Doom at Your Service is the imaginative love story of Tak Dong-kyung, portrayed by Park Bo-young (Strong Girl Bong Soon), as a young women given only three months to live. Cursing her fate, Dong-kyung cries out for doom to come upon the world. Doom himself, played by Seo In-guk (Death’s Game), hears her and comes to grant her wish. Doom, also known as Myul Mang, agrees to take away Dong-kyung’s pain during the time she has left if she promises to let him bring doom upon the world before she dies. Otherwise, the person she loves most in the world will die instead.
Dong-kyung reluctantly agrees to Doom’s terms but realizes that the people she loves are now in danger. They include her younger brother, Tak Sun-kyung (Dawan of the Kpop group SF9), her best friend, writer Na Ji-na (Shin Do-hyun) and her aunt, the person who raised her, Kang Soo-ja (Woo Hee-jun). To escape her fate, Dong-kyung hatches a plan to fall in love with Doom.
- Series Title: Doom at Your Service (Korean: 어느 날 우리 집 현관으로 멸망이 들어왔다)
- Starring: Park Bo-young, Seo In-guk, Leeo Soo-hyuk, Kang Tae-oh, Shin Do-hyun
- Written by: Im Me-a-ri
- Directed by: Kwon Young-ill
- Network: tvN
- Where to watch in the US: Netflix
- Year Released: 2021
- # of episodes: 16
- KafeNook Rating: 4.5 sips
Doom at Your Service — !!Spoilers Ahead!!
The core story of Doom at Your Service brings together two characters, Tak Dong-kyung and Doom, who each wish for a different fate. Tak Dong-kyung is not ready to die and leave those she loves behind. Doom is a creature created by God, played by Jung Ji-so in the drama. His purpose is to bring about endings, but Doom is tired of his existence. During the drama, it’s revealed that God has planted something new in her garden and is hoping it will bloom as a result of Tak Dong-kyung crossing Doom’s path. And bloom it does.
Doom’s character reminds me of Angel, played by David Boreanaz, in the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel is a mysterious character who shows up to help Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in her time of need. He also happens to be a vampire, the very creature Buffy is built to kill. Unlike other vampires, Angel still has a soul due to a curse placed upon him. No matter how hard he tries to stay away from Buffy, he cannot help but be drawn to her. Eventually, he falls in love with Buffy.
I soaked in every scene between Doom and Dong-kyung whose chemistry jumps off the screen. It starts when they first meet and spar off in witty banter. It grows as they slowly get to know each other, then sizzles as they are falling in love. How could Doom help but fall in love with beautiful, cheerful, big-hearted Dong-kyung? Or Dong-kyung not fall in love with mysterious, brooding, soulful Doom? Speaking of which–
Doom is Tak Dong-kyung’s Angel. It is not in his nature to become attached to a human, but he is fascinated with Dong-kyung and his budding feelings for her. As Doom and Dong-kyung spend more time together, Doom begins to take pleasure in the little things he can do for her: holding her hand each night to “recharge” her pain suppression, merging their dwellings so that she’s not alone at night, taking her to her favorite beach, buying her flowers. In turn, the more Dong-kyung see Doom’s true self, the more she begins to have actual feelings him. She sees that the endings that Doom brings about are necessary for beginnings – just like those moments in her life when she felt most alone that led to deeper connections with the people she loves.
The depth of Doom’s growing emotions comes about when Dong-kyung thinks the best thing she can do is try to forget the people that she loves so that they won’t be hurt. It’s Doom who realizes her plan won’t work and brings all of her loved ones to her. Later, in one of my favorite scenes, Dong-kyung asks Doom to describe what he was feeling when he rushed to her and hugged her after not seeing her for a while. He tells her he can only describe what he felt in that moment as “You”. Such beautiful writing. Watching Dong-kyung and Doom fall in love in this series not once, but twice(ish) made this series an easy binge.
