just a girl

***DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion, we don’t have to agree and I’m not here to argue with anyone. This review is kind of long so please bare with me.***

A/N: I went into this drama blind without reading the webtoon or having any preconceived ideas.

Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, friends to lovers, on and off / toxic relationship

General Overview:

I kind of liked this drama because it is really nostalgic and takes you back. The cinematography is beautiful and it seems like it was meant to be a documentary or memoir of sorts recounting Doona and Won Jun’s experiences and how they crossed paths and essentially changed the trajectory of each others lives forever.

An ordinary guy and a superstar girl – that’s a cliche if I’ve ever seen one. I found it kind of tricky getting into this drama because the first 2 episodes are slow and you’re not really sure what exactly is going on because theres not much context but as you keep on watching and bridge the gap between episodes 2 & 3 and really delve into episode 4 & 5 things start heating up and becoming more interesting. I like the relationship between Doona and Won Jun because it shows us what a new adult / young love is and how at times it can be messy especially when there’s a lot of miscommunication thrown into the mix.

Their love story is by no means perfect but it’s also realistic in the way that other people watching can definitely relate to it and look back on their own past relationships / first loves and be reminiscent of a similar time / experience in their lives. Even if you have never experienced something like there are a lot of important life lessons to be learned.

I honestly feel like this drama lacked depth and they could’ve done so much more to better capture the struggle between wanting to live a normal life with your love and choosing to chase/ follow your dreams and be an idol. The ending sucked big time but again, I had already predicted it would be a sad/open ending by episode 5.

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A More Detailed Review (spoilers ahead):

Doona opens with Doona submerging herself in a pool of water and seemingly sinking to the bottom of it and drowning… I believe this is a reflection of how she truly feels on the inside.

The drama follows Dream Sweet Doona, a kpop idol who has fallen from grace and has taken a hiatus from being an idol due to an on-stage accident in which she stated she could no longer sing. We see her smoking profusely in a lot of the shots... we're not sure what's going through her head. Doona appears forlorn and despondent, as if she is fighting to find her place in the world while being neglected by the individuals she most badly wants to hear from. The number one person is P (her agent), who does not respond to any of her texts or phone calls.

As the story progresses we see Doona meet Won Jun and a love/hate dynamic develops between them. She can’t believe Won Jun doesn’t know who she is and that he’s not a fan as she sees him sporting a sweet dream hoodie. Anyways a uncanny dynamic develops between them and Doona finds herself annoying him and asking him out to eat for the fun of it. Won Jun thinks she’s only teasing him and is not actually serious. They get into a spat one night as Won Jun says something that hurts her feelings and sends her over the edge.

From there they make up and you see them hanging out and Doona giving Won Jun advice on love as Won Jun still seems to have feelings for this girl (Jin Ju) from his past. It seems they were almost high school sweethearts and did like each other but in the end things did not work out. Now a year later, Jin Ju has re-entered his life and Won Jun wants to obviously be more just friends but they keep missing the timing. I think this is essential to the plot because Jin Ju is a symbol of the past… and past memories while Doona is a symbol of Won Jun’s present and future. Back then, Won Jun was weak timid and was not able to confess to the girl he liked and win her over. This past Won Jun seemingly no longer exists as he is intrigued by Doona. He enters unfamiliar territory when he is with her and so she seems enthralling and fun to hang around. Even though Jin Ju and Won Jun have all the history and memories, it shows you can only hold onto a person for so much and no more. This was demonstrated when Jin Ju finally starts showing interest in Won Jun and was able to confess her feelings, he had already mentally moved on and was now interested in pursuing Doona.

Insights:

Doona lacks emotional intelligence because she has never led a typical/normal life. She also has trouble controlling her emotions, which I believe is related to her lack of emotional awareness. As someone once said, you have to be good with yourself before you can be good for other people. I think Doona needs to take care of herself and prioritize her mental health. It was very saddening watching her go through these psychotic breaks and moments of weakness completely alone. If “being in a room of crowded people and still feeling alone” was a person, that would be Doona.

