Destruction (2021)

Biggest waste of cast and ridiculously high ratings

This was the biggest disappointment in a while, a huge waste of cast and an initial good story. 8.5 is absurdly high for such a mediocre drama. The only good things were Inguk and Boyoung working their ass*s off to try to save whatever mess this was and even their great chemistry and acting couldn't save it. Such an incredible waste of time, resources and cast.

Dawon's character was one of the rare good things in this drama, along with her aunt and Nam Dareum's character. The side romance was weird as f*ck, most boring and laziest I've ever seen. Jiuk was a creep, I never understood why his actions were so encouraged and even romanticized. Him kissing her when they didn't even know each other and only because he "pitied" her is sexual harassment and this drama failed miserably to even hold him accountable for it. Hyunkyu was a literal teenager when he ghosted Jina, and I'm not saying he did the right thing or he "deserved" to end up with her, but he was way too blamed and cornered for an action he did years ago while being an immature kid, whereas Jiuk was already an adult when he kissed 1) a teenager, 2) his younger friend's crush. And no one EVER pointed out how wrong that was... Absolutely ridiculous.

Jina was a great character in every aspect EXCEPT when it came about Jiuk. I don't understand how such a strong and capable female character like her would become stupidly weak and docile with such an annoying man like Jiuk. In real life, a relationship that (1) started like this (2) with a narcissist like Jiuk would never be healthy. My only complaint to Dongkyung is that she liked Jiuk as a boss (when he was weird as f*ck as a boss too) AND supported him to date her friend. Just what the h*ck did this guy do to get people liking him at all. He's a massive creep. I skipped/fast paced most of their scenes ever since ep 12.

The story had so much potential and could've been developed in such a much better way, I bet even Inguk and Boyoung thought this was going to be better and that's why they signed up for it.

The fact that it took about 6-7 eps to properly introduce the story and explain the characters' actions (some people even needed up to ep 12 to understand why Myulmang wanted to destroy the world) clearly shows how poorly written this was and the mess the writer created. So many people were excited about this and even taking notes on the plot because that's how promising it looked, but it soon showed that it would be a hot mess and it was. Inguk is my favorite actor so I had a hard time acknowledging the fact that this drama was awful, but I eventually let my bias aside and embraced that fact.

Inguk and Boyoung looked amazing in every shot, not only together but in their separate scenes. They were both highly likeable characters with great chemistry and realistic actions and doings. I really liked these two together but I wish their pairing would've been in a different and better written drama.

The only reason why I would recommend this drama is for the great chemistry of the leads, but other than that there really isn't anything worth watching about this drama and I seriously can't understand why anyone genuinely liked the story or the ridiculous rating on this website. I'm only giving 1.5 stars (3.0) to the story because it did have great potential and came from a great idea, but the terrible execution won't let me give it any more than that, no matter how much I love Inguk. And my final rating being 6.0 hurts because I really anticipated this drama a lot and Inguk, again, is my favorite actor so it's difficult to be so hard on one of his dramas but nothing could save.

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I always read reviews of Kdramas before I watch them. Sometimes I trust the reviews, sometimes I take my chance and watch them despite low review ratings.
Doom at Your Service (DAYS) features 2 leads that I like: Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young. I have watched several Kdramas featuring them and I tremendously enjoyed them. So I was baffled why entertainment news said that the ratings of this drama is dropping. I wish I had trusted the news and not started watching this.
I don't like not finishing a series once I start watching it, no matter how bad it is... But DAYS is just too difficult to finish. 1st few episodes were ok but suddenly turned lackluster. I actually felt relieved when I finally finished it. It's so dragging. The story and scenes just keep on looping. I feel like they could've just made it into a 10-episode series if they can't think of a better way to make the story interesting. I actually felt sorry for the cast of this drama for having to bear with this nightmare of a story. It's so bad that it made me want to write a review for the 1st time here at mydramalist. I'm just disappointed! I hope the cast of this drama can find better projects in the near future. They deserve more than this.

