Doom at Your Service: Episode 16 (Final)

by quirkycase

Our fated couple’s epic journey has come to an end. After all the challenges they’ve faced, they finally get to relax and enjoy the simple things together. Our hero’s new situation gives him a fresh perspective on the world and an opportunity to do good in a way he never imagined. Our heroine’s family eagerly welcomes him back into the fold and even makes room for a potential new member in a certain novelist’s boyfriend. No threads are left hanging in an ending that neatly wraps up everyone’s stories, preparing them for the next, happier chapters of their lives.

 
EPISODE 16

Dong-kyung never takes her eyes off Myeol-mang as he leads her off the bus under their umbrella. He reveals that he’s just an ordinary human now. Dong-kyung throws her arms around him, knocking the umbrella out of his hand. They hold each other in the rain.

Even after they arrive back home, Dong-kyung keeps staring at him, unable to believe he’s real. At Dong-kyung’s insistence, he divulges that he was in the goddess’s garden until she made him human. “I grew up the way she wanted me to, thanks to you.”

It turns out the notion of the goddess being a gardener is more literal than metaphorical since the flowers in her garden are actual people. (Why so creepy?) Myeol-mang explains that he was a butterfly for the garden, but after dying for Dong-kyung, he bloomed into one of the goddess’s (human) flowers.

Myeol-mang asks if Dong-kyung is okay with him just being a regular human now. “Even if I’m nothing now, even if I can’t do anything for you?” She grabs him in a hug and chides him for talking that way after how much she’s missed him. He looks over and spots her calendar on the wall with every day since his disappearance marked.

Now that he’s human, he needs to eat. Dong-kyung only has cereal and feels guilty for not having something better for his first meal as a human, but he happily munches away. He still can’t believe he’s human and gets to do all the mundane life things with Dong-kyung.

That night, as they lie in Dong-kyung’s bed, she again asks if it’s all a dream. He assures her it isn’t and promises never to disappear. They fall asleep facing each other and holding hands.

When Dong-kyung wakes alone the next morning, she panics. When she finds Myeol-mang in the kitchen, she grabs him in a back hug. She’s so reluctant to leave him that she brings Myeol-mang to work. Ha.

Joo-ik sarcastically praises her on her impressive melding of the personal and professional but ultimately lets her do as she wants. Myeol-mang may not have god-like powers anymore but he can drive, so Dong-kyung makes him her chauffeur for the day.

Meanwhile, Hyun-kyu gets invited to another reunion but doesn’t commit to going. He hangs up when he sees Sun-kyung carrying in a plant from Joo-ik as an opening day gift with the note: “Raise it as if it were me.” Hyun-kyu grumbles at this cheeky reminder of Joo-ik’s hard work raising him.

On their way to meet Sun-kyung, Dong-kyung and Myeol-mang deliberate over how to explain his appearance since Myeol-mang now appears to everyone with his true face. It turns out to be unnecessary because Sun-kyung runs right up to his hyung-nim and hugs him.

Dong-kyung and Myeol-mang are baffled when Sun-kyung insists he looks the same as ever. Even the picture they all took together now shows Myeol-mang’s real face. Elsewhere, the goddess – now living as a regular high schooler – smiles and notes how nice she is. We see she’s raising a new plant in her little flowerpot.

In the car, Myeol-mang surmises that the goddess had a hand in the appearance issue. He worries that Dong-kyung will get in trouble for meeting her brother when she’s supposed to be working, but Dong-kyung feels justified since Joo-ik always goes to Ji-na’s when he’s supposed to be in “meetings,” too.

They meet with Young who recognizes Myeol-mang no problem and remarks with surprise that Dong-kyung hasn’t broken up with him yet. The boys snipe at each other, as usual, while Dong-kyung orders coffees. Young is aghast at Myeol-mang’s proclamation that he’ll marry Dong-kyung.

When Myeol-mang calls him out on liking Dong-kyung, Young begs him not to tell her “in case she finds it cute.” Embarrassed, Young gets up to leave when Dong-kyung returns to the table. Dong-kyung grabs his arm and pleads with him to do her a favor first.

