Kdrama Review: Doom at Your Service

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Main Genres: Romance, Supernatural

I was really conflicted between giving this show a 3 star or 4 star and I was comparing it to other shows I thought were 3 stars and 4 stars. In the end, I decided to give it a rounded 4 stars, so the true rating is a 3.5.

I liked this show enough to give it a 4 but I don’t think I’d rewatch it because of a major thing I didn’t like about the show, making me want to give it a 3 as well.

Read on for more details.

Synopsis: A terminally ill woman finds herself at the breaking point and wishes for the end of the world. In answer, a mysterious man who acts as a messenger of doom between God and humans appears at her door. The two must live together for 100 days. (Dramabeans)

Our main character, Tak Dong-kyung (Park Bo-young), has found out she has a tumor and doesn’t have much time to live. Out of frustration, she makes a wish to end the world that Myul Mang (Seo In-guk) heard. Myul Mang is Doom. Him simply existing causes something bad to happen on Earth. He is able to grant a human a wish on his birthday and he proceeds to contact Tak Dong-kyung, explaining himself and what he can do. He makes a deal with her to make sure she feels no pain, she will be granted one wish of her own, and Myul Mang won’t read her thoughts and in return, she will wish the world to end or else the person she loves most will die. This is where their story starts to unfold.

Another important aspect in this show was Sonyeoshin(Jung Si-jo) who represented life. She would repeatedly die for humans as this was her responsibility as being the deity. Her and Doom were who kept balance on Earth. I recall she had an important hand in a lot of what happened in the show, though her and how she was involved was always kind of confusing for me throughout the show. (I will further expand on this later in the review)

Then we also have the side characters of this show. Na Ji-na(Shin Do-hyun) is Tak Dong-kyung’s best friend and a romance writer who tends to write about things that took place in her own life. Tak Dong-kyung is an editor and Na Ji-na gets her stories edited at the company her best friend works at, usually by her. Though, another editor fills in for Tak Dong-kyung when she can’t be there at one of their meetings: Cha Joo-ik.

Cha Joo-ik(Lee So-hyuk) and Na ji-na have some history, but, anyways, they sign a contract to work privately so Na ji-na’s story can get into the top 10.

Lee Hyun-ku(Kang Tae-oh) is Na ji-na’s first love, but they drew apart as he went abroad and decided not to tell her himself. He comes back into her life just as Cha Joo-ik becomes more significant to her. Now she has to think about who is better for her and who she truly wants.

I want to start off this review with discussing the characters, both main and side, and their chemistry.

The main characters, Tak Dong-kyung and Myul Mang, have such a beautiful love story. Their relationship was breath-taking, honestly. I have never felt as many emotions for two people as I did with them. Doom wasn’t human. He didn’t have to eat or sleep. He doesn’t cry or love. That is until Tak Dong-kyung makes way into his heart. These two had a sort of forbidden love sort of thing. Doom technically couldn’t love anyone, but he did which wasn’t supposed to happen. Nevertheless, this was an important fact that caused a lot of problems and hardships that these two had to endure because of this unique relationship was what made me so invested into their relationship. These two made my heart fill with joy and hurt with sadness as well. Towards the end of the kdrama when there were flashbacks of these two, it was too sweet. I can’t even explain how much I loved these two’s relationship, they had to go through so much and it showed how much they loved each other. 

Tak Dong-kyung, for a person who knew they were going to die in a matter of time, didn’t seem as affected as they should’ve been. She didn't cry upon hearing the news and told no one. I do see myself not telling anyone if I were to die pretty soon, not wanting to worry them, but not crying at all after finding such news is really crazy to me. After finishing the kdrama, I think even though she didn’t seem too affected for most of the kdrama, I think she was kind of numb to the pain because of her past. She lost both of her parents as a child, had to be strong for her younger brother, and felt like a burden as she lived with her aunt even though she loved her and her brother completely. Also, the actress who played the role of Tak Dong-kyung has impressed me. She was so good at portraying emotions through her face and eyes. I personally loved her acting and I could feel the emotions with her because of how well she got the feelings across. 

Myul Mang had a tough exterior and wasn’t ready to get close to Tak Dong-kyung at first but he slowly opened up to her and, eventually, fell in love with her. He surprisingly wasn't as grim and mean as I expected him to be throughout the show. He actually smiled and smirked and not just looked like he was going to kill something the whole entire time. I loved to see how he started to care about Tak Dong-kyung as the show progressed and how he grew a soft spot for her. He learned to feel compassionate and sad for someone other than himself. 

As for the side characters, I honestly was so invested in Na Ji-na and Cha Joo-ik’s relationship. I rooted for them as soon as they started to show potential. Na Ji-na was good for Cha Joo-ik and vice-versa. I really wanted them to end up together no matter what. Lee Hyun-kyu was nice, don’t get me wrong, he was sweet, and I think deep down he did care for Na Ji-na but he was a jerk. Or a better way to put this, he wasn’t as good for Na Ji-na as Cha Joo-ik was in my opinion. She was conflicted between who to choose from the two for most of the show and I was just holding on to hope during the duration of this. Na Ji-na was such a supportive and caring friend to Tak Dong-kyung when she found out she was sick and, in general, was a great friend that I would love to have in my life. Honestly, I actually saw some parts of me being reflected through Na Ji-na’s personality which made me like her even more.

The plot is where the stars got knocked off. There weren’t a lot of problems in general with this show, but a major problem was the plot. It was so CONFUSING. Things happened and I didn’t know how exactly they happened, and they were like major plot twists/changes in the plot, and I was left puzzling over them, trying to piece together what happened. I don’t know if that was just me or if I didn’t pay attention to some stuff but beware of feeling kind of confused with changes that happen in the plot.

Sonyeoshin had a large part in causing this confusion. I understood the concept of doom as Myul Mang clearly stated it multiple times, but her role was always (I felt) kind of implied but never explicitly stated? Basically, she was very confusing and everything she did was quite confusing as well. Literally towards the end of the show I kept on thinking “I have no clue how this happened.” I actually was left with so many questions after completing this show and if someone asked me to explain in detail what happened I would not be able to without googling explanations for things. This was a real bummer for me because if the plot flowed together nicely, I would’ve loved this kdrama. 

The amount of confusion towards the end of the show of the causes of the major events that took place and, in general, the confusion of the concept of the deity (Sonyeoshin) had me leaning towards giving this show a 3-star review. I was really frustrated with her at some points too and at others I liked her, so she is an interesting character. Though I found myself loving the main and side characters and their relationship and everything else about this kdrama so much that I wanted to give it a four. Thus, I decided to compromise and give it a 3.5. I would recommend this kdrama if you’re looking for something with a love story with ups and downs, but their love for each other never falters. I would say, though, to pay more attention to the scenes with the deity as she plays an important role in explaining why what happens in the main characters’ relationship took place. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed my longer than usual review!

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