“A Good Day to Be a Dog” is MBC’s new Wednesday drama and tells a story about school teacher Han Hae Na (Park Gyu Young) who suffers from a curse that her family has been having since the Joseon era. If she kisses a guy then for the 100 days she will turn into a dog at midnight and return to her human form only at 6 am. The curse could be broken if the same person kisses her in her dog form again, proving that their feelings are real. But she has only 100 days for this; if she fails, she will have to continue living as a dog.
Sounds very confusing but once you pass the rules of the curse, the plot gets easier.
One night out with her colleagues, Han Hae Na gets drunk and decides to risk it all by kissing her long-time crush. Alas, she kissed someone else entirely by mistake.
Jin Seo Won (Cha Eun Woo) is a math teacher who for some reason feels uncomfortable around FL and has a fear of dogs (no matter their size and cuteness). Who do you think FL kissed by mistake? Ding-ding-ding!
Now our FL has to find a way to make ML overcome his fear of dogs and kiss her.
First impressions
As with many rom-com dramas, it starts funny and adorable with likable characters and every new situation and misunderstanding leads to confusing hilarious scenes. I see a lot of similarities with just finished “Destined with You”: the curse passed for generations, ML gets involved by mistake but it’s actually fate, Joseon era flashbacks, FL is in love with the second lead, ML is played by popular k-pop idol and lastly, both dramas had FLs with similar unflattering hairstyle.
Han Hae Na is a never-kissed girl who had to end all her previous relationships because she’s afraid of the curse. In contrast, her sister seems to end up like a dog many times but is still human and single. I don’t blame Hae Na for guarding herself when an example of her uncle, who was never able to lift his curse and lives a golden retriever, is right before her eyes. Park Gyu Young is one of my favorite actresses with strong performance and I love her adorkable character, so fingers crossed everything goes well for them both: Hae Na will lift her curse and Gyu Young gets another successful drama in her list.
Cha Eun Woo once again plays a cold but actually soft inside character. I wish he picked different roles but if he feels comfortable playing similar characters I’m not here to judge. In “The Island” he pretty much proved he could play different types of characters and do it well.
Jin Seo Won is a mystery we will uncover as the story progresses. I hope to see more past flashbacks and funny scenes with dogs since he gets stalked by an adorable puppy Hae Na. We had a glimpse of his trauma with dogs but I wonder if there are more reasons for his fear. Also can’t wait to see his bromance with the history teacher as well as his relationship with his teenage nephew.