Clever casting transcends a great show into a masterpiece.

Doona is something special. Not just among K-Dramas but among all love stories.

The plot line of a celebrity falling for someone remarkably normal is nothing new. Cue: Notting Hill and the Hannah Montana Movie. Doona, however, is something entirely different. Washed-up, abandoned, and functioning on a half-hearted nicotine addiction, we find this particular "Star" dimmed and burnt out. Inexplicably enigmatic - even without recognising who she is, Wonjun is pulled toward Doona. Her attitude and her body language imply she is both rude and defeatist, but there is something in her eyes that say otherwise. Behind the scorn and the evasion, something in Doona's eyes calls out to anyone who looks at them long enough; an ardent plea; "save me from myself". Wonjun can't help but do just that.

There is a lot to be said for the directorial style and the overall character development in this drama, but undeniably it's greatest testament is the performances. Whoever cast Suzy in this role was a visionary. Who better than an idol in a disbanded group to portray the ugliest sides of their industry. At times, based on Suzy's own experiences with Miss A, it was hard not to wonder how much of the acting was drawn from past experiences - particularly after a revealing cosmopolitan interview on that very subject - but I'll leave the speculation to rest. The key here is to say that Suzy's acting in this drama always feels raw and authentic, so much so that whenever she's on the screen, you can't tear your eyes away from hers. Like Wonjun, we are entirely consumed trying to work out exactly what pain it is that Donna isn't able to overcome. In the end, the answer isn't so simple.

As for Wonjun, although I feel that the Drama rather conveniently skipped over a few important plot points toward the end of the show, I am at least glad that they made sure to provide clarity and finality to the two leads in one particular aspect. We know that for Wonjun, he isn't a person who can cope well with things that are uncertain and precarious. He takes a gamble on Doona, but in the end he sees that she is still broken and dangerous; he doesn't have the courage to stay with her. Meanwhile, Doona is overly reliant on others. When she was confronted with the prospect of what her life would be like without her career, and, by extension, her fans - she spiralled. The anxiety became so bad that she ended up losing another pillar in her manager, and by this point, she was a shell of her former-self. Although it never becomes clear how she ends up becoming a woman who no longer needs to rely on men, by the end of the show she is independent and able to cope with life on her own.

Without Doona overcoming that flaw, the 'open ending' can't be a happy one. Although its mention is only brief, we know that Wonjun is altruistic. He moves into the room at Doona's house in order to escape the dire reality of his situation at home, having spent his first years of university commuting in order to take care of his ill sister. He mentions the relief he felt when the responsibility of looking after her was taken away from him, yet jumps right into another person dependent on him in Doona. Wonjun doesn't necessarily see it as his job to fix Doona. By contrast, her presence alone has been enough to calm him and comfort him through difficult moments. Yet, the fact remains that Doona is overly reliant on Wonjun, regardless of whether or not she's helping him.

This is the crucial point in the show's climax - while Wonjun is at military service, Doona must become a person who no longer practices over-dependency on others, just as Wonjun must learn to to so easily let others be overly dependent on him at the expense of his own happiness. This is, in my opinion, a factor which hugely contributes to his decision to break up with Doona when she returns to fame. It's too hard, it's too precarious, and there's a large chance he'll get hurt if they stay together. However this is also an example of Wonjun's hypocrisy. Jin-ju explains to Doona from the moment she first suspects that she likes Wonjun that he's not a person who can cope which a personality like hers in the long-run. Whether or not it came from a place of jealousy was irrelevant, because it was true. Although at first Wonjun believes that he doesn't mind what Doona does or how she feels about him he eventually realises that he doesn't like her to an extent that he can ignore his own jealousy and hurt. Even after admitting this to her, he does the same thing when he swears he won't mind if she returns to the spotlight. Doona, too, at first thinks that her newfound happiness with Wonjun is enough to fill the void left by her early retirement, however she harbours a deep need to be loved, and Wonjun's love alone was never going to be enough to satiate her. Neither one seems to truly understand their emotions, except for the fact that they truly love each other.

As for my sprinkle of negativity, even though this show managed to escape practically every K-Drama cliché of a celebrity falling for a normal person, it failed with it's side characters a little more than miserably. A seemingly random arsenal of side characters (save for an albeit-underdeveloped Jin-ju) served only as lacklustre comic relief or as devices to further the plot through causing jealousy or misunderstandings. Although the side stories and supporting characters aren't the worst I've encountered, compared with the addictive story of the two lead characters they are inevitably mundane. Doona's mother, too, although perhaps the most interesting of the parental “figures” seems to be entirely written off as someone who uses her daughter for money. Sometimes in life it really is that simple, yet with this character it feels more like two-dimensional writing than a purposeful choice. The same goes for Ira. She is no more than a device to make Doona jealous.

Despite its flaws, Doona succeeds in something that most shows cannot. Deceptively simple, its story engages you without ever throwing its quirks and messages in your face. Often in Dramas a character’s true feelings and thoughts are spelled out to the audience, but in Doona, when Wonjun looks behind Doona’s eyes and can’t figure out what really lies behind them, the audience find themselves doing the same. Even when he asks her to tell him she’s sorry, we are just as surprised as Wonjun when she tells him she loves him instead. These twists aren’t shocking, but they aren’t predictable either, which demonstrates perfectly the complexity and depth of the two lead characters, even if those same dimensions are lacking elsewhere in the show.

In the end, you can’t help but root for Doona and Wonjun. The same goes for the show. It’s perhaps one of the only shows I genuinely think has benefit in a second watch. Knowing from the beginning what we know from the end, it must be an entirely different experience, and an experience well worth it.

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