Doona!

Kpop exploitation explored.

NB If you choose this drama because it has a comedy genre I think this is misleading. This is not a fluffy romance. It explores the very unhealthy actions of the victim rescuer dynamic.

This drama highlights what happens when a young girl, who due to earlier neglect by her money grasping mother, decides to become an idol. She is groomed by her manager and eventually becomes a money making product. Along the way she begins to experience crippling anxiety. This is conveniently ignored by her manager until during a concert she collapses. He then bundles her off to live in an apartment that is part of a shared household.

An insight Doona gets later in the story is that the managers deliberate ghosting of her during this mental breakdown is to force her to suffer loneliness and isolation and drive her back under his control.

FL Doona is an emotional red flag mess.
she has no close friends, anger issues, abandonment issues and severe anxiety and depression. She acts out aggression in very inappropriate ways (using glass bottles as a weapon) and has never experienced love.
ML Won Joon enters the story as a student studying for his engineering degree who moves into the share house to be closer to college. He has left behind his single parent mother and a chronically ill younger sister. He has also had an unrequited love with a former childhood female Jin Joo whom he perceived to be out of his league due to her families wealth.

The story depicts the initial misunderstandings and then eventual curiosity and attraction between the two leads. Both actors represent their characters excellently.

The ending is left open for us to choose what happens next and this is very suitable after all the angst each character has faced in this relationship.

One thing I felt was that these two people needed to meet to help each of them to grow and heal. Both show more maturity and better boundaries in the end.

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The latest South Korean drama helmed by the man behind epic love tales "Romance is a bonus book" or "crash landing on you", this story is an elusive reminder that not all love stories are destined for happy ending. An unconventional tale of love has an undeniable charm of its own.


Doon (aka Suzy Bae) appears at the opening scene with lots of applaud ad cheering and soon loops into water. The opening scene does not take time to plunge into the deep sorrow and impending loneliness that has been eating the shining star. Enters Woon Jun, a civil engineering student who does not seem to be bothered by her presence. He harbors a long crush for her childhood friend Jin Joo. Life would have been so easy if Won Joon and Jin Joo had confessed their feelings in time but we all know destiny always had a cruel plan in its sleeve.

Yang Se-jong portrayal of shy yet caring and determined lover- Woon Joon is like the melted butter we need on hot chips like Doona. She is eccentric, vulnerable and highly selfish. But there is a little child inside who is seeking a warm hug fir herself. You can scold her but cannot hate her. The brief kiss at the beginning which put the loner hearts at turmoil to steamy romance which deciphers desires of two young hearts touch today's love chords. We fall in love quick this days, but scares to live in it.

Jin Ju and Woon Joon reminds us how failing to understand what we want makes us lose the person we want most. The warmth that friendship shared throughout is something to be envious of. The vivacious Choi I-ra, one lovely piece of Woon Joon's childhood, her cute banter with other two house mates -Yun Tae and Jeong Hoon gives the much needed break needed in this poignant tale.

If you are looking for a mush romance, then this is not your room. Its a far away tale from Cinderella romance or "celebrity" set up. It is a reality check of hard life which even million heart winner celebrities faces.

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After only one episode, I said enough!

I understood right away after one episode that she was a manipulative pervers narcissist!!
The guy is a naive guy who never had a relationship.
He's kind, but weak.

Even if she has a past, whatever it is, it's a broken ego, that needs to vampirize someone in order to live. To suck the life out of someone. That's the pattern in all MPN!!
They are all acting the same way. They are calculators, manipulators, mean, delight in making others suffers and I know that's what was going to happen in this serie!
And, I don't want to watch that kind of thing.
I'm not masochistic.
Having been in two relationships with MPN, I recognize them right away and watching this kind of things reminds me of the past.
NO THANKS!!

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A very short, compact and interesting story. Pretty good.

What I say here may be considered a spoiler to some, so read at your own risk : this drama is an open-ended drama, meaning it's up to your interpretation as to what happens at the end of it.
It's a very short drama, but compact with tons of messed up emotions, romance, love triangles, and dilemmas that the characters experience throughout the whole show.