Supporting Storylines
The major subplot of Doom at Your Service involves a love triangle between Dong-kyung’s writer friend, Ji-na, coffee-shop owner, Lee Hyun-kyo, and his friend/former teacher, Cha Joo-ik, who also happens to be Dong-kyung’s team lead and later boss. What is strange about this subplot is that it feels like its own Kdrama – or a Kdrama within a Kdrama (nested Kdramas?). My interest in the subplot grew as the series went on but unlike many supporting storylines, it didn’t add to or inform the main storyline very much.
By the end of the series, I thought Ji-na had more chemistry with café owner, Hyun-kyo, and wondered if she ended up with the wrong guy. Joo-ik is almost Vulcan-like stoic for all the emotion he shows. (Wait – is he a Vulcan? That would explain so much.) Hyun-kyo’s break down in front of Joo-ik is one of the best tear-jerker scenes in the series because his emotion feels real. He admits the immature choices he made as a youth caused him to lose the woman he loves, but this time, he won’t run away. Hyun-kyo tries to do the mature thing by giving Joo-ik the green light to pursue Ji-na. “Don’t you trip,” he tells Joo-ik. “Or I’ll swoop in and take her.” I almost wished this storyline was its own Kdrama to give more time to develop these three interesting characters.
Best Tear-jerker Moments
During a dream, Dong-kyung sees Doom sobbing at her funeral. This is reminiscent of the other time she saw him crying at a funeral when she was a child. At that time, he cried due to the death of that iteration of God. In both scenes, Dooms emotions are palatable and give Dong-kyung insight into just how deeply he is capable of feeling. Later, I felt my heart breaking for Dong-kyung as Doom, now the person she now loves most in the world, slowly disappears in front of her.
Doom At Your Service Ending
Doom at Your Service has a happy ending. Our main characters overcome their fates and are together. Yay! Dong-kyung is enjoying a new job in publishing – and writing a book based on what happened with her and Doom. Doom, now officially human and going by the name Sa-ram, meaning human/person, is an emergency room doctor. (Plus, he still lives in that amazing house!) Brother Sun-kyung is thriving in his career as a café manager. Aunt Soo-ja and husband Kevin are living in Seoul, to be near their family. So why did I feel a little let down even though most everything wrapped up nicely?
Dong-kyung and Doom/So-ram are clearly happy together but when So-ram asks Dong-kyung to marry him, she coyly ignores him. When he offers for them to live together, she says, “You Wish”. Huh? Back when he was Doom, she didn’t have any problem suggesting that they live together. They also talked about marriage before he became human and Dong-kyung seemed agreeable. I think my biggest issue with the ending is that no explanation is given for Dong-kyung’s attitude toward marrying or living with the man she loves. There is even a scene where she tells her boss, Joo-ik, about how you never know how much time you have so you should act. Why is she stalling, then? I have no idea.
I am not asking for much here. Just a bread crumb – like the two of them setting a wedding date for the future. That would a been a better use of the last episode which dragged a bit. Regardless, for the beautiful love story between Dong-kyung and Doom, I would not hesitate to watch Doom at Your Service again.
Random Things I liked
The architecture, furnishings and overall ambiance of Doom’s house perfectly fit the nature of his character. I wouldn’t mind spending some time relaxing in its earthy spaciousness amongst the blending of natural materials and rich textures. Perhaps I’ll even read Doom’s copy of Les Misérables while I’m there (which, of course, is something he would read!) The masculinity of Doom’s home is perfectly contrasted with Dong-kyung’s charming little apartment each time the two are merged – just like Doom and Dong-kyung themselves.
The writer known as the Young Prince (Nam Da-reum) and his obvious crush on Dong-kyung were cute. Nam Da-reum played a memorable role as the younger version of Lee Jong-suk’s character in While You Were Sleeping so I enjoyed seeing his slightly older self in this series.
Doom At Your Service Soundtrack
The Doom at Your Service soundtrack would not be complete without a track by Doom himself, talented singer/song-writer, Seo In-guk. Seo In-guk’s, Distant Fate is a lovely ballad full of hope for the future. Another standout song includes Breaking Down, sung by Ailee.