He can’t resist her puppy eyes and stays to meet his biggest fan Dalgona. Thanks to this little meeting, Dong-kyung was able to get Dalgona to sign the contract and repay her for her kindness in one go. Myeol-mang is still being a grump about Young who Dong-kyung argues is cute.

That night, Myeol-mang grabs Dong-kyung’s hand as they walk. She notes that it’s not midnight yet, but he reminds her they can just hold hands for no reason now. They arrive at Soo-ja and Kevin’s new house where everyone is happy to see Myeol-mang again.

Elsewhere, Hyun-kyu runs into Ji-na at the salon. They’re a bit awkward, but Hyun-kyu says he was glad to hear from Sun-kyung that Dong-kyung is now well. After asking Ji-na if she’s going to the reunion – she’s not – he says goodbye. As they go their separate ways, they turn back to smile at each other.

Over dinner, Sun-kyung announces his new position as manager of the second café. The family is ecstatic, although Dong-kyung teases Sun-kyung about how many dreams he went through before realizing this one. Soo-ja wants Dong-kyung to move in with her and Kevin, but Sun-kyung astutely guesses she’ll want her own space so she and Myeol-mang can date comfortably.

Dong-kyung must not have gone over the story with him because Myeol-mang is taken off guard when Soo-ja asks if he took care of everything in the States. He goes with it and tells Soo-ja he intends to continue in the same line of work here in Korea.

Cut to “Kim Sa-ram” working as an emergency doctor at the hospital. I guess he got to keep all his eternal knowledge after becoming human. Elsewhere in the hospital, Dong-kyung congratulates Doctor Jung on his soon-to-be fatherhood. She then passes over a contract, which he guesses was her real reason for coming. Doctor Jung laughs and promises to sign.

The ghost club ajummas stop Myeol-mang and Dong-kyung in the hall and ask when they’re getting married. Myeol-mang looks at Dong-kyung expectantly, but she vaguely says it’s undecided.

As they leave, Myeol-mang admits he’s still getting used to being a doctor but says he wants to try saving people. Dong-kyung is surprised he’s sticking with the joke name she gave him, but he likes the name Kim Sa-ram and finds it fitting.

He’s still pushing to get married, but Dong-kyung is hesitant. Myeol-mang wonders if it’s because he’s “normal” now. Dong-kyung argues she’s normal too, although Myeol-mang disagrees – she’s always been special.

Myeol-mang observes being human is making him try harder since he doesn’t know how things will end. Ironically, mortality makes him feel like he’ll live forever.

As they watch the sunset, Dong-kyung is reminded of another sunset when Myeol-mang took her to the “doomed” world. Except now, he looks comfortable and no longer lonely. Myeol-mang says that he finally has direction in life: Dong-kyung.

She mutters that he can’t even send a text yet is so good with words. Dong-kyung mentions seeing the unsent text on his phone and wonders how the phone stayed charged for three months. Myeol-mang guesses that too was the goddess’s doing.

After his own experience being created anew, he now understands how the goddess must feel toward humans. She would’ve hated them at first but then forgiven them. Afterward, she probably felt grateful that they created her.

At Ji-na’s, Joo-ik congratulates her for making it into the Top 10. She wrote a fantasy novel about a demon building owner based on Joo-ik. He’s slightly offended until she calls devils and evil characters sexy.

He comments on her haircut which she got because he was coming over. Joo-ik leans in to kiss her, but she blocks him with her hand. He invites her out for drinks at a fancy rooftop bar. She chatters on about how good it feels to be in the Top 10.

In the middle of her excited rambling, Joo-ik kisses her. He then asks if she’ll be his girlfriend and says he’ll cry if she refuses. Ji-na jokingly promises to cover him with an umbrella if he cries. She then vows instead not to make him cry.

Joo-ik insists on spending the following day with Ji-na, so she drags him to make kimchi at Soo-ja’s house with the whole family. Soo-ja is surprised to learn Ji-na’s boyfriend is also Dong-kyung’s boss, and Dong-kyung is surprised to find that Sun-kyung and Joo-ik know each other.

Myeol-mang gets territorial about his new family and picks fights with Joo-ik as they work. During dinner, Dong-kyung pries into Ji-na and Joo-ik’s dating life when Ji-na mentions they were drinking the night prior.

