Doona! (2023)

If you want to watch how a toxic relationship unfold, I think it's for you but for me, I'm not really into this type of dramas. It started off really good and I was hoping a character development somehow but no I got nothing I think.

Suzy is somewhat not that effective here for me. I was really amazed with how she acted in Anna and I can see her improvement there but this time around it was hard watching her crying because she is bad at it. I don't know maybe I expected a lot from her already.

The ending is bad, I am really not satisfied with it. I'm happy that they release all episodes in a day because I don't think I would watch this ongoing.

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Just average

Pretty standard romantic drama, the two main leads meet and don’t get along at first. Then they find they actually like each other, but don’t start anything romantic at first. ML an ordinary college student and FL is a Kpop idol who doesn’t want to be an idol anymore. FL is also a troubling girl who's got a mix of PTSD and borderline.

This drama goes into deep emotions and mental issues. Also second female lead syndrome hit me hard while watching this. She was ultimately the better choice for the ML imo they were perfect, but because of their situation and the multiple times they held themselves back led them to not being together.

The ending could've been done better. I was just expecting too much from this drama and ended up being very disappointing. Cast is great, but I don't see myself watching this again.

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Bizarre Script and Editing Suppress Excellent Performances

Doona really missed the mark.

Like many Kdramas, the beginning is interesting and draws you in. This is a story about two unlikely lovers: the male lead, a struggling, earnest student/tutor working hard to secure his future who happens to cohabitate in the same house as the female lead, a former Kpop idol who acts brash but hides her vulnerability . For the veteran watcher, this appears to be a healing-love story that you've seen before, but smart, ethereal cinematography and powerful performances by Suzy, Yang Se Je Jong, and the supporting cast make it a special experience.

But unfortunately, a truly bizarre final episode manages to subvert all of the hard work put into Episodes 1-8. I won't spoil it for the curious reader who wants to experience the Kdrama for themselves, but for me, the ending was not earned by the story's progression: characters acted in ways that weren't true to their personalities, and for me, it seemed like the showrunners were trying to put into a double twist-of-fate, but for me, it backfired and just became weird.

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Patience is a must!

A story about two significantly different worlds colliding together and taking an attempt at combining them.

I was very excited to see this come out as I was waiting on it for over a month after seeing it be revealed. I was not let down in the slightest! This drama does indeed have its moments that made me want to pause it and walk away, but as I became more patient I slowly started to realize that was the point of most of it.

Doona is a character that comes from a long line of emotional troubles stemming from people she has encountered to even her own family. Being a K-Pop idol may seem like such a loving job but sometimes that may just be the view from surface level. Doona experienced lots of troubles from being lonely while still being surrounded by people. I think this is something a lot of people, including myself, resonate with in present day due to how disconnected a lot of people have become from society and normal human interaction that is fulfilling. That being said I think from what made me so annoyed at the beginning, started to make more sense as time went on.

Romance stories such as this one are hard to digest because it leaves you wondering what the character is even thinking to make a decision like they did. This story in particular leaves a lot to be questioned especially the ending. If you pay close attention however, you realize a lot more than what is said at the end. The random scenes that were shown had lots of connection to the overall story and it made me appreciate the story a whole lot more than I did when I first was getting near the ending of this series.

Love is an intricate emotion and thing that exists in our world but in this drama it is depicted quite while in a unique setting between two distinct worlds. It does an awesome job at painting this picture of people in their early 20s becoming more mature and developing their own lives and having to make sacrifices. Trying to better oneself can sometimes be painful, and that is a hard thing to swallow. Even seeing it from an outsider perspective is hard at times.

This drama is amazing and I think anyone that is looking for a quicker than usual romance experience then this is definitely worth a shot, just have patience and also an open-mind. Pay attention to scenes that may not seem important.

(The OST is absolutely amazing as well!)

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Everything about this Drama is average

Average!!

I had huge expectation from this drama but end up being dissappointed.Everything about this Drama is average.