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A big let down.

After hearing so many good things about this drama, I decided to give it a shot as I've been in search for something new to watch. The synopsis was interesting, and I really liked the cast, so I expected I'd end up loving this drama. The beginning was gripping, not gonna lie. Even though I started watching late at night, I devoured the first 4 episodes and found myself wanting more. Unfortunately, the show started going downhill quite rapidly.

I expected it would take the leads the majority of the show to come in terms with their feelings for each other considering how Myeol Mang treated her in the beginning, and not to mention how he supposedly cannot feel human emotions, let alone love. I thought this was going to be more of a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers, but the romance was strangely rushed. Surprisingly, not even 6 episodes in and they are declaring they are ready to die for each other. Nothing else happens in their relationship. They love each other to death, but their fate is tragic. That's all what happens for the rest of the drama.

I can't tell you what happens in the next 10 episodes to save my life. The show kept doing in circles, repeating the same events over and over. She runs away, he brings her back. She chooses to erase their memories of each other, he remembers her. She decides to die for him, he dies for her instead. She kept making decisions regarding their relationship herself, and he had to go and save the situation every time. It's like all the tragic tropes were condensed into one drama. By the end, I couldn't bring myself to sympathies or feel anything for them anymore . They separate one episode, the next episode they decide to face reality and stick together, but then they separate yet again. I kept sighing and skipping all the crying and goodbyes because, frankly, I didn't care anymore. I'm not joking when I say it took me 3 days for get through the last episode.

The dialogue for the most part felt unnatural, and half the events that take place don't add anything to the story. And don't get me started on the contract and the whole wish thingy. Their contract doesn't make sense, and I thought her precious wish that she holds on to until the end was going to play an important role. It honestly seemed like the writer added the wish as an afterthought because whatever she decides for her wish, Myeol Mang apparently cannot fulfill, and in the end her wish didn't help their situation at all. You're telling me there isn't ONE wish she could have made to improve their situation even a little bit? What was the entire point of it then?

While the second couple's love triangle was a bit draggy, I actually enjoyed their story a lot and found myself caring more for them than for the main couple. I practically finished the drama for them. I really loved Ji Na's character and Joo Ik's voice, even liked Hyun Gyu and Dong Kyung's brother and aunt's presence on screen a lot more than the main lead's. Kevin added absolutely nothing to the story, aside from diversity points I guess, and that one interaction between him and Dong Kyung, you know which one, was, as much as I try to avoid using this word, cringeworthy. It gave my a heavy dose of cringe I had to turnoff my laptop for a few minutes.

The music was on point. One of the few things I liked about this drama. Especially loved Breaking Down by Ailee; I've been listening to it on loop for a week now.

Overall, I'm disappointed with this drama. The potential was there, but unfortunately was short lived. It dragged on and on, going in circles. I really wanted to love this drama, but it ended making me feel nothing but annoyance.

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A drama that gets caught trying to be too cerebral

I really wanted to love this drama, I was so excited about it! I loved the cast, the OST lineup, the posters and the concept. Unfortunately I felt the writing ended up being a glaring weakness that brought the whole drama down.

It seemed to me the writer had the general premise and ending sorted out in their head, which would account for the stronger early episodes and the ending that you could see coming from a mile away, but the middle 10 or so episodes felt quite meandering. Nothing really happened, it got a bit tropey, and the dialogue was extremely repetitive and abstract in a way that made it feel like written dialogue that was made to be "deep", instead of conversations people would actually have. The contract setup was also poorly done since the contract didn't really make sense (the person she loves the most will die either way). Plus the early episodes had detailed recaps of the previous episodes that pretty much existed to clarify the terms of the contract; these recaps stopped for the most part once the plot came to halt as well in the middle section of the drama.

