Rain, Thunder, Fate and Karma

A Three-part #Startup Thread

Examining the themes of fate, destiny, luck and superstition in Start-Up.

Part 1; The Setup

Warning: Heavy Jidal bias. I'm not interested in arguing. You WILL be blocked .

Fate, fortune and a higher power has always been a key theme in Start-up. Exactly two minutes into Ep 1, we get the Jang Yongsil, the AI delivering an unsolicited fortune to Han Jipyeong

Many have assumed this fortune refers to a connection with Won Injae. But after 10 episodes with almost 0 interaction between them, I feel pretty confident to say that Injae is simply a catalyst. If not for her presence, the letters would've stayed in the past.

But let's backtrack a bit and look at the presence of fate in Han Jipyeong's childhood. There are key moments where fate shows a sign of its presence and approval through a sudden thunderclap and a storm.
Like when Jipyeong sees Nam Dosan on TV for the first time.

The next "fated" moment is meeting halmeoni. Which sends him down a path he never could have possibly imagined.

Also another thunderclap when he is gazing at the birdhouse, which held the key. The key to halmeoni's shop, but also the key to everything else; the letters.

A pivotal moment for his early relationship with halmeoni is when he decides not to steal from her. Major thunderclap of approval from the universe

On the same day, when Jipyeong made an honest choice, Dosan makes a dishonest one by cheating in the Math Olympiad competition. Let's keep that one in mind for later...

What happened for our good boy when the storm finally cleared? His true character was revealed and his integrity was rewarded with a new home and a maternal figure in his life.

The thread of fate and karma proceeds to follow both Jipyeong and Dosan as they grow into adults.
Dosan lied to Dalmi about having a close, brotherly relationship with Jipyeong. This is his first completely selfish move to keep Jipyeong away from Dalmi.

Fate makes sure this lie comes back to bite him in the ass when Dalmi ends up choosing Jipyeong as the Sandbox mentor for Samsan Tech. Notice the sudden thunderclap.

As time goes on and Jipyeong starts to like Dalmi, he attempts to throw away his feelings. But fate has other plans and the feelings are promptly returned to him.

Gradually, he starts to nurture his feelings. And after a a long period of denial, Han Jipyeong finally confesses them out loud.
There is that sudden thunderclap of universal approval once again!

Along with the thunder, comes the rain. Rain serves the purpose of leading people where they need to go.
It lead Dalmi to a double rainbow, and Jipyeong to halmeoni.
Eventually, fate lead Seo Dalmi to pick up the wrong phone, and rain lead her out of her office, and to the truth.

Rain, Thunder, Fate and Karma

A Three-part #Startup Thread

Examining the themes of fate, destiny, luck and superstition in Start-Up.

Part 2: Faith & Superstition

There is a widespread superstition in South Korea that moving on a rainy day brings good luck. Jipyeong certainly experienced good fortune on a rainy day when he moved into halmeoni's shop.

Another common superstition is that dreaming of, or stepping in poop is good luck because it is a fertilizer which will bring growth and a fruitful harvest to your life.
Dalmi steps in cow dung then Jipyeong, the man who helps her grow, appears in front of her

Unfortunately Jipyeong gifts Dalmi with a pair of slippers. Another Korean superstition is that if you give shoes to a loved one, they will walk out of your life.
But recall that halmeoni gave Jipyeong a pair of shoes. He walked out of her life, but fate brought him back again.

Unlike Dalmi and Jipyeong, when it comes to luck, fate and superstition, Nam Dosan is a non-believer who rejects whimsical concepts like a wish at the end of a rainbow.

Dosan acknowledged that crows are believed to bring bad luck, but made it clear he didn't believe in superstition and finds it absurd.

But here is the thing...
If Dosan is such a realist, then why does he blame the winds of luck and karma for his cheating and the consequences that followed him throughout his life?

Regardless, it seems that in due time, karma will always find you.

Rain, Thunder, Fate and Karma
Examining the themes of fate, destiny, luck and superstition in Start-Up.

