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Erika Song

Pilipinas

Erika Song

Pilipinas
Doom at Your Service korean drama review
Completed
Doom at Your Service
0 people found this review helpful
by Erika Song
Feb 10, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 10.0
This review may contain spoilers

A poetic and artful experience for the soul

At its core, Doom At Your Service is a human drama. Despite having fantasy elements, it's a mundane representation of the lives of some of us -- existing but never living, making mistakes and growing up even as adults, learning to be more responsible, becoming braver, encountering losses and pain, having to celebrate small wins and experiencing to let go, to be loved and love.

Doom At Your Service, will be one of the special dramas for me; it's a show that started with things and life coming to an end; where everything disappears, but in the end, it shows the beauty of new beginnings. That we aren't meant just to exist, but to live happily and love for a very long time.
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"If I were to be born again, I want to be born as a moon like that. You know, inanimate things like the sun, moon, stars, and wind. They just exist instead of living. I want to be one of those things in my next life."

I've truly resonated with the character of Tak Dong Kyung, not because our circumstances are the same, but with not truly living and just existing. We all have fronts like Dong Kyung, something that we want others to see—that we aren't broken—that we're okay and we are not lonely—but unfortunately, we are. I'm not exactly a person who lives as diligent as Dong Kyung, I'm very much a faulty person and there have been times when I'm not truly proud of myself and ashamed—and I still am. But this drama resonated with me so much because I watched it during this time when I am currently trying to move past some mental weakness in my life and the feeling of being overwhelmed about getting it together with life. I need to gather up the strength to make myself look okay to most people and show I'm as fine as possible.

I want to continue existing during those brief moments of weakness every day, and then have the courage to live as my time goes on—waiting that someday, I'll get it together and it'll make sense. I will always remember that moment when Dong Kyung said that she's still growing up, and I know that despite Doom living for quite a very long time— he's still growing up too. The way he just started at her, then smiled, possibly falling in love even more and knowing that he is no longer alone was a very delightful watch.

I think this is the reason why I've loved the drama so much. From Dong Kyung wanting to just exist until she dies to embracing life as her days are numbered and loving the precious people in her life—her brother, auntie, unnie, and especially—the found love of her life, Doom. To both Dong Kyung and Doom being confronted about the reality of her situation and acceptances of their fate. To Dong Kyung once more having to continue to exist again while trying to find courage every day to live for Doom's sacrifice and happiness. Longing and waiting, and finally reuniting with Doom to conquer life together and find strength every day with their now bigger family to make it to their next day until the very end.

How come when you're about to die you realize that you want to live so badly?
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At its core, Doom At Your Service is a human drama. Despite having fantasy elements, it's a mundane representation of the lives of some of us -- existing but never living, making mistakes and growing up even as adults, learning to be more responsible, becoming braver, encountering losses and pain, having to celebrate small wins and experiencing to let go, to be loved and love.

More so, I think I loved the natural progression of Dong Kyung and Doom's love story. The circumstances where both of our beings fall in love and lose each other is a real event that will occur. It's truly a life-and-death situation albeit with some fantasy elements. And the moment they realized this together, they never hold off each other's hands.

The way their relationship naturally progresses from the start with push and pull caused by how their emotions react to the current circumstances happening to them is a delightful watch; there's also lot of subtleness from the show's story telling. From Doom refusing to be loved and not believing he's something worthy to be loved, from Dong Kyung's hate on her fate and Doom, to them truly falling in love with each other despite resistances and to acceptance on both of their fates that come with loving.

--

“So are you saying you’re winter, darkness, and the end of everything? Hey, I like winter, I like the darkness of the night, and I like it when things end. If you think about it, spring, morning, and new beginnings also come because of you. It means you’re responsible for both my misery and happiness.”

"The reason for everything that disappears...It would be sad to fall in love with something that disappears upon his touch. Sad enough to make him never love again."

Doom is such an interesting character; he was an angstful and lonely being—despite hating humans, he longed to be one of them. Being the reason for everything that disappears, he never thought of loving and being loved. So, Dong Kyung's human love for him is the start of him truly living instead of just existing. For so long, he thought of himself as the end, evil, unworthy to be loved, and simply can't be loved—only to be deemed as not a bad guy and loved greatly.

"If we never met, I would still be nothing. I want to mean something to you. Experiencing that once will be enough for me."

Because of this, all of their moments together and the sacrifice Doom made it more touching. To be loved once is enough, that being able to live even just for a short time with the person you love is enough—than existing for a long time, but not living at all. He hated his existence for most of his life, but finally, he was granted his happy ending and Dong Kyung too because they found each other—and because they never gave up, they continued to exist until they can live— they endured and waited for a long time.
--

"Even if it rains. Even if you're the only one without an umbrella, it's not a big deal. If you run, you'll reach home quickly."

I think I'll take these words of Doom for a long time...and enjoy life for a very long time.

But I do not just want to run, I want to enjoy the rain and look forward to the mornings. I want to be more grateful for life, and I want to love a lot.

Doom at your service is a drama of new beginnings, it starts with lots of doom and things that will end, but it ends with beginnings for every character in the story.

I know this drama will never be the most fan favorite and I think I know why. It's not a drama with a very solid plot, most of the time—its messages are very subtle, and it comes with a lot of push and pull of emotions. But for me, this drama is a comfort and nudge I needed to bravely face life. It didn't have extravagant fantastic elements or the most solid plot lines, but the humanity of their stories always shined through it. Let's start living life today and be happier for a little longer, and let's continue to do that, until we finally get to live.
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