‘A Good Day To Be A Dog’ Is A K-Fairy-Tale About Finding True Love

Han Hae-na is a high school teacher with a family secret that has sabotaged any chance of romance. Hae-na, played by Park Gyu-young, has no trouble meeting men or getting them to fall in love with her. Things don’t get problematic until she won’t kiss them. Eventually even the most loyal suitors look elsewhere for love. Hae-na has run out of excuses but embarrassing breakups are better than having to run from the scene of the kiss.

She must avoid kisses because of a family curse. Whenever a member of her family is kissed they turn into a dog. The curse has complicated her love life because she’s afraid to make that commitment. What are the odds a boyfriend will still want to date her once he sees her in canine form?

One night out at drinks with her fellow teachers she accidentally drunkenly kisses Jin Seo-won, a teacher she dislikes, played by Cha Eun-woo.
Shocked at her mistake, she runs away and manages to get home before transforming into a fluffy white dog. Once kissed and transformed the curse dictates that she’ll wake up human at 6 am every day, then turn back into a dog at midnight. If the curse is not lifted in 100 days, she will remain a dog. It’s hard to find true love with these limitations.

There is a way to break the curse but it involves kissing the person she kissed again—but this time in dog form. And what if he hates dogs? Or maybe he’s a cat person. Hae-na can’t get Seo-won to share a meal with her, let alone drink to the point he won’t mind kissing a dog.

A Good Day To Be A Dog is a fun fairy tale about finding someone capable of loving without reservations. There are plenty of funny lines in the first episode and perhaps the best might be the response given by the young Hae-na whose asked about the “mutt” in her house. Deadpan she responds, “that’s not a mutt, it’s my uncle.” He apparently kissed someone too. As funny as this cotton candy drama is, it also portrays how terrifying turning into a tiny dog might be. Getting home to people who recognize and can help you could be very dangerous.

Park Gyu-young has created an effervescent character in Hae-na, a warmhearted teacher that is liked by everyone she knows, particularly her fellow teacher Bo-gyeom, played by Lee Hyun-wook. Understandably she does occasionally get a little manic at the thought of having her secret exposed. Cha plays the handsome math teacher many of the school’s students have a crush on. Cha is well suited to the princely role in this fairy tale, the teacher who must kiss the cursed creature and restore her human form. But his own fears will make that kiss less likely. As in all romances the lovers must look past preconceptions and imperfections to find lasting love. Since this is a fantasy romance those imperfections are supernatural. If all else fails, if Ha-nae doesn’t get to kiss Seo-won again, at least she transforms into one very cute dog.

Park Gyu-young recently played an influencer in Celebrity and can be seen in the second and third seasons of Sweet Home, as well as the upcoming second season of Squid Game. Cha recently appeared in the dramas Island, True Beauty and Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung. He can be seen next year in Wonderful World. Lee Hyun-woo appeared in Money Heist and the films Hero, Dog Days and Dream.

* Culled from Forbes