I finished Doom At Your Service awhile back, but it has taken me much longer to process it enough to write this review that has been requested by a number of you.
I feel like sometimes there are just dramas that you fall in love with for some inexplicable reason, even if you know it’s flawed. D.A.Y.S definitely resonated with me in such a way.
“Is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all?” That’s the question this series explores.
In my opinion, this show had HUGE HUGE potential. It started off with fireworks and EVERYTHING was done right in the beginning quarter of the series, but unfortunately ended in somewhat of a lack luster finish (following in the footsteps of shows like Start Up and Tale of the Nine Tailed *cries*). It’s such a shame, because I love the two main leads. I really really do. Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk have BEAUTIFUL chemistry and it was sadly spent on a storyline that was spoiled by some really poor writing choices – the result of this was an on screen love potential that was VERY believable, but eventually felt fan serviced, instead of taking risks to be creative.
I’m always so sad when a kdrama series does this. It has a stellar cast who are clearly very talented, and a fabulous storyline premise, but poor execution through a sub par script or writing development. Sadly this happens a lot in the world of Kdramas :(
So, was it terrible? No. It definitely wasn’t. Terrible was Love Alarm 2. That still wears the crown for the worst thing I’ve ever watched in the kdrama world to date. DAYS could have probably been shortened to maybe 10 episodes (and removed the secondary love story completely). It could also have REALLY focused instead on the main leads, as well as DK’s very likeable family relationships (except Kevin, let’s write him out completely haha), and then added some more thorough navigating through DK’s sickness which would have made it more realistic, and then poured in MUCH MORE generous insight/level of depth in terms of the back story of our two leads (as was done with Hotel Del Luna) and it could have been better.
But that said, DAYS was still enjoyable. At least to me it was. There are always going to be shows that are fabulous and some that are not. And if you go into it watching the series with the right expectations, you can still appreciate it for what it is. DAYS falls into this category.
The thing that really bugged me, and sat with me for a long time, was the potential it could have soared to. That’s the thing – it really did have all the ingredients for a great series – a really cool idea, stellar cast, gorgeous OST, and stunningly filmed scenes… but at the end of the day (and many of you who follow my IG stories will see me saying this alot – story writing is key. The writing is the glue that holds it all together. Everything else just brings that skeleton to life.
Anyway, I hope Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young get the opportunity to team up again as I know both of them are capable of GORGEOUS chemistry. The scenes they were in, whether happy or sad in DAYS were always mesmerizing to watch. I think if anyone felt that these two lacked ANYTHING in the show, it was never because of their skill, but because the writing never did them full justice.
Despite that, I enjoyed each scene they were in regardless of the spotty weird writing holes (which often left a lot up to interpretation). These two still made me legitimately tear up (I am not an easy crier) and I got all the aching heart pangs at several points in the show. And frankly, now that the series is over I miss them. Which only proves to me that these two are mega talented, and together, are capable of something very very special when given the right context to shine. Hopefully next time, they can be under the umbrella of a much better script to let the full potential of their chemistry really soar and their talented acting skills show because they definitely have both in buckets and spades.
All that said aside, the streaming rights to the show has managed to be sold to 150 countries around the world, so that speaks for itself. If you’re a newbie to the kdrama world, this might be a good starter for you before moving to the big name titles. And if you’re a bit of a skeptic, my advice to best enjoy this series is – don’t take this show too seriously, keep your expectations reasonable (don’t expect to understand every little thing in the plot), just fast forward the entire secondary leads love story, and keep your focus just on the two leads, the music, and the STUNNING cinematography – these factors make it very easy on the eyes/ears and this way you can legitimately still enjoy this drama since SIG and PBY are wonderful to watch together. It is what I did and while the series won’t be added to my 2021 top fave kdrama watches (Vincenzo and Youth of May and Hometown Cha Cha Cha sit on this list for me so far), I don’t regret my experience with it at all.
Doom has solidified my admiration for PBY and SIG, and I look forward to their future projects – hopefully together, and under the direction of a great script. If or when that happens, I know we will be watching magic explode on the screen :)
6.5-7/10
Going to be moving on to Taxi Driver, Devil Judge or Move to Heaven soon. Not sure which yet, but all have ended up on the top of all the to-watch-lists lately so my curiosity has been aroused! :)
Til the next review everyone! And thank you so much to all of you who requested me to write one. I’ve really enjoyed the process and I look forward to writing more for all of you! If you enjoyed this, please drop me a DM on IG to let me know! It means more than you know!