The actors all did a good job with what they were given. I'm a big fan of Seo In Guk, especially when he is in a darker role. However if I compare him here to his role in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, his performance in DAYS feels a little shallow. In TSHLYE I felt like SIG deeply understood his character and was able to give Kim Moo Young some nuance. In DAYS I didn't feel that same level of understanding from the actor, the performance felt like a surface level version of a "dark, misunderstood character." This is more of a writing or directing problem than an acting one in my opinion. I'm not a huge Park Bo Young fan, but i certainly don't dislike her as an actress (more so I don't like the dramas she chooses). She has some very emotional moments here as Dong Kyung, but also moments where I feel like she falls back to her default cute persona. I felt conflicted about the leads' chemistry; I liked their early bickering but they fell in love so fast that I didn't buy them as a couple willing to sacrifice for each other. Their overly abstract and repetitive dialogue didn't help.

Unlike a lot of people I actually liked the secondary love triangle story and it was the part of the drama I looked forward to the most after a while. Again, I think this is because there was more “plot” to their story and less of the dialogue that I disliked so it felt more engaging to me.

The OST and music were all very good and some incredibly emotional. However I did find by the end of the drama they were being overused. They were added to increase emotions in the scene. A glaring example of their overuse was in one of the final episodes 3 different OSTs were played within the first 7 minutes of the episode and it was noticeable in a distracting way, which is never good for film and TV.

Overall I felt this drama missed the mark even though it had a great setup. The good thing is I feel like the only person who walks away with any damage to their reputation is the writer as this was a beautifully directed (there is some stunning imagery here) and well acted drama that runs around in a circle for it's entire middle section.

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It did not service my expectations :(

Doom at your service was pretty much one of my most anticipated dramas of this year. After finding out there was a killer cast and an intriguing synopsis I was excited to start this drama.

The beginning episodes made me realise that this was a very slow paced drama, which i did not mind as I did seem to really enjoy the first few episodes. There were many cute moments and it kept you pretty engaged. However, around ep4 it started to dwindle and become draggy. I became disinterested and disconnected to the story as it felt like nothing much was happening anymore.

I just feel like after the couple got together there was just no more excitement anymore. There was nothing new happening. It just felt dry. The plot just felt like it was going in circles with no direction. There were like a good few scenes in-between but it wasn't engaging enough for me to carry on. I debated whether I should just drop this drama. Regardless, I still gave it a chance every week in hope that it will get better but it was just so boring for me. I just felt it was such a shame because the plot has so much potential and the casts acting was amazing. Not to mention how the cinematography was also so beautiful.

However, after watching ep 11-12 I feel like the drama is slowly redeeming itself. Although I initially thought I would be disappointed with them using the amnesia trope, I infact think it made the drama kinda interesting to watch again. Idk, I just felt like the characters have brought back the charm they had in the beginning. I do think it got boring again somewhere around ep 14-15. I do think they wrapped up things generally well in the last episode.

In regards to the second leads story, I felt like at some point I became more interested in their storyline than the main leads. I do feel that it does feels like a separate drama, but I'm regardless enjoying it. I do hope that Na Ji Na gets together with Cha Joo Ik.

Overall, I don't think this is a complete rubbish drama but it's not quite a masterpiece either. I just felt the storyline could've been executed much better.
I do believe it was unnecessary for this to be 16 episodes long and could have done better if it had a shorter amount of episodes to reduce the dragginess. Despite that I feel like there were no flaws with the acting and the cinematography. Seo in Guk is very charming with the way he portrays Myul Mang and I just love Park Bo Youngs acting. I really do think they portrayed their characters so well. It's just the plot that's lacking and disappointing.

Will I rewatch it again? No. I don't think it's worth the rewatch. I feel like I've struggled to even make it past the halfway mark. Though I do feel like the recent episodes were much better. I don't think I'll be able to rewatch it again.

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Great concept but poor execution

Looking at the main leads and anyone who is a Kdrama watcher would definitely set high expectations coming to this. And it didn't meet mine.