I dont have any issue with story line or ending for that matter. But acting from both leads are so below average , i cant even root for characters.

I was expecting some good direction . This drama tries too hard, end up achieving average product.

Story on paper sounds good but that didn't translate onscreen screen properly.

*Sigh* Wasted opportunity to create Nice healing drama.

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IN DEPTH review + alternative endings and where to stop for viewers that dont want open ending

Writing this review freshly after finishing all 9 episodes, everything is very clear in my mind as I binged it all in one sitting. I did not read or even look up the original manhwa or novel (whatever it is called), so I have nothing to compare the drama version to, and I also DID NOT come in with any expectations. Usually when viewers read the novel first they may be more biased since things may be different from the plot in a good or bad way, but I came in with no expectations, just to clarify. Apologize for long review, but I try to be detailed and helpful. It is totally okay to disagree as its just my opinion! Disclaimer: it may seem like im bashing the ending and everything, but I still gave the drama a 7 rating so im not really hating to clarify, rather I am not satisfied. If I were to describe this drama it would be like competing in a race and doing well on the first few laps, then just not completing the last lap. You see, this is a romance drama. Not a healing drama, not a slice of life, not action, not comedy, not historical. Least they could have done was a satisfying romantic ending.

Things I liked:
1. Good romance and kiss scenes. Actually thought they had more and better kisses than most dramas I see nowadays.
2. 9 episodes of like 35-40 minutes (the last 5 minutes are just credits so its not actually 45 min), it can be binged, and even if you dont like it, its a short watch, you dont really 'waste' a lot of time. Also, if you wanted to rewatch for whatever reason, it would be easy.
3. Nothing much going on in the drama other than the romance aspect, which is good as you dont have to give your attention to many subplots. However, the drama is still a bit confusing with plot holes and time skips which I will talk about below.
4. Characters are likable, there's no character I didnt like, and love triangle was not overly annoying. Acting was also good, everyone was pretty good but I just thought the ML acting was okay. Not bad but not good.

Things I didn't like: (SPOILERS AHEAD, but I really think people should read this before watching)
STAR: I am fine with open or sad endings but for this specific drama I can think of more reasons of why they couldve/shouldve been together than not, which is why im so frustrated (see #4). I would also like to point out that this drama really has no plot other than 1. Doona going back to her career and 2. romance. There are only 2 overarching plots, yet they couldn't even make it clear and things were very confusing to me as a viewer (see #2 & 3). There were details left out, no explanations, time skips, some things just dont make sense.

1. Open ending. Obviously not every drama will have a good ending. But we (or at least me personally) watch dramas to escape from reality... why would I as a viewer want to spend my free time to watch a 'bittersweet' ending when they can just give a happy ending for romance, as its literally the only plot. Also, many others argue that it was a 'realistic' ending, but realistically they would and should have ended up together as Doona literally explains they can date after 2 years, which have passed, and they both still have feelings for each other. Correlates with my fourth point.

2. Many plot holes. Like we still dont even know clearly why Doona even left the group, we just know it's somewhere along the lines of being overwhelmed, but we dont know clearly. We dont know if she really couldn't sing or if she faked it (she sings perfectly well in ep8 and also debuts again as a singer) We dont know if Mr. Park (the manager dude) is a good or bad character and his relationship with her. He is such a grey character, and obviously his role is big as he is the one that sends her to the house alone, but we dont even know really if he has a good or bad intent. ML and FL family is not even talked about, which I dont mind but still it counts as a plot hole... like what sickness does the ML's sister have where he has to take care of her. Is Doona being an idol to help her mom out of debt? Did her mom pay back the debt? Also ML's best friend is literally Doona's biggest fan, but he doesn't even know ML and her dated???

