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.

While episode 12 of “A Good Day to be a Dog” made it seem like two more episodes might not be enough to give a conclusive end to the story, given the leisurely pace at which things were unfolding, the plot progresses rapidly in episode 13, and the creators could have wrapped up the series at this point. All the primary protagonist in the tale visit the mountain where the curse started, leading to major revelations.

Titled “The Truth,” the first half of episode 13 focuses on Han Hae-na’s efforts to figure out what is happening with her. Unaware that her memories were wiped out, she feels like something is amiss. The last edition had ended with Seo-won kissing Hae-na in hopes it would help her remember their time together, but she leaves the place, worried the dog curse would kick in. When Hae-na doesn’t turn into a dog, it helps her realize something is definitely wrong, and flashes of the past start coming to her. While there aren’t many romantic scenes between Hae-na and Seo-won this time around, they share some cute moments. Park Gyuyoung and Cha Eun-woo continue to have great onscreen chemistry and are very endearing as their characters.

This episode reveals ‘the truth’ of what exactly happened in the past, with flashbacks disclosing the moments leading to the mountain deity cursing Hae-na’s family for generations to come. As I feared, the revelation was clichéd, simplifying the story instead of giving viewers a complex tale of betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness. The reveal does great disservice to Lee Bo-kyeom’s story arc, weakening his vengeance, even though he has consistently been the strongest character and a worthy antagonist. Actor Lee Hyun-Woo should get his own spin-off series focusing on his adventures as a mountain deity living in the modern world, or well, it remains to be seen what happens to him in episode 14 – the finale.

Overall, this penultimate chapter was a good mix of comedy, tragedy, and romance.

You can stream A Good Day to be a Dog on Viki.

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