I hoped she would noticed me and look at me one day. But not with those eyes.”
Having no choice but to break her perfect first love memory, Ji-pyeong tells Dal-mi the real story about the letters. All the while his heart also breaks seeing her cry. He tries to defend Do-san’s genuine feelings for her, but she run away refusing to hear reasons from him.
“Was it fun? Watching me get excited over those fake love letters?”
Finding Dal-mi at the bus station, Do-san pleads guilty for prolonging the lie and apologizes for it.
“It was just one day. I just want to make your dream come true for one day. That day felt so nice that I missed my chance to stop. I kept putting it off until tomorrow until I ended up wanting to go on as long as I could.”
But Dal-mi refuses to accept it and bargains for him not to confirm it. Asking if he had fun fooling her. Do-san responds how it was hard receiving her care and encouragement that he does not deserve. He also mentions how he tried to become the person she wants. Hearing that, Dal-mi told him that she does not know the person she really wants.
“Do you know what torments me the most? I can’t understand what’s going on around me, and it pains me to see you. But I still have to work.”
Dal-mi wakes up to a new morning after a day full of lies. She finds Do-san waiting in front of the house, and honestly tells him how she feels hurt seeing him, yet she still needs to get up and work. What’s even harder is she has to work with him and Ji-pyeong like nothing happened. She tells him not to meet her outside work in the mean time.
On his way to Sand Box, Do-san meets Alex and he finally was able to relay his offer to Do-san to work at Silicon Valley. Appreciating the offer, he declines it politely. Eager to get Do-san in his company, he tells him to name his price, but he responds that he wants a person.
At work, Sa-ha, Chul-san and Young-san are more nervous to what the picture of their office would look like. Dal-mi arrives and apologizes for not getting back to work the other day and offers to buy a coffee. She bumps on Do-san so she tells him that she will be buying coffee for him as well.
“I like you. I didn’t know I will be saying this while mixing noodles.”
Grandma meets Ji-pyeong and they talk about the situation. She blames herself for going through the white lie.
At lunch time, Dal-mi makes an excuse that she will eat with someone, when she’s still just uncomfortable with Do-san around. Invading just in time when she was about to go to a single table, Ji-pyeong pleads Dal-mi to hear what he has to say. He tells her that since she wants him to be honest, he will do so and will be saying things that he still has not told her.
He tells her that he’s not close with Do-san and does not like him at all. But he clears that Do-san did not do all the things he ordered. Like going to the networking party, giving his business card and asking her to become Samsan Tech’s CEO.
Ji-pyeong backs up Do-san by vouching that he has done all of it in his own volition. Dal-mi asks if he really goes to Gapyeong to eat pine nut kalguksu, and denies having tried it even once before she introduced it.
After mixing noodle, he hands it to Dal-mi and blurts how he likes her and how he never thought saying that while mixing noodles. Confessing he has feelings for her, they stare at each other’s eyes. Ji-pyeong mutters how he just want to be honest and not let her feel uncomfortable. He also does not want any answer from her as well as end up avoiding each other.
“I won’t give you an advice or lend you things. Cars, clothes, watches… and my past”
To prepare for demo day, Ji-pyeong speaks with Do-san and tips him on possible questions that might be asked about NoonGil. He also reveals his confession to Dal-mi and how it will be the last time he will act as a brother to him.
He draws the line that he will not give him advices nor lend him things that include his past. And to all of those, Do-san responds not needing it.
From afar, Do-san stares at Dal-mi as he thinks of Ji-pyeong’s reality biting question. That is whether Dal-mi will accept Do-san without the present or Do-san without the past.
Do-san follows Dal-mi to wherever she went to clear her mind. When he was about to approach her, a stranger (cameo by Lee Bo Young) shares a table with her and they strike a conversation about her problem.
“The longer you remain unsure, the less confident you’ll feel. Make up your mind no matter how hard it is.”
Sitting behind her back, he listens to Dal-mi’s confusion of who she really loves: the Do-san who sent her love letters or the Do-san she is with at present. The stranger encourages her not to feel bothered since she was not the one to be blamed.