3. Time skips (especially in ep8 and 9). As a viewer I often got confused in the later episodes of when events started happening. It's not very clear if it's a time skip to the future or past or present. And this is related to the plot holes, as literally we go from them dating to suddenly being split apart in ep8. Very confusing and it is not really shown when they leave each other. One moment they are in bed together, then the next moment she is already at the idol building, no goodbye no telling each other nothing. In other simpler words: Doona is edited weirdly, it's very oddly spliced. As someone said: "All events move forward in a non-linear pattern, with the story constantly moving back and forth." It would have been better to give better explanations and more straightforward storytelling so the reader is not left to presume or assume or guess on anything. Directors could have used 1 hour episodes or just made it 10 or 12 episodes instead of 9 to not rush things and skip explanations or events. This was a Netflix kdrama, the directors definitely could have changed the length...

4. The ending along with the romance is probably the most important thing, and what I dont understand is in the end, when Doona becomes an idol, she still wanted to secretly meetup and date. The ML has feelings for her obviously, but I dont understand why he doesn't want to. We are not given any reason why either. Okay, whatever, I can look past that... BUT
2 years pass, (Doona literally says they can date after 2 years when she's in a more stable position), the ML is back from the military, they meet again... but they still dont date???? And in the second to last scene, the FL goes to ML's house and they finally talk and hug and say they miss each other and cry. They also could have gotten back together here for a happy and realistic ending??? But no, the last scene they are back to strangers walking past each other in public. You didnt need to add scenes, and im fine with a 'realistic' sad (quote on quote realistic since in the drama Doona says she as an idol CAN date after she is stable as an idol, although in real life idols probably cant date) or happy ending rather than an open confusing ending.

Alternative Endings:
1. If you want sad ending, just stop in ep9 when won jun says he is going to the army and Doona leaves for the train. This is a realistic and sad ending for those that dont care about happy ending. Realistically she is now back to being an idol and cant date, like real life Kpop idols with restrictions on dating.
2. If you want happy ending, stop in ep9 where they hug and say they miss each other. If you end here, it will be like they got back together finally. They are back to dating and the end.
3. Open ending just finish the whole thing, then go back and watch the opening scene of episodes 1,2,6,7,8,9. They meet again at the railroad tracks. And in episodes 8 and 9 they go on a date. You can interpret this as they are secretly seeing each other despite being an idol. OR, the other open ending is that you see in the last scene where they walk past each other but dont say a word but Doona looks back at Won Jun. This can also be interpreted as they have broken up and are chose to prioritize their own careers over love. Either way, they have succeeded in their careers, and isn't necessarily a bad ending. People have heartbreaks in real life too, and not every partner is a marriage partner!

Something I noticed, not a judgement, just something I noticed:
The opening always has some scene where it can be interpreted as an open ending, but I went back to every episode just to see it. They just walk to the railroad crossing, in earlier episodes they are wearing black (keep in mind). In the later episodes we see them cross the railroad and walk to each other. But this time the ML is not wearing black, he is wearing tan suit (arguably this would mean a different day, or maybe they just didnt pay attention to outfit detail and accidentally wore wrong outfit) In the last episode, the opening scene the FL is wearing a cap and different outfit. (this outfit is NOT the same as her ending scene outfit, but the ML is wearing his ending scene outfit. I guess the opening scene would be telling the viewer that they meetup and go on a date. However, you would have to piece every opening scene together to visualize it, which is very hard to notice and do.

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Only for people who choose realistic ending

The drama is about a retired idol and a ordinary living boy who shifts upstairs in a home sharing. As the male lead helps the female lead when she is sick, there's the story starts giving butterflies. The female lead is unstable in both life and career but the male lead this hard and maintains his ethics so it was no way that he would've called for such person but, he did in spite of having a long one-sided love.
In the course of time, the drama portraits sadness and the story ends with disappointments in viewers eyes by choosing realistic ending.
P. S : There are wonderful kiss scenes and lots butterflies.
Hope you add in your list.

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All of this marketing advertising for this ?

If the story plot as advertised seem interesting and the cast with Bae Suzy seem to have a lot of potential, it is not worth it.