A Three-part #Startup Thread

Part 3: Fate shows her hand

As we catch up with the present, let's talk about our guest star; Lee Bo Young.
Something about her aura and presence reminded me so much of another character I've come across in a Kdrama...

That character is Samshin halmeoni.
Many of us might be familiar with her from Goblin!

Samshin is the goddess of fate and childbirth.
She is a nurturing spirit who acts as a custodian of destiny and a mother to all. From her appearance in Goblin, I'd say she has a soft spot for orphans especially.

Lee Bo Young's character is very mysterious and she is not credited with a name or role.
She speaks one on one, first to Dalmi and then to Jipyeong.

Keep in mind that both Dalmi and Jipyeong are wearing the same clothes from the Kalguksu confession scene. So it is the same day, yet the mysterious lady appears to them in two different outfits

She first appears to Dalmi in black, a colour which in Korea symbolizes wisdom and mastery. It also symbolizes death, but black means death in every culture, so whatever

Wisdom and mastery is what Dalmi feels she is lacking the most in this moment, and she opens up about it.

Dalmi tells her all about her the lies and really confides in her about her sudden loss of self-confidence. Lady Fate reassures Dalmi and advises her to ask for help from her ancestors.
I have a feeling we will start to understand what this really means in the next few episodes.

Next, in everyone's favourite epilogue; we see Mr Han Jipyeong, who never talks about his feelings at all as he completely opens up to a stranger about the emotions, insecurities and fears he felt when he confessed to Dalmi.

Samshin really seems to have the gift of getting people to talk... The alcohol probably helps too

She appears to Jipyeong in red, which symbolizes passion, creation and childbirth.
Appearing as the motherly form of Samshin is very fiting as he is an orphan.

She tells him to trust the choice he made and gives him the same advice as Dalmi; ask your ancestors for help.

Although she appears 1 on 1 with Dalmi and Jipyeong, she seems to be almost intercepting Dosan from going to Dalmi.

For some reason, Dosan's first instinct is to hide from her, although he was ready to approach Dalmi a few seconds before.

This show has an interesting habit of playing important moments off for comedy. So when she mentions ancestors, we share Dosan's WTF reaction , even though it no doubt will be an important element of the story.
When he faces her, she tells him to seek help from his ancestors too.

Dosan, the non-believer is completely skeptical and condescending. He asks if she has experimented with control groups and run a clinical trial to back her recommendation.

- Dosan has no clue that he might actually be the control test subject in this cosmic experiment...

Lady Fate responds to Dosan with a complete lack of recognition and doesn't give him the same amount of interest and attention she gives to Dalmi and Jipyeong.

Lady Fate tells Dalmi to make a choice and encourages Jipyeong to trust the one he made.
Maybe leaving it to the ancestors is a metaphor for letting go and not trying to control the situation too much.

This advice echoes Dalmi choosing Jipyeong twice now.
Now that her trust has faltered, she must try to trust her choice and pray to her ancestors, aka let go

At this point in time, Fate is making her voice heard loud and clear.And the signs are there... literally.

Dalmi and Dosan arrived at a dead end and couldn't move forward. It's possible that it signalled the end of the lies, but it could also be an end to the relationship.

Dalmi and Jipyeong also arrived at a sign.
The writing says One-way, but the sign means 'No Left Turn'

This might be a sign that there is no going back to the lies for these two and their relationship will only move in one steady direction from now on.

Is it possible that wind of fate blew the cherry blossom petal but it took a detour? It landed on Dosan, but remember that it was Jipyeong's fortune told at the beginning of the drama.
That wind was directed at him but maybe it took a wrong turn.

The wind of fate still led Jipyeong to Dalmi once again at Sandbox even before Dosan entered the picture.
Just as it had done before in the past, even before halmeoni connected them through the letters.

I often call halmeoni the puppet master for orchestrating the lies .
But it seems as though the ultimate puppet master here might just be... Fate.