The actors hard carried this show honestly. If it wasn't for Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young, I would've dropped this already. The plot went in circles for many episodes and it looked like the writer just copied all the lines in a philosophy book and called it a day. There are a lot of draggy moments that deserves a 2x speed.

Seo In Guk looked his best in this series though. *eye candy* It has amazing OSTs and it adds up to the feels. The cinematography had it's moments too. But that's about it.

I'm probably one of the few people who are genuinely rooting and is invested on the second leads. The finale episode was saved by them. I was squealing during their entire screentime. I hope Lee Soo Hyuk and Shin Do Hyun's chemistry is through the roof. Please I need another series with them as main leads.

Defintely not worth a rewatch for me. I'll probably just be contented in watching fanmade tiktok videos of Cha Joo Ik.

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Where was the plot?

I originally picked up this drama after seeing all of the hype around it and was very excited to start it. The plot seemed intriguing and I love both of the actors playing the main leads. However, I was quite disappointed overall.

The first four episodes or so were amazing. I found myself wanting to watch it constantly and thoroughly enjoying it but, after a few more episodes, I had to force myself to continue. The positives of this drama were the chemistry between the main leads and the cast but that's about it. There was so little plot. I honestly couldn't tell you what happened in the 16 episodes of this drama apart from what is described in the description. I don't think that my lack of interest was due to the actors as I think they all did a good job and were very loveable. But, I think it was due to terrible writing.
For example, the second couple seemed irrelevant, and felt like I was watching an entirely different drama. The first love trope felt so painful to watch. It had been ten years and these people were seriously still hung up over such a short relationship and one kiss?

In conclusion, this drama felt like I was watching 16 episodes of filler, and don't get me wrong I like filler but this was so boring. I wouldn't recommend watching it as you could probably get the entire plot from watching couple edits which would probably be more enjoyable. I definitely won't find myself rewatching this, ever.

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Doom At Your Service...Has Served

UPDATE!

*

Where to begin. I’m honestly not sure, so I’ll just write as it comes to me. Reminder, this updated review is based on my own personal enjoyment. It is in no way, shape, or form something professional or meant to convince others to watch because “it’s the best”. No. This is solely based on my enjoyment rate.

"Doom At Your Service" has been a roller coaster of a ride in the best possible way for me. I have been highly anticipating it since the release date was presented, and my Mondays and Tuesdays became much more enjoyable as I watched the latest episode for that day. The waiting was killer but so worth it, in my humblest opinion. This show certainly served in the best possible way! I understand DAYS is not everyone’s cup of tea (as seen from the amount of “dropped” reviews and negative comments here), but I personally found this to be one of my absolute favorite Kdramas, and below are my reasons why.

To begin, this show is thought provoking to say the least. It most certainly isn’t like any other drama I’ve seen before (and I’ve seen a lot). I believe you need to have an open mind when watching this show because it gives you food for thought. The phrases spoken, the actions of our characters, even a subtle look or tilt of their heads indicates their hidden thoughts and feelings. While the story set-up (human and non-human) is nothing new in Kdrama land (e.g. Goblin, Tale of the Nine Tail, Hotel Del Luna, etc.), DAYS has its own unique spin to it that, to me, stands out from the other ones.

The overall concept, story building, character introduction, break down, and especially development; the dialogue and inner thought processes of our characters…all of it was fresh and exciting. Let me add that the word plays, the acting, the music, and the cinematography were all so spectacular, I was left breathless on many occasions! The buildup and the reasonings for situations that at first seemed like there was no logic… it was all *chef’s kiss* to me!

Sometimes, you’ll find that the characters talk in roundabout ways where you might feel confused or frustrated because you don’t understand what is going on. I’ve been there, but it was so good because it forced me to take everything into account – what built up to that moment, what the characters went through to get there, how their dialogue played into the bigger picture. Sure, this might be something you’d pass for one reason or another, and that’s totally fine! But for me, the more the story developed and the further I got, the more it made sense. I started to see the reason behind certain things and characters. Each new revelation incited a new theory of how the story would progress or conclude.