Continuing her advices, she tells her not to lose confidence when Dal-mi opened up about her depleted confidence just when she’s on an important pitch task for their unprofitable business app. Urging her to make her mind up even if it hard is the only way to overcome it.
When the stranger threw in a superstition to regain her confidence, Do-san was not able to hold himself and intrude in their conversation. Dal-mi eventually passed out because of alcohol and Do-san had to piggy-back her home.
Drunkenly blabbing about how she wants to see Do-san look like how he did at the networking party because he erased the most miserable time of her life. Leaving Dal-mi at a nearby park, he tells her to wait and run to change in dapper suit only to return at the park without seeing Dal-mi.
“I don’t want to confuse you anymore. So please forget everything you’ve known about me.”
Samsan Tech prepares for Demo Day as Ji-pyeong struggles to come up with an excuse to check on Dal-mi’s progress. An idea struck him when he learned from Dong-chun that he will be briefing the CEO about Demo Day.
Taking Dong-chun’s role, he speaks with the new recruits’ CEOs and gives advices that he particularly designed for Dal-mi to bring back her confidence.
On Demo Day, the CEOs are huddled at the waiting area and Dal-mi finally realized that the Sand Box story was actually inspired by her. She also learned that In-jae stole her identity for her application at Sand Box. Confronting her sister, Dal-mi accepted the harsh words of how she is not even fit to be the girl in the swing since she looks scared getting on it.
Do-san arrives to Dal-mi’s rescue and demands Dal-mi to apologize. He chides her with how how he knows the guilt of the lie she has been weaving is consuming her.
While waiting for the Demo Day to start, Do-san takes the cue from Sa-ha and uses the opportunity to introduce herself properly to Dal-mi. He lists down all the things that he really is and is not. He then asked her to pretend nothing happened if he is confused about her feelings about him.
Knowing she needs encouragement, he lets her face him and tells her that Samsan Tech would have not gotten far, if not for her.
“I don’t want a Plan B.”
Seeing Young-chul in the elevator, Ji-pyeong reasons having no intention of meeting Dal-mi. Young-chul praises him for giving Dal-mi a Plan B, but mocks him for not doing the same to other people. Apparently, Young-chul is the brother of one former Sand Box recruit who took his life. However, Ji-pyeong still can’t recognize who Young-chul was talking about.
Deliberating on his options and thinking about being indebted on Ji-pyeong if Samsan Tech takes his offer, Do-san seeks Alex to ask if his offer still stands. Curious about his change of mind, Do-san declares he does not want a Plan B.
Start-Up Episodes 9 & 10 Musings
We got a full course serving of revelations in episodes 9 and 10 of Start-Up. The untangled lies as expected hurt all the people involved. Also packed with heartfelt confrontations and confessions, the development of the characters is progressing to its intended state.
Ultimately, the goal and the conflict of Start-Up is propelled by Samsan Tech. Dal-mi, the Samsan brothers and Sa-ha aspire to create a miracle and name for themselves. That same dream is also the same mill of problems encountered by the love pairing.
Along with that, the side conflicts involving Chul-san and Young-san are additional bids that make us root for them more. I appreciate that the other two geeks were given their moments through their problems that are also interestingly different. Especially that of Yong-san since it involves Ji-pyeong. I hope nothing serious though because he has yet to confront Grandma Choi’s situation.
Sa-ha and Chul-san’s love story has been giving us reasons to smile. The last episodes in particular have delighted us immensely. From the parody of iconic film, The Classic and that stop-confusing-me line that all the geeks with same love fate as Chul-san can relate to.
Six episodes more and we can pretty much deduct that we are heading to solve two problems. First, will Samsan Tech thrive as a business. If so, will there be sacrifices to be made? Second, will Do-san convince Dal-mi that while they don’t have memories from the past, they can build ones in the future?
Don’t miss the last three weeks of Start-Up every weekend on Netflix.
Photos: tvN
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