Given that Donna appeared to have been groomed from the age of 13 or 14 until her early 20s, my heart ached for her. Doona became codependent on her agent as he effectively made her into an idol. It's obvious that the agent did not view her as a real person, but rather as a product or item. He was a manipulative man who only valued her when she was complying with his wishes. Her agent was simply emotionally absent and only doing his job but Doona misinterpreted it for love and concern. In essence, he exploited her as a tool as Doona only piqued his interest when she brought in big bucks and advanced his career. The moment the flip switched in her head and she told him she could no longer handle the idol life he became very cold and distant. It just showed that his affection for her was conditional on her performing and acting a certain way.

It's clear that Doona is a complex individual who has led a very one-dimensional existence. She had a one-track mind because her life was always regimented and linear. Her walls and fences gradually started to come down when her celebrity faded and she had some alone time without others chasing her, revealing the shell of a girl who genuinely needed to repair her inner child. Her mom dropped her off and was too busy coning others out of their money, so only her grandmother took care of her. She did not regard Doona as her daughter or child, but rather as a paycheck. She seemed more liberated and at ease when she spent time with Won Jun. I feel like hanging out with Won Jun made Doona feel free and ordinary. In a way he came into her life as a blessing.

Likes:

I enjoyed the cinematography and the setting. It was a very cozy and fitting drama to watch in the fall!

I liked Se Jong’s performance as Won Jun. It was refreshing to see a very emotionally intelligent man grace the screen. He literally was such a green flag and gave off the impression of a man who was ready to open his heart to someone who didn't appear to deserve him. Se Jong portrayed his innocence and naivety to perfection. It was endearing, but it also demonstrates how males are capable of feeling emotions and having strong feelings for the person they love. I can understand why he was only able to see the best in Doona because love is blind and gives people rose-colored lenses.

The chemistry between Won Jun and Doona was off the charts, if that's what you were mainly watching for. Warning if you are currently single this drama will definitely make you feel even more so. I felt like a third wheel or like I was intruding when watching some of their scenes because it was a bit intense and caught me off guard.

I thought Ha Young’s portrayal of Jin Ju was endearing. Her character brought so much light even in darkness and was one of the best to come out of this drama. Ha Young is seriously so charming on screen and has one of the best smiles I’ve ever seen. Her story was so tragic and she smiled and pretended to be happy on the outside to conceal the fact that she was actually breaking inside. She has strict parents which I’m sure people on here can relate to however the emotional and physical abuse she faced daily was so uncalled for. I liked how Jin Ju handled it with grace and eventually left her home situation. I was lowkey rooting for her and Won Jun in the beginning because she seemed like the of ray of sunshine he needed in his life. To me their personalities seemed more compatible than Won Jun and Doona but they took too long to confess how they felt. Even though her and Won Jun did not work out I am glad they are still friends… and you never know they might have missed their timing now but they could always reconnect years from now.

I also enjoyed the performances of the supporting cast. I-Ra and Jung Hoon were cute and I am happy they got together in the end. The friendship dynamic between everyone was refreshing and I’m glad they still met up to hang out and drink together rather than the friendship being lost after everyone moved out of the building.

Dislikes:

I must admit that Suzy's performance was not the best and fell flat for me. I believe she could have put more effort into truly selling the role. She mostly just posed in the scenes and kept on smoking and sighing which got really repetitive. She seemed to be in unfamiliar territory and did not have a similar experience to channel when playing Doona (a pop star fallen from grace) This led me to believe that she had never really had a had first-hand experience with despair, mental health concerns, and depression / loneliness as an idol. This role was clearly daunting for her and it showed.

In the 3rd act conflict when Doona saw her ex (the agent) and dropped Won Jun’s hand not once but TWICE I was pissed. Like that was an immediate red flag! And then she legit got in the car with the ex and didn’t like that he wasn’t reassuring her and saying all the things she wanted to hear then she opened the door, threw herself out of the car and hurt her foot?! That was absolutely psychotic and batshit crazy. Then she wants to come crawling back to Won Jun and playing the victim?! LOL this was so toxic and messy but at the same time realistic portrayal of young (blind) love. But more seriously, in those moments I questioned if Doona actually had any care or sympathy for Won Jun or his feelings. She was saying one thing but her actions always consistently proved otherwise. I guess this is what people would call a contradictory character but to me it was apparent she needed to work on herself because her behavior was deplorable.