I also want to add that in a lot of dramas, we almost always have a villain to push the story along. But in DAYS? There isn’t. The villain, if I were to pick, is the “fate” which befalls our characters and how it affects them individually as well as a group. But even so, it makes sense and just shows how realistic specific circumstances can be despite the fantasy element we have going on.

I’ll also address the comments that mention DAYS is slow because 1) they’re right…to a certain extent.

There are plenty of moments in the drama where the scenes or situations tend to drag, and you wonder “When will it pick up again?”. However, I would like to debate that by readdressing my comment of DAYS not having a villain. In a lot of dramas, the plot moves fast because of said villain to push it along. But this drama focuses on life – humans’ fate and destinies, how certain people are in your life for a reason, how living life to fullest is something we should be doing since death is coming for us one way or another. There is a quote spoken by our FL that goes like this: “You don’t need time. You need courage”. That stood out to me because our time here is limited and short. We really don’t know when it’ll end for us and we haven’t done the things we probably dreamed of doing “because we have time”. So, to me, this drama is literally about living and love and how the concept of death may not be as scary as we think. I’m not sure how else to put it.

Now I won’t say it was a perfect show. There were plenty of moments where I literally scratched my head or had a “wtf” look going on because of a cliché troupe that was incorporated that probably could’ve been left out, or when the characters made a decision that was obviously flawed and would have a drawback. There were also repetitive scenes that were included (e.g. the “push and pull” troupe between our leads) or slight plot holes that could have been better explained. I also have certain questions I wish were answered (e.g. Doom’s and deity’s background). I would’ve loved to learn more about them considering their role in the story. But alas, this was but a 16 episode show. A comment I’ve read said DAYS probably would have been better off as a book, and I wholeheartedly agree as 16 episodes is just too short for this type of story building. Hence the lower rating on the "story" section from what I had originally.

However, to kind of counterattack my above paragraph, I feel like the screenwriter did a good job tying these things up in the end. If you think about it, our characters are mainly human. As humans, we do things we think are right in the moment only to later realize how stupid it really was. That the solution was much simpler than we thought. We are constantly growing, maturing, learning, and experiencing new things. With mistakes come wisdom. Because of this, I think the screenwriter, directors, cast, and every other person involved in making this drama did a phenomenal job. It most certainly made my Mondays and Tuesdays, and I’m quite sad that is now over. I believe this ending was fitting. I personally liked it more than Goblin's ending, and I definitely plan on rewatching this drama because it has touched my heart in many different ways. It has become a close favorite of mine.

So, with these words in mind, I would suggest trying out the first few episodes to see how you like it (if you’re on the fence). I’ll reiterate that this show isn’t for everyone, but I can certainly say it’s a beautiful work of art in practically every aspect. The deeper you go, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you feel; the more you feel, the more special it gets. These are my final thoughts.

Enjoy!

PS: I want to take this moment and just give a special round-of-applause to the actors and actresses who brought their characters to life. It really enhanced the quality of the drama and the story being unraveled. However, I think the star of this show was Seo In Guk with his astronomical performance as Doom. I really don’t think anyone else could have pulled off this character the way he did. Playing a complex supernatural being, SIG really captured Doom’s essence and brought this character to life. The number of times I’ve swooned, squeezed my pillow, screamed, and nearly cried because of him was ridiculous.

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TL;DR: Doom at my verdict, but completed out of goodwill towards the actors.

What captivated me was the unique concept of personifying life and death. Seo In Guk's portrayal of the attractive and mysterious Doom, and Park Bo Young who (starts off) as the unexpected Dong Kyung, she appears brave and considerate and clever. The world-building is visually stunning, and what I like most is the way it is illustrating the beauty of everyday scenes like leaves falling or flowers blooming. One of the OST is a stand-out "Breaking Down."