First of all, scenes are long. Short spoiler, the main character encounter each other very fast, but you wait about more than 15 mns to have them interact. So far it seems ok but when nothing interesting happens in 15 mns it’s long. 15 mns where sequences aren’t that beautiful, song is not engaging or silence not necessary or things characters do have nothing interesting for the overall story… it’s a waste of time. and this happens again and again.

Also the plot is jumping from one thing to another soo rashly… as a viewer you don’t have time to either grasp the situation or have compassion for the character.

About the acting…. it’s far from being Bae Suzy best performance. and for Yang Se Jong I first thought it was bad acting but I thing the overall is just bad directing. When interacting with the female lead he acts like a extremely dumb person. If that was his personality… alright. but it is only when interacting with her. and it’s not about “shy” type or weird type but truly like you would talk to an autistic person.

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Too much “aesthetics” for me

The photography is undeniably beautiful, but they went overboard with the sheer number of completely silent scenes. You can count on your fingers the moments when the soundtrack fills a dialogue-less scene. They went too far in the name of "aesthetics," and sometimes I wondered if I was watching a mediocre alternative indie short film.

About Doona: this is your typical "not like other girls" story, and it's getting a bit old.

Personally, I found her to be an insufferable character - she doesn't elicit any empathy. She's traumatized, selfish, clueless, and has the emotional intelligence of a rock. She refuses to explain herself, making it hard for the viewer to understand her journey and empathize with her story.

Wonjoon ends up being a pitiful character, letting himself be dragged along by Doona even though it's clear she's incapable of relating to others. He takes too long to question her, and when he finally does, he doesn't do it right.

The only thing that made sense to me was the ending. Even then, it was one of the weakest stories of the year.

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I don’t know what to say

So I usually love a story with a glittering beautiful heroine with issues and her love story with someone who is a commoner or not the same level as her. Some of my most iconic ones are Roman Holiday (Audrey Hepburn), Notting Hill (Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant), Indian Woh Lamhe (she is a damaged star just like Doona and this is a tragedy). To summarise many of these stories do not have a happy ending but for Notting Hill, and I like in this genre, tragedies, comedies and melodramas too.
If I compare this to woh lamhe, that was so raw, the heroine in that was so damaged and did so many things but the male lead also equally matched her.
Here in this drama, it was just showcasing the female lead and if you read MDL comments, you realise many just watched this drama because she looks great. That’s exactly what should not have happened, this should have shown the damage. Also the male lead is such an amazing actor usually but here he was so flat. Even if you compare with queens gambit for instance and Anya Taylor is very beautiful in real life, in none of the scenes was her looks highlights so much as her emotional trauma and her love for chess.
I just fast forwarded this drama. Again woh lamhe I watched first in 2007 I think and I still remember it shot by shot. This is not memorable to me, and bogged down with poor acting (male lead), poor direction too since the director chose to focus on the female lead without brining out the best in everyone else.

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The Best Romance in 2023- Beautiful & Entertaining

“What will you do, if I actually end up falling for you”

When I first saw the official poster for Doona, I was enchanted. It might be the ambience or the warm color tone or the way Yang Se Jong was looking at Bae Suzy. The trailer just added to my anticipation, and I was eagerly looking forward to the premiere of this web series. I do admit that I’m not a huge fan of Netflix shows where they drop all episodes at the same time on the release date. Rather, I prefer the biweekly format more. Despite that, foregoing on my beliefs; “Doona” was the exception to the rule. And, I’m so glad that I persisted with my choice. A nine episodic narrative of lost love, angst and painful separation, “Doona” spells a riveting romance between a fallen star and a young college student. Despite being similar in age, there is a wide difference in their social standing and lifestyles. “Doona” aims to bridge that distance while delivering a captivating love story that is bewildering and yet addictive. The focus obviously remains on Doona; she is the titular lead and the show depicts her unbelievable fate in a realistic manner. Let’s dig deeper because I’m dying to talk about this show!

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2023/10/26/doona-series-review/

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