In Love with Doom

I actually subscribed to an Asian video streaming service so I could watch the k-drama Doom at Your Service, which I will never regret because they have hundreds of Korean drama series on their site; far more than Netflix. I also took my time watching this series because it was so sad, lovely, thought-provoking and essentially wonderful.

The drama starts with a bang, as a young web novel editor, Tak Dong-Kyeong (Park Bo-young), learns that she's dying from an aggressive brain tumor, which will be causing her more and more pain and impairment as it grows. If she does nothing about the tumor she has only three months to live; if she has a dangerous surgery she live for maybe a year but with significant, permanent impairments.

If this wasn't enough for Dong-Kyeong to handle, on the same day she has an ugly run-in with her boss at work, her younger wastrel brother again tries to wheedle money from her, and and she finds out that her boyfriend is married from his pregnant wife, who throws water in her face at a cafe. The icing on the cake is when a video of the cafe incident makes Dong-Kyeong go viral on the internet as "Adultress of the Week." Naturally Dong-Kyeong goes home and gets drunk, and shouts out a dire wish from her balcony when she sees a shooting star. She asks Doom to come to the world and destroy it.

Somewhere in the eternity of the universe Doom (Seo In-guk), aka the god of everything that disappears, hears the drunken wish. As it happens it's his birthday, and on this day he's allowed to grant any human one wish. He's also sick of his existence as the one who makes misfortunes for humans and sees everything he touches die, so he decides to answer Dong-Kyeong's wish. It's a bit comical when he shows up on Earth to make a contract with the dying young woman, as he has to prove to her that he really is Doom. But once he convinces her of that fact through some very dramatic incidents, they strike an interesting bargain.

Doom offers to keep Dong-Kyeong pain-free for the next hundred days, and help her live her dream life. He'll also grant her one extra wish. At the end of the hundred days she has to wish for him to destroy the world. If she doesn't, she and the rest of the world will live, but the person she loves most will die. Dong-kyeong resists the contract at first, but Doom puts her life on the line, so she accepts his offer -- and then decides to fall in love with Doom so that he'll be the one to die.

I don't know who wrote this drama, but they deserve all the screenwriting awards in Asia. Of course the bargain these two make is nightmarish, especially as Dong-kyeong has to save herself and the world by falling in love with Death, which is basically impossible. Or is it? Doom is not only handsome, intelligent, powerful and (weirdly) tragic, he's necessary. When he doesn't do his job, the world falls into chaos. Dong-Kyeong, who has already had a tragic and unfair life even before she got the tumor, seems as incapable of love as Doom.

And then they fall in love, the kind of epic love that only happens in fairytales. Only this one can't have a happy ending either way.

I liked the questions that this drama asked of the viewers, from What would you choose to save? to Why does everything have to end? I found it both perplexing and reassuring; the kind of philosophical conundrum that makes me want to write. I also thought the large support cast did a fantastic job. Doom's boss, who is basically God/Jesus/Buddha all wrapped into one, appears on the scene to keep things lively. There's also a secondary romance/love triangle between a writer, Dong-Kyeong's team leader and the team leader's brother (who happens to be the writer's first love) that is just as absorbing as the protagonists' story.

Does Dong-Kyeong make the right decision in the end? Given the results (and no spoilers), I thought so. The last episode is what I'd describe as romantic payback for the viewers who hung on until the end, which you don't usually see in k-dramas. I thought it was very sweet and touching, too. Highly recommend if you ever get a chance to see this one.