I also appreciate the lead’s character development, seeing Doom realizes the purpose of life through love, and seeing Dong Kyung starts to express emotions and talking to someone about them, realizing that problems can be solved together. Sadly, their chemistry seemed to suffer by the end, along with the overall storyline. While they could've done amazing things with all kinds of exciting plot twists and such, the climatic reveal occurred too early, and then it lost momentum till the end, and the show never recovers from this slump. The couple was being too emotional on ruminating in the name of love and it just bored me so much. I also don't think the love triangle brings anything useful to the story. I have more things I don’t enjoy about it but I don’t need to talk bad about it further… I think there's enough negative reviews for this one.

-Dec 2023, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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The drama has everything but a lousy script

Things DAYS has and does well
- Beautiful scene, romantic, beautiful film color
- The soundtrack is so good, any song can become a hit, my favorite is Baekhyun's song "U"
- The acting of all five actors is good, especially Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young, Lee Soo Hyuk is also quite interesting.

What DAYS can't do and does very badly
- Script

I can say this is the worst script among dramas I have ever watched, lack of investment, lack of imagination, lack of sophistication, lack of logic, lack of empathy even than the scripts of low-budget makjang dramas with hundreds of episodes. After this film, I understand more deeply the art of telling the story of a drama, it doesn't have to say all the philosophies that the it convey, the writer should give the viewers the chance to feel. It's philosophy will present itself to the reader, not the writer trying to fill it in the audience's brain.

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Great Potential

After the first episode I was really excited, because i really like the actors, the main ones AND the secondary ones, but I don't know why, I felt like it was trying too hard. I never felt the connection between our leads and found their romance forced -- which is sad because I know both of them are capable of sizzling chemistry. The story fell pretty flat, and I found myself frequently sleepy and continuing to watch in 2 or 3 sittings, which is rare for me -- I'm a binge watcher normally.
This isn't a fast moving drama...there isn't much moving the plot most of the time. Instead, he moments are supposed to be found in the deeper mysteries and philosophy. What is life? What is loss? What is the end of something and what is the beginning? What does it mean to be human? What is love? Even though I don't mind dramas like this usually, this one just didn't resonate well for me.
It was entertaining enough to watch, but I don't think I'll watch it again.

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Maybe lower your expectations??

Doom at your service is labeled as a fantasy drama because duh, but that's actually where some people may be misled. It's more like a slice of life/melodrama in a fantasy setting. It's a character driven drama where the fantasy elements are used to move them forward.

The plot is actually very simple. Girl finds out she's dying, makes a wish, seals a deal with the personification of doom. And what seemed very simple ends up with them in a difficult position. This is a drama about fate, destiny and the inevitability of things; it's about death and life and everything in between.

It has the tragic, star-crossed lovers kind of love that I like and a bittersweet feeling that's felt throughout the whole drama.
The storytelling is one of the strongest points of this drama, having that kind of poetical way to narrate things (and I personally love it). Gorgeous cinematography. Amazing one liners. Perfect OST.
Park Bo Young, Seo In Guk and their otherworldly chemistry carried the drama on their back throughout the highs and lows.

Obviously, the drama is not perfect. It doesn't have the most complicated of plots and the story fell flat at the end and a ​few episodes felt a bit like fillers.
One of my biggest issues was the disconnection between the main leads and the second leads' plot . It's like they're telling two separate stories that have nothing to do with each other and sometimes it feels a bit off putting to go from one to another. It gets better near the end tho.
Also, I think they kind of wasted Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk's chemistry. Sparks fly whenever they're near each other and they didn't fully capitalize on that. A shame and one of the reasons why everything fell flat.
The ending is so underwhelming it makes me angry. I was doubting whether to drop the rating to 8 just for that, but I guess the beginning makes up for the end. Maybe in a few days I end up dropping it, who knows...


Anyway, it's a good drama and I enjoyed it a lot but it could have been better. A lot of missed opportunities and wasted potential.

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