When Myeol-mang points out that Dong-kyung started their relationship off after drinking, Dong-kyung pushes back that he’s the one who barged into her house. Soo-ja is shocked at first but then realizes that’s on-brand for their family. HA.

Both couples start comparing their relationships, and Dong-kyung and Myeol-mang feel superior in the knowledge that they fought fate itself. Ji-na acknowledges their effort and says she’s touched by how they’ve fought for and protected each other.

Soo-ja throws her hat in the ring and says she and Kevin had the most to overcome with their cultural and linguistic barriers. When they get all lovey-dovey, Sun-kyung has had his fill of all this couple stuff and escapes to buy more alcohol.

While Ji-na talks about her new novel, Kevin pulls Myeol-mang aside for a chat. He asks if Myeol-mang is going to marry Dong-kyung. When Myeol-mang says yes, Kevin welcomes him to the family. Kevin reminds him of the responsibility that comes with family, and Myeol-mang swears on his life to live for his new family’s happiness.

Kevin says he’s always liked Myeol-mang, which Myeol-mang knows for a fact is a lie given his mind-reading. Heh. Kevin is glad Myeol-mang returned and half-jokes that Soo-ja would’ve killed Myeol-mang had he not.

Sun-kyung slips in between them and hugs Myeol-mang as he says that he loves him. “So I have to live for this idiot now?” Myeol-mang wonders aloud.

After they leave, Joo-ik comments on how strange Ji-na is for taking him to a kimchi-making session. But he likes this “strange” Ji-na. She chides him for making her heart flutter.

Ji-na asks about his first love and accuses him of lying when he says it’s her. Joo-ik argues all loves are a first because it’s different with each person. She admits he made her heart flutter again which he greatly enjoys. They joke and bicker good-naturedly as they walk home.

Myeol-mang drops Dong-kyung off at home but doesn’t want to leave. She reminds him they both have work in the morning and sends him on his way with a kiss on the cheek. He circles back for a hug and finally leaves.

He calls when he gets home like she requested and calls again once he’s headed to bed. Dong-kyung is working on her novel and asks what was going through his head when he hugged her at the hospital. He recalls thinking that his feelings were unstoppable, although he hadn’t yet figured out what those feelings were.

Dong-kyung wonders what made him suddenly rush over to her place the day he confessed he loved her. Myeol-mang explains that disappearing made him realize how afraid he was of not seeing her again. She understands because not seeing him was always more frightening than dying for her too.

When she falls asleep, Dong-kyung finds herself in the goddess’s garden. The goddess wanted to show her Myeol-mang’s cosmos flower that bloomed in her flowerpot. She also wanted to show off her school uniform and smiles when Dong-kyung says it looks pretty.

Dong-kyung thanks her for everything but doesn’t understand why it had to be her. The goddess reveals that she chose Dong-kyung because she knew she’d endure. She didn’t interfere in Dong-kyung’s decisions because gods sometimes just like to be voyeurs, apparently. When Dong-kyung smiles, the goddess says that smile is why she let Dong-kyung figure things out on her own.

The following day at the hospital, the husband of a pregnant woman Myeol-mang saved pays him a visit. He grabs Myeol-mang’s hand and emotionally thanks him for saving his wife and baby.

On the rooftop, Myeol-mang stares at his hand and smiles. Doctor Jung spots him and comes over, somehow just learning that they work at the same hospital. He suddenly realizes that Myeol-mang resembles the ghost he met that day on this rooftop but laughs it off.

At work, Joo-ik takes Dong-kyung off guard when he calls that new Doom novel “pretty good.” It doesn’t have a ton of views, but he thinks the author has potential and wants her to set up a meeting.

Myeol-mang goes to buy a coffee at Hyun-kyu’s café and stares at Hyun-kyu for an uncomfortably long time while he takes his order. Myeol-mang compliments Hyun-kyu on his pretty smile, and Hyun-kyu in turn calls him handsome. Sun-kyung interrupts their compliment-off, and both Hyun-kyu and Myeol-mang call him cute simultaneously.

