Netflix’s Doona! is a bite-sized series with nine short episodes, but you’ll be thinking about the story long after that.
From the director of Crash Landing On You comes another riveting romance, this time based on the webtoon The Girl Downstairs, where the leads have a special chemistry. While it’s not a perfect series, it’s a very entertaining and compelling one that will keep you hooked until the end.
Before we meet the titular character Doona, we meet Lee Won-jun (Yang Se-Jong, Temperature of Love), a college student moving into his new dorm. Won-jun’s best friend happens to be a huge Dream Sweet fan, which is a super popular K-Pop girl group in the series. Upon moving into his new house, Won-jun meets Doona (Bae Suzy, Start-Up), who happens to be one of the members of Dream Sweet. Well, ex-members, that is.
Doona is staying in this house for reasons we discover later, but basically she’s lost after giving up her idol career and feels unsure of her next steps. When Won-jun and Doona meet, they butt heads almost instantly, but their relationship shifts when Doona takes an interest in him and begins asking to be his friend.
Doona is playful and bold, but also tends to think recklessly without regard for the consequences or others. In contrast, Won-jun is kind and giving, and lives a mostly ordinary life. When they collide, it seems like it won’t work, but somehow they click. Their scenes are one of the best parts of the show. If you came for the alluring plot of an ex-K-Pop idol and typical college dude falling in love, you’ll most definitely stay for the chemistry. They are able to bounce off one another, and their flirtatious scenes feel believable and interesting.
Their dynamic will have you wanting to watch more, but there are times when it may crush your heart a little. After all, Doona’s break from fame in this house may not be everlasting, as her manager is constantly on her tail and putting pressure on her, and her dream may not have changed. Meanwhile, Won-jun has to focus on his younger sister’s health and succeeding in both school and work.
Doona and Won-jun’s arguments are heated and overflowing with tension and their sweet moments are filled with passion. Sometimes, you will want to scream at the screen because both of them honestly make rash decisions at different points. But you will still want to root for them.
Bae Suzy and Yang Se-Jong are great choices for these roles and play their parts so well. Bae Suzy positively shines as Doona and will have you also falling for her charm behind the screen, making this one of her best roles yet. Meanwhile, Yang Se-Jong is able to portray a quieter male lead that balances Bae Suzy’s Doona and, together, they make sparks fly.
Of course, there’s also a love triangle, featuring Won-jun’s best friend from school, Jin-ju (Shin Ha-young, Extraordinary Attorney Woo). Their romance is sweet and has its own charm, and it’s clear Won-jun and Jin-ju have feelings for one another at the start. But Doona changes the game for Won-jun, and as the series goes on, it’s not hard to tell what may happen between the three.
It would have been nice to see some more flashbacks over the course of the series, since – at times – it feels like the backstory is shoved in, with Doona’s idol past and Won-jun’s family struggles. They also don’t get to flesh out all of the dynamics, for example, with Won-jun and his best friend Kook-su (Joo Yeon-Woo, My Perfect Stranger) it can be slightly frustrating since Kook-su’s favorite idol is Doona and Won-jun doesn’t have a conversation with him about it.
Along with that friendship, it would have been fun to see everyone in their college house becoming even closer, with more group moments, especially since their scenes were always so exciting. The side characters are enthralling in their own ways and have their shining moments – and they would undoubtedly have more with a longer episode run.
Still, it’s a nine-episode series with lots to pack in, and we do get the gist of what happened in bursts from the past. Though it isn’t exactly similar to Nevertheless, especially as far as the leads, the atmosphere also feels a bit reminiscent of it, and it also fits many different events into a handful of episodes.
We also see how Doona’s manager manipulates her and how it’s hard for her to let go of that relationship. She struggles a lot with her mental health, both in the flashbacks we see and in the present, and we see how she’s grown over the episodes, from feeling like the hopeless stranger Won-jun met, to something more as time passes on.
Towards the end, Doona and Won-jun must cope with the fact that maybe their futures don’t align the way they thought they might. Although things change a lot for the couple in the show’s conclusion, all may not be as it seems. If you pay attention to the intro and outro scenes in many episodes, along with the location and timing of it all, it seems like there are some secrets at play, and the pair’s story may go on, which isn’t how you’d interpret it on the surface.
Doona! is a somewhat slow and quiet drama, topped off with suspenseful moments, beautiful cinematography and swoon-worthy romance. Beyond all of that, it’s also about life and the moments we experience that not only make us embrace new things and grow, but move forward and let go of different things that we’ve experienced so that we can start anew. In a way, it holds a beautiful message in such a short season and will capture your heart.
