Doona! is a romance drama about an ex-idol (Suzy) who ends up living in shared housing with a college student (Yang Se Jong), and the two begin to develop feelings for each other.
Suzy plays Lee Doona who was a member of a popular girl group. She suddenly left the group and now lives in a college share house.
Yang Se Jong is Lee Won Joon. He is a kind and reserved college student that moves into a share house and meets the mysterious Doona.
I was looking forward to checking out the romance Doona! because I love both Suzy and Yang Se Jong. This type of low-key, subtle drama can be hit or miss with me though, so I wasn’t sure how things would go.
Luckily, I really enjoyed it! It’s a simple story as we see Won Joon move into a share house and meet the mysterious Doona. He is both confused and intrigued by her. And after an initial misunderstanding is cleared up, Doona seems drawn to him, but her motives are unclear.
I loved watching the back and forth between them. Doona is bold and blunt yet unpredictable, so watching Won Joon react to all of the unexpected things she does was fun for sure.
Then there’s this slow build of a connection between. I knew Yang Se Jong and Suzy would have great chemistry, and they definitely did! Their relationship blurs between curiosity, friendship, and romance.
We do have a second lead in the form of Jin Joo (Ha Young), Won Jun’s old crush from high school. She’s the more stable, easy choice, but she has her own complicated history to bring to the story. As second leads go, she’s actually very likable and a nice addition to the story. Now, the rest of the supporting characters I didn’t much care for. They weren’t bad, just kind of bland.
I thought Doona was an interesting character to explore. She is definitely struggling in life as an idol on the outs who is very alone and in a lot of emotional pain. She is a complicated woman with a complex story. I enjoyed peeling back her layers as we dug deeper into who she is and what she wants from life.
Won Jun is an interesting character too. We do learn about his past and his current struggles, but I do wish we could have gone deeper into them. Many of his family struggles sort of float around in the background rather than being directly addressed.
This is understandable though as this story was really about Doona. It feels like it’s told from Won Jun’s perspective, but Doona is very much the center of the drama. It was an interesting way to tell the story for sure.
And Suzy gives a truly fantastic performance here. I thought she was mesmerizing as Doona. Every scene she captured my attention as I wanted to know more about her. Suzy really brought this character to life as she displayed the complex emotions of Doona. Wonderful performance!
The production of Doona! was top notch. As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a style that I usually gravitate towards. It’s a more subdued and artistic type of show. This can come off a bland and empty or very moving and emotional depending on if you connect with this sort of storytelling. Luckily, I did this time.
A lot of thought went into the details from how it was filmed and edited to how each character journey was presented. These are flawed characters that are shown as real people with real struggles, and that was shown with a delicate hand that paints a lovely picture of their lives.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS BELOW
I know this drama brought some confusion with its ending. At first glance, it appears to be a very open ending without making it clear if they Doona and Won Jun ended up together. I think upon closer look, it’s obvious that they did.
First, they had an emotional reunion before the last time skip. Then the opening of the last episode shows them meeting in a field, and Won Jun is wearing the same clothes from after the time skip. He is also shown browsing for jewelry (as a gift maybe?) among other things. I think it’s clear in the hints that they are seeing each other. So, for me, it’s a happy ending.
END OF SPOILERS
Overall, Doona! was a great drama. Despite being simple in story and low-key in its delivery, it was poignant and moving. It told an emotional story focusing on the characters of Doona and Won Jun and how they were individually affected by their relationship. The romance was unusual but satisfying, and the duo had fantastic chemistry. Doona! was an interesting drama that I really enjoyed.
My Rating: 7.5/10
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