A Good Day to Be a Dog (2023) Episode 2

Episode 2 of A Good Day To Be A Dog starts with a flashback from the Joseon era where Seo-won is a king romantically involved with Hae-na who works as a maid in the palace. The episode moves back to the present time where Seo-won is trying to escape the dog (aka Hae-na) barking at him. Bo-kyum shows up at the scene and notices how Seo-won is calling the dog a rat and asking him to take it away.

Bo-kyum picks up the dog and starts petting it while Hae-na tells herself how she is so happy to be in Bo-kyum’s arms. Yu-na and Woo-taek find Hae-na’s clothes lying in the alley and pick them up. They find Bo-kyum with Hae-na in his arms and take the dog away while Bo-kyum drops Seo-won home. Seo-won tries to call Hae-na but Yu-na texts him on her behalf, explaining that she has to be home due to an emergency.

The next morning, Woo-taek tells Hae-na that the reason for Seo-won’s fear could be a traumatic event. Still, Hae-na is hopeful and determined to break the curse. Seo-won is embarrassed by his fear and wonders if Hae-na saw him trying to escape a small puppy.

At work, Seo-won asks Bo-kyum to go on a platonic date with him to repay him for the trouble he caused the night before. Miss Han overhears the conversation and tries to badmouth Hae-na when she learns that Seo-won went out for drinks with her. Seo-won stands up for Hae-na, embarassing Miss Han.

On his way out of the staff room, Seo-won runs into Hae-na. She takes him aside and apologises for dining and dashing the night before due to an emergency. She offers to pay for their meal and tries to get Seo-won to hang out with her for longer. Seo-won assumes that Hae-na wanted him to set her up with Bo-kyum and hesitates to play matchmaker. He eventually agrees and invites Hae-na to meet Bo-kyum that night.

Hae-na insists that Seo-won join them on the date in order to neutralise tension and he unwillingly agrees. That evening, Hae-na shows up at an escape room where she learns that Bo-kyum had invited Miss Han. Miss Han is surprised to learn that Seo-won had invited Hae-na.

The four eventually get taken into the room where three of them try to escape while Bae-kyum enjoys himself in the scary entrapment. Seo-won uses his math skills to decode the password to the lock and helps the four escape. Outside, Hae-na invites Seo-won for drinks but the latter refuses her request stating he has to go back home.

Dejected, Hae-na goes back home as Bo-kyum and Miss Han go out for drinks by themselves. Bo-kyum sends a picture of him and Miss Han, inviting her to join them but Hae-na notices how there were three glasses of alcohol on the table and assumes that Seo-won was trying to avoid her and takes the bus back home. Coincidentally, Seo-won is at the bus station, going back to his house but Hae-na does not notice him.

That night, Hae-na, Yu-na and Woo-taek discuss Seo-won’s fear of dogs. They come to a conclusion that since Hae-na loved dogs and was often around them, it was the only reason why Seo-won avoided her. Hae-na recalls that during all the instances of Seo-won fleeing away from her, there was a dog in their vicinity.

The next morning, Hae-na goes to work determined to keep herself away from dogs in order to win Seo-won’s favour. She hatches a plan to date fake Seo-won for a while and kiss him in his sleep to break the curse. However, a few students from her class told Hae-na that some male students from another school were smoking outside Garam High School.

Hae-na approaches the boys as a teacher and threatens to expose them. The boys accuse Hae-na of harassment and threaten to sexually assault her. Hae-na is petrified by the comment but Seo-won comes just in time to save her. He thrashes the boys and learns their names from Yool, a student at Garam High School.

With Yool’s help, Seo-won manages to scare the boys off. At the staff room, Seo-won notices how Hae-na was still traumatised by the incident and is was not behaving like her usual chatty self. In order to cheer her up, Seo-won brings Hae-na her favourite Tiramisu slice. He places it on her desk and watches her enjoy the dessert from afar.

Later that day, Seo-won finds Hae-na sitting by herself in the school park and joins her. The two chat for a bit and Seo-won agrees to be Hae-na’s wingman in order to help her win Bo-kyum’s favor. Hae-na asks Seo-won why he feared dogs and realises that the memory was very painful for him to share. She tells him that he didn’t need to tell her his reasons and acknowledges his fear.

Hae-na diverts the conversation and asks how Seo-won had cracked the code to the escape room the night before. Seo-won tells her all how the hints all pointed at the the Imjin war which took place in 1592, the passcode of the escape room. Hae-na is awestruck by Seo-won’s wit and the two joke about how Bo-kyum was unfazed by the scary escape room.

Meanwhile, Bo-kyum goes back home after school and grimly prepares a meal outside his trailer. A flashback from the year 1592 in the Joseon era shows Seo-won battling the royal guards in order to save Hae-na and her friend. In present time, Hae-na calls it a night earlier than usual and gets ready for bed. Yu-na goes out for drinks with Woo-taek.

At the same time, Seo-won is on his nightly run when he spots a woman walking two dogs. He takes the opposite route home. Meanwhile, Garam High School Yool ends up meeting the three boys who were caught smoking at a convenience store. The boys end up fighting and Hae-na is called to the police station as Yool’s guardian.

Hae-na wakes up from her sleep and rushes to the police station in the middle of the night. Yool clarifies that he did not beat the boy but that he accidentally hurt himself after tripping on his own foot. Hae-na defends Yool and calls the other boy’s mother out for allowing her son to smoke while being a teenager.

Hae-na threatens to report the boy for threatening to sexually assault her earlier that day and the woman lets the issue rest, for fear of her son’s safety. After the entire ordeal is settled, Hae-na offers to drop Yool home. She wonders why he hasn’t informed his parents and learns that Yool lives with his uncle who is away at the moment.

Hae-na offers to drop Yool home but realises that it’s about four minutes to midnight. Since it’s almost time before she turns into a dog, she tries to run away from Yool, who continues to follow her. Hae-na tries calling Woo-taek and Yoo-na, but accidentally drops her phone in a sewer.

Yool offers to remove the phone out for her but Hae-na asks him to go home and tries to rush to an empty street. Yool shows up to return her phone back to Hae-na and witnesses his teacher turn into a dog. He passes out and eventually wakes, taking Hae-na and her clothes home with him. Yool offers Hae-na (as a dog) some water and lets her sleep on his bed.

He sleeps by the bed which worries Hae-na even more knowing she would wake up naked the morning after. Hae-na tries to stay up all night in order to dress at 6am when she finally turns into a human. However, she falls asleep.

The next morning, Hae-na wakes up all of a sudden and dresses herself. The episode ends with Yool’s uncle finding Hae-na in his bedroom getting dressed while he sleeps on the floor. Shockingly, Yool’s uncle is none other than Seo-won!

The Episode Review

This show is extremely enjoyable and the comedy of errors lies in the fact that Hae-na conveniently forgets about her curse. I particularly enjoyed every scene where Yool interacted with Hae-na minutes before she turned into a dog. The episode ends with the most shocking plot twist and seeing that Seo-won is Yool’s uncle is definitely unexpected, to say the least.

The flashback to the Joseon era seems intense for this story and I am excited to see how the makers tie this story between the past and the present. There is very little known about Bo-kyum’s life so far and I hope he does not turn into a villain owing to the fact that he is so cute.

Considering how both boys, Eunwoo and Hyun-woo’s characters – Sae-won and Bo-kyum are showing a lot of bromance scenes, one can expect this story to take a BL turn!