A Good Day to Be a Dog (2023) Episode 1

Episode 1 of A Good Day To Be A Dog starts with a young girl named Han Hae-na learning from her sister that their family have a secret. Due to an ancient curse, members of Hae-na’s family have the ability to turn into dogs every time they kiss someone.

Hae-na grows up to be an adult who refuses to kiss her partners, no matter how long she dates them. 3 years before the present time, Hae-na had refused to kiss her boyfriend on their 100th day anniversary and fled the scene. Hae-na is now a teacher who works at Garam High School with two handsome young professors – Mr Lee Bo-kyum who teaches History and Mr Jin Seo-won who teaches Math.

Hae-na has a crush on Bo-kyum and wonders why Seo-won avoids her as if she were the plague. One day, Hae-na finds two students attempting to make out in the school and separates them, threatening to punish the kids. The students call Hae-na “BUKC – Breaking Up Kissing Couples” because of her constant attempts to keep students from making out in class.

At lunch, Hae-na’s colleague and friend Ji-a wonder what she has against couples that kiss and why she hates kissing so much. In the lunch hall, Hae-na accidentally puts her hand on Seo-won’s plate as he is passing by. She tries to apologise but he leaves without a word, making her wonder why he’s so cold towards her.

Bo-kyum invites Hae-na and Ji-a for drinks and barbecue that night and the two agree. After work, the two teachers walk to the local restaurant with Bo-kyum and Seo-won. On the way, the group finds a pet shelter. Hae-na learns that Bo-kyum loves dogs while Seo-won stays away from the shop and awkwardly asks the rest to hurry.

Hae-na tries to check a wound on Seo-won’s hand but he wrenches his hand away. Hae-na is caught off guard but the group continue on with their night. The four teachers are joined by Miss Han Yoo-na, their other colleague. Miss Han serves alcohol for the five and forces Seo-won to have a drink with the group.

Hae-na suddenly gets a text message from her friend stating that her ex-boyfriend from three years ago was married to her former best friend. Hae-na is fuming and starts drinking aggressively. Throughout the night, Hae-na learns how Bo-kyum is single and does not have any ideal type making him the correct match for her. She also thinks that Bo-kyum would not mind her condition as he is a voracious dog lover.

Seo-won gets a call and rushes outside while Bo-kyum follows after him. Ji-a tells Hae-na that she should go for it and hit on Bo-kyum as the time is right. Hae-na rushes outside recognises Bo-kyum by his jacket and pulls him in for a kiss. She suddenly realises that the person she is kissing is Seo-won and not Bo-kyum. She suddenly comes to her senses.

Bo-kyum witnesses the two teachers kiss while Ji-a and Miss Han leave the restaurant. Hae-na suddenly recalls how she had one minute for the curse to take effect and starts running towards her house. A flashback from when Hae-na was young shows how Yu-na had demonstrated the curse by kissing a young boy. After seeing how Yu-na turned into a dog, the boy, Woo-taek, was horrified and ran out of her house.

Present day, Hae-na who has turned into a dog makes her way back home on her own as she takes the metro. Hae-na’s sister Yu-na and her friend – Woo-taek take her home. Inside the house, Yu-na tries to understand what happened to Hae-na and tells Woo-taek that her sister will turn back into her human form at dawn, six hours from midnight. She also tells him that Hae-na has 100 days to break the curse or she will have to turn into a dog forever. Yu-na adds that the only way to break the curse is to be kissed by the same person when she is in dog form.

Another flashback from the Joseon dynasty shows Hae-na’s family being cursed by a man with no mention of a way to break the curse. Back in the present time, Hae-na wakes up as a human and realises what went down the night before. She recalls how she had kissed Seo-won and Bo-kyum had witnessed the fact. She tries to write her resignation letter but Yu-na forces her to be brave and rectify her mistake.

Hae-na somehow makes it to school but is reluctant to enter the staff room. She spots Bo-kyum and asks him to keep what happened the night before a secret between them. Bo-kyum asks Hae-na to apologise to Seo-won because he too was startled by the incident. Hae-na finds Seo-won leaving class and overhears the female students swoon over his good looks.

Hae-na realises how Seo-won had been avoiding her over their time working at the same school and decides to apologise to him. That afternoon, Hae-na apologises to Seo-won for the kiss and the two decide to act as if nothing happened. Before he can leave, Hae-na asks Seo-won if he likes dogs.

The question infuriates Seo-won but Hae-na asks him out for drinks in order to make up for her mistake. Hae-na wants to try and kiss Seo-won while she is in dog form to break the curse, and tries to emotionally blackmail him. Seo-won leaves without giving Hae-na a response to her proposal.

That evening, Hae-na notices her mother crying as her uncle is being taken away in a dog crate. Since her uncle was not able to lift his curse, he remained in dog form for almost 20 years and now was on the verge of death. Later that night, Yu-na asks Hae-na to try and lift the curse as soon as possible by kissing Seo-won as if her life depends on it.

Yu-na and Woo-taek take some cute photos of Hae-na in dog form as she sleeps. The next morning, Seo-won finds Hae-na cleaning his desk. She tells Seo-won that she was doing so out of guilt and eventually agrees to go out for drinks with her after Hae-na’s persistent pleas.

That night during dinner, Hae-na tries to get Seo-won drunk but he refuses to have any hard liquor to avoid getting drunk. Hae-na uses her sister’s advice and laces Seo-won’s beer with some soju in order to get him drunk. On the other hand, Yu-na and Woo-taek leave to be on standby to pick up Hae-na just in case she transforms into a dog.

Meanwhile, Seo-won wonders if Hae-na wants him to set her up with Bo-kyum. She asks why Seo-won hated her so much and reminds him of all the times he tried to avoid her in the past. Hae-na acknowledges how he often ran away when he was around her but is not able to explain why.

Seo-won tells Hae-na how he likes eating “dogs” (read: hot dogs) and the latter is weirded out by the statement. She realises that it is about to be midnight and rushes out of the diner without a word. Seo-won gets a call from Hae-na, asking him to come to an alley by the restaurant.

Hae-na, now in dog form, tries to kiss Seo-won hoping to turn back into a human with no effort. However, in reality, seeing a dog causes Seo-won to panic, due to which he tries to flee from her. The episode ends with Seo-won jumping on a trashcan to get away from the dog.

The Episode Review

This one looks really interesting and I hope the makers stay true to the webtoon and watching how the story pans out will be so fun. From the looks of it, the person cursing Hae-na from the past looks a lot like Bo-kyum. I wonder what the dynamics between the past and present would be in this one because the only other ongoing show to have that format is Destined With You, which is receiving mixed reviews on its narration and story. 

This one is interesting, all thanks to the cute cuddly creatures Hae-na turns into. Following her accidental kiss with Seo-won, a man who clearly hates dogs, I wonder what adventure poor Hae-na will have to go through in order to get Seo-won to kiss her.