Shortly after, Dong-kyung brings her ex-coworkers to the café to meet Myeol-mang officially and hopes to make him some friends. Myeol-mang boasts that he just made a friend. Hyun-kyu waves and smiles from behind the counter. Myeol-mang then apologizes to Ye-ji (for the fake boyfriend thing), but she naturally doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Outside Myeol-mang’s house, Dong-kyung is amazed that everyone only remembers the necessary things about Myeol-mang and nothing supernatural. Myeol-mang notes the goddess’s attention to detail, even crediting her with creating him to match Dong-kyung’s preferences.

Dong-kyung spots a shooting star and encourages Myeol-mang to make a wish with her. He refuses to tell her what he wished for, so she pettily refuses to share her wish either. “Let’s get married soon,” he proposes abruptly. Dong-kyung laughs as they stand together under the shooting star.

 
COMMENTS

For how much suffering there was in this drama, the ending was very happily-ever-after. Myeol-mang finally got to leave doom behind and save people as a doctor, which was a poetic turn for him. Ji-na and Joo-ik got their happy ending together, I guess. Despite my distaste for their romance, I did like that it brought Joo-ik into the family; he and Dong-kyung have a kind of sibling vibe anyway, so it fits. Even the goddess gets to live a long life and enjoy human things to her heart’s content. I appreciate that no character was forgotten in the end, including minor characters like Dong-kyung’s coworkers and Dalgona. I don’t have much to say on the ending itself since everything went down pretty much as expected. It ended like most fantasy dramas of this type: the mystical being “dies,” the one left behind grieves and waits, and then the being returns to live happily with the one they love. I actually liked, though, that we didn’t get the stereotypical final-episode wedding this time. Dramas so often depict marriage as the end-all, be-all that it was nice to see Dong-kyung content to love Myeol-mang without feeling the need to jump immediately into marriage.

At some point along the way, I started feeling a sort of déjà vu while watching Doom, and it hit me that how I felt viewing this drama was almost identical to how I felt watching the 2019 fantasy drama Angel’s Last Mission: Love. They both had everything going for them: an interesting premise, great vibe, wonderful lead (or leads in Doom’s case) – but the writing got messier and messier until logic mostly went out the window. I enjoyed aspects of both dramas but also experienced a lot of frustration because they could’ve been so much better. I rooted so hard for Doom at the start because I really liked it and thought it had the potential to be something special. But the writing just never pulled together enough for it to reach its full potential.

Unfortunately, many fantasy dramas fall into this same pattern. They start off well with an interesting premise or concept but have a hard time sustaining quality, particularly when it comes to the writing. I had hoped Doom’s writing would improve once we settled in, but the opposite happened. This was particularly frustrating because it had such a strong start that hinted at a unique, deep story. Really, the writing was the only major issue – everything else worked well from the interesting tone to the strong cast and compelling chemistry between Seo In-gook and Park Bo-young. But I don’t think the writing was terrible in every respect. It fell short when it came to overall plot progression and logical cohesion, but I do think some of the character writing and more emotional beats were well done.

The drama was at its best when dealing with the more serious and emotional topics it brought to the fore. I liked how it broached Dong-kyung’s illness both from her perspective and that of her loved ones. They treated the topic with gravity and pathos, and unlike the more performative reactions we sometimes get in dramas, Dong-kyung’s emotional responses felt realistic in an understated way that pleasantly surprised me. The depiction of family was also lovely, showing that familial belonging is about love and shared connection, not blood. Our blended family wasn’t perfect but always strived to be supportive and loving. I also liked the perspective on fate where just because some things are out of your control doesn’t mean you have no influence over your life. Choices matter. Dong-kyung and Myeol-mang wouldn’t have gotten their happy ending had they not made the specific decisions they did. Fate was in part a result of their choices rather than a fully predestined path.

Some viewers might be able to overlook the logical missteps that endlessly frustrated me and just enjoy watching sparks fly between Park Bo-young and Seo In-gook. Given my love of those two independently and together, I can understand how that alone could be enough for a great drama experience. Alas, for me, even they couldn’t entirely make up for the sloppy writing and one of the most irritating love triangles I’ve come across in a while. Despite my disappointment, I still had fun while watching and don’t regret the experience. It may not have lived up to my expectations, but I did enjoy watching our characters grow over the course of the story into a strong little family that brought warmth and love even to Doom himself.

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