The miscommunication between the leads was absolutely unnecessary and they could have fixed their issues with a simple and honest conversation. When Won Jun asked her if she’s back bc her agent didn’t want her I was like damn! Get her again for me. Being the other person, who appears to be someone's fallback or backup plan in case they can't get the main person they're seeking, is a tragic situation. The exchange between Doona and Won Jun eloquently encapsulated how awful it is.

I was irritated by the agent's attempt to minimize Won Jun's significance. He pretended to be concerned about Doona's welfare, but his true motivation was to use her as a means of generating income for himself. He presents himself as superior to everyone else and shows pretends like he has no concern for those so-called "kids." Mind you he's in their business 25/8 and suggested they break up immediately. In my opinion, the agent acts like a whiny boy who gets upset when he doesn't get his way in a situation.

9 episodes seemed too short but also too long because if you think about it this drama could’ve easily just been a 2 hour movie lmao… there’s so much unnecessary dragging out of the plot.

As I reviewed my episode ratings, I realized that I only ever gave one episode an 8/10, while the others received ratings between 4/10 & 6/10. Tbh, this drama suffers from a severe lack of depth and overcompensates by focusing too much on ridiculous relationship drama. It does far more showing than actually telling. Then again, there is only so much they could fit into 9 episodes. Realistically speaking this drama only needed to be about 5 or 6 episodes long, after that it became tedious and started to drag on.

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Quotes I liked:

“𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙.”

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙’𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙨. 𝙎𝙤 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙊𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙮.”

“𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩.”

“𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘.”

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Final Thoughts:

Overall this drama is the definition of a friends to lovers, toxic love story with miscommunication at the forefront. It’s comforting and nostalgic in the way that sometimes you just need a soft drama you can watch without focusing too much on a heavy plot.

Doona is champagne problems coded, a total disaster waiting to happen. I think a lot of people only like this drama for the “steamy” or “hot” kissing scenes, which feels like a very one-dimensional way of viewing it.

Chemistry alone is not enough to sell me on a drama or make me rate it highly. If that were the case, what would even be the point of watching and reviewing anything? Additionally, the ML also had chemistry with the SFL, but that often gets ignored because toxicity tends to be more “entertaining” for viewers.

Should you watch it? It depends on your taste. If you enjoy cliché, predictable, toxic romance dramas, you might like it. It feels similar to Nevertheless. It’s slow at the start and not everyone will stick around long enough for the relationship to develop. If you do watch it, brace yourself.

Would I rewatch it? Absolutely not. Once was enough. Most of the conflicts could’ve been solved with one honest conversation, but instead everything was dragged out unnecessarily to seem deeper than it actually was.

To me, people see stories like this in real life but often romanticize the toxicity and ignore how exhausting it is to constantly want to be chosen with the same intensity you give someone else.

What frustrated me most was that both characters had flaws, but Won Jun still tried to understand Doona and give her a chance. Meanwhile, she was emotionally unavailable, immature, and kept hurting him because what she actually needed was therapy, not a relationship. Even knowing it wouldn’t last, she still used him as a placeholder, which made her behavior difficult to watch.

Still, there are some lessons here. This drama can serve as a warning about getting attached to emotionally unavailable or toxic people. It’s easy to ignore red flags when you’re lonely or emotionally invested, but recognizing those patterns matters if you want to avoid repeating them.

Doona and Won Jun both lack secure attachment styles. She leans dismissive avoidant and he leans anxious. Combined with her abandonment issues and emotional instability, the relationship becomes draining to watch. Realistically, what they both needed was professional help.

On a brighter note, another takeaway is learning that not everything is meant to last. Sometimes people meet at the right time, not for forever, but for a chapter. And that’s okay.

I ultimately scored Doona a 6/10, as the drama sits firmly in the realm of mediocrity despite a few notable moments.

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Once again, this is just my opinion, you can watch it & see for yourself!

Thanks for reading and happy watching!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