Plot overview: The protagonist, Han Hae-na (Park Gyuyoung), accidentally kisses her colleague Jin Seo-won (Cha Eun-Woo), triggering a curse that transforms her into a dog from 12 am to 6 am every day. The only way to break the curse is for the same person to kiss her while she’s in her dog form. Han Hae-na and Seo-won fall in love during her mission to end the curse, but the mysterious history teacher Lee Bo-kyeom (Lee Hyun-Woo) has some other plans for the pair. A mountain deity living in the guise of an ordinary teacher, Lee holds a grudge against the couple for an act of betrayal in their past lives.
Episode 11 of “A Good Day to be a Dog Episode 11” ended with Lee Bo-Kyeom threatening to erase Jin Seo-won’s memories so Han Hae-na can understand what it means to lose someone she loves. Titled “The Lost Memories”, episode 12 begins with a good twist – it’s Han Hae-na who doesn’t remember anything, so she goes back to treating Seo-won like a stranger. To add to Seo-won’s heartbreak, her crush on Seo-won is renewed. Will he be able to win her back again? Well, that’s the primary conflict and question in this edition.
This was an entertaining edition, with the disheartened Seo-won doing his best to reignite his romance with Han Hae-na. Cha Eun-Woo is super cute as Seo-won in his attempts to woo Hae-na in the same way as she had tried to befriend him in the past. Although it seems like not only did Lee wipe out Hae-na’s memory, but he also somehow managed to make her less friendly than before! Her cold reactions to Seo-won’s efforts to get close to her are quite unlike the sweet, kind literature teacher we know her as. To make things worse, Lee actively encourages Hae-na’s feelings towards him, unlike earlier when he deliberately pushed her the other way to orchestrate his elaborate revenge plan.
In a parallel sub-plot, the shamanic student Min Ji Ah (Kim Yi Kyung) begins to investigate why Lee is targeting Seo-won and Han Hae-na after her attempts to get direct answers from him fail. She is assisted by Seo-won’s nephew Choi Yul (Yoon Hyun-Soo) to corner Lee’s sidekick Ttaeng Pal (Yoo Seung Mok) into giving her clues that would lead to the whole truth. Every time Kim Yi Kyung and Lee Hyun-Woo share the screen together as Min Ji Ah and Lee Bo-kyeom, there’s an electric tension in the air, heightened by the dramatic music which plays in the background.
Amid all the mystery, grudges and heartaches, there’s also the comical sub-plot involving Han Hae-na’s sister Han Yoo-na (Ryu Abel) and Song Woo Taek (Cho Jin Se). The two childhood best-friend have an awkward but sweet “friends to lovers” story unfolding, while everybody else is knee deep in problems. But it’s a fun distraction between all the serious stuff going on.
At this point, all those who know Lee are confused about what he really wants and how he envisions things coming to an end. While Lee Hyun-Woo’s portrayal of the antagonist is fantastic, his character’s double standards in not acknowledging Min Ji Ah’s reincarnation, even though she actually remembers her past life, while hurting Hae-na, who doesn’t even have a clue about her past life, are getting tiresome.
“A Good Day to be a Dog” has been an entertaining blend of drama, comedy, and fantasy so far, with just two episodes left to go, it might pose a challenge for the creators to wrap up everything in the finale.
You can stream A Good Day to be a Dog on Viki.
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