STORY: They did manage to squeeze the main characters stories into 9 short episodes, which is good, and was quite different from normal dramas which made it quite interesting. The sad part is that there wasn't enough room to discover any of the other characters stories (you could say Jin Joo, but that was only surface level plot that was revealed for her), which would have pulled a lot of people in.

ACTING: I liked Won Joon's crying scenes, you could feel the emotion coming off the screen. Great job. Other than that, the acting was fine, nothing much to discuss here.

Would I watch it again? — It does have rewatch potential, because many people analyze and read into the scenes, openings and create different unique stories as to what actually happened in the show. It's quite short, so you wouldn't be losing much time. To go back to the question, no, I personally would not watch it again for the sole reason that I do not like these types of endings and find them stupid. You can't decide whether to make it sad or not sad, so you leave it to the audience, not my cup of tea at all.

Would I recommend it? — If you are against open-ended dramas, don't watch it. You will be disappointed and sad that you didn't get to see a real ending. If you don't mind them or enjoy them even, I would definitely recommend it.

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Doona is the crazy girl no man can avoid falling in love

Great k-drama. First of all the visuals. This kind of nostalgia in the photography perfectually suits the 20-21 years old protagonists. An era when everything is possibile and you are still experiencing the first love, first job, you think what you gonna do with your life etc. A style similar to "Video Games" by Lana del Rey or "Hurt" by New Jeans videos. Simply amazing.

Then Doona. Doona is the kind of crazy girl no man can avoid to fall in love with. She's just amazing. Funny, sexy, smart and talented. It's sad also when you realize that this firework girl is taking you away from the "wife style " girl you always liked, but you cannot do anything about it. The last episodes lose a little bit of spark and become more cliché. The end should have been clear about the fact that the relationship ended, as it should have been in the reality. Instead it seems they still meet each other which is highly unrealistic. If you are a normal guy, engineering student, Doona can only be the love story of your youth, the one you think about when you go watching your son football game on sundays.

Doona is made to be a star, Won-jun helped her find herself again in a time of crisis. In the end she is sad because he disappeared when she started to be ok. But disappearing is the only thing Won-jun could do after Doona recovered, as she is made to shine alone in the life.

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I liked it

I have rarely seen the ratings so varied as they are here for Doona! Reading through the reviews, the bad ratings probably come mainly from young and immature critics who didn't understand the ending (although you can watch a scene multiple times on Netflix) and who wanted the story to develop as they wished. Then we have a lot of psychologists among the viewers and those who can't step outside of their culture. Anyway - I liked Doona! and I liked Bae Suzy's restrained acting, she gave many scenes a deeper meaning with her facial expressions. I was actually prejudiced about seeing another drama with her after the really, really bad "Start-up". But she managed the broken character quite well!

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O romance entre uma idol e um anônimo é um caso de amor fadado ao fracasso. A aproximação dos dois protagonistas foi despretensiosa e vê-los se apaixonando à revelia tornou o sentimento mais intenso. Apesar daquela cena onde a Doona "abandona" o rapaz lá na casinha no meio do mato para voltar para Seul com o agente, sem nenhuma explicação para o rapaz, foi realmente enervante. Mas entendo que diante do agente ela se tornava uma criança vulnerável. O problema não foi nem ela ter ido com ele (pois na verdade ela queria resolver as pendencias com o agente), mas ela ter ido sem nenhuma explicação.

O final do drama em si não foi ruim na minha opinião. Nem toda história de amor é para sempre, aliás, me pergunto se existe alguma que seja. E a história deles, como disse antes, estava fadada ao fracasso desde o início. As escolhas de vidas deles eram muito opostas, manter um relacionamento minimante saudável ia exigir a anulação profissional de uma das partes, então não vejo como eles poderiam dar certo naquele momento. Com o final em aberto a gente pode especular se talvez um dia eles se reencontrem.

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