Problematic in many ways, but light-hearted and silly enough to be totally enjoyable, A Good Day to Be a Dog is here! So don your suspension of disbelief helmet, and get ready for transmogrification, tons of wacky characters, and some unabashed hilarity.
EPISODES 1-2
The premiere week of A Good Day to Be a Dog gives us just what we needed: an introduction to our wacky fantasy setup, and a story world that’s over-saturated in every sense of the word. But what it’s primarily over-saturated with is color, which makes for a vibrant setting. This was actually a clever decision, because it gives the entire drama this twinge of offbeatness, and makes the craziness of the story always feel like a madcap fairytale instead of a drama that we have to take too seriously. And that theme of “not taking too seriously” is essential if you’re going to hop on and enjoy this particular ride.
We’re thrown right into the mix with our heroine HAN HAE-NA (Park Kyu-young, who is totally in her element). She hasn’t had much success with her dating because when it’s time for that first kiss, she ducks and runs. Like, literally runs.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to kiss — it’s just the pesky family curse that means once anyone in her family does kiss, they turn into a dog straight away. The nightly transmogrification continues unless the same kiss-planter will kiss them in their dog form, and we see the curse play out via hilarious flashback, when Hae-na’s uncle transforms into a golden retriever.
We see the curse play out again with her unni HAN YOO-NA (Ryu Abel). Their childhood friend once gave her a peck on the lips, she turned into a dog, and then he quickly – on command — kissed her back to her human form, thus breaking the curse. Now, one wonders why they couldn’t just repeat this process for Hae-na and have her pesky curse dealt with in the space of five minutes as well, but I suppose there’d be no story if it were that easy. Still, am I the only one who wondered about this for the entire two episodes? Or is there just a stipulation on the curse that I’m missing.
In the present, our kiss-less Hae-na is a teacher at Garam High School, and she’s swooning over history teacher LEE BO-GYEOM (Lee Hyun-woo) right alongside her smitten students. And Bo-gyeom seems pretty perfect: affable, handsome, and a dog-lover. Once Hae-na sees how much he loves dogs (and is apt to smooch them), her mind is made up, and her crush becomes iron-clad.
While we’re at the high school learning about Hae-na’s work life, and her crush, the drama does a great job of pulling us into the setting, with a really good handle on secondary characters, the supporting cast of the students and the vibe they bring, and the physical setting. Most importantly, though, we meet the other heartthrob teacher of the school, and that’s the math-and-face-genius JIN SEO-WON (Cha Eun-woo). The man is cold as ice, but as beautiful as an ice castle, and very easy for everyone (students and teachers alike) to crush on.
But there’s one person who’s not crushing on him, and that’s our Hae-na. She doesn’t get along with Seo-won at all, and without understanding it, she’s been responding to his avoidance of her by matching his avoidance level. I mean, makes sense. The setup is strong, too, so that when we finally meet all these young teachers gathering for an after-work dinner, the character dynamics are all neatly in place.
Propelled into a soju-haze of misery by the news that her first love is getting married, Hae-na decides this sh!t isn’t going to last another day. Kissable Bo-gyeom steps away from the table, as does Seo-won, and out back in the dimly-lit alley, Hae-na makes her move and kisses Bo-gyeom. Except it’s not Bo-gyeom. ‘Tis Seo-won, in Bo-gyeom’s coat. And kids, this is why soju and kissing don’t mix.
Hae-na’s horror-filled reaction is priceless. Before anyone can fully process what’s just happened, she gives Seo-won a repentant 90-degree bow and runs for the hills. This scene had me rolling! From Bo-gyeom’s bemused “I guess she has a curfew” to Hae-na’s desperate runs set to circus music and the use of shadows to handle her transformation — everything about this scene lands the drama’s tone perfectly.
Hae-na makes it home in her new and adorable scruffy terrier form, and her sister realizes what’s up. She makes sure dog Hae-na is dressed (otherwise she’ll wake up naked — an important fact we need to know), and then helps her attack the problem at hand the next morning.
Unfortunately, the only option the two sisters see for getting Hae-na’s curse broken is to get Seo-won drunk to the point of passing out. This way, they reason, when the clock strikes midnight and she turns into a dog again, he won’t have a problem kissing her. Okay, logic terribly flawed in multiple ways here, but again, this is where we have to take the story in its madcap fairytale logic, and proceed.
What ensues next is Hae-na’s desperate advances on Seo-won to meet him for alcohol, which, again, are a bit much, if not for the story taking such a light and comedic approach. The drama is forgiving of our heroine, and so is Seo-won (and by extension, we can be too). He not only graciously lets the accidental kiss slide, but he is willing to help set her up with Bo-gyeom, and after a bit of friction the two actually come to an understanding.
Now, something the drama does quite well is setting up a lot of layers for the benefit of our future hijinks. For one, after Hae-na’s first encounter with Seo-won in her dog form has him stumbling in sheer terror, she, her sister, and their vet pal quickly realize he has a dog trauma. This, by extension, clears up the misunderstanding around why Seo-won has long avoided Hae-na (namely, because dogs gravitate to her, hah).
Another layer neatly set up is that Seo-won is helping Hae-na get together with Bo-gyeom, when in reality it’s Seo-won himself she needs a kiss from. Additionally, there’s a little lurking je ne sais quoi in how Seo-won truly feels about Hae-na. His behavior originally looked like dislike, but now with a bit of insight we see there is more beneath the surface…
But that’s not enough chaos for two episodes, and there’s a budding storyline with our high school students too. Hae-na acted as guardian for the good-hearted student CHOI YUL (Yoon Hyun-soo from Seasons of Blossom, yay!) and met him at the police station after a fight with some bullies that tormented her earlier in the day. Unfortunately for Hae-na this event takes place right before midnight. Rather than make sure her student gets home safely, she frantically runs away, hoping to transform secretly. That, of course, is impossible, and Yul sees it happen irl. Then, like the sweetie pie he is, he collects her clothes, purse, and phone, and takes her home in her dog form.
Now, why is this a problem? Because Choi Yul lives with his guardian… none other than Mr. Perfect Jin Seo-won. You know, the guy that broods in his shower reliving his past traumas, who quickly solves escape room critical reasoning puzzles, and who also secretly delivers your favorite dessert to your desk at work. That guy.
The ending of Episode 2 sees Hae-na waking up the next morning back to her human form, quickly dressing, and trying to escape this high school boy’s bedroom without him waking up. So when Seo-won opens the door, it looks just as bad as it sounds. And this, friends, is the Kilimanjaro of hijinks that this drama is ready to summit.
In any other drama I might think it was a bit too much overall, but A Good Day to Be a Dog saves itself by being unabashedly ridiculous. I laughed so much, from the one-liners to the CGI dog moments to the overall treatment of the plot. But hands down, the best scene for me was when Yul was taking dog Hae-na home in a taxi, and she sits there all ladylike, opens the window with her paw, and gazes out moodily. The taxi driver comments what a well-behaved dog she is, and I just about died laughing with the pseudo-gravity of this scene. More crazy next week, please!